124: Power to the pre-spree

Plus Reformation x Brock Collection, an MNZ sale, and Christopher Esber for up to 70% off.

I’m heading to Paris (as I unfortunately have been for the past 12 hours…with 7 more to go). This isn’t a capsule-wardrobe packing-type post, though. I admit that rather than do the responsible thing and stack my dollars for one satisfying siege on my checking account in ol’ Pareeeeee, I shopped ahead of time to make sure I had things I’d be content to wear upon arrival.

My “pre-spree”—which it almost definitely was, considering how primed I am to carve out my impact on The Broken Arm, Lemaire, Charvet, and Repetto (to say the least)—was foundational in that it was directed at pieces that’ll dynamize to match the bizzarro things I intend to absorb within the Franco-verse.

Coming with me are a new pair of Birkenstock 1774 Bostons in Faded Khaki, whose tonal hardware offers an improvement to the typical Birk brass that grates against gold and/or silver found in most of my oeuvres (outfits). I’m wearing them now! How utterly aerolinear of me.

Also found in this sputter of deliveries were three black ribbed tanks from the Gap, my apparent factory setting for this summer, above even the supreme-reigning white tank in its many forms. I am wearing one of these, too, at time of writing and can attest that it is disproportionately soft for the $15ish I got it for after all the site discounts massaged the total down to $44.

Not found on my immediate person but no less valuable to the days of dressing and credit-depressing ahead are the MNZ Apollo vest (more on this coming soon) and Massimo Dutti Bermuda jorts from the last send. A stop by La Garçonne also had me carrying out a universally deployable Lido “swim” skirt, Stephan Schneider trousers, and Amomento maxi skirt in a gorpy ripstop.

I’m all too ready to depart this emergency stop in Bangor, Maine, and see what treasures await in my final destination ahead. And if you have Paris shopping recs, for the love of god drop them in the comments.

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What’s new

Reformation x Brock Collection

• It’s high time Reformation made its move into the mid-priced zone. Its silhouettes have been nailing, often setting, every necessary trend of the season, cut to complete flattery, for years. A new collection with Laura Vassar of the kindred Brock Collection elevates those styles with longer-lasting finishes and finer fabrics (with sustainability still at its core). Want to complete the picture? New Ref bags just landed, too.

• As the internet—and therefore ecommerce—grows increasingly homogenous, with similar brand mixes and seasonal buys sending once-loyal shopper to the wherever offers them the lowest price, the power of quantifiable differentiation has become king. Net-A-Porter is very clearly using the industry muscle it’s acquired to land exclusives with brands we actually care about, now. Chloe basket bags with leather trim, flowy Toteme pull-on pants, The Row boxer shorts, a mini Bottega Sardine bag…it’s refreshing to see a different (and highly perusable) assortment for a change.

• If your summer fashion M.O. includes cosplaying as an alien as written by Ottessa Moshfegh, Acne Studios’ High Summer capsule is your jackpot. Alongside giant wraparound sunglasses for an unearthly stare, the capsule contains subtly off-kilter pieces like a strappy satin slip dress in a disarmingly golden green and a double-breasted trench hewn in thick, light-wash denim. A copy of Acne Paper Issue 18 doubles as an invaluable E.T. textbook of aesthetic anthropology.

• Limited pre-access to Dries Van Noten’s Autumn/Winter ‘23 collection is keeping its chalice of clothing full to the brim with historically inflected but chilled-out semi-formal wear like a toga-coded t-shirt with enough Grecian gravitas to pass as a “top,” a regal rose blazer in plush, floral jacquard, and a thickly fringed, drop-waist dress for this century’s class of prospective flappers. 

• Toga’s Autumn/Winter ‘23 collection looks as if lifted straight from Robin Williams’ famously good street style cache, with quilted bomber jackets in a muddled teal, what can best be described as “Dad Pants” in staticky orange stripes, and an intrepid vote for the resurgence of the bolo tie—RIP Robin, you would have loved taffeta puffer vests.

• Stephen Doherty’s inky florals wash over his new capsule with COS, from a gathered-neck maxi dress swirling black and blue to a $99 bandeau top with a simple shape that belies the hundreds of tiny beads punctuating the printed petals.

• Like a high-school picture day manifest, Commission's summer drop mixes and matches cliquey aesthetics into a genderless gestalt of a wardrobe. “Most Likely to Succeed” types get a little freaky in deconstructed pinstripe skirts, jocks are tempted into argyle sweater vests with muscle-forward structures, and the classic track jacket is made smart with the geometric logic of a hopeless fashion nerd.  

