How to Wear a Lightweight Shirt-Jacket in a Print Mix Outfit with the Thrifty Six: Unbuttoned

sallyinstpaul
2 days ago
6 min read

Hello, everyone! It's definitely been a minute since I've posted. I was dealing with some life stuff but all is well and I am happy to be back to the blog. I'll post an update soon, but today we are talking about how to style thrifted finds, so let's get to it...

I have recently been welcomed into a wonderful group of fashion and lifestyle bloggers that focuses on styling preloved clothing and accessories in themed monthly posts (third Monday of the month). I hope that this showcase of secondhand items and outfits provides some shopping and style inspiration for anyone who is interested in creating great looks in a way that is sustainable for our planet and our pocketbooks.

Today's topic is Unbuttoned...which is a great theme for summer dressing as it has two meanings that are on point for this time of year. In a logistical sense, it means a piece of clothing is not closed with buttons, a sensible choice for keeping cool when the temperatures are high. It also denotes a vibe of relaxation and freedom, fitting for the more laid-back summer months.

I immediately knew that I would wear one of my four thrifted check print cotton shirts as a lightweight jacket over a knit tank or short-sleeved T, which is one of my favorite ways to layer in the summer. Yeah, it's kind of strange that I have four shirts like this! But I am a fan of checks/gingham (which I think of as "the plaid of spring/summer") and just got very lucky with the thrifting gods in December 2019 (Goodwill) and April 2020 (ThredUp). I have similar shirts in black, navy, aqua, and salmon check. Today I am featuring the black version from Tommy Hilfiger, which I am happy to report has hit the <$1 cost per wear (CPW) threshold with this outfit!

I chose the black check shirt to create a striking print mix with a bright and cheerful flowers-and-butterflies print skirt that screams summer (thrifted Talbots, 3/2019, $4.49). One of the top tips for print mixing is to ensure harmony by selecting pieces that share colors. With a multi-colored piece like this skirt, it's great if you can pair it with a two-color print that repeats colors from the skirt. Because the skirt has significant amounts of the common white and black neutrals, it's a slam dunk to wear it in a print mix with a black and white piece.

You can create a more subdued print mix by adding the black and white print in an accessory and/or separating it in space from the skirt; for example, wearing a black and white print scarf or shoes would create a more subtle look. But if you want to go bold, adding a black and white top with the skirt is a terrific choice. It creates a more conspicuous, in-your-face look, but because the shirt's colors are a subset of the skirt's colors, it looks intentional and cohesive rather than clashing or dressed-in-the-dark. (Though if you like the high fashion look of clashing, go for it!)

Since I have transitioned from Work From Home mode to Play/Heal From Home mode for the time being (see #5 here), I feel even freer to wear outfits that lean into the Relaxed and Whimsical aspects of my personal style. On the Relaxed side, I chose to wear my unbuttoned button up shirt long and loose over the pleated A-line skirt rather than tie it at the waist or otherwise finagle it to create structure, shaping, proportions, etc. like we are so often told that we must. The easy living days of summer are made for dressing in draping volume, and you absolutely can choose to wear volume-over-volume and deprioritize "figure flattery" at any time of year. A free-flowing outfit like this definitely gives me the laid-back vibes of being "unbuttoned." Style-wise, giving some added oomph of Relaxed also helped balance the Classic Preppy quality of the shirt and the Feminine quality of the skirt; I suspect we all feel more ourselves when our outfits hit the style vibes that we prefer.

On the Whimsical side, I had fun with my jewelry choices for this outfit. For my layered necklace, I started with a seed bead wrap necklace that I made (last summer, I think) specifically to coordinate with this skirt. I wore it wrapped 3 times around my neck so each strand is about 30" long and added a little dangle I made with a green acrylic star bead from my bead soup. For the short piece, I chose a black and white flower necklace (retail Kohls, 12/2014) that fits the colors and motifs of the skirt. I finished up with long chain and a reversible pendant I made by decoupaging paper to a wood disk {tutorial}. The pendant has this hooded merganser on one side and a fish design on the other. (I sourced both the merganser and the fish images from magazines.)

My daily bracelet stack features an old favorite paper bead bracelet set that I made back in 2022 to coordinate with a scarf that I have {page to bead post here}. I added some DIY black and pink bracelets to finish off the stack. I enjoyed seeing the little silver flower bead on the top bracelet as another repeat of that dominant motif in my outfit.

Because I had chosen pink for my bracelets, I went with green as the accent color for my earrings (which has the added benefit of matching my eye color). I made these simple-but-effective bead stack plus charm earrings to coordinate with a paper bead bracelet set in green, black, white, and silver. The little sea turtles are so perfect for summer wear, but truly, I would happily wear these earrings any day of the year because I just love sea turtles!

Now let's review the Unbuttoned outfits that my thrifty friends have styled...

The Thrifty Six:

Emma of Style Splash

"I'm wearing an Essential Antwerp shirt dress as a duster over jeans and a striped tee. I bought the dress on eBay a few years ago but have only worn it once before. For accessories, I'm wearing shoes that were just £1 in a charity shop and a red bag that was my mum's."

Jane of Preloved-Vintage-Handmade

"'Unbuttoned' is the T6 theme for August – this opus in denim and gold hits the brief in three ways…

· The exquisite golden jacquard evening coat is worn literally ‘unbuttoned’

· Washed-out jeans give a relaxed, ‘unbuttoned’ feel to an otherwise glamorous ensemble

· A risqué sheer lace vest, the reverse of ‘buttoned up’, the epitome of freedom and confidence

Undo your buttons and set your spirit free!..."

Jodie of Jodie's Touch of Style

"Here's my unbuttoned...worn UNDER a crop top. I figured my crew could showcase all the different ways to wear them, and I chose the complicated one. All the clothing is preloved/thrifted and my mom told me that with my hair like this, I looked like a 1940s housewife."

Nancy of Nancy's Fashion Style

"The unbuttoned item is not pre loved. But I love this outfit so much

that I wanted to share. The dress is from the shop I used to work for

and bought, for the first time, when I was working. Wore it to pieces

with red ballerinas. Years and years later I came across the dress on

Vinted and could not resist! Only this time the dress didn't give me

that fabulous feel as it did back then.

It is still a lovely dress. Polka dots are so frivolous and feminine.

And I adored those sandals. The dress has red little buttons and red

piping at the ruffles and sleeves, which are puff ones. So, a unbuttoned red cardigan is the perfect layering for this one."

Shelbee of Shelbee on the Edge

"I found this blue floral shirt dress on a recent thrifting adventure when I wasn't even supposed to be looking at clothing! But I couldn't resist the color and the floral print so I bought it. I love maxi shirt dresses because they can easily double as dusters for layering. I layered a white preloved sundress beneath my unbuttoned shirt dress then I tied the matching floral fabric belt around my hat for a matching hat band. My necklace was made by my friend Michelle and my earrings were preloved. My blue sandals are very old."

Next month's topic is still up in the air, but I'm sure it will be a fun challenge to style.

In the meantime, visit these lovely bloggers for the details of their thrifted Unbuttoned outfits and more style inspiration:

Are you a fan of check prints? How about print mixing? Do you like to wear a shirt/cardigan/dress unbuttoned for a different look? Do you prefer your outfits to have one or two main style vibes or do you like to create looks that balance several styles (e.g., the Classic Preppy, Feminine, and Relaxed vibes)? Or do you not think much about the style vibe at all?

Blogs I link up with are listed here.