Mara Hoffman’s Summer Signals
The designer, photographer and eternal seeker on skin, frogsong, silk slips and why she’s no longer interested in defining herself by one thing.
There are certain women who seem to exist in permanent dialogue with summer. Mara Hoffman is one of them. For years, the legendary designer built a world of sun-faded sensuality through her eponymous swim and resort wear collections: clothes designed for saltwater skin, late nights and bodies in motion. Then, at the height of the brand’s success, she chose to walk away from it. Not out of failure, but out of instinct. A desire to move closer towards a life and creative practice that felt slower, more mindful and more emotionally honest.
Now, Hoffman is entering a new chapter, one less concerned with selling objects and more interested in image, feeling and memory. Her latest project reframes more than a decade of photography, visual language and art direction through a different lens. “It’s not about the transaction anymore,” she tells me. “It’s about the feeling and the imagery and the emotion of it all.” But for Hoffman, this evolution is not about stepping into some neatly packaged new persona. “I’m actually very uninterested in declaring some fixed new identity through it,” she says. “I’m much more interested in the idea of ‘and’ instead of ‘I am.’ Everything feels iterative to me right now. I don’t want to get locked into the density of one thing.”
Speaking from her home in upstate New York, Hoffman describes a life lived close to nature and even closer to intuition. Summer, for her, arrives not through calendars or holidays but through sensation: the sound of frogs outside her window, orange lilies appearing beside the road, the return of a worn black silk slip dress, warm skin in the midday sun. Here, she shares the rituals, scents, objects and small sacred moments that signal the changing of the seasons for her.
JOIN THE RITUAL. SIGN UP FOR EXCLUSIVE CONTENT, EXPERT INSIGHTS,
RITUALS, STORIES, NEW LAUNCHES & EXPERIENCES
by Maya Boyd
The Slip Dress
“I have this one vintage Natori black slip. It’s this little nineties silk dress that I’ve worn for so many years and it’s sort of like, when that dress comes out, either because I’m going somewhere warm or the season has changed. I live in that dress. It’s just this whisper of a silk dress. Basically, like being naked. It covers my parts and that’s about it. No matter how many years go by, people always ask me, ‘What is this dress?’ I wear it with a little flat gladiator sandal, like a recycled leather hippie shoe. It has this beautiful low back and it just does the thing. It feels like an apology of a dress.”
Summer skin
“I’m such a skin person. I love the states of undress. I also love being warm and bundled but, as we move into summer, I love being in my skin. I love my skin being the most visible part of my existence and how I present. There’s something about summer where I want everything stripped back. I don’t want density. I want to feel the warmth on my body. I want skin to be the thing. Summer always feels like returning to something very natural and very honest for me.”
The White Chair
“I live in the woods in Stormville and my house is surrounded by trees. It’s the architecture is all wood and tropical plants and I’m on this lake and there’s this white chair outside on the deck. As soon as there’s even the tiniest warm day, I’m naked on that white chair all day long. That’s summer to me. My happiest place is like a snake on a rock. Like a lizard. Then, as soon as the shade comes, I go back inside.”
The Chorus of the Frogs
“One of the biggest markers of summer for me is the frogs. We have all these frogs around the lake and once they start singing, the season has begun.
I sleep with the door open because I want to hear them. And then I keep the door open every night until the frogs stop singing in the fall. That’s a very big one for me. Summer has a sound before it has anything else.
Scent
“I bought this beautiful scent in Copenhagen recently and I’ve been wearing it constantly. It’s called XXXX. I’ve been layering it with this little oil from The Class that Taryn Toomey made for me and together they’ve become my summer fragrance. But honestly, the scent of summer for me is lilies and skin and olive oil and warm air. That’s what I want everything to smell like.”
The Williamsburg Bridge
“I split my time between the woods and my home in Brooklyn and one of my sweet spots in the city during summer is walking the Williamsburg Bridge. It’s obviously the opposite of nature, but there’s something really cathartic about that walk.
There’s this beautiful arc to it where you can emotionally go into the bridge and come out different on the other side. When you get to the middle there’s this little push and then suddenly, you’re arriving somewhere else. It feels energetic. Like a shift happens while you’re walking.”
Orange Lilies
“There are these orange wild lilies that grow all around where I live and that’s always a huge marker of summer for me. Suddenly they’re everywhere and everything changes. I also love having lilies inside the house. I love that smell. In summer my whole house smells like fresh flowers and lilies and warm air coming through the windows.”
