Reading a Plaid Before You Choose a Sweater

The sweater color is already written into the plaid.

A plaid looks like many colors at once, but it is built from very few. Once you can see how a particular plaid is put together, choosing a sweater to wear with it stops being a guess. The answer is usually printed in the skirt itself.

Find the Ground and the Line

Every plaid has a ground, the color that covers the most area, and one or more lines, the thinner stripes that cross it. On a classic navy and green check, navy and green form the ground and a narrow stripe of yellow, red, or white often runs across them. Step back from the skirt and the ground colors are what you see first; step close and the line appears.

A Sweater in the Ground Color Reads Quiet

Choosing a sweater in one of the ground colors makes the outfit calm and continuous. The eye reads the sweater and the darker parts of the skirt as one shape, and the plaid does its work at the hem. This is the choice for days when you want the outfit to look settled rather than noticed.

A Sweater in the Line Color Reads Deliberate

Picking up the thin stripe instead, a cream sweater with a plaid that has a white line, or a burgundy sweater with one with a red line, makes the pairing look chosen. It is the same plaid, but the outfit now has a point of focus.

Match Texture to Scale

A large plaid carries a lot of visual movement, so it sits well under a smooth, plain knit. A small or tight check can take more texture above it, such as a cable or a rib. Two busy surfaces at the same scale tend to compete.

Stripes With Plaid

A striped sweater can sit with a plaid skirt when the two patterns are clearly different in scale, wide stripes over a small check or fine stripes over a large one, and when they share at least one color. Stripes and checks of the same width fight for attention.

Solid Skirts Open the Door

With a solid mini, the sweater can carry the pattern instead: stripes or a deep cable in a color that sits near the skirt. The skirt gives the lower half its clean shape, and the knit gives the upper half its detail. You can read more about how we think about these pieces on our About Us page.

Thank you for shopping with us, and for letting the details line up.