Our tips and style guide to prepping your summer wardrobe
With spring just around the corner now and many of us desperate to banish thoughts of the recently-melted snow from our minds, the skittish British mindset immediately jumps from fears of cold to thoughts of the heat, and ideas of a perennially longed-for British summer. This summer, of course, the UK will be the busiest it has been in a long while, as an anticipated 1.5 million extra visitors flood the city to celebrate both the Olympic Games, based in Stratford, and the Cultural Olympiad taking place around the country.
For many of us, especially those who live in London and are justifiably terrified of how the Olympics will transform their cost of living (it has been doing so already for years), travel, commuting ease and work hours, there is the added option of making a get-away during Olympic season. Whatever your plans, when it comes to a summer wardrobe, there are some ideas already being put out by big high street names such as Next, whose latest bikinis and beachwear have been launched this month, fronted by Geri Halliwell’s new collection.
Big news this year for summer wardrobes – and swimwear in particular – is 1950s inspired push-up and sweetheart necklines. Think wired bikini tops, little frills and playful wider-shorts on the bottoms, and tropical Southern Pacific patterns, idyllic and nostalgic ideas of holidays from advertisements in the 1950s and 1960s. It’s like Mad Men on holiday. We’re really enchanted with these floral patterns and brights that are making a comeback and taking over from the more reserved Scandinavian and French styles of previous years, which have seen colour blocks, cool navies and peppermints leading the fashion charge. This summer it’s about the opposite: bright primary colours, reds and popping blues, with really cute stripes and ginghams, as well as Hawaiian patterns and birds and bees of all description livening up your bikinis, blouses and pretty summer dresses.
Tags: pretty summer dresses, summer dresses, summer dresses of 2012
