Shopping Our Closets: Casual Summer Vibes

I am trying to get back to my monthly posts, at least for the summer, so this week I am shopping my closet to bring you a casual summer outfit that would be good for a coffee shop date, an afternoon of shopping or a trip to the theater with the grandkids to see a movie. We all know that indoor activities during the summer can often come with too much air conditioning, so thinking ahead about what to wear is essential for being comfortable.

Today’s look revolves around pieces that most of us have in our closets, or at least pieces that are similar: a Breton striped tee, light wash jeans, and a light weight cardigan.

A casual look like this is easy to put together and anyone who is reading this can probably find similar pieces in your own closet. Let’s look at each piece individually.

My Breton striped tee is an older thrifted piece and is J. Crew brand. I love the structure of this piece and the beautiful, sparkly bird embellishing its upper right hand corner.

I wondered what exactly made a shirt a Breton striped piece, so I looked it up. The Breton stripe originated in France and was made specifically as the official uniform for the French Navy back in 1858. The shirt was typically white with navy; the white stripe being wider than the blue, and it was usually a 3/4 length sleeve. In addition the neckline was a wide boat neck. In 1910 Coco Chanel took inspiration from the French navel uniform and it began its iconic journey through the decades as a fashion statement.

Here is an elbow length sleeve version from JCPenney; a red version from Eddie Bauer; a short sleeve version from Land’s End, and a plus-sized version from Kohl’s.

Style Tip: While tee shirts that are cotton/polyester blends are soft and comfy, they don’t always give us the coverage we desire as far as our extra rolls. A medium to heavier weight cotton will typically give you more structure, and is less see through for both your extra bits and your undergarments.

The next piece we’ll look at are my light wash, cropped jeans. I love this pair of Talbots that I found at a second hand store. They are a little heavier weight, but are soft, and I love the added detail of the stripes that go along the outside seam. Once again, the heavier weight cotton fabric is still doable for summer because it is still breathable.

Here is a mid-rise version from Land’s End; a higher rise pair from J.Jill; a lighter weight version from L.L. Bean; and this pair with the fun pocket detail from Christopher & Banks.

Style Tip: Jean washes don’t really matter any more as far as seasons are concerned, but If you are old school like me, I like to get out my light wash, and white, or bright colored jeans for summer just to lighten my wardrobe up a bit.

I decided to tap into the black stripes on my tee, and yes, mine are black, not navy, for the cardigan I chose. The stripes on my jeans are also black, so that added to the reason I went for a black sweater and black shoes. My cardigan is Croft & Barrow brand and I bought it at Kohl’s many years ago. Time goes so fast, it is hard to keep track. The 3/4 sleeves are perfect for when you want extra coverage, but not too much.

Here is a Croft & Barrow, open front version from Kohl’s; one from Macy’s; another version from Chico’s; and a couple from JC Penney - regular size, and plus size.

My Oxford shoes have been around for quite some time considering I haven’t worked at the university bookstore since fall of 2019, and I got these while I was still employed. These are a brand called Naya, and I got these at DSW on the clearance racks.

It’s funny, of all the pictures I struggle with, shoes are the worst. Ha, ha. If my feet are in them, I don’t feel like I can ever get the right angle for the picture. Either my feet look super long, as in the first picture, or my ankles look like tree stumps, as in the second picture. Ha, ha. It’s okay. I am no flighty influencer and that is okay. I just keep doing this for fun, and for you, my lovely followers!

My woven bag is also thrifted, and the label says, icing, which was Claire’s Boutique’s brand for many years. I don’t shop there any more, since I no longer have young daughters, but it was a fun place to go, especially for their special sales and clearance jewelry.

Pull out your straw bags, I mean doesn’t everyone have one? They are always spot on for the warm weather months, and always seem to be trending for summer. Here is a whole page of possibilities from DSW.

What do you think of this outfit? Is this something you would wear, or that you could put together from pieces you already have in your closet? What would you do differently: wear shorts, or a skirt; pick different shoes? Let me know in the comments. I love to hear your ideas.

I hope you all have a wonderful Tuesday!

Outfit Inspiration - Pinterest Fall Fashion

Right now is a great time to look to Pinterest for inspiration for fall outfits. There are so many outfit combinations complete with fall colors, textures and accessories. I don’t know why I haven’t used Pinterest before this to find inspiration for an outfit. This pin is from my Pinterest board titled Fall Fashion. I wanted to find something that would be a subtle shift from summer to fall, to provide both the colors and layers we often associate with this wonderful season.

I decided to give you a three for one deal today too. Instead of just showing you the original Pinterest inspired outfit, I thought it would be fun to show you two additional outfits I came up with as I was getting out my camera to take pictures. The only changes I made were the outer layer, bag and shoes. You’ll see how easy it is to come up with multiple combinations using the same two pieces.

Outfit 1 - The Pinterest Copy

Yes, there is a huge, red stop sign behind me and yes, my tee is wrinkled. I am going to blame it on the pretty bird bling. Of course I didn’t realize it until after I had taken the pictures. The joy of taking my own shots.

I am a huge fan of striped shirts and have many in my closet in just about every color. I have short sleeve tees, long sleeve tees and sweaters. For this outfit, I decided to choose a thrifted, short sleeve, J.Crew tee since it is still fairly warm during the day. I also love the embellished bird on this piece that I found thrifting. When I find a unique piece like this I grab it. It is just a step above ordinary. Of course with the sweater on, you can’t see it as well, but in the warmer part of the day, I will probably have the sweater off.

