001: We're going to do so much good shopping together
001: We're going to do so much good shopping together
Sales, launches, and content you care about.
Welcome to Magasin. It’s a store, it’s a magazine.
After three years, give or take, of professionally doling out shopping advice to millions of people across the country each month, I’m making the drastic decision to, instead, give every last one of my shopping secrets to the *checks notes* 200 or so of you who I’ve peer pressured into subscribing to this newsletter. Thank you for that.
Each week(ish—no one is perfect), this newsletter will present relevant launches across fashion, beauty, home, and lifestyle, tally up the most rare and generous sales, and shout out whatever else is on shopping’s mind.
If you’re in a rush or not much of an inbox conversationalist, feel free to drop off there. But if you have a sec, I’ll also be including rotating features wherein you’ll find tips on working a trend into your wardrobe, life-bettering retail endorsements, and insights from a wide net of characters with diverse spending personalities.
Lastly, since I straddle the food + drink world through my connection with ETI (I lowkey date the chef) and beyond, I’ll wrap up with some footnotes on very good consumables you can shop, too. Fun fact: “Footnotes” was the name of an earlier newsletter idea I had about seeking out rare and funky wines, and it became a self-referential nightmare well before it ever reached development, even for a copy nerd like me. TBH, it was a little too… on the nose. Sorry.
Anyway, I’m sure those of you who voted to “keep it brief” in my Instagram poll are roiling away and possibly a little hangry, so I’ll wrap it up with one quick request: This newsletter is only as strong as its subscribers, so if you can think of anyone who may enjoy this type of content, please consider forwarding them this email. I’ll make it super easy to join in by putting a subscribe button right here.
What’s new
Having a Simone Bodmer-Turner aortic vessel in your home has, for years, been a hallmark of in-ness, affluence, and good taste. Now those with more wearable inclinations can lend their limbs to the sculptor’s similarly body part-evoking jewelry collaboration with Agmes, starting at $150.
Miaou, who we loved first for its XL grommet belt loops and later for its boob-shelfing corsets, launched affordable swim today.
Nensi Dojaka, whose LVMH-winning sheer, layered black shapes have increasingly clothed (in the loosest sense) famous 10s since sometime mid-pandemic, has been a point of competition between major retailers, who’ve chased the designer for her newest collection. Seems like SSENSE is in the lead by a hair, unveiling an exclusive buy ahead of Moda Operandi and Net-a-Porter’s planned uploads.
Moda, however, got the scoop on Aya Muse’s R22, a label you may know thru EmRata (or because you’ve been paying attention to especially somatic pieces lately), which is on preorder now for December delivery.
After a successful influencer-placement campaign, those Y/Project x Melissa jelly princess shoes sold out pretty much day of, but to my delight, they restocked online (for $275) and are, as their PR rep insists, also available via phone order through the Melissa Galeria.
As with many fashion types after a year of boring dressing, Susan Alexandra is now in the home goods game: beaded everythings, fruit punch-adorned others, and one-of-one dining accessories that may be snatched up entirely before the day is through.
Influencer-cum-agency creator-cum-beauty mogul Babba Riviera’s Latinx-inspired hair care brand Ceremonia dropped a pair of real guava-containing products that smell like the packaging looks, which is to say: positively ambrosial.
New sunscreen brand Vacation by Poolside FM (which launched this morning) isn’t counting on the ever-looming threat of getting old and dying to sell its product. Rather, it’s raffling off an absurd list of prizes—a taxidermy lobster, Tiki boat charter, and 80 feet of rope (???) to name a few—to anyone who makes a purchase.
What’s on sale
Riffing on a discount code leak that went viral last year, Glossier is opening up its “Friends of Glossier” sale to all, extending a 20% discount sitewide. The best deals are on already-trim bundles, where savings reach up to 38% off.
If you missed the Maryam Nassir Zadeh sample sale last week, there are nearly 90 pieces from the brand marked down by up to 80% at Luisaviaroma’s Mid-Season Treat sale. Some prices are even lower than they were in store.
Who knows if there will ever be another time to say this, but Christopher John Rogers is half off at Net-a-Porter, albeit stock is urgently low. So if you were considering getting married in this green silk taffeta ball skirt (please, somebody), it’s over a thousand dollars off right now.
The Great Eros sample sale launched at noon today and includes lingerie sets, swim, slips, and socks for over 50% off.
