Comedian Hannah Berner Invents Her Own Hamptons Style

For comedian Hannah Berner, Hamptons fashion is meant to be relaxed. Her Hamptons style takes influence from her tennis background and her bold colorful personality.

Berner, known for her podcast “Berning in Hell” and her time on “Summer House,” a reality TV show set in Southampton, lives in the city and weekends in Westhampton.

Her Hamptons wardrobe is different from her Manhattan wardrobe, allowing Berner to spontaneously decide to play volleyball, while also feeling “chic and cute.”

To Berner, Hamptons style is not just about the labels — she even considers too much designer a bad thing.

“Ideal Hamptons fashion is not trying too hard,” she said. “You don’t want to feel like the fashion is wearing you.”

Berner incorporates bold colors into her Hamptons looks, she also loves to blur the lines between masculinity and femininity by adding chunky sneakers to a sundress or a ruffled top with baggy jeans.

Berner grew up spending time on Shelter Island, and she recognizes the different vibe of Shelter Island fashion which is beach ready from East End villages like Westhampton Beach.

She went on to play tennis at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, with a tennis background and a love for playing when she is out east. Berner finds athletic inspired looks perfect for a Hamptons weekend.

“I like mixing in sporty outfits during the day,” Berner said.

“I love the irony of like, ‘No, I’m not going to play Wimbledon right now, but look like I could be,’ and I think in the Hamptons it’s really fun to pull off that look,” she added.

Berner recommends incorporating tennis skirts into a Hamptons wardrobe to allow for comfort and the ability to move around, with hints of a Hamptons chicness.

She said she doesn’t always love the trends, but is finding a lot that she loves right now, including pearls, cutouts, tube tops and crochet dresses. However, Berner does not support low rise jeans in the Hamptons, because she wants to be able to enjoy all of the food, especially lobster rolls.

According to Berner, no Hamptons look is complete without a bag that can get sandy on the beach while also getting carried around the village for shopping or brunch. It should be “a bag for activities.”

“The Hamptons is about adventures,” Berner said.

Berner’s go-to bag is a Telfar shopping bag. “I like having a bag that I don’t mind getting dirty or putting it in the sand,” she added.

Berner likes having everything she needs in the bag. Her bag has sunscreen, a pair of sunglasses that could get lost without heartbreak, and a tinted lip balm, to add a little color after eating a Goldberg’s bagel and hydrate in the Hamptons sun.

Sunglasses are important to Berner, since they make her feel like “an undercover agent on vacation” and make her confident.

She sources her pieces everywhere she goes, finding pieces in Manhattan that will take a residency in her Westhampton closet, and visiting consignment shops in the villages out east.

“I love shopping consignment in the Hamptons because the people who live in the Hamptons have such good taste,” she said.

Berner takes inspiration from Caroline Kennedy in the 1990s, enjoying her classic style and finding ways to make it her own in the Hamptons.

Her navy blue quilted Chanel bag was her first designer bag purchase, found at Ari’s Closet, a consignment bag pop-up in Southampton.

“I remember being like, this is the most Southampton bag,” she noted.

Berner adores a pair of white square toe kitten heels, a combination of trendy and Hamptons. Berner wore these heels to dance on the bar at John Scott’s after her wedding.

She likes to wear bright colors, floral and fun graphic tees, especially one with cats on it. Berner recently began working with a stylist, Britt Theodora, who pushes Berner to create her own trends.

In May, Berner married Des Bishop, who she had met and fall in love with while in the Hamptons, the wedding was at Westhampton Bath and Tennis Club.

“The Hamptons does equate romance and love to me,” Berner said. “Because it’s a place where you can go and relax and enjoy the people around you.”

Her bridal looks were classic with hints of a Hampton flair, from her simple pearl earrings to embellished pearl platform heels that Berner found on Etsy. The looks were understated and modern with elements like the pearls tying everything to the ocean that Berner loves so much.

“I loved fully embracing being a Hamptons bride,” said Berner.

“I loved the angelic, whimsical and beachy feel of the wedding,” she added.

Berner tries to find a mix of her own personality and comfort in her Hamptons style, making her Hamptons style just that — hers.

“It’s less about fitting in and it’s less about Keeping Up with the Joneses, but it’s more about trying something new and being different,” she said. “I dare people to be more experimental with what they want to wear. Have fun with colors, have fun with patterns and ultimately feel confident and comfortable with your outfit.”