my top three layering t-shirts

spring is coming 🐣

Can you believe we only have to wait four more days until Daylight Savings ends? I live for sun, I’m a better person with her around. When I open the weather app, my eyes narrow into a mean little squint when I see the gray cloud and blue rain drop icons. I want nothing more than to drink a cold latte with one giant ice cube in a slip dress and straw hat with a brim that covers my eyes so I am just two dark nostril holes and some lips. Dot dot line.

I am uniform dressing my way through the dog days of winter. I already wrote about my default jean + boot combo, so you could think of this as the torso version: how I layer a basic t-shirt.

A few things I learned:

• I love a crewneck cotton sweatshirt with some random fake french aesthetic shit like a pair of lips or “autumn of love” plastered in a fake retro font. It’s campy and makes me feel like I’m in college.

• I love a good blue and white stripe.

• I love primary colors and their primary-ish relatives (rusty red with muddy yellow—dirtied in the same way).

• I love how the ring of a t-shirt looks under the slightly larger ring of the sweater neckline.

Here are my six combos. They all start with a good t-shirt and rely on the visual pow pow punch of highly saturated primary colors. All items are linked, including a rare secondhand Miu Miu SS2000 piece I toiled to source last year. Secondhand matches are hard to find!!

Combo 1: Ringer t-shirt and varsity jacket

Sezane tee, Miu Miu SS2000 jacket

I am new to the magic of ringer tees. A simple contrast ring makes it feel distinctly more…styled…than a solid colored t-shirt.

The t-shirt itself has a nice cotton midweight feel. It’s on the boxier side. The 70s jock look of the ringer shirt made me reach for this Miu Miu varsity jacket I don’t wear enough. When I put this on with a Hammer Museum baseball cap, I was like ok new tomboy suit unlocked :)

Everything from Sezane in this post was sent as PR. I got to choose items from the website and while I know their new collections get a lot of buzz among fans, I actually didn’t like the seasonal collection and opted for cotton basics. They’re really comfortable, hence why there’s quite a few Sezane items that made the cut for this post.

Combo 2: White t-shirt with true blue sweatshirt

Gil tee, Sezane Sweatshirt

My white t-shirt is the Gil Bellevue tee. Are there better white t-shirts out there? I’m sure there are but this one works well enough for me and I’m too lazy to look for others. Whenever I need to start an outfit with a white tee she is the star. She has some makeup stains on the inside but that’s why we love her. My white clothes never stay white. Without the white t-shirt poking out, I look oddly naked in this sweatshirt. The white collar also grounds the white text. Kinda wish I wore my hair down for this look.

Combo 3: White t-shirt with striped crew sweater

Gil tee, APC sweater from Japanese eBay

Same white tee, with a snug cashmere sweater. I think it just adds some crispness and freshness to navy and gray, which can be so serious. This is also a purely practical layering combo as I try to wash my cashmere only as needed to take care of the natural fibers. My armpits started getting prone to dampness and spice cabinet aromas in my mid-20s, so the t-shirt functions as a protective layer.

Combo 4: Red t-shirt with striped button down

Flore Flore tee (red sold out, this is the pink one), Sezane Bilma shirt

You know what would be really cute? This outfit but a pink and white stripe shirt! I love love love a red t-shirt. The Flore Flore one is my favorite for its thick crewneck detail and subtle ribbing throughout. This is definitely a basic I want to buy more of if/when ssense has a good sale. I like to wear the blue and white stripe shirt over it with all the buttons open. It’s giving rom com girl moved apartments and today is painting day.

Combo 5: Red t-shirt and yolk yellow sweatshirt

Flore Flore tee, very old Clare V Lips sweatshirt

The best way to style a sweatshirt with a motif on it is to match the color through a layered t-shirt under. This sweatshirt is super old Clare V. I think the abstract lips is one of her best motifs of all time.

Combo 6: Ringer t-shirt and alphabet sweater

Sezane ringer tee, Hades Wool sweater

Layering a ringer tee under a sweater means you get three neckline “rings.” It makes the outfit so much more interesting imo.

Play with text in your clothing. I think logo-mania got such a bad reputation that we are a little scared of it now. But there is so much humor and personality you can convey through a giant M on your sweater. That’s not even my name, but if you know me you would know what the M stands for! 🐩