How to Wear Bell Sleeves

As I was going through recent photos, I realized I should probably rename this blog Abby Loves Blue and White Stripes. Catchy, right?! But seriously. Check out the posts I did on this J.Crew top, this dress, and this cute jumpsuit, for example. And believe me, that’s just the tip of the iceberg! I also realized that I own a lot of bell sleeve tops, and I thought it might be fun to give you a few suggestions on how to wear bell sleeves!

1. Pay attention to proportions

When thinking about how to wear bell sleeves, you must consider the overall silhouette. I knew I wanted to pair this top with flat sandals, so I was careful to ensure that the look didn’t have too much volume, and that my legs didn’t look too short. I solved this problem with a good old front tuck. This shirt (on sale at Anthropologie!) is actually pretty long, but I knew I needed to shorten it visually in order to pair it with flat shoes.

This top from Madewell is the perfect length and requires no front tuck. I paired it with cropped jeans for a fun spring look. In order to avoid the two cropped pieces cutting me visually, I chose a wedge to make my legs look longer.

2. Pair with slim or skinny jeans

Generally speaking, a top that is full looks most flattering with a slimmer silhouette on the bottom. There are exceptions to this, as you will see below, but combining volume on top with skinny pants is always a formula for success!

3. Pair with bell bottoms for a retro vibe

I’ll be the first to admit that I was a late adapter of the skinny jeans trend. My cousin who was visiting had to encourage (force?!) me to try on hers in order to convince me that I should convert. Once I crossed over, I’ve rarely gone back. But how cute is this outfit?!

4. Add a heel

This top from last season is on the verge of being too long for my short torso, especially since I paired it with high rise jeans and therefore can’t do a front tuck.

The reason the outfit works is because I elongated my legs by wearing a heel. With flats, my legs would have looked really short (and they’re not!) because of how long the top is. By the way, I recently listed this shirt on Poshmark if you’d like to take a look at my closet!

Here, I want my legs to look as long as possible to balance out the strong hourglass shape created by the flare jeans. So once again, I choose a high wedge to finish the look.

Although there are many things to consider, I’d encourage you to play around with some different combinations as you experiment with how to wear bell sleeves! Let me know how it goes!