What is Summer Style?

As I was slouching down University today, looking at what everyone was wearing on what is, ostensibly, the first day of summer in the city I realized I was drawing a blank on what summer style is anymore.

We have shorts I guess, but I wear those even when it’s cold. I wear jeans most of the summer. I wear a sweater if I’m somewhere chilling in the evening. So…what is summer style then? Perhaps it’s better to look at fabrics and feelings? Linen, for example, is a summer fabric. It feels summer. Thin cotton shirts feel summer. Light wash denim, sheer whispers of fabric, silk even. This is all summer. I find it all a bit silly to go through the summer style exercise every year.

This year we’re all talking about flip flops, 90’s minimal essentials, the Olsens. But this conversation we have every summer really just revolves around the same fabrics and feelings pasted on to new idols. Perhaps it’s better to just keep and collect based on these two tenets of style, as opposed to the revolving door of cuts and fits. I’m sure you want that micro short, but is it right? Is it really right for summer? Will we want it next year? I find I gravitate to the same things each summer.

Lightweight baggy shorts, light wash denim, linen, cotton, and stripes. I love sailor stripes. I, objectively speaking, own too many striped tops. But..I wear them. So what do you wear? What do you really go back to. I think it’s ok to be a little uncomfortable as well. Jeans aren’t always the best summer staple, but I love wearing them. I feel good in my jeans. Sometimes it’s just about feeling good.

Love what you wear year round and you won’t have to throw away your closet every season. Choose staples that always make you happy. Wear fabrics you like, maybe find fabrics you like if that’s not something you’ve done before. Get a sense for what you’ll return to.

And don’t forget to put on sunscreen!