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Vogue’s Sarah Harris demonstrates the art of the half tuck.
Vogue’s Sarah Harris demonstrates the art of the half tuck. Photograph: Timur Emek/Getty Images
Vogue’s Sarah Harris demonstrates the art of the half tuck. Photograph: Timur Emek/Getty Images

Go tuck yourself – and 10 ways to do it

This article is more than 7 years old
The Mullet, the Viennetta and the Mushroom – a fashion trend for tucking in tops in stylish ways has made getting dressed a minefield. Fear not. With our handy guide, the right way to tuck is crystal clear

Tucking. It used to be simple: in or out. Neat and tidy or an act of slobbish rebellion. But now, in fashion, the rules have become a lot more complicated.

Take a look at any street-style star and you’ll notice that their tucking technique – although designed to look casual, done/undone – has been painstakingly thought out. Some tuck a snatch of jumper into their skirt. Others shove hoodies – even puffa jackets – into their jeans. It’s all over the catwalks, too: the recent Louis Vuitton menswear show was a half-tucker’s paradise. Gucci, too, played with a litany of tucks in womenswear. You could say there’s something competitive about fashion’s struggle to dream up new ways of tucking your top in: a sort of one-tuckmanship, if you will.

Tucking as a styling trick first emerged in about 2013, when we met the half-tuck, a shirt-specific manoeuvre that involved tucking three-quarters of your shirt in, save for a flap hanging out the front. Vogue endorsed it and it enjoyed a niche but robust hold over womenswear, interpreted at Gucci Resort and Gap. Style writer Kristin Anderson even wrote an explainer for Vogue last year: “Take shirt; wrap generous section of fabric around thumb; jam, with vigour, into waistband”, so everyone could join in. And they did; even old streamlined Victoria Beckham. This was considered but louche, an easy way to refresh a shirt and earmark yourself as a leader of fashion.

After a two-year gestation period, in which the half-tuck reigned, the trend dipped a bit, during the normcore period. According to style consultant Katherine Ormerod: “Normcore hit and the effort of artfully tucking your shirt started to look a little contrived.” But recently, tucking has retaliated in ever more wild and complex ways.

Up until the late 18th century, the methodology of tucking was practical. Shirt-tails were the only thing standing between your outer clothing and your honour, so they tended to be long. When trousers came along, shirt-tails stood in for underwear and were tucked underneath for hygiene reasons, the longer the better. Even after underwear was introduced, the symbolism of tucking and modesty stuck.

If you accept that whatever is happening on the catwalks is bound to trickle down eventually, it seems inevitable that the rest of us will soon be grappling with half-tucks soon. This is not necessarily bad news: untucking your shirt remains a mark of dissent, a reactionary move against the Man and the simplest way to look cool at work without getting a verbal warning. What’s more, there are now tons of way to tuck. They are all, however, a complete nightmare to rearrange if you go to the loo.

Mullet tuck

A visitor to Paris fashion week, January 2017, demonstrates the mullet tuck. Photograph: Edward Berthelot/Getty Images

Arguably phase two of the half-tuck, this involves tucking in the front of your top and untucking the back. In keeping with the spirit of half-tuck nonchalance, this is supposed to look as if you only had time to hammer the front in before leaving the house. In reality there’s a strong chance you spent 25 minutes trying this out on four different tops.

Double tuck

The double tuck, spotted at Paris fashion week, January 2017. Photograph: SIPA/Rex/Shutterstock

Tucking in your shirt and your jumper. No mean feat. As one stylist told us off the record, the best way to get a streamlined silhouette when doing this is to tuck your tops into a pair of Spanx. This may apply here although, again, see the loo situation.

Smug tuck

German model Sofia Tsakiridou at Berlin fashion week, 2017, demonstrates the smug tuck. Photograph: Christian Vierig/Getty Images

True story: at the men’s shows people were seen to be tucking their Puffa jackets into their trousers. Actual Puffa jackets. Hilarious and of course impossible, the next best thing is tucking a thick knit into your skirt, thus a) showing you read Vogue, and b) allowing you to respin your chunky jumper into something new season.

Viennetta tuck

A model on the Louis Vuitton catwalk during Paris fashion week, January 2017, demonstrates the Viennetta tuck. Photograph: Victor Boyko/Getty Images

Another graduate from the school of chill, the Viennetta tuck is a gender-neutral alternative to the full tuck. So named because the top should ripple along the tuck like a Viennetta, it works best with something oversized so you have enough give to create a concertina-like shape. Takes ages to do, but go with it.

Hoodie tuck

Actor Sophie Hopkins at London fashion week, January 2017, demonstrates the hoodie tuck. Photograph: Christian Vierig/Getty Images

From Vetements to Juicy Couture to Zara, hoodies have become the cockroaches of the past two seasons – stop fighting them. Just tuck them in.

A visitor to Paris fashion week, January 2017, demonstrates the navel tuck. Photograph: Dvora/Rex/Shutterstock

This is a thumb-sized tuck placed squarely underneath your belly button. Great, we should add, if you’re not tall.

Man tuck

A model on the catwalk at the MSGM show during Milan men’s fashion week, June 2016, demonstrates the man tuck. Photograph: Estrop/WireImage

A key look on the MSGM and Christopher Shannon catwalks was this committed tuck. The rules are: there are no rules! Think 90s, think square and, whatever you have, tuck it in.

Low tuck

Victoria Beckham, at New York fashion week, September 2016, demonstrates the low tuck. Photograph: Neilson Barnard/Getty Images

It’s helpful to hold the image of both a flapper and a skater in your head when setting about this look. You need low-slung trousers and a very slim-fitting top or shirt that is far too long. Trust Victoria Beckham to coin her own tuck.

Mushroom tuck

Chiara Capitani at Milan fashion week, June 2016, sports the mushroom tuck. Photograph: Christian Vierig/Getty Images

This is all about silhouette – massive on top, not underneath. Works best with a chunky knit or hoodie.

Half under tuck

A model on the catwalk at the Louis Vuitton show, during Paris fashion week in January 2017, demonstrations the half under tuck. Photograph: SIPA/Rex/Shutterstock

This Escher-style illusion involves half-tucking a shirt underneath a jumper to create a clean but dishevelled look. A key styling tic of menswear this season, it was also the key tuck at Louis Vuitton (huge on tucking btw).

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