Five Summer Styles To Wear--And Five Not To

By Karen and Erica

Memorial Day has come and gone, so now it is summer, officially if not meteorologically. We get to shed the heavy layers and come up for air. Here are some of the things we are thinking about wearing.

• First, white. When it is sunny and hot, white for everything. Long linen dresses, slouchy pants, flowy tops. Sneakers—the slip-on version. Silk scarves if we are planning a Thelma and Louise ride in a borrowed convertible.

• Second, neon. You can’t wear white every day, and summer cries out for brilliant color to go with bright blue skies and sparkly aquamarine waters and emerald green lawns. And sunbaked concrete. We know not everyone wants to wear neon, though, so the other alternative is sherbet. Mint. Pink. Tangerine.

• Third, hats. We are amazed how few people wear hats. You know you don’t want to get burned, and hats are, we think, the best way to sun block. Big ones cover the area. And they are sooooo cool.

• Fourth, sandals. We love having our toes out and wiggling. We like flat or low sandals. And we love them festooned with jewels.

• Fifth. Sunglasses, of course. Use them as you would jewelry, to set off your favorite colors. Try white with bright blue lenses.

But we say no to some things.

• On a hot day, shorts are fine. Elegant shorts, obviously, preferably linen, preferably white. But bike shorts? No. We have never seen anyone—anyone—who looks good in bike shorts. (Well, supermodels look great in anything but they don’t need our advice.) Yes, we wear them to the gym but the gym is within a cone of invisibility. What goes on in the gym stays in the gym.

• Puffy sleeves. We have never seen anyone look good in puffy sleeves, either. We suspect they were designed by the patriarchy to make us look silly. So while they may seem air-conditioned, they are off the list.

• Tight black anything.

• Stockings with sandals. Or socks with sandals.

• Anything combining too many ideas. We recently saw a dress, by a designer we love, that had ruffles around the neck and down the front, and around the cutout shoulders, and at the end of puffy sleeves emerging below the cutout shoulders. And a print design to add to the confusion. Could not have been uglier.

Summer is for simple.