OOTD x6: Wearing Long Sleeved Print Tops Under Solid Short Sleeves & Vests

I have been on a clothing shopping break since February 2021, but this past November and December, I have bought some new items (including the red plaid sweatshirt I introduced last week). I will discuss this more in length in a later post, but today I wanted to feature 3 long-sleeved print Ts and 2 pairs of pants from my November order at Kohls that I have worn with a vest, short-sleeved cardigan, or denim jacket this winter.

Although I don't need any more print Ts, I really loved the colors (especially for my wardrobe) and the prints on these three and decided to go for it given the under $7 price tag. And while I have long-sleeved blouses and button up shirts with interesting prints, my long-sleeved Ts are stripes or polka dots, so it was fun to expand my comfy T-shirt print options.

The first one will coordinate well with my burgundy/wine and blush pink items. The second one has a range of green/teal colors, which I wear often. And the third one will work with any of my maroon/burgundy/wine or sandstone/coral pieces.

Wine/blush rose checkerboard T - Sonoma/Kohls - 3X - $6.79 - 11/2022 [Favorite Everyday T in Berry Chessboard; 100% cotton jersey] - plus; straight

Dark teal/mint/pink floral LS T - Croft & Barrow/Kohls - 3X - $6.79 - 11/2022 [Essential Classic T in Field of Flowers; 100% cotton rib knit] - plus; straight n/a but they have a million other colors/prints

Burgundy/sandstone/pink floral LS T - Croft & Barrow/Kohls - 3X - $6.79 - 11/2022 [Essential Classic T in Plum Peach Field; 100% cotton rib knit] - plus; straight

The dusky rose pants match a dusky rose cardigan I bought in 2020 from CJ Banks (and which I had nothing to match) for an outer column of color. The teal leggings fill a wardrobe hole (well, more of a wardrobe cranny since the hole wasn't very big) for teal pants. Both of these were heavily discounted as well.

Dusky rose pants - Croft & Barrow/Kohls - 24W - $16.99 - 11/2022 [The Effortless Stretch Pant in Berry] - plus; straight n/a but aren't these paisley ones great?

Teal leggings - Croft & Barrow/Kohls - 2X - $6.79 - 11/2022 [Midrise Leggings in Teal] - plus n/a; straight n/a

I was delighted in mid-November when I saw Imogen Lamport's post on Inside Out Style about "3 Tips for Wearing Longer Sleeves Under Shorter Sleeves" that featured a burgundy floral long-sleeved T extremely similar to mine. She recommended this one with the tip "patterns that create interested under solid colour outer layer." I decided that I would need to test out one of my new floral Ts with a short-sleeved outer layer!

So far I have worn each of the print Ts and pants twice, 6 outfits total, using this outfit formula: Colorful print LS T + solid pants/jeans + solid vest/short-sleeved cardigan/denim jacket. In 5 of the 6 outfits, I also wore a scarf.

Wine/Blush Checkerboard T + Dusky Rose Pants

I thought these two pieces coordinated very well so I wore them together both times.

In the first outfit, I layered a wine quilted vest that matches the print top and a black scarf with pink, light blue, and sparkly stripes for some low-key print mixing. My DIY wine/pink/gold bracelet set was an easy addition. To repeat the black that appears in the scarf, I wore my thrifted black Oxfords (18 wears with cost per wear of $0.28!).

OOTD 12/6/22

For my second outfit, I tried the old standby: the denim jacket. I like wearing a scarf underneath the collar of the jacket (luckily it wasn't cold enough for me to need the scarf for warmth), in part because I can then easily add a necklace or two as I did here with short and long simple gold necklaces. As a nod to winter in this somewhat spring-looking outfit, I wore my stacked faux pearl dangle earrings that remind me of a snowman. I went with a more colorful bracelet stack based on a set that I made for a burgundy print blouse. It was warm enough for me to wear my burgundy flats.

OOTD 12/31/22

Dark Teal/Mint/Pink Floral T + Teal Leggings

These two new pieces were an obvious pairing that I wore twice.

In the first outfit, I added a long pale pink quilted vest. (Though I'm OK with wearing leggings as pants casually, I do wear something long enough to cover my back side in them.) About a week later, Kay at Dressed For My Day blogged about the long puffer vest as a "winter trend to try," and I could say to myself, Yep, on it.

