Elizabeth Suzann Marlena Dress in raw silk (gift from Elizabeth Suzann to review) | medium – year old
Birkenstock Birko-flor sandals
James Perse mini canvas tote
Summer is frustrating. For many reasons. But we’ll just focus on the heat right now, and the wardrobe issues it creates.
It’s up in the high 90’s here pretty consistently now; too hot to wear just about anything. Over the years living in Texas, and dealing with the heat, I think I’ve determined that in these temperatures, it doesn’t really matter much what you wear, you’re going to be hot and sweaty. Still – I’m not crazy about wearing pants or sleeves when it’s this hot. And no way am I wearing anything but sandals.
Thank goodness I don’t have to spend a lot of time outside if I don’t want to; I can go from the car, inside, and back again without too much suffering. But it can be shocking when you do go outside, how the heat just hits you.
Anyway, during the summer months, I have to wash things more often, because they get sweaty and smelly faster. Especially with natural deodorants, I’ve found. The new Osmia organic deo I’ve been wearing recently is particularly bad, I think it makes me sweat even MORE at first, which is sort of gross and uncomfortable. I’m going back to my stick Meow Meow Tweet thank you very much.
I do also prefer sleeves, even short sleeves, so I don’t have to carry around layers for going inside. If my shoulders are covered, I seem to be okay, whether my sleeves are long or not.
This is all just a very long-winded way to say that I’ve not worn this dress much at all this year. I still love it, and find it really easy and comfortable to wear, but it’s not something I’ll just pull out to wear on a regular basis. It’s not fancy (although it can be), so I don’t know why I wouldn’t, which is why I chose to wear it yesterday instead of the Oak Dress I’ve been wearing nonstop the last few days. All I did was run around buying groceries to replenish the fridge after being gone a week, got the car washed, some office supplies, the post office. I was comfortable and glad I wore it.
FYI, I wash all my raw silk with The Laundress delicates detergent and hang it to dry with great success. I’ve not used the dry cleaner for many, many years. Raw silk is very sturdy IMO, as well as feeling luxurious and easy. I like it almost as much as linen, and better than silk crepe.
And I cannot get enough of this James Perse tote for summer, although I got really frustrated yesterday not being able to find my lip gloss and key at the bottom (I hadn’t cleaned it out from all the detritus leftover from vacation). Thank goodness for the serendipity of Elaine’s blog this morning, where I read about the new tote organizer she loves. Which I promptly ordered.
What do you wear when it’s hot? Do you carry layers with you? Do you have to spend a lot of time outside? or do you just go back and forth from car to store to office to home?
Ha! I wore my Vera dress yesterday (older version of the Marlena midi) with Birkenstocks. I love it (and my shorter Marlena dress, and both Marlena tops). And yes, I do carry layers with me almost year round. It’s in the 90’s here and the office A/C is full blast.
I’ve been admiring the Marlena dress for a while, but I’ve been wondering: if you turn around the V neck to the back, does the bra band show? I would just want to be able to take that into consideration before ordering. Thanks ?
Oops my smiley face got turned into a ?. That isn’t intended as a passive-aggressive Valley girl “thanks”!
I almost always wear the V in the back and my bra doesn’t show!
it depends on the bra for me…it’s quite low cut on me, so i have to wear a very low coverage bralette with it, or show a little lace, which i don’t really mind anyway. but honestly, with most of my minimal bras, nothing shows no matter how i wear it…
Summer in NC – ah, the humidity 😉 It’s been particularly icky the past week with heat indices over 120 many days. And yet I still hang out outside (at home, on the weekends & after work – not worried about clothing! Just gardening etc)
For work – it’s all knit dresses & sandals for me! My PF is acting up in my left foot again so it’s mostly my birkenstocks, though it’s tolerating my Taos today (that YOU found for me years ago when I sent you a “I’m looking for” email – I kept two pairs of shoes you recommended and still wear them all the time!
Anyway, today I have a linen knit dress on and a cotton scarf because the neckline is sort of low for work so I wanted to fill it in a little. Also have a cardigan if I get really cold, but we keep our office a little warmer. Our bathrooms are frigid though!
I’m wearing my Oak dress tomorrow 🙂
Grechen, I just wanted to say “Happy Vacation”. Glad you went off line even though I missed you badly! I love you in that dress and thanks for the info., e.g, raw silk
Haven’t heard about you wearing your Sunja Link dress this summer…it has sleeves! Summer only arrived here this week. Seriously. Cold, thunderstorms and floods this year. I’ve never been so happy to wear a sundress.
As I read your sentence about not being able to find things inside your James Perse bag, I was thinking “ooh I should let her know about my favorite bag organizer.” And then I saw your next sentence and was so glad you’re trying it out! Lol, thanks for the shoutout 😀
Welcome home! I love this dress! We don’t get as high temps here but we deal with high humidity at this time of the year. I wear more dresses or jumpsuits, very loose/oversized. I still wear a ton of black but it’s fine if it’s not fitted to my body and is a good natural fabric (line, hemp, etc). I do wear the occasional EF jersey dress with 3/4 sleeves and more fitted on top if I need to wear business attire but it’s fine for the quick walks outside (my office is very air conditioned). While I might wear a bootie, or covered shoe in the office, I walk to/from my car in a good arch support flip flop (an Abeo or Mephisto Helen). I leave a stash of shoes in the office to change in and out of. I’ve been feeling less comfortable in sleeveless lately due to my out of shape old lady arms but I still do sleeveless maybe half the week (always covered up with a sweater or scarf at work – also have a supply that stays at the office).
I love that Marlena dress! It’s definitely on my long term ES wishlist. I just ordered black silk Florence pants from her, but they haven’t arrived yet. It’s been a very hot summer where I live, and I’m about to give up on natural deoderant for a month or so, it’s just not enjoyable to sweat and feel smelly when you are at work during the week. Have you tried on any of the EF jumpsuits? I’m tempted by their cropped wide leg jumpsuit.