088/ What I'm Wearing: Weeks 10 & 11 (Part 1)

How to feel like yourself in your beach vacation outfits: ask yourself this!

What I’m Wearing is a series where I share all of the outfits I’ve worn over a given week (or two), along with styling notes, links and related thoughts. If you see an outfit you like on my Instagram, you’ll find it here.

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Hello dear readers, me revoilà!

I’m back from Martinique, where I spent March Break with my family and in-laws. This edition of WIW is a two-parter: Part 1 covers my evening outfits from the trip, and Part 2 will cover swimwear.

Martinique is an overseas department of France and part of the EU. Approx.* 80% of the population are of African origin, 10% originate from French settlements in India, while Béké (European — mostly French — descendants) make up 5% of the population. *Approx. because it’s illegal in France to collect data on ethnic, racial or religious origin.

While I was away, a reader DM’d me on Instagram:

“I would love to see all of your vacation items in one place! I am loving your outfits so far. I always struggle with not going too boho on vacation. You have such a modern aesthetic, nary a kaftan in sight!”

Her DM made me look back at my beach holiday outfits over the past couple of years, and the only* things I’ve purchased to wear specifically on holidays are swimwear and straw hats.

My approach to beach destination outfits is to wear my usual, everyday pieces, and pair them so they feel sort of vacation-y; since they don’t tend to lean boho, neither do my outfits.

If you want to buy clothes for a holiday and struggle with “going too boho,” try asking yourself, “Is this something I would wear to a pool party or an evening out on a hot summer night at home?” If you feel like yourself wearing an outfit at home, chances are you’ll feel good about it on vacation, too!

*“Only” haha. There’s no category of clothing that I’ve wasted spent more money on than swimwear. It’s a whole other saga which needs a separate newsletter to cover, hence Part 2 coming up shortly!)

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A couple of weeks ago, I pushed myself to pair my non-colour colours with each other, rather than the neutrals I so often defer to. As someone with a mostly neutral closet, both the yellow top and pants below featured a few times in that newsletter (slim pickings!), just not with each other. If it weren’t for that experiment, I think I would have shied away from wearing these two shades of yellow together. But here we are….and it works!

Marques’Almeida top, Zara pants, Loewe mini puzzle via Mine & Yours (get 10% off with code IRENE10), Ancient Greek Celia sandals.

Another reader saw this outfit on Instagram and said:

“I love this! Such a great way to style the top. I struggle with wearing my capital-F fashion pieces in a more casual way.”

I know this is a common dilemma for many of you! As a solution, try using my lever system; pair your capital-F fashion pieces with more casual ones to pull the overall outfit into more casual territory. Not shown, but I could easily see this top worn with a pair of denim shorts or a denim jacket. On the other end of the formality spectrum, I would love to try this top with a pair of wide leg, full-length trousers!

Other casual ways to wear the top.

For the rest of my outfits, I used the same approach — packing some of the day-to-day pieces you’ve seen me wear before…

(Yes, SO. MANY. NEUTRALS. That experiment was a real eye-opener for me!)

….and throwing them together in a way that I would wear for a casual night out in the city:

Sezane Tomboy shirt, Tibi bleached denim mini skirt, Zara platform thong sandals.

Rag & Bone mens wool waistcoat (NWT on eBay), vintage YSL shorts from The Vintage Takeaway, Ancient Greek Celia sandals, Loewe mini puzzle via Mine & Yours.

Frankie Shop Carrington tee, Saint Laurent pleated mini via VSP Consignment (get 10% off with code IRENEKIM10) — this skirt is “new”; I bought it late last year and I’m finally getting a chance to wear it, Ancient Greek Celia sandals.

I get that there’s nothing really vacation-coded about any of these outfits. Part of the reason is that I was packing at midnight for a 5am wake-up and didn’t have time to think through adding any “hey I’m on vacation” identifiers like raffia and linen (didn’t pack because I didn’t want to iron). The other reason is that I don’t have a lot of beach-y pieces, anyway! This is all I’ve got! I packed the same pieces to Korea/Japan, and similar, everyday pieces to Guadeloupe.

And, randomly throwing in this outfit from the day before we left:

Herskind Alice coat, COS sweater, Isabel Marant jeans via VSP Consignment (get 10% off regular price with code IRENEKIM10), Tod’s tassle loafers.

Part 2 will be out tomorrow and I’ll be covering swimwear!

Love and gratitude,
Irene