014: A lite read, containing 52 shopping suggestions
014: A lite read, containing 52 shopping suggestions
Plus LN-CC's 70% off sale, Nensi Dojaka's LVMH trophy, and a devastatingly good Vivienne Westwood gown.
Since the last send—which went out pre-NYFW, thus the longer lapse till this one—I’ve bought kind of a lot of things, including BIG BEAUTIFUL unnecessary things made necessary by sheer desire, manifested in a subconscious state and agreed upon by a more present self, no-prenup.
A pair of cheeky, puffy Ugo Paulon heels, conjured out of recycled materials and looking as if the Greedy Zebra and a couch collaborated on a line of clubgoing children’s fashion. They arrived in a recycled Nike box taped shut with Ugo-branded paper tape. Untouchably perfect.
A 2012 Vivienne Westwood corset gown enveloped in sequins and inscribed with Chinese text. There’s no reason on god’s green earth (or his “Green Economy,” as the calligraphy translates to) that I should own this dress—it’s more befitting a hard-lined bride or Soviet pop star—but I stumbled upon it at a price that appeared to be missing a zero.
Speaking of brides, because I am me, I bought a third yarrow-yellow dress intend to be worn at my sister’s wedding, having decided that the first two were lacking magic, and more importantly, maid-of-honor-who-works-in-fashion credibility. A Christopher Esber (for whom I am a sucker) dress should hopefully suffice, and off to The RealReal the others go.
Lastly, several very up-my-alley eBay things, including yet another pair of ye old faithful Escada wool pleated pants, a double-layered sheer skirt inspired by Houman’s vintage recommendations for fall, scrumptious crystal cordials, a crinkled sheer dress from Italian ‘90s brand Lella Nelson that was definitely on Maryam Nassir Zadeh’s reference board for spring ‘22, and one more wrinkle-resistant L.L.Bean button-down makes five.
Meanwhile, you lot were ostensibly busy shopping the last send’s top-clicked links: the Net-a-Porter sale (still happening and surprisingly not entirely picked over), the now-sold-out Kiko Kostanidov bag, and J.Kim exclusives via SSENSE.
It’s an abridged send today (still catching up after the end of summer’s busiest weeks), but if you don’t hate me for it, please consider sharing this newsletter with a friend.
What’s new
It’s important to have reliable go-tos for your preferred fabric categories—Gil Rodriguez for stretch cotton, Deiji Studios for linen, Aeron for vegan leather. For silk, a vital year-round fabric, SVNR is always in my back pocket. Christina Tung’s natural-dye manipulated slips, scarves, and separates add intrigue to the category and, in the case of her Jamaica-inspired collaboration with stylist Mecca James-Williams, a shot of B5, too.
Kathryn Bowen is the latest designer to be adopted into the Nordstrom SPACE family, and if you hadn’t heard of her, that’s kind of the point. The Toronto-based designer, who has less than 3k followers on IG, crosses over from historical uniform and boning details to sportswear and back again, delegating choice cutouts for a sexy, modern appeal. Despite her busy reference book, the pieces are refreshingly pared back.
We, Pheobe Philo’s tepidly splurgy grandchildren, have always nurtured a semi for COS. That they’re joining the London Fashion Week calendar rather than veering towards collabs with USPS or whatever is oddly validating. The just-released fall collection has more to prove than usual, and it delivers with a mix of no-nonsense building blocks in luxe fabrics and daring one-offs that haven’t forgotten to have fun.
In that same vein, Uniqlo’s latest from Inès de la Fressange issues solid daily wearables for fall, like a lemon-colored short-sleeve knit that if you saw someone else in would make you wonder if you should get a lemon-colored short-sleeved knit, plus impressive tailored pieces that look significantly more expensive than they are.
We’re all looking for the thrill of feeling lately, the thrill of incomplete understanding and smallness and power. I’ve talked here before about a few creators who’ve made me feel this way (Michelle Del Rio, Either And), and now I add Santangelo to the list. Eleven pieces of jewelry just landed at MNZ store, each as tender and imperfect and belonging to a greater world than the flat, commercial earth we’re expected to accept on face value.
Commonly billed as the bra brand girls who don’t wear bras wear, CUUP has added two new shades of green to its collection. Jade and Emerald fit right into the estate-sale-still-life color palette the brand has culled thus far, and as always, they perform best when left a little visible.
