Summer has arrived with a bang, bringing a heatwave, the World Cup, Wimbledon, and the end of term. It's time to have fun with Jess Cartner-Morley's secret shopping list for July, featuring high-street treasures, an upgraded white T-shirt, a perfect wedding-party handbag, and a beach towel to elevate your basket.
Marilyn Monroe Bookmark
The National Portrait Gallery's Marilyn show features images from an Allan Grant contact sheet. A leather bookmark from the exhibition costs £5, offering a sliver of glamour to tuck between the pages of a sunlounger novel.
A Beach Towel to Spread with Pride
The White Company's Tide Stripe beach towel is priced at £35. It brings a snazzy Amalfi-coast-beach-club vibe, even for back-garden sunbathing. Similar towels are available from Westwing at the same price.
New Balls Please
Anya Hindmarch offers a set of three personalised tennis balls for £35. Ideal for celebrating Wimbledon fortnight, they make a sweet and useful gift for tennis players.
A Handbag Friend for Fragile Hair
Champo's Flyaway Fix, priced at £16 at Selfridges, is a mascara wand of serum that smooths flyaway strands. It also helps finesse a slicked-back bun.
A High-Street Jacket That Looks Like Vintage Couture
Marisa Berenson x Zara collection includes a voluminous jacket for £139, a caped puffball evening jacket. Other highlights include insect place name holders (£39.99 for four) and a decorative artichoke (£9.99), with a diva-worthy feather-trim tangerine evening blouse at £119.
Everyone Will Be Wearing: A PE Teacher Jacket
The half-zip windbreaker from Free People, priced at £158, is inspired by the jacket your secondary school PE teacher wore, now a Paris fashion week trophy piece. Charli xcx wears Saint Laurent's Cassandre cropped windbreaker (£2,200, now out of stock).
Join the Dots
Mango's polka dot skirt with asymmetric hem costs £49.99. Polka dots are now cool, transitioning from Henley regatta to Hackney Wick. Polka dot slingbacks at Anthropologie (£120) are also available.
A Party Bag
The Dollis occasion bag, priced at £75, is small enough to dance with but has a drawstring closure for surprising capacity. Handmade by a small London brand in silk shades, it is retro and cute.
A White T-Shirt but Better
Cos's folded-shoulder cotton-jersey tank top costs £35. It features a classic crew neckline with slightly extended shoulders stiffened by a double layer of cotton, offering an effortless vibe with extra je ne sais quoi.
The Return of the Happy Stripe
Gap's multi stripe crop knitted vest top from £30 brings back the Happy Stripe Christmas jumpers of the early aughts as a summer racer-back tank in fine-knit cotton crochet.
