7 Pieces To Dress "Clean Girl" Chic On A Budget This Spring
Who knew it could be this easy?
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by The Candidly Team
We don’t usually cave to trends. They’re too fleeting, and we’re too ancient. But sometimes the styles that are trending happen to be timeless or classic or minimalist, and at those times, we find ourselves happy to hop aboard.
Take the recently trending fashion choices of the singular Carolyn Bessette Kennedy? Loved it. Wrote about it. Copy it most days.
Or the still-popular stylings of the coastal grandmother? Also loved it. Also wrote about it. Still spend roughly 2 hours a week searching for the perfect linen pant to execute it.
But few things speak to our conflicting desire to look perfectly chic, yet effortlessly cool, while feeling deeply cozy and staying very, very low maintenance more than one, silly-named trend. And that is, of course, the “clean girl aesthetic.”
Clean girls combine cool, tailored pieces like drapey trousers, buttoned shirts, and black linen sets with casual, comfy elements like knit tees, buttery sweatshirts, loungewear, and white sneaks. They look polished and put-together but never overdone. Their skin is fresh and glowy. Their hair is neat as a pin and pulled back. They smell like linen and lilac (or at least we imagine they do). And most importantly, they are … attainable.
For real.
To prove we don’t have to have a Hailey Bieber budget (or body-type) to realize our own clean girl potential, we picked out some essential items from one of our favorite affordable brands for quality staples. Z Supply has very classic, well-cut pieces that feel very soft and loungey, while making us look put together. (There’s an entire section titled SETS in their nav bar to give you an idea).
Anyhow, here are the 7 pieces we’re using to master the clean girl aesthetic as over-40 women heading into spring.
1. That One Flattering Spring\Summer Set You Wear On Repeat
WHAT: La Belle Linen Cropped Top* and Scout Linen Pant*
Why we love it: A set is like a “clean girl” uniform. We don’t have to think at all, and poof, we’re put together. This is even more true in the spring and summer when we don’t have the luxury of layering. This set has the very much appreciated benefit of being a shape that gives us arm and belly coverage, but we still quite look cool and polished. They smartly have a black band of fabric beneath the ties at the top so it doesn’t show skin, but you can always wear it over a black tank* if you don’t like that tiny sliver of skin that shows at the bottom
How we’re wearing it: With sandals, both flat and heeled and a wicker bag* we’re definitely packing on our next getaway.
Price: $95
2. The Button-Down You Blessedly Don’t Have To Tuck To Look Tailored
WHAT: Lisette Poplin Top*
Why we love it: A crisp, poplin button-down is our easiest hack for dressing chic, but sometimes we really loathe having to fuss over tucking and retucking. This one is the most refreshing length that covers your waist but hits right at the top of your pants (or skirts). We own it in yellow* (because spring!) but it of course also comes in white*, which we highly recommend.
How we’re wearing it: Open over every tank* we own. What can we say? We looooove a little added waist coverage.
Price: $84
3. The Stretchy Sculpting Column Skirt That Makes You Look 6Ft Tall And Won’t Show Lumps And Bumps
WHAT: Gail Midi Skirt*
Why we love it: We know the terror around wearing fitted clothing. Most days, we wear pants that we’re fairly sure a brand upcycles from parachutes. But we also secretly desire that long, lithe, statuesque look of a sleek-lined skirt. And wearing one doesn’t have to be as scary as we thought. For one, there are smoothing skirts like this one that have both stretch and hold. And second, we can suddenly wear looser-fitting pieces on top without looking frumpy.
How we’re wearing it: We know we broke our Editor-in-Chief’s golden rule of not wearing white on top with black on bottom, but THIS crochet top* has the perfect nipped fit and length to look gorj with a column skirt.
Price: $68
4. This Chic, Striped Set That Makes Us Actually Feel Good About Wearing Shorts
WHAT: The Perfect Linen Striped Short* and The Perfect Linen Striped Top*
Why we love it: Alas, another set. As soon as we tried this one on, we were extremely excited to write about it. We don’t always love wearing shorts and we don’t always love showing our arms, so an elegant set we can wear in the heat and still feel like ourselves is a rarity. This one feels like the softest, lightest pajamas but can be styled to look so luxe, especially in the stripe. (It comes in other colors, too.) There are plenty of striped linen shirts in the world, and this is hands down our favorite.
How we’re wearing it: As a set obviously. We like it lazily half-tucked with a crossbody bag to break up that pattern, but we also wear it open over a tank with minimalist sandals* and with jeans.
Price: $64 for the shorts, $88 for the shirt
5. This Breezy, Black And White Button-Down That Creates An Instant Outfit
WHAT: Seaport Gingham Button Up*
Why we love it: Gingham is one of those prints that works like a neutral but makes a look 17x more interesting. This one is so light and whispery, we can wear it in the heat, open over a tank or tied at the waist (yes, there’s an easy way to do this without it poofing out, which you can learn in 3 seconds here). It gives extra arm and tum coverage without making us sweat. We love that the black and white matches with everything, including black, but it comes in a very pretty tan gingham HERE.
How we’re wearing it: We tie it 90% of the time - with jeans, black pants, shorts - but we also have a mind to wear it open over a black swimsuit in the summer with THESE* sandals.
Price: $110
6. This Buttery Lounge Set We LIVE In At Home
WHAT: Renae Slub Rib Tank* and Renae Rib Pant*
Why we love it: This may look like more of a stay-at-home set. But individually, each piece can be styled to wear out. The fabric is almost weighted and ribbed, so it makes you look and feel held in all over. The straps of the tank are thick enough to conceal a bra strap but not so thick they make our shoulders look broader. As for the pants, Z Supply has some kind of trick to their long and loose lounge pants that makes legs look leaner. It’s these smart, little extra things that make us choose them over 27,246 other brands making matching lounge sets.
How we’re wearing it: Wear it out with THIS* knit jacket and THIS* bag, and oops, maybe it’s not an at-home-only set after all.
7. The Softest “Quiet Luxury” Sweatshirt
WHAT: Stand Out Striped Modal Sweatshirt*
Why we love it: Ugh, a stripe just makes everything look a little old money and expensive - even a sweatshirt, But it’s also just very classic way to not be boring. On those weird, fluctuating, warm and chilly days, we love having a light, buttery, almost silky sweatshirt on hand. This one is the butteriest. AND it has that stripe, which makes all the difference between us being a basic schlub and being Grace Kelly on a Sunday sail on Monté Carlo ... well, at least we feel Grace Kelly on a Sunday sail on Monté Carlo.
How we’re wearing it: With every neutral outfit but especially that stretchy black skirt* we keep talking about. Depending on the weather (or how much bread we had at lunch), we wear it like this throughout the day.
Price: $98
Bonus: 3 More Things We Have In Our Carts
This Gauzy, Waist-Nipping Romper We’re Packing On Every Getaway*: How did we miss this? A flattering romper for an adult woman. Brilliance!
This Perfect Spring Jacket That Elevates Everything*: Light jacket weather be damned. This matches everything but also makes it better.
This Stretchy Denim Dress We Could Wear The Hell Out Of*: There’s smocking on both sides so it gives us a Jessica Rabbit hourglass …. but with LOADS of hip/butt coverage.
At The Candidly, we try a lot of stuff so you don’t have to. We only recommend things we truly love, and that we think you’ll love, too. All products are chosen independently by our creative team, and all details reflect the price and availability of products at the time of publication. If you buy something we link to, The Candidly may earn a commission.
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