019: I'm in coat shopping mode
019: I'm in coat shopping mode
Plus Oprah's (and my) Favorite Things, Verishop's $11 sale, and new Tekla tableware for the holidays.
I’m in coat shopping mode. Did I say that already? Anyway, it probably has something to do with The Arrivals coat that was left in its plastic sleeve since I unboxed it in late summer, finally peeled off last week. It’s heavy in a spine-straightening way, like a well-adjusted backpacker’s pack, and it turned me into a human hot water bottle on a day even my bones felt chilled. The way it transforms and envelops and adds importance to every outfit I try it with makes something in me cluck, “There’s nothing like a good coat, is there?”
A million (read: 25) more thoughts on coats occupy the features section this week, so scroll down to see and shop them all. In the meantime, a few other great additions to my closet since our last intersection: a Naya Rea dress so voluminous it could swallow a house and makes me feel like a petite, elegant womanchild; vintage oversized 501s eBayed with intent of tailoring to perfection; and a slew of fabulous vintage silks and leathers and jersey knits from SorryMyDude’s weekend fundraiser flea at McGorlick Park.
What’s new
The Arrivals, which performed coat magic on me this week, and Labucq, whose exacting shoes I’ve waxed on about in this space many a time, exist so squarely in the same universe that collaboration was inevitable, even if I didn’t see it coming. Two items—a heavyweight shearling moto and a harmonic pair of Chelsea boots—pay homage to shortbread, hotel butter, speculoos, except better than all those things because they’ll last lifetimes longer.
I tell everyone who’ll listen how much I love Vince. As we get more into investing in good, “boring” clothes, we attach to brands whose basics, however basic, wind up most in our outfits. Maybe that’s Theory to you, or Les Coyotes de Paris to another. For me, especially in the cooler months, it’s Vince. Net-a-Porter knows this, too, because it just launched an exclusive sweater capsule with the Cali-based brand.
In further collab news, Telfar has rubbed puffy elbows with Moose Knuckles. The bags, arguably more refined than the brand’s core shoppers, sold out last week upon launch, but quilted, insulated ski-ready pants and coats from yesterday’s drop are spottily available.
Hot off the rubbery heels of its viral Y/Project release, jelly shoe purveyor Melissa is back with a second collaboration with Viktor & Rolf centered around “surreal opulence.” Bulbous wedges, laser-cut sandals, angular heels, and combat boots are complemented by tromp l’oeil baskets and ladylike clasp bags (all jelly!).
Tekla Fabrics, known for its delicious materials-driven sheets and robes of serious quality, has entered a new category with its Kitchenware Collection. Linen tablecloths, napkins, dish towels, glass towels, and aprons in rich natural dyes with excellent names (apple core! duck egg! claret!) remind me of the best parts of family holidays. A smart match for your Hasami porcelain and Luminarc stemware.
There’s also: Noah x Barbour taps buzzy New Yorkers for its collab campaign including friend of the newsletter Daniel Soares; meanwhile Aime Leon Dore x Woolrich’s collab is already also mostly sold through; ditto the Stüssy x Our Legacy team-up; APL x DUNE, though, is available and veryyyy Timothée Night Shamalan or whoever y’all’s boyfriend is; and one last collab, Uniqlo and the Louvre present their second collection; Bode’s FW21 collection lands; Loq releases the Crepe Sole Pablo Boot; Tankair’s turtleneck bodysuit is back in stock; and Mansur Gavriel introduces the Swing shoulder bag.
What’s on sale
Helmut Lang ebbs and flows in media mentions throughout the years, but even in relative lulls, you can count on it to deliver interesting, edgy basics that skew ‘90s-Euro-raver-cum-architect, and it has a rock hard history to back it up. It’s this same quality that adds intrigue to neons, kinkifies crochet, and executes perfectly off-kilter basics. Conveniently, all of these things and more are up to 80% off at its surplus sale.
Singles Day is a big sale holiday in Asia, but it still hasn’t really picked up in the States. Of the sites getting into it, Verishop’s is one of the more tempting with $11 deals, $100 reward perks, and 80% off designer deals.
Not quite a sale, but a good deal nonetheless: The Detox Market’s The Best Of Green Beauty Box has released ahead of the holidays and it’s a pretty generous buy-the-lot incentive. The site’s best-selling clean beauty including Herbivore, Ilia, Osea, and more—worth $309 altogether—go for $149 in cart.
Over 300 pieces are being offered for 50% off at Reebok’s Seasonal Steals sale with code FALL, including sneakers that were less than $90 to begin with, meaning the final prices are really, really low. Sweats and leggings are also in there, both those with and without prominent branding. And a handful of items are pre-marked down, so true discounts go up to around 80% all in all.
