How to Wear Culottes

The last time I wore culottes was part of my Brownie uniform a good 18 years ago. I never went out with the intention of buying a pair, it just kind of happened when I fell into Pop Boutique on Seven Dials one evening after work. The thing is with culottes is you have to be tall to wear them, and as it happens, I'm 5ft 10" so I pretty much fit that bill. So I bought them, amused by the fact that they look like a skirt but totally aren't, and then promptly realised I had absolutely no idea what to wear with them.


I buggered it up a few times. Heeled ankle boots made my legs look stumpy (which they definitely are not), a baggy tshirt tucked in made me look an extremely unflattering shape, and a whopping great hell no to a blazer, cropped or not. So I turned to my faithful cami tops - the style of which I have in five different colours because they literally go with everything. I have worn a white one with these culottes before, but here I was going all 'gothic summer', decked out in black and feeling so comfortable in my favourite colour.

I'm wearing:
Cardigan - H&M
Cami top - ASOS
Culottes - Pop Boutique
Clogs - Lotta From Stockholm

Photos by Captain Charghley

To stop my outfits being too drama teacher when I wear all black (which is pretty frequently), I try and mix up patterns, shapes and textures to make it a bit more interesting. The culottes are very suitably striped so along with my plain cami top, I wore a tasseled cardigan. And to try and make it as summery as possible, I popped on my new Lotta From Stockholm clogs. They are a range similar to, but more affordable than, Swedish Hasbeens and as I got them in the sale they were even cheaper. After the trauma of having my feet destroyed by a similar pair from ASOS, these have been a welcome addition to my wardrobe.

With summer being a total washout this year, I feel like this is a comfortable medium for hideous humidity and grey skies.

I wore this to see the fabulously talented Katie in the musical The Spitfire Grill - check it out before it ends this weekend!

Never miss another blog post! Follow Charlie, Distracted on Bloglovin'

Follow me on Twitter / Facebook / Instagram / Pinterest