Style Strategy 008: Summer Outfit Formula Cheat Sheet
5 formulas that work for real life, not just for the shot.
Fashion internet is being inundated with talk of barn coats, double knitwear and coat season.
Which is all well and good, but I live in Australia where the holiday season of summer means swimmers, sunscreen and sunglasses.
For me, an outfit with a POV requires tension: frills mixed with denim, lace mixed with cotton, short hemlines with high necklines. Summer outfits are deceptively more challenging to create this mix because we can’t rely on layering to make an outfit more interesting.
What I’m looking for in a day-to-day summer outfit are:
a) Appropriate for day-to-day. Holiday dressing is nice and all, and although I’m in Sydney which is relatively relaxed, I’m not one to don a totally sheer dress for a casual day out. We’re not always on holidays or parties, so this is for the in-between moments.
b) Not too editorial. It’s knowing when to separate what looks good in an image, and what will actually work to wear out in the real world. That shot of a shirt with only one button done up with shorts might look great but it is surprisingly akin to the bikini+sequin outfit — sounds great in theory but it doesn’t work for my life.
With some thought, here are some outfit ideas for summer that I’ve broken down into why and how they work.
What’s behind the paywall:
Statement skirt: I’m calling it — skirts are coming back
Scarf-onomics: a common ‘fashion tip’ has been to include scarves in an outfit, and I don’t know about you but I find it so easy to look contrived. Here are some tips to make it actually work for you.
Summer lace: not just for the evening, here’s how to dress it down for the day.
All-over colour: you’re probably already doing it, but here’s how to step it up.
The rules of twos with accessories: once you know this rule, you won’t be able to unsee it (in a good way).
Within it, I’ve also included some of my favourite people to follow for personal style. There are some big names of course, but there are also some who are perhaps more unknown. And I’m always looking for more ideas — share some of your favourite people to look to for summer style inspiration in the comments!