007: The shoes that feel right, right now
007: The shoes that feel right, right now
Plus SSENSE sex toys, Glossier's new bronzer, and Camper for 40% off.
Shoe talk begets shoe talk, so once I got going last week, it was inevitable I’d take up a full send on the subject. MNZ’s sale, a homecoming for shoe dilettantes, was the top-clicked link from last week by far. It was joined by the Amazon bra (for the fifth week in a row), and Bode’s second summer drop.
Thankfully for the overworked space on my closet floor, I didn’t buy any new shoes in the last seven days. Instead, I bought a pair of squiggly Gimaguas pants from Lisa Says Gah, two orange lipsticks—one Fenty, one Gucci, this Y/Project sarong that can be worn as a skirt or with an entire leg exposed (with a gift card from Italist), and the most ethereal sheer knit Cocoon dress and found-object belt, both handmade by the wildly talented and elusive Michelle Del Rio.
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What’s new
Horniness has never been as aesthetically considered as it is in SSENSE’s newly launched sex toy collection, which features $320 clit-worshipping dildos, marble yoni eggs possibly on loan from The Met, and the elegant, crooning $45 vibrator that catalyzed the entire design-minded sex tech revolution.
New season Prada just landed at Farfetch, and while it’s mostly in the $1,000+ range, I’m moreso eyeing the handful of under-$400 nylon hair accessories that will make their way into Balthazar-bound coifs and Gossip Girl wardrobes.
A certain inconvenient global health crisis forced so many fun, femininity-performing accessories into hibernation, not least of which the baby bag. And while then-reigning Le Chiquito is struggling to bounce back, Instagram baddie stalwart By Far never left, owning the space so fiercely it’s become canon. Its new sneaker line launched this week, which is to say it starts on third base.
It’s easy to lump Glossier in with the now-thousands of other beauty lines out there that look just like it, lest we forget this was the brand that defined the vision, forever pinning millennial pink to a point in history. Its track record of legitimately game-changing products—Boy Brow, Lash Stick, Milky Jelly—is joined by newcomer Solar Paint that’ll imbue a bronzed-to-the-gods glow imperceptible as makeup.
A series of tubes: Extreme Cashmere posits that most clothes are simply cylinders of varying dimensions. With its latest collection, Tubes, the brand doesn’t limit pieces by defining them as “top,” “skirt,” or “belt,” inviting the wearer to combine and interpret its colorblock knit creations onto the body as they see fit.
Emily Dawn Long and Maria Dora, the downtown girls behind the crochet cloche that inspired a wave of imitators, are back with a new knit concept they’re calling I CONTAIN M U L T I TUDES. This time, it’s a “sweater” that’s actually a halter top with removable sleeves you can loop through the neck tie. It’s on pre-order now for delivery in August.
SVNR, helmed by goodness incarnate Christina Tung, launched a barrette capsule with The Real Real. It’s less Upper East Sider with a French au pair (as the word barrette tends to conjure) and more secret treasures from the earth’s core to suspend around your crown.
Alimentari Flaneur’s inaugural line of merch finally dropped, and while just a few Zizmorecore-friendly tees and fig-baring tanks are up for grabs, Nonna-worshipping Lower East Siders have claimed all the silk scarves for forthcoming convertible getaways to the Hudson Valley.
Speaking of New York-centric collectibles, Studs launched a line of city-celebrating jewelry charms that are just as sweet as they are corny. The teeny tiny gold Metrocards, Anthora coffee cups, and challahs start at $18 and support the brand’s $15,000 donation to the charity Send Chinatown Love.
This one is close to my heart: A long-awaited, entirely handmade capsule collection from Michelle Del Rio went live yesterday afternoon, opening a portal to her hauntingly beautiful pieces. Sensual, gauzy knits punctuated with nostalgic embellishments, hearty cotton trousers, and of course those belts—those belts. “I’ve read all your DMs and I’m overwhelmed with so much gratitude,” Michelle wrote on Instagram. “Making this collection was my medicine after a year of existential crisis.”
What’s on sale
In its young life, Ratio Et Motus managed to skip over the awkward maturation stage so many bootstrapped brands suffer through, instead immediately landing itself a reputation for luxury and counting a deep-running community of New York insiders as fans. A rare sample sale this week has moved online, bringing prices down on its Italian-made, impeccably hardwared, vintage-inspired purses to the lowest I’ve seen yet.
Matchesfashion is in the final reductions stage of its sale, lumping on an additional 20% off with code EXTRA20. It can be applied to all sale items (there are literally thousands), including those already marked down 80% like a Marc Jacobs babydoll dress from runway and an under-$200 Simone Rocha skirt.
