How to Actually Enjoy Getting Dressed in Summer

Stop sweating over what to wear.

Dressing for summer shouldn’t be difficult but for a lot of us, it is.

Fewer layers, lighter fabrics, minimal effort. In theory, it sounds simple. And yet that simplicity is exactly what makes it so tricky. With less to work with, every item of clothing has to work harder.

Summer pushes us right out of our comfort zones. No layers to make an outfit interesting. No clever styling tricks to fall back on. Just you, the heat, and a wardrobe that doesn’t feel good to wear.

And that’s when the dread creeps in.

You delay the seasonal switch, hold out for one more week of spring. Then suddenly it’s hot, sticky, and nothing in your wardrobe feels right. You’re stuck cycling through outfits you don't want to wear, feeling uncomfortable in all of them, wondering how you're going to get through the next three months.

But it doesn’t have to be a crisis every year.

A little prep now means a lot less stress later.

The recent heatwave in the UK—when temperatures jumped from a comfortable 14°C to a sticky 25°C overnight—reminded me just how much easier summer dressing becomes when you’ve got a plan. So I’m sharing mine.

Every year, I hear the same complaints:

“I hate summer.”

“I never know what to wear.”

“I don't want to wear shorts.”

And I used to feel exactly the same.

I was tired of feeling like I had to completely change my personal style the moment the sun came out. So I figured out what I liked to wear in summer—and just as importantly, what I didn’t—and built a wardrobe I could rely on.