Sweater vests are making a strong comeback and while the preppy look is very near and dear to my heart, I was doubtful this trend would be one I'd participate in myself. However, I love to use thrifting as a way to experiment with my style at a super low cost so I told myself I would start checking the men's section for sweater vests and at least try a couple on.
The very first one I stumbled upon, I had a great feeling about. A lot of the sweater vests I've seen being worn recently are white or cream and very oversized. This one was wool, looked about my size, and had a classic argyle pattern in light blue, cream, and navy. I'm not a golfer and I don't spend my free time at any country clubs, but this felt very me. I tried it on and it was the perfect fit!
Right now I see a lot of the oversized, white sweater vests styled with cute little skirts or worn as dresses themselves. I definitely wasn't going to be able to do that with this vest, I played around with it a bit and found a very traditional, yet modernized way to wear this vintage piece. I ended up really liking the look and have a feeling I'll be wearing it like this a lot!
This vest looked really cute all by itself in the dressing room, but wool is itchy so I had to throw something on underneath. I went for a slightly oversized ivory button down I also thrifted recently. because the vest has a creamy color to it, I didn't want to mix it with a stark white shirt. Because the top of the outfit is very loose and oversized, I chose a pair of fitted ankle length black jeans to go with it.
So far, this is a pretty traditional way to style a sweater vest and the only thing "different" or "modern" about it is that I'm a woman wearing men's clothing (but women wore/wear sweater vests too so nothing really revolutionary going on here). The accessories is where I think I modernized this look and dressed it up a little too. I chose a super sparkly, chunky pair of hoop earrings and slender black heels. It's all in the details and the details of this outfit really personalize it and put a fun, unexpected twist on things in the subtlest way.
There's lots of ways I can see this vest styled and I'm excited to play around with it more. I was really hesitant to try out a sweater vest and thought it would just look uptight and strange on me and be something I would rarely wear, but I looked and felt SO STINKIN' CUTE in this outfit and it was super comfortable too. It's something I'll totally wear all the time.
If there's a style you want to play around and experiment with, but don't want to make a big investment in, try to thrift for it! If you end up hating it or never wearing it, you're only out a few bucks. And if you end up loving it, that's awesome and it only cost you a few bucks!!