From treat-yourself dresses to high-street bling, the June fashion picks on my radar

I try to be realistic about what people will spend when I do these edits. When we’re shopping and see something we like, the first thing almost all of us do is look at the price. What with money not growing on trees and all that. If I see something nice in a shop, then check the tag and find it to be out of my budget (or just overpriced), I move swiftly on. By the same logic, if I spot a contender for this monthly roundup but discover it is prohibitively expensive – which happens a lot these days – “sticker shock” being a familiar syndrome in an era of fashion hyperinflation – I am not inclined to include it.

But we can’t be sensible all the time. I don’t need to remind you that it’s better to buy a few good, long-lasting items than loads of cheap tat. Then there’s the fact that, sometimes, a piece is worth spending money on not because it’s objectively worth a lot of money, but because it’s worth a lot to you. Plus, June is my birthday month, so you have to indulge me, OK?

The perfect holiday dinner sandal

Cut-out strap sandals
£28 at River Island

I’m a huge fan of this particular shape of flat sandal, which I find to be sufficiently aesthetic to wear with a dress for a nice holiday dinner, eliminating the need to pack heels. The key is that the upper of the shoe doesn’t cover your toes, and doesn’t extend too close to where your foot bends at the ankle. Straps across the front of the ankle rarely look good without a heel. Dismiss anything with a kitten heel (impractical), anything with a dividing post between the toes (blisters) and anything with metal touching your skin (hot). These are pretty perfect, in tan suede or chocolate leather.

The most adorable earrings on the high street right now

Domino earrings
£15.99 at Zara

These earrings hit that perfect sweet spot of being novelty enough to be interesting and a bit of a conversation-starter without ever suggesting that you’re anything less than sophisticated. J’adore.

A high-street dress that looks like catwalk (caveat: it’s £595)

Elizabeth dress
£595 at Reiss
£595 at Next

There are two ways of looking at the £595 price tag on this Reiss dress. The first, obviously, is that almost £600 is a lot of money for a dress from a high-street store. The second is that this dress genuinely passes for top-dollar designer fashion, and a dress with this level of detailing – the pearl and amber teardrop beads at the shoulder cut-out are divine in closeup – would cost five times that from a fancy label. A fellow fashion editor wore this dress at an extremely snazzy fashion dinner in Italy, and it not only passed as designer but was much complimented.

I heart Pucci

Printed silk-trimmed mini dress
£345 at the Outnet

When I was in my 20s, I had a Pucci dress. I loved that dress. I read that Marilyn Monroe was buried in her favourite Pucci dress, and it made perfect sense to me. Anyway, that didn’t happen, because I wore that dress on so many nights out – including one where I fell in a swimming pool – that the jersey eventually lost its spring and the colours faded. I still miss it and I still obsess over Pucci, so I hereby point you to the Outnet, where you can often find some summer treasures, like this mini dress with distinctive swirly epaulettes, which is snazzy-beach-lunch perfection and reduced from £690 to £345.

A not-Pucci-but-fabulous bikini

Rhodes cup-size bikini top
£52 at Boden

Matching classic bikini bottoms
£36 at Boden

Speaking of Pucci, I’m generally a black or navy swimwear gal, but I’ve fallen hard for this structured Boden bikini top and matching classic bikini bottoms in the joyful, Amalfi-coast-lunch blues, yellows and reds of the Wildflower colourway. Also available in navy and white stripes if you’re feeling sensible.

What’s hot – and what’s most definitely not – this week

Going up

It totes | Forget the Birkin. The latest six-month waitlist is for a Boatkin bag. The £1,167 (yep) tote that riffs on the Hermès signature is made from upcycled canvas tote bags, stains and all.

Bathwater | Following the Saltburn-inspired bath bomb craze comes a limited-edition Dr Squatch soap infused with suds from Sydney Sweeney’s tub.

Pro-vitality | Somehow sounds less negative than anti-ageing.

Going down

Parkrun | The website Fake My Run lets you post made-up running routes to the tracking app Strava as you lie in bed.

Cigfluencers | Wes Anderson’s The Phoenician Scheme stars Benicio del Toro, Scarlett Johansson and a bespoke jewel-encrusted pipe by the British menswear house Dunhill.

Unemployed offspring | Rebranding as stay-at-home sons and daughters.