Happy weekend, all. I survived Black Friday. Barely. I really do hate the whole mercenary marketing around it. The breathless consumerism, the flashing countdown clocks, the general yuckiness of it all. It feels so completely at odds with the coziness of our hand-embroidered pieces we make inside our studio on 36th Street. And yet, we play along every year because, well… that’s when people are shopping. The contradiction is real.
I was hoping today’s newsletter would be this amazing gift guide of super interesting gift ideas you wouldn’t find anywhere else, but, truth be told, as I started on it, I started to get more and more convinced the world doesn’t need another gift guide. Every single Substack I’ve read has loads of links via ShopMy (here’s mine) which, I suppose is good for all. It’s been an incredibly impressive to witness the power of influencer traffic to both our brand, and the world. I’ve heard from very reliable sources that some of the biggest fashion Substackers are pulling in over $50k a month from affiliate links alone. This is, imo, a win-win for all. It helps brands get their products out to people who actually like them for less than it would cost to wholesale the goods or send them to a famous spokesperson, and the folks doing the heavy lifting (and trust me, daily fit checks are heavy lifting) get paid for their work, something that feels almost revolutionary in this postmodern, media-driven web world. Alas, I have more gift guides to read than I have time for, and can’t begin to think about adding another to the pile.
That said, Kaitlin Phillips really is the gold standard for a gift guide. Here’s her 2025 Part One and Part Two.
So today, instead of telling you what to buy, I’m reflecting a bit on what it feels like to run a small brand in 2025. If that’s not your thing, feel free to scroll to the quick hits.
In a recent Puck newsletter, Lauren Sherman reminded us all that there is basically nowhere left to sell your products. And, while that’s a stretch (Liberty in London was packed when I visited, and I suspect Bergdorf’s, Printemp’s, and the Bloomingdale’s crowd are still alive and well), it’s largely true. The way people shop has changed. Actually, tell me how you shop! One way I’m certain women are shopping in this country is at in-home trunk shows. The modern luxury Tupperware party. They are hard work, require a full commitment and a team to plan and carry out, but are an incredible way for brands to meet and engage with customers. Please let us know if you want to host one at your own home. We are building our amazing team and they are eager to hit the road! (Email me). Rachelle@linguafranca.nyc.
About three years ago, I marched into the office insisting that we needed to activate Instagram shopping. The room stared at me like I’d lost it. “Who would ever buy a cashmere sweater on IG?” Meanwhile my husband Sean and I, two self described non-shoppers, were out here buying everything from candles to shoes straight from stories and reels. How was I schooling a bunch of colleagues decades younger than me on the merits of IG shopping? More and more women over 60 are shopping that way, and I don’t see the trend reversing.
There’s also the case for live shopping, like they do in China. It looks unhinged to my American eye, but Gary Vaynerchuk swears by it, and if I’d listened to Gary a decade ago, who knows, maybe I’d be writing this from my yacht.
One of the first things I loved about my husband Sean was how he evolved with the times. I truly believe the only brands that will survive are the ones that do so, and I’m proud of the agility Lingua Franca has had. And, while I don’t love showing up on camera, I’m trying to push myself. And I’m trying not to complain so much when I meet other founders and we all start spiraling about the never ending list of things we have to do just to exist in the algorithm’s line of sight.
Our product speaks for itself, and that’s a good thing. But we still have to work to make sure we even exist on your phones. And in a land of Kendalls and Haileys, Selenas and Gigis, it’s becoming harder and harder to do so.
Which leads me to my last Monday night at Chez Nous, the hottest game in town. (Insider tip: Monday nights are hot there; apparently they are riffing off a trend Peter Morton started in 80s/90s Hollywood at Morton’s.) I happened to be at a table of friends who also happen to be fellow fashion brand owners:
We get together when we can, both in person and on our group chat, and honestly, it makes this whole job feel less impossible. Note to self: find your people in your industry and love them up! Preferably ones who understand your particular flavor of chaos.
The theme of the night was this very millennial group lamenting the need for the founder driven content mentioned above. The stylized photos and BTS snippets don’t cut it anymore. And since so much revenue now comes from social, we’re all feeling a bit behind, not unwilling to post, but also not exactly built for constant unedited self documentation. We’re from the Tumblr generation, raised on moody curated feeds and long captioned thoughts typed behind a screen — not cameras in our faces.
For now, Substack remains my safe space. But if you have tips for not feeling like an absolute clown on camera, please send them to me! Kris of Kris and Dave — a collaboration we launched a couple weeks ago that has broken the internet for us — has outperformed every collaboration we’ve done, save for PBS (which was an idea spawned by this community, so thank you all!). Kris told me to just pretend I’m talking to my besties when I’m on camera, which is easier said than done. Kris is also raising money for important causes in Detroit (over $40k so far!) instead of pocketing her commission. An important reminder that there are still really good people out there.
