Why bother dressing up when nobody sees you anyway: that is the question I hear most from the mamas who write to me. This is the capsule for the mama who said that and did not quite believe it. Ten staples that look like money and open anyway: a cream short-sleeved knit cardigan with black trim, a black blazer, a black silk button-down, a white scoop-neck tee, cream wide-leg trousers, a black pleated midi skirt, camel shorts with a soft waist, a striped scarf, black heeled ankle boots and ivory loafers.

They make the ten outfits pictured below. The cardigan is the piece that does the most: buttoned, it is a smart top; unbuttoned from the bottom, it is a feed. The blazer opens because blazers do. The silk shirt opens three buttons. The tee lifts over a tank. Nobody may see you, but the mirror will, and I promise that counts.

1. The cream cardigan with cream trousers and boots

The cream knit cardigan with black trim buttoned over a nude clip tank, cream wide-leg trousers, black heeled ankle boots, the striped scarf. Unbutton from the bottom, lift, clip. All cream below a baby is brave; the scarf and the tank are where the day goes.

2. The black silk shirt with cream trousers and loafers

The black silk button-down over a black tank, cream trousers, ivory loafers, the scarf. Three buttons from the top. Black near the face is softened by the cream below it and the scarf beside it. The lunch outfit.

3. The blazer over the cardigan with cream trousers

The black blazer over the cream cardigan and the tank, cream trousers, black heeled boots, the scarf. Two layers that both open. This is the outfit for the day you need to look like you slept.

4. The blazer over the white tee with cream trousers

The black blazer over the white scoop tee and a tank, cream trousers, black heeled boots, the scarf. The scoop pulls down over the tank under an open blazer. The softer, everyday version of outfit three.

5. The cream cardigan with camel shorts and boots

The cream cardigan over the tank, camel shorts with an elastic waist, black heeled boots, the scarf. Shorts with boots is the late-summer-evening outfit, and the soft waist sits above a scar.

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From the capsules

The Year Round Capsule

Two hundred nursing-friendly outfits from fifty-six pieces, fifty for every season, laid out and then worn. $29 once, yours to keep.

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6. The white tee with camel shorts and loafers

The white scoop tee over a tank, camel shorts, ivory loafers, the scarf. The easiest outfit of the ten for a warm day. Pull the scoop, clip the tank, feed. Keep the dark tank under the white tee in the leaking weeks.

7. The cream cardigan with the black pleated midi

The cream cardigan over the tank, the black pleated midi skirt with an elastic waist, black heeled boots, the scarf. The christening outfit. Black below the waist hides whatever happens; cream near the face is kind to a tired one.

8. The white tee with the pleated midi and loafers

The white tee over a tank, the black pleated midi, ivory loafers, the scarf. The Saturday version of outfit seven, and the one I would walk a pram in.

9. The black silk shirt with the pleated midi and boots

The black silk shirt over a black tank, the black pleated midi, black heeled boots, the cream scarf. All black with one soft cream square near the face. The dinner-out outfit, and the most forgiving of the ten about leaks.

10. The black silk shirt with the pleated midi and loafers

The same shirt and skirt with ivory loafers. Changing the shoe is the whole difference between dinner and a Tuesday, and it costs nothing in feeding time. Three buttons, feed, buttoned again.

Ten staples, and every one of them something I would have told you a nursing mama could not wear: a silk shirt, a pleated skirt, cream trousers, heels. The clip tank under them and the buttons down the front of them are the whole reason she can. Dressing on purpose was part of how I came back to myself after each baby, and this is the closet I did it in.

Every piece here is one of the ordinary shapes in the Year Round Capsule, two hundred outfits laid out and then worn, with three pictures of you in them on the house. If cream is not your pale, First Look reads your colouring from one photo, free. And if you want someone who knows your closet to decide the loafers-or-boots each morning, that is Anah inside the Atelier.

Somebody sees you. The focus is on you, mama.