I came up with 6 key pieces for summer that are a mix of new items and older pieces that will form the basis of my summer capsule wardrobe. Now that I'm tiptoeing into post lockdown life, and will be going out more, these are the items I'm most excited to wear. If you have a closet full of clothes but nothing to wear and struggle to get dressed day to day, then it's time to edit your closet down to essentials. If you pinpoint the articles of clothing you wear the most and the pieces that make you feel your best, then you can remix them regularly. You don't have to have a minimal wardrobe but think of a seasonal capsule wardrobe as paring down what's in your closet. Nothing is more uncomfortable than being out and about and not feeling your best in clothes. We forget about what's in our closet and what we used to love. I think it's important to declutter your closet then create a seasonal capsule of items to wear.
Curating a capsule wardrobe helps you to shop less. How you approach your clothing shopping can save you a lot of money. Only bring things into your closet that you're going to wear all the time and repeat. Try spending a little bit more time on quality, thus you'll end up buying less. The longer a piece of clothing you love lasts in your closet, the less money you have to spend replacing it. Thus, lowering the consumption of new clothing. When you have a capsule wardrobe, you do an audit of what's missing in your closet and create a shopping list of only essentials you need and thus that prevents you from shopping on impulse. Anything you add to your closet, you should be able to make 3 outfits with. Shop poshmark for secondhand.
Summer Clothing Tips to Stay Cool
When selecting what you're going to wear in the summer, avoid tight clothing because it will trap heat. Pick flowy clothes to allow air to circulate. You don't need polyester in your summer wardrobe, it's bad at regulating your body temperature and is easy to overheat in it. Polyester doesn't absorb sweat like cotton does and choosing cotton clothing will keep you cooler. Linen and light cotton is what I look for when building my summer wardrobe.
Create balance in terms of where you show skin. So shorts look more balanced with a shirt with sleeves verses a tank top. A tank top will be balanced out with a pair of pants. So you're only show off skin in one part of your body. That way you don't look all little and tight in your outfit. A loose fitting top and bottom is going to be more comfortable and feel better in the heat than something that is really fitted. It won't cling to you and stick to your sweat.
Lighter colors reflect light while dark colors absorb light, so you may want to limit how much black you wear in the summertime. Stick to neutral tones in summer to achieve an effortless chic look. An all white outfit is the epitome of summertime chic! Earthy tones for summer feel beachy and carefree and have that understated elegance. This is my color palette for the summer.
With all of that in mind, I picked these 6 items from my closet to create mix and match outfits for this summer. The picture above is from the Stylebook App that I've used for many years to catalog my closet. When I buy something new, 90% of the time I use the shop's website picture to add to the app and 10% of the time I take the picture myself. This way when I go shopping, I can always refer to my app and see that I already own a blue sweater. It also tracks how often I wear clothes, so it ended having a closet with lots of tags on clothes. It allows me to pre-plan outfits and put it on a calendar so when I wake up I just refer to the app to see what I'm scheduled to wear for the day. Everything in that picture is an article of clothing in my closet, how neat is that? You'll recognize some of the shirts from my Choosing Neutral Basics post and my 5 Best T-Shirts for Women post.
6 key pieces for your Summer Capsule Wardrobe for someone who likes to dress classic, minimalist and chic. When you are looking to build a consistent wardrobe and style, and really get down to finding the pieces that make sense and fit your guidelines, starting early is essential. When late June hits and its super warm and you have nothing to wear you risk getting into this place of panic where you feel you have nothing to wear and shop mindlessly. Most stores stop selling summer clothes come July. So if you start early with planning your summer capsule wardrobe, you can look for the right pieces and won't end up picking up something from the store that isn't right that you won't wear next summer. When you create a list of 6 outfits, you will always have something to wear. My summer capsule wardrobe has 28 pieces including three brown t-shirts. These outfit formulas are foolproof and is a tool to help you get more out of your closet.
1. White Shorts
Every top you own looks great with white shorts, thus they never go out of style. Your closet needs a pair of white shorts, so get a longer length if that makes you feel more comfortable. I'm 5'6 and I prefer a 6 inch inseam for my shorts. Find the perfect shorts for you.
2. Beige Linen Paperbag Shorts
Paperbag shorts are a new style of pant I'm trying and I really love them. They are high waisted, cinch in your waist and elongate your legs. You have to wear a tucked in shirt with them which makes your outfit look more stylish anyway.
A white shirt dress never goes out of style, and is better than a basic t-shirt dress. If you don't know what to wear, you just pick the white shirt dress add some jewelry and instantly, you have a cute outfit. A cotton or linen dress will be more breathable. At night you can pair your white dress with neon shoes.
Linen fabrics are always on trend for summer and I love wearing white linen pants when the temperature goes up. It's just a perfect breathable fabric. People expect linen to look a little wrinkly so you don't have to worry about that. The wrinkles are part of the aesthetic.
Linen has a looser fit so its perfect to wear on a breezy summer day. Clothes made out of linen feel put together yet still casual. It gives your outfit a bit more upscale but leisurely look.
I suspect I'll be doing a lot more walking this summer so I wanted stylish sneakers to wear with my outfits. At the bottom of the Shoe Trends for Spring/Summer post I shared a dozen white sneakers to choose from. I'm wearing Veja vegan leather sneakers. My sandal is Tory Burch's Miller sandal. A good pair of sandals can make a casual outfit look a lot better. They're more stylish than flip-flops. Make sure you have nude seamless underwear for all the white you're going to be wearing this summer. A hat always add that extra something to an outfit.
Creating a capsule seasonal wardrobe is the first step in building looks you love. You will have less decision fatigue because you're following a bunch of rules. Once a week, plan out your outfits for the week according to your capsule. That way you can see your closet as abundant and not overwhelming. I encourage you to make new outfits out of old clothes and fall back in love with your closet.
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