Quirky Spanish shoe brand with a heart of gold Camper is increasingly celebrated for its special projects arm, CAMPERLAB, helmed by Creative Director Achilles Ion Gabriel, and is one of the few reliable sources for atypical, comfortable footwear at digestible prices. Today, hundreds of both the brand’s core lineup and Lab pieces are available for as much as 40% off full-price.
For those with hard exteriors and soft cores, NYC bag maker Kara is making room for new things with a deep-reaching archive sale. The brand’s signature bike chain straps can be found in all lengths and colors and attached to all manner of vessels.
Cuyana, known purveyor of The Work Bag, is too often overlooked for its ready-to-wear, which bridges the gap between Everlane and Mansur Gavriel. The brand’s Archive Sale, live now, includes not just these two categories, but also small leather goods, homewares, and other accessories.
Nodaleto’s bulbous Bulla heels and more are marked down in a sale that’s serious enough to have a separate domaine. Shop nodaleto-private.com for shoes starting at €245.
Maybe I was just feeling dramatic, but when I saw this Our Place sale I audibly gasped. The brand’s newly launched three-piece Knife Set, usually $170, is down to just $95. If you buy the set with the cutting board, it’s just $190 right now (down from $265).
If it’s legacy kitchen goods you’re after, Le Creuset has taken $110 off its new signature soup pot, bringing it to $200. I believe the adjective they used was “souper,” but we don’t need to go there.
27 shoes having their moment
An inexhaustive, impermanent, loosely observed, highly intuited list.
From the girl at the gallery opening identified by her red sandals (the Lotta Volkova Adidas) to the guy at the restaurant launch in Eytys sneakers that became the topic of dinner conversation to a pair of strangers lamenting over the scarcity of the Celine Pirate, it was a weekend defined by its shoes.
There’s no shortage of shoes that feel wrong, and in most cases blanket revivalism is to blame. (I understand, say, TikTokkers’ enthusiasm over discovering an era of which they have no memory, but the rest of us rehashing Valentino Rockstuds, Isabel Marant heel sneakers, and those Chloé ankle boots—all at once!—have no excuse. As a society, we are going to have to reckon with this.) The shoes that do match the moment are exceptional.
As we approach toe-reënclosure dates, Margiela tabis, to start, feel very right. Under-$500 painted canvas slingbacks and boots and pistachio leather heels are extremely welcome guests at any party worth attending, but these Moleskine-smooth leather loafers would be a wardrobe-defining investment capable of shutting down entire city blocks. Visually in sync with the latter (and for $340 less) are these incredible mesh OSOI loafers <— I really think you’ll love. Jumping back to the split-toe front for a sec, all the girls are riding the Nike Air Rift raft, the barrier to entry being just $100.
Scrunchy, bunchy, lumpy shoes are also plaguing desires. Everyone reading this should do themselves a favor and take a peek at these bungee-cinched Rombaut sneaker ballet flats I’m convinced are far more versatile than their goth persona lets on. Womanly expressions like these Khaite boots, these Jil Sander mules, (these Ugo Paulon if you can get your hands on them), and these Dries Van Noten pumps exemplify the prerequisite of awkwardness in truly beautiful things.
Ugliness’ other expression, gaudiness, is also sitting well these days: Y/Project x Melissa’s jelly princess shoes, Ancuta Sarca soccer shoe heels (my mom once refused to buy me a pair just like these from a trashy going-out-clothes store at the mall and I cried on the car ride home), Camper Kobarahs, and these MSGM knotted heels that look like souped-up Bottega Intrecciato Lidos.
What else? Merrell Hydromocs, pin-hammered clogs, Wales Bonner x Adidas sneakers, The Row mesh flats, The Attico heels. Silently and not-so-silently everywhere.
And all the while, the shoes that have always felt right and fit right—Prada heeled thongs, G.H. Bass Weejuns loafers, Maryam Nassir Zadeh clear slides, New Balance sneakers, Birkenstock Arizonas and closed-toe clogs, impeccable leather slides, fisherman sandals (I again implore you to consider Hereu)—remain ironclad in their timelessness.
Footnotes: A place for food and wine.
A bottle of Al Burj Arak made its way from Tel Aviv in the suitcase of Chef Yossi Shitrit to an underground wine bar beneath a market in the Lower East Side, into the hands of chef Nir Sarig.
Its intended course was as a “float” on a cucumber confit dish that got nixed from the menu, but, as destiny would have it, the gift (as good gifts tend to) kept on giving. It was opening night of the ETI residency at People’s Wine, and the man behind the food wanted to give everyone a shot. Bleary on bottles of red wine, we acquiesced.
Sharp liquid anise, like smelling salts, reached its palm behind our sinking bodies, ran us under the cold water, and sat us back upright.