Hi People!!!!!
How’s it going? I hope you’ve had a lovely first half of your week. It has felt 12 years long for me, but that is likely because I killed off half my brain cells at Pride this weekend. (Worth it.) With my new job and my big move and all of the chaos involved, I almost forgot summer started. I was excited for it to happen (as seen in this newsletter), but then I got busy and never took a moment to really celebrate or appreciate it. Oddly enough, all of the Pride parties felt a lot like field day or dance parties at summer camp, so now I feel like the season has officially begun for me. And with summer of course comes dreams and plans for vacations, but the closer those vacations get, the more the dreaded packing process looms. I already broke down my packing process in a previous newsletter, so now I’m here to give you some inspiration. I present you with four fully packed suitcases for four different kinds of summer vacation!!!!!
I packed for you, you’re welcome
While I agree that packing can be one of the most stressful parts of a vacation, it can also be exhilarating and inspiring if you let it. You’re changing up your surroundings, giving a whole new context to your style, opening your eyes to possibilities you might not have considered in your day-to-day life. HOWEVER, you will feel like absolute dog doo doo the entire time if you completely let go of your own personal style to fully embrace your new environment, and depending on your destination, this can be very tempting. Below I will show you how to embrace your vacation vibe while still maintaining your sense of self using my own sense of style and four distinct types of vacation as examples.
First, it’s probably important for you to know how I’ve come to define my style, which is basically a list of adjectives that probably vary greatly in meaning depending on your interpretation. I’m still nailing down exactly what the top three most important ones are like Amy Smilovic does, but I know chill, classic, ironic, and fun are all up there. It would be easy to abandon each of those monikers in pursuit of perfectly matching the destination’s aesthetic, but I think I will feel more like myself and less like a costume if I blend them all together. Okay enough explaining let me just show you.
Lake trip
I know I find a way to tie almost anything back to summer camp, but the lake especially!!! gives me camp energy. It’s a laidback destination with a more outdoorsy, rugged side than resorts or beaches, and there’s a very nostalgic feel to lakes, regardless of whether you have memories associated with that specific body of water or not. I tried to capture those qualities here by leaning heavily into the chill and classic sides of my style, but I didn’t let go of my more fun and ironic side either. That would go toooooo grandpa’s cabin for me to feel like fashion. By including many clashing prints, the trendier pastel sneakers, and a quirky cowboy boot necklace, I kept the fun alive, and the more delicate sandal adds a dose of irony where needed.
Outfit formulas
(I am too lazy to type out the name of each item for these equations, so refer to numbers above)
6+4+9=Day of boating in circles around the tiny lake
Bottom half of 5+6+3=Shopping for tchotchkes in the cute little town nearby
1+3=Dinner at the mom and pop diner that is 30% grease, 70% local charm
5+7+9=S’mores by the campfire
1+10=Grocery store trip for more s’mores supplies
Top half of 5+4+3=Lunch at the nearest dock restaurant when you’re tired of turkey sandwiches
*Pair 2,8, and/or 11 with any of the above for a little extra pizazz*
Fancy beach trip
Our next destination is one of those fancy beaches where everyone around you is sophisticated, beautiful, and dressed to the nines in the latest designer collections (think French Riviera or Amalfi Coast). It’s vacation, so I still want to have fun with my style and fit into the glitz and glamor of my surroundings, but it’s simply not me to be so dressed up all the time. I have to have that chill element in order to not feel like a caricature of myself. That’s where the chill flat sandals, oversized button down, boxer shorts, and earthy color palette come in. Now I feel fancy enough to hang with the scene without looking like I just packed Dolce & Gabbana’s entire resort collection (looking at you Sutton Stracke).
