The bane of many of our summer existences is calling an electrician – who wants to deal with rewiring when they could be horizontal by the pool instead? Outdoor solar lights, powered entirely by the sun, offer a clever workaround that also happens to be considerably kinder to the planet.
And lately, a few names have been helping these eco-friendly fixtures shake their scientific-sounding reputation. Joanna Gaines debuted an all-woven lantern earlier this season that looks closer to something Jane Birkin might have carried than anything overtly solar-powered. Ballard Designs is illuminating pathways with charming, scalloped in-ground lights, while Anthropologie is dazzling the competition with an Art Nouveau-inspired perforated pendant that gives casual garden gatherings newfound gravitas.
