Irina’s thoughts on ordinary vs unique clothing and Angie’s post about ironing linen inspired me to post some outfits from the past couple of months. I don’t think of myself as wearing a ton of linen but the reality is I wear it almost every day this time of year. The brown pants, terra-cotta shorts, brown collared shirt, and green skirt are all linen. I have a couple dresses, a sleeveless top, and a few other pants/shorts besides. They’ve become the core of my warm-season wardrobe, I suppose, and get worn roughly mid-April through mid-October. I don’t iron any of it, but will occasionally hang something in the shower if it gets crumpled in a pile or stuffed in luggage and comes out with weird creases.

With the exception of the voluminous midi skirt and maybe the flamboyant sleeves on the sweater, I think of all of these as pretty “ordinary” pieces, but I suspect every person’s definition of ordinary is based on their own tastes and expectations and what suits them. They are ordinary in the sense that they are effortless for me to wear and can be thrown together in almost any way; nothing requires special styling or treatment to “make it work”. The colours, shapes, and little details all add up to an overall effect that feels intrinsic to me rather than extrinsic, if that makes sense.