7 Outfit Templates Under $150 That Are Perfect For Over-40 Women
The word “foolproof” comes to mind.
Image Credit: Lawrence Schwartzwald/ Getty Images, Jean-Paul Aussenard/Getty Images, Pierre Suu/GC Images
by The Candidly Team
We love clothes. We do. Finding individual items of clothing we feel a kinship with has never been a problem for us.
But putting our clothes together is work. It’s work we don’t have time or patience for in the morning. And work we get bored and exhausted by in the evening.
Very often, we end up feeling like we settled when we walk out the door. Like something is off in our outfit, even when it’s made up of clothes we thought we loved. Or clothes we spent way too much money on.
And for all these reasons, we appreciate a template. Maybe appreciate is too small a word. We TREASURE a template.
A good outfit template is like a magical 15-minute dinner recipe. Everything comes out just as good, but we didn’t spend half our week (or our paycheck) thinking and choosing and shopping and still wondering what’s off about It.
But for a quick and easy template to work, every single piece needs to be wildly on point. A recipe is only as good as its ingredients after all. So with all 7 foolproof outfit templates we’ve written about today, we’ve also included the exact pieces that make them work.
They’re classic but still cool. Chic but under $150. They make us look younger but not like we’re trying to look young.
But why are we out here trying to convince you with words. Let’s take a look, shall we?
1. The Effortless Jeans & Tee Look You Can Wear Any Day And Look Chic
Mango 100% linen suit blazer
It’s amazing how just layering a light blazer instead of a sweater or a hoodie over jeans and a tee can instantly make us look 5x more styled and our clothes look 5x more luxe. This is even more the case with a light blazer (both in weight and in color). This one is 100% linen and has that excellent, tailored shape that doesn’t make us look blah or boxy. We love it in sky blue over a white tee but the creamy ecru is also wildly chic over a black tee.
Price: $80
Levi's Women's Classic Straight Jeans
A clean, classic, perfect-fitting pair of jeans that makes you forget why you would ever spend 3x as much on designer. And almost 8k 5-star reviews on Amazon seem to agree.
Price: $42
Abercrombie Essential Baby Tee
Many tees make the mistake of being long enough to cover the entire waistline of our jeans, which leads to unflattering bulges around our lower belly or folds of material spilling out whenever we tuck it in. In both cases, we end up looking bulkier and less polished. We know there’s this fear out there that once you turn 30 or 40 or 50, a slightly shorter tee will conjure early 2000s images of Brittany Spears, but this isn’t the kind of “cropped” we’re talking about anymore. There’s a new type of tee out there that hits right at the top of your pants, which makes your waist look nipped and your legs look longer. Some also fit like a soft, smoothing, curve-complementing dream. Like this one. Especially this one.
Price: $25
Image from Splash
2. The Easiest Warm-Weather Dress Ensemble
Quince 100% European Linen Button Front Dress
There’s something both romantic and lazy about a flattering, everyday dress that feels like pajamas. It’s the kind of clothing that feels true to who we are and how much energy we’ll actually have to get ready. This shirt dress is one of those pieces we can throw on all by itself for work or weekend things, nice dinners or dead- of-summer brunches. And we always know we’ll look good. The tie waist will give us an hourglass but we’ll still have belly and hip coverage. It comes in so many colors and patterns and a price that means we can own more than one without guilt.
Price: $50
quince 100% Organic Cotton Denim Jacket
A jean jacket is the single thing that makes “just a dress” into a complete look. This one is sort of like a pair of Levi’s in that it fits exactly how we want a cool and classic jean jacket to fit, but the price fills you with joy and relief.
Price: $50
3. The Stunning Tank And Slip Skirt Combo
By Anthropologie The Tilda Maxi Slip Skirt
Maybe you’ve noticed that fashion editors and influencers LOVE to hear themselves say the phrase ‘high low.” The idea is that you can blend affordable with expensive and casual with chic pieces in the same outfit to achieve a sort of elevated overall look. We’re not sure any outfit has ever illustrated this concept’s power better than the above from Jennifer Aniston. The real genius though is that it looks stunning on every single body type. The skirt has a concealed elastic waistband so it skims the stomach and falls smoothly over butts and hips. Plus, it comes in no fewer than a dozen colors/ prints and sizes in plus and petite. Slipping it on is so elongating you’ll feel like a model. No need for heels. Just add a flat sandal and a perfect-fitting tank, and enjoy smoldering as a verb.
