What happens when you wear black all year and then summer comes along? I don’t want to be the town goth, a look better left to emo teens.
The answer is to just (duh) keep wearing black but lighten up the fabric. A breezy, black linen dress is summery when paired with a natural leather cross-body bag that will only get better the more beaten up it gets. And go hard with the self-tanner to get your limbs to the tawny state of the model in the photo above. (But please get that tan through self tanner, not, you know, the actual sun.)
Upper left: top to bottom: Tan Luxe The Butter ($50, Sephora) is a twofer that moisturizes dry skin to the point of gleaming while also building natural-looking colour. Pale is beautiful but sue me - a faux tan looks good.
Summer Fridays Shade Drops, SPF 30, $47 CAN, Sephora.com, is a light mineral sunscreen lotion with a faint tint that blends in easily into all skin tones without leaving any whiteish cast at all. It’s quite amazing. And because it’s a mineral screen that doesn’t require absorption time to offer optimal protection, you can apply it and head right out the door.
The Victoria Diva hat, $68.83, from Australian brand Wallaroo (trust the Australians when it comes to sun protection) is a crushable wonder that holds its shape (so good for packing) while its weave will leave your head cool but your face still protected from UV rays.
The tortoise frame with green lens Classic RayBan Wayfarers, $207, Sunglass Hut, adds dimension to an all-black outfit. And compared to the ever-spirallaing price of designer shades ($500 for sunglasses? Really?) they are a bargain by comparison.
Tom Cruise, three years before Top Gun sealed his status as eternal movie god.
Apropos RayBan Wayfarers (well, the black ones,) can you believe that Risky Business turns forty next year?
Vachetta natural leather starts out pale pink and warms into a caramel when exposed to the sun and just looks better with age. This Leather bag $135 CAN, from Etsy, can be worn cross-body or just as a shoulder bag and is roomy without being overly large.
The black leather Carrick slide from Banana Republic, $109.97, is sleek and low profile with only a twisted leather upper for ornamentation.
This crisp A classic, ‘close but not to close’ to the body dress in black linen looks polished for city wear floaty (yes, you can have both!) number from Max Mara Leisure, is on sale at SSense.com for $123. Go get it.