How to style a vest

November 02, 2015

Whether it's a faux fur vest, a sweater vest, a puffer or quilted vest or a blazer or tuxedo vest, vests are everywhere right now. Of course, sometimes the most challenging part of seeing a trend or style that we love is how to make it work for us.

Well, for this post, I'm going to try and help you do just that - style a vest.

To get started, let's take a moment to talk about your waist.

One of the most important parts of your body to keep in mind is your waist when wearing a vest, especially since many are cut straight and if it's faux fur, for example, it can appear boxy. Yet, the beauty of a vest is it can be worn with pants, such as skinny or flair, or with a skirt, such as a pencil or trumpet.

Now, here are some points to keep in mind when styling a vest:

Belt It - To help accentuate your waist to an otherwise straight-cut vest, add a thin belt.
Look for Tailoring - Some vests are already cut and tailored to accentuate your waist. With an off-the-rack tailored vest, be sure to try the style both opened and closed, as you may get a more flattering look in the way you least expect.
Understand the Fabric and Trim - Sometimes a vest creates an illusion of a waist through varying fabric types and/or trim, such as faux fur and felt and/or piping.
The Base Layer - If none of the above options apply, there's always the base layer, which then should be fitted. In this case, you can pair your base layer with an Adea Layering Top - always a go to.
Your Bottom - The last fail-safe is your bottom. If, for example, you have a boxy vest that you want to keep zipped up or buttoned up, even with a base layer, you will need something else to ensure you don't look too full all over. In this case, cue your skinny, pencil or flare pants or your pencil skirt. In this particular case, this strategy will help to keep the focus of the eye up - letting your vest do the talking while your bottom acts as a nice backdrop to your ensemble.

NOTE - Although I focus on the natural waistline in the above examples, vests that play off of the current drop waist trend also work to break up the eye's sight line.

One last note, be sure to also play around with the length of your base layer. Try pairing a shorter vest with a longer top or a longer vest with a shorter top and high-waist pants. This yin and yang will help to create an illusion of a waist.