Sounds like you need better sweat wicking fabrics!
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My key to staying cool in summer are loose-fitting linen camp shirts (they button in front). No they are not in the sleek form-fitting style now favored, but they ARE cool and are not sloppy. Sometimes ExOfficio has good shirts in this style as well.
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With fall coming around the corner, I find post ride that adding a scarf (check out youtube videos on how to tie many different scarf knots) and some jewelry make a plain outfit pop with style!
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Would love some links. I’m officially too fluffy to feel comfortable in my massive supply of sunshirts.
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My linen shirts are from L.L.Bean, but they don’t seem to have their camp shirts for sale right now. Moving into flannel season. I also cruise through Sierra Trading which is an online discount sportswear site. I also shop ebay and etsy for vintage L.L. Bean stuff, very high quality for cheap. Where I get my bargain price wool sweaters too. Even though they are tedious to hand wash, in my opinion they are superior in every other way to fleece. I’ve got sweaters that are thirty years old and still look pretty good, and no one can say that about fleece, which turns into unrecyclable garbage instead of compost, like wool does. This matters to me.
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I just purchased Gimme Hair Ties off Amazon. They may be pricy by hair tie standards, $12/12 but I can pull my hair back in a tight pony, for hours, pull out, and my hair has no crease. They also don’t tear my hair when I pull them out. I’ve been able to use them for the past few days and not need to re-style anything.
yup. I don’t tuck them in, I tie them at the waist. Loose on top, no rumples in the seat area.
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exactly – the ones that have tails, not square cut. It’s annoying to be slowly strangled by your shirt as it gets farther and farther under your behind.
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I’m late to the party but loving this thread.
I have my own barn and generally am the only one riding there, but I still like to look put together. Part of that is because I live in a very horsey area; I’m likely to run into multiple other riders on the trails, or people I know are driving by the farm, and my ring is right along the road. But also, I think looking put together is a way for me to show I take my riding seriously, even if I am only hopping over relatively baby jumps, and if I’m used to wearing all the ‘things’ then it doesn’t feel weird to don them for clinics or lessons.
I am far from the ideal body type, and often don’t tuck my shirt in when riding at home. But breeches, belt, and collared shirt Always.
I have a lot of gray and blue variety breeches (primarily Tailored Sportsmans, because I’m a HP and they have so many great shades). Tops are generally sun shirts in navy or solid colors. I’m not into busy prints. I like to have my boot socks coordinate with my tops, even if I’m the only one who knows it. I love a vest in fall/spring, and though I only wear gloves in cold weather, they are always black.
Saddle pads are all white in the summer and navy in winter, and I ride multiple horses in different colors, so there’s no good way to complement them all.
For informal hunt season, I love to pull out all the old school wool Grand Prix coats and pair with a pastel ratcatcher and coordinating stock.
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Apologies - Tried to quote, ended up replying, can’t figure out how to change it! I’m just a mess on this new layout. Oops!
Really late to the game here but wanted to second the CeraVe and CosRX products. I can find them both at Target and CeraVe at Ulta as well as Amazon. If anyone has acne issues like I’ve had I used to use products from Emme Diane (company out of Arizona). They’re great and have both tinted and non-tinted moisturizer with sunscreen that works excellent. They also have a list on their site of “approved” makeup products for those of us who struggle and I always find her to have great suggestions, even budget friendly ones. Game changer when it came to keeping my skin clear and happy.
Safe Makeup for Acne Prone Skin
If I need to go anywhere afterwards I usually wipe off my face, reapply moisturizer/sunscreen and if I need more coverage I love Mac Mineralized Skinfinish Natural powder. Dusted on with a duo fiber brush. Finish off with the E.L.F. Blue Light Setting Spray. Do I think the spray does anything for blue light? Nah. But everyone always says I look so fresh after I use it so I just keep it up. Find it at Target/Ulta/Drugstore. It’s always the last step in my makeup routine whether it’s a full face or just a light dusting of powder.
Big fan of Batiste Dry Shampoo as well. I spritz it on before I ride/sweat so it absorbs the yuck. Give an extra spritz if I need after I ride and tousle my hair, good to go. Keep a can in the car or my trunk. I find it at a discount at TJ Maxx/Marshall’s all the time. Buy the big cans. I used to think dry shampoo never worked for me until I realized I needed to be using it BEFORE I got oily. Light bulb moment there - now I spray it on my roots before bed on day old hair and wake up with no oily roots. Hence the reason I also use it before I ride/get sweaty. Allow it to soak up any oily and grossness before it happens.
