If last week’s dispatch posited that the summer dressing vibe is surf beach for a metropolis, call this a tribute post to the first target area (tops). Here, halters and bodysuits (often née bathing suits) run wild, free and a la galore.
What makes a good one and how to wear them below —
Bodysuits
Are practically bathing suits, and vice versa. But while not all bodysuits will snap at the crotch (thus making a bathroom visit more seamless), you can rest assured NO bathing suit will do this. Which means they’re less amenable to your bathroom dalliances, and that if and when you have to go, you’ll probably want to sideline it. Personally fine with it but not everyone is. Mentioning this only in the interest of disclosure.
But anyway —

Why the bodysuit, why now? It’s a perfect storm that has something to do with:
our bottom-half garments getting bigger (see: balloon pants) and the proportional play that a tighter top offers
the bodysuits that launched for Fall 24 at Prada, and continued with their fashion-sport aesthetic for Spring 25 with:
Tory Burch
Miu Miu
Dior
Et al.
But as we’re also gearing up for a surf girl summer, there’s something to be said for the silhouette in the context of a look featuring low rise drawstring.

You can really nail this expression with a bathing suit — something like this or this but there are some exceptions that make a bodysuit worth it.


Not surf at all but to bring this back around to Tory, do you remember the croc suit from Fall 2024? The fisherman pants I’ve styled it with give off an air of nautica, while the jewelry roots the outfit back in the spirit of the other forthcoming dressing vibe: tacky girl summer.

Also slightly fisherman-y is actually the interpretation above it, with the tie dye suit to harken back to surf (+ low rise drawstring), styled under a net beach dress —

You always have the option of forgoing the surf implication all together to try your hand at something more delicate, more stylistically all encompassing and PRESENT.


I wouldn’t call this work appropriate necessarily but it’s definitely more applicable for a day in midtown. Or a flirty date night if the vibe you’re going for is millennial ingenue.

Last up features the Pucci suit from last week’s dispatch, this time fashioned into the underlayer between a sheer white button down (if you’re in the market for one, she is it), and terry cloth shorts.


Footwear of choice makes this all about Carrie. And any anklet of your choosing works. I like these around the ankle too.
Let’s move on to halter tops?
Halter tops

Here’s a very simple rendering with a black halter that could be swapped out for a black body suit (see: Mango). We will call this the bridge look.
It’s styled simply, with very tiny shorts that could be swapped out for any number of black bottoms: capris, full blown knee cap leggings, silk flowy pants, a skirt. The personality comes through in the details —

Straw bag and similar-color hat, bright beads/stones for the jewelry.
Another black halter top with a completely different character structure would be —


This guy. Silk and flowy (as opposed to tight), styled with low rise, long-line, board-ish shorts.

The halter top makes the look more cosmopolitan thanks to the shape and fabrication while the shoes provide an uptown-empty-nester-home-from-the-Hamptons-for-a-day vibe you did not set out to infuse. But it works.
Also surf-y but more MNZ-coded is this —

Striped bodycon halter styled under sheer, mesh bodycon and balloon shorts. Also low rise, also drawstring. Brought that uptown empty nester into this look too for a mid-meal palate cleanse.
Speaking of halters that tie around the neck, here’s a totally different way to layer a halter that leans on the same strategy —


Something you’d wear to do anything that doesn’t include an office or funeral or co-op board meeting. Ideal for a lunch time hang?


And I saved the best for last.

I call this one: the ecstasy of nailing an outfit. It’s here to demonstrate that you can make your own silk halter top (pretty similar to the Pucci one before it), with the right-size scarf. This one is 90cm wide and long (square), and is tied around my neck and waist.
You can adjust the waist tie to make it more or less cropped. I like the way it balloons and exposes lower stomach above the waistline of the pants, then ties back to the balloons at hem-length.
It was great last week when the sun was out for a bit, huh? Thanks for tuning in…,
Leandra Shot on iPhone by Charlie Rosen
Re balloon pants - I got these thanks to Becky's newsletter and they're fantastic. https://tinyurl.com/5exu36tj
Got the Aflalo pants after this one. We'll see what New England says about them this summer. mwah ha ha ha ha. You also reminded me of that image of Madonna on that boat with the sailor person behind her and the sunkissed hair.... this is better!