The Magnificent 8 in Versatile Vest Styles
Vests have a been a garment that have sort of confused me for my most of my life. However, I have always had a few in my closet dating back to early childhood when I proudly donned a black zipper hoodie layered beneath a denim vest in perfect Chachi Arcola style. I might have even tied a red bandana around my thigh back in those days!
I also recall a favorite outfit of mine from elementary school that consisted of olive green corduroy kickers with matching fair aisle socks that pulled up to my knees and were snuggly secured by the elastic band of the knickers just below my kneecaps. There was a sweater vest in the same fair aisle pattern as the socks that I layered over a button down shirt or a turtleneck depending on the day. I always wore my brown fringed ankle moccasins with this outfit and I wore it on a weekly basis. I am fairly certain that it fell apart long before I outgrew it. The whole look was very reminiscent of a 1930’s schoolboy.
As you can see, my fascination with menswear style goes back a long way to that little Gemini girl of the 1970’s and 1980’s, the tomboy who loved to play dress up in frilly lace dresses. While vests have always made occasional appearances in my wardrobe circulation, they have never really held a prominent position in my closet room.
It wasn’t until I started this little blog of mine that I discovered how much versatility a vest offers for cool layering options that add extra interest to an outfit. And now vests are available in so many different styles, fabrics, and prints that they do add value to one’s wardrobe for injecting an extra bit of layering creativity.
To avoid any linguistic confusion, I am using the very broad Merriam Webster definition of vest: “a sleeveless garment for the upper body usually worn over a shirt.”
When the Magnificent 8 settled on our theme of vests, I honestly wasn’t sure which direction I was going to go. I have a few furry vests that I love so much as we enter the colder months. I also have quite a few long lace and other flowing duster length vests but those seem better suited for much warmer weather. I ultimately settled on this black and tan striped waterfall sweater vest that I spotted in a clear bin in my basement, a bin that happened to be filled with sweater vests!
This vest dates back to the very early days of my blog when I styled it with this exact same dress. The two pieces were purchased from two different retail brands but they look like they were meant for each other. And now I struggle to style either piece with anything else but the other. I guess when a magical combination happens, you should just stick with it!
When I first shared this outfit back in 2016, it was a post about shapewear because I definitely needed some help getting into this dress back then. I actually had put this dress into my Poshmark pile and had it actively listed because I just didn’t like the way it looked without shapewear and I despise wearing shapewear so I ditched the dress. But since that first styling of this outfit five years ago, I have lost 41 pounds so I figured I would try this dress again. Well, I quickly unlisted it from Poshmark because I don’t need shapewear now and I freaking love the way this outfit looks now.
The first styling was in the summertime so I wore cream colored crocheted sandals and a necklace made of seashells. For fall styling, I went with my red patent ankle boots, red knit beret, and some bold red statement jewelry. The clashing of black and tan stripes moving in all different directions is quite enough for the eyes to behold that you don’t need much more to make your style point. And my style point is this…what a difference a vest can make!
Won’t you stop by and visit all of my magnificent friends to see how they have styled vests. Just click on the links to their blogs below.
The Magnificent 8 is a collaboration among 8 stylish women, each in a different age bracket, ranging from early 20’s to early 80’s. The mission of this collaboration is to show you just how ageless style is, how we can each dress however we’d like and in ways that make us feel fabulous. There are no age restrictions on style. So wear what you want, when you want, add a smile, and strut your style with confidence.
Every quarter, we choose a theme and each create an outfit that suits our own personal tastes and fashion choices and we post them on the last Wednesday of every third month. So be sure to go check out everyone’s posts for lots of style inspiration at any age!
Let me introduce the ladies of The Magnificent 8.
- Grace of Graceful Rags
- Mica of Away from the Blue
- Roxanne of Glass of Glam
- Shelbee of Shelbee on the Edge
- Rena of Fine Whatever
- Eugenia of Age of Grace
- Lesley of Jodie’s Touch of Style
- Charlotte of Jodie’s Touch of Style
Keeping it on the edge,
Shelbee
Linking up with these Fabulous Link Parties.
30 Comments
Michelle
I totally love this outfit! Awesome that you were able to remove it from the Poshmark pile. You look fabulous!
