Summer style is less about trends and more about transcendence.
This season allows for a sense of playfulness and freedom. My astrological placements—Cancer Sun, Aries Rising, and Aquarius Moon—influence my adventurous style, yet I also rely on a set of reliable, foolproof pieces. Everyone has such a collection of staples, and they are the foundation of a consistent and harmonious personal style.
Style Tips from 8 Creatives Who Are Owning Summer
With that in mind, we asked eight dynamic creatives—from New York to Los Angeles—to break down the summer outfits that make them feel most radiant, powerful, and fully aligned with their highest selves.
These women are dressing for ease, for expression, and for every mood that warm weather brings—whether it’s sprinklers at the park, rooftop hangs, or midday outfit changes on the fly.
“Every day is different, but if I had to dig deep into my core, my go-to look is some type of tank, long short, and a cool shoe. Seems basic, but trust—every piece speaks for itself in my closet. I’m a statement piece girl.”
Her Summer Staples: A fun sandal (think colorful dad sandal with a twist—like her furry pink Marni pair), bold earrings, and lots of layered jewelry to make up for the lack of layers in warm weather.
Style Signature: Bold colors and geometric patterns.
Her Tip for the Gworlz: “Keep trying new things each season—you’ll figure out what’s definitely for you and what’s not.”
Artist | New York City, NY
Courtesy
“I’m a mom, so tulle is perfect. It dries quickly after splash parks, it’s hard to stain, breathable—and still brings drama and ease equally.”
Her Summer Staples: Tulle dresses or skirts, novelty crossbody bags (“One looks like a pack of ramen!”), and stylish clogs that give height without sacrificing comfort.
How She Accessorizes: Always a hat (she’s bald and prioritizes sun protection) and oversized sunglasses for drama.
Style Signature: All the prints—floral, animal, geometric—and a fearless use of color.
Her Tip for the Gworlz: “Show up and show out in what makes YOU feel good. Find silhouettes that work for your body and make them your signature.”
Kerstina Renee (she/her)
Creative Partner | Brooklyn, NY
Courtesy
“I wait all year for summer so I can have my legs out! I feel my most radiant in anything that puts them front and center.”
Her Summer Staples: Minimalist yet edgy pieces—think sheer tops, short shorts, mini dresses, and lace-up sandals that add height.
How She Accessorizes: Statement bags, rings that dial up any outfit, and pieces that can flex from errands to lunch dates.
Style Signature: Neutral tones, bold colors, pastels, geometric and animal prints.
Her Tip for the Gworlz: “Dress for you first. Yes, you can wear that to buy groceries. Your style is your expression—have fun with it.”
Ilianna Ayala Garcia (she/her)
Plus Size Model & Content Creator | New York City, NY
Courtesy
“Summer style for me is ease, glow, and effort that feels effortless. A flowy skirt or dress, body shimmer, SPF, and I’m that girl.”
Her Summer Staples: Zelie For She halter maxis, Birkenstocks or Dolce Vita block heels, Lorvae and DEZI sunglasses, and Villa Fresca swimwear. Oh—and a portable fan is always in hand.
How She Accessorizes: Layered necklaces, statement earrings, dainty anklets, and headwraps for both fashion and function.
Style Signature: Soft pastels, animal prints, and silhouettes that highlight ease and confidence.
Her Tip for the Gworlz: “For my plus-size beauties: anti-chafing shorts from Thigh Society or Megababe’s stick. Also, grab a micro tagging gun to discreetly secure undergarments—freedom to move without worry!”
Zewiditu Jewel (she/her)
Co-Owner, Cloudy Donut Co. | New York City, NY
Courtesy
“I never imagined I’d become a traditional woman in the sense that what works for me is for me. I don’t dress for the season—I dress for myself.”
Her Summer Staples: A crisp, controlled palette of black, white, and denim with occasional beige. Her beloved chocolate brown Row loafers and an ongoing hunt for the perfect white shoe.
How She Accessorizes: With timeless impact—her signature red lip, MAC’s “Ruby Woo,” which she’s been wearing since 2002.
Style Signature: White, black, denim—with yellow as her seasonal spirit color.
Her Tip for the Gworlz: “You are that girl. Anytime you need a reminder, look in the mirror. Everything you’ve been through, everything you’ve done. Own that sht. Wear that sht.”
Joelle Everett (she/her)
Brooklyn, NY
Courtesy
“I love the big-bottom, small-top silhouette. Not only do I find it super flattering, I would describe my style as a mix of masculine and feminine, so a cute crop top with baggy jeans, or jorts, and a small tank is my go-to.”
