My son completed the school year, so it’s officially summer for our family! We’re spending the summer at the beach, which means I won’t have access to my entire wardrobe for three months. I thought about curating a limited capsule to wear, but that just doesn’t work for me. I have too many wonderful summer clothes to wear! And I’m not one to deprive myself.

Instead, I tried to limit what I packed to as many of my summer-only clothes as possible. I have lots of clothes that can work yearround, so if I know I can wear something in another season, I tried to give it a pass this time.

I also want to challenge myself to get dressed more, by which I mean, have a day look for whatever we have going on, and then dress up for dinner! I have all these clothes so I might as well make up more occasions to get dressed for, right?

I’ll be using this summer to see what pieces I really enjoy wearing, and which are avoided or don’t work for me in summer. By the end of the season, I’ll know which pieces make up my summer capsule and which should move on.

Here’s some of what I kept in mind while packing!

1. Basics I wear all the time: in summer, that’s my favorite crops (a selection of tees and tanks) and light jackets (like my denim jackets).

2. Natural fabrics: as much linen and cotton as I can, with some silk thrown in too. I have a lot of blouses that I could wear, but they’re synthetic and therefore not as comfortable as other options. Those pieces are more wearable the rest of the year.

3. Easy dresses: so handy to be able to throw on for a hot day and still look presentable.

4. Sandals and sneakers: that’s it, that’s the footwear.

5. Summer accessories:

   1. Hats: I am embracing wearing more hats this year to improve my comfort and protect my skin when I’m outside.

   2. Scarves: I only packed a few. In fact, I scrolled back through my outfits from the last two summers to see if I wore any scarves and which I selected, so I was able to make a more informed decision. It’s so handy to have such a reference!

At the end of the summer, I’m going to write a post about what worked, what didn’t, and any trends I noticed in my summer style.