Hiya subs. How’s it going? May is upon us!
First up, yep this one is LATE!! One of my wing women here at Stalf has just gone on maternity leave and I’m deffo still getting used to navigating my days without her (wahhhhh!) Bear with me, I’ll be back in the flow asap!
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As I sit here typing, the sun is shining (it’s 18 degrees) I’m sat looking out on my apple tree in full bloom, the lilac is popping and the wisteria around the window is budding. The garden is full of promise, full of hope. Next week is forecast sun. Last week it was all rain and a biting damp I couldn't shake off.
It’s almost felt like May 1st happened and someone up there flipped a sunny-switch. But, oho! I am no fool- I am a Brit and therefore, I know by the time I hit “publish” on this post, the bone-chilling damp will be back and you best bet I’ll be ready to talk about it.
I know we get stick for the weather chat. But right now, when I’m sat here planning my May Style Notes send out, it’s kind of the driving force. Here in the UK, the weather is never a given, never a constant. Right now, at the beginning of May, we hop from one outfit plan to the next, tweaking accordingly to accommodate the unpredictability. I can change a handful of times a day depending on how the conditions play out.
It’s not just me. My son (Jude, 6) is still infatuated with the weather app on the iPad, weeks after he discovered it. He gives me an update every morning. Loves it: “Mum! Mum! Next Wednesday it’s going to be 21! 21!”
In fact, I’d say what we’re witnessing right around now is the annual peak of the UK weather chat. We’re ever hopeful right through April and May, every year. Someone somewhere can always remember an April gone by when the temperatures soared and the rain never showed (ahem April 2020 most recently, if I remember correctly.) The sprinkle of high-teens days fuel us up in anticipation and expectation and we’re forever waiting for the warmth. We never quite give up on it, never quite give into the inevitable gloom.
But also, the smattering of sunny days this early in the year take the edge off juuuuust enough. Back in March I was FURIOUS with the temperature. I was desperate to pull out my sandles and bury my knitwear. Now… not so much. I’ve been gifted a dose of pleasantly balmy weather, a small dose, but still. This year, I’ve been poised, ready to take advantage, baring my ankles and arms with abandon, and now, on the other side of that outburst, I don’t begrudge the cooler, drizzlier days anywhere near as much.
May is the month I meet the weather where it is. I dance the dance. I play its games. The trick is to have a [mental] list of what you want to be wearing. Your ride-or-dies, your forever faves, and you build the flexibility around them. You have them in your arsenal and you pull them out when the moment’s right. Fuck it if everyone else is still in black trousers and puffa coats- when you glimpse that sunshine breaking through the clouds, I say strip off and bask! But, equally, be prepared to pull the sweater back on an hour later. Be prepared to surround your core pieces with all the relevant paraphernalia.
One thing I think it’s important to recognise when you’re accepting that you’ll be dressing for unpredictability, is that things can get a bit weird.
I read this week:
Miuccia Prada, whose nickname is Miu Miu, has been called “the master of the look of not-quite-right” by The New York Times.
I say, in May we embrace the “look of not quite right.” It’s inevitable when we go from 9 degrees with chilly breeze to full on downpour, to balmy-glass-of-wine-on-the-terrace in the matter of a day, no? Let’s mash together summer and winter, autumn and spring and make it work for us, alongside the weather.
This week, in my quest to research how to pull this vibe off, I actually typed into pinterest “weird summer outfits” (I think that tells you a lot about where I am in my head when I’m getting dressed in the morning just now.)
I have an urge of late to lean into the unpredictability of the season. Mess it up. Make it weird. Get out of the rut. Embrace the unexpected and colourful and vibrant and fresh and “not-quite-right”. I’ve got a craving, an itch that needs scratching and, as it happens, that matches up perfectly with the unpredictability of May.
Here’s my mental list of wardrobe faves made physical:
Knitted cashmere set
Jeans
Crinkle Cami
Misty Cardi
Cocoon Shorts
Sweats
Some of my most recent saves on Pinterest to help us along the way:
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