How to Create a Stylish Spring⁄Summer Work Wardrobe

Do you struggle with putting together work outfits as it gets warmer? Well, today I have a spring, early summer work capsule wardrobe for you to hopefully help give you some inspiration. One of the trickiest things when it comes to getting dressed during the warmer months is to look put together and professional. And this is where choosing the right fabrics is really important. By sticking to more natural fibers, such as cotton or tensile or silk, you really give yourself the best chance at staying cool by wearing these more breathable fabrics. Part of this video is in collaboration with LilySilk where I will be styling four of their classic pieces in my capsule. Before I show you what they are, I just want to let you know that you can get 20% off site-wide with the code ADELINE20. And of course, everything that I'm wearing and showing you in this video will be linked in the description box. So I have about 23 pieces in this capsule, including accessories and bags. So let's just get into it. So starting with this beautiful khaki LilySilk shirt. Silk is one of the best fabrics to integrate into your wardrobe during the warmer months. Not only is this comfortable, it's soft and luxurious on your skin, it's breathable, and it also looks very professional. This particular shirt is so well-constructed. It's in a slightly more tailored cut, so it looks really smart. And LilySilk are well-known for their high-quality silk pieces. I went for this khaki color. I think that this color works all year round, but I kind of really love it for like a spring, summer wardrobe. I think it goes really well with the rest of the colors that I've chosen for this capsule, as you'll see later. This is just a great shirt to wear. Next, I have these trousers from LilySilk. These are the Dolce Vita trousers in the dark gray. So these are actually made of 100% wool, which sounds a little bit odd to wear during the spring, summer months, but this is a very finely spun wool. You can see how sort of light and fluid that is. So wearing a material like this is actually really good when it gets warmer. It's very light and breathable. It's not irritating on the skin. And wool has properties that's very good at wicking away moisture when you start to sweat, which fabrics like polyester is not gonna do. And a pair of dark gray trousers is so versatile. It's a piece that is worth investing in because you can get so much wear out of it. I love the way that these have been cut. They are very smart. You've got the pleat detailing at the front, and it's just a perfect pair of work trousers. So as well as being known for their silk items, LilySilk is also really well known for their cashmere. They do really, really great cashmere pieces, this being one of them. This is a cashmere T-shirt. It's a very light cashmere. It's not like your thick cashmere jumper that you wear in the wintertime. So it's really great for spring, especially if you live somewhere like London, where I live, when the weather is extremely temperamental. Even this spring has been absolutely awful, and I've been wearing this cashmere T-shirt quite a lot, actually. Again, a piece like this is super versatile. You can layer with it during the winter, or you can wear it as is during the spring, summer months. If I remember correctly, every single office that I have worked in loves to blast the air conditioning. I'm always cold in the office, so something like this is perfect to wear because it will keep you warm indoors, but cashmere is breathable, and especially a thin cashmere like this, so it will keep you cool outdoors as well. This is super soft on the skin, and it comes in a few lighter colors as well, like I think it comes in a beige and a white. So if you don't wanna wear black, definitely check those out. The last piece I have from LilySilk is this sleeveless sweater. This is 100% silk, and it is in this really nice sort of classic cable knit design. What I really love about this piece is that it does a really good job of being both stylish, but also smart, which I think is quite a difficult thing to do with office wear. I really love the way this looks on. It's been really easy to match this with a lot of the pieces that I have in my wardrobe. So again, another really versatile piece. So those are all the LilySilk pieces that I'll be styling, and now we can go through the rest of the capsule. So starting with trousers, and I'm definitely a trousers person more so than a dress person. So if you are looking for work dresses, then I'm afraid I'm not the YouTube channel for you. I'm definitely a lot more comfortable in a pair of trousers. And these linen and tensile mixed trousers from And Other Stories are definitely a go-to when it comes to spring and summer. I got these last year. I will check if they are still on the website. I really hope they are because I honestly love these trousers. If they're not, I will of course look for something similar. This shade of like camely beige is a great one. It matches with so many different colors in my wardrobe. I love the shape and the drape of these trousers. Tensile is just a great fabric to look for during the summer months. It's really light and breathable. Just a great pair of trousers. Next, I have these navy trousers from COS. These are the pleated tapered trousers, I think they're called. I got these last year again, but they always do this style of trousers, but in different fabrics and colors. So again, I will link whatever they have available on the website. But what's great about these is again, super comfortable. You've got that linen and cotton mix, so they're really light, great for warmer months. And also this cut is great if you are petite like me because I didn't have to