In my last instalment, I wrote about style tips for travelling. This time around: great fashion finds for the beach/poolside — which I couldn’t resist discussing, seeing that summer is finally upon us! Next instalment, we will get back to work, I promise.
In the meantime, here are the beach/poolside essentials of 2011:
Anything colour block
Colour block is the most cheerful fun trend of 2011. For those of you who have not been keeping up, it is when you pair two colours together, either in a pattern, or separately. This season, the trend is two separate, very bright colours — for example, emerald green with turquoise or tangerine with raspberry. It is a bold trend, and for those of us getting a little too used to our grey/black/navy weekday staples, it’s refreshing. What better place to wear this than the beach, where fashion is a little edgier? Also, bikinis come in brights and mix and match quite often, so this is easy to find.
A healthy sunblock
Experts have been saying for years now that the chemicals in regular sunblock can be harmful. The alternative is titanium dioxide creams. Titanium dioxide is a safe mineral that sits atop your skin and protects you from the sun. La Roche Posay makes an excellent one called Anthelios ($25, Shoppers Drug Mart).
A cute Kindle cover
The Kindle is, in my opinion, the best e-reader — especially when it comes to the beach because it is not back-lit and therefore can be read even in the brightest sun. Better yet, both Kate Spade ($125, [Ed. Note: No longer available] amazon.com) and Diane Von Furstenberg have designed the cutest Kindle covers. They come with card holders inside so you can always slip the Kindle out in the evening and use it as a clutch.
A beach-ready straw bag
This season, more than any other summer I have been around for, it seems like you cannot walk into a store without being almost hit in the face by a cute straw tote. We are even seeing straw evening clutches on the shelves. This is the season to pick up a beach tote that you actually love, like this one from Aldo ($50, [Ed. Note: No longer available] aldoshoes.com).
Here’s hoping that everyone gets lots of weekends off to enjoy the summer outdoors. I have a feeling that summer 2011 will be a fashionable one!
Donna Wilson is a Toronto-based criminal defence lawyer. Her style and beauty column appears every second Wednesday.
Beach photo by Loren Sztajer