049: No free feet pics
Plus adidas x Wales Bonner, SSENSE up to 60% off, and Gohar World's latest.
It goes without saying that summer is the horniest season, and no more plainly is this fiending frenzy expressed than the exhibition, asphyxiation, and contortion of our feet.
The present cultural rip tide is dragging Balenciaga’s libidinous Le Cagole to the frothy forefront; for me, a pair of the heeled slide sandals, but Vogue editor Naomi Elizée and Who What Wear editor Eliza Huber have been riding it out with knee-high boots, even in the 80ºs. Madelynn Furlong, by contrast, messaged me that she’s going the way of the Cagole flats.
Beyond whips and chains and even the obvious eroticism of a thong sandal (The Row’s Ginza thrives in Courtne Bonilla’s recent outfits), here, too, belongs the insistent bifurcation of a tabi—not just Margielas but Nike Air Rifts, too. The sneakers are back for another tour since making an appearance on my shoes-of-the-moment roundup last July, as worn in the past fortnight by Leandra Medine, who was in turn inspired by Mari Giudicelli, plus a handful of Brooklyn-based models including Sahara Johnson and Fabiana Montenegro. Their $100 barrier to entry shaves off some self-seriousness.
Meanwhile at the Mansur Gavriel x Marimekko event, where someone on the press team wore fantastic MG ballet flats, Shereen Muhammad and I chatted about our mutual hunt for the enigmatic white ballerina—kinkier than a pair of Pleasers. She’d had tough luck with a Chanel pair, while my Margiela tabis were decomposing with every step. However Emily Dawn Long has been on the campaign trail for Repettos for ages, and when I was in Mexico with Nicole Steriovski shooting last week’s editorial, I saw she had a heeled pair from the brand in patent white that may be the most up-to-date platonic ideal of the silhouette.
Nicole, Jenna Saraco (who also shot with us in CDMX), and I are of the ride-or-die MNZ Olympia faith, bringing the total count of Olympias in the pensión up to 5 or 6 pairs. It would be silly of me to try to list off all the girlies wearing the wedges this season—at least four people mentioned here plus 125 others answered YES to my IG roll call on the topic—but even sillier is that we’ve kept them so loyally in rotation despite the dubious service of a PVC upper. To anyone who’s ever DMed asking about their comfort level or is wondering now: You shouldn’t plan on walking across Manhattan in them, but know that I end up doing it bi-monthly anyway.
Similarly, and I’ve said it before, but the fashion thing our generation may be remembered for most is its fascination with rubber shoes. Crocs and their descendants (Yeezys, Bottega Puddles, Y/Project x Melissas) have us walking around looking like fetishistic fishermen, and their absurdity is getting more normalized by the minute. Just this week, someone in Clemence Poles’ stylish Passerbys Discord recommended with a straight face Suicoke slippers as a city walking shoe—and why shouldn’t they! Plus, for some reason, rubber shoe purveyor ForBitches is outselling all but six other brands on Italist, even the big designer ones.
And how can we talk about cruel and unusual foot contraptions without pointing (again, ad nauseam) to the Celine Pirate, available only in a size 8 for $1,800 anywhere on the internet? (Finders fee to anyone who locates me a pair in a size 6.) In the meantime, other big-toe-censoring styles are attempting to plug the gap in the market; Vogue’s Madeline Fass is partial to Elleme’s Cache Cache heels, and Scandi blogger Fanny Ekstrand Tourneur is wearing AWAKE Mode’s Asymmetric heels. These last ones put the kibosh on leerers over opposite sides of the toes on the left and right shoes, but the message is clear: No free feet pics.
What’s new
A funny side effect of the Balencididas show… and the Guccididas release… and even the ongoing Jacquemike teasers… has been the crystallization of Wales Bonner as the ultimate sports giant collaborator. The designer’s fourth collection with the athletic brand dropped just over a week ago, so delicately preserving her rich set of references as always, despite the mass.. everything… of adidas Originals and the relative boutique scale of her own independent label. A designer’s designer, the girls who get it get it, real ones know, et al.
The season has ticked over yet again, which means there’s a new German word for us to learn. Gemsun’s SONNENTANZ, meaning SUN DANCE (!), brings the spirit of summer to a collection of crochets, wovens, and other wearables. Some highlights from the line include departures from the bags and hats we love (and are available in new, extended colors), namely the brand’s first crocheted top, a fiercely sexy fishnet pareo, flower corsage belts and necklaces, and bon vivant apron-front shorts.
Bottega meditates further on its expansive archive of intrecciato with a new monthly series, exclusive to web. The mesmerizing interlocking weaves from the past are reimagined in satisfying full-bleed colors, the subdued project another indication of Blazy’s more nuanced approach compared to his predecessor.
