Finding your own summer style

Every summer arrives with a list of things you are supposed to be wearing. Some seasons the list suits you. Most seasons it suits somebody else, and you end up with two or three items that never quite made it out of the wardrobe.

There is a calmer way to do this, and it starts with looking backwards rather than forwards.

Look at what you already wear out

Your most worn pieces are not an accident. Go and look at them properly. Not the ones you love the idea of, the ones with a faded hem and a slightly stretched strap.

Then find the pattern. Is it always the same length? Always sleeves, or never sleeves? Always a waist, or never one? Most people find three or four things repeating, and those are not preferences you talked yourself into. They are the shape of how you actually live.

Your summer runs on about five pieces

Once you know the pattern, summer gets simple. For most people it comes down to something like this. One easy day dress you can throw on without thinking. One that handles heat, in linen or cotton, loose enough to move. One that works for dinner without needing a plan. One with a print you genuinely like, not one that was on the rail. And one that can go from a beach to a table with a pair of sandals swapped out.

Five pieces, chosen because they match how you spend your days, will beat fifteen chosen because they were new.

Try the trend once, in something small

This is not an argument against anything new. It is an argument against buying into a trend at full commitment before you know whether you like living in it. Try the shape in one piece. Wear it three times. If you keep reaching for it, it was yours. If it stays on the hanger, you learned something cheaply.

The test that matters

At the end of a summer, look at what is worn out and what still has the tag on. That is your style, written down by you, without any guessing. Next year you start from there.