Six Peplum Outfit Ideas

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When peplums came into fashion a few years ago, I originally dismissed them. I equated them with empire waists and I assumed they just wouldn’t work. Luckily, I quickly realized how wrong I was, and plunged headfirst into the trend. This trend has stuck around though, and thank god! Peplum tops and dresses are so wonderful and can be worn year round!

What is a peplum piece though?

A peplum style piece is one where the item is taken in at the waist and then flares out at the hips to create an hourglass figure. It’s a perfect style if you either want to create the illusion of the hourglass figure or if you just don’t feel great about the top of your jeans that day (uh, me right now). It’s also been adopted as a second style for dresses where the dress can have a hem below the hips or mid-thigh to recreate a flared or ruffled look on the dress.

The other great thing about peplums is that you can wear it for everything from casual to formal wear. Since I’ve seen it in basically every way, I thought it would be fun to share peplum outfit ideas for every occasion!

Six Peplum Outfit Ideas

The Peplum Dress for a Wedding or Work

What I love about both of this dresses is that I could switch them and they would work with either pieces. Both dresses are work appropriate and both dresses could be worn for a wedding.

This pink dress is the secondary peplum style I was talking about earlier. The cute little peplum ruffle at the bottom helps to accentuate the legs and hips, but in the way. For a wedding, I would pair this dress with block-heeled sandals and a fun layered necklace to make the outfit a little more fun. For work though, just switching out the necklace for little pearl hoops and the sandals for pumps makes it completely work appropriate.

The navy dress is the perfect example of a peplum dress. The peplum creates the illusion of a small waist and more accentuated hips. I also LOVE the look of the peplum over the pencil skirt bottom. This dress would also be great for work or a wedding with a cocktail dress code. You could either pair it with the block heeled sandals or a pair of fancier pumps. Now, I wouldn’t necessarily pick the necklace I have here for the navy dress, but I have few other suggestions in the widget below.

Other options

I’ve also added some cute sleeveless peplums and other dresses to the widget below. These dresses are too cute and can also be worn to either work or weddings!

The Long Sleeve Peplum Top for Office Attire and Everyday Wear

You know I love a top that can do double-duty. This one is PERFECT for that. It actually reminds me of a peplum top I bought from Madewell a few years ago that I love. The great thing about this top is that the long sleeves, stripes, and fabric, make it reminiscent of a typical button up top. In my mind, this makes it work appropriate. So for an office attire outfit, I did a simple combination. I picked out a pair of navy pants, simple flats, cute earrings, and a bag (because you need to carry your work things some how!

Before we move on to the casual outfit, let’s talk about picking out pants for this peplum top. Whenever you’re picking out pants for a peplum top, I would typically suggest following the loose on top, fitted on bottom rule. Since this peplum is super loose on top, you should typically pair it with fitted work pants or skinny jeans. Honestly, even if your peplum is fitted, you want to pair it with a fitted bottom to help the peplum create that pear shape you’re looking for. The only exception I can think of is if you’re going to wear peplum tops that are super loose and pair them with palazzo pants. Because for some reason palazzo pants just seem to always work. I don’t understand it either.

With the casual look, I went with the rule above and pair it with skinny jeans. I also picked my current favorite and super comfortable J.Crew flats. I also love how forest green pairs with light blue, so I thought this bomber jacket would be perfect with this outfit for a casual outing.

Other ideas and other peplum tops (and blazers!)

I also wanted to add, you can sub out this top for a which peplum top and style it basically the same way for an equally cute look. I’ve added some cute options to the widget below!

The Black Peplum Top for Everyday Wear

So I really wanted to find a leather peplum top or at least a black peplum top with a leather peplum top, but I couldn’t find what I was looking for at a reasonable price, so we’re going to go with this top, which is still super cute.

Even though this is a black peplum top, all I could think about was styling it with white skinny jeans for super summery looks! (Can you tell I have spring and summer on my mind?) I love the idea of styling it with brightly colored shoes, sunglasses, and attention getting necklaces. The coral sandals are perfect for date night, while the yellow mules are a perfect day shoe. You can check out my Target post where I rave about both here.

Other options

If my brain was in more of a fall or winter outfit mindset, I would probably have black skinny jeans or faux black leather leggings on my mind. This top would go perfectly with either of those two pieces. Would it be too much black? Nope, just pair them with a colorful or patterned boot or a colored blazer so you don’t get cold from the short sleeves. It’s all about how you layer everything!

How do you feel about peplum pieces? Have you left them only to fashion bloggers or have you embraced peplum tops?