New York Summer Nights
“There’s such a specific New York City summer energy that I love. It’s hot and sexy and everybody’s outside and half-dressed and there’s this feeling that the whole city is moving together. Eating out in New York in the summer is so sweet because you see everybody. There’s this looseness to the city. Everything spills onto the street and suddenly the night feels endless.”
Mindful Hosting
“I’m not really a big host. I’m not interested in huge, organised dinners or creating a perfect scene. I’m much more into intimate hosting. Come here. Stay here with me. Build an altar. Let’s talk. I like things to feel close and personal and a little undone. That feels much more aligned with how I want to live now. Less performance. More presence.”
Letting Things Flow
“Last summer we went to Japan and this summer we were maybe going to go to Spain, but honestly, I’m leaving everything really open right now. I’m just not interested in forcing movement or buying tickets months ahead and locking into a plan. I think I’m in a moment in my life where I want to see what naturally flows in instead of over-structuring everything.”
by Maya Boyd
The Slip Dress
“I have this one vintage Natori black slip. It’s this little nineties silk dress that I’ve worn for so many years and it’s sort of like, when that dress comes out, either because I’m going somewhere warm or the season has changed. I live in that dress. It’s just this whisper of a silk dress. Basically, like being naked. It covers my parts and that’s about it. No matter how many years go by, people always ask me, ‘What is this dress?’ I wear it with a little flat gladiator sandal, like a recycled leather hippie shoe. It has this beautiful low back and it just does the thing. It feels like an apology of a dress.”
Summer skin
“I’m such a skin person. I love the states of undress. I also love being warm and bundled but, as we move into summer, I love being in my skin. I love my skin being the most visible part of my existence and how I present. There’s something about summer where I want everything stripped back. I don’t want density. I want to feel the warmth on my body. I want skin to be the thing. Summer always feels like returning to something very natural and very honest for me.”
The White Chair
“I live in the woods in Stormville and my house is surrounded by trees. It’s the architecture is all wood and tropical plants and I’m on this lake and there’s this white chair outside on the deck. As soon as there’s even the tiniest warm day, I’m naked on that white chair all day long. That’s summer to me. My happiest place is like a snake on a rock. Like a lizard. Then, as soon as the shade comes, I go back inside.”
The Chorus of the Frogs
“One of the biggest markers of summer for me is the frogs. We have all these frogs around the lake and once they start singing, the season has begun.
I sleep with the door open because I want to hear them. And then I keep the door open every night until the frogs stop singing in the fall. That’s a very big one for me. Summer has a sound before it has anything else.
Scent
“I bought this beautiful scent in Copenhagen recently and I’ve been wearing it constantly. It’s called XXXX. I’ve been layering it with this little oil from The Class that Taryn Toomey made for me and together they’ve become my summer fragrance. But honestly, the scent of summer for me is lilies and skin and olive oil and warm air. That’s what I want everything to smell like.”
The Williamsburg Bridge
“I split my time between the woods and my home in Brooklyn and one of my sweet spots in the city during summer is walking the Williamsburg Bridge. It’s obviously the opposite of nature, but there’s something really cathartic about that walk.
There’s this beautiful arc to it where you can emotionally go into the bridge and come out different on the other side. When you get to the middle there’s this little push and then suddenly, you’re arriving somewhere else. It feels energetic. Like a shift happens while you’re walking.”
Orange Lilies
“There are these orange wild lilies that grow all around where I live and that’s always a huge marker of summer for me. Suddenly they’re everywhere and everything changes. I also love having lilies inside the house. I love that smell. In summer my whole house smells like fresh flowers and lilies and warm air coming through the windows.”
New York Summer Nights
“There’s such a specific New York City summer energy that I love. It’s hot and sexy and everybody’s outside and half-dressed and there’s this feeling that the whole city is moving together. Eating out in New York in the summer is so sweet because you see everybody. There’s this looseness to the city. Everything spills onto the street and suddenly the night feels endless.”
Mindful Hosting
“I’m not really a big host. I’m not interested in huge, organised dinners or creating a perfect scene. I’m much more into intimate hosting. Come here. Stay here with me. Build an altar. Let’s talk. I like things to feel close and personal and a little undone. That feels much more aligned with how I want to live now. Less performance. More presence.”
Letting Things Flow
“Last summer we went to Japan and this summer we were maybe going to go to Spain, but honestly, I’m leaving everything really open right now. I’m just not interested in forcing movement or buying tickets months ahead and locking into a plan. I think I’m in a moment in my life where I want to see what naturally flows in instead of over-structuring everything.”
DON’T MISS
