Outfits

The best mini dresses, done properly: 40 styles from FARM Rio, Norma Kamali, Miss Circle and Simkhai, $88 to $2,620.

Layering a sleeveless dress works best when you check the armhole, shoulder width and fabric first, then add a soft cardigan or a structured jacket.

Shorts under $150 that earn their place: 40 terry, fleece and relaxed styles from Lovers and Friends and Pistola.

An affordable shorts edit that makes the category easier. Shop 44 shorts from Lovers and Friends, Made Some and eberjey, $43 to $225.

Mini trousers under $250: matching sets, high-rise shapes, stripes and silk or satin shorts, each for a different part of a wardrobe.

Shorts under $250 that expand your wardrobe: 40 relaxed and boyfriend styles from Lovers and Friends and Pistola.

Shorts under $300 are a tailoring problem. Shop 40 from Lovers and Friends, Pistola and L'Academie, priced $45 to $241.

Mini trousers are not difficult, but they do require a clear idea of what you want them to do.

Best Shirt Tops is about the shirts that do the work of an outfit before you add anything complicated.

Trousers Under $150 is about making a pair of trousers earn its place without treating a low price as a personality.

Jeans under two hundred fifty dollars are not really a bargain category if the fit makes you think about them all day.

Trousers under two hundred fifty dollars are the wardrobe workhorses, provided the waist and proportion are doing their jobs.

Skirts under $150 are the useful middle ground between an impulse buy and a major wardrobe decision.

The affordable skirts edit is about buying the shape you will actually wear, not collecting a row of hopeful separates.

The best midi skirts land at the right part of the leg, keep their shape through a day, and give a familiar top something new to say.

A midi skirt is the wardrobe equivalent of a well-edited sentence: enough detail to make a point, not so much that it loses the reader.

Trousers under three hundred dollars should earn their keep by solving more than one dressing problem.

Tops under one hundred dollars should be the most hardworking part of a wardrobe, but the category is full of pieces that only work in a photograph.

The best skirts are the ones that give an outfit a point of view without requiring a complete personality change.

The best mini skirts have a clear proportion and a waistband that stays put. Shop mini skirts that work with flat shoes and heels.

The best high rise jeans decide where the outfit begins. Shop high rise jeans that make a shirt feel tucked and a wide leg look intentional.

Trousers Under one hundred seventy dollars are the clothes I want to be boring in the best possible way.

Skirts under $500 can still have a point of view. Shop skirts with a deliberate length and a fabric or finish that gives them presence.

Luxury skirts are worth considering when the shape does more than fill a gap between a top and a shoe.