Co-Founder Saara’s UX Designer Outfit
Tabbed Sleeve Henley Blouse with Jeans and Leather Booties
Saara Kamppari-Miller is a co-founder of Closet Minimal, and a user experience designer at Intel focused on the relationship between humans and computers.
What do you do as a co-founder?
As a co-founder I take on many roles include business strategy, customer experience design, branding, marketing, and communications director. Being a co-founder is a new role for me, and is stretching me beyond my current comfort zone in a good way. I’m excited as a co-founder to build a company based on values I believe in.
What do you do as a designer at Intel?
My role as a designer has evolved from pure bread-and-butter deliverables of wireframes and flows, to being a facilitator who guides teams through fuzzy early innovation phases towards business success using human-centered design principles.
What inspired you to go minimal?
I’ve always been fond of the Scandinavian aesthetic, which tends to be simple and places value in well designed everyday objects. My journey to a minimal closet started when my co-founder Josh Zúñiga pitched me his idea for Closet Minimal. At first I was skeptical about this “personal uniforms” idea, but I was on board for simplifying people’s lives and making a reliable go-to outfit that makes people feel comfortable and confident.
I recently did a closet clean-out to bring me closer to a minimal closet, and as an experiment I bought a duplicate of my go-to shirt so I could experience how it feels to adopt a personal uniform.
How would you describe your go-to outfit?
It’s a dark navy blue polka-dot tabbed sleeve henley blouse, that I wear with jeans and leather booties. The tabbed sleeves are perfect because I always end up pushing up long sleeves, and it makes me feel like I’m always ready go build something amazing with my sleeves rolled up. I wear the blouse layered over a black wool cami, and the combo works across allI seasons. The booties make me feel like I’m wearing kick-ass boots, without having to wear full boots.
How does having go-to outfit make you feel?
It’s definitely a time saver, because I know I can reach for my go-to outfit and know I’ll be ready for any meeting I might possibly have that day. Once I’m dressed, I don’t even think about what I’m wearing all day — there’s zero fussing or maintenance needed. To get super personal here: I don’t even have to worry about sweating because the sleeves aren’t tight around my armpits unlike some other women’s cut shirts.
What’s important to you when looking for clothes?
In addition to being a co-founder and a UX designer, I’m also a new mama. That means that not only do my clothes need to work for work, but they need to work with a toddler. I need clothes that don’t need constant adjustment or make me feel self-conscious about my body. And I need clothes that I can throw in the washer and hang to dry. No ironing please, and definitely no dry cleaning.
What are some important elements of your go-to outfit?
This particular shirt gets the tabbed sleeve just right. I had a plain green tabbed sleeve henley that went into the donation pile because the sleeves would keep on slipping down and bothering me around my elbows. I regularly wear another tabbed sleeve shirt made from a different fabric, but I’m a little self-conscious that it looks like a flight attendant pattern. While I feel comfortable wearing my navy blue polka dot henley frequently, I would not feel comfortable with this pattern that draws much more attention to itself.
Did anyone inspire you when creating your style?
No one in particular, but instead an image of what I thought dressing professional meant. Growing up, I had the impression that you had to wear a button up shirt to look professional. However, I never felt completely comfortable in a button up. It felt like there would sometimes be gaps between the buttons when moving between standing and sitting, and the collar always felt wrong. My go-to henley blouse feels like a nod to the full button up blouse, but in a fit that’s infinitely more comfortable for me, and aligned with my maker mindset with the rolled up sleeves.
