Outfits for changeable summer days

As the weather’s continuing to play silly games I’m carrying on with the requests I’ve been having for more outfit ideas with sleeves. I’ve just done a huge clearout of my dressing room and I’ve worked out that summer sleeves are what I’m missing too. I have plenty of summer clothes for hot dreamy holidays but not enough outfits for changeable summer days which, let’s face it, are usually all but two weeks of the season. So this month’s Boden edit has a practical focus as I tick off the four cornerstone outfits that most wardrobes need: casual, party, work/smarter daywear and occasion. Other than sports kit, that covers most people’s requirements when they’re wardrobe planning – as you know from my capsule wardrobe posts, the next step is to apportion the weighting of each cornerstone.

The easiest way to do this is by looking at how you spend your time in an average week so that you can work out which outfit categories you need and then check that it pans out in the same way across the whole of a month. When I do this exercise I see that I spend 30% of my time in gym kit; 30% in relaxed daywear, 25% in smarter daywear and 15% in going out clothes. Having this ratio instantly raises red flags for me because going out clothes are my favourite and I’m always drawn to them (no surprise there) but knowing my allocation helps me to rein myself in and dress for the life I have rather than the one I wish I did.

Moving on with my sartorial toolkit, I know which colours suit me best and so in summer I stick to an admittedly bright rainbow of reds, oranges, greens, bright blues and pinks with a base of navy. When you learn how colours work for you not only visually but also emotionally, you stop buying the ones that you’re told are essential to a capsule wardrobe and focus on the ones that will make you look and feel your best. For years I kept on buying things like grey cashmere jumpers or grey t-shirts because I was told that they were such a key component of a chic wardrobe but even if I buy the warmer grey that is less draining on my skintone, it still makes me feel miserable when I wear it because however chic it is, it doesn’t fit with my personality. So it’s really worth honing in on your relationship with colour not just your prescribed palette. Another one that colour consultants tell me I should wear is lemon yellow but like grey, it makes me feel ‘not me’ so I know not to waste money on it. When you only shop for the colours that make you both look and feel great, you find that a capsule wardrobe builds up around you and it’s much easier to add in new pieces that work with everything else you have.

The next step is knowing which shapes work for your body. It helps you to reject the temptation of new trends if you can see analytically that they won’t work for you. So I focus the volume in my outfits on the bottom and keep the tops tight which helps me to balance out my problem area which is my broad shoulders – if I don’t work around them I end up looking like a breeze block. As a result necklines are key for me too, I almost always look for necklines that I can zip or button to the right point for me which also helps to distract from my round face and shorter neck. And I know that my hemlines need to fall to my best breakpoints which are above the knee, low calf or full length. If you need more detail on how to analyse your body shape read my post here.

When you know the wardrobe weighting you need and which colours and cuts suit you, you have the fundamental structure to go shopping with. The only other thing worth dwelling on is fabric and two factors tend to influence us when it comes to cloth. The first is a personal texture preference and the other is how well it suits us. People with gamine frames look fantastic in crisp cotton for example whereas those with a broader outline might find they’re happier in something with more drape. If you can’t put your finger on why you just don’t like something you’ve tried that you expected to love, you’ll often find that it’s down to the fabric. It’s more subliminal than cut or colour and yet it’s a very instinctive preference.

So that was a super quick recap on defining your personal style. It’s something we’ve discussed a lot over the years so I haven’t gone into great depth but do tell me if you’d like me to break it down again in more detail. A workshop is something I could do on here over the quieter summer months if there’s enough demand. In this Boden edit I’ll highlight some of the points I’ve outlined here so briefly as I explain why I made the choices I did – and just for a little extra interest I’m going to show you the model shots before you see them on my more everyday body. And even though I know exactly what works for me I always try to add a couple of wild cards to my order, pieces that take me outside my usual comfort zone. It’s a deliberate move so that I don’t fall into a rut of sameness, I’ll talk through those when I come to them but I bet you’ll spot them before that.

