I don’t quite know where the time goes anymore. It feels like we were just starting our summer and now it’s already halfway over. Can we just hang out in the sunlight a little longer, please? I’m definitely a summer baby, and have been enjoying the longer days and the warm breezes. Even if they sometimes stink of garbage — hey, that’s just New York for you.

I’ve had the striped t-shirt for a long time, but the gingham one was a new piece for me this summer. When I was organizing my closet these two ended up on top of a pile together, and I thought “why not?” Now everyone always says stripes and plaid shouldn’t go together, but I disagree. Playing off the scale of each is how you can mix and match without looking like a mad hatter. While we’re all free to dress as we please, with patterns the rule is generally one is larger and the other is smaller in scale. Here, the tiny gingham blends into the background as the stronger stripes stand out crisply.

The jorts started out life as a pair of jeans that didn’t quite fit. They were turned into a pair of more sensibly cuffed shorts, but I didn’t quite care for that incarnation. These are rigid denim, so they are a bit stiffer and the cuff made it feel too constricted. A pair of kitchen shears turned these from dowdy to my summer staple.

I’m currently on the hunt for a new black baseball hat. I searched long and hard for this one, in a classic shape without anything cluttering the front up, but the felted wool construction is a bit warm in summer months. But sometimes that bedhead just can’t be tamed. Paired with these retro inspired sunglasses from Arnette, and I’m pretty sure nobody will mind.

j lindeberg shirt / H&M striped t / Levis jorts / Arnette Sunglasses / H&M hat / Roos sneakers

Photos courtesy Kristin Booker