After reading this post, you can come up with multiple outfit ideas for styling a plaid blazer with pieces from your wardrobe.
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A Well-Cut Plaid or Tartan Blazer is Perfect for a Work Outfit
Tartan is a classic pattern. Many fashion lovers associate plaid with the signature pattern of Burberry. A blazer in a plaid weave can be a timeless workhorse of a business casual work wardrobe. It’s a perfect pairing with jeans for Casual Friday outfits.
I saw a similar tartan blazer on TV – I think it was one part of the Castle series. I fell in love how great a Burberry blazer looked. Prior to this show, I always associated circus and clowns with tartan jackets. Obviously, tartan works well for a business casual style work blazer when it is well cut, fitted, and has non-crayon colors.
Ok, ok, the tartan of the clown is his work uniform too, but on purpose ugly and funny. 😉
Styling a Burberry Plaid Blazer Work Appropriate
A great advantage of a plaid blazer are the many colors of the pattern. They permit tying the colors of an outfit together. Think of them as the designer’s cheat sheet or recipe how to create a well balanced color combination. More on color blocking formulas for effortless style.
In the example above, the jacket’s colors served to pick the other pieces. See the stripes in red and burgundy in the pattern of the blazer? Therefore, adding pumps and a sweater in burgundy, a red skirt, and red tights makes a great Business Casual Style outfit. The Gucci belt and linen shirt pick up the dark brown and olive stripes of the blazer, respectively. More on wearing a great look with more than 3 colors.

The outfit inspiration below demonstrates that reusing the concept of “using the colors in the fabric” will not lead to a cookie-cutter style or look like being in a style rut.



The red in the scarf permits wearing the coat open without clashing colors. More on how to look sophisticated in plaid clothing.
Styling a Plaid Blazer with a Knit Dress
The plaid blazer outfit idea below applies the same basic concept explained above.




Further Options to Style a Plaid Blazer
Try to wear your tartan blazer with other patterns or even with prints. For inspirations and how-tos see, for instance:
- Best ways to mix plaid with gingham
- Pair zebra print with tartan
- Mixing plaid with camouflage pattern
- Mixing leopard print with plaid
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Photos: G. Kramm
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