Conscious Living: Three Staple Summer Outfits.

Conscious Living

18 Jun

There’s something really clarifying about watching every penny. While saving for the house deposit, all the costs involved in buying a house and a move on the horizon I’ve really had to strip everything back - every tenner has been carefully considered.

I’ve actually enjoyed buying only the basics. Don’t get me wrong, I’ll be overjoyed to have the flexibility to have an impulsive spend here and there, but it’s made me realise how much I value things and the necessity of buying the right version of what you need.

For me, I’ve always lacked well fitting, well made clothes in my closet for summer. I’m not a massive summer fan, I get hot and bothered and my body isn’t great at regulating it’s own temperature. So this year, I decided I was going to spend a bit more on some summer clothes to add to my favourites I already had.

Unpacking last years summer wardrobe, I took out high street buys that were fine but didn't make me feel amazing and sold them on Vinted. It gave me a pot to buy a couple of things with a higher price point I’d been eying up for ages. Unfortunately one of them wasn't for me at all but I’m glad I tried and having sent that back, I found an alternative that I love.

The new additions took some weeks to come as I ordered them from a company outside the UK but they were so worth the wait and with these pieces along with some pieces that have been in my life for a few years I have a functional summer wardrobe that I’ve pretty much had on rotation for the past few weeks while it’s super hot. They’ve kept me cool and because most of them are made of linen they’ve needed little washing, just a steam between wears.

Outfit 1 - My Trusty Nola Dress.

Everyone should have one of these Dale dresses in their life. I have them in two colours, this lovely green and in navy too. They transition from season to season easily - in the cooler months I wear a warm high necked thin jumper under them with tights or warm leggings and in Spring/Autumn they work so well with a gilet over the top or a long sleeved top under. But it summer, they can be just thrown on and are so easy. I sometimes roll the sleeves up to make a t-shirt type silhouette. Because they are so well made with super high quality fabric they are incredibly wearable and you feel a million dollars in them. NOLA make everything in their Manchester studio and all items are made to last a lifetime (which brings price per wear down massively) as they are crafted with super high quality material and often deadstock too so you can be sure you won’t be floating around in the same dress as everyone else which you’ll be familiar with if you’ve ever bought a Zara dress.

Outfit 2 - Loose Separates.

I bought this lovely cropped linen top from NOLA at the same time as I bought the dress. But until now never really had the bottoms for it to go with. But I finally invested in these gorgeous linen pants from OffOn that were custom made for me. They are loose but shaped and tie at the waist to give a wonderful gathered, easy look. The length of the top is perfect to match them, I feel so stylish with this outfit on and also super cool and breezy. It’s perfect with trainers or sandals.

Outfit 3 - The Oversized Check Dress.

I’ve wanted something checked and easy to wear in my wardrobe for so long. When I had a far miss with a checked jumpsuit I’d be eying up for so long I went back to OffOn to see what she had. Because I’d been looking in the linen section I completely missed this cotton dress but when I saw it I ordered straight away - a v-neck is rare and works so well for me and it is cut in all the right places. I ordered the XXL and it’s perfect - it is quite loose but I like that as I can’t stand fabric pulling against me when I sit. See the reel here. I’m so happy with it I’ve bookmarked more dresses for the autumn season on her site. Everything is made to order and in as a sustainable way as possible.