Okay, so it happened again. I got dressed one warm morning, caught myself in the mirror, and the only words my brain would offer up were "strawberry shortcake moment." I even said it out loud to my empty flat, which is very normal and not at all a sign that I have been thinking about gingham too much. But truly — there is a specific kind of soft, sweet, faintly vintage summer look that I fall for every single year, and this July it took me over completely. So I gathered my favourites into one little lookbook, just for you.
If you have followed me for a while you already know how I work: I do not walk into a shop and buy "a coquette outfit." I build it slowly, piece by piece, mostly from other people's cast-offs. That is honestly the part I love most. A strawberry-shortcake summer is not about spending money — it is about noticing the one soft-pink thing on the rail that everybody else walked straight past.
The Colours That Make It "Shortcake"
For me it all lives in a very small palette: cream, butter yellow, the palest strawberry pink, and just a whisper of red for the "berry" bit. I keep it soft on soft, then let one single thing be the ribbon that ties it together. A cherry-red hair bow against my red hair sounds like it should clash, but somehow it just sings. If you are a redhead too, please do not be scared of red near your face — warm reds and dusty pinks are secretly your best friends.
Texture matters as much as colour. Broderie anglaise, a bit of eyelet lace, a puff sleeve, a scalloped edge — those details do the heavy lifting. You can take the plainest thrifted white sundress and make it feel like a whole dessert simply by adding a lace-trimmed sock and a little basket bag. I found my basket bag for almost nothing at a car-boot sale and I genuinely think about it daily.
How I Thrift and Upcycle the Look
My method is not glamorous, but it works. I shop for the fabrics and the shapes first, never the size on the label — a boxy vintage blouse turns soft and romantic the second you cinch it or tie the hem. When something is nearly right, I fix it: I take up a hem, swap plastic buttons for little pearl ones, or add a length of satin ribbon along a neckline. Most of these are ten-minute jobs, and they turn "charity shop" into "grandmillennial dream." If you want the full story of who I am and how I fell into all this upcycling, it lives on my about page.
I have been filming a lot of these little thrift-to-coquette transformations too, so if watching is more your thing than reading, come find me on YouTube — I always link the pieces I flipped. And if you put together your own strawberry-shortcake look this summer, please, please tag me so I can gush over it. There is nothing sweeter than seeing you all soft and pink and pleased with yourselves. Here is to a summer that tastes like berries and looks like lace. #liviasloves