When we first met Rose Colcord for coffee, we were drawn to her right away.
Impressive and ambitious; warm and magnetic—just like Cou Cou Intimates, the brand she built. An entrepreneurial powerhouse (even though when you meet her in person, she’ll play off the success), a literary aficionado, and philosophy major in college, Rose unknowingly catapulted herself into success with the intimates brand that every cool-girl wears and owns with pride. Inimitable, though many have tried, the brand itself is cozy yet chic; playful yet intellectual; 100 percent organic cotton and a measured, understated luxe.
We’ve repeatedly tried to get Rose for a Getting Sticky feature but despite our persistent emails, she’s continued to deflect, stating that she does not have social media and doesn’t really share much of her life online. (Though on occasion, she allows the public a glimpse into her life like this brilliant essay on motherhood and grief she wrote for Cou Cou Talks, the brand's editorial platform.)
Our admiration for Rose and her work (for example, we lived for Cou Cou’s project with photographer Carlota Guerrero) continues to grow, even if she is way too offline and private—and therefore, well-adjusted and cool—for us. (Although, we do still feel like we’ll get her to agree to it some day. Hi Rose!)
In the meantime, we couldn’t be more thrilled to announce a collaboration between our two mom-founded brands (!!!!).
(The brand's Summer Pop-Up located at 262 Mott Street, NY and open daily Monday through Saturday: 11am-7pm and Sunday: 11a.m.-6pm. ICYM some coverage: here’s WWD; The Coveteur; and Hypebae.)
We selected books from Maya Angelou to Rachel Cusk that revolve around yes, varied experiences of motherhood but also specifically, on the theme of generational wisdom.*** The Cou Cou Library Curated with Spread by the Jelly attempts to ask: What do we inherit and how do we pass it down? What scars are ours, which are shared? How did our maternal elders make it through and what can we learn from their struggles, triumphs, and in Cusk’s case, pure monotony?
Pre-loved copies of all the books will be available to purchase as well as our Sticky Stuff card game—and in extra special news, if you show the cashier you’re subscribed to Spread the Jelly on Substack or use the password “Cou Cou Loves Jelly,” they will offer a 15 percent discount.
***While we hope you all who can will come by the pop-up, if you'd like to read the selected works from home, here they are in full:
Matrescence by Lucy Jones
Letter to My Daughter by Maya Angelou
Still Born by Guadalupe Nettel
Mothers: An Essay on Love and Cruelty by Jacqueline Rose
One Bad Mother: In Praise of Psycho Housewives, Stage Parents, Momfluencers, and Other Women We Love to Hate by Ej Dickson
The Three Mothers by Anna Malaika Tubbs
Blue Nights: A Memoir by Joan Didion
Of Woman Born: Motherhood as Experience and Institution by Adrienne Rich
The Argonauts by Maggie Nelson
A Woman Is A School by Céline Semaan
Our Bodies, Ourselves by the Boston Woman’s Health Book Collective
Women See Woman by Cheryl Wiesenfeld, Yvonne Kalmus & Rikki Rip
A Life’s Work by Rachel Cusk
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Everybody is a mother.
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