July can be a sleepy month in fashion—if not in American politics—so we thought this would be an ideal time to do an investigation on some of our favorite runway trends from the past year; focusing on trends that were styling-based as opposed to a new garment silhouette. We wanted to be able to try it with pieces that already exist in our closet; no calling in clothes and no purchases allowed. We settled on five key styling hacks—double polos, sheer anything, aprons, skirts over pants, and the backwards shirt, which we go into today.
Much like The Row’s oft-discussed “ ” around your neck, we wanted to know—can we pull off these trends IRL? Or is their allure just the fact that they’re on the runway? Like literally everyone with friends, we often text each other when getting dressed—it’s especially fun to experiment when you have someone just as invested in the experiment as you are. First up, in our styling hacks experiment, we tried the backwards button-down shirt trend, which we have been low-key obsessed with since ’s fall 2024 show. On the surface it’s simple: get a shirt and put it on backwards, but as we soon discovered, not all shirts are made equal.
Here’s my first attempt. I love this shirt because it’s very light, so I thought it would work well for this. I paired it with a skirt to keep the silhouette easy.
I think the CJR shirt and the skirt has a real summer, breezy vibe. Did you button your shirt all the way to the top? I realized that that’s something that makes a big difference with the fit of the shirt. It definitely does.
I buttoned it all the way up at first and it did not work—it was a little too...
. (Sorry!!) Lmaooo. I did two undone to give some shoulder action.
The collar is also very flimsy, which works. It must also be said that I had no one to help with the buttons, which added a layer of difficulty here. Yeah I buttoned only the top of the top two buttons on mine, mostly because I feel like we’re not supposed to actually do all the buttons like then suddenly you are in a weird clown costume.
For my first attempt I actually layered two shirts—something that we’ll get into later this week as well. One is a sheer beige shirt from that I had a bit of a laundry mishap with and now it has some weird stains on it, but I didn’t just want to give it up. Then a shirt on top.
I think it’s the perfect combo because I love the Collina shirt but I struggled with figuring out how to wear it to the office without it being so sheer, so this was my solve. I tried leaving it untucked but it felt a little too messy. I love the layering of the two shirts, and I like that it allows you to play with maybe unbuttoning the sheer one in the back for some added back pizzazz.
What I like about this is that it’s tucked-in and with pants, a slimmer silhouette altogether, which feels fresh. The runways were all oversized. I mean you and I both love a giant silhouette to hide under, but lately I’ve been wanting something new.
I tried this option too to give it a bit of a menswear spin. This shirt is cut in satin by Julian Louie of , one of my current menswear obsessions. It’s crispier and shinier, so I paired it with a black trouser and these heavy loafers to make it dressier and more men’s oriented.
In this case the tighter collar works, maybe? I loooove this. It’s so chic, and feels very Phoebe [Philo] to me also. It’s unexpected because the back yoke isn’t as obvious so it doesn’t read as a backwards shirt right away, it just reads as I feel like I want to try to recreate this one, but maybe the most key item here is the pant, like if it was longer or narrower or wider the effect wouldn’t be the same.
I’ve had this shirt from Zara for a few years now, I think I bought it when I was pregnant. It’s got a shorter hem in the front, a voluminous back and the sleeves have buttons all the way down. I threw it on on a whim and was surprised at how babydoll-ish it looked? Also because it doesn’t button all the way up to the neck, the collar rests in an almost boatneck-y sort of way.
I decided to play up the tunic aspect of it and then just put on my stripe-y x Nike shorts underneath (you need something underneath because it’s shorter in the back, lol). I love this! I think the shirt-as-dress is one of the most successful iterations of this styling trick because it feels the least . There’s something very “I threw this on by mistake and it worked,” very Carrie Bradshaw in just a white shirt and an Hermès belt.
Oh god that’s such an iconic moment actually. I think I will probably wear this one a lot, I hadn’t worn this shirt in ages because it felt too..
. boring? But now I love it again. I think that this is my most successful ’fit here.
It’s a shirt that is simply massive, following your tunic/dress footprint. The proportions I think work—we love a tent—and it feels a little less contrived. The shirt is also just weird, which helps.
I also think I prefer these when the shirt is plain as opposed to in a print, though your sheer Collina one is chef’s kiss. No one does a massive silhouette like the Duckies and that’s the truth. I love this because it feels very “throw it on and go” but also expensive, which is like the hardest combination.
She’s coquette but formal. I guess now we just have to make sure we don’t show up at the office both wearing backwards shirts on the same day, really..
