The short answer on a Graphic Tee: pick one anchor piece, keep the palette to two colours, and let the shoes decide how formal the whole thing reads. One piece should lead and the rest should stay quiet; two competing pieces read as an accident. Proportion does more than colour: volume on top wants something narrow below, and the reverse. The shoulder seam should sit on the bone, not past it. The groups below run from the decision that matters most to the ones you make afterwards.

What decides this is shoulder seam, sleeve length and opacity. Everything else is preference. Two from the first group show the range: Elie Tahari's Siena Milano Sculpt Peplum Top at $248, and Tanya Taylor's Marina Stripe Top at $365. The first is the easy entry point; the second is where the money goes. The shoulder seam should sit on the bone, not past it. Hold it up to the light. Opacity is the thing product photography hides best. A higher price mostly buys materials and finishing, and occasionally it buys nothing at all.

If the top is the point, keep everything below it plain. From the second group, Elie Tahari's Silk Plaid Jacquard Shirt ($139) is the one that earns its place, because it works in more than one context without being restyled. The third group is smaller and deliberately narrower, tops, for the decisions you make after the main one. None of this needs the whole group. One piece from each is usually enough.

There are 20 tops here from 12 brands, $32 to $365, all in stock when this was written. We would not buy all of them, and neither should you. Felina's Organic Cotton Stretch Camisole at $32 is the low-risk way in, and Tanya Taylor's Marina Stripe Top at $365 only makes sense if this is a category you already use constantly. On a graphic tee specifically: the difference between the top and the bottom of this list is real but smaller than the price gap suggests. Nothing here is included because it is famous, and price is not used as a proxy for quality anywhere on this page. If you take one thing away: one considered purchase beats three hedged ones.