• In its whittled-down color scheme, Helmut Lang’s pre-fall monochromatic edit studies shapes of the moment, as in the asymmetric neckline and thumb-hole sleeves of this stretchy jersey dress, and innovates toward the next moment with pieces like a leather jacket/wrap skirt set simulating a trench coat sliced in half at the waist.

• If you fall in the center of the baller (sport)/baller (style) Venn diagram, the latest Major League Baseball x Gucci collaboration offers both equal-opportunity baseball lovers’ gear, like a pair of ”Denim Pants” (...jeans?) smattered with embroidered patches repping teams from the Red Sox to the Angels, and more team-oriented gear, the Yankees dominating the footwear department with a dignified pair of leather loafers and quilted suede boots sporting the NY logo.

• With Jéan’s new collection of tees is manna for the grown-up Paul Frank girlies with logomaniacal tendencies equaled only by their senses of stylish humor—most of the shirts ring up at $69 exactly, from a (in the brand’s words!) “boob tube” emblazoned in lettering that mimics a neon sign to a cropped tank that slaps its pale turquoise fabric in the face with cherry-red stars. 

• Universal Standard has expanded into swimwear, with retro, full-coverage styles to offer a wedgie-prophylactic alternative to the cheeky styles that currently dominate the market, with electric colors like tomato red and a neon melon green and a size range from 00 to 40. 

• The soft triangle of Mansur Gavriel’s new Candy Bag is available in three sizes and an array of muted, dulcet shades, rehabilitating lemon drops, licorice, and caramel into a new life from their former stations in Grandma’s calcified candy bowl. 

• Ganni taps the LMVH prize finalists at Ester Manas for a ruching-heavy, turquoise-and-wine-hued summer capsule, featuring strappy dresses and swimwear that pays homage to summer camp style in more-adult designs. 

• A.P.C. hands the reins to its founder’s daughter, Lily Touitou, for a capsule of sweet-leaning basics like a straightforward V-neck tee gently ruched at the bust and stonewashed low-rise jeans with laces at the ankles.

• There’s also: Gohar’s new (Old) World collection is full of enchanting tchotchkes, from shell-shaped tea sets to the underrated candle snuffer; a litany of crafty stools comprise the PROPS collection by Hem X, in forms such as spindles of cotton rope and Jenga-like stacks of wood blocks; acid green and faded grape dominate SSENSE’s exclusive 66°North x Charlie Constantinou capsule of techy-trippy winter wear; Linda Farrow and Rowen Rose present a capsule of sunglasses that play with both horizontal and vertical dimensions, with frames like stretched-out ovals and blunt heptagons; Splits59 launches its Ballet collection with Isabella Boylston, full of actual activewear with subtle twists and gathering that doesn’t betray the athleticism of dance in favor of its aesthetic; fingers, flowers, and suns are embroidered on the brand’s signature satin silk for Hai’s capsule with Laila Tara H; and Madewell x Anybag presents two shades of brightly colored, tweed-esque totes upcycled from single-use plastic (all the better for incidental exposure to sand and seawater).

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What’s on sale

Maryam Nassir Zadeh End of Season Sale

• Where there’s smoke(y gray), there’s fire (discounts). At least that’s the case in Maryam Nassir Zadeh’s end of season sale, where shades of slate romance us in dreamlike, sheer, drop-waist slip dresses, sturdy-slouchy Dance Pants, heeled sandals with whisper-thin straps, and more. Here, you will also find myriad price cuts up to 50% on pieces in equally considered colors that simply do not serve the central idiom of this blurb.

• Chris Esber’s sale is almost all I’ve been talking about this past week and half, between chit chat around my party top and Australian fashion chatter in the comments. The sale is deepening. Now up to 70% off, one can find many a C.E. piece in the low hundreds, unreasonably low for the great design and flattering cuts you’re getting.

• Italist’s end of season sale is on, which means navigating directly to the trifecta; sure enough, Prada, Miu Miu, and Bottega are wrapped in red discount tape. A sampling includes the crinkled gray jacket that matches my skirt, a Radzimir bra, and a purple cassette bag for $1,000 off.

• This is not a sanctioned sale, but Glossier sent along a discount code for 20% off an order of $40+. It may well be one-time-use, which in that case, congratulations to the fastest shopper to apply WIN20-WZ6M3P6Z at checkout.

• Australia’s Posse the Label is hosting an archive sale on pieces that have been known to be sold out for months on end due to high demand. Almost everything is listed at 50-70% off, including a wriggly jersey tank dress in oceanic blue, greige linen pants, and a tie-font bandeau top.

• I love to pretend like LA has no fashion, but of course that could never be true while Mohawk General Store keeps doing what it does. Three hundred and fifty items on sale—like jeans from Auralee, a micro-plisse Dries skirt, and a taffeta Chelsea Mak dress—make it compoundingly shoppable.

