Weekend supplement

a slightly shorter August edition

Tove Jansson and Tuulikki Pietilä’s cottage on the islet of Klovharun in Finland, where they spent 30 summers. Image: Katalin Trencsényi via This Is Finland

Every year, the bright Scandinavian summer nights fade without anyone's noticing. One evening in August you have an errand outdoors, and all of a sudden it's pitch-black. It is still summer, but the summer is no longer alive.
― Tove Jansson, The Summer Book

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Good morning! I don’t even want to think about the faint smell of autumn when I let the dogs out first thing in the morning, or about how dark it is at 9pm. Today is going to be warm, there’s a heatwave alert for next week, and I am wearing the Penelope Chilvers gold sandals I bought in the sale. We must stay on task. It’s summer and there is plenty of time left to make hay. (Literally - I need to find someone who can bale our meadow).

Here are some things I liked this week. They include a photography workshop in the south of France that would make an excellent late holiday, soap in the shape of a fish, absconding hens, dinner on an island, recipes for lunch, teenage bedrooms, Copenhagen fashion week, etc - enough to dip in and out of for the rest of the weekend, is the idea, though this one is slightly shorter than usual because it’s August (I loved Lauren Collins on French holiday shop signs).

If you’re a new paid subscriber - hello! thank you! - and want more, these sorts of posts are all here and don’t really have a use-by date.

This is a picture-heavy post, so have a look on the web or app if your email chops it off in its prime.

I write these links posts for paid subscribers once a week, and for free subscribers once a month. The most recent free one is here. All free posts auto-paywall after 4 weeks.

Emergency heatwave seating

Just in case you urgently need to sit outside

This lovely bistro set is £99 from Habitat. I love that grass green.

Emergency heatwave flip-flops

You want plain red Havaianas. Black is fine too, but red is better. I don’t make the rules.

Soap in the shape of a fish

Here is some Marseille soap-on-a-rope pretending to be a sardine.

(That shop is the best shop for natural cleaning products and they sell percarbonate of soda, which as I never tire of repeating is the best natural cleaning agent for white clothes and for stains. Also this is my go-to cleaner for any surface and this pistachio oil is heaven on the skin. It smells of real pistachios, not flavouring).

Copenhagen Fashion Week

I LOVE Copenhagen Fashion Week, it’s the only one I remotely care about. I’m not even that fussed about the shows but I spend ages poring over the street style photos. Flat shoes! Bicycles! Rain wear! Babies! Dogs! Minimal makeup! Smiling! And then colour, joy, self-expression - it’s just heaven.

I love that even though you can ferret out the odd trend, the general look is broadly un-copyable because it’s so individual. It’s just people loving clothes and putting them together in a creative way that makes them happy. Which is exactly what getting dressed should be, and so rarely is. Let’s stare at loads of pics. (And then read this by Camilla for further inspiration).

Image: @pauseonline, @modehunter

Image: @pauseonline, @modehunter

Image: Acielle/Style du Monde

Image: Acielle/Style du Monde

Image: Acielle/Style du Mone

Image: Acielle/Style du Monde

Image: Acielle/Style du Monde

Image: Acielle/Style du Monde

Image: Acielle/Style du Monde

After the paywall: a recommended newsletter, lovely scarves, cherries, teenage bedrooms, Provence, sex, a detective novel, apricots, recipes, and lots of good links.