Volume 4: Issue 7: July 2025
“Live in the sunshine. Swim in the sea. Drink in the wild air.” -Ralph Waldo Emerson
Seasonal Notes
Summer Essentials
A Tote
Totes are trending, they are a perfect summer accessories. Hold all of your summer necessities including books, sunscreen, and hats.
From Elle: The New Must-Have It Bag? A Tote That Holds a Book (and Little Else)

From Vogue: The Ultimate Sign of Summer: A Fresh Bounty of Market Totes
From Country Living: The Best Summer Beach Totes on Amazon Start at $13

From GQ: The Best Tote Bags for Men Are Happy to Share the Load
Things to pack in your tote:
Flip Flops
From Elle: The Summer Shoe Trend You’ll Want to Pack for Every Vacation. “Nothing beats a flip-flop that has withstood the test of time. You can never go wrong with tried-and-true styles by Tkees or a beloved Tory Burch flip-flop.”


From Vogue: 24 Best Flip-Flops—From Pool-Ready to Platform Styles
From TZR: The 3 Y2K Sandal Styles Taking Over This Season (platform flip-flops)

A Hat
From Travel & Leisure: The 11 Best Packable Sun Hats of 2025, Tested and Reviewed
For men:
From Fashionbeans: A Complete Guide To Spring-Summer Hat Styles
Sunglasses
From Who What Wear: Jackie O Shades and Matrix Lenses: The Only Sunglasses That Matter in 2025 Look Like This
From InStyle: Sunglasses are Having a Main Character Moment—7 Styles to Shop and Wear in 2025
Men:
From Travel & Leisure: The 10 Best Sunglasses for Men, Tested and Reviewed
From Esquire: Our 4 Favourite Sunglasses Trends for 2025
A Book
Sit outside, or inside (with AC), and read a book. Carry one in your tote.
From the New York Times: The Summer’s Best Beach Reads

Try a summer reading challenge:
Bookshop.org – This summer, Bookshop.org and Gretchen Rubin are challenging you to a 30-day reading sprint. Pledge to read every day from July 15 – August 13, and you could win amazing prizes!
Boston Public Library – Summer Reading for all ages takes place June 1 through August 31! Pick up a bingo card in person at any BPL location or download one online.
Sunscreen
From Rank & Style: Top 10 Body Sunscreens
A Disposable Camera
From Wirecutter: The Best Disposable Cameras. Take your pictures the old school way with a disposable camera. “Disposable (or single-use) cameras create a mysterious kind of fun that many people rarely get to have these days. Simply look through a hole to make sure that what you want in the photo is there, press a button with a satisfying click, wind a wheel to ready the camera for the next picture, and that’s it.”
Notes on Fashion
Trends
From PureWow: From Sardines to Line Dancing, These Are the 6 Biggest Trends of Summer 2025
From Elle: Fashion Has Officially Entered Cute Overload

A Labubu makes a cameo at Paris Men’s Fashion Week.
From Elle: Add a Polished Twist to Summer Looks With These Anklets
From Fashionista: The 6 Handbag Trends We’re Shopping This Summer
From the sea:
From People: Get Your Claws on Summer’s Surprising Trend — Lobster Styles from Nautica, Kate Spade, and More Start at $13

From Refinery 29: Sardine Girl Summer Is Here — How To Style The Fishy Aesthetic
From TZR: Sardine Girl Summer Is The Internet’s Newest Obsession
Notes on Watching
Wimbledon wraps up on July 13th. Schedule. Watch on ABC, ESPN, and Hulu. Wear white like the players: read last month’s newsletter
Weekly series that are coming to a close in July, or have just wrapped up.
- Squid Games (series finale on Netflix)
- Duster (on Max)
- Nine Perfect Strangers (on Hulu)
- Poker Face (season finale on July 10th on Peacock)
- Murderbot (season finale on July 11th on Apple TV+)
- Stick (season finale on July 23rd on Apple TV+)
Movies In Theaters
Visit Fandango to see all the movies in theaters. See the full list of 2025 releases: https://www.firstshowing.net/schedule2025/
Read AP: Summer Movie Guide 2025: Here’s what’s coming to theaters and streaming from May to August
See more lists of new, returning, and noteworthy movies and series to stream in my new post: Notes on Watching Streaming – July
Notes on Shopping
Amazon Prime Day Sale is July 8 – 11
From CNN: Skip Amazon Prime Day and shop 116 of the best competing sales instead

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