Fashion Wednesday - Layering

Its Wednesday again, and today's topic is layering. What is layering you ask? Layering is a technique of wearing certain articles of clothing on top of each other to create depth to one's appearance. Most people do this without realizing it. Generally, layering is focused on the upper body, so not much details will be done on the lower half. The important key here is knowing how to wear it to make it work. Heres an easy example of basic layering: Think of men's business suits; for your upper torso, you got your shirt, your tie, and your jacket. First, you got your shirt in the inner most layer, then the tie in the middle, then the jacket provides the outer most layer. The V-shape of the jacket and the tie brings the focus onto the upper chest area, thus creating a broader upper body physique.

Generally, there is no rule as to how best do layering. Its personal taste. But the key is to make sure that all your clothings match each other when wearing them on top of another. This includes taking notice of color and texture. What I would suggest is knowing which body part you want to embellish. Normally, this would mean the neck and upper chest for guys. That being said, simple layering is always the best. Avoid wearing too much or too little when doing layering. Remember, fashion only exists between -5 to 40 Celsius. Layer accordingly. 

Here I've shown some simple layering:

Single layer: Plain white shirt

Double layer: Plain white shirt with thin striped sweater

Triple layer: Plain white shirt with thin striped sweater and black tie

This is a very simple layering example that I've shown with 3 elements: white shirt, striped thin sweater, and a thin black tie. Here, the focus is on the upper chest and lower neck area. Notice in the triple layer, the striped sweater is unbuttoned. This was done on purpose so that the sweater and tie won't conflict with each other. This also elongates the upper body, thus creating the illusion of extra height to the wearer. The black tie opposes the light colors of the rest of the body, thus drawing attention to the center of the body. As you get more experienced with layering, you can use layers to add more definition to other layers, bringing out more of the contrasting color themes or physical appearances. 

When layering is done right, it can add some serious extra points to one's appearance. Again, personal taste is very important, so it'll take some trial and error to find your niche. 

Happy hunting. 

rOar