Two summer staples! | Next

I'm definitely somebody who enjoys reinventing the same items of clothing over and over before purchasing new pieces. Without being too much of a hoarder, I like hanging on to items in my wardrobe that I know I will wear year after year. And really, for me at least, that is the ultimate success of any fashion brand, achieving longevity within such a fast-changing trend-obsessed culture.

Lately, I have been having a little think about what some of my holy grail summer clothing items might be and when I sat down to write this post, I definitely surprised myself with my honest evaluation. You see, for me, summer style doesn't necessarily have to boil down to skirts and short sleeves; or even sunhats and sunglasses. (although I don't know where we would be without those things!) But on the whole, I notice my approach is more understated, more versatile and also more seasonally fluid. 

Two items that are definitely up there with my top five picks would be a quality duster coat and a snazzy pair of sandals, the kind that will really make an outfit pop! I have to admit, I am a bit sandal obsessed at the minute and I can't seem to help gravitating towards bright, bold colourways either. Now I don't know if it's a British thing or what but hand us a few straight days of warm sunshine and it's as though we can't help ourselves but redesign our whole wardrobes to make the most of the exciting, long-awaited new climate...tell me it's not just me, right?

  
These suede bow slides in question are from Next are they are just the daintiest pair ever and I have been teaming them with dresses, skirts, jeans of various colours; you name it! 
 I know some might say these are a bit, shall we say, 'extra'? but they're fun and vibrant too and during the summer months, aren't they the best kind of vibes you want to be radiating anyway?

I'm sure you'd be willing to accept sandals as quite the necessary summer purchase, but a duster coat, really? 
And yet I wouldn't be without a good duster coat in summer. I LOVE how you can pair them with jeans, skirts, shorts or dresses to provide a light layer for warmth (bearing in mind how changeable our weather is in the UK) but also such a cool way to quickly transform a bog-standard outfit into something a little more put together. I love a good duster coat for doing the school runs in, especially if the air is still a little chilly in the mornings but also, this one in particular from Next is SO light and would make a great cover up if you want to protect your shoulders from the harsh midday sun too. 

I feel like there are tonnes of practical reason as to why I will always be a duster coat fan but aside from all of these and probably most importantly, I just think they always look so lovely on. I'm loving this monochrome one from Next which has slits on the sides and back; it has a really cool vibe and looks ace worn tied at the front or open and loose. For me, it's just a little bit different than your standard long duster and I'm really excited to keep restyling it over the next few months!

So those are two of my top summer style staples! What would yours be?

*Post written in collaboration with Next who gifted me the items mentioned