Great advice, Angie! I have been doing this myself!

YES! I love sleeveless dressing yearround! Layers are wonderful for adapting to changing temperatures in different environments thoughtout the day – from my freezing train platform to steamy train car and on to my chilly walk through the city to my somehow perenially sun-baked office and then the same routine in reverse. And I agree about the sleeve bunching issue – completely avoided!

I do this almost exclusively in the winter, since winters are so warm here. It works quite well. Thanks for the great advice, Angie!

Angie thanks so much for posting this! I is only JUST starting to get somewhat cool here in the south, but even so much of our winter tends to be mild.I too feel the cold very quickly, including in air conditioned rooms during the summer, so the use of short sleeved garments under longer sleeved ones is something I have been working on.Until this year I had only been doing it during the summer when I transitioned from outside to inside cool rooms, but this fall I have started layering as you suggested in your post today. It’s wonderful–I feel like I am using my clothing so much better, and adding to my fall wardrobe! I have not done it yet with dresses but will try with a few summer-weight wool sheaths

Great tip! I did this yesterday. Trying to get my post up now.

What a great advice! I have also been doing this lately, and it really gives you so much more wardrobe possibilities, especially since I have a bunch of pretty sleeveless blouses.

Another thing I do when it gets colder is to layer a super thin silky knitted long-sleeve undershirt (like those Wintersilk ones) with a deep scoop neck in nude/black under the sleeveless top. You can not see them, you are not going to remove the layer covering the sleeveless top anyway, and you get so much more mileage out of the things you already have.

Since YLF, I have been layering much more than I had been before. It is just so versitile. I plan to wear many of my sleeveless tops over long sleeves and add a jacket or cardi. It just expands the options!!!

Susan D

Wearing sleeveless tops underneath long(er) sleeves is something I just started doing a few months ago, and I love it. It definitely extends the season for some of my blouses and dresses. I just need to invest into some cozy and neutral camisoles to wear underneath for an extra layer of warmth.

Ditto to Ana. This is how we get along here. Today is going to reach near 90 again, but indoors is chilly from the a/c. So sleeveless tops with jackets or cardigans is the best option. I can see myself sporting this formula nearly year-round.

Absolutely! My sleeveless dresses and tops get year-round wear. Even in the dead of the Minnesota winter I can typically find ways to make them work.

I’ve been wearing a lot more of my sleeveless items this fall. Just yesterday I wore a dressy sleeveless top as a vest over a button-down blouse. Last week, I wore one of my favorite sundresses with a cardigan and a leather blazer over it.

I’m doing this today!

Since I am naughty and wear cap sleeves, I just layer over those and it works out fine since the sleeve is so minimal. I have a sleeveless tunic that I like to layer OVER long sleeves as well. My arms get cold VERY easily though so the cardigan-over-short-sleeves idea is short-lived. I’ll be in long sleeves by Halloween.

Good to hear I’m not the only one who likes to wear sleeveless tops and frocks for at least 9 months of the year! And we have a proper Autumn and Winter in Seattle. There is nothing mild about our cold temperatures like you’ll feel in TX, FL and CA.

Nice tip from Tanya. I layer with warm camisoles too.

Nice tip from Maya. Layering sleeveless tops over certain long sleeved tops is a great idea too.

Like Kristers, I’m dressed like this today. I’m wearing a camisole, black sleeveless sack dress, cropped tailored grey and white pinstripe blazer, textured hose, white 20 eyelet Docs and a funky long biker pearl necklace. It’s barely 55 degrees today, so when I’m outside, I’ll pop on my trench.

I’m with Tanya on the silk thermals. I thrash them!

Great post! I’m sure many people will find this useful. Besides, indoors are always warm anyway, so sleeveless clothing never goes out of style.

-meream

As I type! I’m wearing an empire waisted sleeveless black dress with a striped T under and a cropped denim jacket on top – I layer year-round as my office is freezing in the morning and ver warm in the afternoon.

