Capsule Wardrobe in summer Colors with an edgy vibe

There have been two specific requests that have come up again and again in my comments recently. The first one is a request for a summer color palette capsule wardrobe, and I completely agree with you. I owe you one. And the second one is that there seems to be a craving for more gender neutral, perhaps a little bit more androgynous style or pieces in general. It seems like people are really craving a capsule of pieces that can challenge the traditional idea of femininity a little bit more and can present a little bit edgier. And traditionally, whenever I see a capsule wardrobe online that describes itself as edgy, I really see a lack of color. It relies heavily on the blacks, on the grays, on things that have like a stark contrast to give it a little bit of that edge. And I was thinking, what if I had a client that described themselves as dramatic, edgy, and then all of a sudden they got a color analysis done and they discovered that they're a summer? How would they then create a little bit of that drama, a little bit of that edge in their wardrobe while still picking colors that are going to be most flattering for them? If you're new here, hi, my name is Fernanda. I'm a capsule wardrobe stylist and whenever I start working with a new client, I ask them to give me a list of words that they would like other people to use to describe their personal style. Because usually alone, this gives me a lot of information. So I was going through this exercise for this imaginary person and I was thinking that she probably would want to be described as bold, a little bit edgier, a little bit unexpected, still neat and elegant and expensive, but perhaps striking. Like this is not somebody who wants to be described as pretty. That will probably not sit well with them, but perhaps they would go for stunning a little bit more. And of course, in this hypothetical scenario, this person recently discovered that she is a summer, which means that she is going to look best in softer, more muted, cool tones, which if you look at the overall color palette can look a little bit pastel. So then the challenge became how can we add a little bit more of that edge when the color palette is going to be overall softer and something that really deviates from what we traditionally think of as edgy and chic. I had a very clear idea of what this person looked like in my head. I really thought it was somebody that had Yang dominant features in their face. So they had a very sharp nose, prominent cheekbones, like striking eyes, because all of that angularity was really going to make the clothes look phenomenal. And we were going to reflect that angularity in her face in the clothes that we picked for her. So I'm thinking somebody like a Victoria Beckham like style. And further, I was thinking, well, what kind of haircut does this person choose to wear? Because the way that we choose to wear our hair really says a lot about our personality and our personal style without us even speaking. So I was thinking this person probably has like a slightly sharper, edgier, short haircut that she can style in different ways. It still has a lot of movement, but if she wants to be more feminine, she can swipe it to one side and wear it across her face. But if she wants to go a little bit more androgynous or perhaps even masculine, she could sweep it all back and perhaps add a lot of volume and create like a fake mohawk. Like I thought this was a very playful haircut that would give her a lot of variety. And for context, the reason why I'm giving you this information is because it's very important to me when I show you the clothes, that you are not picturing my body in this clothes. Sometimes it can be a little bit difficult to think about how a piece of clothing is going to look on a different body than the model or the mannequin in the store. But if you picture my Yin body, we're gonna lose a little bit of that drama that these clothes have. So let's get to it and get started with the tops. First of all, I could not not include a button-down shirt. And here specifically, I wanted to pick something that was going to be a tad oversized. Like this girl does not want to be like a super fitted, curvy type of figure. It's going to be something that is perhaps a little bit more boxy and she can style in different ways. And also the texture of the shirt was important. This was really not going to be anything that had spandex or lycra in it. In my mind, this is going to be something that is a little bit starchier, that is going to create those angles a lot more easily than something with lycra. Next, I wanted to include a fine knit, something that could be dressed up or down depending on the occasion or the season. Next, I was looking for something that would create a diagonal line near her face. So I found this lavender off-the-shoulder knit and actually the color is not coming up as well as I would like to. It is way more purple than it appears in the picture. But what I like about this knit is that it's very versatile. She can wear it off the shoulder like that and show off her shoulder if she wants to for a more feminine look. Or she can choose to show like a cool bra strap or something along those lines that she's wearing underneath and even layer it over the button-down shirt, for example, buttoned all the way up and give perhaps a little bit more of a twist on a traditional preppy button-down shirt and a knit top. Next, I felt like I needed to give her a tank top, something that would layer very well underneath some of her layering pieces but also something that she could wear on her own on a hot summer day. I found this soft pink tank top and I thought this one was interesting because depending on how you style it, it can look either very feminine or it could end up being a pop of a little bit of a feminine color against a traditionally more masculine outfit, which I'll show you how to build as I show you more pieces in the capsule. Next, I wanted to give her just a simple top, something that was reminiscent of a t-shirt but that wasn't a plain old t-shirt that she could just throw on and it had a little bit of drama in and of itself. So I found this one which is also a little bit of a high neck and very angular at the shoulders and comes in at the waist and you actually can't see from this picture but it has cutouts on the side, which I thought would be interesting because if she paired it with something a little bit more masculine or perhaps a chunkier shoe like a platform loafer or a chunky boot, it would give that juxtaposition of the very feminine top with perhaps a more masculine bottom. Moving on to the bottoms, first things first, this capsule really needed a good pair of jeans but not just any pair of jeans, this is not a girl who's going to wear traditionally skinny jeans or like paperback pants now, like she really wanted a boyfriend type of jeans, something a little bit more relaxed. And next for pants, I really mentioned that some of that edge was going to come from material so I really thought we need a pair of leather pants and we're gonna go for a chocolate brown, something that is in the summer color palette that would still match any of the tops but would still be a great neutral that she could dress up or down. Next, I wanted to break up the