Your outfits are fantastic. They all have such unique silhouettes. Do you have any tips on layering?
Thank you so much! Okay, prepare for a photo heavy post. I mostly used my strega and mori outfits for this, but this applies to just about every type of layered fashion.
Often times, I do my layering based around the bulkiest item I want to wear that day. For example, say I want to wear a jacket of some kind. That usually means I focus the layering on my torso, and only wear one layer at the bottom, such as leggings, pants, or a single skirt. You can also reverse it. Want to wear a bunch of frilly skirts? Keep things minimal at the top. Think of it like either a mountain (heavier layering at the base) or a tornado (more layers at the top).
I also like to contrast angles and rounded edges. Flared stuff, high-low pieces, and handkerchief hems lend themselves easily to that type of layering. I live for dramatic fabric fluttering, so I try to make some of my layers lighter than the others to help them trail along as I walk. Using lots of fabric textures/shades will make your outfits more dynamic, while using only one/two shades or textures give a more streamlined or ethereal effect.
For sectioning, I think of my body as blocked out pieces. For example, in a simple outfit, I'm two pieces. Torso and legs. Now, I can put the cut higher up to make my legs look longer, or lower down to give proportional balance
I could also layer the first section to have a higher hemline, with various degrees of extremity, creating things like this:
In a more complex outfit, I sort of cut myself into three or four pieces. Say the first piece is just my upper torso, the second is from my waist to my upper thighs, and the last is my knees to my feet (I also labeled the shades on the first pic and where I used them)
There are a few other tips and tricks, but those are the ones I can think of off the top of my head. When all else fails, I go for either an accessory based outfit (left) or throw every last arbitrary rule out the window and just roll with it and have a good time (right)