The short answer on New York City Summer Outfits: pick one anchor piece, keep the palette to two colours, and let the shoes decide how formal the whole thing reads. The pieces that work across two seasons are the mid-weights, which is where most wardrobes are thinnest. Colour dates a season faster than shape does. Repeat one element, a metal, a texture or a colour, and an outfit looks deliberate. 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: Organic Basics's Core Cut-Out Tank at $34, and fewmoda.com's Kasper Halter Top at $98. The first is the easy entry point; the second is where the money goes. Hold it up to the light. Opacity is the thing product photography hides best. The shoulder seam should sit on the bone, not past it. 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, Few Moda's Lola Linen Vest ($148) 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, coats and jackets, 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 pieces here from 15 brands, $34 to $340, all in stock when this was written. We would not buy all of them, and neither should you. Organic Basics's Core Cut-Out Tank at $34 is the low-risk way in, and L'Agence's Maven Jacket at $340 only makes sense if this is a category you already use constantly. Read as a set, they get you close to New York City Summer Outfits without any single purchase being compulsory. 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.