Y2K Summer Vacation

Let’s go on a summer vacation and escape the realities of life!

I fantasize about Southwest desert road trips, European beach vacations, and what it was like to live in South Beach, Miami, in the 90’s…a lot. I imagine my way into idealic landscapes of freedom, pleasure, and the hot sun baking on tanned bodies. There is no schedule, no timetable, and zero responsibility to anything but presence. Life is pure and expressive.

I wish.

So, in this collection set, I was inspired to play with some of my ‘summer’ wardrobe, in green pieces that transport me to other realities. I’ve been wanting to push my styling skills using vibrant color as the foundation of a capsule wardrobe palette, and it was time to take a closer look at what I actually own in a summer wardrobe –because it isn’t much. Eighty percent of my wardrobe is cold-weather dominant.

Though the majority of my wardrobe also consists of subdued hues, I am lured in by the saturated and verdant Kelly meets Neon meets Watermelon greens. It takes much restraint not to give into every Simon Miller, 90’s Versace, and vintage Louis Vuitton epi-something painted in this green. The reality is, I don’t have many places to wear such pieces. I mean, maybe I could get away with some early 90’s Versace Couture jeans working at an elementary school. Probably. The kids would find the prints playful.

Maybe it’s the experience of being “playful” that I seek too?

After snapping these images, my imagination took off running about the potential of these looks. They felt like the beginnings of a character, someone who reps the epitome of Y2K Ed Hardy looks, is perhaps a try-out for “Rock of Love” with Brett Michaels, or settles into the hustle of being a social climbing Orange County, California Housewife/Mom who wants the best of everything for her kids. I just need an Escalade, square acrylic French-tipped nails, rhinestone-studded jeans, and a rhinestone flip phone complete with a hanging anime charm to complete the look. Oh, and if it’s not a CHANEL on my shoulder, it’s a fringed Chloe.

All this green got me thinking too about beachwear. My green ruffle shirt is 90’s Gianni Versace Couture (that I happened to score a few years back for a Goodwill price!), so that 90’s Miami life was on the brain. The beaded floral coverup was purchased on a trip to the Amalfi coast of Italy way back in 2012 (and has sat folded in my closet since), and the only time I’ve ever worn these 10+ year old Chloe glasses was on a boat trip on the bay-shore of Long Island. Don’t ask me why I keep all of this stuff, but never wear it. The last photo is what I really look like day to day when I’m not pretend-playing my way into a bygone era of sleezy glamour: ripped jeans, a tank, dirty feet, and my original Sam Edelman sandals from WAY BACK IN THE DAY. See @thesavoiedaily for a trip down Sam Edleman memory lane.

Because these carousels of looks always morph into a story, I started conjuring images of my O.C. Mom taking her kids on a cheerleading competition road trip to Las Vegas, Nevada. What would the camp wear, eat, see? What I would look forward to consuming on the trip if I was the mom? Certainly, you’d get a heck yes from me for a gas station coffee. There is nothing like the flavor of a burnt, I mean ‘rustic’, gas station coffee waiting for you to pour into a 16oz plastic-lined paper cup to help jolt you for another three-hour stint of driving.

Anyway, from here on out, my mind wandered further into cowgirl looks that dominate each city…how does the style of a Vegas Cowgirl differ from a Floridian Cowgirl, from a central Oregon Cowgirl, from an Atlanta Cowgirl, from a Dallas Cowgirl? …maybe this is all morphing into a series of Cowgirl studies. Who knows where this summer vacation is going to take me…

//Anyway, how would you style yourself as a Cowgirl on the road? And what would you want to eat on a cross-country road trip?

// Some beautiful photos of Miami Beach culture in the 90’s.