Heat Wave Duds

CURRENT CONDITIONS

• Worth reading: The Billionaires’ Vagina Club

• Fashion That Makes Us Want Again, Cathy Horyn. We miss desire!

• I put Ten Rails, everything you need to host or sell at a closet sale, out in the world last week. Coming up next: a checklist for organizers to stay on top of all the things and I’m hosting an NYC sale with friends! Stay tuned.

• I made a website for work: annazgray.org

• If you sell vintage, sign up for my vintage vendor directory so I can email when I have a job that fits your vibe.

Sports

Sports as an outlet for hetero men to express their feelings is an old study but I have a thought kernel forming about its current wider impact and our collective desperate longing for camaraderie. This Summer of Sport has thrown our need for communal connection -despite crowds, heat waves, mis-matched language, continent-as-host for the World Cup - into sharp relief. Did you see the video of the Argentinian fans trying to find the guy who lost his wallet? Beautiful. The crowds at every fifa game are packed with the teams’ fans even in Monterrey, Mexico (I had to look up where that is). It feels more palpably important than it has in past years and it smarts of… childhood simplicity? The Knicks’ Championship transformed NYC into a huge, heaving hug for a week. The way that people are crowding bars and sidewalks to watch these games feels heightened in a way that I’ve never witnessed. It’s very moving but also sad because it’s a symptom of the abusive bread-crumbing we’ve been subject to for the last ~decade. When everything feels bad you get really, really excited for the one thing that feels good.

And, stick with me, I’m also noticing that compliments from strangers are changing in a similar fashion. What was, “I love your bag” is now, “I love your bag. Where is it from?” And I think the great flattening, the sameness that we’re seeing proliferate, is a desire to be close to one another. Not (just) a laziness or an algorithmic swallowing. We’re starved and mutilated by isolation and this new vacuum of non-thinking. The absolute joy of connection found in seeing someone in a similar outfit/item has always been a real thing - it’s why you get dressed together to go out; to show you’re part of a pack, visually; why we seek out pieces that are wearable versions of our insides.

Now that everything is available everywhere, Tabis are ubiquitous and customers are stuck in decision paralysis. I think this accounts for the resurgence of Tory Burch. It definitely explains the rise in cute jerseys for the girls and why Chanel is taking all of the attention. Men/sports fans have been using team jerseys as signals for community this whole time and they have never been the main demographic for interesting fashion or style.

We’re all waiting for something to win or lose so we have a place to tidily put our feelings; scared and reduced and any thread that binds will do. I’m glad we still have threads left but we do need to get back to individual POVs.

TBH, Substacked lists of things to buy is not in service of my message but I have made you one anyway (use for inspo!!):

Summer Weight Goods

Silk, cotton, linen are our friends when the temperatures reach triple digits - they breathe. Here are some good taste things for you to wear in 98 degree weather and beyond.

1. I love beading. This one needs some repairs but is well worth the trip to your tailor. 1930s!!

2. Piano shawls are having a real moment, huh? This one is from Fernandah. So are chinoiserie jackets with fur collars.

3. Metaphor for your maturation. Vintage silk

4. I am not sure what this is but I like it. I think it’s a dress with a removable apron?

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