After the unexpected magic of our Kris and Dave partnership, the team is scouting more incredible women for our 2026 calendar. So tell me: who online is cool, interesting, and very Lingua Franca coded? I want to know.
Before I get on to quick hits, I hope you all had amazing Thanksgiving breaks and are feeling un-frantic in the lead-up to the next big holiday. We had a great trip to my home (Nebraska) where we caught a Husker football game (depressing), a Husker volleyball game (INCREDIBLE – these girls are unbeatable), and my boys spent time shuffling through the passed notes they found in an old box under my bed. Their minds were blown that we just passed these notes to each other in the hallways each day. As if visiting NYC high schools with my first born wasn’t making me feel old enough!
Since I last wrote, I made good on my promise to start consuming more culture as a family in our city and took the boys to MoMA, where we saw the super impressive Ruth Asawa show and spent too much time in the gift shop — that place can suck you in. Next up, I’m excited to make my seasonal visit to the Neue Galerie, which may possibly be my favorite in the world. I still can’t believe Lingua Franca is stocked in the gift shop there.
We also made it to Laura Bickford’s delightful PEN America dinner at the Waverly Inn, which was cozy and fun and celebrated the new Hamnet film, which is on everyone’s lips for Oscar season. We headed uptown for a chic dinner at Maxim’s new Japanese restaurant, followed by a fun NYC premiere of Netflix’s New Yorker 100 documentary (with a panel led by Kara Swisher, who really is amazing at her job). Ted Sarandos opened the night and I’m sure was dying inside to tell anyone he could about the new deal he was about to close. I was sitting next to Martha Stewart but also peeped Katie Couric and Candice Bergen! I was excited to text the LF team about all of our fav gals in one place.
We put our very flocked, very real hot pink tree up this week (every other year we let Sean relive his California Christmas youth with a flocked tree), and are now in the home stretch before we head to New Zealand and Australia. My husband Sean was born in New Zealand. His mother, Janet MacPherson - my muse for LF, was the New Zealand women’s surf champion, and his father headed Warner Bros. Music there (they met on the set of Endless Summer, if you can believe it). The boys are all very excited to put their NZ passports to use, and I’m excited to visit this part of our heritage and the world. If you have any must dos or must sees, please drop them in the comments!
And now:
Australia seems so cool. I can’t wait to visit.
I am completely low maintenance when it comes to my face and skincare, but I did something this week that has truly been life changing. I went to Monica at Eye Brow Dr and got my eyebrows micro-bladed. It was nothing like I thought it would be. It looks completely natural, was totally painless, and has honestly been like a mini facelift. They are truly artists, and you will thank me later. See the before and after, and DM or email me if you have any questions. I’m literally speechless about the whole experience, which lasts for a year.
I really, really enjoyed this book and think a lot of you will too. Here’s what I’m reading next. What are you reading?
“A whisper of calm in a noisy world.” As the granddaughter of a semi-crazed woman who left pages of prose on the color white, I am totally ok with Pantone’s new color of the year choice. Though this was funny.
Somebody buy me this immediately.
Oksana Baiul is alive and well and still skating, and this makes me really happy in ways I can’t quite understand — but I know my 9-year-old self would be too.
Above was one of very few em dashes I used in today’s newsletter. I too have had to stop my use thanks to chat gpt. Today, in Airmail, on the em dash controversy:
Paul Feig, director of Bridesmaids: “I use the em dash a lot, and now everyone thinks I’m not writing what I write. It’s just another reason to hate A.I., the technology nobody but rich guys who want to save money on their workforce asked for.”
Let me introduce you to your next party trick.
This looks easy enough to make, am I insane?
A case for moving to Ojai. A case for buying more books.
It’s hard to imagine being the type of person who spends Christmas in Lake Como in full on fur. Total vibes.
A look at some absolutely fantastic residents of Hotel Chelsea.
This is a really fun gift idea for someone from our team. It comes with loads of instructional videos too!
I have been living in these butter yellow cords by AnotherTomorrow and dreaming about buying every single jacket from Nour Hammour.
Shout out to my cousin Lauren! This was us.
Finally, Tommy from Urban Greengardens has the LF townhouse looking amazing. He’s truly the best in town. Come by 95 Jane for complimentary embroidery and gift wrapping by our talented elves.
That’s it for now. Just a reminder that there are still kind, talented, interesting people out there doing cool things. Go find them—and dig it the most.
xo Rachelle
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