One of the things I love about the athleisure trend is the push toward making clothes that bridge the gap between fitness and everyday life. Although I have a lot of workout clothes, I have a pretty minimalist approach to my “regular” clothes–it’s a sort of accidental capsule wardrobe. From that perspective, I always gravitate toward styles that do double duty and integrate seamlessly with my active wardrobe.
On that note, Sweaty Betty recently dropped a new collection, Sports Luxe, with this exact purpose in mind. The collection focuses on neutral colors and fashion forward silhouettes while still maintaining a decidedly sporty vibe. You can imagine my excitement when Sweaty Betty offered to send me a couple of pieces, since this capsule is right up my alley! Plus, I’ve been liking Sweaty Betty more and more in general, so I was happy to add more to my little collection.
Disclosure: the sweater and sweatpants in this post were complimentary from Sweaty Betty. As usual, everything written here is my own opinion and experience.
Photos by: Julia Romano Photography
I love the look of an oversized, grey knit sweater. That silhouette is becoming a wardrobe staple for me, so I was pretty stoked to pull this one out of the package. This resto luxe jumper is a soft wool/cashmere blend (92%/8%). The knit is tight and thick, making this is one of my heaviest and warmest sweaters. I like to layer this over a long sleeve tee for ultimate warmth. (My skin is also a little sensitive to wool, so it helps with that too!) I’m actually wearing a bright coral tee underneath in these pics (see below), and the sweater’s plenty thick so that you can’t see the color come through at all.
And of course, the turtleneck helps fend off the cold, too. :)
The sweater comes in two sizes: S/M and M/L. Depending on your normal size what kind of fit you’re going for, either of those sizes could work. Mine is an S/M, and it’s a pretty oversized fit on me. If you’re a size XS or S, you’ll get a similar oversized look in this size.
The vertically textured knit elongates the silhouette, plus makes it a bit more sporty than your standard issue cable knit. The longer length and drop hem in the back is perfect for wearing this off-duty, since it covers the bum if you want to throw it on over leggings. I actually wore this exact outfit to work the day we took these photos.
I really like the horizontal slit the thumbholes, since it means they can disappear without a trace when you want to dress this piece up a bit, but you still get the cozy benefits of thumbholes when you want ’em.
The rose gold accents are gorgeous and bring up the luxe factor. Rose gold hardware always makes me happy. The side zips are functional as well as pretty, so if things get a little too warm, you’ve got options.
Although this piece comes with a high price tag, pretty much anything that’s warm and made of a quality fabric will not be cheap; the price seems fairly comparable to other similar styles out there. I love how this new sweater fits in perfectly with the rest of my closet, and brings style, luxury, and function with it.
P.S. Ankle boots are Franco Sarto “Linden” (on sale!)
Now for the bottom half!
These liberty luxe pants are heavenly. They’ve got excellent reviews on Sweaty Betty’s website, and for good reason! They’re made of Italian fleece, which feels lusciously soft. It’s not the fluffy fleece you might be used to, but smoother. The fabric isn’t actually that heavy, but feels just as warm as my heavier, thicker cotton sweats. I haven’t had these long, but I’ve already worn them quite a few times. They’re ideal for pulling on over leggings for extra warmth, but are great on their own, too.
The pants have deep zip pockets and a drawstring at the waist, all accented with pewter details. There’s reflective piping down both sides, so if you wear these running or out and about, you’ll get a little extra visibility out of the deal.
On top I’m wearing the hypo glisten LS, which I recently purchased during their end of season sale since I like my regular glisten LS so much. I like to balance loose-fitting pieces like these pants with a tighter-fitting top, since the loose + loose combo can be a bit dangerous for someone petite like me. I can go into more detail on this top and my other sale buys in an upcoming post.
Back to the pants: my pair is a size XS short. It’s awesome that these are available in two lengths, since it really helps out us shorties. If an XXS was made in these, that probably would’ve worked for me too, since these are still fairly relaxed on me. So, I would go for your true size, which will probably turn out close to what the fit looks like on the Sweaty Betty model (mine are looser since they’re the larger of my usual sizes). So, as you probably gathered, lean toward a larger size for a more relaxed fit, or smaller for a more tailored fit.
Overall, these pants are anything but your standard issue terry sweats. They take all the great things about sweats and make them ten times better.
Also, this bridge walkway was just asking for that split pose you see yoga girls doing everywhere:
Bahaha, I just had to try my hand at it. #outtakes
By the way…
Speaking of Sweaty Betty, on the 26th (1 week from today!) they’re launching a new workout video with Brit fitness studio 1Rebel as part of Sweaty Betty’s Get Fit 4 Free program. Boxing workouts have been really catching on, so if you’ve wanted to give it a try, this online workout makes it much more easily accessible. This is especially nice if you travel, like to work out at home, or if you’re like me and live in a small town that’s probably 3823 miles from the nearest boutique fitness studio–hah. If you live near a Sweaty Betty store, you can check out the class in person, also for free. The details and a preview of the workout are on their website.
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Resto luxe jumper | Liberty luxe pants
Hypo glisten LS (similar color)
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Hi,
What are the black leggings you wore under the Sweaty Betty jumper?
