#115: How to be devastatingly hot and cool, July 2026

High summer, peak summer! You will want to open this!

Posse cami and skirt, Savette macramé pouch, Tory Burch sandals, LORE Sublimity perfume, Heaven Mayhem earrings, Lido bikini

It’s around now that every other Instagram reel and TikTok video is set to the audio of Lana Del Rey cooing, "Hot summer nights, mid-July, when you and I were forever wiiiiild." Mid-July is the emotional peak of summer and it’s the most perfect time to be devastatingly hot and cool. We’re embodying and we’re living.

This month, I’ve reworked my definition of what it means to be devastatingly hot and cool. It’s become my most-engaged-with series!, so I want to reiterate that being devastatingly hot and cool (DHC) is less about physical appearance than it is a way of thinking and moving through the world. It has nothing to do with your job, race, gender, or socioeconomic status. It’s about being curious. Remaining a lifelong learner. Cultivating your own taste. Feeling deeply secure in what you love and who you are. And as a result, that kind of self-possession is what makes someone magnetic, devastatingly hot, and cool.

Being devastatingly hot and cool looks like:

• Curating your life for the love of beauty, fashion, art, food, travel, and knowledge—not because they’re status symbols, but because they genuinely delight you

• Becoming the person your friends go to when they want outfit help, product recommendations, a restaurant recommendation, a book, or simply to know what’s worth paying attention to

• Living with a foot in various corners of the world (literally or figuratively), staying curious about people and places, and collecting observations instead of consuming places

• Moving through life with quiet confidence. You don’t need to have everything figured out, but you trust yourself enough to know you’ll figure it out

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Now back to July's issue of How to Be Devastatingly Hot and Cool. It finds us in peak summer magic, when the workweek is more or less four days long and the haze of the heat lulls us into a slow and sweet rhythm. The produce at the farmer's market is abundant, and the stone fruit is as sweet as honey. Dinners call for a chilled red, and you might even have a glass of white wine at lunch. You keep a book in your bag at all times because you never know when you'll stumble into an unexpected hour of idleness. Perfume settles into your skin as it mingles with the humidity. You let your body do the talking, and I'll let you decide what that means for you.

Whether you're staying in your city, taking local trips, or doing the whole Euro summer thing, here’s my guide on how to be devastatingly hot and cool for the second half of summer.

FASHION

• Color, color, color! The DHC girl never shies away from wearing color in the summer. If head-to-toe color isn't your thing, let your shoes, bag, or other accessories do the work.

  • Summer travels are a great time to pick up bags from a local market, boutique, or flea market. All the better if they’re made artistically with local textiles and fabrics. They make for the best throw-on accessories to complement your easy summer outfits.

  • Chan Luu’s embellished market totes get better by the season, Cordera’s understated and surprisingly seasonless beaded bags have been restocked and ready for preorder, the Jimmy Choo Cinch bag has been reimagined in raffia and candy beads! I also think Dries has really good clutches for adding a pop of whimsical color and sparkle to your wardrobe. They look otherworldly in the best way possible.

  • These Tory Burch sandals are one part anklet, one part shoe. These embellished corded sandals on Revolve are great, and if you have smaller feet, the Éliou collab ones are even better, this purple is everywhere and you need it on your feet.

• I know I just said color, color, color, but now I’m saying white!!! In all its high-summer forms: sheer, opaque, breezy, short, embroidered, open-knit, and everything in between. Whites fit into your wardrobe seamlessly and something white can always be thrown in your bag for endless layering opportunities on the go.