Five Brands Redefining Summer Style for Women Over 60

There’s a particular kind of an aha moment that happens when you’ve been dressing for decades and you suddenly encounter a brand you didn’t know existed, and immediately understand exactly why it should have been in your wheelhouse all along. Not a trend. Not a moment. A brand with a point of view, a reason for being, and pieces that feel like they were made for a woman who knows who she is and wants a collected look.

Kim and I normally share particular pieces that are on our summer wish list, but after returning from France with a new perspective on fashion, I thought I would talk about five brands that have caught my eye. Some were found on my recent wanderings through France, some I stumbled upon closer to home. All brands that are doing something a little different, that might give your summer wardrobe a genuine sense of the collected , the unexpected the out of the ordinary.

If you’ve been building your closet intentionally for years, the way you build a home you actually love to live in, these are the brands worth knowing about. If some of the price points are a little high search for them on the resale sites. That is what I do! Pull up a chair. This is the good stuff.

What “Collected” Summer Style for Women Over 60 Actually Looks Like

Before we dive into the brands, let me say what I mean by collected — because it’s the word that keeps coming back to me when I think about summer style for women over 60 that actually works.

A collected wardrobe isn’t a coordinated one. It’s not head-to-toe anything. It’s the accumulation of pieces that have a point of view, that reflect where you’ve been and who you are, that work together because you work them together. Not because a stylist laid them out as a set. The best summer outfits for older women I know look that way: intentional, but not effortful. Individual, but not eccentric for its own sake.

These five brands live squarely in that territory and that is why I love them.

1. Natalie Martin — Bali-Made Batik That Earns Its Jet Lag

I came to Natalie Martin the way I come to most things I love: through a rabbit hole I didn’t intend to fall down and emerged from considerably poorer and a bit obsessed. We live in a very casual community with a lot going on in Summer. It gets hot. I like to look stylish but not overdressed.

I had been eyeing this eyelet combination. It is actually a (minidress) and pant combination. It is see through so you need a camisole and pant combo. I tied a bandana across the middle for interest . The pants are on sale. I wore the turquoise ensemble to the wine festival and have never gotten so many compliments.

Natalie Martin is a Los Angeles-based designer who built her line around the handmade batik and hand-screen printed textiles of Bali, where each piece is made by artisans using traditional methods. The result is clothing that has the quality that’s almost impossible to replicate at scale: variation. Character. The slight imperfection that tells you a human being made this particular garment.

Her dresses are what people love, flowy, print-forward, built on easy silhouettes that work for women who want to look dressed without overthinking it. The prints are original, and the color palette is interesting.These are not clothes for blending in. The fabrics are lightweight and comfortable. I am obsessed. I ordered this dress, this shirt and this skirt.

For summer fashion over 60, this is exactly the brand I want more people to know about: independent, artisan-made, and designed with the kind of confidence that assumes the woman wearing it has some of her own.

Shop my Natalie Martin Faves

Natalie Martin always has great options on her sale site here as well.

2. Stella Forest — The Parisian Brand I Discovered in Lourmarin

I found Stella Forest the way you find the best things in France: by accident in Lamourian a village suggested by our hotel that we almost skipped. It was raining and I didn’t have much time but that village was golden for collected fashion. I wish I had spent more time there.

Founded in 1998 by designer Christel Boniface as an independent, family-owned label, Stella Forest has spent more than twenty-five years doing something quietly radical: making clothes that resist trend cycles entirely. The brand’s design philosophy is that “each piece should feel like “a second skin in which all women can find comfort, personality and audacity.” Not a bad mission statement for any of us.

The prints are the signature: created in the Paris design studio and executed with the care of genuine art, they draw on travel, craft traditions, and a broadly ethnic-chic sensibility that feels global. She uses fabrics like silk, fine cotton, flowing layers, and the silhouettes are fluid rather than structured. These are clothes that move with you.

Better yet, one of my favorite brands Mersea currently has a Stella Forest capsule collection that you can buy right here in the USA.

For chic summer looks at 60+, Stella Forest hits something one rarely sees, femininity that isn’t fussy. A distinctly French confidence in the idea that you can wear something beautiful and not look like you tried too hard.