I am on the look out for some as wearing out my black lululemon skinny wills currently and need something as an alternative (as they show no signs of being re-released anytime soon.)
Best wishes
Don’t know if you’ve tried them but I wear my LLL black align tights under most of my sweaters and tunics if not wearing jeans. They’re not as tick and warm as skinny wills though.
They’re actually ponte knit skinny pants! Not leggings after all. :) Unfortunately, I can’t really think of anything off the top of my head that’s quite close to the skinny will pants. :
Love both pieces and that coral top is gorgeous. Time to look a little closer at sweaty Betty.Your boots are so cute…I bought a similar pair this year for wet weather (uggs) and wear them all the time with everything.
Thanks Samantha! SB is definitely worth the look.
That sweater is SO cute and looks super cozy! I love how it looks on you! The last picture is pretty awesome as well :)
Thanks Gretchen. :)
Those luxe pants are nice! I’ll admit the price scares me, but as you say – anything warm and quality is expensive.
I’m envious of the oversized sweater trend. I love the look, but with my build I just can’t pull it off (not well, anyway).
I never really thought the oversized thing worked for me either, but lately I’ve found a couple ways to make it work. :)
I have been eyeing this sweater for awhile, but I’ve been hopelessly see-sawing on what size to get. Your review had helped to tip the balance, so thanks! (And of course it’s really cute on you…)
I have quite a few SB pieces, and I’ve been really happy with them. The dance pants are one of my favorites, and I’m hoping for more extra long options. And I have a few pairs of the seamless pants that I love for the pattern, but they are quite thin — like heavy-pantyhose thin (probably not dog-owner pants!). I also have the merino ski pants, and (as advertised) they are outside, function-not-fashion winter pants. They are quite thick and warm, with a very tight weave. They are not something I can wear around the house because I’d be roasting. I also ordered and returned one of the merino sweaters, and although I liked it, I thought it ran small. If the shipping were faster I would’ve re-ordered a size up, but one drawback to SB is the slow ship time (everything I’ve received has taken at least 10 days, and some 2 weeks). This also was quite thick, and would’ve been an outside-only item for me.
Overall, I’ve been really happy with the quality of this line. I like having pieces that are ‘different,’ so I’ll be adding to my Sweaty Betty section of my closet!
Just call them if you plan to do an exchange. They usually expedite the shipping for an exchange item. It takes forever for the return to get there and so the balance sits on my credit card for a few weeks but it is worth it. Their customer service is some of the best I have ever experienced!
Thank you for the feedback! Good to know about the seamless material. I do try to avoid that kind of thing since my dogs are needy and like to paw at me a lot. :) As for shipping times, it seems to vary a lot. I’ve had 1 package arrive in under a week, while others took ~3 weeks. Bit of a crapshoot with customs I suppose.
I really love my Sweaty Betty pieces and will continue to buy their stuff. Quality is great and they have some unique capsules. Kicking myself for not getting a hypo listen top when it was on sale! I’m still in the market for a nice oversized sweater that doesn’t dominate my petite frame, but I don’t want something THAT warm.
Fair enough. :) I do like the hypo glisten, though I think I do have a slight preference for the fabric of the regular glisten–it’s a bit thicker. The Nesh sweater I reviewed a couple weeks ago is a little lighter, and at least for me the proportions seem to work.
hahaha love that last pose!
so be honest about the sweater… how itchy is it??? i saw the fabric content and said “no thanks” (but it is extremely cute!)
also – to those who hate the long SB shipping time: if you are interested in several things (or not sure which size to get), keep in mind that any order over $300 (which is not difficult to do at SB – especially if you want to try 2 sizes) will get free “premier” shipping, which is 2 days from london to CA (amazing!) plus, returns are free.
Oh, that’s good to know! I’ve had stuff arrive anywhere from under a week to more like 3 weeks. Seems to just depend on how customs is feeling, I suppose.
As for the sweater, that’s difficult for me to answer. It does feel softer than most wool (softer than lulu’s wool if I remember correctly), but for me, ANY wool feels a tad scratchy if I wear it for more than a few minutes. Even fabrications with only 10% wool can bother me. FWIW, I’ll continue to wear it anyway, though I’ll always prefer it with a LS underneath. I can handle the turtleneck on bare skin since it isn’t too tight.
You look gorgeous! ! That is s totally my kind of sweater!! I’m always cold too.
Yes, me too, especially since I live in a pretty cold climate! I’m basically cold non-stop from November clean through to May. :P
I’m SO jealous of the warm pants – I can’t find sweats for my long legs :( I wish, just like they make short lengths, that’d they realize there’s an entire population of tall and long legged people where regular length is actually crop length on us. Even Athleta makes talls but doesn’t recognize that you can be tall AND be an xsmall (most if not all their tall length items start as size small). I totally want these pants too!
Yeah, I was wondering if someone would bring up the lack of extra-long lengths. :( To your last point, ironically a lot of petite lengths cut off small sizes too. To use Athleta as an example again, their petite sizes never come in XXS. Kind of silly on both ends if you ask me!