Oversized par excellence - YouLookFab Forum

Category

Inspiration

About: Fringe Trend: Oversized Long over Oversized Cropped

Welcome! Read about what to wear and how to wear it on the YLF Blog. Join the YLF Forum to ask specific questions or just chat about fashion and personal style. Or check out the curated list of things we love in YLF Finds.

Outfits Ensembles Trends Advice

Oversized par excellence

approprio

(website)

Veteran

Here's what you can do with an oversized silhouette:
http://www.style-arena.jp/en/t...../1/4/11949

(This young lady once sold me a pair of sneakers. We had a slightly bizarre conversation via Google Translate about Grayson Perry and Kyary Pamyu Pamyu, which didn't make much sense at the time but may in the long run be a significant moment Anglo-Japanese cultural relations. The brand she represents may now be familiar to readers of this forum. She is lovely.)

28 replies

Latest reply was from Angie

Style Fan

Veteran

I like this oversized look a lot. I am sure I wore something like this in the early 90s. Wish I had a picture.
She looks lovely. I thought about this today. Is fashion about making a statement, having fun, making yourself look good (wearing clothes that are flattering), being creative, an art form, the list goes on.

catseye

Veteran

This one somehow worked. The ones featured in this morning's blog post don't work. I wonder why.

Helena

Veteran

That is cool approprio, what about this one? (From whowhatwear). Catseye, I felt the pants were quite boxy in the photos this morning ... Almost a little overdone as if to illustrate the point. I think maybe a flowier oversized pant would be more wearable for off the runway?

This post has 1 photo. Photos uploaded by this member are only visible to other logged in members.

If you aren't a member, but would like to participate, please consider signing up. It only takes a minute and we'd love to have you.

approprio

(website)

Veteran

I think this works while the others don't is because here it's done with humour and panache, while the COS shoot made it look like avant-garde hospital scrubs. There's some fun attention to detail in here which give the look depth and personality. Granted, you probably couldn't do this if you're over 25, but I don't see why an older woman couldn't bring a different interpretation.

ETA: yes TG! like that exactly!

Anonymous

Thank you for posting this. It's nice to see how people actually wear oversized clothes IRL.

Anonymous

Yes, you're right, the COS shoot made it look like avant-garde hospital scrubs. lol!
There is a lot of fashion photography that makes clothing seem very unapproachable.

Anonymous

There's definitely more oomph and panache to this look compared to the Cos outfits. Love the pic TG posted too.

Greenjeans

Veteran

Cute outfit.

Could it be that the COS shoot is intentionally extreme & not meant to be taken literally? I think so. (It's gotten us talking.) I think it's also about training the eye to accept a new silhouette.

Great questions, by the way, Stylefan.

Sharon

Veteran

I'm wearing this silhouette a lot, currently. Partly because it is 30-something degrees and a million percent humidity here and partly because I like the Japanese aesthetic I think it hints at. I realise that bare arms add more structure to this outfit, but this is a current favourite: loose trapeze-shaped dress over Uniqlo culottes.

I get that many people think this is unflattering. I am really enjoying it though.

This post has 1 photo. Photos uploaded by this member are only visible to other logged in members.

If you aren't a member, but would like to participate, please consider signing up. It only takes a minute and we'd love to have you.

viva

Veteran

Approprio: You have the best street style contacts! Love this girl and her look. Incredible texture and playfulness.

Torontogirl: LOVE. To me, that is TOTALLY different than the looks in the blog post. Colors, fabrics, shoes, attitude. As in Approprio's, there is LIFE here. Adore this and would wear it in the right moment, in a city.

Maybe you are right, Laura, about COS trying to push the aesthetic to the extreme. But I am more drawn to the street style images. I want to look at those and talk about them so much more.

Helena

Veteran

Sharon you look fantastic!!

Style Fan

Veteran

Love the look you posted TG. Sharon I love the dress you posted. Looks great.

Astrid

Veteran

The COS pictures look a bit bland to me, but I don't know anyone who buys head to toe outfits suggested in a style book. Normally our wardrobes have grown naturally over time and we combine different brands, old with new, add accessories. Make something our own. I think the other examples here show that. I said in the other thread that I loved looking at the outfits of the women shopping at COS - well not one of them looks like they've come out of one of their fashion shoots.

Style Fan

Veteran

That is a good point Astrid. I love the clothes from Sarah Pacini and Kalinja (Canadian oversized designer) but I have never bought a head to toe outfit from either of them and I have never seen anyone IRL in a total outfit. The lookbooks give us ideas and we might buy a few pieces but then the fun part is to make the look your own.

approprio

(website)

Veteran

Astrid, that's absolutely true. I was just thinking the same thing. I don't find the COS pictures at all inspiring in themselves but that wouldn't stop me from buying the pants if I liked them, because this can be a fabulous look. I found it a bit sad that everyone was being so negative about the idea without looking at it as a blank canvas on which to project your own identity.

I really like what SF says here and in Gaylene's thread: this is about so much more than making ourselves look like attractive baby making machines. I'm a huge fan of the oversized because it's about looking imposing and taking up space.

