067. Seven-Look Season: Sharing My Summer Outfits
And How I Recently Recalibrated My Personal Style
In a Q&A late last summer, someone asked me, ‘What Outfit Made You The Happiest When You Wore It’? It stuck with me for weeks and got me spiralling. I had just pulled the plug on the size-inclusive brand I spent four years building, and my brain could only think of clothes in terms of how they fit and flatter the body. I had been obsessing about how clothes looked for so long that I forgot to consider how they made me feel. I scrolled past the dozen pastel, floral, form-fitting dresses on my recent camera roll and landed on a printed T-shirt and linen knee-length shorts outfit. That 12-year-old boy get-up is what made me the happiest that summer.
Recalibrating
My perspective has shifted in the last year, and the way I dress evolved as a result. Silhouettes still matter - I’ve become even more fit-conscious - but I no longer dress for my body type. Not because I am rejecting that concept; it just so happens that I felt rubbish in those clothes. I had a lot of internalised ideas to break down. It still feels weird to button a shirt all the way up or to put a dress that perfectly contoured my curves in the donation pile. I have replaced tight fits with structured ones. I dress a lot more androgynous than I did a year ago. Something I feel pulled to lean into more and more. In sophisticated and feminine dresses, I felt constrained and flustered. In the new outfits, I feel limber and more audacious. I wear more oversized and boxy silhouettes than ever before, and, most surprisingly, I like how I look in pictures for the first time.
If you’re a visual person or you like frameworks, I’ve written about discovering your unique sartorial identity here and here. However, not everyone needs moodboarding or personal styling sessions. What most helped me was tuning in to how I felt in the clothes I put on my back. That and getting colour analysed. It’s very unpopular right now, but it changed the game for me.
Choosing Outfits
The outfits in today’s letter are from a wardrobe in transition. When I put together what I would wear this season, the challenge was picking the most versatile pieces from last summer (e.g. the Dries top or the vintage maxi skirt) and styling them with the newer pieces. I purchase around twenty new pieces each year - a ballpark, not a rule - so dressing will feel like this for a while. Trying to buy a brand new wardrobe in one go would inevitably lead to some buyer’s regret. The outfits that mix old and new - e.g. Ulla Johnson blouse (old) + Loewe shorts (new) + vintage Gucci tote (old) + Jamie Haller sandals (new) - turned out to be my favourites.
Note that if you are in an exploration phase, separates are more versatile and, therefore, have more longevity. There’s only so much that can be done to recalibrate the style of a dress. Tops and bottoms can survive many wardrobe rehauls, and in doubt, they might be the wiser purchase.
I attribute being able to make these outfits work to the planning session I had at the start of the season. If you’re new to the newsletter, I have long ago adopted a framework for wearing a small number of outfits on repeat. After some trial and error, I found that the number of outfits I need to suit my lifestyle - mid-thirties,
married, no kids, living in London, working from home/coffee shops/co-working spaces, 1/2 weekly lunch meetings and 2/3 weekly evenings out, rarely seen post 10 PM - is around seven per season, with many pieces rolling over from one season to the next. Special events, activewear, and sleepwear not included. Setting a few hours aside to plan at the start of the season is key. I usually pull my clothes out of my closet, try out different outfit combinations, and take pictures. All while my partner (or someone else) is around so I can get a second opinion. This approach has curbed my spending, removed decision fatigue from my day-to-day, and elevated how I dress tenfold.
This framework isn’t rigid. I wear a combination of the clothes below most of the time, but I also have duplicates of some of the basic pieces and filler tops to go with everything (two of this and two of this) for when I’m behind on laundry.
If you’re also in the middle of recalibrating your wardrobe, adopting a similar approach might help. It will surely save you from overspending as you realise you need fewer outfits than you thought, and your existing clothes have more styling potential than you gave them credit for. Those in-between chapters are an exciting place to be and will bring out anyone’s creativity. These are the seven outfits I am wearing this summer and the lowdown on my favourite (old and new) pieces.
A Day-To-Night Look (1/4)
To work outside the house, meet people for lunch, and/or join my friends for dinner.
These Loewe shorts are among my favourite purchases this year, albeit one of the most extravagant ones, given the very short London summer. Even though I bought them on sale, it will take a while to chip away at that cost per wear.
