Whenever I go anywhere, I end up bonding with one thing — that thing you wear the most on a trip — but before I go, I don’t know what that’s going to be. For our trip to St. John, I was only packing a backpack, and I knew it would need to be light or else I’d be grumpy carrying a heavy bag around. So I tried to figure out what the item I’d bond with would be before the trip and edit down based on that. About a week before the trip, I saw a shirt and I just knew that was going to be the one. Same thing with my shorts: I ordered them, and when I tried them on, I was like, Oh man, these are going to be the ones. And then I found the sandals in my closet — and I ended up bonding hard with all of them. Those three things were literally what I wore every single day.
When I last went into the Wythe store, I saw this and was like, Oh man, that’s a great khaki shirt. The fabric has the softness of cotton with a little bit of the nice texture of linen. It breaks in so awesomely: It kind of stretches out a little bit. The weave is a little loose on this thing, and it just gets looser. So it was the perfect beach shirt, and after six days in a row, this thing was soft as butter. What I like to do is I’ll take something — if it’s new — I’ll dump it in the salt water so it gets crusty, and then I rinse it out. I did that with this, and then it acted as a safety blanket. Sun protection. Headwrap. When your shoulders are sunburned, you lay this thing over yourself and put your bag over that so it doesn’t rake against your sunburn. This was like a Swiss Army Knife shirt. I felt like Magnum P.I. in this shirt.
Oh man, these are tremendous. The quality of nylon is enough to be structured but not feel heavy. And these are their shorty shorts. These are super-short — risky short — but I loved that about them. It made them that much more comfortable. They were like not-even-wearing-shorts short, but again, I wore these every single day. I would swim in them, snorkel in them, and then go to lunch in them. That was the uniform right here. I like the solid black, especially with the khaki — it feels sophisticated, but not at the expense of comfort or chillness.
Bedrock is just a great outdoor-sandal brand. They really care about their product and what they make. Wearing these was like not wearing anything at all. They’re made with a Vibram sole but it’s like an eighth of an inch thick. They’re so thin and feel like being barefoot since the straps are thin, too. They were my beach sandal and hiking sandal — I would do mileslong hikes in these up hills and on rocks. You definitely can feel things through the sole, but they’re awesome and super-versatile.
I get asked about this bag every time I use it. For the money, it’s pretty valuable. It’s not a cheap canvas tote, but it’s not luxury priced. You can dress it up; you can dress it down. At the end of our trip, I landed from St. John at 11 o’clock at night, got home, and had to be on a flight to New York the next day. This thing went from St. John to the city, and it was filled with sand at the bottom from the beach. It was pouring that day in New York, so I was like, Oh man. Three days ago I was on a beach with this thing, and now I’m trudging through pouring rain in New York.
My friend Jenny Olson’s mom started this cookie company Sweet Martha’s, and they sell them at the Minnesota State Fair. They started making merch for the fair, and this hat is from that. I just love it. It’s my favorite thing. It started out as navy blue and then faded to this weird sort of tie-dye-looking purple color. People love Sweet Martha’s so much, and now the hats have this weird cult following.
Note: The hat is currently sold out, but you can sign up to be notified when it’s back in stock on Sweet Martha’s website.
The Strategist is designed to surface the most useful, expert recommendations for things to buy across the vast e-commerce landscape. Some of our latest conquests include the best acne treatments, rolling luggage, pillows for side sleepers, natural anxiety remedies, and bath towels. We update links when possible, but note that deals can expire and all prices are subject to change.
