0 In fashion

summer dresses, summer mindset

Young woman stood under St Annes pier Lancashire

As I type I’m sitting by the radiator, drinking my 3rd (4th?) coffee of the day, listening to intermittent hail on the window. The beautiful golden sun of last weekend didn’t last, would you believe it? I mean you probably would – this is England after all – but still.

On said sunny day I wrote an Instagram caption about us bloggers all flocking outside in pretty frocks as soon as the sun came out, whilst every sensible person flocked outside but kept their warm jacket firmly zipped up. Because #bloggerproblems and all that. It had me thinking – why do we do this? Why do we pretend it’s summer when it’s not? Why struggle to make our expressions and poses look chilled when in actual fact our teeth are chattering and we’re shivering? Why leave the house in a light jacket knowing full well that we’ll be rushing from door to door spending as little time exposed to the elements as possible? Yes us bloggers are probably sillier than most in this respect (gotta do it for the ‘gram, you know), but I’m definitely not the only girl who’s walked up and down the high street on a Saturday afternoon covered in goosebumps after overestimating the temperature by 10 degrees. We are fools in numbers.

[Sidenote: this day wasn’t that cold and I’ve sure as hell been colder on shoots in the past. But it wasn’t that warm either].

Dress & shoes: Primark | jacket: Next (old)

Obviously the retail fashion industry in general has always run several months ahead of schedule – that’s just how it works, and the way it has to be. We don’t *need* to follow suit and dress 2 months ahead of schedule though, so why do we? Why do suckers like me to buy 12 summer dresses before the end of March? Anyone who likes fashion in any way shape or form is tempted by clothes ahead of schedule, but it’s particularly tempting in summer. I don’t know about you, but I’m nowhere near as excited to bring out the winter coats as I am the summer dresses. When it comes to summer, it’s so easy to get ahead of ourselves – almost like we’re kidding ourselves, and are somehow convinced that by wearing our summer clothes we’re willing summer to materialise. You’d think we’d have learnt by now that getting our legs out does not a sunny day make, but nope.

Of course this could all be explained by the fact that summer outfits are generally more fun. The options open from ‘jeans or fleece lined 300 denier tights’ to ‘jeans or shorts or skirts or dresses or culottes or trousers or whatever the hell you want’, all without the need to hide whatever you’re wearing under an obligatory Big Coat. Yes cosy jumpers are nice but I think we can all agree winter dressing gets boring.

However, I think there’s more to it than just liking summer dresses (lovely as they are). I think it’s the summer mindset that we look forward to as much as the pretty frocks; we build up this picture of summer in our heads as the time when all the good things happen. The time for holidays, for chilling in sunny beer gardens, for spontaneous days out without freezing our tits off, for late sunny evenings outdoors with a glass of wine (or 6)… you get the picture. Summer just makes us feel a whole lot more carefree and relaxed. In theory. Reality is that the actual *properly* hot days will be few and far between, we will freeze our tits off but sit outside wrapped in a blanket regardless, disposable barbecues are surefire recipes for arguments, and suncream feels yucky. For us students the weight of exams is lifted off our shoulders, but for the majority of the population, business just continues as usual throughout the summer months. Yet we subconsciously associate shedding the layers with shedding the responsibilities. The idea of summer is what we love. That would explain why we’re so impatient to get our legs out and risk frostbite in the process, wouldn’t it?