pattern of pants and a top that we had going on so I wanted to give her a skirt but I was thinking that perhaps this person isn't the type of person who would wear just any skirt, like if she was going to wear a skirt it really needed to make a statement and it wasn't going to be a girlier skirt with a ton of movement, nothing like that. So I was specifically looking for something with an angular pattern, with perhaps an asymmetrical cut and with a lot of structure, something that wasn't going to be super hip-hugging or like va-va-voom, anything like that, instead it was going to be a piece that was really going to make a statement. As always, I will show you some outfits in a minute. And finally, one of the anchor pieces in this capsule, something that I was like we absolutely must have that, was a great pantsuit. We needed a pair of slacks that matched very well with a blazer that she could wear either together or separately. Something that was really important to me about this particular suit is that I didn't want it to be the typical feminine suit that you see in like a department store, like I really wanted it to be more like a men's style suit that obviously fits a woman's body significantly better but that it wasn't like super fitted and like it didn't give the illusion of an hourglass figure or anything like that because that's not what I was going for. So obviously the blazer is the first of the layers and next I wanted to give her another layer that was more of a knit, more of a sweater. So I found this one and I really like the pattern and the angularity of the pattern but also that it was not super fitted to the body and that it was a little bit more loose and oversized. Something that I would have changed about this layer is that I wish it had more of a crew neck and not so much of a scoop neck because traditionally scoop necks tend to be more for women whereas crew necks and v-necks tend to be a little bit more gender neutral. Another reason why I picked this sweater is because I really felt like this capsule needed a little bit of pattern but this girl didn't strike me as somebody who was going to wear a floral and I also didn't want to stick to the classic like Breton stripe or anything like that because that was really going to feel a little bit out of place. So this gave me the illusion of a print or a pattern while still being distinct and different. And finally I wanted to give her another layer that would just be something that she could throw on easily on top of some of the other pieces and here I wanted something that would create interest through movement because a lot of the pieces that we have have a lot of structure. So I started looking for a cardigan that would catch the wind easily essentially like a duster cardigan and I found this one which I thought would be great because it has a little bit of cutouts in the back which means that the wind is going to catch it very easily. So I thought it would give the illusion of like a cape and when she walked it would give a lot more drama in the movement that it creates with the cardigan. So that's just my insane creativity but that's just how I think. It's getting significantly darker. Next let's talk shoes. So for two pairs of shoes that we need in a capsule wardrobe I wanted something that was like feminine without being girly and also something that would that was more masculine. I did consider finding a pair of men's shoes but I couldn't find anything that I liked. For the more masculine pair I ended up going with this platform oxford something that would still give a little bit of a heel but it honestly didn't have a gender in my opinion. It reminded me more of like a 70s style shoe and finally for the more feminine style I chose this pointy toe white booty because I thought that if I pictured an outfit where every other piece was very gender neutral like the button-down shirt, the blazer, the slacks, all of those things and she had that shoe that shoe would still be a little bit of a juxtaposition to the more masculine outfit and it would work. And finally I needed a special item. So I really wanted something that would make a statement that could go either feminine or masculine no matter what. So I wanted a coat in a very striking dark color. So I found a leather plum coat something like this a little bit longer that fits a little bit more boxier around the body that she could pair with all of the other elements and it would still go together because it's in the summer palette but it would give her a little bit more of an edge in that shiny material. And speaking of shine when I looked at this overall collection of clothing I was thinking you know this really doesn't look edgy enough but the edge and the drama is really going to come from the styling and the accessories that she chooses and you've heard me say this a million times it's in styling that you really showcase your personal style. So along with this capsule of clothing I did put together a miniature capsule of accessories in mostly silver because summers look great in silver but I really wanted every single piece to really be a bold statement. There was really no sparkle. It's mostly shine like I really didn't think that she was going to go for like diamonds or anything like that but all of the pieces really bring the eye to wherever she's wearing them. And finally here are some of the outfits that I was thinking about with this capsule. First things first the obvious one and I really wanted to include the collared necklace on it because I thought that would give it a little bit more of interest. And finally I was like okay if we wanted to give it a little bit more of a girly vibe without going all the way girly I would pair the tank top with the pants and actually tuck the tank top into the pants and add a very casual typical masculine belt to it but then juxtapose it with the girlier shoes. And then for earrings I would even say like just wear one of them like don't wear both so that it's matchy matchy like slick your hair to one side and then the side where your hair is not covering your face wear an earring there. I feel like that would work for her. I feel like with a lot of these clothes what really brings it and makes it come to life is honestly the attitude. The way the person stands, the way the person carries their body is going to look drastically different than the way that these models are carrying their bodies. I like this outfit on the left because it's more of a 70s vibe and then on the right I really like the way that this belt looks over this top because it's not a traditional cinching move of the waist it's just creating a little bit of a visual break around the outfit. Here's a few more and a few more casual ones. So I want to hear from you in the comments below when you think of a typical style that is very dependent on a specific color palette like for example an edgy style that is very reliant on black do you think it's possible to create that style in a different color palette? Let me know how you would do it in the comments below and if you want to see an example of a completely different capsule wardrobe in a completely different color palette check out this video next. This is an autumn seasonal color palette capsule wardrobe with no pants, dresses only. So I'll see you in the comments over there.