Comfortable clothing is a priority for most of us. Fortunately, it’s easier than ever to Finding Comfortable Clothing That’s Also Stylish! And while we all have personal definitions of comfort and style, the two needn’t be total strangers.
The trick is finding the sweet spot between comfort and style that speaks of effortless elegance, easily achieved. The sweatpants and hoodie you wear while binging Netflix, for example, don’t represent the kind of comfort I’m going to talk about here. I’m going to talk about comfort that looks as good as it feels, presenting you at your best, while answering your demand for a relaxed fit that moves with your body. Let’s explore the harmonic convergence of comfort and style!
Sportswear That Offers Sleek, Soft Comfort
Sweats, hoodies, and other sports-related comfort casuals have undergone a material upgrade in recent years, with runways featuring luxury athleisure sportswear as the elevation of comfort to high style. In this context, athleisure is transformed. It becomes “athluxury”, bearing the stamp of revered fashion houses like Gucci and Prada.
Sleek and pared down, this year you’ll see sportswear track pants with sport coats and moto jackets. Lucidly relaxed, the new athleisure caresses you with softness. Using fabrics increasingly woven from recycled materials like sea plastic, new sportswear collections are so touchable, you’ll never want to take these clothes off.
From zip-up jackets to smart shirts that conform to your body with clever, youthful cuts, casual sportswear has changed. Luxury materials bring the comfort of casual sportswear to a new level of elegant style. In softly caressing fabrics that center the environment, the new evolution of sportswear is part of the solution.
If It Fits, You Sit (Comfortably)
Is it time to reassess your wardrobe? Do you have clothing items in your closet you no longer wear because they don’t fit properly? You’re not alone, readers. We all have secrets tucked away at the back of our closets. They’re too big, too small, impulse buys, and out of fashion. But there’s hope for our sartorial secrets.
Don’t just cycle through clothes that don’t fit you. If you really like the piece of clothing in question, have it tailored? Take it in, let it out, or hem it to resurrect it from the back of the closet. You can even take this process a step further and streamline your pieces by having your wardrobe custom-made for you from the start.
Also make sure that you don’t sacrifice a favorite to the charity store because of a dated detail like a collar, pant width, or jacket lapel. A competent tailor can switch things up, reinventing your beloved piece of clothing and making it a “one-off” in the process. Best of all, it’s already in your closet! Winning!
Adaptive Clothing
Every human body is unique, with its own quirks and realities. But some realities can make finding comfortable clothing that’s also stylish difficult. Readers with atypical physical abilities and unique traits know I’m right when I say that being stylish is for everyone. With adaptive clothing, people who want a style that responds to their specific needs are off to a running start.
Most commonly associated with ASD, Sensory Processing Disorder can make finding comfortable clothing that’s also stylish a challenge. SPS can create severe discomfort from clothing features like seams, buttons, and fabric textures. Adaptive clothing seeks to remedy that, offering a style that rises to the sensory occasion. By finding unique solutions to common sensory triggers, fashion is slowly finding its way to a community hungry for adaptive style.
Shoes you can put on with one hand, magnetic zippers, buttons, and so much more are making dressing more adequately adapted to varied abilities. And with adaptive clothing making fashion inroads at a clip, Gucci is a coming attraction!
Blissfully Happy Feet
You might feel like a million bucks walking out the front door in those new shoes but if they don’t fit well, that won’t matter. By 2 pm, you’ll be miserably uncomfortable. Because when your feet aren’t happy, life is not a bowl of cherries. Meet the needs of your feet by understanding what those needs are.
There’s more to footwear than function and appearance. We often forget that human feet are all different. While sizing is a convenient guide, one size certainly does not fit all. So your first job is to be aware of the shape and width of your feet when buying shoes. Not all styles match all foot shapes and widths (no matter how much we love the shoes).
Remember to turn over your footwear wardrobe occasionally. Shoes don’t last forever and if you’ve been wearing the same pair of tennis shoes for 2 years you’re not getting enough foot support. Also, there’s no style in an old pair of tennis shoes, so banish them. How can you enjoy your stylish comfort when your feet aren’t happy? It’s not happening, so give them the love they deserve.
Building Comfort and Style
Now that you’ve earmarked some of your clothing for tailoring, let’s see what the general mood of your closet is. Somber? Colorful? Classic? Take a good look at what you’ve got in there and at it in terms of a total style message.
Stylish comfort has an edge, so use the pieces you’re tailoring (because you love them) as a guide. What is it about them you love? The colors? The cuts? The fabrics? Whatever those factors are, seek to complement them. If you’re monochromatic, add a flash of red in a pair of socks or a cobalt blue scarf. If you’re fleece centric, add a nubby winter tweed jacket or breezy linen summer trousers. Small flourishes are the thin edge of the style wedge.
The makings of a comfortable, stylish wardrobe are right in your closet. With a little help from emerging fashion trends that bring comfort to style, what you have in that closet is a personal style message that’s ripe to be deciphered. Comfort and style are natural allies. Unite them in the quiet confidence of comfortable casual elegance