Summer Pants For People Who Don't Wear Shorts
Bottoms UP ⬆️.
Hi everyone. Brimfield’s July session kicked off yesterday, and I’m tempted to hop in the car and head up for a quickie expedition after sending today’s newsletter. I’ll keep you posted in the chat if I do.
Also, some fun ATA reader news: Stefanie was chosen as the winner of our Helix mattress giveaway (her response when I wrote to her that she’d won WARMED my heart:). And Raffi chose reader Meg as the winner of our plaid Zara dress. Congrats, Meg!
ATA reader/illustrator Sophie wrote from Glasgow that she was so inspired by this image of Joshua Hale’s tiny cottage in the Cotswolds that I shared last month—“it started fizzing in my head,” she said—she went to work on her garden container where she grows pumpkin and purple peas. “It seemed like the perfect canvas for a few king snakes of my own.” Sophie! We are besotted.🐍
AND!! In the spirit of today’s missive, I’m giving away the below pair of gently worn Donni Pop Stripe Pants, a great example of a lightweight, crispy cotton bottom for someone who loathes shorts like I do. Totally perfect for beach + bedtime alike. Size medium/6-8ish. Any takers, drop a comment and we’ll choose one of you at random. (NOTE: ATA giveaways are a perk for Paid subscribers who make all the magic here possible, and for which I’m eternally grateful.)
Last bit before today’s story: Doen is having a warehouse sale…woowoo!! I’m considering this Gilded Age-vibey top and wearing it over a thin wool crewneck come fall. BTW, I’m rewatching The Gilded Age in anticipation of S4 coming this fall, as Mrs. Fish declares…
”It’s high-octane bustle-breaking!”
A long time ago, I wrote a story for my former company about my lifelong disdain for shorts, particularly in summer when baring your legs is an obvious, almost obligatory move for cooler civilized dressing.
(This was eight years ago and I wasn’t even menopausing yet…)
I’ve never not loathed shorts—shopping for them, styling them, wincing at myself suspiciously in them—and I wrote that 2018 story along w/this one a few years ago here as my annual declaration, aka: a Tiny Resistance of One, that I don’t have to expose my legs in summer if I don’t want to.
And I assure you, I do not.
Even when I’m tempted to thrift myself a stylish pair of Bermudas or RAD surf shorts—I really do love the way they look on everyone else—I know exactly how things will turn out. Me, stepping in front of the mirror, hopeful, even a tiny bit giddy, and immediately feeling the urgent need to call my therapist.
Even when I’m tempted to thrift myself a stylish pair of Bermudas or men’s surf shorts—I do really love the way they look on everyone else—I know how things will turn out.
Exposing my legs to people I know and also don’t know cuts deep. When we were little, my sister and I used to twirl. Batons! And w/this atypical choice of sport came a litany of snug bedazzled bodysuits. Adorable and also humiliating (I knew this as a 7-year-old and I know it now). The only time our legs weren’t exposed in front of strangers was in the dead of winter when we marched in holiday parades wearing tights under our costumes…sometimes with tiny fur-trimmed jackets that made us look like mini Norma Desmonds.
(I am still angry about it).
To this day I feel iffy about bathing suits, a high swingy slit, any sartorial situation where even the most remote glimpse of a thigh might manifest. I’ve found ways around it, even when it’s Dante Inferno-level hot or I need to submerge myself in waves. For example, when we swim, I’ve taken to wearing a simple black bike short over my bikini bottoms…almost like a scuba look, and let me tell you, I think I deserve a medal for this invention. It’s a summertime GAME-CHANGER that’s made getting in + out of bodies of water in public so much less stressful, particularly if you’re like me and feel residual trauma from early years of exposure or criticism (much of it self-inflicted). I tell you, just a tiny bit more coverage makes living in a summertime world a much happier place.
Simon Miller striped pants w/a little stretch and a really soft waist-band…heat-wave approved.
There are exactly zero reasons to appreciate how unnaturally hot our summers are becoming, but as w/everything here at ATA HQ, we find ever more soulful/stylish ways to thrive in the face of challenges AND appalling humidity. This sharp edit of cool pants for people who hate shorts hits the spot. And by all means, take notes from other people around your town and the cool/beautiful ways they’re navigating 99 degrees in the shade. (IE: Last week when I was running around the city working on a thrifting story for Cool Stuff NYC—coming 🔜!—I spied the author/poet David Nazario ⬇️, and asked if I could take a photo, as the cropped CDG-style pants + sports jersey are my kind of summertime uniform (likely jazzed up with a sexy sandal for kicks).
My point: Finding our own way to do/wear/express the season at hand matters. And w/everyone talking about how many summers they have left, I don’t want to waste what I have left of my own worrying about the backs of my thighs. I cherish them, they are mine, and if we prefer pants over shorts during a time in history when everyone needs to carry portable fans w/them wherever they go—so be it.
Bring the fan. Something delicious to spritz. Stay hydrated. And enjoy this little menu of extremely good summer pants whether you’re a shorts person or not. Stay cool—and let’s have some fun here… ✅✅✅ xxCb❤️
