Side Order: Stuff On Sail

27 items that are nautical but nice

I was maybe 10 or 11 when my parents let my sister and I decorate our own rooms for the first time. This was the era of PBTeen catalogs and Limited Too, so everything was lime green and hot pink and lava lamps were having a moment. My sister quickly called dibs on a tropical themed room (we were big Roxy girls; my AIM screen name was “roxygirlrocks”) and got to work on picking the perfect hibiscus-print bedspread. I was jealous I didn’t think of it first, so in an effort to also be beachy without matching, I chose a Cape Cod theme.

To this day I’ve never been to Cape Cod (or anywhere in New England, for that matter.) I don’t think I even knew where or what Cape Cod was. But I was committed to the vision and soon enough I was begging my mom to buy me wooden signs that said things like “To the beach!”. While Chelsea had a skimboard propped against her wall, I asked my parents for an Adirondack chair for my birthday. (All of this is made even funnier by the fact that I’ve had the same haircut as Ina Garten for most of my life.)

Voile/Toile, Toile/Voile, Daniel Buren, 1975

As I got older I traded my Cape Cod years for a Paris-à-la-Anthropologie phase, but a fascination with the WASP-y coastal aesthetic has laid dormant within me since. Maybe it’s the pop of red thing that’s stirred it up again, or maybe it’s just that I live in a place where people vacation and I’m craving a change of scenery. Whatever it is, I’m back to mentally setting sail down the coast of Massachusetts (still without any firsthand experience.)

I don’t think I’m alone, though. Doen’s latest collection included a mini dress with a sailor collar that sold out immediately, and Miu Miu sent full-on boat shoes and board shorts down the SS24 runway last fall. I’m not quite ready to go full Top-Sider just yet, but I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t wearing an oversized cotton fisherman sweater with swishy red shorts as I type this.

Life Magazine, 1946

So, this month’s Side Order features 27 new and vintage items for sail (lol) that are just a liiiittle bit nautical: