How to Shop Your Closet for European Summer Outfits With the Thrifty Six

I have recently been welcomed into a wonderful group of fashion and lifestyle bloggers that focuses on styling preloved clothing and accessories in themed monthly posts (third Monday of the month). I hope that this showcase of secondhand items and outfits provides some shopping and style inspiration for anyone who is interested in creating great looks in a way that is sustainable for our planet and our pocketbooks.

Today's topic is European Summer, which is both a fact of geographical-climatological reality (although in northern Europe, it can feel like an aspiration!) and a style aesthetic that is trending for summer 2024. This aesthetic "puts an emphasis on 'clean,' elevated outfits...taking elements from classic French and Italian styles" and is "a perfect blend of understated elegance, comfort, and trendiness."

Of course, there are a lot of sites ready to sell you new clothing and accessories to support this trend, but one of the big advantages of a trend rooted in classic style is that you probably have many of the hallmarks of this aesthetic already in your closet...and if you are missing something, you can readily pick it up secondhand.

A search around the Internet turned up a lot of different elements that could be included in a European Summer aesthetic outfit:

• Cotton, linen, and silk fabrics

• Loose silhouettes

• Neutral colors

• Subtle patterns

• Leopard print

• Flashes of red

• Monochrome

• Intentional detailing (like crochet and embroidery)

• Denim

• White T

• Button-up shirt

• A line dresses

• Silk square scarves

• Sneakers

• Flat sandals

• Elegant flats

• Simple mix-and-match jewelry

• Layered jewelry

• Pendant necklaces

• Statement sunglasses

• Straw hats

Links: Elle, Refinery29, Who What Wear, Baciano

I though it would be fun to create an outfit from a mish-mash of various European Summer aesthetic elements that I shopped from my closet. Will pulling a bunch of things from the above checklist create a cohesive look or a hot mess? Let's see!

I created a very simple all-neutral base outfit consisting of a sleeveless white T, dark grey wide leg crop pants (loose silhouette), and a thrifted long-sleeved cotton denim button-up shirt. I wore the white top with a loose front tuck to shorten it up nicely under the denim shirt. This is the kind of classic combination that can styled in a lot of different ways. (I wore the white tank + crop pants combo in a colorful citrus outfit for Style Imitating Art in June, for example.)

OOTD 8/12/24

I added the subtle pattern and elegant flats elements to the look with my pointy-toed flats in a tan leopard print.

This brings the number of neutral colors in my outfit up to five: white, dark grey, denim blue, tan, and black. That may seem like a lot of distinct colors for a single outfit, but the beauty of neutrals lies in their subtlety...and the utility of them lies in their versatile mix-and-matchability. I think women can really overthink how we combine neutrals and are often too focused on whether various colors of their outfits "match" (I am as prone to this as anyone). Men's fashion seems much more relaxed about mixing neutrals (and textures and prints) in complex ways.

My first instinct here would normally be to wear a grey leopard print shoe with the grey pants or to repeat an accent color from my scarf, but I pushed myself to wear the tan animal print ones because they felt more classically European. And it turns out that I loved the way the tan ones repeat the tones of my blonde hair for some nice bookending.

I accessorized the outfit with a mixed metal pendant necklace and a thrifted silk square scarf in dark aqua and red. This type of scarf is very much a Classic-Europe-meets-Old-Hollywood style. It can definitely veer into Vintage Stewardess Uniform territory, depending on how you wear it, but with such a casual outfit, I think I'm safe. My scarf is a vintage piece from Italian brand Roberta di Camerino that I bought on ThredUp for under $5. It's one of those obviously high quality pieces that make you realize how cheaply made clothing and accessories are in the 21st century. The silk is substantial with a wonderful drape, and the hand-sewn rolled hems are beautifully done. I thought this was the perfect scarf to highlight in a European Summer outfit, and the subtle print mix of stripes and leopard print makes me happy.

I eschewed my usual bracelet stack (even thought layered jewelry is part of the aesthetic) for a single bracelet that has a simple mix-and-match jewelry vibe. To me, items that contain multiple metals are perfect for mix-and-match purposes because they make the mixing of metals across individual pieces look intentional.

I rounded out my jewelry with oversized gold hoop earrings, a classic European style that is having a fashion moment this summer. I actually do have an amazing pair of Prada statement sunglasses (prescription) that bring all the Hollywood Glam vibes but I forgot to wear them when I took photos!

I came well under my $5 outfit CPW goal (including clothing, shoes, scarves, and necklaces but not earrings or bracelets, which I do not track) on this outfit at $3.08! Everything worn here was on sale or thrifted and has been worn enough times to bring individual item CPWs down to $0.67 or less. And every single one of these pieces has a lot of wearability left, both in terms of durability and style relevance.

