Tag: Holidays

Now, how do we bring these holiday clothes into the rest of the year?

Here are some of my favorite tips for styling holiday items for every day:

• Casualness is your friend. Most holiday items are polished, fancy, or elegant… or at least we style them that way for the holidays. Pair them with more casual or basic items to dress them down for daily wear.
• Mix in spring and summer hues for balance. Pinks, blues, purples, oranges, and neons aren’t generally associated with the holidays. So add them to your ‘fits to avoid looking “holiday.”
• Layer, layer, layer. Layers will help you transform holiday clothes into interesting parts of a look. Layers can also help you cover up holiday-themed details.

Cute Outfits with Holiday Items:

Outfit 1 (Easy): Metallic Items

The first type of item we’ll style — and probably the easiest to wear year-round — is the metallic statement piece.

Metallics are easy to take out of the holidays with a few tweaks. They are also the easiest pieces to transition into warmer weather if you desire.

To create this look, I took a silver midi skirt and paired it with an oversized pink button-up shirt. Then, I layered on a bright pink sweater. Finally, for shoes, I went for pink high-tops.

This is an example of styling metallics with spring and summer hues. Thanks to the pinks, this doesn’t read as a Christmas or New Year’s outfit at all.

Also, it’s an example of dressing down a formal piece. The sneakers and loose-fitting tops give the skirt a casual vibe.

Outfit 2 (Easy): Colorful Tights

After the holidays, it is still winter. We still want to look cute and be warm, and tights are always an ally for that.

This year, colorful tights took the world (and holiday parties) by storm. Cherry red and burgundy tights, in particular, were everywhere this season.

These burgundy patterned tights are amazing for holiday parties, but let’s take them into the new year.

For the base of this look, I went classic with a white button-up shirt and a faux leather pleated mini skirt.

To layer, I wore a dusty blue, chunky knit sweater with a red mushroom pattern. Then, I threw on my burgundy tights and finished the look with burgundy loafers.

Tights, like metallic items, are one of the easiest holiday items to wear year-round.

My recommendation is to pair red or burgundy tights with blues and pinks. They work so well together and make for a really interesting color combo.

If you want to wear a patterned piece with those tights, as I did, look for an item that includes the color of your tights to tie the outfit together.  

Outfit 3 (Medium): Velvet Items

Now, let’s move on to velvet items.

It’s no secret that velvet is the preferred fabric of the holiday season. It is soft, cozy, and has a subtle yet elegant shine.

From dresses to suits, pants, capes, and bows, you name it; you’ll find it in velvet come December.

For my velvety look, I wanted something subtle and put-together.

First, I wore a pair of black velvet pants. Then, to dress them down, I added a white cotton T-shirt. Then, I threw on a black moto jacket. Finally, keeping with the black and white theme, I wore Nike Cortez sneakers with white socks.

The key to wearing velvet year-round is to balance it with other textural fabrics, like leather. In this case, both fabrics have a bit of shine but completely different vibes.

Again, adding casual pieces like sneakers and a white tee helps dress down this formal holiday item.

Outfit 4 (Medium): Sequin Dresses or Skirts

What about all of our NYE sequins?

All that glitz and glamour cannot stay inside our closets for an entire year — life is too short!

Layering and contrast are the keys to styling them outside of the holiday season.

(For a more detailed guide on how to wear sequins, read our article here.)

To create my sequined look, I started with a silver sequined dress. Then, I layered with a dark teal shirt and closed the shirt. Since both items are loose-fitting, I folded the shirt to create the illusion of a waist.

To accessorize, I grabbed another pair of colored tights, this time in teal. Finally, I wore black platform boots and a black crossbody bag.

Dressing down sequins is easy when you choose the right fabrics.

In this case, the shirt is a flannel, and the tights, while colorful, are matte. The “sandwich” of blue items takes a bit of the attention away from the sequins, creating balance.

Outfit 5 (Difficult): Christmas or Ski Sweaters

Christmas and ski sweaters are tricky. They have a lot of elements that place them firmly in the seasonal items category. (Think snowflakes, reindeer, poinsettias, Santas.)

But there is a way of wearing them outside of the holiday season. Especially ski sweaters.

My favorite way to wear these sweaters after the holidays is to pair them with either non-seasonal patterns or neon colors.

For my sweater outfit, I wore a grey ski sweater with a bunch of bright spring colors and neon yellow. Then, I added a satin neon yellow shirt and wide-leg pants. For shoes, I chose crisp white booties.

As you can see, this is a fun and cool outfit, and I don’t look like I’m still hanging on to the holidays.

If you have one of these sweaters with a few colors on it, embrace it. Just like I did, choose one of the colors and run with it for the rest of your items, especially if that color is not green or red.

If you’re styling a more Christmas-y sweater, e.g., one with a massive Rudolph on it, I would either try to cover as much of the graphic as possible with layers or create a kitschy look with bold prints and colors.

Outfit 6 (Difficult): Christmas Dress

Then there are the Christmas dresses. You know, the ones with cute patterns, green cozy fabrics, red details, and probably more than one bow.

These dresses are both easy and hard to style because they tend to have a lot of details and feature heavier fabrics. But layering comes to our rescue again!

(For more details on how to layer like a pro, read our article on it here.)

To exemplify what I’m talking about, I chose a dress with everything I mentioned above. For Christmas this year, I wore this gorgeous green corduroy long dress with a teddy bear pattern.

To bring my dress into the new year, I wore it under an oversized white button-up shirt. Then, I took the beige from the teddy bear pattern and added a beige sweater. Finally, I chose some white sneakers to tone everything down.

Like I said, this dress is very holiday season-y. But I love it so much that I want to wear it as often as I can.

In general, if you have a dress like this or one you feel is like this, tone it down with your layers. Go for neutrals, solid-colored pieces, and simple fabrics.

The same goes for shoes: think casual, like sneakers, flats, or loafers.

Outfit 7 (Difficult): Christmas PJs

Finally, it’s time to style our trickiest item. And guess what: whether yours are knitted, satin, or flannel, you definitely own a pair.

I’m talking about Christmas PJs.

They’re cute, they’re comfy, they’re cozy, and you can wear them out of the house. The key is to style them as if they were any co-ord set in your closet.

For my final outfit, I’m wearing just the pants of my Christmas PJs.

The pants are loose-fitting. They also are off-white and dark red with a tiny houndstooth pattern.

To pull this off, I switched the PJ top for a blue denim shirt and tucked it in a little bit. Then, I layered on a dark grey sweater and tucked that in. For shoes, I chose a pair of off-white loafers and off-white socks to accessorize.

PJs are tricky, but once you learn how to style them, they can add so much variety to your closet! This is especially true if they are made of flannel or satin.

In contrast to the advice I gave elsewhere in this post, the best items to match with PJs are formal, like blazers, loafers, and oxford shirts. This creates the contrast needed to style such an informal item.

What do you think?

Now I’d love to hear from you.

What are your favorite holiday clothes? Would you wear any of the outfits? What’s your favorite way to style your seasonal items after the holidays?

Also, if you have any styling questions, let me know in the comments below!