Mid-Casual Summer Wardrobe Capsule: Mix-and-Match for Our New Normal

May 25, 2020

Casual style has been forced upon us. Not that many are complaining. Those who have been accustomed to going to work are now working from home and regardless of the world slowly opening up again, it could be a while before everyone is back to the workplace exclusively. In fact, after this, some companies will be allowing their employees to work-from-home permanently.

This has caught some people off guard with their wardrobes, particularly those who have been used to wearing professional attire for work and only have super casual clothes for home wear. They seem to be missing that middle ground wardrobe, which I call mid-casual. For these women, their mid-casual wardrobe is sparse with the bulk of their casual wardrobe being things like yoga pants and gym clothes and what they wear to do things like clean the house.

Mid-Casual Summer Wardrobe Capsule: Mix-and-Match for Our New Normal

The truth is, this pandemic has caused people to really assess just how much they need. If there is a silver lining to the Covid outbreak (and I use silver lining respectfully to those who have family members who lost their lives), it has made us all appreciate simplicity. Do we really want overwhelmed closets, things we don’t wear, more of what we don’t need?

Not only am I sharing some mid-casual outfit ideas, I am creating a mid-casual wardrobe capsule that shows how to get more looks with less pieces. If you feel like this part of your wardrobe needs some building or freshening up, take a look at what I put together.

Here is a small, tight, mid-casual summer wardrobe capsule I put together. While seeing the finished grouping is helpful, I realize you might be wondering how I achieved it so you can do it for yourself. So before I show you the looks, let me share how I built it.

It always starts with one piece and in this case, it was the tan jeans from Wit & Wisdom. There wasn’t anything spectacular about them, but it did set a color direction. The next piece I selected was the Eileen Fisher jumpsuit in a terra cotta color. I now had a tan and orangey earth toned grouping. It was then that I found the Madewell striped top that perfectly worked itself into the group. Following that, the denim dress from Trina Turk. Denim is easy to wear multiple ways so a dress like this gets a lot of mileage.

I knew I wanted another color, as most capsules are best when there are two shades that complement each other, and, typically, it’s a print that brings these two shades together. I have talked about prints that can be road maps for combining, like cheat sheets. This is NOT a requirement, however. Yet, when I stumbled on this kimono from Anthropologie, the capsule broke open and I added purple to the grouping. From there, I added the remaining pieces. Having two colors in a capsule keeps it from becoming too one-note.

The Mid-Casual Capsule Outfits

The success of a capsule is determined by how many outfits can be built from what you bring together. The more you get, the more successful it is. Also, in terms of a mid-casual capsule, you want to make sure it can cover all areas of this part of your life. From the 11 wardrobe pieces plus accessories, I created 20 looks, with more I am sure that could be created. Let’s take a look.