After its Instagram-quaking launch a couple weeks ago, Gohar World trepidatiously added just one teensy new product to its site: a selection of Murano glass swizzle sticks for joyfully stirring up cocktails at home. The sisters warned of a quick sell-out, but I’m still seeing this in stock at time of writing. I’m really looking forward to watching all the here-on-out whimsy roll in, and the dinner parties that’ll take place just to show them off.
As far as Levi’s collabs go, this No Sesso one is among the more experimental. The graphic tees and hoodies are a given, but the highly constructed denim designs are a feat of craftsmanship, in the world of what Glenn Martens is doing.
The first Telfar party I ever went to was at a White Castle in Midtown around 2017, and the entire floor flooded while we danced and went insane for the co-branded swag being given out. I don’t know what I did with the beanie and tee I made off with, but the collab is now back and I’m feeling nostalgic.
There’s also: Goop releases its third vibrator, a clit massager called Viva La Vulva; Sandy Liang launches her first ever swimwear capsule; jeweler Pamela Love collaborates with object brand Memor Studios on a second collection consisting of one-of-one jewelry boxes, combs, and hand mirrors; luxury sock brand Comme Si issues its beloved boxer short in sunbrella yellow stripes; Ukrainian brand Bevza continues to generate aid with a set of kalyna berry earrings, with a percentage of proceeds being donated to NGOs benefitting Ukraine; A.P.C. and Lacoste “interact” on a line of logo-portmanteau soft goods; new MNZ arrivals include fascinating experimentations from the brand All-In and exquisite fine jewelry by Rafael Indiana; The Outnet launches menswear, finally, as an off-price site for Mr. Porter; a new Uniqlo x Mame Kurogouchi collection of seamless intimates has landed; Baina and Lesse team up on a sophisticated bath towel; Marine Serre gets into activewear; and wedding guest dress stalwart Self-Portrait releases its first-ever bag collection, as debuted by Naomi Campbell.
What’s on sale
The SSENSE sale discount is coiling upwards week over week, this Monday hitting a 60% discount, up from last week’s 50% and naturally greater than the starting 40% rate. I don’t recall the sale ever reaching higher than 75% (and I skimmed past editions of this newsletter to make sure), so it seems like the windfall—and subsequent curtain fall—of the sale might come sooner than the three-months-on-three-months-off model I predicted. The best, deepest sale picks on my radar include this extremely elegant Maximilian black dress, a fruit punch-red Ganni vest, and Anna Quan summer knits.
Net-A-Porter sees SSENSE’s raise and meets it there at 60% off (this analogy is off, I don’t play poker), likewise up from 40% two weeks ago. The site has put The Row (see this perfect perfect vest) and Christopher Esber on the firing line, but also bbier brands like Supreya Lele and Agua Bendita, making an interesting mix of discovery and de facto to shop on the low.
Nordstrom—and before I continue, I know I talk about these three sites a ton, especially their sales, but this week I just couldn’t avoid it; I am but a servant of the fashion calendar, and on this occasion, my overlord has demanded that spring deliveries see their first price cuts… it is my duty to report it—is having a designer sale. Unlike the above two, Nordstrom’s advertising a 40% off clearance, when the real highest discounts reach 81%. Per uzh, I’m a fan of the SPACE selections, which include Loulou Studio and JW Anderson.
If you’re experiencing multi-brand marketplace ennui, Tory Burch is inexplicably yet undeniably cool now (it goes beyond their limited work with Brian Molloy), and it’s having a big’le sale. The Semi-Annual launched today and the extra 25% off sale that comes with it means that items like these raffia mules are $180 and this cobalt pullover is $187. I haven’t been able to pinpoint what’s driving the brand’s evolution from collectors’-level prepcore to something bigger, but it’s there and for the first time, I’m seriously considering becoming a Burch girl.
Another great (but they were always on-point) brand demolishing prices is Aeron, the Budapest-based label whose seasonal sale extends 30% off on impossible-to-imagine-soft leather, more summer knits, and the best-cut suiting you’ll have ever known.
One of its contemporaries, Nanushka, is hosting a private sale with 40% off at least a few hundred selections with PRIVATE40. The edit, as with all of Nanushka collections, contains everything you could want in a wardrobe. Like, if I had to replace everything I owned with a single brand, I’d be in mourning of course, but if any brand could be up for the task, it might be this one.
There’s also: La Garconne’s seasonal sale is on and just added new styles; LN-CC’s summer sale just advanced to 50% off; W Concept’s Asian-hailing independent brands are on sale up to 70% off with an extra 20% with 20HERO; this is a weird one, but Public Goods (the household essentials membership platform) is selling wine for 30% off—that’s $47 for a 3-pack; Urban Outfitters’ Best of Summer sale hits 50% off; and IG baddie Duckie Brown is selling everything for half off, just DM or email him.
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