How to Look Like Business and Stay Cool When It’s Hot
Look-Of-Linen Big Shirt Separates from Draper’s & Damon’s
Do you sometimes wonder how you can feel cool yet look classy when it’s hot? I found the answer long ago in the book: Hot Tips: 1000 Fashion and Beauty Tricks by Frances Patiky Stein. In the “Summer Tricks” section of the book, she tells how to make an instant summer suit. I’ve used this outfit idea dozens of times when I was working and it kept me cool while being office-appropriate. Although this won’t work for a very conservative corporate environment where an actual suit is required, it’s useful in many other ways. You can put together your own suit from cool separates where the dress codes is not so strict as well as for business evenings, business travel, city day meetings and events and even business in country settings. Age doesn’t matter at all!
First I’ll give you the trick as presented by Stein in her book. Then I’ll tell you how I used it myself and how this outfit combination can be adapted to different occasions. This post is an installment in my Style Tips category.
Here’s How to Feel Cool and Look Classy When It’s Hot:
“How to Make an Instant Summer Suit: Take a silk shirt (‘jacket’) and matching cotton pant (or skirt). Slide a t-shirt underneath. For city day: belt and sandal in leather. For country: twist and knot a cotton scarf as a belt or use a length of hemp rope knotted at both ends to keep it from fraying!…White t-shirt, navy silk shirt as jacket, navy cotton trousers. Peanut leather belt, peanut kid sandals, soft kid shoulder bag, wood and gold bracelets: Ideal Summer Work/Day Look!” — from Hot Tips.
How I wore it:
When I used this outfit combination, I wore a black or navy short-sleeved silk shirt and often wore a column of color, such as a black tee and black trousers. The silk shirt was floaty and cool, wonderful on hot days and in hot offices.
If you do wear a black silk shirt over a column of black, though, all three pieces have to be the same shade of black. It won’t work if one piece is a lighter black that the others. When using a column of color, it’s better to match the top shade to the bottom and wear a different color silk shirt.
A silk satin or silky or satiny shirt can be used in place of a silk one, but they are not as cool and floaty to wear.
Also, when using a shirt as a jacket, try to use a shirt that has an straight hem. That makes it look more like a jacket.
Other Ways to Wear It:
All of the examples shown in this post are from Draper’s & Damon’s. This is not a sponsored post; they simply have the shirt-as-jacket trick down! If you click on the highlighted words, you can go to their site and see what they have. I link these items for your convenience in case you’re interested in any of the items shown.
In many cases, the shirts in these photos are worn over a matching top and pant set sold by Draper’s & Damon’s. These are not silk shirts and in most cases the top is a tank. It still does the trick! (No pun intended; just lucky. Lol!) You can use other materials, but then the top and bottom should be of a nice material such as crepe if you are going for a professional look. If you’re just out and about town, you can go with linen, gauze, etc.
A floral georgette big shirt is lightweight and looks fresh over a white base.
The shirt above is in a special burnout lace over a linen-look top and bottom, making it classy! Remember, you could use a tank top in a different color.
When you break up a suit, you can match your top to the jacket and wear a different color pants. So this works with the “summer suit” too.
For business evening events, you could wear a lace or crochet-back shirt open over a tank top and pants to match your shirt.
Frances Patiky Stein was an American fashion editor at Glamour in the mid-60s. Stein then decamped for Vogue and then Paris, where she briefly had her own accessories line and took over as artistic director of the Chanel accessories collection for many years. Hot Tips was published in 1981. The fashion and beauty tips and tricks are classic and most of it is still timely today.
Are these tips helpful to you? Leave a reply below to let us know how this works for you!
Like this post? You might also like to read other installments in my Style Tips category HERE.
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Related posts:
Evening, Outfit Combinations, Style Tips, Tips and Tricks, Ways to Wear It, Where to Find It
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