Khaite uploaded a generous serving of its spring ‘22 show to site, offering pre-order (“reserve”) on dimly lit, blurrily captured clothes for inwardly rich women. Every reserve order comes with a free suede pouch that ships immediately rather than next season, and I wouldn’t be the one to suggest abusing this buy-and-cancel system, but I do recognize the potential for it.
Text on clothing is bad until it’s really, really good. “Peg the Patriarchy” < "Praying’s “How much can I get away with and still go to heaven?” apron.
Plus: Everlane celebrates alpaca season, colorfully; Orseund Iris alum Tae Park dropped the Venus Mini Skort; Kim Jones honors Rome with Fendi’s fall ‘21 collection via Saks; Brooklinen launched cashmere sheets; Khaite collabed with adidas again—introducing all black; Amass (remember their Impeachment vodka?) launched an alcohol-free weed spirit; Reformation’s fall wedding edit is here; as is Nomasei’s fall shoe lineup; Nodaleto goes to Heaven with Marc Jacobs through a shoe collab; Urban Outfitters restocked its furniture department so you don’t have to wait six months for a couch; and there’s a bunch of new fall beauty at Credo, including an exclusive Goop hair serum.
What’s on sale
LN-CC has never been a type-into-nav-bar shopping destination for me, but a sale that’s been cycling on and off these past two weeks has permanently changed that. It’s a tight selection, but the brands, pieces, and discounts up to 70% off are giving end-of-SSENSE-sale good—Ugo Paulon bags for $150, Ahluwalia track pants and a sister polo to the one I got last month price-slashed, and seasonally auspicious Y/Project x Canada Goose for less than I’ve seen maybe ever. On top of that, the site is also hosting a 20% off new season promo with code LNCC-SPECIAL-20, for investing in a warm, puffy Acne Studios coat or Jil Sander sock boots.
It’s a good time to check in on the Luisaviaroma sale-on-sale, which is now up to a 30% off on top and includes Khaite boots and sandals and gartered Dion Lee things. On top of that, unstarred full-priced items sitewide are still eligible for LVR’s “Mid-Season Treat” promo of 40% off—this includes knee-highs and cashmere from The Row and a Lemaire leather ball bag.
If you’re missing the SSENSE sale badly and just want a taste of something on the site for a lick less, you can get anything at all for 10% off with SHOP10. (I’ve never seen a promo code sale here before—where it lacks in depth, it makes up for in novelty.)
Say what you will about the Kardashians, but the steady stream of brands they keep launching are admittedly very shoppable. You can comb Good American’s sitewide sale for Lauren Manoogian-looking shorts and sculpting knit Proenza-esque dresses, all attached to crazy deals: 25% off sitewide with FAM25 or extra 50% off sale taken at checkout.
Bless the generation of designers who’ve committed themselves to the no-longer-dying art of corsetry. All Is A Gentle Spring, whose made-to-order silk bustiers featuring sleeves, heart necklines, or criss-cross-laced open fronts are social currency on IG, are all on sale right now, as are its romantic bodysuits and sweats with code SECRETGARDEN for 15% off.
What else
Nensi Dojaka managed to build a brand around tits and ass, side boob and belly buttons, cleavage and collar bones, through a period when no one seeing much of each other in the first place. Her body-centric line, which manages to be quite sophisticated and not necessarily conjure the phrase “tits and ass” outside of this brief, gratuitous writeup, earned the Albanian designer the LVMH prize this year. Let’s keep her deftly arranged organza pieces in sight as a measure when sheer inevitably takes over the downstream, once again.
Another accolade under Dojaka’s stretch nylon belt: a spot in Matchesfashion’s Innovator Programme. The designer joins Chopova Lowena, Wales Bonner, Thebe Magugu, Charles Jeffrey Loverboy, Germanier, Halpern, Harris Reed, Ludovic de Saint Sernin, Maximilian, and Stefan Cooke as the retailer’s class of ones to watch, earning a year-long “preferential buying” package that totals over £2.2 million.
Even though it’s an absolute joy to peruse, the experience of shopping AbeBooks is always slightly macabre for me. The online book seller, founded in 1995, shows an alternate reality to the one we currently live in, under the invisible hand of Amazon, an online book seller founded in 1994. To commemorate 25 years, Abe Books rounded up the 25 most expensive sales made on its site, a list topped by a 1765 ornithology book of hand-colored engravings that sold for $191,000. So humble a number compared to the ones starting with Bs we otherwise refer to these days in regards to our “book”-dealing overlord, and so wistful a topic: lots of pretty birds.