The Basics: Top 10 Semi-Eternal Essentials

Necessary items every self-respecting woman-child should own

1. Leather Motorcycle Jacket
This needs no explanation. Equally helpful for the everyday grind and adventurous nights out, equally suitable for T-shirts and jeans, floral or lace dresses, and gala-ready evening gowns, it is a timeless staple that is well-worth a decent investment. Trust, your leather shield will pay you back with unconditional love (unless you get it wet; leather jackets hate water) and the instant feeling of invincibility.

2. Men’s Button-Down Shirts, Plaid and Otherwise
Loose, oversized, and haphazardly buttoned: there is something eternally insouciantly sexy about a woman in a man’s shirt. Flannel shirts work best for layering and around the waist, while cotton poplin is ideal skimming over the fray of cutoff jean shorts (the more wrinkled, the better).

3. The Right Jeans (and Jeans Shorts)
So simple and classic, they are more than just “jeans';” they should function as a component in a strategized look. This might be hard to understand, or maybe it isn’t. They are usually unembellished and they are meant to be worn proudly, no belt required, likely with a cropped top (if they are on the high-waisted side). It’s all about the fit and cut, and when those elements are right, they are a statement unto themselves.

Jean shorts are kind of a different category, but consider them the same way. While few items are more insouciant, they should be a “look,” not look like a copout to actually getting dressed. 

4. Loose T-Shirts and Tight Tanks
This is a no-brainer. Some nights, even if you know every other girl is going to be dolled up in a cocktail dress (actually, sometimes, especially if so), nothing feels better than pulling a slouchy plain T-shirt over a lacy bra and letting it fall where it wants to. The perfectly sloppier, the better. Add as much or as little jewelry as desired. Similarly, there’s the ribbed tank: a‘90s trademark, it should be form-fitting and semi-sheer and in a neutral hue. 

5. Bra Top
While I’m reluctant to bring up Rihanna thanks to her serious degree of ubiquity, the girl knows how to pull off a bra. While some may argue she popularized the “bra as top” look, don’t be fooled. But you should take a cue. It’s all about proportions: with a high-waisted bottom piece (including floor-grazing skirts, wide-leg trousers, and vintage Levi’s alike), the bra top aka bralet can be your best friend. 

6. Black Leather Ankle-Boots
Buckled, combat, flat, platform, glam-rock, stiletto, pointy, motorcycle, chunky, sleek, Western, suede, beat-up, glossed: black leather ankle boots come in many moods, textures, and styles. Find the top pairs that suit you best and guaranteed, you will live in them. Several different heights (totally flat, moderately heeled, and out-night high) are key to a well-versed wardrobe. 

7. Skintight Bodysuit
Even if it’s going directly up your buttcrack in the most uncomfortable of manners (as most have coverage that treads the line between a full-coverage panty and thong) or worse yet, even if it’s giving you a grimace-inducing French wedgie, few things will make you feel sexy more instantaneously than a bodysuit. Especially with a pair of medium-rise jeans. Think early-nineties supermodel, and suck it up. It’s worth it.

8. Oversized Sweatshirt
The ideal sweatshirt is basic, black, and likely with a silver-tone zipper, otherwise as plain as can be. A pullover style also does the job. A hot girl engulfed in a giant sweatshirt is both messy and mysterious. 

9. “Slutty” Cocktail Dress
Put “Real Housewives” strapped into Hervé Leger bandage dresses out of your mind. That’s not what I’m talking about. Think of something super-tight, short, and overtly formfitting – or even ridiculous and sparkly – as a mere base for personalization, by way of jewelry and other accessories. Or sheer. Or with cutouts…You get the picture.

Tip: Tying a shirt around your waist instantly de-slutifies any dress.

10. High-Top Sneakers
I don’t care how pretty and appealing dainty strappy sandals are: the chunkier the shoe, the longer and leaner your legs look. This applies to sneakers, as well. And yes, while athletic shoes are having a “fashion moment” right now, that’s not why you should wear them. It’s because sneakers are comfortable and hot tomboys are super-hot.