| I’ve always loved “discreet” fashion: unfussy clothes and bags, worn for years and with care, that I associate with people who are wealthy enough that they don’t have to show it off. I wouldn’t define my personal style as minimalist, necessarily — I have a robust, fairly diverse wardrobe — but I’ve never cared for logos or even anything that was easily identifiable. That resistance to flash has occasionally held me back. For instance, a few years ago, I bought a double-breasted, gold-buttoned, scooped-neck jacket from a then-hot designer, and even though I love it I do feel a bit odd wearing it because it’s such a statement. Recently, I’ve been searching for smaller bags that work better in Los Angeles than my New York bags, which are all big enough to fit a laptop. But I’ve had a tough time finding something I like that doesn’t have a gold-foiled logo displayed on the front. (The only brand where that ever looked good was Celine, for about 10 minutes, and then it never looked good again.) I was shocked to find how rampant this gold stamping still was on high-end, “minimalist” bags nearly five years after it was announced that Phoebe Philo was leaving Celine. For example, there’s a cylinder bag that I really like: It comes in navy and black, but also lipstick red — and is pretty easy to find on sale. I almost bought it the other day for about 40 percent off, but then I realized that on one side the brand’s name was etched in gold. Why? I own another bag from this brand, and on that one the company’s extremely elegant logo is etched into the leather. I just looks so much better. Anyway, I know why I’m like this: I don’t want to come off as a tacky nouveau riche — or nouveau middle class? — person, and there’s probably also an element of not wanting to look like I’m endorsing anything. But my dedication to discretion has been tested since moving to Los Angeles. It’s easy to pack for LA for a week or two: wear your dusty, lightweight clothes and bring a sweater or a leather jacket. When you live here, however, and you’ve lived on the east coast your whole life, and you love coats, and you no longer go to an office every day, it gets harder to create a capsule of “go-tos” that feels right in a city where personal style is all over the place. As one longtime LA resident — who grew up in New York and London — recently told me, there are no rules here because no one would know how to obey them. To say LA isn’t stylish is silly. It’s very stylish, but it’s also pretty cheesy and because everyone essentially lives in a suburb, incoherent. Even on the east side, where I live and where there are some good shops, I can admire the looks but not blend in as well as I do in London or Paris or New York. When we went back to NY for two weeks this spring, I packed so easily and was so comfortable. Here, each time I go to a lunch or a dinner or a park hang, I’m trying to figure out what to wear without looking insane. It could also be that I, like everyone else, have experienced a lot of change over the past two years. I moved to a new city. I had a baby. I’m turning 40. About 10 years ago, I wrote an essay for British Elle about finding my personal style, and really thought I was done. Lol. Like everything else, my style has once again changed — if not completely, enough to stress me out a little.
Recently though, I’ve felt more at ease, probably because I’ve had more practice here. The things that are different about my LA style: I wear a pair of super long designer jeans and cowboy boots almost every time I do anything at night because they look good with a white button down, a denim overshirt or that statement-y jacket I mentioned earlier. I have also started to wear hats — eek! — but mostly baseball caps. I have also started to wear a black Chanel flap bag with gold hardware that I bought more than 10 yeas ago, because it makes sense here. I would not wear this outfit in New York, and that’s fine. This idea that you have to be one thing in order to have personal style is too much for me to handle right now. So please come visit me and my Chanel bag in LA: hopefully by then I’ll also own own a few small clutches that don’t have gold-foiled logos, because that is one flashy thing I cannot embrace.
What I Did:
I've included a selection of stories I've written from the past six months, but I mostly want to tout The Debrief, a podcast I host for The Business of Fashion. Each week, I pick a recent BoF story that feels like a pretty big deal and talk to the writer about how they made it happen. It's great for anyone — BoF subscriber or not — interested in what's going on in the fashion industry and how it relates to popular culture, politics and economics. I hope you will subscribe, like, etc. on Apple, Spotify, wherever.
Searching for the Next Barneys
The Unlikely Return of Accessible Luxury
The Nine Lives of Proenza Schouler
Who Won New York Fashion Week?
