Summer outfits – review

Summer outfits – review

It has been a while since my last post. During summer I decided to take a much needed break, not only from day job but also from blogging. Today however I am going to present my summer outfits in a form of short summary.

I have to be honest. I became bored and lacked inspiration and energy to create new posts. Pretty sure I am not the only person having a busy life which only gets busier at times. Lack of quality relax time and moments when I could switch-off resulted in my reluctance to writing on the blog.

You will be pleased to know that it is over now and I am back right on time for the new season.

As a form of a review of the summer outfits I would like to show you some photos of what I was wearing during this time. That would mostly be casual and comfortable chinos with shirts, trainers and sunglasses. I won’t even mention swimming shorts ;).

Boat trip

This is an outfit from our Thames river boat trip. I was wearing a casual chambray shirt made to measure by Testoria. A review of their mtm shirt can be found here. I love chambray for its casualness. At the same time a shirt with flat front placket, single cuffs, cutaway collar and no breast pocket is not becoming too informal. I wear it with a tie very often. My favourite look is unbuttoned though – with or without jacket. (photos were taken even before the infamous Brexit, as you can see from my ‘I am IN’ badge ;).

Afternoon in the city

This is going to be one of my favourite items I purchased this year – linen safari jacket made to measure by the great B&Tailor. You can read about the process and the jacket in a separate post here.

Here I decided, that was my first ever time wearing it, to pair it with denim and blue suede loafers worn sockless although there are countless of ways in which you can sport it. To add much needed contrast to a white linen fabric a blue striped linen-cotton shirt sound like a very good choice. Braided belt and a nato strap add a bit of summer to this ensamble. The jacket has been cut with comfort in mind, not too fitted. Shoulders are on the wider side with the sleeve cut low. The trousers are arguably too long by a centimeter but this is to everyone’s liking I believe.

Another look I wanted to try this summer was a white t-shirt and green linen trousers. White top (safari + t-shirt) is more casual than not while made to order trousers with hight waist and normal width leg would push it closer to a sartorial edge. Brown suede loafers or espadrilles would be on my feet. I am going to have to leave it for another season and see how do I like it then.

Weekend in the park

The same denim, the same sport coat but different shirt. Here I decided to be even more casual and have worn washed-red long sleeve polo by RL. It is a great shirt for travel, gives me enough comfort and ‘formality’ that I do not feel like I am underdressed. Colourful silk pocket square is a little touch to make the outfit a bit more interesting. I would say that I feel very comfortable recommending this outfit to everyone who needs advice on how to look good during weekend walk to the park.

Birthday weekend in Paris

That was my favourite time from the summer – my birthday trip to Paris. City so beautiful that I felt in love with it. Weather was absolutely fantastic, very sunny and warm and I enjoyed walking around the city very much – my feet a little less :).

What you need for spending time walking around, carrying personal belongings and other essentials with you for many kilometers is comfortable outfit and versatile clothes that work with each other.

As you can already see I am wearing the same items only paired differently. That is the key to good wardrobe. Does not have to be crazy big. I took the well worn beige chinos, long sleeve polo shirts, cotton-linen lightweight shirts and white linen Superga trainers. Very comfortable and cool for hot weather too.

Evening wear for dinner requires a bit more elegant look so I took my blue hopsack double breasted blazer, off-white mohair-wool mtm trousers by Luxire, white Airtex long sleeve polo shirt by Simone Abbarchi and new made-to-order loafers in summer cloth by Huddersfield made for me by the famouse British shoemaker Foster&Son. There will be a separate post on those after I get to wear them more.

Beach holiday in La Palma

These photos are from our last trip of the summer – beach holiday in La Palma, small volcanic island in the Canary Islands archipelago. Have as much rest as possible after a very busy August at work. As you can imagine most of my colleagues took their annual leave in August leaving myself and few other hard workers on their own :). Worry not we did our best but it took a lot of our energy resources.

I am not going to talk about my chino-type shorts by RL or blue cotton-linen shirt again. I only want to mention the last look which featured trousers from my beige linen suit I showed in the previous post (have a look here). Normally I do not like to use suit trousers for other outfits. They often look like I forgot my jacket. I have done that only because they are incredibly wrinkled and casual that I didn’t mind in the end.

What is interesting is an inspiration from my friend Fernando (of Norman Vilalta shoemakers) who wears espedrilles almost 100% of the time in the warm months. I felt great, they were perfect for hot summer evening, even for dinner. I have used them a lot even at the pool with shorts after my flip-flops started hurting my toes. So I would recommend to try them out next summer too and see how do you feel about espadrilles and trousers. They are not expensive, can be bought in many stores. You also don’t expect them to serve you many years, although it would be great if they could. Focus on interesting pattern and cloth that matches your wardrobe or go for some crazy design.

Hope you like this little recap of my summer outfits and thanks for reading, as always. See you soon!