I also apply a hair oil on the ends of my hair (it’s long, way past my bra). Keeps the ends from getting tangled/frizzy. I like the Olaplex hair oil, Kenra Shine Serum, Iles Serum (expensive but VERY good). The Kenra one is once again great to leave in the car/tack trunk as it comes in a pump - no spills!
I’ve gotten pretty good with a French Pin hair accessory. I find them at Target. Took me a few YouTube videos to get it right but man… talk about a polished, put together look. Plus, no creases or bumps when you take it down! If you do it on damp hair sometimes I can make it have a nice wave/curl. But only sometimes…
Also love Water Wipes. Find them at Target or Amazon. I keep them in my trunk or in the fridge/cooler bag in the warmer months to wipe down my hands and face. Love that they’re water with fruit extract with nothing yucky. I’m super acne prone so every little bit helps… Also handy for cleaning noses or anything else sensitive with the horses.
I also keep micro fiber towels everywhere. One in my car or truck, in my tack trunk, in my grooming tote. Always wipe my boots down before/after I ride and before I get into the car to leave the barn. Helps to remove the grudge and you can buff them up a little. I do try and polish my boots regularly and clean off any dirt/sweat/hair after I ride. There’s something about well polished boots that always make me feel put together. If I can wipe my boots after I get in the saddle (leave a cloth on the fence?) it always makes me feel better.
Everyone else’s comments here have been great. Love a wide waistband, belt, coordinating etc. I always ride with a hairnet to keep everything tidy and usually throw a hat on if the dry shampoo isn’t cutting it.
Another great find was Nerd Wax - which you put on the nosepiece of your glasses (sunnies or regular) so they don’t slip down your face. I’ve found it works great, especially when I’m a hot mess. One less thing I need to worry about, pushing my glasses up my face or losing them when I bend over to adjust a spur!
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I hate those artificial, “sweat wicking” fabrics. It seems they’re everywhere now. I much prefer cotton, linen, hemp or a blend of those against my skin, both in winter and summer.
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When I was riding usually I just made sure my boots weren’t too caked in mud and I maybe tucked my shirt in. Also usually went w/navy breeches for everyday stuff as I feel that’s a little more versatile than black (plus, call me weird but I don’t like the look of black boots/half chaps and black breeches. I wouldn’t like brown boots w/black breeches much either I guess but I just…am odd and don’t feel like black breeches go w/everything, I always went w/navy b/c it makes me think of dark-wash jeans). My hair was usually long enough to just throw in a ponytail.
Oh who am I kidding, I usually kept my boots totally clean and polished when humanly possible. I just have this thing where I don’t like to let dirt pile up on the boots.
No advice for situations requiring specific attire e.g. foxhunting b/c I’ve never done that.
Thirty years ago, I had a boarder with short hair who fox hunted. She put her hair up in pink sponge rollers to ride and took her helmet off in private. She shook her hair out and that was that. I’d forgotten about her.
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But where are our PICTURES?! I’m a visual learner. 
(Also, no matter what, even if I am wearing nice clothes that fit, a belt, and my hair tucked away it is my face and posture that always ruins a good photo every time! 
)
Wow, that takes some dedication!!! And room under the helmet, lol!
I remember when I had shoulder-long hair, I would French braid it and tuck the “tail” under with a thick elastic cloth, then put my helmet on. That was it.
Now that my hair in chin length, I can still take a few strands up and gather them on top of my head with an elastic. This way, when I take my helmet off, I just take off the elastic and shake my hair to avoid the dreaded “helmet hair” look.
Unless I am going to a fancy event, being comfortable while at the barn / riding is much more important than looking put together.
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Revisiting this thread and now thinking about work clothes. Nice business and business casual clothes are expensive and keeping them nice is time consuming and expensive (IMO, as a wash and wear type). I would be into capsule wardrobes if i had any fashion sense (or interest in developing one). I can do a business casual version of jeans and t-shirts fine, but struggle to expand beyond that.
Opening the floor for tips and tricks on this! Maybe i am missing something simple? Or it’s hard and expensive by nature and i just have to accept it?
I feel like work clothes are super-dependent on the job.
E.g. I’m a journalist, I work remotely, I can pretty much wear whatever most days. If I’m interviewing someone for an article it’ll usually be some flavor of jeans and a shirt that’s plain (e.g. doesn’t have a graphic or logo on it. I mean that said I have totally interviewed a source while wearing a black v-neck-but-not-plunging t-shirt, dark-wash jeans, doc marten boots and a bracelet that looks like a dragon. Oh and black nail polish. I am not super alt/edgy in fashion that is probably as edgy as I get and the bracelet is much more subtle than it sounds, from afar it’d just look like a silver-colored metal bracelet.) or a collared shirt, if I’m going to a meeting I might do jeans or I might wear something a little nicer (that kind of depends on how everyone tends to dress at the meetings, the one town where I work, people are usually a little more nicely dressed than in the other) e.g. a collared shirt n’ blazer.
