Dear Person Who Has Nothing to Wear But Also Can’t Close Their Drawers: LET’S TALK ABOUT TUCKING. I know. It’s silly.
You came here for insider intel on how to look expensive, and I want to talk to you about your shirt? Harper, please. Give me back my pearls.
But please bear with me for one more sentence, because I tried this laughably easy styling hack while getting dressed for a story on how to look expensive and it revolutionized the way I wear basics every single day. Allow me to reintroduce you to your waistband: through the magic of tactical (partial) tucking, your cheap little Target shirts will actually start to look pricey.
I was having a total breakthrough with my shirt while photographing outfits for a story about dressing expensive on a tight budget last summer.
I couldn’t for the life of me get any of the outfits to look anything close to expensive. They looked—well, like cheap clothes that didn’t photograph at all like their luxe equivalents. Time was running out, and I was panicking.
My photographer was giving me that look that said he wanted to be anywhere but here, mocking my desire to channel Madison Avenue when all I had was a J.Crew Factory blouse and jeans. I was seconds away from scrapping the whole thing when I absentmindedly started tugging on my brand-neutral white button-down, frustrated. Instead of leaving it fully untucked (slouched in sackism) or fully tucked (schoolteacher casual), I tucked in only the front half, leaving the back half of the shirt purposely uneven and bunching the excess material so that it hung over my jeans in an imperfect bow.
It was asymmetry — and it gave my entirely Plain Jane outfit an actual waist, instantaneously transforming it from “throw-on” to “try-hard.” “That’s it!” my photographer whispered, suddenly taking a vested interest in my leotard. “Whatever you just did, we’re shooting that.” Needless to say, that photo went on to become one of our most pinned that month. I wore Target jeans, Target shirt from their “Universal Thread” line that feels highly luxurious but probably costs less than a LULA SKIRT, and some basic flats. The pieces themselves were nothing you’d find at Henri Bendel, but that slouchy partial tuck gave my whole outfit an expensive vibe.
Ever since that magical photoshoot day, I’ve been quietly obsessed with how tucking just a portion of your shirt can make your entire outfit look fancier. I’ve tested this theory on petite frames and larger bodies (hi, it’s me! ), expensive and cheap garments, preppy and street style looks. And the results were always the same: when done correctly, tucking just a piece of your shirt instantly makes your outfit look more expensive. “The human eye perceives asymmetry as intentional,” explains celebrity stylist Tina Nguyen, who dresses everyone from Shea Coul Heaton to Winnie Harlow. “An untucked shirt or a fully tucked shirt implies that little thought went into how it hangs.
But when you tuck just enough of your shirt to create some sort of intentional design, you’re giving your outfit that ‘plug pulled at Bergdorf’s’ vibe.” Translation: it tricks the brain into believing someone who knows their sleeves from their ankle boots put together your outfit. “It’s like how messy hair that took you an hour to achieve looks,” adds Tina. “We associate that kind of effortlessness with high fashion.” Suddenly everything about this idea made total sense to me. It occurred to me that I had been partially tucking my shirts all wrong my entire life. I’d thought that, for the sake of achieving some sort of avant-garde messy-but-intentional look, my tucks had to be perfectly symmetrical on both sides.
If they weren’t, I’d started over and tried again, ruining both my shirt and my appetite. “The more calculated and precise your tuck looks, the less expensive it will read,” warns Tina. “You want your shirt to look like it doesn’t fully want to be tucked in your jeans.” Just loose enough to create interesting silhouette, but tailored enough to give you some sort of waist. Experimentation is really the key with this whole tactic. As with any clothing hack that looks slightly different on various body types and frames, you’ll have to tweak this method to work for you.
Below, I broke down the tuck into four different styles that work for a variety of shirts, jeans, and belt options. Scroll down to get straight-up tee sex tips from me. TEST IT OUT As fun as it was to philosophize about the socioeconomics of shirt-tucking with Michelle’s favorite stylist, I wanted to know if this actually worked on, you know, real humans.
I pulled out three cheapos from my closet that I always default to when I have no idea what to wear: a white button-down, a chunky sweater, and a basic tee. I wore each item twice: once fully untucked, once with a partial tuck. Here’s what happened.
OUTFIT #1: THE WHITE BUTTON-DOWNIf there’s one shirt that almost every woman owns, it’s the classic white button-down. It’s comfortable, versatile, and pairs well with everything. But on its own, it can also read as slightly bland no matter how you style it.
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Here’s how a partial tuck can change all that. I threw on a pair of high-waisted bootcut jeans and my go-to Salvation Army white button-down. Make sure your top is nice and crisp before starting the process—you don’t want to look like you slept in your shirt, even if technically you totally did.
For my “before” shirt, I simply unbuttoned the top and threw it over my pants. Easy peasy. To create my “after” shirt, I partially tucked my shirt into my jeans, leaving just enough material on the sides to create a loose bow as it hit my jeans.
It should look somewhat messy, like your shirt is struggling to be tucked into your pants. Fluff up the fabric around your stomach until you like how it looks. (Total haulage moment: notice how much more of a waist I have in the “after” photo? Even your body can fool itself into thinking it looks slimmer when you try this hack.) OUTFIT #2: THE CHUNKY SWEATERWhen it comes to cozy winter vibes, there’s nothing I love more than a good old-fashioned chunky sweater.
But tbh, they usually only look expensive when they actually are (hello, Claudia Skanes). Here’s how to fake that luxe sweater look without breaking the bank. This time around I opted for a pair of straight-leg jeans and one of my favorite (read: oversized) sweaters.
As with the first look, start with a clean shirt. There’s nothing less expensive-looking than a hairy sweater that hasn’t been washed. For the “before,” I simply threw on the sweater like I would any other day, completely untucked.
And then I repeated step one from look number one. Easy peasy. To create my partial tuck, I started by tucking just the front half of my sweater into my pants, leaving the sides and back completely untucked.
Because my sweater is so oversized, I had to really bunch and maneuver the fabric at my stomach to get it to look just so. Don’t be afraid to let your shirt loose! Outfit #3: THE BASIC TEEOf all the shirts in your closet, the classic tee is probably the one you reach for most.
They’re comfortable, easy to style, and you can generally shove them in your pants without worrying about a panty line.
But how do you make a basic tee look anything other than, well, basic? Once again I opted for my tried-and-true straight-leg jeans, but this time I chose a low-cut blouse to change things up.
Same rules apply: start with a clean shirt. My “before” shirt was again, exactly how I’d wear the shirt any other day. And again: repeat Step 1 from Look 1.
And then I tucked! For this version, I only partially tucked my shirt to the side, leaving one side completely untucked while the other created a perfect crease down my pants. I love this method for button-ups and tops with stiffer fabrics—you get a nice, clean line that still gives you some sort of waist.
Moral of the story: there’s a shirt-tuck style for every body, budget, and blouse. As with any fashion hack, you have to play around with it to figure out what works and what doesn’t for your particular style. But I can’t wait for you to start experimenting.
Not because I want you to look expensive — although hey, that’s nice too — but because this trick literally takes seconds and can change your whole outlook on your (probably very expensive-looking) closet. “I feel like once you understand how powerful the partial tuck is, you start looking at every piece in your closet as something you can wear,” Tina explained to me. “Because if you can make a Target shirt look expensive, imagine what you can do with that Silk sweatshirt your aunt gave you.” Excuse me while I go air-Tuck all my sweaters…
