Product Focus: Spring Beige Turtleneck

These weird times that we have to live in at the moment are forcing everyone to change the way they work an live and become more creative, at least when looking for some temporary solutions. It is also the reason why our new series, “Product Focus”, were born - a spontaneous look at our products, different from what we have done before.

Author: Mateusz Tryjanowski

We begin by reminding you that all the pictures here were taken at home, with an old iPhone, only using natural lighting, but with a healthy dose of passion and enthusiasm. Hope it helped!

Just in time for the beginning of spring (more in terms of proper weather than the calendar beginning), lightweight knitwear made of thinner Italian cotton found its way to Poszetka’s range. Beautifully soft and light, created to be worn as a base layer rather than with a shirt underneath, available in joyful, summer-y colour palette.

Among it, our today’s focus - the beige turtleneck. You can’t really call it a sweater, it's too light for that. This is an alternative to a shirt, but not typically for winter, rather spring and autumn. A piece to be worn as a bottom layer, maybe even the only one when the weather is warm enough. On top of that, this one is in a bright colour, which is not very common - and certainly does not evoke the stereotypical image of a dark-coloured (perhaps black) turtleneck worn by an artist/philosopher/intellectualist.

We have prepared 4 outfit inspirations which show different ways of wearing this piece, contextualising it. Treat them just as some guidelines and a practical example of how a beige turtleneck can be worn. Find the general ideas behind those outfits and use them to create your own creative combos!

Turtleneck on its own

Acting as a central piece. Primary focus point. Without any additional layer on top.

Grey textures trousers (houndstooth tropical wool here, but any other checked or melangé wool would be perfectly alright), same-coloured turtleneck and socks, any dark pair of loafers - there isn’t much risk of going wrong with that. Sharp crease on trousers somehow elevates the whole outfit, colour connection between the top and the bottom makes it complete. Refined minimalism.

It's a proper outfit for these warm spring Sunday afternoons on the balcony/in the garden/at a cafe (when everything is back to normal). Good for a walk or a short coffee/drink break, accompanied by a sunset rather than neon lights. When it gets colder, just add a light jacket or a blazer on top, as long as it’s dark and plain.

Talking about adding a layer...

Turtleneck and blazer

A well-known winter wardrobe staple. The favourite outfit of those who don’t like ironing, those who like keeping their necks warm at all times and those who like to stay casual without having to abandon the jacket.

Here shown in the spring version - thinner fabrics, lighter colours. Grey trousers and a navy blazer, as we all know, is a tried-and-tasted combo. However, this time the shade of gray is very light and the navy blue looks faded, partly thanks to the subtle birdseye pattern made of yarns in different colours. The beige turtleneck eventually shifts the palette towards soft, pastel colours completely.

It's an easy-to-modify combo in which you can easily exchange individual elements to achieve a different effect, as long as the colours match. It is important to avoid pronounced winter textures - all the fun is to create an outfit that will prove itself (both aesthetically and practically) when the temperatures reach over a dozen degrees!

Turtleneck and field jacket

...or any other casual jacket/light outer layer: safari, chore coat, overshirt. In this case, we’ve chosen to show a pretty extreme option - vintage RDF jacket in ERDL camouflage (US Army, late 70s/early 80s piece).

However, outfit as a whole doesn’t look too uniform-y or like something to be worn when hunting or trekking in the woods. The jacket is already well worn-in and faded (with black elements of pattern turning purple) while other pieces are of completely different aesthetics. Beige turtleneck, however similar in colour to some parts of the camouflage is totally civilian and urban, white denim immediately says the outfit is too impractical and delicate for any extreme conditions.

You could easily swap the RDF for the plain olive drab TCU (so called Jungle Jacket) or a classic M65, blue chore coat or any overshirt. Just remember to add a splash of pattern (maybe by adding a scarf or something) to make it more fun and avoid looking too flat. This is how to dress casually staying within the realms of #menswear, not making it boring in any sense and with strong links to classics - all in all, a casual jacket and trousers combo is a distant relative of a suit.

Turtleneck as a base layer (underneath a shirt)

The strongest (or at least the most shocking) to end with: turtleneck worn as a base layer, but underneath the piece that it sometimes covers: a shirt. It's a type of combo that is slowly becoming popular among some groups, but still has not gained universal approval. Not a big surprise - it’s the opposite of what majority is used to in terms of layering.

However, if you dig deeper, it is pretty sensible. Many of us (at least sometimes) wear an undershirt or a t-shirt underneath a shirt, especially if it’s more casual and thicker. Why not reach for something more practical, better-insulating and neck-covering instead? Cotton turtleneck may come in handy.

For the outfit seen in the pictures, we’ve chosen our beige turtleneck to go in between a pair of jeans and a denim westerner shirt, aiming to make their combo look less like a cowboy gear. Yes, double-denim and western details are here to stay, but it all suddenly became more urban. You can now call it the soft cowboy, maybe even sartorial one.

For some less controversial, easier outfits, swap the shirt for an OCBD, flannel, corduroy workshirt or something similar. Change jeans for 5-pocket cords, chinos, maybe even proper trousers. The key to the effect is to have this base layer partially showing up, crawling out from underneath an unbuttoned shirt. Lightly-coloured, pastel knit is really easy to combine and versatile in this kind of combos and when it’s also thin, it can be really comfortable to wear even with all this layering.

The Summary

We remind you that these outfits are recommended as an inspiration and a starting point to your own ideas - in the end, the best fun is not to copy, but to look for your own way of doing things. Every piece can become a center for other experiments or creative solutions. It is sometimes worth looking at some clothes from a new perspective and putting them into use again, but differently. Try it!

Summing up more generally: as with any new series, we are curious to your views and opinions, already thinking about potential new topics and forthcoming episodes. We hope that you find the new formula interesting and our spontaneous approach didn’t make it hard to digest!