Winter is here. “Lights fill the streets, spreadin’ so much cheer,” is what Justin Bieber’s Mistletoe sings to describe this fascinating season full of joy, delicious food, and music. In terms of fashion, winter is that time of the year where we have more room for adding more and more fashion accessories to our everyday look. Cold weather allows us to play with boots, scarves, beanies, gloves, and layers of sweaters and jackets.
And even though every winter is slightly different, this one feels particularly special. After almost two years of living with social distancing protocols, fear for our health and the health of our beloved ones, and a drastic change in our daily routine, it seems like we’ll finally be able to celebrate a holiday season. We’ll still keep safety measures, but at least with a better understanding of how to protect ourselves and how to protect others.
So as we welcome this joyful time of the year to our life, let’s go over the trends that we’ll see in plus-size fashion this winter. You may already own many of these pieces, so it’s a good time to use them with a modern styling that reflects the vibes of this season. Ultimately, the goal is not to buy new clothes every season to be in style. Instead, it is about making smart fashion investments that you can use on several occasions, creating a versatility of outfits without buying unnecessary fast fashion pieces.
Without further due, here are some of the plus-size fashion trends you will be seeing this winter and how you can style them to create breathtaking looks.
Emphasis on Tailoring
The misleading idea that plus-size fashion should only be baggy and have a lot of ease has been going around for a long time. The truth is, we need to let go of that idea. Although there are a lot of beautiful and comfortable pieces full of ease, there is also beauty in tailored garments that walk around the curves of your body. Tailored pieces are about enhancing your body and stopping to cover it with voluminous flowy clothes (which potentially can make people look wider than they actually are). Tailored garments can be sophisticated, elegant, and in many ways empowering.
There are certain pieces that must be tailored or close to your body silhouette so that it doesn’t look odd or sloppy. Think about the beauty of a trench coat that goes around your waist and your hips, accentuating your shape and giving you that chicness of the winter look.
Plus Size Jackets
During the cold season, it is extremely important that you protect yourself in a way that makes you feel good and comfortable. A jacket is an essential piece in your wardrobe, so it’s crucial that you have at least one jacket that is warm, comfortable, and suits you properly. Sometimes small adjustments in the hem, the sleeves, or a quick trip to your dry cleaning place will make a radical change in the way the jacket looks on you, and eventually, that will affect your mood of the day directly.
Plus Size Fashion Belts as a Focal Point
Belts work as a horizontal division that accentuates the waist and gives more emphasis to the curves. Belts are a great accessory that can elevate a look to make it look more interesting. Plus Size fashion belts have been quite ignored for many years, as there is the widespread idea that horizontal lines make you look wider, so the assumption that all belts will make you look wider is very common. But belts can look spectacular in all sizes; it simply depends on the way you style them.
Asymmetry
Asymmetrical garments can be fun, interesting, and very chic. This winter, asymmetrical shapes are coming in all sorts of garments, including dresses, tops, and skirts. These kinds of garments are an opportunity to show some arm or leg. Asymmetrical cocktail dresses, for instance, are popular all year long, so if you already own one of these pieces, you could style it with a piece of faux fur or a chic coat to make it a winter look.
A Monochromatic Look
One-color looks have been popular for a few years now. It seems like the elegance and simplicity of minimalism have taken over fashion, branding, packaging, and many other creative fields. The idea of monochromatic fashion is to recognize the colors that you enjoy the most and put them together in a look. Classic colors like black, white, navy, browns, and olive green are a safe bet for monochromatic looks as you can use them all year long, and you can style pieces between these colors because they go along very well. Be careful with strong colors like magenta, turquoise, or neons, these colors tend to work well in tall and strong bodies as they are bold and loud, but if you feel uncomfortable in these colors, people will be able to see that. So choose your colors wisely to rock that monochromatic look this winter.
Prints, Prints, and Prints
As discussed in the article about Plus size Fashion, prints and plus sizes should NOT be enemies. Prints are a beautiful way to show someone’s personality, and the wide variety of printed plus-size pieces available this season will give you the opportunity to leverage this area. If you are not used to prints, you can start with small and subtle motifs to get out of your comfort zone and slowly get familiar with this design element.
Classic prints like polka dots, stripes, and geometrics, are less likely to go out of style, so having some of these prints in your closet is a smart move for this season and further seasons as well.
The Shacket
During the 2020 Winter season, a hybrid garment that combined the visual elements of a shirt and the functional aspects of a jacket was introduced to the fashion stores, and people around the world are crazy about it. The shacket (shirt + jacket) is coming back this winter with a wide variety of colors, prints, and sizes. Shackets are a casual piece for the everyday look that you can wear with a pair of boots, leggings, or even a maxi skirt. Shackets can have a regular shirt length or go all the way to your ankles; they are the great mid-point between fashion and comfort, as many of these pieces are made of cozy materials for the cold season.
Leather
Every Fall-Winter season, leather pieces come back, matching the different personalities, colors, and textures in which leather can be presented. From cowboy style to rock or motorcycle jacket, real leather quality pieces are a great and smart fashion investment, especially if their designs are classic, as they will not go out of style. Remember that most fast fashion companies present pieces that may look like leather, but are actually made of pleather, which is essentially a synthetic material (pleather = plastic leather). These pieces are cheaply made, and the material will start to tear within a short period of time. When it comes to smart and sustainable shopping choices, it is better to have one piece of real leather than three fast fashion plastic jackets. It will be better for your wallet and better for the environment as well.
Jumpsuit
There are a lot of things to consider when buying a jumpsuit. The fit needs to be on point, the silhouette needs to be flattering, and the design needs to be appealing. Given that jumpsuits are a very popular piece, more fashion companies of all sizes are making jumpsuits in different fabrics for all sizes. Plus Size jumpsuits are a significant step forward to a more inclusive plus size fashion. So if you like jumpsuits, but you have struggled to find one that suits you well, this is the time to look again at your favorite store.
Sequins
During this festive season that concludes a year full of challenges, transitions, and evolution, we are ready to celebrate with music, delicious food, and an outfit that reflects this festivity, gratitude, and growth during these challenging months of pandemic curves and stock values going up and down. As the urge to get out and celebrate is real, fashion is not taking a gentle approach to party clothes, quite the opposite. We are seeing bold colors, sparkle, volume, trims, and all kinds of visual elements that are festive and make us feel happy.
Rock this winter season with a party look that is everything you love, and you’ve always been scared of wearing. This is the moment to celebrate.
During the holiday season, many people get together with their family and friends for potlucks, dinners, and parties. As we get closer to these socially important days, remind yourself that nobody has the right to judge your body. Nobody should tell you weight loss is a positive thing and weight gain is a negative thing unless they are your doctor and have rational evidence to back up their diagnose. In a body-shaming culture where people feel entitled to comment about other people’s bodies, we need to acknowledge the unnecessary peer pressure and anxiety this may cause. After all, your weight is part of your own personal life, not a topic for public debate.
Your body is your very own precious treasure, and you, above everyone, have the opportunity to connect with it and live with it. Celebrate this holiday season knowing that you’ve probably faced several challenges during this year, yet you are grateful and ready for the next chapter and what 2022 is about. Set some boundaries if you need to, take a break to spend time yourself, laugh, cry, and scream, acknowledging all the emotions blooming inside yourself as the end of 2021 approaches, to welcome a new year with a fresh start.
