What Type Of Summer Are We Having?
The Beauty Of The Seasonal Era
Last summer when Charli XCX crowned June-September 2024 BRAT SUMMER, it changed my life forever. As a woman in my 30's with a half-written novel, who loves a 9PM dinner reservation and adheres to the motto 'you'll sleep when you're dead'—I can often get trapped in the narrative that despite having a full-time job, a few creative side hustles, and a very fulfilling social life, that because I'm not yet a mom, a founder or a homeowner, I am somehow light-years behind where I should be. Maybe it was Charli's long game to becoming a household name, but her declaration of BRAT and doing things your way made me pump the brakes on my own anxiety, giving me the permission I needed to beat to my own drum.
Before BRAT Summer, the only thing that comes to mind was 'Hot Girl Summer', dubbed by Megan Thee Stallion—a stretch of time in 2021 when the world had just reopened after COVID and at least in New York City, everyone was ready to burn any and all Pangaia sweatsuits they had acquired during the pandemic, throw on a pair of Versace Medusas, and paint the town red.
I've always loved the idea of differentiating different eras of our lives by whatever's in style or on the radio. There is no high like two millennials bonding over the sacred time of the Juicy Tracksuit. It's the same thing as during the early days of having a crush and you can pinpoint anything back to being a sign: you hear 'SEPTEMBER' by Earth Wind and Fire on your first date, and for the entire week before you see each other next, it is suddenly impossible to escape the song. 'It's a sign!!!!!', you text all of your girlfriends who have read the appropriate amount of Gabby Bernstein. If used in moderation, this semi-delusional behavior can be a lot of fun. I don't know about you, but we all need a little bit of joy right now.
There's been a lot of banter floating around the internet about what type of summer we are having. A few weeks ago, after Lorde's epic Washington Square Park performance, Kaitlin Phillips wrote a great piece dubbing the upcoming season 'A Lorde Summer.' As someone who has listened to '400 Lux' more times than should be legal, I immediately sent all of my white button-downs to the dry cleaner to be steamed to perfection while I wait for her new album to drop. I'm very down. Not long after this, Charli announced that BRAT summer was in fact not over and she was interested in experimenting with 'the tension of staying too long'—a state of being I think everyone has found themselves in at some point of their lives, myself very much included. Blood Orange is also releasing new music, so maybe I'll be taken back to 2016, the version of me who was walking to work in a restaurant on Mulberry Street with 'Freetown Sound' blasting through my wired headphones, in a lot of ways manifesting the version of myself I am today. And anyone with a TikTok account who's seen 'Lost In Translation' has not been able to escape Romy Mars, daughter of Sofia Coppola and the real 'West Village Girl Commentary' I'm interested in—bragging to us all in perfect harmony about the A-list actor she met and his big red car. May we all be lucky enough to have a 'Romy Mars Summer.'
Still not ready to give up Taylor's Cruel Summer? You could have a ‘Loewe Paul’s Ibiza Cosmic Summer’. I feel like I can't go anywhere or open any Substack without seeing this sunset ombre bottle. I dragged my college bestie Greg to Bergdorfs with me last Saturday to finally smell it and can confirm the fruity amber haze makes me want to put a clothesline outside of my Williamsburg apartment and hang Pucci bikinis to air-dry, just because. Delicious. There's also the possibility of a 'DS&Durga I DON'T KNOW WHAT Summer'—a few spritzes of this saffron, rosey-sandalwood musk gives you the keys to being the type of woman who needs to be tracked on FindMyFriends because you could be anywhere from Bar Hemingway in Paris with some guy you decided to pull off the bleachers of your roster for the weekend, or at your Angel Reader's office on Spring Street. Tariro Makoni has coined this baddie the ‘Elusive (International) Hot Girl.’ Who doesn’t want to bottle this energy? And lastly, I pray to GOD nobody factors anything I write in this newsletter into their financial planning, but surely we've all seen what's happening on the news. Lipsticks have proven to be recession-proof, and with that we are having a Fara Hommadi Summer! I know I won't shut up about her- but Fara and her products are the real deal. Repeat after me: 'I am $88 away from the best glow-up of my life.' PERIOD.
I'm sure by August we will all have already tried on a few different versions of Summer 2025. But I am dying to know—what type of summer are you planning to have?
It’s a hot mom summer for me 😎