How do you layer clothes without looking bulky?
Thin-to-thick, fitted base, and keep the total to three visible layers. Merino and heat-tech base layers add warmth with no bulk.
Bulk comes from stacking mid-weight pieces; warmth actually comes from thin layers trapping air. The system: a fitted thin base (merino or a technical heat layer - genuinely warm at t-shirt thickness), a mid layer with structure (fine knit, shirt, thin fleece), and one outer layer with room for the others (buy coats one consideration up, not one size up). Rules that prevent the marshmallow look: each layer thinner than the one outside it; cuffs and hems of inner layers fully covered; and no more than three visible layers - four reads as costume. The collar stack is where bulk announces itself: one collar up out of two, not three collars fighting. V-necks under crews, never two competing necklines at the same height.