Creating a Simple Summertime Look with Three Easy Pieces

Okay, technically it's four easy pieces if you're gonna count the earrings (which to be fair, are awesome), but however you want to count it, I love how much easier things get when the weather warms up and the sun comes out. It's easier to get dressed, it's easier to pack a suitcase for a trip and have leftover space...there are a lot fewer moving parts involved when you don't have to factor-in inclement weather and insulating layers.

That said, the challenge with warm weather dressing lies in taking a lot less clothing and cultivating something interesting without all the opportunities for layering and chunky textures and heavy denim and funky tights and any other thing that even thinking about in summer makes you break into an immediate sweat.

Cultivating an easy and simple summertime look is all about finding what I like to think of as a good base piece, and building from there. Once you've got your base piece sussed, add a minimal number of accessories that have character without being overly fussy, et voilà.

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A Sleeveless Sweatshirt Dress

This little sweatshirt dress from Zara is my chosen base piece, borrowed from my eBay shop. It's a perfect casual summer piece for creating a simple summer look that is completely fuss-free. It's soft and insanely comfortable (like, pajama comfortable) but lightweight enough to wear in the warmer weather. You can dress it up or down by simply changing-out accessories and footwear. The dress has just enough shape to look intentional, but it's a soft and casual enough fabric to have a dressed-down vibe that is essentially a blank slate.

A Pair of Cool Sneakers

I had originally reached for a pair of heeled sandals to go with this dress, but caught myself; this was intended to be a casual, knocking-around town look, and heels are really the last thing I'm reaching for if I'm trying to achieve a casual summer vibe. Hence the Converse sneakers.

An Athletics-Inspired Bag & Star Hoop Earrings to Complete Your Simple Summertime Look

GenX, who amongst us would have thought that we would all be enthusiastically wearing "fanny packs" again? Certainly not me, but such is the way with the fashion boomerang; it always eventually comes back around.

The hip bag pictured is vintage, but made by Herschel who make the most amazing backpacks and other chic utilitarian bags (and who are incidentally not paying me to say this but seriously, go look at their offerings- you're going to want all of their bags). You can still buy very similar hip bags on their website. The earrings (let's call them piece number 3.5) are a pair I found on a sale rack at TJ Maxx. I just had to have them. They are essentially dressed-up hoops and are part urban vibe, part glam, and they just sort of ooze fun. We should all be always looking for opportunities make things more fun, right?

Find this post and others on the following blogger link-ups: Away from the Blue, Amy's Creative Pursuits