I want clothes for everyday. Why is summer shopping so hard?

Q: As we move into the summer season, I realise that, unfortunately, my life doesn’t revolve around garden parties, I want clothes for every day. Why is summer shopping so hard?

Don’t you get the feeling that you’ve been taken for a mug – diaphanous dresses and florals landing in store in January, and shearling coats landing in July? The seasonality of fashion just hasn’t worked for many years.

However, now the buzzword in fashion production is trans-seasonal. So what exactly does this mean? Well, it means that the mainstay of our wardrobes, in reality, have applications across probably nine months of the year. This, for reasons of climate, has huge resonance in the UK and Ireland. That’s the way we dress, and now that’s the way we can shop.

Let’s face it, little strappy dresses and sandals have minimal applications in the overall scheme of things, save another heat wave or summering in Italy.

So trans-seasonal dressing was born, providing clothes that can function effectively in summer but equally carry through to winter. As an example, these city culottes (above) €85, at the

[ Design Centre ]

are bona fide ‘trans’, as is Lucy Nagle’s beautiful

[ Ivory Merino wool cropped cardigan ]

(layer up to avoid midriff exposure if required). And the

[ pastel loafer ]

(above) €140, by Marco Moreo at Fabucci could easily clip clop its way into winter. Even

[ Thakoon’s silk shirt dress ]

( above) from Costume has immediate applications with tights and boots while at the same time offering a low-key solution for Communions.

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[ frockadvisor.com ]