Time off, warmer weather, and longer days – what is not to love about summer? It’s time to celebrate its arrival with small things like a weekend getaway, an exhibition visit, or new additions to the reading list. Here is a list of favorite things to see, do, buy, and listen to, according to our founder, Sandra Gubenšek.

EXHIBITION

Man Ray was a creative chameleon whose long career was characterized by his desire for experimentation and self-reinvention. Despite always prioritizing painting, he spent 20 years of his career almost exclusively working as a commercial fashion photographer for renowned couturiers, such as Paul Poiret, Elsa Schiaparelli, and Coco Chanel, and for popular fashion magazines, including Harper’s Bazaar, Vanity Fair, and Vogue. The exhibition I visited at Momu Antwerp focuses on this frequently overlooked time period between 1920 and 1940 and portrays Man Ray as an innovator who used technical brilliance and humor to transform the way clothing was depicted. His avant-garde aesthetic and experimental methods merged art and fashion, revolutionized the medium, and continue to inspire fashion photography and contemporary fashion designers.

FASHION

Contrary to what most people think of fashion store owners, I am a very lazy, or, as I frequently tell myself, practical, dresser. Give me a slip dress or trousers and a nice top, and I am pretty much ready to go anywhere. I hate wasting time overthinking my outfits, so I am really strict with what I let into my wardrobe. One of my lucky picks from the previous season were pleated trousers by Ludus. When I say I lived in these trousers the entire summer and fall, I mean I literally LIVED in them. They took me from work meetings to nights out in the club, from casual dinners to fashion week. They are simply one of those versatile pieces that you can wear with everything and still look put together. I prefer to wear them untied so the pleats casually dance around me when I walk, but you can always tie them up if you prefer a more sleek silhouette. And the best part? They were made to measure for me (and can be for you too!), so I finally have trousers that actually fit me perfectly.

BOOK

In times when furniture and home accessories are becoming more and more disposable, it matters less whether your interior is perfectly decorated and more if it’s genuinely personal and unique. I recently bought and loved the so-called anti-decorating book How to Live with Objects by Sight Unseen editors Monica Khemsurov and Jill Singer. The book takes you on an educational and visually stunning home tours and offers practical advice on how to acquire and use objects intentionally, what objects are worth collecting, and how they impact our lives.

PODCAST

The StyleZeitgeist podcast is one of these “only real heads know” niche fashion podcasts whose episodes release I always eagerly await. Created by Eugene Rabkin, a fashion journalist and editor in chief of StyleZeitgeist magazine, the podcast features analysis of current fashion events as well as interviews with prominent figures across the industry. As we have come to expect from his independent magazine, Rabkin’s stance is critical and uncompromising, making the podcast one of the most exciting and rare critical voices in an industry where advertising and copy-paste PR materials have long since supplanted critique.

RESTAURANT

I was seriously considering leaving this place off the list for the selfish reason that it is always packed as it is. However, Oficina is one of my favorite lunch spots in Amsterdam, and I kind of want you to experience it too. As described on their website, Oficina is a canteen and studio that blends food, culture, and design. They work directly with farmers and artisans to create a changing weekly breakfast and lunch menu reflecting the season’s ingredients. They also have a great assortment of teas, so I typically find it difficult to restrain myself from consuming too many when there.