Style Notes - Stalf for Summer Glam

Dress up your favourites and wear on repeat...

It’s that time of year again where everyone starts quizzing me on how to style their fave Stalf for Summer Glam- weddings, parties, exhibitions, etc.

I love to have a reason for summer glam on the horizon. Something to wrap my imagination around, to daydream about. If you’re a fashion-gal - someone who simply loves clothes and the act of pulling them on your body in various arrangements - you’ll get exactly where I’m coming from. If not, let me hit you with a dose of great inspo…

The vibe with Summer Glam for me is always much more: breathing new life into what I already have. It’s very much not: let’s buy a dress I will wear for this one event and never again.

I’m not saying never buy anything new (I mean, I sell clothes for a living and do a literal happy dance every time I get an order) but what I am saying is that the better you get at working with what you already have (in evermore creative and inventive ways,) the easier it will be to identify when you see the garment that fills a gap in your wardrobe, and to know in your gut that it will serve you well. Event dressing should feed into this mindset as much as day-to-day attire.

When I come to write these articles, I’ve very rarely purchased many new playthings to bring to the mix. You see the same pieces in my wardrobe, on repeat, again and again. Sometimes that makes me wobble- will the content be boring? are you looking to see something new? But I always come back to the same point: rediscovering a new way to wear something you own gives you (and me) a zing like nothing else. Making great choices when I do purchase something new is the success story- wearing and rewearing that piece should naturally follow suit.

I obviously do have the pick of Stalf (spoilt, I know) but I never take the mick, and I ALWAYS make sure that I’m only ever bringing an item into my wardrobe that a) I ADORE and b) I will wear and rewear until it literally falls apart.

Here’re my three starter principles for the special events you have coming up:

1) Moodboarding (as a verb.) This is not just about pulling together images of stuff you’ve loved. Crucially, you need to extrapolate, to understand what it is about the look that you love and apply that to what you already have/ identify where the gaps might be.

2)Working a little harder with what you have. I’m not saying you’re not looking hard enough if you can’t find the dream combo already in your wardrobe, you might need that piece that’s missing (and that is fine) but make sure you’ve identified it confidently within your vision, alongside what you already own before making any purchases (see point number 3.)

3)Maybe you actually don’t yet own that failsafe dress/co-ord/favourite style- once you isolate what it looks like for you, everything falls into place. (I am of course biased, but I’d say that Stalf has you covered whatever you’re looking for.)

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I’ll illustrate with an example:

Here’s my inspo for Look 1

Let’s extrapolate on what I was drawn to:

• block colours of black and pink

• bring in a blazer

• the sequinned skirt (I’m not set on it being sequins, just an area of interest/surprising element/texture or pattern)

• platform shoes

Here’s what I got based on what I already own:

You can see the links between inspo and end result, right? It’s less about copying what you see and more about really noticing what it actually is that you liked in the first place. In this instance, the checks and vibrant pink play the same role as the sequins, and the beaded bag brinks the touch of sparkle. You can balance the elements in different ways and still bring the same essence to a look. My Shorts are the Crinkle Shorts in Candy Check.

Think: proportions/colour blocking/areas of texture or interest/ how a look incorporates accessories/ masculine vs. feminine/ contrasting elements/ how much skin is on show.

At this point, I realised the candy check paired with block areas of black (and a bit of leg) was what I was interested in, so I went whole-hog and tried on the black accessories with the Candy Check co-ord (shorts here and blouse here.)

It’s good, but needed something else, IMO- enter black blazer … aaand we come full circle to my initial areas of interest- I have worked my way around the look until I found the sweet spot:

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Look 2

Areas of interest:

• Crinkles, ruffles and pouffy layers

• Feeling super feminine

• Delicate sparkle/embroidered elements

I was fully drunk on Candy Checks at this point after styling Look 1 and so went for our Crinkle Cami Dress (also in black, white, jasmine, for a custom colour way fill our the form at the bottom of this page) but a great alternative (if you’re not keen on cami straps, or if you’re after a solid colour) would be The Birthday Dress in Taffy.

With regards to working with what I already had:

• I knew that I wanted the frothiness of the crinkles, the Candy Check colourway just adds in an extra element of frivolity.

• I had no bra that I liked the look of under the dress (I wanted a statement rather than hidden support, you could totally just go strapless-bra with this style) but I did find a pastel pink swimsuit with tie shoulders that fit the bill perfectly.

• I added in the froth with an underskirt. If ever you happen upon a great underskirt in a delicious colour, I say buy it- it’s amazing how one can transform a dress you might already own.

…and because I do understand (believe it or not) that pink is not for us all:

Here, I actually layered a whole strapless dress under the Cami Dress (it’s the only garment I own with multiple layers of black tulle and a full underskirt for volume and it did the trick beautifully whilst also serving as a bra!)

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Look 3

I played around with this one a bit to pull together three separate looks, the inspo is the same:

• sheer, floaty layers , one on top of the other

• areas of black and white/cream

• floral elements

• embroidery/sparkle/ a touch of something special

I’ve wanted to style the Birthday Bottoms with this blouse I’ve had for a few years for a while now. For me, it’s the double layers of sheer cotton voile, areas of exquisite detail (crinkles on the hems, embroidery on the blouse) black on black on black (will always be chic, especially when you play about with volume and transparency) myriad reasons to play about with voile!

This pairing felt sexy but absolutely understated- a brilliant combination.

Honing in on the floral elements/ block areas of black/cream below:

Probably more appropriate for summer party than wedding, but this combo could definitely be tuned up a notch with a tailored blazer and more flashy jewellery.

I just loved the cream/black colour pairing.

This Blouse can be dressed up so many ways for Summer Glam, maybe there’s a whole article in just that one piece?

Ending on a curve ball, this will be marmite:

Basically I loved the frothy skirt/shirt look. Kind of worked, but like I always say, you win some, you loose some!

I should also mention that we just placed the last ever order for this White Crosses fabric (available in the flutter blouse, as above and the wrapper) when it’s gone, they’re not remaking it!

Thanks Stalfers!

I’ll be back next week with a bumper issue of The Recap!

Paris x