Surprisingly Sexy Summer
If you consider wrestling belts, sheathed pinky toes, crotch slits, and swollen tongues sexy, that is.
Hello there! We are in my favorite season and things are looking up in my little life (found a few part-time gigs, moved into a place with a lovely, not-evil roommate, had the best brownie sundae of my life last week) even as they crumble around us at large. Just a little reminder that this blog is run by a nonbinary anti-Zionist Jew and this is not the place for you if you do not believe in a free Palestine, the inalienable rights of immigrants no matter their “status,” expansive rights for trans people of all presentations, and so on and so on. I know that’s probably not an issue if you’ve signed up to receive my dispatches, but figured now was a good time for some light housekeeping :-)
Below are a few pieces I’ve found fascinating in recent weeks by indie designers I love, plus ten badly-photographed looks I’ve worn in the heat of the past month that I hope demonstrate that lazy dressing actually amplifies stylishness in a summer look (or maybe that’s just copium lol).
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THANK YOU for being here, and I am always available @that.esque on Instagram for sartorial scandals/situations/summons. Here is a little (big, actually, this time) preview of what’s below the paywall:
This unfortunately currently sold-out dress by Behen for 100% Silk entranced me with its drop-waist cut-out carefully tied all the way around so as to reveal just a sliver of skin and underwear. This feels like an
red carpet prediction come to fruition in street style: she is always writing about different ways to display erogenous zones using methods that eroticize instead of overexposing and rendering sexless, and this slitted drop-waist feels like a silhouette that we will see much more of in the next year. This dress would also be a PERFECT candidate for a non-virginal wedding dress as per last week’s diatribe.
This CDG piece (no longer available at The Grotesque Archive, it seems) reminded me of the Behen dress but comes across as a lot more challenging. THIS is a white dress I wouldn’t loathe seeing coming down the aisle: bride as toilet-papered house. There’s something medical about it, like a newfangled hospital gown designed for some esoteric procedure. I would wear it in a heartbeat (and think of how lovely the airflow would be on a hot day!).
…Several other styles are, including the most inspiringly abrupt and chubby boat shoes I’ve ever seen, strappy bowling-style sneakers that remind me of a post I believe
recently made about bowling shoes needing a comeback, loafers with buckles that aggressively spread over the whole vamp in a puritanical-but-pithy fashion, and more. Simona Vanth makes the best shoes I’ve ever seen again and again. If I were rich, I’d ignore the fact that they would probably re-rear all the tendons in my legs to buy them.
Another incredible young footwear brand is BHive, and the think I appreciate most about the gorgeous flats above ($443) is that they actually look like they were designed with human anatomy in mind, boasting a toe box wide enough to let the dogs breathe—a rare treat with ballet flats (note: Dear Frances isn’t really my style, but it seems that brand has also tested out this more-ergonomic shape in a few of its flats recently). The embroidery and chocolate brown background seem both versatile and outfit-perfecting, as well.
There’s something about the above mules that makes them look like they’re screaming, like someone’s swollen, inflamed tongue in a Junji Ito story about making shoes out of human faces. Brilliant.
Now, on to my outfits…