The patterned dress pictured above? It’s too tight. It was too tight when I bought it, and that was 10 years and about 15 pounds ago. But it was $15 and the pattern was so cute and I felt physically incapable of leaving it behind. You know how that goes.
It wasn’t until about a year ago when I discovered dress layering that I finally felt comfortable wearing this amazing frock. And although I would never encourage any woman to actively seek out clothing that is too tight for her body, I know that many women have a snug-fitting item or two that just never makes it to the donation pile. They’ve got sentimental value, they were mind-blowing bargains, they’re JUST TOO GORGEOUS to give away. So here are a few ways to work around a tight-fitting garment. You’ll sense a theme emerging immediately …
TIGHT TEE
- Layer it beneath a vest, blazer, or button-down shirt worn open.
- Layer it beneath an embellished tank top.
- Layer it beneath a sweater, if it’s absolutely skin-tight.
- TIPS: Tuck into your bottoms. Wear with relatively loose-fitting bottoms or flared skirts to create balance.
TIGHT BLOUSE
- Layer it beneath a sweater vest
- Layer it beneath a v-neck sweater and let the collar peek out.
- Layer it beneath a blazer.
- TIPS: Tuck into your bottoms. Button-downs as bottom layers look great with statement necklaces.
TIGHT SWEATER
- Layer it beneath a sheath dress.
- Layer it beneath a blazer.
- TIPS: Too-tight cardigans can sometimes be worn open, but are tougher to disguise than too-tight pullovers.
TIGHT PANTS
- Layer a tunic top over them. This works best with straight or slim-cut pants.
- Layer a duster or long blazer over them.
- If it’s just the waist that’s tight, layer a shorter blazer over them. Make sure your top is a bit on the loose side, too.
- TIPS: If you’ve got pull lines radiating from a zip fly, try to cover ‘em up with a longer top. If the waist cuts into your midsection, make sure your outer layer is thick and sturdy.
TIGHT SKIRT
- Pair with a top, then layer an open shirt dress on top. Belt as needed.
- If a full and/or floaty skirt that’s just tight in the waist or hips, use it as an underlayer. Wear another skirt on top that fits you properly.
- TIPS: If you’ve got pull lines around your waist or hips, try to cover ‘em up with a longer top.
TIGHT DRESS
- Layer an open shirt dress over it (see above).
- If the bodice fits but it’s tight below the waist, layer a flowy skirt on top that will conceal the bottom half.
- If the skirt fits but it’s tight in the bodice, layer a sweater or blouse on top that will conceal the top half.
- TIPS: See this video on dress layering for a demonstration.
Do you find clever ways to wear your too-tight clothes, or do you just get rid of them? Any of these tricks sound useful? Any others to add?
Images courtesy J.Crew.
{ 36 comments… read them below or add one }
The only items I wear that are tight are tank tops, which I use to layer. As a plus size woman, I'm very aware of the fact that when people wear items that are too tight, it often leads to them looking like they are at least 2 sizes larger than they really are. The girls over at Go Fug Yourself are awesome about this, always saying that "No one sees the tag but you!" The few items I have that I've developed a huge attachment to, I generally try to pass to someone else in the family, donate to Goodwill so someone else can have the "luck" they brought me, or in the case of my 3 fancy dresses (2 prom and a bridesmaid) simply kept for the memories, even though they won't ever fit ME again.
fabulous post – love it x
These are all great ideas. Unfortunately, most of them don't work for me…since I just don't like wearing layers. I am "hot-blooded" and even if I wear a sweater or cardigan, I often take it off throughout the day as I get to warm.
A couple more ideas. If the item is stretchy, or all cotton…put it on first thing when you get up. Generally by the time you are ready to be seen, it has stretched to a perfect fit. I always buy my cotton t-shirts like this for that purpose. If I buy them already the perfect fit, they look loose and sloppy halfway through the day.
Also too tight cardigan look great with just one or two buttons done up, experiment to see where works best. Since I am very busty, it is usually right under the bustline for me. It looks stylish and actually is very flattering to have the nipped in sides, especially if it is a dark coloured cardigan.