Michelle
https://mybijoulifeonline.com
shelbeeontheedge@gmail.com
Thanks so much, Michelle! This outfit made me smile so much! It is definitely a keeper now.
xoxo
Shelbee
Nancy
I think this look is great, I especially love the dress! And the red baret and shoes, boots, ad the perfect touch of colour. Help me remind myself that I need to set a day for next week, my head is full of holes!!
shelbeeontheedge@gmail.com
Thanks so much, Nancy! I am really loving this outfit, too! I will email you a reminder if I can remember! My head is full of holes, too!
xoxo
Shelbee
Tamar Strauss-Benjamin
You look so good in the stripes! Love the barret and the pop of color!
shelbeeontheedge@gmail.com
Thanks so much, Tamar! This is one of my favorite outfits recently and I want to wear it everywhere!
xoxo
Shelbee
jodie filogomo
I know what you mean about not understanding the draw with vests. I only used to style them over a blouse. But now that I have finally figured out how versatile they are, I seem to have collected quite a few, LOL
OOXX
Jodie
http://www.jtouchofstyle.com
shelbeeontheedge@gmail.com
Thanks, Jodie! I jumped on the furry vest trend pretty hard so I have quite a few cozy faux fur vests and then mostly my vests are the long line sweater vests like this one. I find them easiest to style on my frame. I love puffer vests on other people but feel like the Michelin Man when I wear them, but I do still have 2 or 3 puffer vests anyway. Oh, what is wrong with me?! I have too much stuff.
xoxo
Shelbee
Marsha Banks
I can see why you always pair these together! It’s like they were made for each other. I love how the stripes go every which way and then add in the design on the back! Voila! Gorgeous! Love the red accessories, too! There’s just something about red, black, and white, isn’t there?
http://marshainthemiddle.com/
shelbeeontheedge@gmail.com
Marsha, thanks so much! These pieces are so perfect together that I still can’t get over that I found them from two different retailers. I do love adding red to neutral combinations like black and white or black and tan. And of course, I am a big fan of stripes, too. I hope you are having a fabulous week!
xoxo
Shelbee
Lovely
You look amazing in stripes! Love this look head to toe!
xoxo
Lovely
http://www.mynameislovely.com
shelbeeontheedge@gmail.com
Thanks so much, Lovely! I want to wear this outfit every day!
xoxo
Shelbee
Mica
I love all the contrasting stripes and that’s such a fun vest with the tassels too! I can see why you like wearing these pieces together, and the red is a fun pop of colour 🙂
Hope that you are having a great week 🙂
shelbeeontheedge@gmail.com
Thanks so much, Mica! This outfit really did make me feel fantastic! My week has been flying by. I hope you are having a great one as well!
xoxo
Shelbee
Jennifer
You look fabulous in this outfit!!
Jennifer
Curated By Jennifer
shelbeeontheedge@gmail.com
Thanks so much, Jennifer! It made me feel pretty fabulous, too!
xoxo
Shelbee
Suzy Turner
OMG Shelbee, I FREAKING LOVE this outfit!! The vest is divine and it would look good styled in so many different ways but it is utter perfection over this dress. You look so freakin’ gorgeous! And I love that you wore red boots and a red beret. LOVE!
Hugs
Suzy xx
shelbeeontheedge@gmail.com
Aw, thanks so much, Suzy! I love this outfit so much, too! It really makes my soul happy with all the big bold stripes and vibrant pops of red!
xoxo
Shelbee
mireille
I am loving the stripes on stripes! Your vest reminds me a little of a stripes long vest I just donated: I couldn’t find a way that I liked wearing it as I think it was not long enough and gave extra berth at the waist.
Love that pop of red!
http://www.chezmireillefashiontravelmom.com
shelbeeontheedge@gmail.com
Thank you, Mireille! This type of vest is really difficult to style because it is so shapeless. I think these flowy, billowy ones actually look better over other flowy, billowy things. It makes sense that they would look great over something form fitting like leggings, but then you really see all the extra berth around the waist. I will keep this vest really just to wear with this dress!
xoxo
Shelbee
Lee
Loving the contrasting stripes!
Lee | LegalLee Blonde
shelbeeontheedge@gmail.com
Thanks so much, Lee! This outfit makes me so happy!
xoxo
Shelbee
Sheila (of Ephemera)
Fantastic styling of stripe-on-stripe, Michelle! Love the pops of red.
shelbeeontheedge@gmail.com
Thanks so much, Sheila! This outfit really makes my soul smile!
xoxo
Shelbee
Eugenia Hargrove
Shelbee,
It’s amazing that your dress and vest are from two different brands but so complimentary of one another. I love your childhood vest references especially Chachi from Happy Days. All I could think of was the button-up vests my grandfather used to wear while smoking his pipe😳
shelbeeontheedge@gmail.com
Eugenia, thank you so much, my friend! I can picture those childhood vest outfits so clearly! If I had photos of them, I would have definitely shared them in this post. I have to be honest though, I am a fan of the oversized grandfather cardigan vests, too! This was a great theme and I really love how different all of our styles are.
xoxo
Shelbee
Alexandra
So awesome to have both pieces with the black and white stripes, but different thicknesses. Really cool combo!
shelbeeontheedge@gmail.com
Thanks so much, Alexandra! I love how this outfit came together!
xoxo
Shelbee
Patrick Weseman
Looking so nice in that vest.
shelbeeontheedge@gmail.com
Thanks so much, Patrick!
xoxo
Shelbee