28 Tried-and-True Basics I'd Be Lost Without

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(Image credit: @allypayer)

Everyone talks about wardrobe basics so much that the word "basics" tends to lose its meaning. Trust me—I get it. I'm a very self-aware fashion editor. But there's a reason we all want to know what basics are best: They take up the majority of our wardrobes and get the most wear, so they are indeed important. And the best basics are the ones that come highly recommended via personal experience.

Speaking of personal experience, I'm here to share mine, which I hope will help you shop if you're in the market for new clothes. I'm giving some of my own unsolicited basics recommendations, as I have some new favorites I want to share (in addition to the ones I've been wearing for years). Scroll on for the jeans, tees, blazers, dresses, and more that I get so much wear out of. I'd say "I have nothing to wear" a lot if they were gone.

Next up, 9 Items I Purged From My Closet and Lived to Regret

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Allyson Payer
Senior Editor

Allyson is a senior editor for Who What Wear. She joined the company in 2014 as co-founder Katherine Power's executive assistant and over the years has written hundreds of stories for Who What Wear. Prior to her career in fashion, Allyson worked in the entertainment industry at companies such as Sony Pictures Television. Allyson is now based in Raleigh, North Carolina, and is originally from Baton Rouge, Louisiana. She holds a BFA in theater. Her path to fashion may not have been linear, but based on the number of fashion magazines she collected as a child and young adult, it was meant to be.