← Her Style Podcast | Shopping, Color Palettes, Fashion, Wardrobe, Outfits, Clothing
Her Style Podcast | Shopping, Color Palettes, Fashion, Wardrobe, Outfits, Clothing
219 | From Shoes to Separates, Here's How to Style a Matching Lounge Set
00:18:10
Matching lounge sets are one of my favorite wardrobe staples these days! In this laidback lifestyle so many of us are living, they offer comfort and style and help me feel put together even if I’m just working behind-the-scenes or relaxing at home...
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- [00:00]
Heather Riggs
Matching lounge sets are one of my favorite wardrobe staples these days. In this laid back lifestyle so many of us are living, they offer comfort and style and help me feel put together even if I'm just working behind the scenes or relaxing at home with my family for the day. But are they truly 100% effortless? After receiving this week's question from our friend Shayna and working with dozens of women inside her style collective who have faced very similar challenges, I'm not so sure. But Shana's DM definitely got my wheels turning. And in today's Q and A Thursday episode, we're about to make these versatile sets a whole lot easier to style. I'm breaking down simple ways to wear a matching lounge set. Whether you're keeping it casual, dressing it up, or wearing each piece separately. For even more outfit options, we're talking shoes, accessories, and everything in between. Today, let's make sure you're feeling your very best in your loungewear.
- [01:01]
Shayna
Welcome to her Style Podcast where we're all about empowering you to show up and get dressed every day with confidence. I'm your host, Heather Riggs, a 15 year and counting certified image consultant and color specialist, ready to build a wardrobe and a personal style you love. Let's get started.
- [01:27]
Heather Riggs
I have seen a really big trend inside her style collective and within our general community lately. Not to generalize, but I know many of us are loving the matching lounge set thing lately. As a work from home mama, I certainly am myself. But I know that they can be surprisingly tricky to style. One of the amazing members of my 90 day group coaching program posted an outfit photo for feedback not too long after she started and she said, who knew leggings and sweatshirts could be so complicated? And then I received this question from our friend Shayna over on Instagram. She said, how would you style a matching lounge set? I don't know what shoes to wear with it. How would you style the pieces separately? She asked if I could cover the question and I'm happy to do that on the podcast because I know it's overdue. We need to dedicate an entire episode to styling our loungewear because let's face it ladies, this is something we are wearing most often. And so today we're going to focus on matching sets. I know they are comfortable, they're versatile, they can be really chic, especially if you're prioritizing quality fabrics in your best colors. But I won't say that they're effortless. I know they go together. You can just throw them on and you know that they match and hopefully they're a great fit for you. But then you've got to think about accessories and shoes and ensuring that your outfit is creating flattering proportions. There can still be a few of those loose ends to iron out. So let's start our conversation today with styling your set as a matching set and wearing the pieces together around the house. For me personally, I will either wear a cozy pair of socks this time of year or a comfortable slipper. But I'm imagining that your question, Shayna, was directed at when you leave home and you need to put on shoes. And the good news is that you do have quite a range of options to keep your look casual. I love wearing a simple sneaker. You definitely want to keep in mind the leg opening and the length of your pants as well as your overall body structure and what balances your frame best when you're choosing the perfect shoe to complement you and your matching set. In case it doesn't go without saying, please always infuse your personal style and don't blindly follow suggestions from myself or anyone else. You really want to start learning how to trust your instincts about what looks good on you and what works best for you. So always wear the things that make you feel the most confident when you look in a full length mirror that you feel put everything together in the best possible way and that make you feel excited to leave the house and happy to get dressed. That is the best case scenario and I do believe with everything in me that you know at the end of the day what makes you feel good. So please do lean into that. But just as a couple of generalized suggestions I think for the different pant styles with jogger style pants, let's start there. It's obviously kind of an easy no brainer to opt for sneakers. I think high tops also work well with this style of pant. Or you could even opt for loafers if you want to take a more elevated approach with a wide leg lounge set, you might want to try more of a platform sneaker, something that's a bit more substantial to stand up to the width of those pants and that silhouette. You could also try heeled sandals or some classic mules would probably work well also depending on your personal style. If you are wearing more of a fitted ribbed knit set, I might suggest that you opt for ballet flats. You could do slipper clogs with socks or some nice pointed toe heels. Again, if you want to dress it up and take a high low approach to your outfit and then finally if you're doing a lounge set based around shorts, you might want to try some chunky slides. Any type of sandal should work here. You could also go with a sporty sneaker or espadrilles. Again, if you wanted to take a dressier approach. And in the hot months, I would say that sandals are going to work well with all of these pants styles. So that's kind of an easy no brainer. I think it gets more complicated to style these outfits in the cold winter months. That might not be true for you, but that's just what I'm seeing across