Sweaters
Layering with warmth and style
The summer weather is slowly fading away, as you can tell from the abrupt change in temperature over the past few days. You’re starting to pull out your warm garments in an attempt to avoid getting a cold. You might already have a few jackets and coats to fight off the cold, but they seem too heavy for early fall. And so I present to you the sweater, which is one of the best types of clothing that is both lightweight and warm.
If I were ever asked to live with only one garment, I would choose a sweater. Its simplicity, warmth, style, and versatility are rarely beaten by other types of warm clothing. It offers a ton of options for color, fabric, and fit. I personally own several sweaters, and I have never gotten tired of them.
Sweaters generally fall into two categories: crew-neck style and V-neck style. They both are great, and I can’t say which one is better than the other. However, there are different features that make each one special. A crew-neck sweater has a U-shaped neckline, which will give you a casual and laid-back look. It can be worn with a shirt, t-shirt, or other innerwear. I personally think that it is slightly more versatile than a V-neck. But, the negative aspect of a crew-neck sweater is quite frightening: it can make your neck look short. So, if that concerns you, you might want to lean toward the counterpart, the V-neck.
The V-neck style is exactly the same as crew-neck in terms of materials used and its overall design, but the major difference is that a V-neck makes you look sharper. Because of its deeper cut in the neck area, it creates a visual illusion that you have a long neck. Another great thing about having a deeper neckline is that it boldly shows off what you are wearing under the sweater, which is why it is more preferred by guys who love showing their tie or their shirt’s pattern.
Color-wise, try to stick with a neutral or monochromatic tone. For example, beige, grey, black, white, navy, oatmeal, and similar shades are great choices for sweaters. However, sweaters are one of the few types of clothing for which wild colors are acceptable. For example, royal blue, bright yellow, and light pink can work fantastically on sweaters.
Now let’s assume you’ve gotten a sweater that somewhat follows the rules above. You are just wearing it alone. No! That is wrong! A sweater is like a vest, in the sense that it has to be worn with something underneath. You don’t wear vests alone — at least I hope not. A t-shirt, shirt, polo shirt, or anything that is lighter than a sweater can be worn under it. I tend to choose a collared shirt as an inner layer because I like how the collar sticks out of a sweater.
If you still feel cold with a sweater on, try wearing outerwear on top of your sweater. You can actually put on any outwear with a sweater. For instance, a pea-coat, trench coat, parka, blazer, denim jacket, or leather jacket look amazing with a sweater. When you are going for this kind of look, make sure your sweater is not too chunky, because you might not be able to button up your outwear if your sweater is too thick. That is pretty much the only thing that you should worry about.
In light of all the great style options you have in the winter, let’s try not to look upon the cold as a negative situation. In fact, cold weather is the best condition, in my opinion, because you can wear both light- and heavy-weight clothes and layer them all together. You should therefore embrace cold weather, because it gives you more chances to practice layering and showing off your style.