For an outfit like this any pair of skinny jeans will do. In fact, you don’t even have to wear skinnies. A pair of boyfriend or bootcut jeans would work just as well and give the outfit a totally different vibe. These jeans are a.n.a brand. I wear these all summer long. They are stretchy and the cropped length is perfect for warm weather. In fact, I usually wear them turned up, but as fall approaches, the ankle length is just right.

My cognac colored sweater is an old thrift find and is a brand called Maison Jules. It is a soft waffle weave and while I can button it, I usually just leave it open, for more of a fly away look. It has a bit of a high-lo hemline and side slits.

I’ve had this bronzy cross body bag for a while. I think it is a nice color for fall.

For shoes, I chose my white Keds, since the Pinterest outfit was styled with white sneakers.

Outfit 2 - Utility Jacket and Booties

For this next look, I simply swapped out the sweater for an olive, utility jacket. This one is St. John’s Bay from JCPenney. You could use any color utility jacket. I have a number of these, ahem…just like my striped shirts…ha, ha.

You can see I also swapped out my white sneakers for my olive, SO ankle boots. In addition I changed the small bronze cross body bag for this large mint green tote. I added the checked scarf as a pop of color and if it was extra cool, I could put the scarf around my neck.

I took these photos all at the same time of day, with pretty much the same settings, so I am not sure what happened to these. I was sort of misting out, so I don’t know if the weather conditions had anything to do with it.

Outfit 3 - Plaid Jacket and Combat Boots

My final ensemble was chosen for the cooler temps that will soon be upon us. I love this plaid jacket with sherpa trim I got at Maurices at the end of last season. You can see how I first styled it on the blog in a similar look here.

My black bag was a recent thrift store find. I had been looking for a black one and this Scarlton tote was perfect.

Once again, my Seven Dials combat boots are featured. I have used these frequently on the blog, since I got them. You can see them styled with a dress, a plaid skirt, distressed jeans, a denim skirt, and black faux lace pants. I like to give you the links to these previous posts, so you can see how one piece, like a jacket or a pair of boots can be used over and over again.

Here are the three outfits side by side.

Do you have a favorite? It is fun to see what combinations you can come up with for different pieces in your wardrobe. These are all looks I would return to again and again. I would call this a formula that works for me. A pair of jeans, a striped tee and then some sort of top layer in the form of a sweater, jacket or other topper. You could do the same thing with a graphic tee.

I hope you enjoyed this post. I am working on the Fall/Winter Pantone series, so hopefully I’ll have that for you soon. I also want to apologize to any of you who have sent me personal emails over the last few months that I may not have responded to. I love to get your emails, and please don’t stop. I get so many emails that I tend to not keep up very well, so if you have emailed me, I am sorry if I have not gotten back to you. I am going through my in box now, trying to clean it up a bit, so hopefully it won’t happen again. All of you are important to me and it means a lot when you take the time to comment on the blog or send me a little personal encouragement. Thank you so much and please don’t stop!

I’m including a few shopping links for you to peruse. These are affiliate links. All opinions are my own. Since there were so many options I’ve included a number of links, so feel free to click and shop.

I hope you had a good week and have a safe and happy weekend!

Piece Perfect - The Utility Jacket

When I began thinking about this month's Piece Perfect column, I was thinking about showing a traditional jean jacket. I have shown a dark wash crop style denim jacket in a previous Piece Perfect column, which you can see here. I thought it would be fun to show a post with a more traditional cut and wash of denim jacket, but for lack of picture taking time, I will save that for another day. Today I am going to focus on the utility jacket. 

Looking for some definition for the utility jacket I was able to derive that our modern day utility jacket was modeled mainly after the Vietnam era military jacket. The color is most often olive green, but now can be seen in gray, black and even orange (see my Pantone Spring 2017 post on Flame.) These jackets are typically light weight with both buttons or snaps and a zipper, as well as multiple pockets. Most of them have elastic or a draw string to gather the waist more tightly against the body.

Today, utility jackets are all the rage. I like mine because it is roomy, which allows for a few layers underneath if it is cooler, but can also be worn as a light weight jacket over a tee or tank top. This is the look I came up with for my jacket.

If you follow my blog, you might remember this outfit from a post called Spring Trends 2017. I used these pieces for a flat lay. A flat lay is simply a picture of the clothing laying flat on the floor, folded, rather than on a person. See below.

I had another blogger tell me she would like to see the outfits from my flat lays on me, to get a better idea of proportions and fit. I liked the way this looked in the flat lay and I like it even better on me! 

As you can see I started with a pair of distress crop jeans, and a breton type tee.

Here's a closer look at the detail, both on the tee and the jacket. 

I thought the blush accessories looked perfect with this outfit. It keeps the outfit summery and fun. I also like the raw hem on the jeans. I kept the jewelry simple and gold to go with the gold sequins on my tee. 

If you've never considered a utility jacket you might want to invest in one. It gives an outfit a fun casual look and can be worn with so many colors. Do you like this outfit? Would you wear frayed hem jeans? I didn't used to think I ever would, but then here I am! Never say never!

Below I've provided some shopping options. This post contains affiliate links. If you do a little looking and/or buying through my blog, I make a little bit of money. I appreciate all of your support, especially your feedback. All opinions expressed are my own. 

Thanks for stopping by the blog and have a great weekend! 

Thursday linking up with Nicole of High Latitude Style. Friday linking up with Jennie of A Pocketful of Polka Dots, Nancy of Nancy's Fashion Style, and Shelbee of Shelbee on the Edge.