Contemplating this very nearly sent me into an intellectual tailspin, but just in the nick of time I remembered our discussion last year and the concept of “neutral (or very quiet) glue” and I was able to work up a list quite quickly.

My list is not all that different from last year’s but I do feel that I have a better handle on things (by which I think I mean both the essentials concept and how my wardrobe works) now.

THE ESSENTIALS:

  • Non-trendy skinny jeans without distressing that are mid-rise for me in medium and dark wash blue, and gray (cold seasons).
  • Dark neutral (black, navy) leggings and skirt leggings (cold seasons, skirt leggings also in transitional weather.
  • Long, textured cardigans in black and shades of gray (cold seasons). I bet if I had similar cardis in my other neutrals (navy, white) they’d function as essentials too.
  • Scoop neck and v-neck black tops, especially tunic length (cold seasons).*
  • Cognac footwear (year round), extra special honors to riding boots (cold seasons).
  • White tops made of soft (not crisp) white cotton, with detailing — various styles and sleeve lengths (year round).
  • Pale woven tunic length tops with detailing (cold seasons).**
  • Classic Breton stripe tops, both jersey and sweater knits, various styles/sleeve lengths but all with open necklines (spring and summer).
  • 3-in-1 parkas, black (winter) and navy (fall/spring).
  • Teal cross-body bag (it functions as a neutral, trust me).

My wardrobe is not essentials-heavy and it is even less so in summer. But here are some summer essentials (in addition to items in the “year round” categories above):

  • Black knit midi-length straight skirt (sort of like a tube skirt).
  • Navy shorts.
  • Cropped mid-wash jeans.
  • Chambray blue canvas plimsolls.
  • Metallic sandals. Ok, the silver slides might be statements (they have tassels after all) but the gold Euro sandals are definitely essentials.
  • Tan woven leather cross-body bag.

THE ASTERISKS:

Oh come on, you knew I was going to have Thoughts.

*Those black tops. I rely on them a lot. I have worn a black tunic-length top 3 out of the last 5 days. But, do I WANT black tops to be among my essentials? I am not so sure. I would probably often be happier about the outfits in which I wear them if they were burgundy or teal or something rather than black.

I continue to feel like many of my essentials are sort of “backed into.” They don’t come from a thought process like: “At this stage in my style journey, I want to wear solid black tunic tops.” It’s more like: “Well, I have these skinny jeans, tunic length tops work well with them, here are some black ones, that is acceptable, now I am wearing them a ton.” This is what I was trying to get at with my discussion of “essentials of convenience” a while back. I find it to be still an issue that complicates the effort to define essentials for me.

I think it is Runcarla who defines essentials as the items you would replace with something nearly identical if they wore out. This makes sense but, in the case of those black tops, SHOULD I? (I think in an ideal world, I’d still have black tops, I would just wear them a lot less.)

**Pale woven tunic-length tops. So I have this icy lavender silk-cotton tunic that I reach for a ton. I think the color is “quiet” enough that it can count as an essential. I made this a general category rather than a specific item because I suspect that if I had tops in other similarly quiet, light colors they would be essentials too. (Although I’m not sure that light blue tunic I recently bought will turn out to be an essential. Hm.)

Anyway, what I’ve noticed is that I don’t reach for that shirt to “glue” together outfits. I rely on it a lot to BREAK UP neutral-heavy looks. Again since neutrals, especially dark neutrals, are so much easier to find. Sort of the opposite of how an essential is supposed to function, yet it “feels” like an essential to me.

I’m not sure what my overall point here is. Maybe that if your style is NOT essentials-heavy, you do need to make sure the essentials are in place, yes — but it’s easy to go overboard because these types of items are so readily available.

4 years ago