Kaia Gerber Delivers a Timeless Summer Outfit Formula in a Dreamy LBD and Ballet Flats
The simplest looks work the hardest.
The next morning you wake up this July with no idea what to wear, look no further than Kaia Gerber's timeless summer outfit formula for inspiration.
Kaia Gerber spent Friday, July 12, walking around Manhattan's SoHo neighborhood in the platonic ideal of a summer LBD and her all-time favorite ballet flats. Her black dress, Dôen's Quinn midi, features dreamy cap sleeves, a tiny tie detail at the neckline, and a comfortable ruched bodice. The flats, meanwhile, have a coordinating bow just below the toe box and the teeniest heel. They're from Repetto, a French brand Gerber turns to repeatedly for her everyday footwear.
Kaia Gerber walked around New York City's SoHo neighborhood in the definition of a chic summer outfit: a black Dôen dress and Repetto ballet flats.
Black shoes and a black dress aren't a styling combination requiring all that much effort. But as Gerber shows, they're the sort of simple pairing that just works with precisely chosen details. Her dress is classic black, but the romantic puff sleeves and ruched bodice add some visual interest. (Ditto to the slight heel on her ballet flats.) Were she wearing a cotton T-shirt dress, there might not have been the same effect. But this precise duo is part French girl headed to the pharmacy, part off-duty ballerina, all immediately worthy of smashing the "Order" button online.
Of course, a Kaia Gerber summer outfit doesn't end at an LBD and flats alone. She added in three recurring characters in her model-on-the-go uniform: oversize sunglasses, wire headphones, and a canvas tote. (As the proud founder of the Library Science book club—and a noted fan of styling her books like accessories—her bag might hail from a store like McNally Jackson.)
Gerber kept her accessories to a minimum, wearing a delicate gold chain necklace and carrying a canvas tote bag. She shielded her eyes with oversize cat-eye frames.
A lot of fashion people will tell you black ballet flats like Gerber's are "classic" or "essential." Gerber has proven it with her string of back-to-back-to-back street style sightings this week. She's proven her Repetto ballet flats' versatility by pairing them with sweatpants one day and summer's white skirt trend the next.
As for her dress, Gerber is one of the California-based brand Dôen's many celebrity fans. Dôen dresses are photographed almost as often as the celebrities themselves; Elle Fanning, Lily Aldridge, and Jennifer Lopez are a few more of their most frequent customers.
Gerber has styled the same black ballet flats with everything from white eyelet skirts and vintage T-shirts to the sweatpants and travel top seen here.
In an interview with Elle, Gerber reflected on the realization that onlookers track her everyday outfits, just like today's black dress and flats. "I remember the first time being like, 'Oh, people care what I’m wearing.' That wasn’t how I felt growing up," she said. But of course we're paying attention: Her simple-yet-effective outfit formulas are too good not to notice.
Shop Black Dresses Inspired by Kaia Gerber