the board. Now in terms of overall styling with your lounge sets, again, I think it's pretty safe to to just opt for a sleek and timeless white trainer. Or you could go with a more retro style sneaker if you have that creative vibe to your style. Or maybe try something like The New Balance 9060s if you like a chunky sole. And you either have the stature to carry off a really big sneaker like that, or if you like creating a statement making juxtaposition between your more petite frame and a really stocky shoe. All of this to say sneakers are going to be a great choice. So just choose the style that suits you and that creates a flattering visual line against the length and width of your pants. That's one of the most important things when it comes to picking the best possible shoes. Now, to finish the look, if you're going with sneakers, I think you could just add a simple crossbody bag and some minimal jewelry if you like a more effortless natural style. So you can keep that really easy peasy. If you're feeling more sporty, maybe throw on a baseball hat. I think that can be such a cute look. You could bring in a contrasting color. It saves you from maybe having to style your hair that day. And then you could wear one of the stylish belt bags instead of the crossbody bag if you wanted to. Either way, super cute, very low effort, easy look. Now, if you do want to elevate your lounge set a bit more, you might want to try high low dressing. I did have a whole episode on this not too long ago, which I will link up in the show notes if you want to check that out. But you could trade your sneakers for a pair of loafers or mules and then opt for a more structured top handle bag. I love bringing in a pop of color with your handbag as well. If that doesn't feel too dramatic for you, that could be a fun way to uplevel Your look add a little bit of style and more visual interest. And I also think there's a time and place and maybe personal style type. If you have elements of natural, alluring and maybe some dramatic in there. I think that you could wear heels with your lounge set as well. The key to pulling this off is having an impeccably chic lounge set. It's got to fit you like a glove. It's got to be really luxe in fabric and be really well designed for kind of that day to night sort of feel. This is probably the hardest pairing to pull off, but you could absolutely search Google or Pinterest for some ideas. Proceed with caution and definitely proceed with confidence if that's a look that you decide to try out now, this time of year, if it's cold where you live, I'm really feeling, not for myself personally, but for other people, the cool girl vibes of pairing your matching sweatsuits with a bold combat boot or a thick Chelsea boot. Something a little bit again, sturdier, stockier, maybe just in a classic black color and an oversized blazer. One of my clients created a look like this recently, recently out of pieces that she had in her wardrobe and she just killed it. It was totally fitting for her style, which is natural, elegant and dramatic. It was the perfect outfit to blend all of those three style types together. So I highly recommend trying that. If this appeals to you. I don't know that I can pull it off. Personally, I do tend to stock up on daintier shoes, but I'm pretty sure I've mentioned that I will often wear a classic camel coat over my loungewear. I think I actually mentioned that in the high low dressing episode, I will wear that even to the grocery store with a pair of nice sneakers, usually my black Nikes. And then I'll throw on my black Rebecca Minkoff quilted crossbody bag. It has a nice gold chain strap so it feels like a really polished elevated outfit. But it's still super cozy, very casual, and it's just an effortless go to outfit formula for me when I need to run a couple of quick errands on the weekend and I don't feel like putting on a whole other their outfit. Another easy cold weather shoe option is to slip into a cozy pair of Uggs or a similar style of slouchy boots or slipper mules. Again, make sure the shoes that you wear work with your body's overall scale. I know Uggs came out with some amazing platform options recently, so if you like a more substantial sole that might be a good thing to try out. I'm still sticking with my no show socks over here, but of course if you want to be more on trend, you could definitely do a white half calf sock with your slipper mules if you want. And speaking of trends, just a quick teaser. We are diving into all things spring 2025 trends next week, so make sure you're following her style podcast on your favorite podcast app. I don't want you to miss it. It's gonna be a really fun episode. I'm gonna share all the stuff that you need to know for the spring upcoming trends, and of course, as always, how to pick the right ones for you and how to personalize the information so you don't have to struggle to figure out what to wear in the season ahead. All right, that was just a quick deviation from the topic, but I do think that we've sufficiently covered the shoe and accessory options that you can try with your lounge sets. So let's discuss how you can break up your matching pieces and style them individually because this is going to really expand your possibilities. It's going to help to maximize what you own and create lots of outfit versatility. And when I get dressed, I do typically like to follow the bottoms up method, so I will choose my pants first or a skirt or a dress and then style the rest of my outfit from there. So let's start with other ways that you can wear your lounge bottoms. For some casual options, I think that you could mix in a fitted tank top or a T shirt, maybe even a graphic tee, either in a similar or contrasting color. If you want to break things up a little bit, keep your personal contrast levels in mind. I probably have an episode I can link up for you on that as well, so I will try to do that. And I'm still loving the draped over the shoulder sweater look. So if you want to see take a classic twist, you could always grab the matching top layer that goes with your bottoms