Euro Summer Is Now
By Lauren CochraneIt’s summer! That means we need to think about where we’re off to – not the actual holiday, you understand, but the mood, the vibe. For 2025, Substack’s unofficial style scene has already decided: this is Euro Summer, a take on what a dream European vacation might entail. It’s an idea that runs from sardine prints and gingham on clothes; close-ups on mozzarella di bufala, blue sky days, and half-eaten pizza on Instagram; to rocky watering holes and sun loungers on designers’ moodboards. This is how Euro Summer – country unspecified – became the destination of now.
Where are we pointing the map this year?
As Kyle Chayka wrote for the One Thing newsletter, “the great thing is that you can be eurocore anywhere”. However, Italy — with its emoji-friendly food stuffs and proper fashion icons from Sophia Loren to Donatella Versace — has won out because it provides the backdrop to any choice outfits. J Crew is on it: its influencer trip this month took those with mega-followings to a $1000 a night hotel in Puglia. Also acceptable? France, so long as its in the south, ideally Marseilles, and Greece, because all those ruins and white houses look great in selfies.
What are the references?
Cinema is central — and Italians do it better. Luca Guadagnino and Paolo Sorrentino: both men show their home country in a good light – see A Bigger Splash and Call Me By Your Name from Guadagnino or Hand of God and Parthenope by Sorrentino. Also on the watch list? The new Bonjour Tristesse and – perhaps the ultimate Euro Summer film, The Talented Mr Ripley with Gwyneth Paltrow, Matt Damon, and Jude Law from 1999. Almost all set either in the sixties or the eighties, that adds to the escapism of Euro Summer. It’s a nostalgia for a picture postcard of a place – and time – that no longer exists. Or at least only exists in the collective, optimistic imagination.
When did summer become Summer?
It’s a relatively new phenomenon, dating back to Megan Thee Stallion and her ‘Hot Girl Summer’ track in 2019. Since then, naming a summer’s style before it began has become a sport – a bit like finding its song. See Brat Summer last year and Tomato Girl Summer in 2023. In a sense, that was a precursor to Euro Summer — with tomatoes, particularly the kind that look ripe for some basil and mozzarella, now such a loved foodstuff that Loewe even made a bag shaped like one.
Why is Europe in the frame?
Euro Summer is about more than idyllic spots to have a dip in the Med. This is about retreating to what seems like a simpler experience, one that might remind us of childhood holidays, or at least holidays of a bygone era. This is a Europe pre-Brexit, and certainly pre-a news cycle that sees us doom scroll on our phones every day. Euro Summer might come through the prism of the smartphone, but the images and experiences it co-signs give the feel of a time before black mirrors.
Should we reroute somewhere else?
If its fun to fantasise about your Euro holiday, but there are issues with turning entire countries into IG-friendly starter packs. It doesn’t exactly suggest nuance for exploring and respecting the culture and history of a place.
Actually getting on a plane has its own problems, too – with the need for visitors to take in the specific TikTok-approved locations now more than an inconvenience in popular towns like Lisbon, Barcelona, Genoa and Venice. A collective action across these destinations this month drew attention to locals being priced out of property and more due to what they call ‘touristification’. Meanwhile, the Louvre in Paris, was so overwhelmed recently that workers went on strike for the day, while Jeff Bezos’ three day marriage to Lauren Sanchez in Venice has prompted a No Space for Bezos campaign in the city – and the threat of an infestation of inflatable crocodiles.
What’s the alternative?
There’s something to be said for finding your own Summer. Whether that’s exploring just a little off the beaten track when it comes to your destination — think Albania, perhaps, or Slovenia — or just working out your own vibe, one that doesn’t have a hashtag on social media. Caitlyn Richardson, of the newsletter Milk Fed, has deemed hers a “witch-in-linen summer”, and why not?
Lauren Cochrane is Senior Fashion Writer of The Guardian and contributes to publications including The Face, ELLE, Service95, Konfekt and Mr Porter. Based in London, she writes about everything from catwalk shows to footballers’ style and the linguistics of Love Island. She is author of The Ten: The Stories Behind the Fashion Classics.
You can read all of Lauren’s writing on Something Curated here. Header photo by Gábor Balázs / Pexels.