Outfit formulas
11+9+5+8=Day at the beach club spying on celebs
1+5+10+9=Trying not to vom during your sail around the coast
11 tied as a top+7+2+6+3=Dinner that costs more than a month of my rent
4+9+3+11 as a headscarf=Trying not to spend your life’s savings in the boutiques
1+10+6+8=Lunch with the cute guy in the villa next door
4+6+2+3=The wedding that was your whole reason for this extravaganza
Party beach trip
Now for the slightly more accessible beach trip i.e. the spring break or bachelorette style boozefests the gulf coast is known for. Depending on your budget, Cancun, Miami, or Ibiza could also fall into this category, but it’s really more about the mood of the group than the destination. If your friends are packing 50 shades of sequins, this one could apply to you. While it might be less expensive than the sophisticated shores of St. Tropez (and there are definitely these party squads there too), I actually find the style part harder because it’s generally a less fashion-forward crowd. And I could just go with the group and pack 10 of my tightest bodycon dresses, but I would look back on the photos in horror. (Well I might do that either way, but at least it won’t be about my outfit.) The fun part of the wardrobe is a given for this type of trip, so making sure to incorporate chill classics and a little bit of irony is key. A simple white, terry-cloth bikini, a looser fitting pair of jean shorts, and going for a color-blocked look instead of bold prints or overdoing it on shine bring this whole thing down a few notches, while the childlike smiley faces are a little ironic in this particularly adult environment. The shoe choices are also very intentional here. The giant yellow platforms are still very fun and over the top yet somehow more relaxed than a stiletto, and the Sabah flats are much more refined than a flip flop. Balance people, balance!!!!
Outfit formulas
2+11+8+4=Dinner the first night while morale is still high
6+7+10+9=Morning by the pool, calm before the store
6+2+8=Hanging by the pool, but now you want free drinks
11+7+8+4=The day party to end all day parties
5+7+10=Hungover and desperately seeking electrolytes
2+5+8=The one brunch you didn’t sleep through
*1 and 3 to be worn at all times*
City trip
Since I currently live in a big city that I used to consider a vacation destination, it would be easy for me to just get dressed as usual for a city trip, but that certainly takes the specialness out of vacation style. Of course each city has it’s own particular vibe you can lean into while packing (I think I was picturing Madrid while designing this collage), but I find that irony is most useful in making your usual city dressing feel like it’s taking a vacation with you. A seashell tee would be too on the nose for a tropical locale, but it’s perfect for the city. Mixing softer, more romantic styles like the white Tove top and blue Mango skirt (much cuter on the model, I swear) in with more modern, urban staples brings that relaxed vacation feeling to every look. You might still be an anxious mess in all the hustle and bustle of a new city, but at least your outfit won’t show it.
Outfit formulas
2+11+3+10=Hitting the museums so you can feel cultured when you return
7+6+9+4=Dinner with your friends who live there that you’re ever so slightly jealous of
1+bottom half of 7+3=Biking tour where you miss all the landmarks because you were too busy trying not to get hit by a car
5+1+9+10=Souvenir run to knock a few people off your Christmas list 6 months early
2+5+9+4=The dinner reservations you had to make 6 months in advance
11+top half of 7+10+3=Strolls through the park romanticizing every stranger you see
*wear 8 at all times and 6 any time you feel the slightest breeze*
All of these capsule wardrobes were tailored to my personal style, but I think it would be relatively simple for you to do the same. Once you figure out your style adjectives, all of your outfits can be evaluated through that lens. Next time you pack for a vacation, try making sure that each word has at least one item that matches it, and hopefully you won’t look back on your vacation photos and wonder who the hell put that outfit together. If you need more help packing, feel free to reply to this email, shoot me a DM, or comment your question on this post!
My questions for you
What was your most memorable vacation outfit? Where did you wear it? Was it memorable in a good way or a bad way? Please describe it to me in the comment section. Also, if you know a good but cheap bagel place in downtown Manhattan that would be very helpful!!!
Recs of the week
A worthy addition to any of the suitcases above would be the Djerf Avenue Breezy Set. I have it in the blue stripe and the black version, and they’re just the perfect base to my summer wardrobe.
This Kindle - I still prefer a real life book (mostly for hoarding purposes), but I simply do not have room in my apartment and I don’t trust myself to not rack up absurd amounts of late fees from the library.
I’ve probably recommended this many many times already, but Malcom Gladwell’s podcast Revisionist History just started it’s sixth season so it’s worth repeating. I would listen to Malcom Gladwell talk about the chemical processes of paint drying.
Bevita breakfast biscuits - I completely forgot they existed until I stumbled upon them at Target, and now I can’t stop eating them.
Thank you so much for reading this week’s newsletter!!! As always, I’m all ears for any questions, concerns, feedback, adoring praise, etc. Enjoy your long weekend, and I’ll see you back here sometime next week, byeeeee!!!!!
Cheers,
Maddy