There’s also: Anna October’s hosting an 11th birthday sale for 11% off everything with AO11; good sweats brand Ragdoll LA’s archive sale is up to 60% off; Hosbjerg’s SS21 “Liquid” styles are 50% off; Mr. Larkin’s mid-season sale extends 25% off with MIDSEASON25; and Carbon38’s sale on sale goes an extra 40% off with HEADSTART.
What else
Oprah’s Favorite Things are a Hallmark hit for the ecomm world, commanding a content rollout strategy akin to Black Friday or Prime Day. It’s a once-yearly supermarket sweep for anyone in the market for packaged pedicures and Bed Bath & Beyond-coded candles… your aunt, say. Her latest batch of selects, released yesterday, marries that recommendation tendency with a few picks I’d have to agree with. Flamingo Estate’s candle trio is pretty considered, what with it being the brand leading the produce-as-luxury wave. We have this Material knife set at home and it gets more use in our kitchen than the fancy professional blades—the magnet block is just a good idea. These Uma oils are on the front line of an Ayurvedic beauty movement that’s poised to take off in 2022, and the brand is handling the process with a great deal of respect. And this Ugg coat is a few thousand dollars less than the Max Mara one it takes all its cues from.
Global shopping platform Lyst issued its latest Data Drop and it’s calling balaclavas fall’s most wanted accessory. So many good ones to recommend, notably from Bevza, Rus, and Extreme Cashmere.
Danse Lente is putting a pause on production, sending its spunky little structured bags into a scarcity tailspin. There’s no notice on how long this hiatus will be, so if you’ve ever had one of their leather gems on a wishlist, the time for mulling it over is, well, over.
In more farewell news (sort of), resale site Heroine is getting folded into bigger sister site Grailed. Apparently something like 90% off all Heroine users are already also set up on Grailed, not to mention gendered! fashion! is! imaginary! So the decision truly checks out.
There’s also: Matchesfashion has its own thoughts on current coats, which you can see and shop here; Goop’s gift guide suite has arrived and its fussy and wantable in the goopiest way; and Everlane celebrates 10 years with a commitment to a new “science-backed” sustainability initiative.
From Acne to Orchard Street
An outerwear play in 25 acts.
Despite being Acne’s most reliable check to cash, the biker silhouette’s grip on the leather jacket market is succumbing to a new look. Center-zip bomber styles that evoke late-‘80s New York cabbies are being transpired from the Uncut Gems meets Zizmorecore aesthetic by below-14th-street and blue-checked fashion brands. Nicole Saldaña’s just-launched outerwear line delivers a sensually minimal aviator version as erotic as this cropped Bottega one. Levi’s makes a vegan leather option that looks almost identical to those hanging from awnings on Orchard street, but at that rate you might as well go vintage—I’ve had great experiences with Andrew Marc’s ultra-soft leather, and this jacket in particular is basically the blueprint for the whole movement.
Also worth your eBay dollars, vintage Burberry gabardine trenches are now and always it for the heavy, liquid draped look. For more structure, I have to once again recommend the Uniqlo U men’s single-breasted coat, a bell-shaped swing style that hugely overdelivers on its $130 price point.
And while trenches are correct for like four weeks each year, padded trenches solve a lot of coat problems many months at a time. If you’re not a puffer person or just don’t like the look of them in full lengths, the insulated trench traps in a ton of heat without bulking you up from all sides. Ones I can vouch for are this Uniqlo U from 2019 (it’s an eBay link, this collection sells through fast and is always hard to track down) and this Aritzia in great color choices. I’m very moved by this Acne option (also in black) with its massive picture frame buckle, plus this detachable-scarf Blossom one.
Some ‘80s-ish coats of the moment have a cool, passed-down-by-mom energy about them, and isn’t that what we’re all reaching for anyway? PR lady extraordinaire Sofia Bibb and I were recently musing on how our moms both owned bags that were basically the precursors to the SC103 links bag, and that the comeback is a sign of a sea change after a long spell of bleak futurism and fetishization of un-earth-friendly materials. These mom-approved shapes belong in that same closet.
Luxurious wool coats with decisive shoulder shapes recall a pre-puffer era when tailoring was king. The Row and Bottega Veneta navigate this category easily, and picks from lesser-known Arch The and Amomento are more affordable and arguably more memorable. Shawl-collar shearling coats by Loulou Studio and LVIR are excellent and sophisticated and surprising investment opportunities that will age well in both relevance and constitution, with the promise of gorgeous future patinas. This Vaquera coat (knowingly and cleverly) evokes a texture as seen on little old ladies going to the supermarket, perhaps with rain-resistant hair protectors or print silk scarves tied around their chins.
Perennial choices like The North Face, Canada Goose, and Moncler are being joined in the canon by styles from Saks Potts, Max Mara, and Nanushka that’ve proven to be fad-impervious over the years.
If all else fails, an impassioned round of Good Tweet-Bad Tweet should be all you need to get the blood boiling.