I mean, my clothes aren’t “nice” in the “from an upscale store” sense (even if I had the money I don’t think the ultra-upscale type stuff would be fully to my taste). I’m late 20s and not loaded with cash, I own exactly two blazers, one from Target, one from Old Navy, I don’t know how they’d look to someone with more…er…cultured or refined tastes but no one has yet accused me of looking sloppy so presume these blazers are both sufficient. Pants are usually khaki material (not always tan/khaki colored, I have a navy blue pair that’s a “good enough” match for the navy-colored blazer and a black pair) from Old Navy, which I’ve had good luck with, have had pants like this last multiple years so while, yes, it’s cheaper and probably not what some on COTH would consider “quality” again, it works for me.
What I’d say is maybe you don’t need a full on capsule wardrobe, per se, but like, think about where you go, how people typically dress where you are, and how often you work from home/remotely (like if I’m sitting in a coffee shop and not interviewing anyone, yes I may very well be in black leggings and a pink Pokemon hoodie) versus how often you’re in environments where you need to be dressy. I have a rotation of sweaters that look good over a collared shirt, collared shirts that look good under a sweater or blazer (shirts are not 'spensive, pretty much all are from either old navy or gap outlet and one is an old Gap brand gingham patterned shirt I swiped from my mom’s closet yeeears ago b/c she never wore it and I was like, “I never see you wear this, mind if I take it?” I was working at Walmart then and just needed something to throw under this navy blue sweater I was wearing to work that winter back when Walmart still had a semblance of a dress code for cashiers. And I wouldn’t be surprised if that thing ain’t at least 10 years old.) or by themselves.
I dunno. I’m no fashionista.
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Not hard, not expensive … but it does require a bit of planning and thoughtfulness.
For inspiration, look up The Anna Edit, Audrey Coyne, Emma Hill, Christina Mychas and Alyssa Beltemp on YouTube.
The older I get, the fussier I get with fabrics. I’m in Canada. It’s cold. I hate being cold. Work wear means wool trousers, or Uniqlo ‘warm’ pants. Layer with a silk shirt (nature’s dry fit/heat gear) and a wool or cashmere sweater over top. For really formal meetings, wool comes off, blazer gets thrown on.
Natural fabrics will keep you sweat free, toasty and comfortable. They really don’t require that much more care. After your wear your wool, turn it inside out, spray down with rubbing alcohol and allow it to dry overnight. Fold and stack the next day. These natural fabrics don’t stink and really should only get washed once or twice per season. The undershirts are washed more frequently, but silk (or a cotton shirt, if you prefer) is sturdy and easily survives the delicate wash in the washer. Just don’t stick it in the dryer.
Honestly, that is my work wardrobe combo 99% of the time. Only the shades change … maybe dark chocolate pants with grey or navy sweater, instead of black pants and grey sweater
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I have a black wool peacoat that is my main winter coat when I’m not doing stuff that will get me all grungy (generally is warm enough but it wasn’t the most expensive coat ever. Have had it since prob. 2016, bought it new, London Fog from Macy’s. Today it was in the low 30s, I forgot to grab a scarf at home and forgot to do up all the buttons as I left the coffee shop so I basically had the middle button to keep the coat on buttoned and that was it and was wondering why the heck I felt so cold crossing a parking lot) and I feel like in that coat, I look ultra professional regardless of what else I’m wearing. Like I was interviewing some people at a school today and they saw me walking by the window as I headed into the building to check in at the main office and thought “I bet that’s [Forfeit]” though they’ve never seen me before, ever. So…yeah I feel like peacoats look super professional and/or they might kinda be the unofficial winter coat of journalists lol. I have straight-up joked put me in my peacoat and put a notebook in my hand and I could probably get in just about anywhere where a reporter wouldn’t be an unexpected sight.
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I misinterpreted shades as sunglasses type shades not colors type shades at first and was like, “ooh, let me see I have a pair of those half-frame type sunglasses (browline or whatever, they look like the dorky '60s glasses, but in sunglasses form and personally I don’t think they’re dorky-looking in sunglasses form) a pair of black aviators and a pair of silver-colored mirrored aviators. I am so set for multiple occasions here!” 
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