The Most Wanted · Summer Trends
What Cool Girls Are Wearing
Cool is a refusal. If you can name every trend on the body, it is not cool. It is homework.
Cool is a refusal. If you can name every trend on the body, it is not cool. It is homework.
What the cool girls are wearing is usually one thing from the season and nothing else from the season. A slip. A ballet flat. A brown bag. Not all three with a caption.
The street photographs that look effortless are edited. The ones that look like a lookbook are not cool — they are compliant.
Here is the mistake. Assembling the mood board and calling it taste. Taste is what you leave off.
Take one piece from this edit. Wear it with clothes that have already been out. That is the whole method.
Mine is the Isabel Marant Metilia Crocheted Fringed Top. One new thing that does not match what I already own, on purpose.— K.W., Editor-in-Chief
Old jeans, one new shoe, a shirt that has been washed.
One good dress, no extra trend pinned to it.
Five current things at once. That is a showroom.
Every piece in the edit — tap to shop the whole look.
The sleep dress is the cool-girl dress of summer 2026 — the vintage-inspired nightgown that has slipped out of the bedroom and onto the street. After seasons of structure, fashion wants ease: a light, lace-trimmed slip you can throw on and look effortlessly pretty in. Dôen leads with its dreamy prairie-romantic take, while Reformation and Sleeper offer the airy, barely-there versions the fashion set is living in. Styled with a flat sandal or a kitten heel, it is the easiest, chicest thing you can wear all summer.
The Daphne mini in white. Sleep-dress energy in daylight — that is the trick.
Daphne with floral lace. One pretty idea. Flat shoe.
The Lelia nightdress. Wear it out or do not buy it.
The Poppy in ivory. A sleep dress that can leave the house.
The Holly floral. Nightwear as a dress — no extra trend pinned to it.
Atlanta linen, cream. The cool-girl linen, not a nightgown costume.
Atlanta off-the-shoulder. White. Hair undone on purpose.
Fringe is back, but this time it is less Western and more sleek — long, elevated tassels showing up on everything from crochet tops to voile blouses. The appeal is movement: fringe that sways with you, effortlessly vacation-ready and just a little bit sexy. Isabel Marant and Zimmermann lead with their crocheted takes, while Sea and Johanna Ortiz bring the boho-luxe energy. It is the detail that turns the simplest top into a holiday in itself.
The Metilia. Crochet and fringe — pair with a severe jean.
Indra fringe tank. One texture. Stop.
The Rafina eyelet, fringed. Pretty top, plain bottom.
The Adelina. Lace panel and fringe — no matching skirt.
Fringed knit. Weekend. Not with a fringed anything else.
The Pinla cape top. Fringe as architecture.
The Ledo mini. Fringe hem. Simple sandal.
Paris Georgia fringe cotton. Less house, same rule.
The Leah silk fringe. Evening version of the joke.
The Yasmin voile. Light fringe. White jean, not more voile.
The humble running short is having its most fashionable moment in decades — the '80s mini, reborn as an unexpected cool-girl staple. Accented with side stripes and split hems, it reads as elevated athleisure rather than gymwear, especially styled deliberately with a knit or a heel à la Carrie Bradshaw. Sporty & Rich and Hunza G lead the charge, joined by Guest in Residence's cashmere-blend take. It is the easy, leggy short the fashion set is wearing everywhere but the treadmill.
Logo jersey shorts. The cool-girl short if you already own the dress.
White logo cotton shorts. Cleaner than the jersey.
Hunza G crinkle, pink. Swim-adjacent. Wear as shorts, not as a costume.
Hunza G in white. The pair that looks less like a trend.
Striped runner shorts. One stripe on the body.
The Freida stripe. Pair with plain shorts, not striped ones.
You have heard of jelly flats — but the gelatinous heel is summer's playful upgrade. Chloé sent its glossy, open-toe silhouette down the Spring/Summer 2026 runway and set off a rush on every gummy pair in sight. There is something joyful and nostalgic about it: the childhood jelly shoe, grown up and elevated in leopard, red, and translucent blue. Chloé and Alaïa lead the luxe end, while Ancient Greek Sandals keeps it easy. It is the shoe that makes an outfit feel fun again.
Chloé jelly, leopard. The joke shoe. Severe dress.
Chloé jelly in blue. Less print, same idea.
Alaïa invisible jelly, red. House on a joke shoe — that is why it works.
Invisible jelly, satin trim. Slightly grown. Still a jelly.
Saionara jelly, neutral. The wearable Ancient Greek pair.
Saionara in black. Evening-adjacent jelly, if such a thing exists.
Jelly flip-flop in green. Beach only if the rest of you is dressed.
Every piece in this edit, by the houses behind it. Explore them all.
A little daring, a little nostalgic — exactly what the coolest girls are wearing now.— ESVRA