Shop Stella Forest Faves

3 I Beliv — The Raffia Brand With a Story on Every Label

If you’ve spent any time in Provence or along the French coast, you’ve seen the basket bags. They’re everywhere ,at the market, at the beach, slung over the shoulder of every woman. But finding one that isn’t a tourist version of the fantasy is harder than it looks. I Beliv is the real thing.

Founded by a mother and her Malagasy son out of their deep love for Madagascar, the brand I Beliv creates raffia bags and hats handcrafted entirely by women artisans on the island. And here’s the detail that got me: the first name of the artisan who made your bag is on the label inside. You know who made it.

The bags are beautiful in the way that things made by hand are beautiful ,with the slight variations and character that no machine can replicate. Natural raffia, honest construction, pieces that will age gracefully and look better in five years than they do on day one. The hats can be packed and molded back into shape. I brought the one above home from Provence, and I just received this bag.

For women building a timeless summer wardrobe, a great raffia bag is one of those purchases that pays for itself in wear and styling versatility. I Beliv makes the one I’d feel good buying , and wearing.

Shop my I Beliv Faves

Farfetch is running a sale on their entire collection here. I ordered my bag and received it in days.

4 MIRTH — Where Ethics and Effortlessness Are the Same Thing

MIRTH was started by two sisters, Katie and Erin, who traveled to India and found something they hadn’t been looking for: a mission. Inspired by the heritage textile traditions they encountered they. With a modern take on traditional techniques, like handloom weaving & hand block printing, MIRTH’s mission is to help sustain and celebrate craft while providing opportunity and meaningful employment to artisans in developing countries.

Ten years in, MIRTH is one of those rare brands that has grown without losing its reason for being. The fabrics are handmade. handloomed cottons, hand block printed silks, handspun linens with the variation that comes from that process considered a feature,rather than a flaw. The brand even notes this on its site: slubs, drips, and the occasional imperfection are reminders that several humans were involved in creating your garment.

The clothing itself is resort wear at its most genuinely wearable: caftans, easy dresses, separates that feel relaxed without being shapeless. The prints are abstract and artful without being loud. These are pieces that work from morning coffee to a summer dinner table with almost no effort at all. Mirth is based in Houston Texas.

Shop my Mirth Faves

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5. Alémais — Australian Art You Wear

Alémais (pronounced Ah-leh-may) is the brand I recommend to women who tell me they want to look more interesting. Founded in 2020 by Sydney designer Lesleigh Jermanus, who brought twenty years of high-end Australian fashion experience with her, Alémais builds each collection around collaborations with artists and craftspeople around the world, translating original artwork into nature-inspired prints on linen, hemp, ramie, and organic cotton. The silhouettes are classical with a contemporary eye, always designed with what the brand calls “freedom of expression” built in.

The prints are the reason people fall in love with the brand, and they are genuinely origina, not trend-derived, not algorithm-generated, but from a real artistic partnerships that treat the garment as a canvas. Wearing Alémais is wearing a point of view. The brand is pricey but look for sales and find many options on resale sites. Both of my pieces above were purchased on resale sites.

Shop my Alemais Faves

You can find many Alemais options on eBay here. on Poshmark here. on Thread Up here, the Real Real here, and Velstaire Collective here.

If these labels are too steep for your budget Zara always has great options for less. You can find my Zara faves here

What These Five Brands Have in Common

I didn’t plan this, but looking at this list, the connection is obvious. Every one of these brands is built on craft, on independence, on a reason for existing beyond volume and profit. Not a single one is chasing trends. Not one is mass market. Every one of them makes something you will wear differently ,and better ,because of the story behind it.

That’s what a collected summer wardrobe actually is. Not a capsule. Not a formula. A set of things gathered with intention, from sources that deserve to be found.

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Your Turn

Have you discovered any independent or under-the-radar brands that give your wardrobe that “collected” feeling? I’d genuinely love to know — this community has introduced me to more great things than any algorithm ever has. Tell me in the comments.

And if you’ve worn any of these five( MIRTH, Alémais, Stella Forest, Natalie Martin, I Beliv)I want to hear that too. What did you think? How did you wear it? The conversation is always better than the post.

You might enjoy my post The Collected Wardrobe: How to Build a Personal Style that Tells Your Story

Kim has her own discoveries she’s sharing over at Northern California Style this month. Head there to see where our taste overlaps and where we went in completely different directions. That’s always the most interesting part.

Northern California Style