This Summer, Go Full Mermaid With a Campy Seashell Motif

As we enter the final countdown to the 2019 Met Gala, camp sensibility might be on your mind. Cultural theorist Susan Sontag viewed camp as an indescribable ephemera that often involved the gaudy, the glitzy, and the unexpected. One way to integrate a little camp into your wardrobe as temperatures rise is to play with a motif we’ve been seeing everywhere: seashells.

A seashell-printed dress evokes Schiaparelli’s iconic lobster dress, the Coney Island Mermaid Parade, and the kind of aura found in kitschy beachside boutiques across the country. In pursuit of a fabulously campy (and beachy!) seashell print to try as spring turns to summer? You could go the more subtle route and adorn your hair with a comely little seashell clip, like the one we’ve selected from Svnr. Fully committed to the beach vibe? Why not opt for a sapphire blue bathing suit with seashell cups? Want to veer into the territory of unbridled and delightful kitsch? Hvn does a 1940s-esque house dress in bright red dotted with tiny white seashells. Here, go under the sea as spring turns to summer with the kitschiest seashell motifs.