Her Summer Staples: As a huge sneakerhead, her Sambas and Onitsuka Tigers are in heavy rotation alongside trucker and bucket hats which is absolutely hair dependent.
How She Accessorizes: Necklaces. She loves a good stack.
Style Signature: Neutral tones, animal prints, jewel tones are her absolute faves (deep purple, navy blues, forest greens, amber) — she thinks they look expensive, but are still colorful and fun.
Her Tip for the Gworlz: “Your style should be a personal reflection of who you are and how you feel. Every time I get dressed, I think about the fact that I'm communicating with people without having to say anything. I use my outfits as an opportunity to send messages and speak without talking.”
Tracey Wiley (she/her)
Digital Creator | New Orleans, LA
Courtesy
“When it comes to my summer uniform, give me all the color, flow, and breeze-friendly fabric! Living in New Orleans, the heat doesn’t play fair — so I don’t even try to fight it in anything clingy. My go-to? A beautiful, bold, and colorful maxi dress. It's effortless, breathable, and moves with me (not against me).”
Her Summer Staples: Right now, she’s been carrying her àjò wallet by Awelewa By Monica everywhere. It’s functional and stylish. She can't live without a linen set from Zara.
How She Accessorizes: For jewelry: big rings, stacked bangles and a bold necklace, sunglasses, and a good head scarf for effortless glam.
Style Signature: Neutral tones, bold colors, animal prints.
Her Tip for the Gworlz: “Wear them clothes, sis! Be confident in them and have fun with your wardrobe. Don’t be afraid to play with color, mix high and low pieces, or bold prints. Dress for how YOU want to feel, not just how you want to look. And please stop saving your ‘good clothes’ for a special occasion! Every day is an occasion.”
Tristan Swimms (she/her)
Co-owner of The Common Collective | Denver, CO
Courtesy
“I enjoy a mini short with crispy ankle socks, Wales Bonner Sambas and a vintage baby tee. I feel the prettiest when my fit gives sexy and comfortable — with a cool mix of brands I appreciate.”
Her Summer Staples: Must-haves include mini shorts or bloomer shorts, thin vintage baby tees, Sambas, oversized Stüssy zip-ups, baggy Japanese denim, colorful one-shoulder crop tops, backless tops, tennis skirts, and strappy platform shoes.
How She Accessorizes: It’s always gold jewelry for Tristan. She advises that you find you a good pawn shop for the best value of real gold.
Style Signature: Bold colors and denim, prioritizing a mix of sexy and comfortable styles.
Her Tip for the Gworlz: “Find your confidence in the balance between sexy and comfortable. The fit doesn’t always have to match — but it should spark compliments that start conversations.”
The Common Thread?
These style stars may vary in aesthetic, but the thread that runs through each of their summer uniforms is the same: intentionality, expression, and comfort. Whether you’re a statement-piece maximalist or a neutral-loving minimalist, there’s one rule this season: wear what makes you feel free.
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Featured image courtesy of Tristan Swimms/@tristanswimms
RELATED
So, we handpicked one hundred It Girls who embody that palpable It Factor moving through us as young Black women, the kind of motion lighting up the world both IRL and across the internet.
It Girl 100 became xoNecole’s most successful program, with the hashtag organically reaching more than forty million impressions on Instagram in just twenty-four hours. Yes, it caught on like wildfire because we celebrated some of the most brilliant and influential GenZennial women of color setting trends and shaping culture. But more than that, it resonated because the women we celebrated felt seen.
Many were already known in their industries for keeping this generation fly and lit, but rarely received recognition or flowers. It Girl 100 became a safe space to be uplifted, and for us as Black women to bask in what felt like an era of our brilliance, beauty, and boundless influence on full display.
And then, almost overnight, it was as if the rug was pulled from under us as Black women, as the It Girls of the world.
Our much-needed, much-deserved season of ease and soft living quickly metamorphosed into a time of self-preservation and survival. Our motion and economic progression seemed strategically slowed, our light under siege.
The air feels heavier now. The headlines colder. Our Black girl magic is being picked apart and politicized for simply existing.
With that climate shift, as we prepare to launch our second annual It Girl 100 honoree list, our team has had to dig deep on the purpose and intention behind this year’s list. Knowing the spirit of It Girl 100 is about motion, sauce, strides, and progression, how do we celebrate amid uncertainty and collective grief when the juice feels like it is being squeezed out of us?
As we wrestled with that question, we were reminded that this tension isn’t new. Black women have always had to find joy in the midst of struggle, to create light even in the darkest corners. We have carried the weight of scrutiny for generations, expected to be strong, to serve, to smile through the sting. But this moment feels different. It feels deeply personal.
