How do you make a puffer look chic?

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What you are witnessing is a real-life text message that came in last week from my friend Alexia. The timing was fortuitous bc the day before I was walking down lower 6th Avenue and noticed a young woman wearing the dob kit bag thing we (as in Man Repeller) made in 2018. She also had on a puffer, track pants, loafers, and a beanie and looked really fucking cool. Which made answering the aforementioned Alexia v easy:

Way 1: Copy the dob kit girl! For weekend casual/sKeWL drop-off vibez

The Row sunglasses (these are so good too), Finger in the Nose (srsly, that’s the brand name) puffer, Venstore pants (I do like the Wales Bonner/Adidas collab too; don’t hate Marimekko either!), Tod’s loafers (Real Real score for real real, last February, 65 buckaroonies; if you’re a size 8, I found them for you for $40)

Just wear track pants (or wool pants, whatever) and loafers. If your loafers are chunky, it helps when the pants are slightly cropped, thus exposing your ankle and breaking up the bigness. More refined loafers work that way too (as evidenced above) but they’re good with baggier pants as well.

It was hot for a beanie on this day, and I’d have probably gone the balaclava route anyway, but isn’t the bag good? I have a few left over, if you want to buy one! And there are shit loads of dolphins, meanwhile, on The Real Real.

Way 2: With a dress or a skirt

This coat is reversible, I don’t think I mentioned that! It’s paired with a Skall Studios striped sweater and Marc Jacobs wool mini skirt, from TRR/here’s one for you. That’s the outfit on the left (plus Calzedonia tights and Louis Vuitton slingbacks — I recommend these on the expensive end, or these on the less expensive one) and on the right, I’m wearing a Patou dress (here’s an alt that I think I’m going to get?), Falke socks (truly the best) and Manolo Blahnik sandals I got from The Real Real while I was breastfeeding one middle-of-the-night in like, April 2018.

On the left, you have the casual, I-kind-of-want-to-be-Italian-or-at-least-I-follow-Jenny-Walton’s-instagram-account-rather-closely way to integrate your puffer in an intentional manner (weight on top with the sweater and puffer, but left open to show the waist of the mini skirt, paired with completely opague tights and round toe mid heel slingbacks with a block heel for a twinge of heaviness)

…And to the right, you have the Christmas dinner edition, which is my favorite event to outfit ideate for on the account that I don’t celebrate Christmas. The socks are key and actually so is where they hit (the shin) because they add weight to the bottom half of the outfit which makes the coat seem less like an after thought.

Way 3: Turn intention on its head

Illesteva sunglasses, but these from J. Crew are v good for $69, Dada x Leandra scarf, La Veste button down (but I found this AWESOME ONE from L.L. Bean for $39 by googling “Liberty print shirt”), Citizens of Humanity jeans (can’t recommend The Libby — on sale here — enough), Gucci cage loafers (if someone generous still wants to get you a holiday gift, these exist too) and, duh, Finger in the Nose puffer.

Probably the most interesting way to consider styling a puffer is with another no-brainer (or alternatively, unintentional) garment, like a pair of jeans. So that’s what I did here. Nail the basics, then start to build a gravy tower.

You can probably style your look with a sweater or knit polo or wtvr just the same but I wanted to add another print with a wacky collar (oversize peter pan *and* quasi-puffy) to really drive home the point that the bread and butter basics of your wardrobe (easiest, most no brainer clothes) are also your BFF.

Keep them close but don’t forget JAM IS WHAT MAKES THE SANDWICH SWEET. So I tied a scarf into my hair (Dada x Leandra!) and added sunglasses (Illesteva) and a printed blouse with caged loafers; maybe you’ll want to try boots or a sweater but do something risky for your top half! It feels good when it pays off.

Bonus tip:

If the weather is more inclement and you need some boots but it’s not like, freezing outside and you don’t feel like zipping up the coat and hate the collar when it’s not upright, you might want to try using a brooch or pin to close it at the top. I don’t have one of those, so first I tried an earring then fucked up the post of the earring and settled on this clasp-clip of my daughter’s. I mean, technically, it’s mine but she wears it more often.

Up next in style challenges from How to wear, per my other friend Lauren: WHAT KIND OF SHOES ARE YOU SUPPOSED TO WEAR W THE LONG PANTS DU JOUR?

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Yours truly,

Baruch Spinoza