Price: $98
Artfish Women's Sleeveless Tank Top
We talk a lot about what constitutes the perfect tank. The short answer is skinny straps, a scoop neckline, and ribbing that holds you in. These elements combined frame your upper body in the most flattering way. This is true even for those of us with broad shoulders or thicker arms or smaller chests. Just trust. Which is much easier to do when you’re testing something under $20 from Amazon. This one is perfection. It comes in all the colors and two lengths, the shorter of which is stunning with this skirt.
Price: $18
Project Cloud Vegan Leather Womens Flip flops
And here we have yet another style made famous by Miss Aniston - the sophisticated flip flop.
Price: $30
4. The French Girl Tee and Trousers
J.Crew Cropped fine rib scoopneck tank top in stripe
We write a lot about what makes French women’s style work and how easily it can translate to our lazy, everyday clothing (and beauty) choices. This outfit is a shining example. And it all starts by adding a simple stripe to your most flattering tank.
Price: $19.50
Madewell The Harlow wide-Leg Pant In 100% Linen
We honestly wrote a whole article about Madewell recently, and 70% of what we talked about were these pants. If the brand has done nothing else, they have given us this perfect, tailored, wide-leg trouser that’s incredible on curves . We’re calling out the linen version cause we can wear it in the heat. But the original is equally exceptional.
Price: $88
J.Crew Factory Skinny Italian leather belt
Guys, we only recently discovered the power of a skinny belt, turning pants and a tee into a full-on look. It’s a little bit of French lady magic.
Price: $34.50
Image from GC Images
5. The Knockout Summer Dress and Comfy Platforms
J.Crew Beach cotton halter dress
We don’t need to over-explain here. A gorgeous dress is an outfit all by itself. But in addition to being visually show-stopping, it has to fit us like a custom-made super-suit and not make us feel an ounce self-conscious. And here is such a dress. On sale!
Sizes up to 3X.
Price: $89.50 - $118
We know we said you could wear the above dress barefoot and look beautiful but a platform takes it to a whole other level. Aerosoles is making some orthopedically comfy heels we can actually live our clumsy, scrambling lives in. These are maybe our favorite. And on sale!
Note: With Amazon’s ever-fluctuating prices, we may be going like $6 over our $150 budget on these. But for the comfort and quality, trust us, these shoes are worth it.
Price: $66
6. The Classic Coastal Grandmother Ensemble
J.Crew Factory Gauze Button Up Shirt
Normally, we don’t love trends. We prefer pieces that stand the test of time. But that’s actually exactly why we went all in with the Coastal Grandmother aesthetic. It’s all about timeless pieces that make us look like the most elegant version of ourselves. But also like we just emerged from a walk on the beach in front of our Nancy Meyers beachhouse. A white button-down is the cornerstone of this look, and this gauzy version is our new favorite thing in our closet. Throw it on with anything, and oops, you’re chic.
Price: $47.50
J.Crew Factory High-rise Girlfriend Chino Pant
Full disclosure, we’ve been looking for these exact pants since we first lusted after THIS look (yet again from Jennifer Aniston). Needless to say, we’re blown away that we’ve found them. At J.Crew Factory no less. For 40 frickin’ dollars.
Price: $40
Vitamin A Cannes Straw bucket Hat
The shape. That’s all.
Price: $49
7. The Timeless Summer Uniform from Carolyn Bessette Kennedy
Quince Cotton Modal Muscle Tee
Look back at any outfit worn by Carolyn Bessette Kennedy, and you’ll be shocked at how every single one is just as stunning and sophisticated today as it was 25 years ago. That’s what we want our clothes to do for us years from now. Starting with the simplicity of a black muscle tee tucked into a classic pair of ankle jeans and a strappy sandal. So easy, right? And yet, flawless!
Price: $15
Gap High Rise Kick Fit Jeans
Gap is making a comeback recently. But did their denim ever stop being good? This pair has just enough kick-out to make our legs look amazing. And it comes in 3 lengths to ensure it hits at the exact right spot on your ankle.
Price: $55 - $80
Dolce Vita Mikael Sandal
Tip: If strappy heels scare you, choose a thicker block heel for support and an ankle strap to keep everything in place. Gold stars all around for this gorj pair from Dolce Vita.
Price: $60
At The Candidly, we try a lot of stuff so you don’t have to. We only recommend things we truly love, and that we think you’ll love, too. All products are chosen independently by our creative team, and all details reflect the price and availability of products at the time of publication. If you buy something we link to, The Candidly may earn a commission.
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