How do you dress for your spring, summer or autumn city escapades? I don’t know about you but my outfits need to tick a loooot of boxes before they get the green light to get into that suitcase. You know, the usual mantra: minimal, comfy, chic. First, the look needs to be casual as I’m off duty after all. Second, I’m about to put a lot of kilometres into it, literally, every day, so the baseline is long-haul comfort. Third, I’m not hiking across rough terrain with only a bunch of insects for company but wade through crowds and a variety of city neighbourhoods.
Today’s challenge is another pretty and exhausting London walk, starting in Little Venice, then all along Regent’s Canal, a little detour up Primrose Hill and finally into Camden Town. Scroll down for a bunch of my fave snaps, and check out my previous cool Camden pics and the outfit that went with it.
Creating the ultimate casual chic look
Pick your colours. Colours are just colours, right? Technically, they don’t have a lot to do with comfort. Here, you can score city smart points all you like. I love to go with black, grey, navy, white and dark olive. You could add any shade of corporate blue or stripes if you were of a mind to.
Think true comfort. I wear a lot of smart black flat shoes but for some walks, especially if these are part kerb, part off-road, only absolute foot bliss will do. Enter the trusty Stan Smiths, Gucci Aces or your personal faves.
Subtly signal ‘off duty’. The jeans are a slim cut in washed black but neutral enough to pass for business casual. With casual shoes, I prefer jeans in a clean or neutral wash and a simple cut to keep the whole look sleek. The real off-duty piece is the t-shirt, a pared-back grey marl number with a slogan style motif. Smart but not smart, grey but not grey 🙂
Bring smart back. Goodness, blazers are everything. They are simply the best alternatives to sweatshirts, cardigans, coats, jackets. No matter how casual my look is, with a blazer I can bring it back to easy chic.
You can, of course, play around a lot with accessories. If I wanted to create different versions of the very same outfit, besides changing the t-shirt, I would definitely try it with other belts, bags and scarves.
Besides black or blue jeans, I find myself buying dark blazers all the time just to have a lot of great options to look smart without going formal. Does that happen to you?
Cheeers,
Gabriella
blazer: Mango (similar here, here and here)
t-shirt: Zara (similar here, here, here and here)
jeans: Mango (similar here, here, here, here and here)
trainers: Adidas (here and here)
belt: New Look (similar here, here, here, here, here and here)
bag: Nakedvice
sunglasses: Ray-Ban