Ugh–I don't like tight clothes, and also don't think they look good. The one exception is tees/tanks, which I buy on the small side to avoid bulk.
I'm with you as long as the tightness is still in good taste, i.e., not too, too tight and tacky! But I do this when necessary, and I agree it is a great way to hold on to pieces you're fond of that just don't fit as well anymore.
I have a few tight items, but honestly, even if I manage to wear them in a non-sausage manner, it's never worth it (and I should just get rid of them). It's not comfortable; they'll bind at the shoulders, or squish my middle, and I'll be twitchy and grouchy by lunchtime.
I've managed to alter a few things, especially skirts (replacing or removing the waistband does wonders) but things that are just too tight are better left alone.
The exception is knit tops for wearing under things. The tighter the better, there, as long as they aren't squashing me; I hate underlayers that wrinkle and ruck up.
This is one of my most fav outfits ever! What a wonderful way to salvage a dress.
I get rid of them. For me fit trumps all else.
Who is at the top of their game sitting all day in a skirt/pants/top that pulls across the hip or digs into the body?
Who is to say that the temperature won't suddenly change and there you are – stuck in layers you can't remove because part of it isn't presentable.
If you love the fabric then alter it or refashion it so it works.
For anything tight below the waist: control-top tights/pantyhose might make the difference.
Really though, my fit problems don't lend themselves to layering most of the time. I've got a long rise, so I know that trousers are too tight by the loss of blood and nerve function to my lady parts. I'm also short-waisted, which isn't the same as too-tight, but it does need disguising in a lot of garments.
As a result, I've taught myself basic tailoring skills, and will alter a dress to fit me better. Not all garments have the seam allowance that you can just randomly let them out, but you can often rework seams so that the item in question fits you better.
Invaluable tips makes a great post!
x
I did this yesterday, with my too-tight new bargain blouse! I layered it under a strapless dress to hide the straining across the bust.
Great article! And you look gorgeous!
Hooray for layering! I have a few tight dresses, and they just get layered under a skirt if it's too tight around my midsection.
Of course, the tight clothing conundrum occurs occasionally for a variety of reasons (ice cream, for example). I must say, I really hate the feel of tight clothes so I'm more likely to leave them in closet until they fit again – or give them to someone on whom they work.
Life is too short to wear tight clothes. I would be constantly fiddling them and self-conscious about the fit. Not worth it!
If part of the outfit fits, I would alter it. Make a dress a shirt or skirt, or a sweater into leg warmers or arm warmers. Cut the waist band off tight pants Mariah Carey style for casual wearing. These are all super easy alterations–cut and hem the raw edges, nothing super time consuming or crazy.
While I don't really purchase tight clothes, sometimes tight clothes happen. Anyone who has ever had a baby knows that, well, things just don't fit the way they used to fit. Today I am wearing a sheath dress that is a taaaad too tight in the midsection. But when I layer tights underneath it, it works! In fact the tights work to keep in place a blouse that I also layered under the dress. Tights are my new best friends. And keep me feeling more modest.
I'm much more likely to try to save too-tight tops than bottoms, and knits rather than wovens, primarily because bottoms and wovens that are too tight are really uncomfortable (especially when it's the waistband) and just not worth it. I do keep some things (skirts, mostly) that have become too short over time and layer them with longer things.
For years I wore loose and boxy clothes to hide myself, so now that I wear more fitted things (more flattering to my hourglass plus-sized figure) I struggle with feeling that they are too tight when they actually just fit me for a change. Much more common for me to struggle with styling clothes that are too loose: they may fall into my former comfort zone, but they no longer fit the way I want to look.
As you know, you are singing my song here. Thanks for the post … I live in Southern California which makes layering impractical at certain times of the year but I think, with loads of practice and a little chutzpah, I might be able to re-incorporate some of my fave too-small clothes.
Great advice … plus I loved reading all the comments from intelligent, practical girls who know what they like and won't compromise comfort. I would love to "grow up" and be a little more like that …
good tips! but i'm in the life's too short' camp. plus, it turns out tightness around the waist and or hips can aggravate lower back/sciatica troubles…grrr….and the limping, grimacing, etc. doesn't do much for my looks. so i save up and get things that fit.
