I'm Prioritizing Trendy Basics—These H&M Arrivals Look Promising

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(Image credit: @hm)

The introvert within me is screaming. I've been going out more than ever, and it's actually been fun. It's not unusual for my weekend plans to fizzle out into ordering ramen and watching whatever my Netflix suggests, but this time, I'm not the flaky friend. Accordingly, I need my wardrobe to match. It feels like a waste to commit to expensive trendy pieces (because who knows how long this phase will last), so affordable, trend-forward basics seem to be the most obvious answer. I can incorporate them into my weekly work attire, but when Saturday night calls for a cute outfit suitable enough for drinks, a trendy basic can be gussied up a bit for extra flair.

H&M always delivers on the affordable-trend front, so naturally, it was the first place I landed during my search. And the retailer was stocked with everything I was looking for, from croc-embossed knee boots to tweed jackets that elicit French girl style fantasies. Ahead, see the most promising new arrivals making their way into my closet. 

Up next: Nordstrom Dropped a Sale, and I Scanned Through the Whole Thing—These Buys Are It

Fashion Market Editor

Indya Brown is a fashion editor, stylist, and writer living in Los Angeles. While going to school at Columbia University in New York City, she got her feet wet in the fashion industry interning at Elle magazine, Harper's Bazaar, and New York magazine's The Cut. After graduating in 2016, she joined The Cut as a fashion assistant, eventually working her way up to fashion editor. There, she worked on a multitude of projects, including styling inbook feature stories for New York magazine's print issue, writing and pitching market stories for The Cut, and serving as fashion lead for The Cut's branded content. While New York has been her home for over 10 years, she moved to Los Angeles in the midst of the pandemic in 2020 for a new chapter. Now she is a fashion market editor forBest Knockoff Luxury Clothing , focusing on emerging designers, rising trends on and off the internet, interior design, and BIPOC creatives and brands. Aside from her duties as a fashion market editor, Brown is also a freelance stylist and writer, working on national print and video commercial campaigns for Sephora, The Independent, and Cadillac. Her bylines also include Harper's Bazaar, Vox, and The New York Times. But once the computer goes down and the emails turn off, she's likely eating her way through Koreatown, hunting down vintage furniture, scoping out new outrageous nail designs to try, or taking a hot cycling class.