Vacation Outfits (Part 1)

I am back, ladies! Thank you for being still there (if you are still there).

So, how did the vacation go, you may ask? As a beach vacation should: we had plenty of sun, relaxation (as much as you can get when you have a toddler), good food and I got a nice tan as a bonus (we were actually very lucky with the weather this year because besides an afternoon of rain and some evening storms we had sunny skies for the whole ten days).

I must say, I really love the Hamptons. I like that you have all the advantages of NY (nice restaurants, stores and even my favorite cafe, that has an outpost in Southampton) but in these great natural surroundings. Each time that I go there I am actually stupefied that they have managed to keep it so natural-looking, even if it's so close to the city (a mere hour and a half without traffic). Because I tend to be attracted to and notice not the natural wonders but things like clothes and stores, the most fascinating thing that I saw this year was this new store:



Tomas Maier, as you probably know, is the renewed designer at Bottega Veneta but he started as a swimsuit designer (I have always been a swimsuit junkie and I remember his first bikinis) and he never abandoned his own line. This store is in pure Hamptons style (technically Wainscott, but really in the middle of nowhere on the Montauk highway) and I find an Hamptons peculiaritye like Tomas Maier could have the idea of opening such a low-key store (even if it's a swimsuit store after all).

Anyway, in the following pics (divided in two posts) I am going to show you the outfits that I wore to dinner during my vacation (because the day outfits can more or less be reduced to a pair of shorts, a tee and a bikini). And while I am at it, I am going to rate each of them. Actually not the outfits but the clothes themselves as many of them were new or semi-new so it is a good exercise to judge them and see if they were a good buy (I am hoping that it's going to teach me something and you can maybe learn something along the way).

The first evening upon our arrival we ate at Serafina's in East Hampton (that opened a months or two ago). Serafina's is an "upscale pizzeria" and it's actually a welcome addition to the dining options in East Hamptons, especially when you have a kid.
I wore the JCrew Marin dress and my Lobbs and Wooton espadrilles in nude:



Now I know why this dress was hidden in the cover-up section of the website when it came out. Not that it is really a cover-up, but I had already worn it in the city a couple of times and I felt a little bit exposed like I was on the verge of being stripped naked at the first blow of wind. However, in a beach environment, when you spend your days being almost naked in front of other people, it's a great slip-on dress and I felt very comfortable (and pretty) in it. So, even if I paid almost full price for it and I'm probably not going to wear it that much in the city, it will always be a great vacation staple. Final note: I would buy it again, even at FP.

The second evening (Saturday) my not-napping daughter was pretty tired by dinnertime, so we didn't go very far and we ate at a favorite spot among locals, that happened to be just a few hundred feets from our hotel. You could actually walk there from the hotel but you had to walk by the side of the highway, in the opposite direction of the cars, and even us, European who never take the car when we can walk instead, took the car this time around (we walked last year and we said never again!)
The place is called "Lobster Roll" but is also known as "Lunch" because of the big sign visible from the highway, in pure Americana style:



It was quite chilly so I wore my vintage boatneck in pink and (not shown) my white scout chinos. What can I say of this outfit? I would buy the boatneck again in a heartbeat (this color is perfect for a beach vacation). Wrapped around my neck is last year long layering pearls necklace (and for those who are interested my daughter is wearing a Petit Bateau long-sleeve dress):



I couldn't resist to take a pic of the sunset on the highway:



The evening after (Sunday) was our 12th wedding anniversary and we decided to have dinner at a famous restaurant in East Hampton, Nick and Toni (where we had never been before). The outfit that I wore that evening is the only one that I wore twice but also the only one than paradoxically didn't get photographed (and you will understand why). Because I really liked it, I recreated it for you at home (which is why this post got delayed). You have already seen another version of it, but I changed the accessories, which makes a big difference:




The dress is the Playa dress from last year that I bought on super-duper final sale in the fall. It is maybe my favorite summer dress and I regret not buying it in another color (the black, specifically). The golden accessories (metallic beach cardigan and gold-disc long necklace from last summer) give it a relaxed vibe. Can I say that I love it? The metallic beach cardigan (that I bought almost FP back in February) revealed to be one of the best buy of the year. It goes with almost everything and adds shine and interest to any outfit (plus, I think that it will never go out of style). Final note: totally worth paying FP.

When we arrived at the restaurant we didn't have time to take pics in the beautiful alley because we were a little bit late and we didn't want to loose our table. Once we were seated, I noticed a familiar face at the table next to us and then I immediately recognized Steven Spielberg. No joke! The restaurant is known for being frequented by celebrities, but I was expecting (if any) some local and little-caliber celebrity like one of the real housewife of NYC, not Spielberg and family (his wife and their children were there too)! Anyway, I was so worried of respecting their privacy that in the end we didn't take pictures of our dinner because I didn't want them to think that I was trying to get a picture of them (which actually, I should have done, now that I think about it because I don't think that I will have another occasion to have dinner with the Spielbergs, so to speak!)
Even if the dinner was delicious, we had one of the worst services ever! For starters, our server seemed incapacitated to smile (we joked that she was saving all her smiles for Spielberg) and looked kind of bothered by us (even if my daughter was very well behaved and I even got an appreciation wink from Spielberg's wife while I was reading her a story!) Second, we asked if they could put together two side orders (like broccoli and potatoes) for her as they didn't have a kids menu and we were told that the chef couldn't do it. Now, what kind of chef can't put broccoli and potatoes in the same dish??? And last but not least, one of the servers fell on our wine bucket, spilling the wine on the floor, and not only they didn't apologize but they continued to pour the wine from the same bottle (that incidentally touched the floor) like nothing had happened. They were even a little surprised that we complained! Seriously, I hope that Spielgerg had a better experience!

But let's move on to Monday night, when we went for a pizza in Montauk. I wore my Barbara dress that I bought in view of this vacation:



Meh! Besides the fact that I was almost overdressed for Montauk (which is very low-key) and the dress kept felling off my shoulders (and annoyingly so), I didn't feel particularly well dressed in this outfit. Considered that I wore it exactly once, I wouldn't buy this dress again, especially at almost-full price. Final note: could have lived without (the lesson here is: never buy something to wear exclusively on a short vacation).
Anyway, this is me and my daughter in front of the pizzeria waiting for a table to be available:



That's it for now. Stay tuned for Part 2 (Tuesday to Sunday)!