We are living at the intersection of liberation and backlash. We are learning to take off our capes, to say no when we are tired, to embrace softness without apology.
And somehow, the world has found new ways to punish us for it.
In lifestyle, women like Kayla Nicole and Ayesha Curry have been ridiculed for daring to choose themselves. Tracee Ellis Ross was labeled bitter for speaking her truth about love. Meghan Markle, still, cannot breathe without critique.
In politics, Kamala Harris, Letitia James, and Jasmine Crockett are dragged through the mud for standing tall in rooms not built for them.
In sports, Angel Reese, Coco Gauff, and Taylor Townsend have been reminded that even excellence will not shield you from racism or judgment.
In business, visionaries like Diarrha N’Diaye-Mbaye and Melissa Butler are fighting to keep their dreams alive in an economy that too often forgets us first.
Even our icons, Beyoncé, Serena, and SZA, have faced criticism simply for evolving beyond the boxes society tried to keep them in.
From everyday women to cultural phenoms, the pattern is the same. Our light is being tested.
And yet, somehow, through it all, we are still showing up as that girl, and that deserves to be celebrated.
Because while the world debates our worth, we keep raising our value. And that proof is all around us.
This year alone, Naomi Osaka returned from motherhood and mental health challenges to reach the semifinals of the US Open. A’ja Wilson claimed another MVP, reminding us that beauty and dominance can coexist. Brandy and Monica are snatching our edges on tour. Kahlana Barfield Brown sold out her new line in the face of a retailer that had been canceled. And Melissa Butler’s company, The Lip Bar, is projecting a forty percent surge in sales.
We are no longer defining strength by how much pain we can endure. We are defining it by the unbreakable light we continue to radiate.
We are the women walking our daily steps and also continuing to run solid businesses. We are growing in love, taking solo trips, laughing until it hurts, raising babies and ideas, drinking our green juice, and praying our peace back into existence.
We are rediscovering the joy of rest and realizing that softness is not weakness, it is strategy.
And through it all, we continue to lift one another. Emma Grede is creating seats at the table. Valeisha Butterfield has started a fund for jobless Black women. Arian Simone is leading in media with fearless conviction. We are pouring into each other in ways the world rarely sees but always feels.
So yes, we are in the midst of societal warfare. Yes, we are being tested. Yes, we are facing economic strain, political targeting, and public scrutiny. But even war cannot dim a light that is divinely ours.
And we are still shining.
And we are still softening.
And we are still creating.
And we are still It.
That is the quiet magic of Black womanhood, our ability to hold both truth and triumph in the same breath, to say yes, and to life’s contradictions.
It is no coincidence that this year, as SheaMoisture embraces the message “Yes, And,” they stand beside us as partners in celebrating this class of It Girls. Because that phrase, those two simple words, capture the very essence of this moment.
Yes, we are tired. And we are still rising.
Yes, we are questioned. And we are the answer.
Yes, we are bruised. And we are still beautiful.
This year’s It Girl 100 is more than a list. It is a love letter to every Black woman who dares to live out loud in a world that would rather she whisper. This year’s class is living proof of “Yes, And,” women who are finding ways to thrive and to heal, to build and to rest, to lead and to love, all at once.
It is proof that our joy is not naive, our success not accidental. It is the reminder that our light has never needed permission.
So without further ado, we celebrate the It Girl 100 Class of 2025–2026.
We celebrate the millions of us who keep doing it with grace, grit, and glory.
Because despite it all, we still shine.
Because we are still her.
Because we are still IT, girl.
Meet all 100 women shaping culture in the It Girl 100 Class of 2025. View the complete list of honorees here.
Featured image by xoStaff
Then there were those who gave up their zip code altogether and found a permanent home in the skies. After years spent recruiting students for a university, Lisa-Gaye Shakespeare became a full-time travel influencer and founded her travel company, Shakespeare Agency. And she's not alone.
These stories mirror the experiences of women across the world. For millions, the pandemic induced a seismic shift in priorities and desires. Corporate careers that were once hailed as the ultimate “I made it” moment in one's career were pushed to the back burner as women quit their jobs in search of a more self-fulfilling purpose.
xoNecole spoke to these three Black women who used the pandemic as a springboard to make their wildest dreams a reality, the lessons they learned, and posed the question of whether they’ll ever return to cubicle life.
Answers have been edited for context and length.
xoNecole: How did the pandemic lead to you leaving the cubicle?
Randi: I was becoming stagnant. I was working in mortgage and banking but I felt like my personality was too big for that job! From there, I transitioned to radio but was laid off during the pandemic. That’s what made me go full throttle with entrepreneurship.
