What I Wore Recently: July 2026

Wow, August is almost over and I have yet to share what I wore last month! But isn't this how summer goes? You blink and it's Labor Day. And July was a jam-packed month.

The beginning of July we were in New York State visiting colleges, the end of the month I spent a few days in Ocean City, Maryland with best friends. The middle of the month, our rising high school senior took a class with Terps Young Scholars at the University of Maryland. Having a learners but not yet a license meant I was chauffeuring there and back almost every single day of the three weeks which really cut up my days. But in between, I captured some of what I wore over July 2026:

Semi-Patriotic

For the 4th, we attended a party at our friends' house. I wanted to be patriotic but comfortable in the heat and extreme humidity. I wore the Lands' End cotton poplin dress I have been raving about all season long with Lisi Lerch earrings and Archies flip flops. Sadly, the dress is no longer available but there are still some great dresses at LE and most are also cotton and on sale. My picks:

My sunglasses are the Ray-Ban Wayfarer Ease, which are prescription. Can I just say how much I love these? I have always loved the classic yet sorta rocker vibe of the Wayfarer but I have a big head and they always looked off on me. I was a Ray-Ban 62mm aviator person for decades, but recently wandering through Lens Crafters I tried on the Ease and loved the fit.

There is a Four Eyes not far from where I live and it had 50% off frames and lenses for Memorial Day so I splurged and got them, along with a new eye check. Polarized, perfect prescription, and these never slide down my nose or feel heavy. I wish I could wear them 24/7! (Yes, I did try the frames for regular glasses and the vibe is just not the same.)

One Shirt, Three Ways

I discussed this M.M.LaFleur cotton eyelet shirt in my article about how fast fashion destroyed our concept of price and value. I wore it quite a lot in July. Above, I wore it to the mall with a now-sold out skirt from Ann Taylor, a COS straw bag (also sold out), Camper flats (read my post about Camper shoes), and I am wearing this ring and this bracelet.

I also wore it to a funeral on a rainy day. I paired it with a pair of LOFT Versa pants (the same ones that inspired this article), and on my feet are a pair of satin Tokyos from Adidas. The bag is the Aoyama 2 from Lo & Sons and a full review is coming soon!

And then this is in Ocean City; I wore the same top with these linen palazzo pants from Lands' End with again the Lo & Sons Aoyama 2 bag and then my years-old tomato patent Birkenstocks.

Breezy Maxi for a Tori Amos Concert Outdoors

In July I also had the pleasure of seeing Tori Amos in concert at Wolf Trap. Earlier in the year I saw a Threads where someone was asking what female pianists she should introduce her teen piano player to. Someone replied with Tori Amos, and that she was on tour this year. I immediately went to see if she was coming to this area and bought three tickets (me, my daughter who plays the piano, and my sister).

I wore an old COS maxi dress that I also took on my VirginVoyages cruise and wore for fancy night, and also packed for a getaway to Curaçao and wore on a random summer day in this blog post back when I was blonde. It was bought on clearance at Nordstrom, is a size Medium and I haven't worn a Medium since college, and a shockingly good buy. With it I wore my Hyer Goods Ring Bag as a crossbody, my STAUD x Birkenstock Arizonas, and a bunch of jewelry.

Weekend in OCMD

A friend has a house bayside in Ocean City, Maryland. My sister and I drove down for a long weekend of girl time together. We ended up with two gorgeous beach days, enjoyed some great food, and lots of R&R just hanging out together catching up.

I took four pieces of black swimwear: this top from Freya, this bottom from Sunsets, this top from Bare, and these shorts from Lands' End. They mix and match so if I want to sunbathe or I want to swim, or I want to kayak, or I want to take a long walk on the beach I have the gear. I actually have more pieces in my swim capsule; this is what I have:

For a swim coverup, I wore the Quince linen shirtdress. This is an XL; I wish I went with L as it's a bit too big on my 5'3″ self. But I felt covered when we headed to a beachside bar or restaurant for lunch. The hat is from Solbari, the water shoes are actually these from Puma. The bag I got at Amazon like two years ago, the backpack chair is from Nomadix.

I realized at the end of July I didn't take a lot of outfit photos; I made up for it in August and will try to share them in a more timely fashion, too!