Even in bitter Midwestern weather, I wear sleeveless tops in two ways: as a bottom layer under the long-sleeved top and/or sweater, like the undershirts my mom made me wear as a kid, and as a top layer over something with sleeves. I really like wearing a cap-sleeved or sleeveless blouse over a long-sleeved tee (like I am right now!). I prefer a blouse to a sweater as a top layer, especially under a close-fitting winter coat.

I’m going to try wearing a cashmere sweater underneath my new cap-sleeved denim dress–the sweater has fun stripes and I should feel toasty warm. . .

I do this all the time. I find sleeveless tops to be great layering pieces, and a lot more comfortable than doubling up on the long sleeves. I get warm really easily so I even use sleeveless tops as laying pieces during the cold Chicago winters — and with a warm puffer jacket on outdoors, I feel nice and toasty. And when I’m indoors, the temperatures are always warm so sleeveless layering works really well as well.

I do this every so often and find it very helpful in stretching the wardrobe… particularly now, as it is getting me some extra wear (and therefore options!) out of my summer maternity tops. Woo hoo!

Also, I prefer an open neckline on tops (more flattering to my neck and face – and I like collarbones) and find that a nice-but-not-deep scoop is easiest to find in summer tops. Winter knits seem to be either quite high-cut (turtlenecks or crews) or very, very low scoops or vees – I suppose with the intent of wearing a pretty layer underneath. Layering my sleeveless tops in the winter gives me more of a chance to enjoy the modest scoop which is my favorite neckline.

I wear sleeveless year-round – I find most buildings here (except my work) are way overheated in the winter, so I like the ability to cool down. Love it!

I try to avoid using sleeved tops as inner layers because the sleeve tends to ride up when you put the outer layer on. Bunched up sleeves are definitely not a good look.

This reminds me of a problem I run into: how to layer over a top that isn’t smooth. I have a sleeveless top shaped similar to the gray one above, with a very drapey neckline. It always looks awkward when I put another layer over it — the drapey part makes it look as if there’s even more fabric underneath that would just burst out if I unzipped my sweater or whatever. How do you layer over an item like that in a way that doesn’t conflict with its volume and styling?

Ha, at first I thought “what happened to Angie”, since I know you’re often cold and I thought you suddenly recommended actually going sleeveless. But then I understood your post and it makes total sense, and I already do this as well. I have a few tops that are sleeveless but decidedly more autumn-y than summery, mostly due to their colors (e.g. dark teal, fuchsia), and they work very well under cardis and little jackets. And sometimes – often on an especially dreary day like in Seattle today – I choose a bright red summer top under a darker jacket for a deliberate pop of bright color.

Absolutely! I used to never buy anything sleeveless since I have “big” arms and shoulders but since I discovered layering, I have stocked up on sleeveless tops. I realized that wearing short-sleeved tops under cardigans, sweaters or jackets like I used to actually added alot of unnecessary bulk to the very area about which I was most concerned. Having a sleeveless layer is so much more streamlined and I pretty much do this year round at this point!

EXACTLY what I wore today…sleevless black turtleneck, black skirt, silver long boyfriend cardi with jewel bottons and silver shoes…I get soooo much wear out of these sleeveless turtlenecks year round

Great Post!!

I totally did this today!

Yes, I love to layer. I’m finding that this is very important at my job, because the temperature fluctuates so wildly there. Hot, cold, hot, cold, hot, cold. The sweater comes on, off, on, off….

I’ve often suspected stylists cut off the sleeves on tops for photo shoots (so things don’t bunch and layer more readily). angie, would you have any insight into this?

While it often turns very cold quickly here, I’m hoping this idea works to get more wear out of those jackets and heavy cardigans that are usually too warm to wear inside but not warm enough for outerwear. By going sleeveless underneath I may be able to wear them indoors if the heat isn’t turned up.

I wear sleeveless shells all winter long under long cardigans here in TX. They are fantastic.

I haven’t read the other replies yet but YESSS!!!! This is a trick I absorbed from YLF, for every reason you list, but also, being perimenopausal, this strategy works great for me lately, allowing me to peel off layers down to a sleeveless top, even in winter, when a hot flash hits.

I am totally into layering! I’m not a big fan of bulky indoor sweaters so it works for me.