I had quite a busy week, full of more personal endeavors than just a string of events. In fact, I think I skipped a few events I had RSVP’d for (sorry :( ) in favor of things like getting to see Isaac Mizrahi perform at 54 Below, which felt like the right level of levity one needs when it’s so easy to get bogged down and wallow in the mishegas.
Yes, he got political, but the way Isaac talks about politics allows you to revel in the absurdity rather than feel, well, bad. He told this one story about going to a No Kings march in Bridgehampton and clocked how absurd that phrasing even sounded. But aside from his quick, witty humor, he actually sounded fantastic. He started off with “I’ll Plant My Own Tree,” which is from Valley of the Dolls, and if you have obsessively watched Unzipped like I have, you know there’s this vignette of him quoting a line from the movie to the point of ad nauseam.
Aside from my time below Studio 54, I also started taking swimming lessons, which you would think as an adult I would harbor some embarrassment about, but I find it quite reassuring that no matter your age, you can learn a new skill. I also had the immense pleasure of dining at one of my favorite restaurants in the city, Odeon, not once BUT TWICE. Wooohooo, I felt so indulgent! And to zig back to the culture stuff, I had the chance to stop by the International Center of Photography to see the Yves Saint Laurent exhibition, which was truly divine! To see Avedon’s Dovima with Elephants that close, or even the Guy Bourdin shots of the Ballets Russes collection, which have this rather mirage-like effect to them, was stunning!
Today’s send-out is the second edition of CYAS using this new format, which I quite like, and if you have opinions, feel free to share them or DM me. But I figured I should give just a bit of background on the different sections as you make your way through. So, the newsletter is divided into “In My Home,” which I feel is pretty self-explanatory; “In My Cart,” which, to me, is made up of the items that have come into my purview rather recently and that I’m considering buying but am still waiting to pull the trigger on; and the “On My Mind” section, which is a bit more fluid. Sometimes it can be another round of items, but rather than being on the more impulsive side like “In My Cart,” these are things that I’ve had in my shopping bag for quite some time. This section could also be about a trend fixation, an exploration spurred by the runways, or just a personal obsession of my own…it’s truly dealer’s choice.
Now that we have that out of the way, let’s get into today’s list.
I did an awful job when it came to packing for my recent trip, which basically means I threw in a bunch of things a few hours before I had to head out and hoped for the best. But being that I was on a retreat and there was no real need to get too dressed up, I practically wore the same four pieces on repeat, including this popover shirt that was ooo so cozy, especially at night when there was just the slightest tinge of chill. I know the corduroy may be a deterrent for some, with it still being August and all, but it’s a nice, lightweight cord that won’t overheat you during these last few weeks of summer and will serve as a nice layer when it comes time to do so.
I had time to kill Saturday morning, so obviously I used that time to shop the If Basement Sale, which happens twice a year and is, I would say, quite legendary. I first heard about it when I was interning at V Magazine, back when the office was on Mercer and not that far from the store. I remember the editor I was working under skipped a meeting just to go to the sale and came back with a great blue patchwork CDG shirt.
I think the key to going to the sale is to go in without a plan, similar to thrifting. If you go in with a clear vision of what you are looking for, you close yourself off from other options that may surpass what you were originally hunting for. I have been wanting this Dries top since it hit store floors, but something in me always resisted buying it and knew I could hold out for sale season, and thankfully, the shopping goddess blessed me. I love that it has this somewhat swashbuckling quality to the ruffles, which could have easily gone a more saccharine route. And when I was trying it on, I knew the first outfit I wanted to wear it with was a pair of cargo shorts and either these Birkenstocks, which I bought last year and rediscovered in my closet this month, or a prissy little kitten heel like this.
$665 at MyTheresa | $570 at Net-A-Porter
I believe I have mentioned this before, but I shall just say it once more: my color scheme for my living/dining room is yellow, green, blue, and grey, which means I’ve been on the hunt for the perfect tablecloth to replace the makeshift red runner I made using a strip of fabric from Marimekko that I just unraveled and plopped on the table rather unceremoniously. The runner quickly became a tad ragged, and I realized that I don’t think I actually love the print I got. I have somewhat of a sordid history with tablecloths because I just remember my family getting those cheap vinyl-type ones, which would ultimately develop holes and tears that would grow each time we used them, and we would go years without replacing them.
