Category: style

I’ve been mentioning that I’m in the process of determining my personal style and putting together capsule wardrobes for each season. Recently I was able to purchase some sorely needed summer items, and as of now I feel pretty good about what I have. The following clothes are what I’m wearing almost exclusively, apart from a few items that I have in duplicate colors.

black pullover / black striped shirt (maternity from Ross)

baseball tee (Gap, in stores) / gray striped shirt (Gap, in stores) / gray sleeveless henley

white shirt (Gap, in stores) / cream tank / black & cream striped shirt (maternity from Ross)

army green open tee (old from Target) / green v-neck / flowered shirt (maternity from Ross)

chambray button-down / blue tank (Gap, in stores) / blue & gray striped pullover

You’ll notice I have a lot of stuff from Gap. They have great neutral basics that fit me well so I just go with it. I also tried to buy some maternity shirts that would transition past pregnancy and I got a few that work.

black dress (THML Clothing, from Stitch Fix)/ gray striped maxi skirt (Ross)

white pants (Banana Republic, old)/ skinny jeans / cutoff jean shorts (old Gap jeans that I literally cut off)

black shorts (Banana Republic, old) / skinny bermuda jean shorts (light wash in stores) / gray linen roll-up shorts (Gap, in stores)

To church I wear the dress, skirt, or white pants (and btw those don’t look like much in this photo, but they are super flattering). Most of the time I have on shorts because it is insanely hot. I don’t wear jeans much in the summer but they come in handy sometimes. Wearing scrubs to work everyday does have its advantages.

Rainbow sandals / black Tevas

white sandals(mine are similar) / brown gladiator sandals

black Toms / gray sneakers

I could definitely get by without much trouble with these pieces, but there are a few more that I’d like to add eventually. A couple more casual dresses, a graphic tee, some kind of vest, a light wash chambray shirt (short sleeved), some kind of clog sandal, and maybe some versatile flats. But really, this is it!

I think this capsule wardrobe should last me well past the technical beginning of autumn because of our climate. In fact, I may only need three capsules: summer, transition, and winter. “Winter” is relative, of course, and will encompass the colder days of autumn as well. “Transition” would most likely just add some boots and layers, and replace some of the shorts with jeans & pants. I’ll have to think about it.

What are your go-to items of clothing for summer?

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Soon after Liam was born this chambray button-up shirt went on sale at J.Crew Factory. I had wanted one for ages but it was hard for me to pay a high price for it, and the ones at Target or equivalent weren’t very flattering. With the sale (that is still going on!) it was a good deal, so I bought it and it was the best purchase I’ve made in a long, long time.

This shirt is amazing. It’s not too thin or too thick. It’s loose enough but still flattering to my figure. It’s a neutral so it pretty much goes with everything. I wear it with maxi skirts, jeans, and yoga pants. You could wear it buttoned up or open like a cardigan, or you could layer it under sweaters. You can roll up the sleeves or leave them down. Honestly, I would wear it every single day if I could. I usually wear it a couple times a week at least, and that’s only because it eventually gets spit up on or milk-drooled on.

The arrival of this shirt into my wardrobe sparked a brutal clean-out of my closet. My style has changed over the years but my clothes haven’t. I like looser and longer tops now (probably because of my post-baby pooch). I like to stick to neutrals in most cases. I don’t like to show as much skin as I used to; I’m just more comfortable when sleeves go to my elbows and I like to avoid shorts if at all possible (sometimes in the summer I’m desperate though). Mostly I realized that if I had paid three times the amount for that chambray shirt, it would have been worth it. I am really looking for quality items that fit me and my style.

I don’t have a whole lot to wear now, but it’s kind of freeing. I also don’t expect to be adding much to my wardrobe for a long time because I have $0 to spend on clothes, but I do enjoy pinning images to my style board as I figure out what I like, and I intend to add pieces to my wishlist in hopes of receiving them as gifts one day.

What are your thoughts on your own personal style?

I had a lot of fun when I tried out Stitch Fix for the first time, so when I had a little credit built up (thank you to whoever signed up using my referral link!!) I decided to give it another go and see how they did with maternity clothes. I specified that I was quite pregnant and wanted maternity tops that could transition to non-maternity as well, if possible.

They did a great job! These pictures from a few weeks ago are pretty terrible, but you can get the general idea.

This first was billed as a mini-dress and I was on the fence about whether or not to keep it. I thought it was really cute, but worried that it would make a non-pregnant person LOOK pregnant. So I had a friend try it on and it still looked cute on her! The problem was that the material is a little thick and I definitely could only wear it with leggings or skinny jeans, so living in such a warm climate I don’t think I’d get enough wear out of it. In the end it wasn’t worth the price for me.

This was a maxi dress that did not work AT ALL for me right now. I actually don’t think it was maternity because the waist was too low. It was also a wrap style that cut high in the front, low in the back. This could be cute, but with my large belly it revealed way too much leg and I wasn’t even comfortable getting a good picture of it because it was just so bad.

This open cardigan was great. Perfect fit, loved the cut. It’s super flattering and would wear well on anyone, I think.

Here is another one that looked really bad on me in person but I didn’t get a good picture of. I have pretty wide shoulders so I don’t like tops that emphasize that area because I feel like a football player. Also, the cut underneath the arms was super baggy and it just didn’t work.

And we finish with another winner! I loved this light sweater. It’s totally my style, fit great, and I think that when I’m not pregnant it will still look good as a loose top.

So, yay for Stitch Fix again! Anyone else tried it recently?