Must-have Sweater Styles to Find This Fall and Winter

Cozy season is coming, and you need to be prepared. Because you can’t spend every moment of the cold fall and winter months huddled under a blanket, you need to equip your wardrobe with a few pieces that will keep you snug and comfortable despite the dropping temps.

Soft and warm sweaters are always in fashion, but from year to year, trends shift slightly to bring certain sweater styles to the fore. If you want to feel comfy and look chic, here are the must-have sweaters for the rapidly approaching season:

Oversized

Tight and slim-fitting everything is out in a big way, so you should expect to see an overabundance of massively oversized sweaters all over the coming seasons. Oversized sweaters are especially cozy, draping you in soft, warm fabrics that feels not unlike wearing a blanket. Because of the popularity of the oversized trend, many newly available sweaters will likely have their sizes slightly inflated to ensure the boxy, flowy look, but you can also jump up one or two sizes to achieve a similar effect on slimmer sweaters.

Cardigan

Cardigans are sweaters that open in the front. Usually, cardigans have buttons that allow you to keep the sweaters closed and snug, but some cardigans have loose ties that allow for a more draped look. As with other sweaters, you might opt for oversized cardigan styles or at least cardigans that are particularly loose and baggy in the sleeves. Earthy cardigan colors are most on trend, though neutrals like white, black and navy never go out of style.

Turtleneck

Though turtlenecks are slightly slipping from their peak popularity, they certainly remain a stylish and functional piece for fall and winter. The key to keeping your turtlenecks on trend this season is to opt for chunky knits and slouchy silhouettes over the form-fitting shirts and sweaters of years past. You might even consider wearing your oversized turtleneck as a chic sweater dress, pairing it with a cross-body bag and a necklace stack for some bling.

Mock Neck

If you tend to feel suffocated in a full turtleneck, you aren’t alone. Fortunately, there’s a way you can achieve the high-fashion look of high-neck sweaters without drowning in wool: the mock neck. Unlike a turtleneck, which tends to feature folded-over layers of fabric reaching high up the neck, mock-neck sweaters have a high collar consisting of a single-layer of fabric that cannot be rolled or folded. The result is a simple and rather uncommon garment that looks and feels a bit more sophisticated than other sweater options.

Sweater T-shirt

For much of the fall season, temperatures tend to remain high, making true sweater outfits quite uncomfortable. Still, you can achieve that fall look and feeling by wearing sweater t-shirts, which are short-sleeved shirts with cozy knitted wool or cashmere. You can match a sweater t-shirt with jeans or a skirt and boots, but you should know that this is an unfailingly casual piece of clothing.

Alpine

One of the more fun designs within the world of women’s sweaters, alpine sweaters are those that have stripes and repeated patterns circling around the body horizontally. Perhaps the most well-known alpine sweaters have rings of color circling the neck and shoulders, often with zigzags, though fall and winter icons like leaves, reindeer and snowflakes are not uncommon. Because alpine sweaters are just a little dorky, they are on the cutting-edge of sweater trends, and wearing one during the upcoming seasons could put you firmly in trendsetter territory.

Ribbed Knit

Ribbed knit sweaters fit snugly against the body, which goes against the dominating oversized trend. Still, you might put a few ribbed knit pieces in your fall and winter wardrobe to give you some variety when it comes to your outfit silhouettes. You might wear a ribbed knit sweater underneath a baggy cardigan or above a pair of baggy jeans or snow pants to create balance. You might opt for neutrals in your ribbed knits to ensure they go with any look for which you might need them.

If you add only one sweater to your fall and winter wardrobe this year, you should almost certainly make it something oversized. However, you deserve to treat yourself, especially as new trends arise, so you might stock up on some timeless sweater essentials from this list.