Let's see how I did with incorporating elements from my original European Summer aesthetic checklist. I got 13 of 21, which is 62%. That's pretty good for one outfit!

• Cotton, linen, and silk fabrics

• Loose silhouettes

• Neutral colors

• Subtle patterns

• Leopard print

• Flashes of red

• Monochrome

• Intentional detailing (like crochet and embroidery)

• Denim

• White T

• Button-up shirt

• A line dresses

• Silk square scarves

• Sneakers

• Flat sandals

• Elegant flats

• Simple mix-and-match jewelry

• Layered jewelry

• Pendant necklaces

• Statement sunglasses--forgot this one!

• Straw hats

Of course it's also important for us to understand how the European Summer aesthetic affects domestic rabbit trends. For summer 2024, the It Rabbit of the season (the RabbIt, if you will) is the Netherland Dwarf! This diminutive breed was developed in the Netherlands in the early 1900s by crossing Polish rabbits (named for their smoothly "polished" fur, not for the country) and smaller wild rabbits. As our Dutch blogger Nancy describes later in this post, the Netherlands does not always live up to the sunny warm promise of "European Summer." But for this Netherland Dwarf at the Minnesota State Fair in late August, summer was in full swing so he kept cool, fresh, and comfortable with plentiful attention to the water bottle. Do what the cool RabbIts are doing this summer and stay hydrated, friends!

Now let's review the European Summer outfits that my thrifty friends have styled...

The Thrifty Six:

• Emma of Style Splash

• Jane of Preloved-Vintage-Handmade

• Jodie of Jodie's Touch of Style

• Nancy of Nancy's Fashion Style

• Sally of Within a World of My Own [me]

• Shelbee of Shelbee on the Edge

Emma of Style Splash

"According to Refinery29 the "European Summer" or "Euro Girl Summer" aesthetic "puts an emphasis on “clean”, elevated outfits — this time taking elements from classic French and Italian style". I've teamed a postcard print satin wrap blouse by Twisted Wunder that I bought on eBay years ago, with classic sailor style navy trousers from River Island and a basket bag from Zara. I added classic gold and pearl jewellery to finish the look." 

Jane of Preloved-Vintage-Handmade

"This month’s T6 theme is ‘European Summer’ so I’m wearing red, white and blue to represent Great Britain…

…and also, a little nod to the Paris Olympics…

…but mainly because I want to show off my beautiful red, white and blue vintage maxi skirt.

This 1970’s original is an eclectic mix of patterns, colours and fabrics with the interesting addition of completely see-through crochet sections at each side.

The pretty perforated panels provide perfect ventilation on this, the hottest day of the year!

At 34˚C in the shade, this is a great European Summer day!"

Jodie of Jodie's Touch of Style

"I saw a fun video about how the same dress could be worn in different European countries and decided to do that with this navy dress.

While the dress isn't thrifted, the skirt and hat are preloved and this look reminds me of a girl from Spain."

Nancy of Nancy's Fashion Style

"European summer might be a fashion style, I can tell you a real European summer is wet and grey! And cold! So what I wore this season is these jeans, and you know how I feel about jeans. But it was too cold and wet to wear something really nice. I layered it with my new shirtdress, so if it started to warm up I could take off the jeans, which is the only pre-loved item. Luckily August is finally sunny and warm and I am embracing my dresses and skirts finally!"

Shelbee of Shelbee on the Edge

"I have never been to Europe in the summer but based on Nancy's description of it, I dressed for fickle temperatures and a chance of rain with lightweight layers and useful accessories. I wore a thrifted slip dress and jacket both in cheerful pink prints because they coordinated with my very old pink and black rain galoshes. A cloche hat offers practical protection from the sun or the rain. Now I am ready for any European summer weather!"

Next month's topic is Bronzed and Brown...which I personally never am but perhaps my outfit will be!

In the meantime, visit these lovely bloggers for the details of their thrifted European Summer outfits and more style inspiration:

• Emma of Style Splash

• Jane of Preloved-Vintage-Handmade

• Jodie of Jodie's Touch of Style

• Nancy of Nancy's Fashion Style

• Shelbee of Shelbee on the Edge

Had you heard of the European Summer style aesthetic? Could you shop your closet for any elements of this aesthetic? Do any parts of this style resonate for you? Do you ever mix your neutrals freely or are you more of a "match your neutrals" person? Have you visited Europe in the summer? If you live in Europe, what are your summers like?

Blogs I link up with are listed here.