When it comes to relaxed daywear, a white blouse with jeans and tan accessories has become my absolute go-to this season. It’s almost working as a uniform for any simple day during the week or weekend and if I do suddenly have to sit in on a video call, it may not be distinctive but it’s chic enough. Of course now that I’m wearing it so often, I’m becoming more and more picky about the type of blouse I choose. Cotton doesn’t work well with my broad shoulders unless it has a print but linen feels completely different. It’s a fabric I’ve often steered away from because I don’t like it when it crumples but Boden’s is always such high quality that it fares better on that front. Cutwork is the trend that’s edged out broderie anglaise this season, here’s the latest cutwork blouse on the model…

… and here it is on me. Boden seem to be working their sleeves with elasticated back panel into most of their designs now and it’s becoming one of those style options that I’d make compulsory if I was Prime Minister. We’ve talked a lot about break points on your leg in the past but your arms have them too. They’re the narrowing point and if you can get a trouser hem or a sleeve to sit at exactly the break point that’s right for you, it makes all the difference to your silhouette.

Sizing: generous, I’m wearing a 10 and it’s big enough

White linen cutwork blouse, tan suede ballet flats

I wear Boden ballet flats a lot on relaxed days at home, they’re great for popping out to the shops or for short dog walks along the canal – and I’ve bought removable jewelled straps that I can slip over them so that I can wear them for salsa lessons too. The flexible sole that this style has makes them far better than trainers for dancing in.

Sizing: I’m wearing my usual 41 and they fit perfectly

Tan suede ballet flats

And this necklace is brilliant for anyone who likes the layered effect without the tangle that you so often get into. These three contrasting chains are held together by a single clasp so that they stay in place. Remember that if you have a round face, a pendant necklace works like a V neck with a visually narrowing effect. For longer faces, crew necks and round necklaces do the counterbalancing.

3 layer necklace

Ok so we have wild card number one here. When this blouse dropped a week ago I couldn’t work out if I loved or hated it but I couldn’t stop looking at it so I knew I had to at least try it on. Here it is as Boden have styled it on the model…

Joyful linen Boho blouse

… and this is how I instinctively knew I’d wear it, with a lighter wash pair of flared jeans. I absolutely love it and to my great surprise so does Mal. At first he asked if I’d chosen it with festivals in mind but it was definitely a broader relaxed evening out option for me. We were on our way to a barbecue here and it was perfect… sadly the weather wasn’t and we ended up inside but at least I felt summery.

Once again this is a high quality linen, quite heavy but breathable so it’s cool when the sun shines and yet I was warm when the clouds rolled over and it started to rain. It’s the same style as the blouse above so it has an elasticated sleeve panel and a neckline that I can wear unbuttoned and it will soften the more it’s washed. The flower panel is heavily embroidered and it’s been appliquéed on to the front. It’s a blouse that just makes me smile.

Sizing: generous, I’m wearing a 10 and it’s big enough

Joyful linen Boho blouse

This falls under the category of relaxed daywear for me although it bridges smarter daywear too.

Shirred pink cheesecloth dress (also available in green)

I was catching a train to meet a friend for lunch in Ulverston and a wander round the shops here and you’ll notice how easy outfits are to put together when you have key colours that you love in your capsule – the sandals and bag are from past seasons but they just work.

Shirred pink cheesecloth dress (also available in green)

Now this dress is very much my style. It has a fitted, shirred bodice with a skirt that isn’t too full and falls to my lower calf. Cheesecloth is a fabric that I love but only in certain cuts. For me, because it has a slightly lumpy effect it has to be well structured like this, otherwise it reminds me of wet cardboard. It’s one of those dresses that I know I’ll wear and wear because it’s low maintenance and it just works. Unfortunately a lot of people have discovered it over the last week and stock is now low in the pink but it’s also available in green. If I didn’t already have so many green dresses, I’d buy that one too.

Sizing – I’m wearing a 12R and it’s exactly right

Shirred pink cheesecloth dress (also available in green)

We’re moving on to another wild card here because, as you know, I don’t wear a lot of print. I would if I won the lottery though because I’d buy it all from Pucci and Missoni and you can’t get much more Pucci than this shirt. The pattern comes in an even higher density blue in swimwear which would just look lovely as you emerged from the water, you’d be at one with nature. I’ve also had requests for white jeans – you know I love cream, partly because it suits my skintone but also because it doesn’t show the dirt as quickly – but then I found this pair in white.