alter them and they sit really nicely on the ankle. You'll notice that both these trousers that I just showed you are linen mix trousers. So previously it was linen and tensile, the beige ones, and these ones are linen and cotton. What I like about having a linen mix with something else is that it creases less. 100% linen, as we all know, creases so much. You can't avoid the creases. You just have to live with it and embrace it. For the office, I do think, you know, creases aren't the greatest thing to have to look professional. So I do try to go for a linen mixed with something else. The last pair of trousers I have are these white cotton trousers from Everlane. Again, these are quite a few years old, but they've served me so well wearing them in the office and just looking a bit smarter. If you don't want to go for a white pair of trousers, because I know that can be a bit alarming to wear, a bit intimidating, then definitely go for an off-white, but something lighter on the bottom, you know, for spring, summer is always great. If you don't have a pair of white cotton trousers, I think you could even swap these out for like a pair of white jeans. I think they look quite smart for the office if you are permitted to wear jeans, as long as, you know, your jeans don't have any rips or anything, then you could swap these out for a pair of denim. I do have one skirt in this capsule. I always like to bring out my slip skirts during spring, summer. This is from Silk Laundry. It's my favorite type of slip skirt that I always rave about. I have this in black as well. What I love about these skirts is that they are cut on the bias. I personally prefer a slip skirt that is a bias cut. I think it just looks so much more flattering the way it skims your body. It does often mean that it is slightly higher in price because I think if you cut on the bias, it means that you have to use more fabric. I'm not entirely sure. Please correct me if I'm wrong, but I do think the payoff of wearing something that's cut on the bias is better. It just looks better than wearing something that isn't. So moving back to tops now, I have this very crisp white waistcoat. As you know, I've been loving waistcoats for spring, summer. I think it's such a great classic look, and I love that they are trendy again because there's so many options out there. Again, I think a waistcoat is great for being both professional but stylish. This one that I have is in a slightly more fitted and tailored design, and I think that adds to it looking very smart. The white just goes with everything, and again, a great color always for spring, summer. Next, I have this blue shirt. A blue shirt is a staple in my all-year-round wardrobe, really, but more so when it comes to the spring, summer months. There are endless ways to style a blue shirt, whether that's for work or for the weekend. You can really not go wrong with a blue shirt. This is the tomboy shirt from Cezanne. This is actually new in, and I absolutely love it. It's 100% cotton, a really soft cotton, not a sort of stiff, starchy cotton, so you can tuck it in very easily, roll up the sleeves very nicely. It's just in a very classic design, one pocket on the chest, and it's just the perfect blue shirt. If you want a more relaxed fit, definitely size up, but the way that it's cut is it's just a very, very classic cut shirt. Next, I just have a very simple black tank top, great for layering. It's just a good piece to have in any capsule, really. Of course, you can get black tank tops from absolutely anywhere, but not all black tank tops are created equal, and I must say this one is superior. This one is from Uniqlo, and the reason why it is the best tank top you'll ever own is because it has a built-in bra. I absolutely love wearing tank tops. You'll know that I wear them all the time, but I hate having to faff around with a strapless bra. I'm not someone that can just go completely braless. I just can't. So the fact that this has a built-in bra means that it is so comfortable to wear. I'm actually wearing the white one right now, and can confirm, very, very comfortable. These come in a ton of different colors. I'm definitely going to be loading up on a few more, and it's great. It's also ribbed, and I love a ribbed texture on a tank top. I think it just makes it a little bit more elevated, a little bit more interesting. So, yes, that is the last top. So now moving on to a couple pieces of outerwear, because, of course, I live in England, and I always have to be prepared with a jacket of some sort. So firstly, I have this navy blazer. This is from The Curated. This is my favorite blazer. I have it in black, oh, which I'm actually wearing at the moment, and I have it in beige, like a dark taupe as well. This is, again, a wool blazer, but it's that light wool. You can see kind of how lightly it moves, and it's also lined in silk, which is absolutely incredible. Most blazers are lined in polyester, but this is in silk, so it's extremely lightweight and breathable and amazing. Next, I have a leather jacket from Everlane. This is another piece I've had for quite a few years. I don't think they make this anymore, but this was like their 90s leather jacket, I think they called it. I mean, any leather jacket will do for this capsule, but for work, I think you want to go for a more plain design, something that doesn't have like lots of buckles and zips. Like I wouldn't go for a biker to wear to work, but I think something like this can be very smart. And just a note for styling the outerwear, I obviously didn't put the jackets on every single outfit because I don't think you need to see that. So I just have shown you a few key outfits with the outerwear. Next, I have this linen blazer. This is from Dunst. It's a super oversized