The Summer Style Edit: Women ☀️
Easy, Polished Pieces for a Summer Wardrobe That Actually Works
Summer dressing always sounds so easy.
Throw on a pretty dress, add sandals, grab your sunglasses and float off into the sunshine looking effortlessly put together.
Except sometimes it’s raining.
Sometimes it’s 27 degrees.
Sometimes it’s 16 degrees and raining, but someone somewhere has decided it is technically summer so you’re committed now.
Welcome to the Women’s Summer Style Edit.
After introducing fashion properly to Hayls Beauty Tales, I wanted our first women’s edit to feel very us: feminine, wearable, pretty without being precious, and based around pieces you can actually mix into the wardrobe you already own.
No complete wardrobe overhaul required.
The Hero: The Summer Dress
If I’m buying one thing for summer, make it a dress.
There is something wonderfully lazy about putting on one item of clothing and somehow looking as though you’ve made an effort.
This year I’d look for midi dresses, floaty shapes, shirt dresses and easy cotton styles.
Florals are always welcome in my wardrobe, but don’t overlook block colours. A beautiful pink, powder blue, butter yellow or fresh green dress can become one of those pieces you wear over and over again.
Add sandals and jewellery when the sun appears.
Add trainers and a denim jacket when British summer remembers where it lives.
Done.
The White Shirt Is Staying
The white shirt isn’t exciting.
And that’s precisely why I love it.
Wear it buttoned with tailored shorts. Throw it open over a vest. Tuck it into a skirt. Wear an oversized version over swimwear. Pair it with jeans on cooler days.
If stark white doesn’t suit you, cream and soft ivory do exactly the same job while feeling a little gentler.
It’s not the piece everyone notices.
It’s the piece that quietly makes half your wardrobe work.
Pretty Tops + Simple Bottoms = My Favourite Formula
This is perhaps the easiest way to make summer dressing feel fresh without buying twelve new outfits.
Keep the bottom half simple and have fun on top.
I’m thinking:
Broderie anglaise. Puff sleeves. Pretty camisoles. Soft florals. Crochet details. Romantic blouses. A genuinely excellent T-shirt.
Pair them with denim shorts, linen trousers, a midi skirt or your favourite jeans.
Suddenly that boring pair of trousers you’ve owned for three years has a new life.
We love economical fashion around here.
Linen, But Make Peace With the Creases
Linen and I have reached an understanding.
It creases.
I’m no longer fighting it.
Because on a warm day, a loose linen shirt or pair of wide-leg linen trousers is glorious.
A linen-blend trouser with a simple vest, sandals and gold jewellery is exactly the sort of outfit that looks sophisticated while requiring remarkably little thought.
And that is the energy I’m bringing into summer.
Denim Shorts — But They Don’t Have to Be Tiny
Somewhere along the way, we were sold the idea that denim shorts must end approximately three centimetres below your underwear.
I decline.
Longer denim shorts, relaxed cuts and Bermuda styles give you all the usefulness of denim without spending the afternoon tugging at your clothes.
Pair them with that pretty blouse we just discussed and suddenly they’re less “festival field” and more casual summer lunch.
The Midi Skirt Deserves a Moment
A floaty midi skirt is another wardrobe transformer.
It works with a vest.
It works with a T-shirt.
It works with a blouse.
It works with trainers.
It works with sandals.
And when autumn begins creeping in, it’ll work with boots and knitwear too.
For maximum versatility, I’d choose one in a colour or print that already works with several tops you own.
We’re building outfits, not collecting individual pretty things.
I have learned this lesson the expensive way.
Shoes: Three Pairs Will Do It
You really don’t need seventeen different pairs of summer shoes.
Give me a comfortable trainer, a flat sandal and one slightly dressier shoe and I’m fairly confident I can get through most of the season.
Comfort matters here.
The most beautiful sandal in the world immediately becomes significantly less beautiful when it has removed the skin from the back of your heel.
Wear the shoes around the house first.
Your feet can thank me later.
The Summer Bag
This is where I give you permission to have some fun.
If your clothes tend to be fairly neutral, the bag can be the personality.
Try raffia, woven textures, a pastel shade, a bright colour or something delightfully impractical-looking that makes an ordinary outfit feel summery.
Personally, I love a bag that makes people ask:
“Where did you get that?”
That’s a successful accessory.
Jewellery Does More Than You Think
A basic vest and trousers can feel completely different once you’ve added jewellery.
Summer is particularly lovely for gold-toned pieces, delicate layered necklaces, colourful beads, pearls and playful earrings.
This is also one of the cheapest ways to experiment with a trend.
You don’t necessarily need the trending dress.
Sometimes you just need the trending colour in an earring.
And Then There Are Sunglasses…
Necessary? Yes.
An opportunity for drama?
Also yes.
Oversized, cat-eye, retro, tortoiseshell, colourful — sunglasses are one of those rare practical items that can completely change the mood of an outfit.
I’m very much in favour of behaving as though the pavement outside Tesco is secretly the French Riviera.
Fashion is supposed to be fun.
The Hayls Summer Capsule
If I were building a small summer wardrobe rather than buying endlessly, I’d start with one great dress, linen trousers, denim shorts, a midi skirt, a white or cream shirt, two pretty tops, a good vest, a lightweight jacket, trainers, sandals and a fabulous bag.
Then I’d use jewellery, makeup and accessories to keep changing the mood.
Because that’s really the point of this edit.
I don’t want Hayls Beauty Tales fashion to become a constant parade of things you need to buy.
I want it to be about style.
Finding beautiful things? Absolutely.
Trying trends? Of course.
But also learning how to look at what you’ve already got and think:
Wait. I could wear that differently.
Welcome to the Fashion Side of HBT 💕
Beauty will always be at the heart of Hayls Beauty Tales, but beauty doesn’t stop at the makeup bag.
Hair changes an outfit.
A lipstick changes an outfit.
Jewellery changes an outfit.
And clothes can completely change the way we carry ourselves.
So consider this the beginning.
We’ve started our Summer Style Edit, and the women have officially entered the wardrobe.
Next, we’re raiding the men’s department.
Love,
Hayls x