What else
The GAP YZY chewed-gum puffer sold out in about 3 hours on Tuesday’s launch and preorders are, of course, already reselling at a 100% to 500% markup everywhere that kind of thing happens.
Ditto for Twitter’s favorite baby-daddy Diplo’s collab with Crocs, whose tie-dye clogs, sandals, and, uhm, Jibbitz crashed the site, sold out, and are now—you guessed it—several clicks pricier on eBay.
In other Croc news (why do I have a feeling I’m going to be saying that a lot this year?) Balenciaga’s Crocs heels saw a 9,900% spike in search within hours of their debut, per The Sole Supplier. If you’re feeling nostalgic for the last time this happened, shop the iconic platform Balenciacrocs here, or honestly even these $50 platforms Crocs makes in house.
The last 5 (nonessential) things I bought
Even if I can’t quite explain why.
I’m pretty sure my brain misfired when my transition from full-time to freelance went official, because suddenly being without income security inspired me to buy a handful of expensive things for kind of no reason.
A friend of a friend has an employee discount at Browns, which I’d never actually shopped from before, but I couldn’t resist the temptation of getting truly current season pieces at sale prices. Through her, I bought this buttercup-yellow Paris Georgia sweetheart neckline top, the summer version of the brand’s ultra successful black-and-white one, and my very first Bode piece, a since-sold-out-everywhere embroidered button-down. I had wanted my inaugural purchase to be in person, out of the brand’s Lower East Side shop, but that experience just wasn’t worth as much as the discount I got.
When I sent my links over to my Browns plug, I originally included the blue-and-white version of this Christopher Esber dress at Farfetch (which is owned by the same parent company as Browns), but even with the discount it was liver-bloatingly pricy. I backed out of the purchase. Then, by some actual miracle, the dress showed up under my saved search of the designer’s name on eBay for about half what it’s going for, in my size, and apparently worn only once. I outbid one person by a dollar and won.
Within a few days, having not received any of my packages yet, I was apparently still open for business. I met a friend for drinks, and we ended up at the tail end of one of his friend’s friends’ dinners, and I ended up chatting to a girl with an expensive haircut wearing these Comme Si boxers, a prim little blouse, and sneakers. I asked her if they were the Comme Si boxers. She said they were. I bought them the next day for $58. (Note: Looks like they’ve gone up to $60 since then, coinciding with the addition of a Grecian blue shade.)
I recently remembered a time when my family and I visited a Shaker village somewhere around New England on vacation one year. My parents kept commenting on how amazing the woodwork and engineering was; it didn’t land for young teen me, but I bought my mom a pincushion from the gift shop at my dad’s suggestion. A decade and a half later, I ordered two Shaker furniture design books on eBay (in case one wasn’t as good), since I had a feeling I might finally “get” it. One turned out to be a museum catalog, but they were both, to my delight, pretty inspired.
Footnotes: A place for food and wine.
I mentioned it in the prelude, but this newsletter was originally conceptualized as an amateur’s log of tracking down and tasting uncommon, largely natural wines; wine in the footnotes of wine culture. “Foot” a funky, footy quality, for one, and using my feet to find it, for two. “Notes,” well, it would be written down.
Sometimes a pun is too low-hanging to pursue at all, so it’s fitting that the first episode of Footnotes (downgraded to just a footnote), isn’t technically a wine at all. Or at least not a wine I had initially considered noting.
Miyakobijin Shuzo Yoigokochi Yuzu Sake is an Orangina-colored rice wine I drank this week out of a plastic cup, mixed with seltzer, in the back of an Uber en route to a garden party in Queens. It was ethereally milky like other now-nameless sakes I’ve tasted in the past, but so ultra-juicy and all-parts-of-the-mouth activating there was nothing particularly delicate about it—the carbonation on the seltzer, per People’s Wine’s Daryl Nuhn, was an enlightened pairing! If the glou-glou crowd is looking for something more in line with a refined Aperol spritz with park-drinking appeal, this highly disappearable bottle is it.
A few important last words before I sign off:
Huge, blushing thank you to the insanely clever and talented Victoria Herrera for designing Magasin’s logo, which you did on such short notice with truly a wealth of understanding and precision <3
If you’re reading this, I’d love to hear from you! Whatever is on your mind, feel free to hit reply on this email, join in the comments section, or reach me at hi@laurareilly.website.
Loved this first issue!!