kind of like boxy fit, which I think works really nicely when you have more like tailored trousers on. And what's great about this is that it's unlined. So it is super light, very breathable, great for when it's really warm, but you still need a jacket, you know, on the way to work. It's cool in the mornings and also in the evenings. And lastly, of course, for those just-in-case days, I do have a trench coat. Any trench coat that you own will do. A trench coat is just the perfect piece of outerwear in my humble opinion. It just goes with everything, looks really smart, and is just a great all-round piece of outerwear. Of course, no capsule is complete without some accessories. I do have two belts, one black one. This one is from Totem and this brown one, which is really long. So you kind of wrap around the excess, which I think looks a little bit more interesting. This one is from Black and Brown London. So moving on to shoes now, I do have four pairs of shoes, which I feel like sounds like a lot for a small capsule, but I really think that a pair of shoes can change your entire outfit. You wear the slip skirt with something like these heels and it looks very, very formal, but you wear your slip skirt with a pair of sneakers and it's extremely dressed down and it just sort of changes the whole outfit. So I do have a variety of shoes. So going back to these mules, these are from Dear Francis. And when it comes to wearing heels to work, I always go for something comfortable. And of course, comfort means many different things to different people. For me, it means something with a low block heel because that's gonna give you more support. Speaking of support, you also want something that has thick straps at the front, something that is gonna hold your foot in. You don't want skinny straps because when your foot presses against the skinny strap, that is just gonna cut into your feet and give you blisters. I've gone all day in these mules and because it has two straps, it really just holds in your foot so well. They're so comfortable. This heel height is perfect for giving you a little bit of lift, a little bit of elevation, but not so much that it is uncomfortable to walk around in. These also go with skirts and dresses and trousers. These are just a great pair of shoes. And I do believe they are currently on sale on the Dear Francis website. So I will make sure I have those linked. On the other end of the spectrum, I do have a pair of sneakers. If you do wear sneakers to work, make sure they're white, make sure they're clean. I probably need to give these a bit of a clean at the front and also make sure that they are in a slightly slimmer profile, nothing chunkier than this. I don't think anything chunkier than this looks professional. I definitely think if you do wear sneakers to work, it should be something that is slimmer. Next, I have a pair of ballet flats. These are the Repetto Kami ballet flats in the black patent leather. I've had these for a few years. Absolutely love, adore these shoes. These are so, so, so comfortable. They have a tiny bit of a heel. You can, of course, wear a very flat ballet flat, but I do think the heel makes it look that tiny bit smarter. And then lastly, I do have a pair of penny loafers. I mean, is there a shoe that is more classic than a penny loafer? I just don't think so. Once you buy a pair and you break them in if you need to, because sometimes they can be a little bit stiff, they are so comfortable. I've had these particular ones for 12 years. Just recently got them resold and they are just like shoes for life. You will have these for so long. They'll mold to your foot and they are just the best shoes ever. So finally, for work bags, I do have two bags here. Again, I didn't show them with every single outfit because I didn't think I needed to. But the first bag I have is the Tall Easy Tote from KUYANA. What's great about this one that I really like is that it has two types of handles. So you've got the long one so you can wear it on your shoulder, and then you've got the short handle so maybe you can hold it on the top like this or have it in the crook of your arm, and that's quite useful. This is a great tote. It's so big, it fits absolutely everything inside. The leather is incredible. And I got it in this stone color, which I thought would make a nice change from my darker colored tote bags. But because it has this, a little bit of a gray tinge to it, I do think I could still use this during the winter months as well. And what I like about KUYANA bags is that they are not heavily branded. So it does say KUYANA somewhere on here, if I can see it. Yeah, it's right at the bottom here. But I never liked to wear really heavily branded things to the office. So this is a great tote bag. And then of course I have my trusty CELINE So Sangle. Again, the branding on here is so minimal. You just have that tiny CELINE logo there. Not like the bags that they have at the moment that have giant CELINE branding everywhere. So not my thing. Not gonna talk about this bag too much because I do have a whole video review on it, which I will link and you can watch if you would like to. I don't think this bag is available anymore, but you can definitely get it pre-loved on sites like Vestiaire. So that is my spring, early summer work capsule wardrobe. I really hope that this was helpful and helps to give you some more ideas with maybe pieces you have, or maybe you saw some new pieces that you think would work really well in your work wardrobe. Remember that you can get 20% off site-wide LilySilk. So have a look at their collection. They have some really, really beautiful pieces. As always, I'm so grateful that you're here. Thank you so much for watching and I will see you in the next video. Bye.