caps - The Seventh Sphinx

It’s times like this, throwing on a bikini top and a few other scraps of fabric and heading out the door…I know I’m going to miss summer when it’s gone.

I recently met CPL for drinks and she showed up with a cap on and her hair natural and big, escaping all over. The inspiration was immediate and irresistible. I knew right away that I’d found a new application for my hat.*

*Actually I was pleased with myself for several hours after this inspiration follow-through, and bought another hat. This hat.

A pretty horrific case of hat hair awaits me later but I’m not thinking about that now. I’m thinking I should wear hats like this all the time.

And she wears glasses. The look didn’t seem complete without them.

I picked up these navy boat shoes in a Timberland sale earlier in the summer and knew I wanted to see them with crisp white shorts. Having realized the vision, it’s hard to want to wear them with anything else. Cut-offs. Straight leg jeans, maybe. Maybe.

Interesting how certain items can become instantly paired with others in the closet and remain together, an exclusive clique, for years at a time. How easily this happens.

An anklet would be good here. Next time.

Timberland Classic Unlined boat shoes, Seafolly Neo Tribe bikini top, Paris Blues shorts (ironing would have paid dividends here but I couldn’t muster up the will to do it), thrifted tank, American Apparel braided belt, French market basket.

This is similar to the recent natural look, a slightly amped up version of my everyday look, but with the Stila liquid liptick in Beso as the star of the show (as it is also here). Cannot say enough good things about the formula and this color is sumptuous.

I’ve mentioned before wanting a baseball cap but could never quite find something that suited me. What I really like is that broken-in look that caps get when someone actually wears them a lot, curves the bill, ideally the bill gets a bit frayed, etc. I don’t care so much about the color or logos as the look; classic/vintage baseball shape, nondescript, Everyman’s cap. So, I reasoned, it would be great if some friend with too many hats anyway just gave me an old one. For years this seemed reasonable, and I left no small number of hints about how reasonable I thought it would be. I’d given up but IT FINALLY HAPPENED! A friend gave me a hat!

A baseball cap can be such a strangely feminine touch. You can throw it on with anything; dress it up a little, dress it way, way down, take it in a sporty direction, a butch direction, an editorial direction. It always adds for me (on others and on myself) an air of friendliness and approachability. It seems more likely that I would be asked for directions, randomly smiled at, that kind of thing. There’s also something inherently wholesome about them, not least because properly worn, you should be outside. [Here I run into problems because once it’s on…I can’t exactly take it off. A curly hair thing.]

I love it.

What’s a governor’s club? Who cares!

I’d also like to make a case here for the exposed, unadorned neck. A young, healthy neck is decoration enough, in so many cases, especially as in a case like this, with such a clean, abundant expanse of skin showing. It can be a shame to break up that expanse, even more so than with the wrist, for me, as there is such an appealing, intricate arrangement of bones and tendons around the clavicle and the base of the throat. [Am I losing you?] I think the play of light in these varied hollows can be stunning, as good as or better than jewels – a simple presentation of the occasionally lovely human body. Have oiled up here with some Nuxe Huile Prodigeuse (and sunblock), which is phenomenal.

Strapless sweetheart bodysuit from MotelRocks (via asos), Paris Blues shorts*, Skagen watch, Mexican bone bracelet, amber ring, Converse.

*I am into white shorts. With the cap I really wanted to wear [more casual] cut-offs but I realize I don’t have white cut-offs. Project.

And of course a baseball cap is the quintessential American accessory. Happy 4th of July.

Tag: caps

the docksiders

the baseball cap