Picnicking Is the New Brunch—Here's What to Wear for Your Next One

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(Image credit: @shhtephs)

When the weather is warm and the restaurants are packed, what better activity than to hit the park or the beach for a picnic? Once you pack the spread—tons of cheese included—all that's left is finding the perfect picnic look. While snacking in the park is among the more relaxed activities you can do this summer, there's still some draw we have to figure out what to wear on a picnic. In fact, coordinating your look to the activity might just be half the fun.

If you share our sentiment, you're in luck. Below we're highlighting the essentials that seem to embody the picnic aesthetic through and through. From summery white dresses to on-trend wicker baskets, these pieces will have all your friends gratuitously snapping your photo as you soak up the sun and snack on watermelon like it's no big thing. So keep your eye on the weather app and prepare for your next park visit with the options below.

Airy Dresses

There's nothing that ties together the picnic of your dreams like a fashionable airy dress. Cottagecore took over the fashion scene last summer, and it seems like it's still the look for the summer.

White Tops

Whether you wear it with a skirt or jeans, you should always have a white top on hand. Bonus points if it has a puff sleeve.

SIlk Scarves

Tie a silk scarf around your neck, as a headwrap, or even as an accent on your picnic basket. Either way, it'll look chic.

Gingham

While many of us may not carry checked picnic blankets anymore, we can still incorporate the print into our outfit for the occasion.

Straw Bags

There are picnic baskets, but what about picnic bags? Straw style bags just go with the occasion, don't you think?

Hats

Summer's warm weather comes with extra sun rays, so keep yourself protected with SPF and a cute hat.

Comfy Shoes

Heels may look good for Instagram, but they're just not ideal on a picnic. Stick to a more flat shoe like slides or low-heeled sandals.

Now you're ready to head off to a picnic this weekend.

Next, I Miss Traveling, so I'm Stalking Old Celebrity Vacation Outfits to Get My Fix

Assistant Market Editor
Yusra Siddiqui is an editor who resides in New Jersey but bounces between the suburbs and NYC. (She's a Jersey girl at heart.) After interning at Who What Wear in 2019, she found her way to the team after graduating from LIM College in 2022 with a fashion media degree. She's also spent time writing and working for publications such as Fashionista, Coveteur, and Nylon, but she always knew that Who What Wear was where she was meant to be. When she's on the job, she's perusing runway shows, analyzing the latest thing fellow Gen Zers are up to on the internet, and sharing what she can about the modest-fashion market. You can also catch her dabbling in entertainment, talking about the costume choices of the latest Netflix series or diving deeper into how the plotline affects the viewers in a myriad of ways. Lastly, she likes to create content for Who What Wear's TikTok. Her personal time is spent doing similar but also different things—deep diving into almost every new TV show (Bridgerton, Gilmore Girls, and Stranger Things are favorites), planning her next local getaway (whenever that may be), and reading the latest Emily Henry or Sally Rooney novel in one sitting.