Please critique cowl-neck sweater

I ordered this sweater to try based on 1) cowl neck high enough not to require cami and 1) colors are great—tones of burg-red/gray/black. Would be better perhaps if cowl were in the face-brightening colors, but that’s not a deal-breaker. The gray stripe is actually metallic, but not super shiny.

It is very soft light merino and comfortable. It’s long-ish, so mostly for pants but I think it can work over pencil skirt. Also it’s a goal to find gray wool pants and gray skirt, so ideally I’d have some other color combos than black.

1--out over pants 2--over skirt 3--tucked in pleated trouser

Do you think the silhouette is okay, or does it veer toward yesteryear in some way? Not sure I trust my eye.

I’m not trying to sound lukewarm, I’m just trying to think before adding items. It seems hard to find cowl necks that are high but thin. And I will not cut tags until I do my “tops review” , which may help me see whether this fits in as an upgrade/replacement rather than just another soldier.

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12 years ago

AviaMariah

Veteran

I really like this on you. I think it looks good untucked with the pants and skirt. I'm not so crazy about it tucked...but that may just be me as I'm not usually a "tucker".

Alexandra

(website)

I like all three outfits. My favorite is the skirt one. Not yesteryear, but then I am partial to cowl necks.

K. Period.

I think I'm the spanner here. I'm not in love with it. I feel like it is okay, but not as fabulous as what I normally see you post, if that makes sense. It would be a fine soldier. But it doesn't have nearly the charisma that your pieces normally do. Does that make sense? I think your style has a great combination of traditional backbone brightened with a lot of stylish zip. This sweater is missing the zip to me.

catgirl

I'm with K, though this style is not in my range. I feel like this is a bit too regular for your style somehow. Nothing is off, it just doesn't have that special detail that makes it sing like so many of your other pieces.

Thistle

I am not i love with the sweater. It is not the cowl neck, as I like those and feel they are still on trend. It is the stripes themselves. Something about the pattern placement and the colors makes me think dated.

Thistle has hit on it. The color placement reminds me of 1990s Eddie Bauer (which is still all the rage here...).

unfrumped

AviaMariah and Alexandra, thanks for voting. I think the skirt looks best and that's funny because I need it more with pants, or I expected it to work with pants but not the skirt, actually. I'm wondering if that's the hint toward frumpiness that I'm feeling--it's kind of casual or straight, and the pencil skirt mitigates that somewhat, and for pants I need more oomph in the style.

K, this is what I am wondering. I'm not sure I agree with my wardrobe's "charisma" yet (but boy, thanks for that!), but I am trying to be more discerning and to feel something more wow before I pull the trigger.Like my EF ginormous sweater is funky but feels more fab.

I had thought it might fit...differently somehow, maybe not so straight. So I'm in the camp of, this is something I would have bought because it checked several boxes, but now I realize that if I get this, I'm kinda cutting off the chance to get something fabber.

See--I'm so indecisive!

I just got a couple of items from Garnet Hill and they are duds, going back.
Internet shopping is painful that way.

Suz

I am not in love with it. I don't hate it, but it does feel a bit dated to me somehow. On the other hand, if you tried a semi-tuck, maybe it would work. I don't know how drapey it is.

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