18 Essentials For That “Clean Girl” Look If You Have Classic Taste But Don’t Want To Work That Hard
by The Candidly Team
At this point in life, for us to care an inkling about a trend, it pretty much has to transcend the very laws of trendiness. By at least feeling like something that could/ should last forever.
Enter the rise of the “clean girl aesthetic.”
If you’re not familiar (or on TikTok), the clean girl aesthetic is marked by things like:
Glorious glass skin
Shiny, smoothed back hair
Glowy no makeup-makeup
Effortless, understated, comfortable clothes
Soft hues beaming off of perfectly glazed nails (in fact, it was our adoration of this image that inspired this entire article!)
But basically, the things that fall under the “clean girl” label are pretty much the things we all already sort of want for ourselves like 97% of the time. The crisp linen, life-has-been-good-to-us look that’s as lustworthy as it is effortless. (Even as our actual lives are chaos, and our own linens are still crumpled in the dryer at 11PM because we forgot we’d thrown them in 17 hours ago.)
Admittedly, the clean girl aesthetic tends to get associated with girl-aged women. And as with any blurring beauty trend, it risks getting roped in with unattainable levels of perfection (ahem, wealth).
But as far as an aesthetic is concerned, it actually adheres to things most synonymous with looking our loveliest decades past our 40s.
I mean, who among us doesn’t want to appear as if we just emerged from a peony-scented tub, got coated in some miracle oil, and stepped out the door in the best-fitting, most understated outfit of our lives? Hair settled for the entirety of the day. Skin practically reflecting back the sunshine.
And this look shouldn’t be reserved for those with stacks of free time (or old money) to spend on themselves.
We’re not going to pretend a natural look takes absolutely zero effort. But we will say that the clean girl aesthetic is more doable than most. It’s really all about careful, selective choices about the things that will MOST EASILY make us look/ feel like our best minimalist selves.
And we found these things - all 17 of them.
1. The Button-Down
The Bennet Buttondown Shirt by Maeve
The whole point of the clean girl aesthetic is to look effortlessly crisp and chic whilst being as comfortable as humanly possible. And no piece achieves all of this more than a classic white button-down. Throw it on over absolutely any snoozy thing, and suddenly you’re put together. Sharp. Clean. This one has two bonuses that we now require of a button-down that make it look, fit, and feel about 18x better: the most flattering spacious fit, a long back, and a side slit to make it easy to tuck or tie or leave open and layer over everything on this very list. We basically live in this button-down. See proof HERE.
Price: $98
2. The Cardigan
Quince Mongolian Cashmere Oversized Boyfriend Cardigan Sweater
We discovered this incredible dupe for Jenni Kayne’s beloved sweater, a piece that probably encapsulates the entirety of the clean girl aesthetic above any other. The fit is gorgeous, the knitting so heavenly soft and luxe, we’ve completely ignored every other sweater in our closet. It’s an incredible price for cashmere, especially considering that it’s $300 less than the near identical Jenni Kayne. It looks (and feels) glorious over everything. See one of us wearing ours tucked below.
And if you’re still not ready to make the leap, we found THIS highly impressive non-cashmere dupe for a mere $35.
Price: $140
3. The Wide-Leg Jeans
Paige Anessa Crop Wide-Leg Jeans
Listen, this is more than we’ve ever spent on jeans. But we have a reason. These are hands-down the most flattering, curve-celebrating, perfect blue, wide-leg jeans we’ve ever joyfully smoothed over our bottoms and buttoned seamlessly at our waist. When jeans spark a teary-eyed type of joy and immediately feel like the only pair we’ll ever want to wear, we’re willing to pay more. Also, did we mention they feel like bamboo pajamas they’re so soft? Oh, and they come in plus and petite.
Price: $229
4. The Minimalist Nude Sandals
Nisolo Stella Go-To Block Heel Sandal
We’re not being flowery when we say, these might be the most comfortable heeled sandals we’ve ever worn. These shoes are so gorgeous and so comfortable and so problem-solving in how they match everything that we both wrote a full homage to them and asked Nisolo for a code we could share with you to grant you this same joy of finally owning a beautiful heel we can stand wearing. They were kind enough to say yes.
Use the code CANDIDLY20 to get 20% off
Price: $170
5. The Whisper Soft Tee
Clean girls know where to get the best-fitting, softer-than-a-feather-brushing-against-a-cloud t-shirts. And this is where.
Price: $39
6. The Pink Polish
Essie Pinks Nail Polish In Ballet Slippers
So, the exact color pictured is this gel, which is only available to professionals at the moment and honestly a bit high maintenance for us. But to achieve this exact shade, we have created the perfect dupe using 3 coats of THIS color from Essie, topped with THIS for the tiniest hint of glaze.
