I always find it hard to sleep this time of year. It’s coming up on six years since I lost my mum, and instead of falling asleep from exhaustion the moment my head hits the pillow, my brain is wired, thinking about everything from a full home renovation we have planned for this year, to ways I want to improve my wardrobe. So in that vein, let’s talk about some style shifts for 2021; ways my style is continuing to evolve, that I’m planning to lean into over the next 10.5 months.
Wearing Marle Rita dress (also available here); Nisolo slides; Shop the Curated bag; Ana Luisa bracelet
#1 | AN EARTHY NEUTRAL COLOUR PALETTE
My newfound love of warm earth-toned neutrals really started to surface in 2020, and it’s an obsession that’s continuing to blossom. I’m finding myself introducing more khaki and camel tones, and it’s really added rich tonal depth to my outfits. I’ve had my colours done previously, but I find my olive skin tone tends to shift from cool to warm depending on the season (and how much sun I’ve had), so I didn’t read into it too much… But… I do feel like the lower contrast when wearing neutrals (rather than black and white) is much more flattering against my complexion.
#2 | MOM-STYLE STRAIGHT LEG JEANS
Before having a baby, my go-to denim silhouette was a skinny jean. And at that time if I had to pick just one single style to wear forever, the skinny would have been it. Not so much now. While a lot of my skinny jeans had high stretch so are comfortable enough to crawl around on the floor with my son, I feel like my figure is better balanced by a slim straight leg. Usually paired with slip-on sandals.
#3 | FLAT SHOES
I often feel a bit guilty looking at my shoe storage, stacked with heels I seldom reach for. But 2020, and everything that came with it – a shift in lifestyle as a result of the pandemic, and a baby – has meant there’s little occasion for me to wear them. I’m not quite ready to give up my collection just yet, but I am leaning into the flat shoe, and loving it. My Saint Laurent slides in particular have been getting a lot of mileage this summer.
#4 | SIMPLE STYLING
This isn’t really a style shift so much as a key tenet of how I get dressed. In the past I might have tried to shy away from it. Create work for myself in the sense of styling something when it was just perfect in its simplicity. A cotton tank and jeans doesn’t need to be complicated as it’s great as it is. Besides, when you’re wearing something and it already feels *just right*, you’re less likely to look back on photos in that outfit in ten years time and ask yourself, “what was I thinking?”.
SOME MORE STYLE MUSINGS
I have to admit, if you’ve been keeping up with my daily outfits on Instagram then you’re not going to think of these “shifts” as particularly groundbreaking. They’ve been evident in my outfits for months now. But sometimes I find it useful to put pen to paper – or in this case, fingertips to my keyboard – to spell it out.
At the start of the summer I spoke a bit about how I felt like I’d lost my way with my personal style. I was “figuring out” how to dress for my new life, and new sense of self. Somewhat naively, I thought I was going to just slip back into wearing my old favourites. But some things just no longer looked or felt the same on. Some items made me feel frumpy in a way they didn’t pre-pregnancy. And some items (mostly anything silk or fancy) just aren’t practical when you’re a mum with an infant child. I totally get it now.
And you know what? I think I’m mostly there. New wardrobe staples which feel more like the new me than the old me have helped, as have little mini style switches like adjusting the fit, the way I tuck, or changing the colour palette. Now, with almost an entire year as a mum under my belt, I’m actually looking forward to enjoying my wardrobe for the year ahead, as I wholeheartedly embrace these style shifts.