The sandals were a generous gift from the brand. I’m extremely mindful of accepting gifts, and they are the only things I have said yes to this year. They had been on my wishlist since
wore them last summer, and I was weeks away from buying them when the email came through. Gifts come with a responsibility to post, push, and promote, so I’ll politely decline when a piece doesn’t feel like an organic addition to my wardrobe. These go with every outfit I’m wearing this season (except number 7), and I’ve worn them every other day since receiving them. I’m yet to try their best-selling loafers, but based on the sandals, Jamie Haller’s craftsmanship is one of a kind. It makes them the easiest recommendation I have ever shared.A Casual Look (1/2)
To work from home, run errands, and nights in with my girlfriends.
Some of you won’t be thrilled to hear it, but this T-shirt is so good - so good that I bought multiples of it in multiple colours. It’s skin-tight, so calling it a T-shirt feels odd. Casual outfits get the most wear, so I love how low-maintenance this is compared to my cotton T-shirts, which come out of every wash looking a little more dishevelled. My favourite cotton rib tank top is also from SKIMS, and I regretted not buying more before they discontinued it. I wear a Small.
I promised you the final verdict on these shoes. I ended up keeping them which turned out to be a mistake. I love how they look, the way I feel my ankles strengthen when I walk in them, the noise they make on the pavement, and that they look like exponentially cooler ballet flats. I just can’t get on board with how they feel. It might just be a matter of going up a size, but I’m not willing to extend the experiment, so we will never know. My sister is coming over to pick them up soon, and she’s ecstatic.
Another Day-To-Night Look (2/4)
To work outside the house, meet people for lunch, and/or join my friends for dinner.
Another Day-To-Night Look (3/4)
To work outside the house, meet people for lunch, and/or join my friends for dinner.
A Final Day-To-Night Look (4/4)
To work outside the house, meet people for lunch, and/or join my friends for dinner.
These three outfits include my favourite thing to wear in Summer: structured silhouettes achieved with crisp cotton poplin. I prefer it to linen for the way it drapes the body whilst being equally airy and comfortable. To achieve the structural look, especially in a short-sleeve shirt like the above, I look for heavier weights and a slightly starchy feel.
In recalibrating my wardrobe, I have developed or affirmed my affinities with certain brands. And I’m finding that knowing my go-to’s - they include Ulla Johnson for cotton poplins in muted prints and Studio Nicholson for the sharpest oversized silhouettes - makes shopping much easier.
Since buying them a few years ago, these Wandler loafers have become my most worn shoes. I found them at a time when I was obsessed with the idea of making my body appear more elongated, and as squared-toe shoes are supposedly unflattering, I very nearly passed on them. Whether that is true, I seemingly no longer care as I wear them all the time, with everything, and all year round. I want to ease off them so that they stay looking good for as long as possible, so another pair of loafers is on my fall wish list. A detailed loafer shopping review is coming to the newsletter on the first Sunday in September.
Another Casual Look (2/2)
To work from home, run errands, and nights in with my girlfriends.
I love this outfit. My boyfriend hates it. He’s a great dresser, and a very meticulous one, so pairing things that don’t go together isn’t his thing. If you want to read about contrast dressing, it was the subject of my very first newsletter.
I spoke about these sandals when I reviewed the brand in another letter. This style has been in the brand’s collection since its launch in 2012. I can now count fifty-nine versions of them in different colours on their website. I keep willing them to break so that I can enforce the one-in-one-out policy I have for summer sandals, but they’re still holding on despite my best efforts. Eight years of absent-minded wear on sand and wet pavement. When they eventually retire, it will likely be in favour of the crystal version.
A More Dressed-up Look (1/1)
For date nights, dressier dinners, and smart-casual events (rehearsal dinners, gallery openings, etc.)
This outfit is visually different from the rest. I bought it in a panic two hours before my good friend’s town hall wedding. This is not when I typically make the best shopping decisions, and the colour palette isn’t what I favour. That being said, I love the nineties silhouette, and I have worn it to four other wedding events, a few birthdays, including mine, a gig (sans heels), and half a dozen date nights. At the end of the season, I will keep the tank top (old) and the skirt (new) and sell the cardigan (new) and the shoes (old).
Love this Liza! The color palette looks great on you and the whole wardrobe is very cohesive. Since doing your color analysis, have you found that you can mix and match your wardrobe easier as you've been gravitating towards a color palette?
Would love to see your seven outfits every season!!
I loved seeing your outfits, thank you for sharing them with us! I agree with another comment that the capsules are great but sometimes harder to visualise.
The outfit with your mum’s shirt is my favourite overall but I am obsessed with that Reformation embellished skirt 🤩🤩.
On another note I also realised that the outfits that feel more like myself are the more androgynous ones with baggier shorts or culottes and a more feminine top, while I’ve spent so much money summer after summer buying dresses 🙄…