I am such a basics girl and I feel like I haven’t worn a proper shirt in absolute ages. I wear my basic tees more often than a shirt, because I always feel like a tee is a tiny bit more comfortable. This summer however I have done yet another wardrobe clear out and I have made it my mission to wear shirts more often. White shirts or blouses can sometimes look a bit formal, which is perfect if you work in an office. If you’re more still a uni student like me, or just don’t really have a formal job, it might feel a bit too uptight to wear a white shirt. One way to make a white shirt look less formal in my opinion is by picking a linen shirt. Not only is that perfect for summer because it’s super breezy to wear, it’s also a shirt that looks super effortless and not too formal.

That’s why I decided to challenge myself and to style the linen shirt I have owned for such a long time now already in three different ways. This is a challenge for myself to wear my clothes more often, but I also hope this might give you some inspiration to invest in or get your own white linen shirt out more often this summer to wear.

Go for a skirt

This blog post was actually inspired because I bought this skirt and started playing around with what kind of top I wanted to wear with this skirt. Something clicked and I knew this would be such a cute outfit to wear. This skirt is actually from Primark and is so different for me, but I could instantly imagine myself wearing this sort of outfit while exploring a new town. Or imagine it being quite hot outside and you have an office job to go to. This will keep you cool, breezy but you also look super cute! Instead of tying the linen shirt, I would tug just it in instead. This makes the outfit look a bit more formal. Or I would wear this when I am strolling around in town or when I am away on holiday.

All white everything

The second way I styled this white linen shirt is a look that is a bit more like me, but also not really at all. Like I said in my five favourites post, I only recently have found the confidence to wear white or creams as a proper standout item in an outfit. Nowadays I feel a lot more confident in these sorts of outfits and love how they look on. For this outfit I actually styled the linen shirt with this pair of H&M paper bag waist shorts, which I absolutely love! These shorts are my current favourite because they are a bit longer than all the normal shorts you usually see in stores. Not only is this perfect to prevent any thigh chafing from happening, they are also a bit more appropriate to wear if you work in an office or don’t like to wear super short shorts. This is another one of those outfits I could so easily wear when I am wandering around town or having dinner at a restaurant when I’m on away on holiday.

Casual look

The final way I styled it is probably the most basic and easy way I would style this. It’s one of those outfits I would feel 100% comfortable in to wear every day of the week. I styled it with a pair of mom jeans and an oversized blazer and love how the shirt looks with this outfit. One of the things I was so scared about with this outfit is making this outfit look too formal or office-y because I am wearing a shirt and a blazer. This shirt has a really laid-back feel because of the linen fabric and to make it even more of a casual look, I also went for a bit more of a oversized, relaxed fit-style blazer. By combining these two items it can really make the outfit look more casual and laid-back, which is definitely the look I like to go for. However, I personally think it also still looks quite chic and formal enough to wear to an office or business meeting.