LOVE this outfit! I've been waiting to see what else you'd pair those shoes with. Very cute and worth the 10 year wait, LOL.
Great tips, I definitely have a few things that are too tight to be worn without some layering, but they come in handy!
Here I am wearing a little boys vest that won't close and used a necklace to string it together:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/futurelint/3923007570/in/set-72157607076423878/
I also sometimes knot oxford shirts that close at the waist but not at the bust over another shirt:
[http://www.flickr.com/photos/futurelint/4641321827/in/set-72157607076423878/]
I do like a tight tank top. Other than that I don't light TIGHT. But I also don't like too loose.
awesome tips!
tight button downs can be used as cardigans, too, and can look really cute with the right accessories!
You guys are cracking me up, here. I should've specified that these tips are meant for clothing that's too tight for visual/pulling reasons, but not so tight it cuts off circulation and makes you miserable! THAT stuff should be donated, as many of you have indicated.
Great look. It is a conundrum – things that look good layered are often too tight to wear alone, and vice versa, and I hate having to have multiple sizes in my wardrobe just for that purpose. I prefer having things that fit as is (what if you had to take off your jacket to reveal your camisole, say – not you Erin specifically, the general you). I have a few tees and tank tops that are layering only, but other than that I'm like many of the commenters that if it doesn't fit, it's out.
I aplaud you for being able to make too-tight garments work with other elements of your wardrobe! Personally, though, I just find too-tight clothing far too uncomfortable (physically) to make wearing them reasonable, even if camouflaged with other items. I can't stand the feeling of being squished for more than a minute. I've learned it's just not worth it, I end up miserable if I wear something too tight. If an item can't be altered to fit or remade into something that fits better, then it's gotta go, no matter how much I love it.
I don't have much of a problem with too-tight clothing (I'll either give it up, use it as incentive to get back on my healthy eating plan OR put it in the back of the closet until later), however speaking of items that you hold onto for sentimental reasons that are totally dated in terms of cut, especially length of the top. I have the longest torso ever (I'm generally taller than most people when sitting, and shorter while standing, lol), so shirts from even two-three years ago are too short for me. I tend to layer and tuck those.
If I find something in my wardrobe that's too small, my 11 year old daughter steals it…well, i am only 4'10"…^_^
I have this white Jane Norman jumper which is not only very pretty, but also very dear to me because it was a present from one of my best friends. It was small to start off with but then with the bit of extra poundage that I'm carrying it seems to have shrunk a bit(ahem). It's quite stretchy, so it isn't tight in the way that it constricts my breathing (am not quite ready to suffer THAT much for fashion), but it's so clingy that it shows more of my anatomy than I'd like to share with the outside world. It was sitting unused in my closet until I recently realised its layering potential for autumn. Now I layer it under dresses, shirts…everything.
I have several blouses that are in a "wear with layers OR ELSE" pile since they are just inappropriate without. Everything else I either give away or save for a skinny day.
Oh, I can't do it. I wish I could. I gained about ten pounds over the last year and a half, and I grew out of a wardrobe full of gorgeous, fitted, Mad Men inspired pencil skirts and dresses. I can technically still FIT into them, but it's uncomfortable, and that's the key thing. When a skirt cuts too much into my belly, even if it's hidden, I feel gross and self-conscious. I find that I just feel better about my curvier self when I wear something that gives me a bit of wiggle room.
(I still have all those old clothes though…I just can't let them go. Maybe I need to do an eBay clearout.)
I just bought a vest in New York that's one size smaller than what I am. It's strictly to wear open over shirts and add visual interest (and maybe a slight bit of warmth).
Otherwise I get rid of clothing that's too tight; I don't like feeling constricted or self-conscious in what I'm wearing.
I love that look! And with the hair back – so chic. Who would ever think that you could take a too-tight dress and use it for a very slimming outfit?
I dont get it, after this last pregnancy, and I lost all the weight, I think, anyway, suddenly all my clothes are too tight under the arms? I am tearing nice clothes and trying to sew them for more room, Anyway, any ideas or thoughts.