Let’s take a moment to acknowledge and thank the weather gods for the glorious heat and sunshine they have bestowed on us for a longer period of time than I can remember in the UK. Praise be! (Which is a saying that freaks me out now that I’m fully hooked into The Handmaid’s Tale TV series).
But despite utterly loving this summery spell we’ve been having, there is always something to complain about when it comes to UK weather. And for me, at the moment, it’s the sticky discomfort that comes with the apparent necessity to wear clothes. Now I am a big old fan of being naked, it’s the ultimate level of comfort right!? Nothing clings, nothing digs, nothing sticks. But unfortunately, being naked all the time just isn’t deemed socially appropriate and thus, clothes simply must be worn. As such, I have come to rely on my summer comfort staple: the playsuit. A truly versatile item that can be worn at varying locations: one might wear a work playsuit with formal detail and muted tones, or an evening playsuit that might be skimpier or more elaborate, or one might pack their holiday playsuit to fill the colour of a suitcase. Talk about multiple personalities… the playsuit has them all.
Why not just wear a dress? You may well ask. And to be honest, a dress is often less faff when going to the loo. But with a playsuit, you can get away with baggier, floatier fabric whilst still giving a hint to the figure beneath it. To get loose, comfy bagginess in a dress, you kind of need to be wearing a shift or a tunic. And these work perfectly well for many people. But for body shapes like my own, which are ever so slightly bottom heavy (big bum and virtually no boobs to speak of), these styles of dress simply accentuate this shape and remove any indication of a waist.
With a playsuit, however, it can have an elasticated waistband to suggest a slimmer figure beneath, but then a baggy top and loose short to hide the uneven body ratio. This looseness also allows airflow which is pretty critical in this sticky, humid heat… there is nothing worse than a tight skirt that ultimately leads to chaffing. No thank you. (I’m going to just insert a funny story here as it continues to make me chuckle: I recently graduated on one of these said sticky days, and decided it seemed sensible and elegant to wear a tight, below-the-knee length pencil skirt. When going for my last wee before driving up to Birmingham, I pulled my skirt up around my waist as one does to go to the loo. However, and I’m already flustered and nervous, and the bathroom has no window so is just stuffy. When I went to pull the skirt back down, it was fully stuck. My bum must have swelled in the heat and in being freed from the tightness of the skirt…. oh the elegance. And then I cried from that claustrophobia you get from being stuck in clothes, and then my mum had to rescue me from my skirt-rubber-ring, and it was all very tragic. At least I can look back and laugh now… still traumatised.)
But none of this is an issue with playsuits which just mind their own business, hanging off you and clinching slightly at the right places! And what is more, there is no fear of flashing when it comes to a playsuit- going up stairs in a floaty dress is risky business as we all know, but you can rely on a playsuit to protect your modesty. Though don’t get me wrong, playsuits can be style offences in a big way… some of them are hideous, but that fully depends on your body shape and what does/doesn’t work for you. The worst I can do is wear a playsuit that clings to the top half and is baggy on the bottom half… ohhhh I couldn’t look more like wearing a full nappy, and nobody wants that. So just choose for yourself and what works with your body shape.
Anyway, thats enough of me pushing the playsuit and its powers of comfort. Now I just want to draw referencer to the photos illustrating this piece. The playsuit and blazer are both Zara, with the straw bag from H&M. Spots on spots can be difficult, but when its done right, can be such a feature and an easy way to break past ‘fashion’ and find ‘style’. (God that sounded pretentious, I apologise). These gorgeous photos were taken by the hugely talented Craig of Alfred George Photography. Craig is just starting up his passion for portrait and lifestyle photography, but I think these are credit to his amazing talent- check him out.
Anyway, this post wasn’t much like my content recently, but I feel I’ve somewhat abandoned fashion on here and I’d like to bring it back. As always, I’d love to hear your thoughts. Also, I think that South Kensington is where I belong.
A.x
This was a collaborative post but all writing and opinions are my own