That statement piece

The statement item. We love it. We probably paid a lot of money for it. But we hardly ever wear it.

Now that is a sadder story than Snape’s unrequited love. It is my mission to fix that (mostly because there’s nothing I can do for poor Severus). Chances are you have at least one thing in your wardrobe that you absolutely adore but never wear because…. there aren’t many occasions to wear it? Because it doesn’t go with many things? Because it’s just slightly out of your comfort zone?

Never fear, fellow human, for none of this matters! If you love it and you want to get value for money because it was bloody expensive, you wear it!

One such statement piece in my wardrobe is my pair of red high-waisted trousers. I bought them from the Topshop Archive collection the day they were released, I just fell in love. I had to get them hemmed because when I tried them on I almost drowned in corduroy, so it was a while before I got to wear them, and even then I wasn’t sure what to wear them with.

As it turns out, the trick is to just spend some time on it! I just put the trousers on and spent some time flicking through my wardrobe, seeing what worked. I tried to find different things for different occasions, because I was worried I might only be able to wear them more formally. So here we have it, my five casual outfits with my favourite trousers…

1) Jacket & crop tee

Trousers- Topshop, top- New Look, jacket- Zara

For me the most important detail of the trousers was the waist and belt- this is what makes them so unique. So my first port of call was a crop top, to really show off that detail. I added a jacket with red details over the top for a bit of warmth. The jacket could be paired with the trousers for a more formal event too, so there’s a bit of versatility there.

2) Sweatshirt

Sweat- Tee & Cake at Topshop

Nothing says casual like a grey sweatshirt. This particular one is a little more cropped so I didn’t completely lose the waist detail. The print on the top (dinosaurs, how can you not love that?) adds a fun touch too, and kind of adds a more relaxed feel to the look. Plus congrats to me for using a skip as a photo opportunity.

3) Light jumper

Jumper- New Look

This is my absolute favourite look! It might have helped that I brought the sunglasses back so I don’t look as squinty but still.. Because the jumper is so thin it can be tucked in and it kind of streamlines my upper half, emphasising how massive the trousers are. There’s red so it all ties together nicely, but not so much that I look like Carrie on prom night. Plus there’s a whole retro thing going on which I guess is good because that’s what the trousers were made for.

4) Patterned shirt

Shirt- Primark

To continue the vintage theme, I though it was time to add a vintage style pattern (it’s a problem I have). The small amount of red in it again keeps us in the right place on the 0 to Carrie-covered-in-animal-blood-and-about-to-go-mental scale so that’s a bonus. I could pop a cardi or jacket over it for a colder day too, so I have options.

5) Denim jacket and tee

Jacket- charity shop, tee- Zara

This outfit works on the same principle as the grey sweatshirt- pick the most casual things you own, and it can’t fail to make any outfit an everyday one. The white and denim means that colour-wise, the trousers really (at the risk of sounding like an interior designer having a mid-life crisis, cough Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen) pop.

So now I’m all set to wear my trousers all week, and not get out of my pyjamas on weekends. Excellent! Now off you go, pop on your snazziest pieces and pick 5 ways to wear them!

P.S. this was all an elaborate way of me justifying buying this pair of jeans:

Aren’t they just the most beautiful pair of jeans you ever saw? Click through for more from Dirty Disco, they have lots more rad stuff and they also own this photo.