6 Tips For Wearing Crop Tops All Year Round

The whole crop-top wearing thing isn't going anywhere — and not just in the "now trending" sense. It's really here to stay, even as the more appropriate climate for wearing a crop top leaves us. And given that we usually don't have redcarpet events to use as a midriff-baring excuse (or ever), it's not quite feasible to think that we should be following Miley Cyrus' lead, either (see exhibit A, B, and C).

So, if you absolutely refuse to go without your shortened-hem counterpart in the colder months, or if you're just curious about what a crop top winter entails, keep reading.

• Dress it up. If you're rocking a corset-style or sleeveless crop top, wear it over a long-sleeved dress. Bonus points if the dress happens to feature a turtleneck. Now you've gone from skin-baring to totally covered up. Go you. If you have a cropped t-shirt, layer it under a overall romper or skinny strap dress — and don't forget to add tights for an extra dose of clothing warmth.

• Seasonal switch. Invest in knitwear and longer-sleeved versions. Some suggestions? Check Topshop and Nasty Gal for affordable options.

• Meet in the middle. Wear your crop top with high-waisted jeans. Or if you'd prefer a girlish alternative, try a high-waisted fluted skirt. Then, play with proportions even more by way of a longer heavy-knit cardigan and flat Chelsea boots.

• As is, please. Still want that flash of skin? Fine, wear your crop top in all its glory. As a compromise of sorts, put on a coat and colorful beanie to offset the skin-revealing silhouette. No one likes a cute shivering girl.

• Go for conservative. If you like the idea of a crop top, but you're nowhere near wanting to go all Rihanna on your outfit, look for curved hems, relatively "longer" iterations with oversized sleeves (Erdem example here), or cheat a little bit, and wear a cropped jacket.

• Cher Horowitz-approved. I try never to go a day without at least one Clueless reference, so here it is. For those of you who don't mind the heavy '90s trend in the fashion world right now, why not take on the shrunken vest look? Cher Horowitz may have gone with matchy-matchy plaids, but the point here is to layer with a longer tee underneath for a funkier schoolgirl effect.

Image: Topshop, weworewhat on Instagram, Net-a-Porter, Paramount Pictures