Wear Sweaters

Sweaters are a fantastic fashion accessory for women! They are good for both the warmer seasons, such as spring and fall, and are an absolute must for autumn and winter. You can pair them with boots and belts, or leather jackets. Or you can layer them over floaty dresses and summer trousers.

If you're looking for how to wear sweaters as a man, click here.

Steps

Wearing Sweaters for Fall and Winter

1. Try out an over-sized sweater. There are lots of ways to make an over-sized sweater look cute and over-sized sweaters are a great, comfy choice for fall and winter. You'll feel snugly and warm and look cute.
   • Belt your sweater to give it shape and style. You can either do a skinny belt with the folds of the sweater hanging over it, or a big belt. Keep the belt around your waist to give you shape.
   • Wear your over-sized sweater with leggings and boots. Leggings and boots make sure great fall and winter choices. Try to avoid wearing patterned leggings with a patterned sweater, because that will be too much patterning!
2. Wear fun leggings or tights. In the grey gloom that can come with autumn and winter, a pair of fun, bright leggings or tights can enliven a sweater outfit. You can pair them with a sweater-dress or a long sweater.
   • Patterned leggings or tights are great to pair with a plain, monochromatic sweater. For example: you might wear a pair of Monet inspired leggings (with overtones of purple, green, and yellow) with a black or grey sweater (you might even go for a long, green sweater if you're feeling a bit daring!).
   • Solid, bright colored leggings or tights are fantastic ideas for autumn and winter. As an example you might pair solid, lime-green tights with a more subdued, patterned sweater (bonus points if there are hints of lime-green in the patterning of the sweater).
3. Pair your sweater with jeans. Jeans are so incredibly versatile and they look fantastic with sweaters. It's the perfect no-fuss autumn or winter look. Different types of sweaters, and different types of jeans will give you a different look.
   • A pair of ragged, holey jeans with rolled up cuffs looks great with an over-sized or big chunky cable-knit sweater. A perfect look for that lazy, rainy Sunday afternoon.
   • Pair your nice jeans with a lovely, jewel-toned v-neck or a cardigan over your shirt to give you a nicer, more put-together look. Good for an afternoon stroll through the changing autumn leaves.
   • Different sweaters will create a different look, depending on the jeans. You can wear a nice cardigan over a shirt, or a casual v-neck with your ragged jeans. The possibilities are basically limitless.
4. Give it a collar. There's nothing classier than pairing a collared shirt with your lovely jewel-toned v-neck sweater. Make sure that the collar is fully outside of the collar of your sweater.
   • You can tone down the business look with a pair of jeans, or dial it up with a pair of nice, dark slacks.
5. Pair the sweater with a leather jacket. You can pair any of your sweaters with a leather jacket and it will look good (a leather jacket is a fantastic accessory!), but a turtleneck sweater looks especially good.
   • Pick a sweater in a darker color and add a long necklace to enhance the look.
6. Accessorize your sweater. There are lots of things you can add to enhance a sweater outfit. Jewelry is always a great addition: a chunky necklace with your v-neck sweater enhances the line of the outfit while something like a pair of dangling earrings paired with a cable-knit sweater gives you a little sparkle.
   • Scarves are also great accessories, as well as being good for keeping you warm and cozy in the colder seasons.
   • Boots are also great pair with sweaters: over-sized sweaters, a nice sweater and jeans, a sweater dress. They give a little bit of class to an outfit and keep your legs warm!

Wearing Sweaters for Spring and Summer

1. Pick the right fabric. When you're choosing the best sweater looks for spring and summer you don't want to pick a fabric that's going to be really hot, like cashmere. You need fabric that is light and breathable.
   • As for the fabric go for a nice silk-blend, cotton, or nylon-poly blend. These will breathe more easily, they'll give you a little weight and warmth (especially in air-conditioned offices) without being overwhelmingly hot.
   • A loose crocheted sweater can be a great idea for a summer or spring look. Wear it over a pale maxi-dress or t-shirt and rolled up jeans.
2. Go for light, summer and spring colors. Bright colored sweaters, or heavy black sweaters are good for autumn, but they aren't what you want to wear for spring and summer. Pick light colors and prints that have light colors (pastel like pale pink or blue are typical).
   • Grey is a great color to pair with fun summery prints. This way the focus is on your fun printed skirt, with the grey enhancing it, rather than drawing attention away from it.
   • Pale, pastel colors are good because they won’t be as hot as black or dark purple.
3. Pair your sweaters with summer bottoms. Part of cultivating the summer or spring look is to pair your sweater with something more summery. This could be something like a knit sweater with a bright, sporty mini-skirt.
   • Another good idea is pairing a white button-down sweater with loose trousers (cotton) and white sandals.
   • You could also pair a light v-neck sweater with floaty, knee-length skirt. You want to balance the floaty, looser bottom with a more fitted sweater.
4. Cultivate the layered look. Part of the fun of sweaters is having multiple layers. This is necessary in many places in the northern hemisphere where each day can have a succession of different temperatures and weather.
   • Layer your summer sweater over your tank top so that you're ready from when the sun comes out from behind that cloud.
   • When wearing a cardigan you want to keep it unbuttoned, or mostly unbuttoned. This shows the layering better and makes it flow more nicely on each side.

Avoiding Fashion Mistakes

1. Avoid holiday sweaters. Even though you might think it's a good idea to wear that holiday sweater ironically, or because grandma will be hurt if you don't, holiday sweaters just don't look good on anyone.
   • Really the only reason you should be wearing a holiday sweater is if you're attending a holiday sweater party or an ugly sweater party.
2. Try to stay away from sweaters that turn into a pilled mess. This one can be hard to follow because it's pretty hard to tell which sweaters are going to pill. There are, however, a few things you can look for to make it less likely that you pick a sweater that's going to pill after a couple wearings.
   • Check the material of a particular sweater. Merino wool, for example, tends to be stronger and less likely to pill that a fussy, fine-gauge cashmere.
   • You should also pay attention to the length of the fiber used in the sweater, especially when it comes to natural, raw materials like cashmere. Longer fibers can be wound into tighter yarn, which makes it less like that the ends will come loose (which causes pilling).
   • A good thing to do is let a sweater "rest" for 24 hours before wearing it again, because this lets the fibers rest from the stretching that happens when it's being worn.
3. Pick the right sweaters for you. Stick to the sweaters that look good on you, ones that you feel confident wearing. Not everyone looks good in turtleneck sweaters, or a cropped top, or an over-sized sweater.
   • Try to avoid just following the "fashion trends" in terms of sweaters. For example, shrugs are not in these days, so hopping on that bandwagon will mean you're now stuck with a bunch of sweaters that you're probably not going to wear.
   • Be careful with color, as well. That lovely mustard color might look good on the mannequin, but that doesn't mean it's necessarily going to look good on you (not that many people can pull of any version of yellow).
4. Avoid the country club look. Tying your sweater around your neck (especially if it's a pastel, button down sweater) is going to make you look like you're off to the country or yacht club. Unless that's the look you're after it's best to stay away from it.

Tips

• If you have an old sweater that you're tired of wearing, don't immediately throw it out! You can cut off the sleeves and hem them so that they don't ravel. These make sure great boot cuffs.

Warnings

• If you don't wash your sweater properly, it can shrink. Wash them in a basin of cool to lukewarm water. Swish them gently around rather than pounding at them. Rinse them gently and dry flat.

Related Articles

• Care for Sweaters
• Steam Press a Sweater or Other Knit Garment

Sources and Citations

See also

• Make a Punk Rock Jacket for Under $100
• Stop an Angora Sweater from Shedding