Here’s an easy guideline for sandal wearers who fancy the idea of keeping their sandal collection tight, minimal and versatile. The heel height, heel style, sandal style, and colours are to your taste, although I’ll make a few suggestions along the way. 

You’ll essentially need three types of sandal, with the fourth pair duplicating the type that you’ll wear most frequently.  

1. Casual Sandals: Wear these with casual skirts, dresses, shorts, cropped pants, clamdiggers and jeans. Metallic flat sandals are a great casual addition. Nude-for-you wedges are versatile and leg lengthening for bare legs. Espadrilles, cork heels, and wooden heels are ideal. Suede gladiators fit the bill, as do flat thong sandals with heel coverage.
2. Dressy Sandals: I don’t mean “cocktail dressy”, but they have to be a step up from casual sandals. You can wear them to the office, a day wedding, the theatre, date night or a fancy restaurant. They could be black cage heels, silver wedged sling backs, bronze T-straps with stacked heels, or strappy patent stilettos. Self colour and self fabric heels tend to look dressier. 
3. Extra Fun Sandals: These sandals might be a little more edgy, fashion forward, avant-garde or retro than your usual sandal style. Perhaps they’re patterned or colour blocked. Or neon. Or studded and ankle strapped. Or high heeled and platformed. Or they’re peep toe sandal booties. Whatever feels more daring and perhaps, at first, a little out of your comfort zone. 
4. The Duplication: Establish which type of sandals you’ll wear the most frequently and purchase another pair that fits into that category. Add in a pair of casual sandals if your days are filled with casual activities. Add a pair of dressy sandals if it’s an office requirement. Or throw is another pair of sandals that scream extremely happy fun feet each time you stare down at them. 

By all means purchase many more pairs of sandals if you love wearing them and your Summers are long and hot. These guidelines are for those who are wardrobe minimalists, have short hot Summers, or are on a tight budget.  

I don’t like to wear sandals, plus our Summers in Seattle are short and seldom all that hot. And I prefer to wear closed Summer shoes and pumps for dressy occasions. This means that I have no need for sandals at all.

We shared Karen’s incomparable elegance, grace and edge with you last year when she sported some of her Autumn and holiday looks. This season we’re bringing you a series of Karen’s favourite “every day” outfits that we styled for this Spring and Summer. Over the next five weeks we’ll showcase one Karen-outfit per week. What a treat. 

At age 71, Karen is retired and leads a casual lifestyle in Seattle. So we are always looking for ways to dress outfits down with polish, sophistication and edge. So we’re kicking off the Summer outfit series with the trusty denim jacket and skirt formula. Karen loves wearing skirts, and is utterly devoted to her multiple denim jackets. 

Karen has a strict rule about knee-covering skirts and dresses, and arm covering tops. Anything with less coverage makes her feel less than fab. That’s why we rejoiced when she fitted on this linen animal printed darling from J. Crew with a decent amount of length. We matched it up with an untucked, basic white button down shirt and Gap denim jacket from several seasons ago. Sometimes Karen buttons up the jacket, and sometimes leaves it open. We further relaxed the vibe by scrunching the sleeves. And to quote Karen: “Everything looks better when you scrunch the sleeves”.

The finishing touches to the outfit are very “Karen”. Eyewear because Karen has sensitive eyes. Tortoise shell earrings  and a silver cuff because she’s an-earrings-and-bracelet lass. Flat metallic ecco sandals, a fab find, because Karen prefers dainty, lady-like and low colour contrasting footwear (always flat or low heeled). And a vintage wicker handbag that belonged to her late Mother. 

Karen thought hard about wearing nude lipstick because she prefers to see a brighter shade on her lips. I think nude lipstick looks fantastic on Karen, and encouraged it from the word go. It’s modern, natural-looking, soft and a nice way to evolve a make-up routine. So for the first time ever, Karen is sporting nude lipstick. 

This outfit is ageless, timeless, flop proof and above all, comfortable. Modern yet classic. Casual yet pulled together. Crisp yet distressed. Pretty yet spunky. It gives me great joy to see Karen sporting this look with confidence and panache because she was hesitant to wear denim jackets when we first started working together, fearing that they might not be age appropriate. Well. That thinking is history and Karen started her denim jacket collection on our first shopping trip five years ago. She still feels magical in her denim jackets and rocks them with enough verve for all of us.

Also on Karen’s Summer Style

1. Skirt and Denim Jacket (this post)
2. White Jeans, Tee and Jacket 
3. Cropped Pants and Fuchsia Flats
4. Denim Skirt and Linen Blazer
5. Cold Shoulders with Flares

Here are a few more fab Summer finds, all tried and tested by my clients. Make sure you browse through all the size and colour options. 

1. Zara Jacquard Blazer: The cut is tailored and loose at the same time. Genius. Love the shorter hemline at the back. It’s a little more orange than red in real life. Runs small. 
2. Bellefleur Polka Dot Voile Shirt: Breezy, cool and covered. It’s soft, 100% cotton and looks fab knotted at the waist. Runs large so you might need to size down. 
3. Vince Camuto Midi Tube Skirt: Comfortable, forgiving and has length. Great with a boxy untucked blouse for a de-bombshelled effect. 
4. Vince Camuto Minter Sandal: Edgy yet pretty, and with a manageable heel height. Quite comfortable. The off-white gets my top vote.
5. Vince Camuto Lilliana3 Slipper Flats: I tried on countless slipper flats across all price points this season. I finally settled on these because they are super comfy and the most fun style choice. Sparkly, patterned feet makes me smile. 
6. Suzi Chin for Maggy Boutique Front Knot Jersey Dress: This dress is surprisingly flattering in regular and plus sizes, although it had little hanger appeal. Fab with a dainty flat sandal. 
7. Vince Camuto Blouson Jersey Dress: Grecian, gorgeous, flirty and fab for a hot day. No plunging necklines or overly bare arms. Dress it up or down. Add a belt, denim jacket and sandals and you are good to go. 

When I read over this list it struck me that I had included so many Vince Camuto items. They had winners this season. 

I have prominent laughter lines around my mouth and under my cheeks. They are visible when my face is without expression. And when I laugh, my facial creases are on steroids. These lines are a natural sign of aging — I turn 42 in a few weeks. 

I started developing my laughter lines many years ago. I guess that’s because, thankfully, there is no shortage of laughter in my life. Yet as the lines became more noticeable over time, they made me feel less than fab. And as recently as three years ago at age 39, I definitely would have preferred NOT to have them. I couldn’t cover them up and they were only going to get more pronounced as I grew older.  

I asked hubby Greg what he thought of my laughter lines just before I turned 40, and what he said was instrumental to me changing the way I thought about them. He said that facial lines are inevitable and we should expect to get them as we grow older. But that they are natural and they add character to our faces.

From that moment onwards I felt very differently about my laughter lines. I thought more about their origin and what it means to have them.

Lines that are created through the habitual facial expressions of smiling and laughing can’t be bad. On the contrary, their cause cuts to the very core of daily happiness. We all love to laugh. Laughter creates a state of well being that can’t be beat. It is the shortest distance between two people. And a day without laughter is a sad one. 

I’m attracted to people who smile and laugh a lot. I can be completely captivated by a person’s smile, and find the joyful bellow of deep laughter energizing and therapeutic. If laughing causes wrinkles on our faces then so be it. Bring on the laughter and embrace the lines. Love them for being proof that you laughed throughout your life. And I’ll love you even more because of your laughter lines.