Me and summer dressing have what you might call a fractious relationship. Like a demanding toddler, it refuses to yield to my gentle encouragement and instead responds with unreasonable demands: you can’t wear cotton T-shirts, they’ll turn you into a puddle on the tube; long sleeves are too hot; short sleeves will give you sunburn; think a floaty miniskirt is cute? Just wait until a gust of wind comes along.
So, needless to say, I spend much of the summer season scanning the city streets and trawling through social media to find easy, stylish and comfortable ensembles that I can add to my “outfit ideas” folder. Back in May I wrote about the proliferation of boho skirts on the streets of London, but as we moved into high-summer, I’ve noticed another pairing that’s making its presence felt across the sartorial spectrum: the shirt and shorts.
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Now, I know this outfit formula won’t win awards for its originality, but, as Vogue’s Alice Newbold recently observed, it seems as though 2024 is the year that the summer dress died (temporarily at least), and instead was replaced with trending separates: think rara minis and “jorts”, “awkward-length” skirts and sporty Adidas shorts. Within the shorts category, the options are limitless, spanning everything from sporty and preppy to polished and grungy. The addition of the shirt speaks, perhaps, to the underwhelming nature of the British summer this year – when you don’t want to wear a heavy jacket on overcast July days, a shirt is the perfect light-layer alternative.