Just look at Sharon. She looks regal and important, like a queen.

rachylou

Veteran

Sharon - beyond awesome!

Approprio - I think that's it. The COS looks are not much more than scrubs.

Gaylene

Veteran

Approprio, I agree with the wit, humor, and panache aspect, but I'm wondering if prettiness and youth don't play an equally important role in making voluminous looks more widely accepted. Or, as Sharon so deftly shows us, when volume showcases beautiful bare shoulders and feminine accessories.

As for the hospital scrubs analogy (which I loved!), I'm now wondering if it's the combination of volume and minimalism that makes COS so jarring. It's just so....unfeminine? No attempt to soften the starkness of volume on volume to make it more approachable--or flattering?

Angie

(website)

Fashion Stylist

While I don't like the execution of this outfit (the coat kills the look to my eye, making the overall vibe sloppy and not architectural) - sorry to be a spanner *sad face* - But I DID mention a few times in the comments section of the blog post how well the Japanese ladies can pull off this look. I've seen it done really well on women of all ages in blacks, greys and whites on the streets of Japan - and these women are SHORT. So I absolutely don't believe you need to be tall - or slim for that matter - to pull off the look.

Sharon, you look absolutely KILLER STUNNING. But to my point - your outfit has a lot more structure than what we have been discussing.

TG, love that pic of Sienna Miller - again, more structure on top plus heels.

Agree with Gaylene's comment 100%.

Debbie

Veteran

Sharon you look amazing Now this is a look I could get behind.
Gaylene your comment nailed it for me.

Jaime

(website)

Veteran

I had meant to mention on Angie's post that apart from the Japanese influence, the COS looks remind me of The Row, aka what would Mary Kate and Ashley wear. But as you pointed out, the fabric is not luxurious enough, the colors are not beautiful, and the styling, even the bland cookie cutter beautiful model faces does nothing to liven up the one dimensional image. The clothes in motion, on a woman with some life in her face, are another matter.

Sharon you look beautiful.

Sharon

Veteran

Thanks for the kind comments. Angie and Gaylene, those are really helpful observations. I don't hate the COS looks, but I can see that adding structure and femininity to the volume is what makes it feel good to me.

Firecracker (Sharan)

Veteran

Sharon! You look amazing! Who would have thought a dress over culottes could look so stylish.
Approprio, I think this volume-over-volume idea is tricky to execute, but I think you could make it work. I like the example that Torontogirl posted.
I'm wondering if this outfit I tried is similar?

This post has 1 photo. Photos uploaded by this member are only visible to other logged in members.

If you aren't a member, but would like to participate, please consider signing up. It only takes a minute and we'd love to have you.

CocoLion

(website)

Veteran

Popping in to say I like your outfit Sharan (and great to see you!).

Approprio when I saw this morning's post I immediately thought of you. I think you execute this look better than the COS pictures. While the the silhouettes of the COS pictures are dramatic, the pieces aren't as exceptional as yours. Did you decide to keep those pants, the "investment" pants?

skylurker

Veteran

Putting aside her great haircut, the beautiful colour of her pullover, the playfulness of her socks and shoes (great shoes btw ;), and focusing on proportions : I love the look without the topper, it works because the top is not oversized actually, same with the other pics in this thread : no oversized top.
The ill fitting topper ruins the look for me, maybe oversized but right fit would work.

As for the COS outfits, I think Rachylou totally nailed it in her comment "gangsta rap gone Scandinavian", that's what I see now.

Oversized clothes are a fascinating topic : you're right they're regal, the gigantic skirts of queens, the gigantic coats of kings.
They're also linked to subversion : zoot suits, gangsta rap.

lyn67

Veteran

Sharon, YLmore than Fab!!!!!! K2K from me!!!:-)

Anonymous

This is a great thread with much wisdom to help me get my head around the oversize look. I happen to love the pic you posted, Approprio, sloppy topper included. It would never work for me with my age and style, but it adds a cosy, teddy bear element that seems intentional. It's imaginative, personal and unique to her. If I saw this lovely girl in the street, I'd be giving internal applause. (And if I saw her here on an American street I might even verbalise my appreciation!)

Sharon, your tunic/culottes combo is AMAZING. I love it.

approprio

(website)

Veteran

Angie: I cannot argue that it's not a sloppy look. If I tried something like this I'm sure I'd look like an insane bag lady. BUT it's full of wit and character and I would never tire of looking at it. On preview, what Aliona said.

Gaylene: I think you're on the money that the combination of minimalism and oversized is a double whammy, and needs something more interesting to make it fabulous.

Sharan: Thanks for showing us all how it's done. You look brilliant

skylurker: you make some good points about proportion there. And I love a zoot suit.

CocoLion: yep, kept the pants, wearing them now. They are fab. May post some pics in the next week or so.

Angie

(website)

Fashion Stylist

The outfit is definitely full of character, Liz! And for some, that's the most important part about their outfit. The pretty, "doll - like", young and fresh attributes of the wearer make the look. I wish this wasn't the case - but there you have it.