How to Pull off the Boyfriend T-Shirt Look

I like to dress outside the box, and one of the ways I do that is by letting myself inspired by the right side of my walk-in closet, that is...

I like to dress outside the box, and one of the ways I do that is by letting myself inspired by the right side of my walk-in closet, that is my husband’s wardrobe. In one of my previous stories I shared how I pulled off the Boyfriend Shirt look, and today I am going to show you how I wore the Boyfriend T-Shirt look.

I have some bad news to share, my mom passed last month. I was sad all this time, I am still mourning, and I have been wearing black ever since my mom was gone. I wore black both at work and during the weekends for all of this time, until I feel ready to get back to color. When I started wearing all black because of my mourning, I pulled together all my black clothes that I have in my wardrobe – dresses, skirts, tops, blouses, shirts, pants, blazers, cardigans, boleros. This way, I could also do an inventory of my black wardrobe, and so I discovered that it’s quite numerous. I mean, among my black inventory, there are 6 skirts, 5 blazers, 3 dresses, 3 cardigans, to mention a few. My only excuse to have all of these is that all of them are in different styles, as well as different fabrics. 

Now that it has been more than 40 days since my mom passed, I am transitioning from black to color by wearing grey, so these days I wear grey, all shades of grey, all grey clothes that I have in my wardrobe – dresses, skirts, tops, blouses, shirts, blazers, pants, the same as with the black ones. And so I could do another inventory, the grey clothes this time, and I discovered that they are in just a little bit lesser number than the black ones. Before doing this kind of inventory, due to the fact that a dear one of mine left, I have never thought of how many black or grey clothes I have in my wardrobe, and it turned out to be a curious exercise, to do such an inventory.

During my black days, I also let myself inspired by my husband’s wardrobe, and I wore one of his black shirts to work, in a similar combination as the one that I was showing you in my story about the Boyfriend Shirt look. Just this time, it was all black – black shirt, black pants, black shoes, black purse.

And another time when I let myself inspired by my husband’s wardrobe was last weekend, when I tried on the Boyfriend T-Shirt look. I went out for a coffee with a friend, it was a beautiful day, and I wore a fully black outfit – black Boyfriend T-Shirt, black skirt, black shoes, black belt, black purse. I also wore a similar outfit at work once, a couple of weeks ago. The only color that I allowed myself with this outfit was via some accessories – the jewelry and the tights.

The secret to do it, that is to pull off the Boyfriend T-Shirt look, is to keep the outfit balanced – the T-shirt should be the only androgynous element, and the other pieces of the outfit should be feminine. When I selected this T-shirt from my husband's wardrobe, I chose the smallest one that I could find on his rack, that is an S. Some of his T-shirts are M, some L, but those would have looked baggy on me. The skirt that I wear in this photos is one of my favorites in my wardrobe, and I call it “the almost tutu skirt”, and that’s because it’s made of a fabric that would be normally used for tutu skirts, but it doesn’t have the frills of a tutu skirt, hence the almost tutu.

Another way to sweeten a Boyfriend T-Shirt look and to make it more feminine is via jewelry, specifically layered necklaces. Pile it up around your neck, and there is no chance you will look like a boy, even if you wear a boyfriend’s T-shirt. And indeed, my friend whom I spent that Saturday with didn’t even realize that the top I wore on that day was not an actual women’s top, but a men’s T-shirt. She complimented me on my outfit and she said that I looked fashionable.

The beaded grey and black necklace that I am wearing in this outfit, as well as the two bangles, one grey and one black, are made by ChewBeads, a jewelry maker from New York.

The founders of ChewBeads are Lisa and Eric Greenwald, team of husband and wife, who have two young children. At ChewBeads, it’s a family affair. The idea began in 2009 after their son Benjamin was born. Like most babies, he loved to put everything in his mouth and Lisa’s necklaces were a favorite. Like most moms, she didn’t feel comfortable letting him chew on them. Her main concerns were that they might break or have unwanted chemicals. As a veteran of the fashion industry, Lisa had an amazing collection of necklaces and bracelets. With those as her inspiration, she set out to create soft, non-toxic jewelry that was colorful, chic, and above all, safe. Hence, ChewBeads was born!

As Lisa and Eric’s family has grown, they have been inspired to create safe, non-toxic teethers and toys that babies and parents can enjoy and feel good about. The ChewBeads jewelry are 100% silicone products. They do not contain such chemical components like BPA, phthalates, lead, cadmium or metal. They are dishwasher safe, and soft on babies’ gums and emerging teeth.

In this outfit, I am wearing a ChewBeads necklace and two ChewBeads bangles, all of them made of silicone. My son is six now, and he doesn’t chew on my jewelry anymore, but when he was a baby, I would have loved to have such jewelry like ChewBeads, because he also chewed on everything he could lay his tiny hands on when he started teething. I remember, when Alex was a baby, that many times I chose not no wear any jewelry at all, just to avoid him to chew on it. If I had ChewBeads at that time, I know it would have been a nice jewelry for me to wear, and a safe something for my baby to chew on.

My outfit: 

T-Shirt – husband’s 

Skirt – Sears Tradition 

Sunglasses – Hugo Boss 

Belt – Walmart 

Purse – no name 

Tights – Legs Plus and Bra, Toronto 

Sandals – Pay Less Shoe Source 

Necklaces – ChewBeads, Walmart, no name 

Bangles – ChewBeads 

Photo credit: Victoria West