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When I was writing my fall business casual outfit post, I realized that I was really excited when I was putting together the plaid section. Why? Well, as I’ve mentioned in that post (and numerous times on here), I love plaid! It was even one of my school colors in undergrad (no joke). But figuring out what to wear with plaid can be hard. You have to walk a fine line so you don’t look too much like you’re trying to be a cowboy, school girl, or a kid who can’t drop that 90s grunge look (this just sounds like the weirdest halloween party ever).
So it seemed like a natural fit that I would share with you what to wear with plaid and the best ways to style it.
Different Styles of Plaid
The Tartan
Personally, my favorite type of plaid. The tartan consists of crossed horizontal and vertical bands in two or more colors. The bands can have different widths and don’t typically have to match each other.
The Check
The check is super simple. It’s (usually) two alternating colors that consist of symmetrical crossed horizontal and vertical. The lines are completely equal in intervals and widths. The easiest one to think of off the top of your head? Gingham, Buffalo, and Windowpane!
The Shepard’s Check
Shepard’s check is small, with even colored checks through the boxes to distinguish it from gingham.
The Houndstooth Plaid
Houndstooth plaid takes after Shepard’s check, but has a more broken and uneven pattern, which, if you start to look at them long enough, start to look like a hound’s tooth.
What To Wear With Plaid
I touched on this in my fall business casual post, but let’s be real here, plaid isn’t just for your work wardrobe! You can wear plaid all week long! But when you’re wearing plaid, it’s important to remember a few things.
If your clothing piece is completely plaid, make it the focal point.
This is really important. Why? Well if you take a look at most of those plaids I mentioned above, they can be really captivating. They can also be loud or attention getting. Either way, they’re going to be what catches someone’s eye, so you might as well embrace it. Because of this, you need to do a few things.
Wear neutrals or solid colors for the rest of your outfit.
Keep the other pieces in your outfit fairly basic.
Keep the accessories to a minimum as well.
If your clothing just has touches of plaid, ignore what I said above.
In this case, hints of plaid are just a fun added touch!
If plaid is your accessory, then you can have fun with it!
I think it really depends on what it is as your accessory. For instance, a plaid scarf or bow is really just a fun touch to your outfit, so you don’t need to plan your outfit around it. Just find a scarf that goes with the outfit, think of like colors.
22 Plaid Outfit Ideas
Plaid as the main piece
I had to let this dress shine on it’s own because it was my first foray (in recent times) of owning a plaid dress. Whenever I’m styling this dress, I tend to stick to blacks or browns for my shoes. I really want all of the attention to be on this dress, so I’ll also pair it with ankle boots or riding boots. No knee high boots with this dress. I’ll save it for my other plaid pieces.
Here are some other plaid dresses and ankle boots for you to wear!
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There are so many ways to wear a plaid shirt, it’s great. As you can see, you can dress it up for holiday parties or work with pencil skirts. Or dress it down for the weekend with black jeans. If you’re wearing your plaid flannel shirts on the weekend, that would also be the time to pull out the knee high boots, like I did in the last picture (though, it’s semi hidden by my bag).
Remember my style tip from above for plaid shirts: your plaid top is most likely going to be focal point of your outfit, so let it draw all of the attention. As you can tell from all of my outfits, I let it be the most interesting part of all out my outfits. I kept the rest of my outfit pretty neutral so the plaid could shine through.
Here are some great plaid tops to shop!
Plaid Skirts and Pants
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Blue plaid pants are my favorite. I checked out a few red pairs, but at the time, they felt a little too grungy (for me at least, if you can pull them off, I’m jealous!). I love to wear these to work, but when I do, I pair it with plain white tops or black sweaters. You’d be surprised at the amount of wear I get from them though. I could easily wear these once a week and not repeat outfits with all of the white and black tops they go with.
Here are more plaid pants for you to check out!
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If you’re going to wear a plaid skirt, I have two style tips for your outfit ideas. First, when you’re picking out your top, go for a solid color that matches one of the colors in your skirt (or is white or black). If you look at any of these outfits above, I did that with every single one of them. (I kind of feel like I was cheating with the black plaid print though).
The second tip? When it comes to picking shoes, watch your height. If you want to have a heel, either make it a riding boot, or pair it with black tights. Otherwise, keep it to tights. This goes back to a rule I mentioned in my Fall Business Casual post: the higher the heel, the longer the hem. Even if you’re not wearing the skirt to work, it’s still a good life rule.
Shop more plaid skirts!
A Touch of Plaid
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Touches of plaid are so much fun and so easy to mix and match! Since the plaid tends to just peek out, you can really wear these pieces with any outfit, weekend or work. Have fun with it and enjoy yourself!
Plaid Shoes
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When it comes to plaid shoes, I go back and forth. Sometimes, I like to make them the focal point (like the first picture). Other times, I like to have the plaid print support the rest of my outfit (the second picture). The trick is to pick which one you want to do and follow that.
Shop more plaid shoes
Plaid Accessories
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I pretty much covered this earlier with scarves and accessories. But I thought it would still be nice to see some examples of different colors and styles of plaid scarves (and vests!).
