I’m sure you all have that piece of clothing that you like very much, but can’t seem to be able to pair with anything. I know I have several, so in this article (and perhaps, future ones, too), I am going to try and find ways to style and wear“difficult” items: helping you by helping myself!

Below, I’ll be focusing on styling a sweater that I got as a Christmas present two years ago and have probably worn three times since.

As you can see, it’s a rather chunky sweater, with a nice pattern on the front and a neutral color which should make things easier. The giant problem I’ve had with it is that it is very short! Even as I try to pull it down, it’s still not as long as I’d be comfortable wearing:

(And now my bare stomach is on the internet – awesome.) Anyway, my main concern was finding a way to cover my midsection and also to maintain a balance between the bottom and the chunkier top, so read on to see how I did that.

Table of Contents

1. Start with the simplest solution.

For my first outfit, I went with the most obvious choice, and mixed the cropped sweater with some high-waisted pants. Even though I wore some high platform shoes, by rolling up my sleeves and adding a masculine belt, I managed to keep the whole look casual enough to wear to class on a chilly day.

The key thing to remember here is this: if the top is too short, compensate with high-waisted bottoms! We learned this from the crop tops trend (see: how to wear a crop top): the easiest way to wear them is with high-waisted shorts, skirts, or pants.

2. Go short and sweet!

A short sweater like this is perfect for layering! Here, I wanted to create a more feminine outfit but couldn’t decide between a dress or a skirt. I chose the latter – because this skirt is the kind that sits high on the waist, instead of resting on the hips, I wasn’t worried that I’d be showing too much skin. Of course, you could opt to wear a dress underneath and no one would be able to tell the difference!