Your How-To Guide for Layering This Spring

My career at Esquire hasn’t been a The Devil Wears Prada arc—I don’t take coffee orders, editors don’t have town cars, nobody ever gave me a cerulean speech—except in one way. I have gone from fairly fashion oblivious to caring a lot about fine fragrances and menswear.

Most importantly, I’ve learned, is the fundamentals. Layering, the pinnacle of these fundamentals, changes the way you get dressed. At its core, it’s about matching your fabrics to their form, outside to inside. For an outdoorsy, military-style approach that means a wind- and rain-blocking shell on the outside, a fleece or puffer mid-layer for insulation, and a sweat-wicking baselayer. But in terms of fashion, it’s mixing and matching fabrics, textures, and colors. I’m talking tanks, tees, sweaters, and even scarves. They all bring contrast and color to a spring outfit.

I’ve chatted with Esquire’s most informed style and fashion editors to bring you everything we know about layering. These are the essential items you should have in your closet come spring.

A lot of days, it starts with a t-shirt. Something basic so you can layer on top of it. For basic white and colored tees, Buck Mason and CDLP will take you a long way. On the more affordable end, Gap makes an excellent pocket tee that comes in some classic blacks, browns, and blues. Go Hanes for something with more colorful options.

As a replacement for a t-shirt, the tank top only flies in the dog days of summer. However, it can add a lot when worn underneath collared shirts in the spring. A little bit of tank peeking out of an oxford elevates the look, and though it won’t cool you off per se, it’ll take care of sweat that would otherwise stain your nice shirts.

A crucial tool in the layering arsenal is a real shirt, one with buttons. One of my favorite recent wardrobe upgrade has been adding that I don’t ever button fully. Instead, in the moderate heat, treat them as overshirts or “shackets,” if that’s a term you care to use. Heavier denims, twills, and flannels play mid-layer when it’s cool, outer layer when it’s warm.

This is also one of the best places to add texture and color within an outfit. A washed-out denim shirt underneath a black or brown jacket gives you a pop of blue. Flannel can throw a pattern into any outfit, and a crumply madras does that without overheating you. You can go tonal—wearing a shirt that’s the same color as the layer underneath or above it—but only do that with neutrals like earth tones, black, or navy. You never want to get too matchy-matchy.

Along with shirts, sweaters are the mid-layer you’re using to add texture to an outfit. Just understand you can only get so much umph from your knits this time of year. Unless you’re near the coast or on a mountain, a heavy fisherman’s sweater likely won’t fly. You’ll need to stray towards finer materials like merino and cashmere wool.

In terms of style, V-necks give more wiggle room than crewnecks, but a shallow V-neck—which most modern ones tend to be—fall into a bad gray area. Brooks Brothers makes a deep-ish V that’s a workhorse when it comes to styling underneath jackets and overtop of oxfords.

You see scarves and spring in the same sentence and say: What? But we don’t mean thick-ass winter scarves. Instead of focusing on warmth, we’re talking about a seasonal scarf as a pop of color to an outfit. Find something with a pattern, basic or complex, it literally doesn’t matter. Go cashmere for something soft or silk for something that shines. If it’s chilly, give it a quick tie. If it’s not, leave it draped underneath a jacket. Don’t overthink it.

One of the most important layers is the lightweight jacket. On a warmer day, this can be your outermost layer, but you can also throw on a raincoat over it on a drearier evening and it can act like an extra warm mid-layer. For something versatile and easy to layer over, the Dickies Unlined Eisenhower Jacket is an affordable workwear-ready essential. For something more fashion-y, Todd Snyder’s Dad Jacket is always a recommendation in the Esquire offices.

But the true star of transitional weather is suede. It’s lighter than leather and offers a hit of texture. This trucker from Banana Republic gets a lot of love from my colleagues, and the Todd Snyder Dylan is another obvious pick. Coach makes a nice zip-up suede jacket. And pretty much every luxury house has some version of this jacket.

A lot of our spring layering is just adding on and playing around with the blazer and jeans combo. Swap the oxford for a flannel or denim shirt, add a sweater, wear a T-shirt—you get the idea. Dressed up or down, a tweed jacket from Ralph Lauren or Doeskin blazer from J.Press will take you literally anywhere in style.

Instead of pulling on that rain shell that was made for trails and mountains, try something more fashionable in town. A waxed trucker does a rugged Americana thing. A Barbour does it in a more posh British way. Or, go really posh with a trench coat. Obviously, we prefer a Burberry Kensington.