So fun that your challenge, Joy, lined up with Angie's post today so well! It really made me think, and try on lots of things, and re-assess what my favorites are also. I tried to keep it short, but wrote a novel.
I started by thinking through silhouettes that suit our warm summers (we keep it around 87F, 30+C indoors), and my lifestyle, and decided that what I'm wearing and likely to wear are cropped boyfriend jeans, shorts and skirts - all with loose, flowy tops. Then I thought through what in my wardrobe fits me really well (which is most everything - yay!), and is enjoyable to wear (reasonably current, good quality and in good shape). After subtracting what was in the laundry or missing (a common occurrence in a household where children do the laundry), I had a set of clothes to start trying out for outfits.
I tried out 25 or so combinations, and these are my favorites. I know you said three outfits Joy, but I'm an overachiever. These outfits include three tops and two bottoms, and mix and match rather well, so I tried to break them in to sets.
The first set is my jean skirt. I know it puts me in the stereotypical home-schooling mom category to love a jean skirt, but I do. I'm especially loving it with the tough boots in the middle, even though it'll be too warm for that through much of summer.
The second set is my white boyfriend jeans - a work horse from last summer that's still in good shape. They go with everything. Here's them with the floral top, a raspberry mesh sweater (with white tank under), and a black silky button-down. A change of shoes makes it a bit more tomboy, and increases my happiness factor even more.
The third set is a few renditions of my new floral tee with a jean skirt. This outfit has already been worn three times. Today I wore the left rendition. I wore it with ballet flats (middle picture) first to church, then to a summer work conference, but the A/C was so cold at the conference that I added the jacket (on the right). The other outfit that I wore at that conference is very similar to the left pic in #1 (I wore dark skinnies rather than a skirt, and ballet flats).
So there you go. A few of these outfits have already been worn repeatedly, and as it heats up more will be (though the black button down might be subbed out for a black flowy tee). They are all simple, in my book - simple shapes and silhouettes, and nothing extra (which to me is streamlined). I don't find any of these dated, so that fits modern. There's a touch of hard-edge in there, as well as a bit of sporty tomboy when I bring in my converse sneakers. Most of these are also polished enough, with the right shoes, to do a business casual conference in my industry.
I didn't show any shorts, because most of my shorts are a similar length to this skirt, and the skirt both looked better in the photos, and is cooler in the warm weather. I think it's going to be a super workhorse this summer. And a note on the sandals: I have black Birkenstocks on their way to me that will replace these falling-apart black strappy Danskos. They should be here Friday, and I can't wait!
The best part of this challenge was thinking through my happiness factor. I realize that I need some saturated color or pattern to feel happy with my outfit right now, and that adding in a little sporty or hard-edge element (with my shoes in particular) makes my day.
Thank you so much Joy for challenging me to do this thinking. I had a blast, and also have a really good idea of my most favorite pieces for summer.
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