Summer is winding down, but nobody seems particularly interested in dressing like it. With a few good weekends left before September arrives and Fashion Month takes over our collective consciousness, Black creatives are still outside and, more importantly, still getting dressed. This week’s best looks feel like a reminder that late-summer style doesn’t need a complete reinvention. Sometimes all you need is a really good pair of shorts, an oversized shirt, a questionable amount of jewelry and the confidence to make it make sense.
The jort, for one, refuses to clock out. We’re seeing it worn long, loose and almost skirt-like, paired with everything from retro polos and loafers to a knotted tee and barely-there thong sandals. It’s the kind of styling that feels pulled from several different decades at once, which is exactly why it works. Elsewhere, an ivory denim skirt gets some serious personality from lace-up wedges, stacks of bangles, a headscarf and an oversized green clutch. It’s giving somebody’s fabulous auntie on vacation circa 2003, which, to be clear, is a compliment.
The men are leaning into softness too. Wide-leg trousers, breezy linen shirts and lightweight knits are replacing the idea that summer menswear needs to be shorts and a T-shirt on repeat. A pale yellow button-down with relaxed khaki trousers and green thong sandals makes a particularly strong argument for letting your clothes breathe. Then there’s the all-white moment: a fitted long-sleeve shirt paired with an ankle-skimming, voluminous bottom that lands somewhere between resort dressing and minimalist drama. Why choose?
Color is doing some heavy lifting as well. Burgundy shoes against powder blue, a tomato-red bag, saturated stripes, grass green and buttery yellow all show up without making any of these outfits feel overly coordinated. That slight mismatch is part of the charm.
And maybe that’s the real mood as we close out summer. Nobody is dressing according to one aesthetic anymore. Preppy meets bohemian. Sport meets sexy. Masculine proportions meet feminine footwear. Vacation clothes wander onto city sidewalks. The rules have loosened, the shorts have gotten longer and the flip-flops have officially left the beach.
Summer isn’t over until we say it is. Judging by this week’s block, we’ve still got a few fits left in us.