RTW purchases

I don't buy many RTW clothes any more, but I've not felt like sewing much lately and we had a couple of days of hot weather recently and I went in the cupboard and felt I had nothing to wear, despite the cupboard being full. I also saw a maxi dress on a trailer for the new Sex and the City film and became obsessed with owning such a dress though I wasn't sure I wanted to actually make one from scratch. Especially after the latest dress disappointment. So I went in search of a cheap and cheerful version, or at least a dress I could try on to see if it looked OK on me. I didn't find the dress, but I did get four tops, a cropped cardigan and a jacket during yesterday's shopping trip.
The nautical jacket is from New Look and despite being a somewhat memorable style, when I got it home it played well with a surprising number of my existing summer skirts and trousers.
The cropped cardigan came from TK Maxx and I really like the lace knit yoke section on the back and the slightly gathered sleeve heads. This works really well with a skirt that was a bit of an orphan, drawing it into the wardrobe capsule very effectively and allowing me to bring in two of my brighter tees, which had not been getting much wear due to the lack of a decent jacket/cardigan layer.
The four knit tops all came from Matalan. The cream and the black have a lovely wide neckband that forms a slightly raised neckline at the back and the knot front has an insert that makes a slight waterfall effect at the centre front that was surprisingly flattering.
The black tee with the scoop neck has the most gorgeous ruched sleeves (I would have bought that one in other colours if they had had any suitable). The navy plain tee is actually a bit longer than I would normally wear and hits me at low hip level. As it fits tightly, it looks really nice with the cropped jacket in particular and works with skirts, trousers and jeans. The two black tops also work well with a favourite black jersey skirt, very old now, but so comfortable, and they make its rather classic, panelled shape more fashion forward.
For the first time ever, I have a summer wardrobe that is interchangeable and works for my lifestyle. And not a dress in sight. Though today I did find a dress pattern in a pile waiting for tracing, and a piece of fabric that would work well with my new cardigan, so a maxi dress isn't a total impossibility. But not today... its raining today. Who wants to make summer dresses when its raining?