Essentials: The Summer Holiday

Here are my summer holiday essentials à la Self Service.

1. La Roche-Posay SPF 50 Anthelios sunscreen & Biafine Act to use as an aftersun
2. Sunhat / cotton scarves to create a makeshift turban!
3. Kaftan
4. COS bikini
5. Good reading material
6. Chanel Le Vernis in Orange Fizz
7. Navy Toms espadrilles
8. High waisted vintage denim shorts
9. White linen t-shirts (Jigsaw is good when your budget can't quite stretch to Isabel Marant)
10. Good company

Indispensible summer outfit
Comptoir des Cotonniers navy & white stripy dress & gladiator sandals for day. Toast polka dot flared trousers paired with a cream blouse and Chanel ballet flats for evening.

This summer’s destination

Côte d'Azur, France

Summer Essentials: The Black Bikini

 































With less than a month to go until my summer sojourn to the Côte d'Azur, my thoughts have turned to the dreaded topic of swimwear. Never an easy task, this year I have vowed to keep it chic and simple inspired by Romy Schneider's little black numbers in Deray's cult classic La Piscine. Pared with a crisp white shirt as a coverup and a battered pair of brown leather sandals, this look should see me through summer. Nothing left to do except pray for sun!

(Photo credit: tumblr)

The Essentials: White Jeans

Love them or hate them: there's nothing like a pair of white jeans to divide sartorial opinion. Once confined to the likes of a perma tanned Liz Hurley and the Euro-trash, white jeans have had a bit of a renaissance in recent months. A staple among editors during the Autumn/Winter 2012 collections, they were spotted on pretty much every member of French Vogue's fashion desk from editor-in-chief Emanuelle Alt to stylist Géraldine Saglio. Garance Doré has professed her undying love for them, and American Vogue's eternally chic Tonne Goodman is a life-long devotee. But how to wear them without looking like an extra in a Wham! video? I think the key is to pair them with something long and loose-fitting on top preferably in a dark hue (unless you're blessed with a waif like figure à la Alt). Off-white could be a more flattering and less obvious choice. But most of all steer clear of super tight drainpipes at all costs... a cropped or rolled up straight leg look is definitely the way to go.

Trans-seasonal wish list

Travelling between a warm and heady Parisian springtime and a much less clement London got me thinking about the need to master the art of trans-seasonal dressing. I've always been a winter clothes (read coats) enthusiast, finding it tiresome to shop for summer items that I spend a maximum of two weeks of the year wearing. In recent months, I have found myself less and less inclined to purchase clothes specifically for my summer holidays. I instead anticipate 'borrowing' items from my everyday autumn/winter wardrobe such as breton tops and lightweight shirts and pairing them with denim shorts and sandals (ideally this pair from 3.1 Phillip Lim) rather than with my usual staple of black jeans.

Today's constantly changing weather conditions have rendered seasonal fashion obsolete resulting in a need for more transitional clothing. Dressing for that tricky 'in-between' stage requires a mastering of loose and light layering - think jackets or a lightweight spring coat layered over a loose tee with rolled up jeans or a sweater dress paired with bare legs as demonstrated on The Sartorialist. I foresee my key investment for summer being a jacket, the ultimate trans-seasonal item. I particularly like this version from Vanessa Bruno Athé or this denim style by A.P.C.

And if you're in need of more summer wardrobe inspiration, check out Lin's series of Summer Days posts. They act as an A-Z of summer essentials!

(Photo credit: various, all from my tumblr)

Summer Essentials: The Oxford Shirt

After careful consideration I think my next purchase will be a blue Oxford Shirt. Plain, simple and the epitome of tomboy chic, it will go with everything in my wardrobe and can be dressed up or down. I'll wear mine tucked into black cigarette pants, or my Acne flares for a comfortable yet pulled together look. How do you wear yours?

(Photographs: j.lindberg via the knight cat)