5 Accessories of Summer
Summer is unofficially here and so too is Life’s Accessories unofficial guide for summer clothing and accessories. This list is a compilation of my favorites and a few from my writer friends, whose opinions I value when it comes to word choice AND fashion choices.
Free People Movement Shorts: I am not a shorts person. I once heard Oprah say that she’d rather wear skirts than shorts because she feels better about herself in skirts. I nodded my head in agreement as I have been known to do when Oprah speaks. As a tall person, I’ve never felt comfortable in shorts, like too much of my body is showing. Also, I don’t love my legs. And so when I was shopping in the Free People Movement store (which is surprisingly and randomly in my town) a couple of summers ago with my daughter, I was intrigued and cautiously optimistic to come across these Get Your Flirt On Shorts.
They are legitimately shorts but they give the illusion of being a skirt. Almost every time I wear them someone says to me “cute skirt” to which I enthusiastically reply “they are actually shorts” feeling confident in my chosen look. I have the FP Movement shorts in multiple colors. They are my go to hot summer day cute causal look. I wear them to exercise, to socialize and even to water my plants like I did almost every day last summer when we were in a drought.
Nina Badzin’s Denim Jacket: Writer, podcaster, friendship enthusiast and friend of mine
’s favorite summer accessory is the denim jacket. Nina is “almost embarrassed” to report that she has a dark denim jacket, several lighter ones in different lengths, two white ones in different lengths, an off-white one, and a short sleeve light denim one. Says Nina “the denim jacket, in all its forms, is THE perfect summer accessory for air conditioning in restaurants, mosquitoes at night if you’re sitting outside, or adding a layer to a dress with straps that just doesn’t feel right but you like the rest of the dress.”Nina is for sure a jacket person. I know this because she and I spoke in great detail about jackets and blazers (and friendship meet cutes!) on her podcast, Dear Nina Conversations About Friendship. She is also for sure a friendship person (as am I!) and we often speak in great detail off line on this topic. Nina was recently on NPR’s Life Kit talking about how to keep old friends. Even though Nina is a new friend of mine, she sometimes feels like an old friend, and I think of her when I wear a denim jacket or really a jacket of any kind.
Jacqueline Friedland’s Straw Clutch: USA Today and Amazon bestselling author Jacqueline Friedland’s go to summer accessory is a straw clutch. In particular, the one she purchased at Pookie & Sebastian “a million years ago.” When Jackie (her author name is Jacqueline but her friends call Jackie) told me about this straw clutch, I was flooded with memories of Pookie and Sebastian, the boutique that was always fun to visit on the Upper East Side. Jackie describes her straw clutch as “light and summery” which really is the perfect way to describe a summer bag. I mean, who wants to be bogged down with a heavy bag or heavy anything when it is hot out? I have a small straw bag that was my mom’s from the 1960s, which I wear out a lot in the summer. And now when I carry it, I will think of my mom AND Jackie.
I’ve noticed Jackie looking super put together this spring and summer while on tour for her newest book, Counting Backwards. I devoured this book in a few days when I read it this spring. I highly recommend it! In fact, I recommend all of Jackie’s books. She is a prolific writer of historical and contemporary fiction which is actually how I am thinking of the straw bag — historically in the my mom’s 1960s form and contemporarily in Jackie’s Pookie and Sebastian form.
Amy Blumenfeld’s Sunglasses: Amy Blumenfeld, also an award wining author, friend of mine and excellent journalist, reports that her go to summer accessory is a pair of sunglasses that she bought a few years ago, which she loves and wears with everything. “The rims are clear so they match any outfit and they’re the perfect size to slide on top of my hair and use as a headband,” says Amy. I love how Amy has found a multi-purpose use for her sunglasses. I have written before about my love hate relationship with headbands (spoiler alert, I love how headbands look, but they hurt my head.) Now that Amy has brought to my attention the sunglass on the head as a make shift headband, I will have to see if this may do the trick.
Look for Amy (and possibly her sunglasses) out on tour this summer talking about her new book, Such Good People which was recently named a most anticipated summer read by People Magazine! I was lucky enough to get an early ready of Such Good People, and I have to say is such a good book (written by such a good person!!) I will be in conversation with Amy for at least one of these events, and I can’t wait to talk to her (and hopefully some of you too) about her layered and endearing characters, her super engaging storyline and perhaps her sunglasses?!
Long Skirts and Dresses This early summer round up from my writer friends brings us back full circle back to my lifelong love of long skirts and long dresses. We have already established the fact that I’m tall and don’t love my legs so what better fashion device to turn to than the long skirt and long dress?! I wrote about authors in long dresses a couple of years ago postulating that perhaps the opportunity to wear a long skirt or dress is in fact why I write at all?!
Lately I’ve been into this maxi skirt from Anthropologie and pretty much all long patterned skirts from Farm Rio. I wear long skirts in the summer way more than I wear shorts (see above) as I find them to be extremely comfortable, flattering and I just feel good about myself in them. I’ve been seeing maxi skirts that can be converted into strapless dresses, and I recently received a beautiful scarf from a friend that I am told can also be worn as a long skirt/sarong. As a self proclaimed and might I say productive multitasker, I am here for all of the multi-purpose uses of summer clothing and accessories.
I am not a shorts person but am now thinking about investing in these FP shorts!
I think of you too now every time I wear a jacket. And I agree — we are somehow old friends!