The Best Layering Piece Of All Time

I think this was the last topic I had in mind from my trip, but… when I was in Paris… I went shopping at Celine ~just to browse~. I ended up trying on a very excellent grey blazer, which lead me to try on two more blazers, which led the sales associate to bring out this garment that looked like basically nothing on the hanger - it looked like a cardigan at first, but it had pearl snaps, and it had a collar…and two external pockets, and it was super soft and it felt like wool cashmere. I slipped it on, and sparks flew. Fuuuuuuck. I didn’t want to buy anything, or plan on buying anything, but I knew this was the kind of quietly essential piece I’d wear for years and years. I tried it on under a blazer, under my jacket, on its own, with a sweatshirt - it made everything look better. (As an aside, if you like these European mega brands, you’re much better off buying them in Europe - it’s much less expensive.)

And it’s a shirt jacket. It’s a shirt, you can wear it alone, and a jacket - you can wear it over other things. You can also layer it under a bigger coat and it adds warmth without bulk. I’ve always hated the term “shacket” which people use for this category, and I never really saw the point of them…until now. These are magic. Here are some of my favorites, and how I style them.

Of course, if you’d just like to skip all this and shop this letter’s edit, here it is.

A note about the video - I am very sorry about the microphone bumping and tapping around…I’m trying to figure this out!

THE BEST THING I EVER BOUGHT (maybe)

This is the Celine one (I couldn’t find a link, but I love this one, and this one). It’s so soft, so wearable, it’s the most genius thing. It’s super polished without being either tomboy or ladylike. It’s kind of like the goldilocks of layering pieces.

On the left, Celine shirt jacket (try this or this), my son’s sweatshirt (this is sized for adults), and Kallmeyer Le Smoking trousers, which are sold out except in white, but I love these from Theory too. Then, my beloved Loro Piana white flats, but these are also great and have a little heel. In the middle, I added on my Rixo leopard coat to show how the shirt jacket layers. When I buttoned it, the only thing I changed is tossing on sneakers and a ball cap (here’s a shameless plug for my Earl Earl merch, though this isn’t that cap…)

It’s a great thing to dress up my sweatshirt trick (inside out!) and wide-leg pants. This is totally something I would have worn to work when I still went to an office, and now I’d wear it out to a dinner if I’m not sure if it’s dressy or casual. It’s very polished, but also very subtle. But also! See how nicely it layers under a jacket? I’m adding a photo below of how I wore it right after I bought it.

The jacket looks great with everything I’ve tried it with, but I love it especially with wide-leg pants - and then with the snaps all done up, it’s even better. The cropped boxy shape as a contrast to the wide-leg pant is just fantastic. You can see it better in the little video - but I felt very cool.

On the left, me trying it on….and falling in love. My jeans are Wrangler! My all time favorite jeans, and they’re currently on sale for… $30. Yep. On the right, wearing it on the street. Felt great. More about that outfit here.