Tops & Tanks Review
This is the first post of a new series where I’ll be reviewing each category in my closet and breaking it down by sub-category. For each one, I’ll talk about how I define it and what type of mix within allows me to easily create outfits I know I’ll like! I’m at a place in my personal style where I repeat a lot of outfit formulas. I don’t feel the need to reinvent my closet with the latest trends every season. I much rather prefer to invest in a few new things each month as well as accessories to change things up!
In my corporate fashion merchandising days, we used to break departments down in a similar way (as I’m going to show you below) in order to analyze them and make sure we had a balanced assortment to offer customers seasonally. I have a feeling that this method will allow me to appreciate what I already own even more as well as, feel more confident about future purchases rather than letting whatever captures my emotions dictate what I buy…I learned from this exercise how true that’s been!
I own a total of 87 tanks and tops and think that 100-115 would be the optimal number to aspire to own. Below I’m breaking the tops and tank category down by sub-category and sharing how I’m thinking about what I need and want in the future. For reference, the way that I define a top or tank in this category is by material, basically anything that’s not a sweater knit. So it includes regular knits, wovens like poplin and linen as well as novelty fabrics like velour, lace and eyelet.
TANKS
1. Fashion Tanks
I call this category “fashion” meaning these tanks are usually the charm of the outfit. And if you’ve been following along on my personal style journey, you know charm is one of my three style filter words!
I have a total of 8 in this category and they are a mix of casual layering options, going out tanks and daytime fashion tanks. When I’m shopping, I love keeping my eye on cute fashion sets (like the J.crew linen one below) because the few I do have, I get so much wear out of. I wear both the tank and pants separately too.
I’ve been thinking about creating more outfits for weekend park hangs in the city and wanting casual tanks that are easily to layer with sweaters, blazers and jackets. I love keeping my eye on Missoni and Zimmerman tanks on The Real Real for this purpose. The few that I do own are also hits on their own! The going out and daytime fashion tanks I own either have ties at the shoulder or are a fun print, color or interesting silhouette.
What’s missing in my collection are a few party options for things like New Year’s Eve. A little sequin and sparkle would be nice to have on hand for glam. From an accessories standpoint, fashion tanks are usually fun to wear with belts and jewelry, depending on the neckline.
2. Camis/ Layering Tanks
This is the category I probably wear the most often. I love having a wide variety in this section. Currently I have a total of 10 options. Everything from silk camis to layer with blazers to cotton tanks in a variety of necklines- square, high neck and scoop, with square being my all time favorite.
This Reformation tank is one of the most worn items in my closet, I have it in both grey and white. I always keep my eye on their knit tanks, I love the fit of their ribbed styles! This category is important to keep stocked in order to always have options to wear with printed/linen pants and shorts, skirts as well as, layering under blazers and sweaters. From a color standpoint, black, white and grey are my go to’s. I’d love to experiment with navy and browns here soon.
In terms of accessories, belts and dainty jewelry tend to always work with these tanks whether layered up or worn on their own.
TOPS
1. Button Down Shirts
This is a category that can stand on its own since it’s such a foundation to my wardrobe. I own 9 button down shirts! And I’ve realized that a lot of them feel very spring/summery in color and weight. Most are poplin, linen or chambray. There’s a big opportunity to infuse some plaids and maybe some different fabrics in too like silk.
In terms of accessories, I always love wearing a button down with a statement necklace, belt or pretty scarf. Works every time!
2. Fashion Spr/Sum
When I say fashion, I mean tops that are meant to be the center of attention or an elevated type of basic, stripe tee or something else that has a little special detail. I usually wear these types of tops with light to medium wash jeans, denim shorts as well as with white denim. Given that I have 15 options in this category you can tell how much I gravitate towards things that are emotional rather than basic, haha.
With tops that are the center of attention, I still like to keep in mind how I could style them differently to feel unique. Do they have a good neckline? Would a belt work with it or what could be layered over it to make it even more charming? I find I get discouraged with fashion tops that don’t allow for easy accessory styling because they don’t allow for personal interpretation.
For the seasonality of this category, I think of white tops that are easy to pair with shorts or prints pants, flowy boho tops, linen shirts, and poplin tops. I could do better with some more casual, flowy tops and open necklines. I realized that the more formal section of my fashion tops I don’t wear all that often. They’d be best utilized for work but since I’m home all day they’re not something I typically gravitate towards. I also like fashion tops that can easily be layered, anything too fussy rarely gets worn.
3. Going Out Spr/Sum
Within this sub-category, I love to have tops that can easily be layer-able with a cute jacket and worn with darker, straighter jeans. I think I could really benefit from having a pair of black and grey jeans to work with. It would expand the outfit options I could create!
While I always will love wearing black and white tops out year round, I wish I had some more printed options that had interesting necklines as well as some silk tops, been eyeing this one at Reformation. All of the ones I wear often have open necklines. Given that I live in San Francisco where the weather is pretty similar year round, this category doesn’t vary too much from the Fall/Winter options I have.
Between the two, I have 14 different top options and count on accessories to change them up! Love a good pair of bold gold statement earrings and a block heel for a night out.
4. Fashion Fall/Winter
When the weather cools down I tend to gravitate towards darker colors and would really love to infuse some more jewel tone options into my fashion tops. Within this category, I own a lot of ribbed turtlenecks, stripes and cardigans. I have a total of 14 options that are fall/winter appropriate.
What I’m completely missing are pretty fall colored printed. I’m thinking boho, flowy floral printed options. And since it’s San Francisco, I always need to keep in mind that these types of tops are most worn when they’re easy to layer with outerwear. Most of the tops in this category I wear when working from home so I prefer them to pass through the comfortable filter.
From an accessories stand point, basic belts and chunky gold necklaces are huge here! I am really loving this Louis Vuitton belt and am considering keeping it.
5. Basic T's & Turtlenecks
This category is pretty self explanatory and I own a total of 16 options. I love wearing a good basic t-shirt tucked into jeans and styled up with belts, scarves, necklaces and earrings. I think it’s important to have a wide range of necklines to work with here like crew scoop, v and scoop- although I don’t have any v or scoop (yet)!
I like having a range of weights as well as some more fitted ribbed options too. I tend to stay away from casual t-shirts that are light weight, particularly in slubby/linen blends. I would try a casual pocket tee for weekend bumming around though.
Even though theses are all basic styles, my collection feels pretty polished overall with thicker fabrics and I like it that way given one of my style filter words is classic. This is my all time favorite t-shirt (and it’s only $15!) and ribbed turtleneck (also have it in brown). Maybe I will try some pointelle style this season, have been seeing a few cute ones floating around the internet like this one here. Actually come to think of it, I don’t own any regular long sleeve t-shirts so that might be nice at some point too.
I’ve noticed for me, that this category skews very black and white. I’d love to infuse some navy and chocolate brown into the mix. Oooh, and maybe experiment with some jewel tones too!
6. Going Out Fall/Winter
This is all about the color shift here. Really would love more jewel tones, red and dark browns. This find is hot on my list! Otherwise I think my opportunities for expanding outfits in the going out category is in having more jacket, jeans and shoes options! And in general, I love having open necklines that I can wear with a statement necklace, earrings or a belt to really personalize the look.
Things I want or have...
Hope this is insightful as you hone your eye! These days they’re so many options to sift through, I totally understand how overwhelming it can be. I definitely live inside my process and am always editing and trying new things. The goal is to own a closet that I absolutely love that can endure the test of time and make it easy for me to get dressed and feel good every day. I’d say I’m about 50% there. Next up will be dresses…