We were going into a meeting here on one of those days that’s warm one minute, cloudy the next. This shirt is, once again, high quality linen and the fabric means that the print’s a little more knocked back than on the swimwear. But, and this is important, the standard size 12 wouldn’t have worked for my body at all. This is where it’s so important to understand your silhouette. With my broad shoulders and short hair, the regular cut in my size would have made me feel mannish so instead I’ve sized down to a 10 petite. That makes it neat enough on the shoulderline and short enough in the body for there not to be too much volume. The shrunken version of Boden’s original loose, slouchy linen look is what works for me. You need to have the confidence to play around with sizing like this, ignore the label and, big or small, find out what works for you.

The jeans are a great cut – as you know I’m looking for good cropped jeans for salsa nights so that I don’t end up flat on my face. These have my favourite patch pockets which work to break up my hips and they have a deep waistband that’s kind to the midriff. This style is available in blue denim on pre-order and I’m going to be keen to try those too.

Sizing: if you’re skipping straight to this, IMPORTANT. I don’t like the oversized linen shirt look, it doesn’t work for my body and I just feel sloppy in it so I’m wearing a size 10 petite here and it’s perfect. The jeans are a size 12 and they’re generous, I think they’d have been a better fit in a 10.

Pucci inspired linen shirt; white jeans

This was just a quick picture that Mal took as we were leaving – I was striding towards the sunshine, oblivious to the ominous sky behind me!

Pucci inspired linen shirt; white jeans

Now this was, quite literally, a dress rehearsal. You see there was a very snazzy 50th birthday that we were invited to in 2020 which, as you can imagine, didn’t happen. It’s finally been rearranged for this summer and it has one of those tricky dress codes of ‘summer glam.’ It’s outside and as yet, it’s hard to know whether it will be hot, middling or cool so this was the dress that I wanted to try for my cooler weather option. Here it is on the model…

Purple linen statement dress

… and here it is in real life. What you miss from the model shots is the movement – when the wind catches the skirt of this dress as it did here, the cutwork billows beautifully. We’ve had endlessly windy weather over the last few weeks and I’d hoped to take this photo in the sheltered spot I know by Lancaster castle but I was scuppered by…

Purple linen statement dress

… King Charles. He came this week to pick up the keys, I know it sounds very Airbnb but there you are.

Back to the dress which is just stunning, I absolutely love it and it will be the one I wear if the weather is cool next month. It’s linen again and it also has my favourite adjustable sleeve feature. I might switch the matching belt out for something more fancy, zebra perhaps… or snake if I go for these silver shoes. I felt so good in it that I didn’t want to be all dressed up with nowhere to go so we stopped for a glass of wine on the way back and this picture shows you the cutwork up close. It creates such lovely detail with the glimpses of skin showing through and extra marks for the fact that the section at the top of the arms is solid so cool air can’t get in there and give you the shivers. It’s only over the last few months that I’ve started to wear purple – this Cadbury’s shade is said to be one of the few universal colours that suits every skintone. I’ve always avoided it because of the Jenny Joseph poem – ‘when I grow old I shall wear purple,’ it was such an association with being elderly but now I don’t care. It’s a fantastic colour and perhaps because of Jenny Joseph, you don’t see a lot of it about so it gives you standout.

Purple linen statement dress

And so I’ll leave you with those outfits for a British summer and it’s just typical isn’t it that now I’ve done a post with sleeves, the sun is blazing again! Next week looks bright but the week after less so – we need a range of options for the ups and downs of the weather. Have a lovely weekend, as I mentioned I spent last weekend doing my biggest clearout ever. As usual it was triggered by the collapse of one of the rails in my dressing room which is always a sign that stuff needs to go and it was raining so heavily last Saturday that I spent a full day in there being ruthless.

It means that if I have the wind behind me I’ll be re-opening the Midlifechic Boutique next Friday. I’m going to support a different charity this time as one of the very precious young men in my family (not one of my sons) has been diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis so I’ll be making a donation to the MS Society. I’ll see you next week, hopefully with an opportunity to shop for good.

Disclosure: ‘Outfits for changeable summer days’ was commissioned by Boden but as always, choices of clothes and words were all my own

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