Well, it’s here. That hot, humid, hot hot heat. And there are really only four things I want to wear (well, five if you include my nightgown, which is always Choice #1) once it gets to this point:

  1. Sleeveless Tencel (Lyocell) loose dress in a light color. No collar on my neck, no waistband to stop airflow.
  2. THAT dress. Super lightweight woven viscose, there’s an empire seam at the waist but it’s loose, even the sleeves are “angel-y.” It just floats in the vicinity of my body, never touching me. Where things touch me, I sweat.
  3. Lightweight, loose, drapey rayon dress. As above, nothing snug, nothing touching me.
  4. Sleeveless Tencel dress…see above for loose, not touching, light color, etc.

Seeing a theme here??

My basic principles of surviving the hot weather:

  • Natural fabrics: linen, cotton, rayon, viscose, lyocell. Stay away from polyester. For many reasons, but right now, to avoid encasing yourself in a sauna suit.
  • Woven fabrics vs jersey knit. There’s more airflow through a woven fabric and it tends to stand away from the body more than a jersey or knit. A knit will lay against your body and a) prevents good airflow under your clothing and b) those touchpoints create sweat points.
  • Light colors. I probably pay more attention to this if I’m going to be out in the sun. That swingy black dress is going to be hotter than the same dress in white. Cuz science.
  • Loose construction. No fitted waists, no body-con styles. No collars to sit against your neck and cause a sweaty touchpoint. No sleeves better than sleeves, loose flowy sleeved better than close-fitting. Re sleevelessness:  guess what? My arms are fat. So what.
  • If I’m going to be walking, I will usually wear pants over a dress because of inner-thigh sweat. Linen pants, cotton pants (like poplin over denim), wide-legged pants, cropped pants, Again, think woven, maximum airflow.
  • Shoes: open if possible. Canvas over leather. I really like a slide so they’re easy to kick-off and let my feet breathe, and if I’m sitting in the grass? HEAVEN. Personally, I’m not a strappy shoe person – all those touchpoints – but I know others are.
  • I will wear a natural fiber hat (strawish or cotton) if I’m sitting in the sun and just trying to keep the sun off my face…but I will pay for that face-shade with a sweaty head and wet hair. So usually only at the beach when I know I can just go in the water and rinse off. If you’re not a head sweater a hat could be a good option for face shade.
  • Personally, no jewelry for me when it’s really hot. Touchpoints! Twisting tangling knotting sweaty aggravation, leave me out.
  • Sunglasses. Remember in elementary school when the teacher would turn off the lights in the classroom saying it would make it cooler? It really didn’t but it seemed cooler. Keeping the sun out of your eyes just feels cooler to me.
  • Hairstyle. Off the face. Off the neck. I do not have good hot weather hair. Even if it’s not particularly humid out, my scalp sweats and creates a little steam room up there under my hair, bringing out all the flippies and frizzies. It’s best contained. Now that my hair has reached this length again, there are ponytail holders everywhere. In my hair, on my wrist, in my purse, on the gearshift in the car, in my drawer at work. Wherest I go, so goeth the ponytail holder.
  • Stay hydrated.
  • Sweat rag. Ha. Very ladylike. I keep a cotton bandana in my bag to mop up sweat so I’m not just dripping.

I am a sweater. I do not like it. It makes me agitated. I avoid it at all costs. My friends (and ex-husband) know, Sweaty Bettye is NOT fun to be around. So I dress to avoid The Sweat as much as possible. I stay in the air conditioning. I stay in the shade. I take the shortest route from A to B. I like to think I’m sort of an expert on avoiding overheating. Be like Bettye. Dress to not sweat.

As I’m trying to expand my Heat of Summer Wardrobe from four pieces to more than four pieces, I’m looking for things like this:

And I have a video where I talk about how to hot weather…

I hope y’all are staying cool!