Gabrielle: I moved around a lot for work. Five times over a span of seven years. I knew I needed a break because I had experienced so much. So, I just quit one day. Effective immediately. I didn’t know what I was going to do, I just knew I needed a break and to just regroup.
Lisa-Gaye: I was working in recruiting at a university and my dream job just kind of fell into my lap! But, I never got to fully enjoy it before the world shut down in March [2020] and I was laid off. On top of that, I was stuck in Miami because Jamaica had closed its borders due to the pandemic before I was able to return.
Randi O
xoN: Tell us about your journey after leaving Corporate America.
Randi: I do it all now! I have a podcast, I’m an on-air talent, I act, and I own a public relations company that focuses on social media engagement. It’s all from my network. When you go out and start a business, you can’t just say, “Okay I’m done with Corporate America,” and “Let me do my own thing.” If you don’t build community, if you don’t build a network it's going to be very hard to sustain.
Gabrielle: I realized in New York, there was not a lot to do for Black lesbians and queer folks. We don’t really have dedicated bars and spaces so I started doing events and it took off. I started focusing on my brand, Raw Honey. I opened a co-working space, and I was able to host an NYC Pride event in front of 100,000 people. I hit the ground running with Raw Honey. My events were all women coming to find community and come together with other lesbians and queer folks. I found my purpose in that.
Lisa-Gaye: After being laid off, I wrote out all of my passions and that’s how I came up with [my company] Shakespeare Agency. It was all of the things that I loved to do under one umbrella. The pandemic pulled that out of me. I had a very large social media following, so I pitched to hotels that I would feature them on my blog and social media. This reignited my passion for travel. I took the rest of the year to refocus my brand to focus solely on being a content creator within the travel space.
Gabrielle
xoN: What have you learned about yourself during your time as an entrepreneur?
Randi: [I learned] the importance of my network and community that I created. When I was laid off I was still keeping those relationships with people that I used to work with. So it was easy for me to transition into social media management and I didn’t have to start from scratch.
Gabrielle: The biggest thing I learned about myself was my own personal identity as a Black lesbian and how much I had assimilated into straight and corporate culture and not being myself. Now, I feel comfortable and confident being my authentic self. Now, I'm not sacrificing anything else for my career. I have a full life. I have friends. I have a social life. And when you are happy and have a full quality of life, I feel like [I] can have more longevity in my career.
Lisa-Gaye: [I'm doing] the best that I've ever done. The discipline that I’m building within myself. Nobody is saying, ‘Oh you have to be at work at this time.’ There’s no boss saying, ‘Why are you late?’ But, if I’m laying in bed at 10 a.m. then it's me saying [to myself], 'Okay, Lisa, get up, it's time for you to start working!’ That’s all on me.
xoNecole: What mistakes do you want to help people avoid when leaving Corporate America?
Randi: You have to learn about the highs and lows of entrepreneurship. You have a fast season and a slow season and I started to learn that when you're self-employed the latter season hits hard. Don't get caught up on the lows, just keep going and don't stop. I’m glad I did.
Gabrielle: I think everyone should quit their job and just figure it out for a second. You will discover so much about yourself when you take a second to just focus on you. Your skill set will always be there. You can’t be afraid of what will happen when you bet on yourself.
Lisa-Gaye: When it comes to being an influencer the field is saturated and a lot of people suffer from imposter syndrome. There is nothing wrong with being an imposter but find out how to make it yours, how to make it better. If you go to the store, you see 10 million different brands of bread! But you are choosing the brand that you like because you like that particular flavor.
So be an imposter, but be the best imposter of yourself and add your own flair, your own flavor. Make the better bread. The bread that you want.
Lisa-Gaye Shakespeare
xoNecole: Will you ever return to your 9 to 5?
Randi: I wouldn’t go back to Corporate America. But I don’t mind working under someone. A lot of people try to get into this business saying, “I can't work under anyone.” That’s not necessarily the reason to start a business because you're always going to answer to somebody. Clients, brands, there’s always someone else involved.
Gabrielle: I went back! I really needed a break and I gave myself that. But, I realized I’m a corporate girl, [and] I enjoy the work that I do. I’m good at it and I really missed that side of myself. I have different sides of me and my whole identity is not Raw Honey or my queerness. A big side of me is business and that’s why I love having my career. Now I feel like my best self.
Lisa-Gaye: I really don’t. For right now, I love working for myself. It's gratifying, it's challenging, it's exciting. It’s a big deal for me to say I own my own business. That I am my own boss, and I'm a Black woman doing it.
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Featured image courtesy of Lisa-Gaye Shakespeare
Originally published on February 6, 2023