By Michelle Crowe
The famous supermodel Vogue cover is from April of 1990, but it feels like June.
Several years writing window messages and more for a specialty retailer somehow trained my brain to think not only in terms of the major spring/summer and fall/winter fashion collections, but also in-between drops like January package (resort) and trans (the transition from summer to fall), which should not be confused with pre-fall.
Karen Allen’s embroidered top from Raiders of the Lost Ark is very June. So is Harrison Ford’s utility shirt. Paramount Pictures photo.
Why would I bother to mention this oddball triviality? Well, for one, I am endlessly fascinated by how personal style, which is somewhat set, as we really know what colors we like to wear and which silhouettes are most flattering to us, evolves as we move, change jobs, and move through life. Are we set in our ways? Do we just edit down more and more until we develop a regimented series of uniforms? Well, yes and no. Certainly editing becomes more of a joy than nonsensical hoarding as we become more solid in our choices. Plus, no one will disagree that it’s one of life’s simple joys to have a few failsafe outfit combinations hanging at the ready.
Yet, somewhere along the way, between style crushes, trying to adapt slightly to workplace culture, new inspirations, and hard-to-let-go quirks may lead us interesting places.
Lauren Hutton wearing relaxed white with chunky beads equals June perfection.
For me, this includes a belief that June is the best month for wearing all white, blue-and-white, and white with touches of red. July is when we move into red, white, and blue and then August brings us aubergine, orange and turquoise—the colors of heat and sunsets.
It is said that women all over the country had copies of Elizabeth Taylor’s white chiffon dress from Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, including La Liz herself. I bet she wore it in June. MGM photo.
It’s based on nothing. No proclamation by a style oracle from long ago, no rules book of when to wear what, just a sort of picked-it-up-along-the-way approach to summer dressing. Reliving the joy that comes from the first all-white ensemble after Memorial Day weekend. Memories of the SVP of visual merchandising setting the scene for late summer, her words still dancing in my head a decade later as plan for August travel.
Christy Turlington photographed by Arthur Elgort for the December 1992 issue of Vogue. A dress like this is fab whenever, but especially joyful to wear during the spring and early summer.
These life experiences inform our choices as much as seasonal trends I think. In that spirit, some inspiration this week on June looks that will look great all summer long, but really celebrate this month with its fresh berries, blooming flowers, and long days stretched out ahead of us like we’ll never have to flip the calendar to September.