and then style it that way. Just drape it over your shoulders over another unrelated unmatching tank top or T shirt. I think this can look really preppy, very chic, and it's just an easy go to if you want to style it up a little bit differently. Now alternatively, if you need another top layer or if you want to expand from there, I do like typically depending on the type of pants that you're pairing with. So again, none of this is blanket rules. It would be a lot easier if I could actually see the pieces in your closet and we'll talk about that later at the end of the episode. But I would say maybe try a half zip pullover. Or you could probably throw on a denim jacket with any style of lounge bottoms for a natural and effortless vibe. If you wanted, you could do a leather jacket instead, which is going to give your outfit a bit more edge. I know we already discussed the oversized blazer look, which is very of the moment. Or you could try an oversized knit sweater in maybe a monochromatic color or something that's slightly darker or lighter than your bottoms. Or you could do a great neutral color. So many possibilities there. I know you have quite a few layering options, so I would just do some shopping within your own closet. Try on a bunch of tops with all the different lounge pants or shorts that you have, and you might be surprised what's actually going to work well together. I think the most important thing is making sure that the textures and fabrics and the colors suit each other and that you pick something that is going to be flattering to your body shape and proportions and bring out your best. I know I just threw a whole lot of caveats in there, but you can go through all my other episodes to figure out how to put the most flattering possible outfits together for you. And I think just have fun trying on different combinations and seeing what works within your own closet. Now, when it comes to repurposing your lounge tops, I think the easiest bottoms award, besides the matching pants that came with it or that you bought to go with it, obviously, would be jeans. So make sure, again, that you are balancing the shape and proportions of your top. And for kind of a foolproof option, you could pick a similar denim silhouette and length as the lounge bottoms that were designed to pair with the top. If you just want to kind of recreate that same basic structure of the outfit with different bottoms, find jeans that look very similar to the shape and length of the matching pants that go with that top. Now, if you're into the high, low concept, as we've been talking about quite a bit recently, you could pair a loose cropped lounge top with maybe a pencil skirt tucked in, or I mean, the top tucked into the pencil skirt, not the pencil skirt tucked into the top. That wouldn't make sense. Or you could try it with maybe a flounce mini skirt if you wanted to do a casual, flirty look. I will say a lot of the ladies in the collective have been going crazy for the invisible belts that you can find on Amazon, and this was not even at my suggestion. One of the other members stumbled upon this or recommended it and it has just taken off like wildfire. I think almost everyone has one of these now and what's great about them is that they enable you to shorten the length of your tops and you can't see them at all. So this can take a longer top and turn it into more of a crop length. You could make it adjusted to whatever length you would need it to be. It's incredibly helpful for styling longer lounge tops with high waisted pants and skirts because you don't get all the bulkiness underneath like you do if you're trying to tuck them in. Just trust me on this one. Google it. Try them yourself. I think you'll be amazed. And finally, I just want to wrap this up by reiterating that I think the right jewelry and accessories can do wonders. So again, try some things on. Play around with your pieces and see what really works to up level your lounge sets. We just did a whole episode, I think it was last week, right on different jewelry combinations to pair with different necklines. You could apply all of those tips to your lounge set tops as well. And of course the easiest way for me to help you create endless outfits you love is by teaming up together inside her style collective. This is my 90 day group coaching program. You will have the opportunity to get my eyes on your actual pieces so we can style and remix your existing wardrobe in new and exciting ways that are all going to work to bring out your best. We eliminate all of the guesswork. We can do this together. We will have so much fun. You will find tons of new combinations with what you already have that you probably never thought possible. And of course we will pinpoint and strategize over filling in any gaps that you need within the budget that you have for the upcoming season. So if you want to team up, you can head to herstylellc.com collective, get all the details. Doors are open. So you are welcome to hop in with us today if you wanna get started on not only up leveling your matching lounge sets, but your entire wardrobe. So friend, I hope to see you inside and I will definitely see you back here for the next episode of Her Style Pod in just a few days. Shayna, my friend, thank you so much for sending in this amazing question. I hope this episode served you in such a big way and I hope you have tons of fun this weekend trying lots of new combinations for your favorite cozy sets.
- [17:23]
Shayna
Thank you for listening to today's episode. If you want to stop copying everyone else's style and start dialing in your own swoon worthy signature look. Head over to take my free 5 minute personal style quiz which you can find at the link in the show Notes. If you've enjoyed our time together, please be sure to rate, review and subscribe to her style podcast so you never miss an episode. Finally, I invite you to make this a two way conversation and send me a DM over on Instagram eatherigstyle to let me know how I can best support you on your style journey. I'm always here for you in style and service. Until next time.