At the Academy Awards, New Rules on the Red Carpet
Alexander Wang Plans a Comeback
Is It Time for Gap Inc. to Go Private?
What Elon Musk’s Twitter Bid Signals for Fashion’s Future on Social Media
How Vogue Monetises the Met Gala
Three Threats to Big Luxury
Louis Vuitton’s Shifting Celebrity Strategy
Fashion’s Top M&A Targets
What Happens When Big Companies Buy Cool Ones
How a Little Italian Hotel Became a Global Fashion Brand
Inside the Shakeup at Marc Jacobs
Since this newsletter was about shopping, I figured that I’d share what I read/watch/listen to on the topic. Because I have a lot of friends who are fashion editors, and I actually get most of my advice from texting and DM-ing, and I'm grateful to all those who indulge me. I've tried to include some of their personal work here. I (obviously) like writing about shopping and fashion and consumption, but as an observer. Being a professional recommender is grueling work, and I wholeheartedly admire anyone who manages to actually be good at it.
5 Things You Should Buy Becky is what they call a "market editor": a job that requires a tremendous amount of skill and discipline — and in my opinion, is increasingly undervalued at legacy fashion publications. For the past seven years, Becky has worked at WSJ Off Duty, which turns out the best market report in the business, every single week. Now, she's doing a bunch of things, including editorial styling, personal styling and this newsletter, which is like a micro Lucky magazine.
If you miss Lucky like I do — I actually worked there for a little but was a better reader than employee — A Thing or Two With Claire Mazur and Erica Cerulo is even better. Claire and Erica are my friends because they're very caring and funny and curious, but they are also my friends because they are so smart and knowledgeable about shopping and traveling and art and food. They have a Monday links newsletter, and another on Thursday that's more in-depth. (Recently on Secret Menu, the Thursday newsletter, they shared a bunch of great Airbnbs and other places where they've stayed around the world. As someone who once Single White Female-d one of Erica's vacations, I can tell you they know what they're talking about.) I was also recently a guest on their podcast, where I discussed Dries Van Noten t-shirts and natural-process coffee. Enjoy.
Like Claire and Erica, I've recommended Leandra Medine's newsletter before. It's about a lot more than shopping — I'd say it's mostly about the complexities and weirdness of being a human. But Leandra is another crack market editor, and there are a million styling and shopping ideas in there.
I resisted POOG for some time. The hosts, Jacqueline Novak and Kate Berlant, are both very funny — maybe you've seen Jacqueline's one-woman show, Get on Your Knees? — but they can be fairly theatrical and disorganized in thought. I'm past that now, though, because they talk about all the beauty and wellness and other ridiculous things I'm interested in, like crackers made of psyllium husk and PF50 1970. What really won me over was a rant about an underwhelming experience at Ventana, which is really overrated.
"Lifestyle" videos on YouTube. I don't know how this happened but my husband and I now watch videos featuring this guy Se-ya, a dude in Japan — my guess is that he is a graphic designer at Zozotown or something like that — who documents his various activies in a stylized way. Sometimes he cooks breakfast, other times changes out the doors on his kitchen cabinets, other times he shares what he bought at Uniqlo or Muji. I also enjoy this channel "Parisian Vibe," where pretty French (usually they're French?) women essentially act out those "how to get effortless French style" articles in short videos around the city. Typically, I'm pretty judgmental of their outfits because a cool French girl would never do one of these videos, but I do enjoy them and have also discovered some vintage shops and other resources while watching them.
On Instagram, I like following Maryam Nassir Zadeh, Delphine Del Val, Julee Wilson and Hillary Kerr for shopping inspiration. These people really have nothing in common, other than the fact that I often buy things they wear or recommend.
If you got this far and you're a guy, want recommendations for things to buy for a guy, or simply want a guy's POV, I once again suggest Michael Williams' fantastic newsletter or this New York magazine column by Chris Black, two people who have helped me purchase things for my husband that he actually uses.
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