Being that I have this beautiful MCM table in a gorgeous reddish brown, I couldn’t fathom covering it up, but I also know myself, and I have already nicked it here and there, plus there is some heat damage, so the best bet is just to cover it. I like this tablecloth from Chamois because it has all the colors I have in mind for the scheme of the room, but the floral print also has more of an old-world quality to it that I think will keep it from feeling terribly out of place once winter rolls around.
I spent this past weekend on a writers’ retreat at Blooms Farm in Pennsylvania, which, first and foremost, was a treat in itself. The owner of the farm, Sam, purchased it after Covid, leaving his tech job after experiencing burnout, and turned the property not only into a wellness escape but also a regenerative farming space that looks to provide real change, with its latest project being the pursuit of bringing the chestnut tree fully back to Pennsylvania. However, in regard to the body wash, our bathrooms were outfitted with a few different products from this brand, including this body oil, but I found the body wash simply amazing. It has a great lather and a very buttery, almost shea-like smell, which I feel is something you don’t really associate with body wash. It also didn’t feel like it stripped my body of all its oils, so I left the shower, or bathtub (I used it to make bubbles for my baths, which, combined with these bath salts from Baina, was a fantastic cocktail), feeling moisturized.
$27 at Nordstrom | $27 at San Ceuticals
I stumbled upon these while working on my recent story for Bazaar, and for me, they just reaffirm the notion that this is going to be a chukka/desert boot season, which I feel started at the tail end of winter and will be picking back up come fall. Also, for me, I think this is the closest I can get to a Clarks Wallabee. I like the look of them; I just find the sole too thick.
$107 at Birkenstock | $132 at FWRD | $99 at Shopbop
I saw Julia Harrison wearing this set on our retreat, and I thought it was absolutely darling. I’m a sucker for any PJ set, but I think what really sets this one apart are the three-quarter sleeves, which somewhat remind me of these seersucker PJs I once had from Sleepy Jones, which, in my head, are the Thom Browne of the pajama world because of their shrunken proportions.
Miu Miu SS26 was quite a divisive runway, with the collection being inspired, in part, by the photography of Dorothea Lange and Helga Paris, who documented working-class women who toiled away in industrialized spaces, often wearing some version of an apron. Of course, the critique of the collection came when the luxury house decided to sell these aprons and housedresses, with their humble and proletarian origins, for upwards of $2,300. And that’s just the starting price. There’s one that retails for well over $5,000. Now, don’t get me wrong, I am not necessarily wagging my finger. It would be hypocritical of moi, as I was seriously on the fence about getting the gabardine version. But then I looked at the yards of fabric I had purchased in Finland from the Marimekko outlet, and began to wonder why don’t I just make my own version?
I talked to my boyfriend’s mom about the design, and she told me it was a fairly easy shape because all it really is is two squares, a few ties, and two pockets. So one day, we sat down and whipped up the apron together. (Though I helped sew a few things, she surely did the bulk of the work, and if you are reading this, thank you for helping me!) As soon as I put it on, I didn’t want to take it off.
I will say that what admittedly made me resist buying the Miu Miu apron was that I couldn’t really figure out how many outfits I could realistically make with one. Of course, I could style it like the show, but after putting an apron over a leather jacket and pants once, where do you go from there? Well, now that I have worn it a few times, I have realized that the apron can be quite wearable, but it does come with its own parameters.
1. Pay attention to the hemline. It looks best with a skirt that is either shorter than the apron or hits right at its hemline, or with a skirt that is just a tad longer but has some level of intrigue at the bottom, like a lace-trimmed or tulle.
2. It’s a great foil to a pile of layers because it can hide unsightly bulk.
3.There is something naturally slimming about the apron, something that can be accentuated if you wrap the ties in the front versus the back.
That’s all from me today!
Talk soon!
XX
JJ
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