OOTD 12/7/22

I've had these taupe-brown boots for 8 years, but I didn't like wearing them much at first. I wore them a few times, then set them aside. I think I hadn't figured out how to wear them because they weren't great with skirts, which was my pre-pandemic go-to for cold weather. But I pulled them out again after I bought my taupe-beige slim leg knit pants as a comfortable WFH option two years ago, and I have worn them quite a bit since then...with those knit pants at first, but then with many other things. I'm up to 42 wears and counting with these boots now. This is a reason I don't like blanket rules such as "if you haven't worn it in a year, remove it from your wardrobe." Just because something isn't in rotation in your outfits lately doesn't mean that you won't go back to it again when the time is right. In my case, these boots that didn't work with skirts became a workhorse once I started wearing pants to WFH. I also figured out that I could wear them with just about any color and they'd look good because they repeat the color of my hair that I wear every day.

Speaking of repeating colors, I always enjoy wearing any kind of olive/sage, dark green, teal, aqua, or mint color because all those colors appear in my eyes. In this case, the very light mint scarf is paler than any color in my eyes but I still like it.

I was kind of astonished at how well the DIY bracelet set I made to go with a different print top worked with this floral T...I easily could have made it to go with this one! Here are the catalog images I used to create the 3 paper tube bead bracelets. #1 purple print leggings. #2 burgundy velvet top + teal/purple floral top. #3 burgundy marl sweater + grey/purple floral top. (I didn't photograph the paper for the fourth bracelet, which has striped bicone paper beads.)

For my second outfit, I used Imogen's suggestion to combine a floral long-sleeved T with a short-sleeved top layer to select this ivory "topper" (their term) from Lane Bryant. I bought it initially thinking it would be a cardigan for warm weather, but the material (acrylic/nylon) is way too warm for that so I've had to wear it as a winter garment instead. I am not 100% in love with this cardigan, I have to admit, but with this 12th wear I have gotten the cost per wear down to $1, and I will continue to experiment with styling it. I liked it pretty well in this outfit (and found its length useful to wear with the leggings). This scarf is not the same as the previous one, though it looks very similar. The previous one is a lighter weight fabric and this one is a pashmina (also the color here is more seafoam than mint and is more saturated). I loved this DIY bracelet set with this outfit...another one made for a different top that works with this one too. My teal suede smoking flats are slightly more green than the teal leggings, but I thought they still went together well enough.

OOTD 12/30/22

Burgundy/Sandstone/Pink Floral T + Skinny Jeans

It just happens that I wore the third new print T with skinny jeans both times, but it's nice that I can continue the "wearing the same top + pants in two outfits" theme started with the other two Ts. (Technically, I'm wearing my longer skinnies in the first outfit and my ankle length ones in the second, but they function the same way in the outfits.)

I went with a rust and gold color scheme for the first outfit with a rust quilted vest, gold leather earrings, white scarf with rose gold polka dots, and my trusty maroon ankle boots. I pulled the sandstone coral/brown/gold DIY bracelet stack for this outfit and it worked perfectly.

OOTD 12/8/22

My second outfit had a lot in common with the previous one: the same maroon boots, gold accessories, and a topper in a similar color (maroon/burgundy instead of rust). I wore the same wine/pink/gold DIY bracelet set I wore in the first outfit in this post. I actually love it when I wear these bracelet sets over and over again. When you put time into making something by hand, it's very satisfying to discover that it's a versatile item that you can wear on repeat. I've been very happy that the method I've been using to create these sets (as discussed in my first "design a DIY bracelet set" post) it yielding good results!

OOTD 12/29/22

I also made the earrings I wore in this outfit - what I call the world's easiest DIY earrings where I place a few beads onto a pre-made hoop and attach it to an earring hook. This pair has burgundy garnet beads and gold-tone spacer beads on a gold-tone hoop.

I really enjoyed all of these outfits...both how they looked in terms of my personal style and how they felt in terms of physical comfort. These new pieces have all found a secure place in my wardrobe, and I look forward to wearing them again. (I already have plans to wear the dusky rose pants again this week with light pink and olive.)

It's always interesting to see how a change in the top layer and accessories can take the same top + bottom base outfit in such different directions. I really haven't even scratched the surface of the possibilities for the 3 top + pants combos in this post.

Are you a fan of print tops...Ts, blouses, button ups, etc.? Do you wear them under sleeveless or short-sleeved toppers in cooler weather? Or do you prefer layering them under long-sleeved pieces? What is your favorite print for a top?

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