Anyone who knows me knows that I have ALWAYS bought the most essential part of my summer uniform – the denim cutoff – at American Eagle. Heck, ALL of my shorts at American Eagle. I don’t even know how I discovered this; it’s not a place I ever even shopped at the age one would ostensibly shop there. I’m guessing it came from desperation: I’ve tried Levi’s. I’ve tried rag & bone. 7forallmankind. Forever21. Acne. And not a pair in the bunch gave me what I was looking for: a pair of shorts that fit snugly but not too tightly, are shorter than I should maybe be wearing at this age and do not (and this ABOVE ALL) even closely resemble those dreaded, too-big mom shorts that I perhaps should be wearing at this age. Enter, if inexplicably, American Eagle.

This summer, however – after searching high and low once again for an alternate purveyor of said shorts and finding myself at AE the literal night before leaving for Montauk for a month – the teeny bopper chain store really outdid itself. I walked out of the store not only with the perfect pair of cutoffs, but also a chambray bomber, a couple of perfectly fitting, soft button downs and boxy t-shirts, a black cotton bralette, a loose blue-and-white striped tank, and a pair of nude leather slides. All for some ridiculously low price, of course. The PSA here? Give AE a look-through, guys. If you can get past the junior-y faux hippie tops and silly ripped skinnies, you’ll find some gems.

SHARING IS CARING: Let us know YOUR PSAs in the comments, pretty please.