#028. What I Plan to Wear This Summer
The beloved button-down and its many on-sale accomplices.
Magazines convinced me of two things growing up: first, that adulthood would put me in constant need of day-to-night looks, as if I would routinely be leaving work and heading directly to the club; and second, that all I needed for a complete wardrobe was a few good button-down shirts. I have yet to encounter a consistent need for the former, but after spending more time in the office, I’ve found that the latter holds up.
Before the perfect button-down became an adult wardrobe promise, it was a school requirement. I attended an elementary and middle school with a mandatory collared-shirt dress code Monday through Thursday; on Fridays, collarless shirts were permitted, so long as they were not worn with jeans (or any pants with rivets, actually). This was followed, naturally, by a fully uniformed high school.
All this to say, I developed an affinity for J.Crew, White House Black Market, Chico’s, and Neiman Marcus much too young. Their shirts offered a kind of polish I could not find in the stores aimed at girls my age. I had little use for the graphic tees and colored denim being sold to me, and so I looked further afield for clothes that felt as cool as I believed myself to be. What I wanted was not to look older, per se, but more like me.
Somehow, going to the office a few days a week has awakened that same desire.
I like to imagine that if my younger self and I passed each other now, she would marvel at the coolness and assuredness strolling past her. She would, I hope, be delighted by the shirts I wear and the fun trousers I’ve collected. She would be pleased to know that polish does not have to mean preciousness, and that good outfits often need a little Marmite.
What stands between me and this endearing exchange is much of what follows. Most of it is on sale; all of it goes together perfectly — which is a problem for the wallet and the point of a good wardrobe.
If beautifully cut, perfectly colored button-downs are the assignment, Bryn Rhoads‘ The Anteros gets an A+. I’m especially drawn to the chartreuse — very Diana-May — though seeing it alongside pink, chocolate brown, and cobalt blue makes a compelling case for the whole palette, and a fairly convincing answer to What Should I Wear?
A perfect combination of print, trompe l’oeil, structure, and casualness in linen, lace, and sweats. This is precisely the kind of cool assuredness little me would have been enamored by. The star, though, is the Bea Bongiasca earring. I tried it on in Milan and fell deeply in love, but left with a Baby Vine ring instead — exceptional consolation, though I will be back for the earring. Maybe this one too.
The jury is still out on whether I need a second pair of jellies, but if we reach a positive verdict, it will be these. The repeat purchase I am certain of, however, is these jeans in a lightly distressed summer wash.
A navy cashmere wrap, a business-in-front-party-in-back tee (or dress), another perfect button-down, depends-on-the-light-colored culottes, and strange little sneaks. All perfect for my developing daily wardrobe.
The striped weekender reminds me of something long lost to my The RealReal graveyard — and if I’m not ready to acknowledge its passing, the size down in wardrobe yellow is similarly compelling. The Simon Miller sandals are also calling to me: they’re a little more substantial than the woven flip-flops I’ve been wearing, and therefore better suited to a city summer.
* = on sale | ** = extra sale-on-sale | if anything is sold out, I’m sorry
Ultimately, I seem to WANT what I did in middle school: a collection of better-than-necessary button-downs to anchor a wardrobe full of similarly awesome sh*t.
No one pulls off a button down like you btw
Help! Buy it all!