Full of nautical stripes, immaculately tailored dresses, and bright splashes of azure, our new summer collection encapsulates so much of what we’re craving right now. It’s a breath of fresh air, a moment of levity, a sigh of relief. 

It’s also a little bit unexpected. We’ve made a trench coat from 100% silk. We have better-than-denim shorts (and we’re giving you permission to wear them to work). We have classic business-casual essentials, but in bold hues that will transport you to the shores of a sparkling sea. It’s a collection full of upsides and a healthy dose of fun—which is why we’re calling it The Up Side Down. 

“Everything’s super weird right now, and we have no idea where we’re all headed. But the upside of that is that we can have a shared experience by talking about the weirdness,” says our Art Director, Lauren. “For our photoshoot, we decided to lean into the strangeness of this moment. We thought, let’s make up our own rules and pretend the sky is on the floor. This is our way of talking about the weirdness and finding the upsides of this downtime.”

The art historians among us may notice nods to surrealism. “You’ll see some themes from Dali’s work, like the lobster phone, and also influences from Magritte with the bowler hat. All the props—the glass of water, the umbrella—are classic surrealist images,” says Lauren. (We didn’t have the iconic Dali melting clock on set, but I can’t help but think it would have been a rather perfect metaphor for the Groundhog Day-ness of life in quarantine.)

As for the clothes themselves, you won’t have to look hard to find upsides—but there are a few unexpected bits of greatness you might not catch at first glance. Read on, and we’ll walk you through the highlights.