I'm Your Summer Girl

Holiday moodboard(s) for holiday mode

There’s a real snobbery around summer dressing in fashion, the story going that real fashion people don’t have the time or inclination for summer outfits (because true fashion icons only want to wear long black coats and tailoring apparently). I saw one too many tiktoks last summer preaching about how summer dressing is loved only by the basic amongst us and felt it worthy of a riposte.

Summer dressing for me is the epitome of sartorial freedom and when my personal style really thrives. It’s worth noting when I’m talking about summer dressing, I’m talking about the height of vacation dressing, dressing for the beach or long lunches on hot terraces, not dressing for the office when it hits 35 degrees in London. That’s HELL. No one likes hell. But free from the shackles of city living and practical things like the weather (is it raining? Is it cold? How cold?), I can focus solely on what speaks to me and just have fun with it. My inner hippy is free to frolic and I feel more emboldened to take risks, clash a bit and actually play dress up rather than just get dressed. I want a bit of whimsy, some colour, some drapery. I start knotting things around my ankles and wrists. I might wear a skirt as a dress or a scarf as a top. I contemplate toe rings.

Summer dressing doesn’t just invite creativity, it kind of demands it. You can’t rely on a day-in-day out formula in the same way we do in the winter (jeans, black boots, black coat, nice bag) and we’ve got to skate a fine line between ‘effortless’ and ‘bedraggled’ daily but that’s half the fun of it.

I feel like my summer holiday style has been a bit of a monolith in my wardrobe over the years, the least changing contingent as my style’s gone through ebbs, flows and a few lows. But every summer there are some fresh sartorial urges and inklings, styling bread crumbs I find myself following and ruminating on as the beach starts to feel within reach… So here’s this summer’s stream of consciousness, glimmers from inside my head and packing cubes if you will, as we head into summer.

• Gone are the days for saving metallics and sequins for Christmas party season. Mother of pearl embellishments, mini mirrors and shimmery fabrics… I’m in a magpie mood this summer. On that note, there’s two new versions of Gimaguas’ sell-out metal bag out now if you missed them last summer.

• Aladdin pants are back. I have two pairs of old Serena Bute pants I was wearing two summers ago that are still fab and Gimaguas has three colours of some sheer ones. Look for any that have a drawstring or elasticated hems.

• Sheer, sheer, sheer. Will be trying to match my underwear to the dresses/skirts/trousers as much as possible.

• A fabric corsage on a tank top and wearing with baggy jeans and flip flops.

Jelly flip flops // Body Serum // Fabric corsage // Pink embellished tank // Aladdin pants // Sun glow gel // Beaded necklace // Stripe terry set // Cooling gel cream // Animal print bikini

• Big t-shirts and small skirt. Oversized vintage tees with mini crochet skirts, tiny bloomers, knotted pareo skirts or something micro and sequin covered.