3 Tips for Wearing Longer Sleeves Under Shorter Sleeves — Inside Out

Someone recently asked me 7 Steppers about how to wear shorter sleeves instead of longer sleeves, and that’s a topic I haven’t covered before, but it’s a pretty frequent part of my outfits, so here are some tips for doing it well.

1. Cuff Detail Long Sleeve

The key to making this a more interesting look is that longer sleeves can have something interesting on the cuff and that makes it a feature when peeking out from the shorter sleeve at the top.

Here, it’s nothing more than a small ruffle of a snakeskin print green top with a kimono-style jacket on top.

Then there are two big ruffles on these shirt cuffs and I like to wear them under a cashmere sweater and pull the sleeves up to reveal the dramatic ruffled cuffs of the shirt.

2. Long Sleeves Patterned Under Short Sleeves

Alternatively, you can try a patterned top under a plain top layer so that there is something decorative coming out of the shorter top layer, again at the end of the sleeve, like my leopard print top underneath a blue 3/4 sleeve blazer.

Here is the same leopard print under the green kimono jacket

And here under the short sleeve faux fur jacket is a blue and white floral shirt.

Think you might want to try this look? Here are some examples of tops that would go well under a 3/4 length jacket or blouse.

3. Long Sleeve Knit Over T-Shirt

It’s not something I do (although you’ll see this a lot on the TV show Big Bang Theory), and it works best when your t-shirt has some kind of graphic or pattern on it, so you wear it over a figure. – wrap-around long sleeve knit (you don’t want a loose knit under a T-shirt as this will add bulk). The tee has some sort of pattern and interest, so you don’t want to hide it under your long sleeve knit.