Price: $21
7. The Leisure Pant
Spanx AirEssentials Wide Leg Pant
You know that thing we said about how nothing chic should come at the cost of comfort? Well, the clean girl rulebook kinda goes both ways on this. Nothing of comfort should come at the cost of not also being chic. And these pants are a perfect example. Why shouldn’t the lounge pants we wear to run errands have a luxe material and drapily flattering fit? This stretchy pair is perfect on curves and sizes up to 3X. But be warned; they may make you do things like purchase a smoothie that promises to instantly turn your skin dewy. Which it will, but mainly because you’re sweating the fact that you just spent $18 on a smoothie.
Price: $138
8. The Striped Tee
J. Crew Cropped Boatneck T-Shirt
An enormous hack for looking instantly up-leveled, whether wearing our everyday loose-fit jeans or literal leggings, is to throw on a striped tee. The French call it a marinière, and have made it part of their daily uniform. This one is a foolproof fashion staple that turns boring clothes into effortless, enviable outfits.
Price: $49.50
9. The White Sneaker
Dr. Scholl's Time Off Platform Sneaker
We can’t tell you when in fashion history, a pair of sleek white sneakers became a graceful staple akin to a ballet flat, but what we can tell you is that our tired, old feet are thankful. Especially for this divinely cushioned, lightweight pair from Dr. Scholl’s. At our age, we REFUSE to wear footwear that isn’t comfortable, but these? These are take-on-your-next-trip-walk-all-day-without-pain comfortable.
Price: $70
10. The Wide-Leg Trousers
Madewell The Harlow Wide-Leg Pant
We can be wearing a $10 tank and a baseball cap, throw on these pants and suddenly seem like we know exactly what we’re doing where looking chic is concerned. A casj, wide-leg pant is one of those lifetime staples. And we’ve become obsessed with this pair from Madewell, which drapes beautifully and nips the waist in such a way to be amongst the most flattering pants we own.
Price: $79.50 - $118
11. The Soft Denim Layering Piece
Z Supply All Day Knit Denim Jacket
This piece is special in that it’s something between a chambray shirt and a denim jacket and your softest sweater but the real magic is that you can wear over anything to create some camouflage for your bum/tum but still look effortlessly cool and chic.
Price: $129
12. The Easiest Midi Dress
Do we like the idea of slipping into an effortless dress that makes us feel like the most casually sophisticated version of ourselves? Yes. Do we also want to feel like we’re in our comfiest sleepwear? Also, yes. Alas, the solution. It’s from Z Supply, and the fit of their dresses has been blowing us away. This particular one is soooo easy, we struggle not to reach for it daily when the weather gets warm.
Price: $119
13. The Scent
If cool, crisp sheets swaying in a summery breeze speaks to your pinnacle sensory experience, this is the scent for you. There is no better “clean” smelling perfume in the world. Truly. Try it. You’ll see.
Price: $320
14. The Knit Hoodie
Quince Mongolian Cashmere Full-Zip Hoodie
Your live-in hoodie but make it 100% cashmere. And make it less than $100.
Price: $100
15. The Dreamy Joggers
Cozy Earth Rib-Knit Jogger Pants
If you need us, we’ll be living out the entirety of our lives in these: the hands-down must lusciously soft, flattering joggers in existence. And we got you a code for 35% off. Sooo…join us?
Use code CANDIDLY to get 35% off.
Price: $160
16. The Fitted Tee
We all need one ultra-flattering, soft, creamy, fitted tee to wear on repeat for all of our lives. Well, maybe two: white and black. And possibly gray. And heather oatmeal. And spruce. And…ok, ok we’re done.
Price: $48
17. The Handbag
Madewell The Transport Bucket Bag
The ideal classic shape. The exact size we need to lug our carefully curated collection of crap and sizable “no makeup makeup bag.”
Price: $168
18. The Miracle Product For Glowy Skin
The real key to this entire clean-girl spiel is really about clear, glowy skin. And we’ve discovered the key to that very thing in this miraculous product from Trinny London. It’s a gentle resurfacing exfoliant that’s given us the most radiant glow we’ve ever experienced. We use this as a first step in our foolproof 3-minute morning routine to get our glassiest, most gorgeous skin.
Price: $44
At The Candidly, we try a lot of stuff so you don’t have to. We only recommend things we truly love, and that we think you’ll love, too. All products are chosen independently by our creative team, and all details reflect the price and availability of products at the time of publication. If you buy something we link to, The Candidly may earn a commission.
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