Hoodie sweatshirt with a side of sequins

I’m usually fairly trend-resistant.  In fact, I hate to have on what everyone else has on!  Because of the blog, I spend a lot of time on Instagram, and if I see the same item in my Instagram feed more than five times, I’m DONE!  OVER!  BORED!  with it (don’t get me started on the Bella Freud ‘1970’ jumper that has spread like a flu virus this winter).

The oversized Vetements hoodie sweatshirts have appeared a few times in my feed, but not enough to cause me major trend fatigue.  On the contrary, the idea of wearing a huge sweatshirt (oh, the cosiness!) as a dress really grew on me.  I first noticed one on mega-blogger Chiara Ferragni at New York Fashion Week.

image credit: The Blonde Salad

Then RiRi wore one many times… dressed up with strappy heels, dressed way down with pool slides, and in the middle with sneakers from her Puma line, as seen here.

Image credit: Daily Mail

Rita Ora wore this fabulous Vetements slogan hoodie dress with their signature sock boots while out and about in New York.

Image credit: W Magazine

I’m not about to pay Vetements prices for a sweatshirt, so I snooped around on a few of my favourite cheap and cheerful websites to see what I could find.  I found this very simple one on ASOS.  Then this slightly fancier one with a ribboned sleeve detail on Topshop.  But on SheIn I found the perfect sweatshirt hoodie dress for me… black with a silver sequin Eiffel tower.  The idea of sequins, Paris, and a sweatshirt all coming together in a cozy dress format was too much for me to resist, et voila, here it is.  I’m wearing it to slouch around on the weekends, to pop over gym gear on chilly mornings, and to do the school run in.  NOBODY needs to see my white legs in the dead of winter, so right now I’m wearing it with Wolford tights and some worn-in (on the verge of being worn-out) old Rag and Bone boots.  In slightly warmer weather, I think it would look super with bare legs and these Isabel Marant boots which I am absolutely dying to have.

Hoodie dress: SheIn  Boots: Rag & Bone Newbury  Sunnies: ZeroUV

The man responsible for this oversized sweatshirt trend (I really hate that word, ‘trend’) is Demna Gvasalia.  If you don’t know who he is, here’s a summary.  Originally from Tbilisi, Georgia, he shot to fashion fame after graduating from the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp and working at prestigious Maison Martin Margiela and Louis Vuitton.  The 35 year old Gvasalia has a very disruptive angle on fashion, and founded Vetements as a way to channel his vision, working alongside a handful of anonymous designers on his team.  He takes inspiration from a small group of friends who are focused on clothes being fun, irreverent, and reflective of modern street culture.  Luxury brand Kering (who owns Gucci, Stella McCartney, Alexander McQueen, Boucheron, and Saint Laurent, among others) appointed him to run Balenciaga as well, so he splits his time equally between edgy Vetements and more traditional Balenciaga.  Gvasalia is nothing if not unpredictable, so his recent Vetements show opened with a genteel older woman in a fur coat, the polar opposite of the club-kids culture he is known for (read about him on the Vetements website if you’re curious).  Just like Alessandro Michele at Gucci, he is changing the way fashion defines beauty and the way fashion houses ‘dictate’ beauty to consumers.  So far, he’s riffed on the DHL delivery uniform, the Champion sports logo, Juicy Couture, hipster tartan, and police uniforms… not exactly what we usually associate with high fashion.  He revels in being ‘alternative’ and unsettling.  I’m just glad that he made a sweatshirt dress a ‘thing’ and I wonder why no one ever did this before?!  I may need another (I’m thinking something pastel) for spring.  How about you?  Is this something you’d wear either as loungewear or out and about?

Linking to: notdressedaslamb, notdeadyetstyle, elegantlydressedandstylish, stylesplash, fashionshouldbefun