• Toteme’s hosting a private sale on site, taking 40% off a selection of items with PRIVATESALE at checkout. That’ll get you hundreds off this cape coat, these heeled flops, drawstring beach (and beyond) pants, and some ladylike mules.

• Acne has unrolled a 40% off sale that hits on SS23 runway pieces, Face collection tees, luxurious hoodies, and more. It’s the kind of sale where, if you’re already getting one thing, you’ll end up getting two.

• Le Monde Beryl became everyone’s favorite shoe brand this year for its walky flats. Now, a ton of sandals, Mary Janes, and mules are down to 40% off—my favorites (of course) being these silver satin slippers.

• Jacquemus’ Le Raphia collection is on private sale for 30% off with LERAPHIA30, and though its teeny cardigans and teenier purses are the pieces most often identified with the brand, train your eyes upon this season’s dresses: from little, black, and blooming with an inky ruffle to powder blue and gathered at the hips and bust, gowns steal the stage of the sale. 

• The LN-CC Private Sale takes up to 60% off an esoteric collection of over 4,000 pieces, including some deep-cut collaborations (for those in the Southern hemisphere, this includes furry Feng Chen Wang x Ugg finds), most compelling of which are its accessories: Champagne-hued Melissa jelly sandals are less than $50, and a bounty of bags come in fish form from JW Anderson or studded with eyelets as per Paco Rabanne.

• Some sleeper candidates for Dress of the Summer lurk in the cavernous Matches up-to-60%-off sale, like a columnar keyhole chiffon number by Nensi Dojaka, a weirdo techy-floral chimera from Sacai, and a swooping, patchwork midi with voluminous three-quarter sleeves via Zimmerman.

• Tory Burch’s Semi-Annual sale has been knocked down an extra 25%, with a knife-pleated halter dress in a color combination that seems scientifically engineered to delight for $450, a satin purse with a hammered golden ring as a handle at $315, and dozens of other richly hewn clothes and accessories with luxurious finishes, most running under $500.

• Take 20% off Hai’s summer sale selection with HAISUMMER20, from a sky-colored polo that’s crumpled like a wadded-up, then rediscovered, love letter or a sheer shift streaked with spiraling ruffles and a checkered purse in Jayne Mansfield-core pink-and-red satin.

• Collina Strada’s Spring Sale offers us the simulacrum of pierced nipples with its hand-dyed, hardware-laden Sprouts tee (for under $100), an asymmetrical plaid skirt with ruffles that cascade into a tail that drags along to uniform a literal or proverbial frolic, and many more such garden-centric but glamorous pieces at steep discounts.

• Intrepid singles can now case Dover Street Market’s e-shop, with reductions of up to 50% on a litany of pieces by high-minded designers like Ann Demeulemeester, which we recently learned via an iconic TikTok might be the key to finding our special, nerdy someones. Maybe DSM will add a rudimentary Tinder dupe to its site? 

• The two genders, Leopard and Jester, are duly represented in the jumpsuits available through Baserange’s spring sale of 30% off pieces that appear almost as comfortable as they are potentially personality-defining, a unique note for the usually-chilled-out brand to hit, but far from unwelcome. 

• In Peter Do’s 50% off sale selection, leather boots have V-necks, button-ups come stiff and quilted, wide-leg jeans earnestly present clearly-machine-made gashes, and pretty much anything goes (within the brand’s stark, smart sense of self). 

• The storied Farfetch extra 20% off sale-on-sale has begun, and it’s stocked with butter-colored drop-waist gowns from Lanvin, sturdy-looking leather sandals by Marine Serre, dual-toned, charm-laden Marni necklaces, and about 1,400 pages more of similarly understated-but-ecclectic pieces. 

• Take up to 60% off Helmut Lang’s end of season sale selections that skew very Gossip Girl in their scholastic-turned-sexpot sensibilities, from pleated woolen skorts and leather bomber jackets with gigantic collars to layered cap sleeve polos that give us much to consider re: re-adapting a fondness for a chopped-and-screwed school uniform.

• There’s also: Margherita Missoni (yes, of that Missoni family) launches her own brand, Maccapani, which is not what I expected; Miaou’s new swim drop includes a grommeted, laced-up bikini that evokes the time when we were begging people to step on our necks; the Story mfg. SS23 private sale once again delivers an embroidery and patchwork fix at prices that would make a Bode enthusiast clutch their pearls (these voluminous pink shorts adorned with needlework vases and garlands run less than $300, with a matching shirt for under $400); Maison Rogue is still offering up to 40% off its SS23 curation with plenty of twisty Christopher Esber tops and Sandy Liang cardigans to go around; Totême T-strap sandals and caged leather shoulder bags from Hereu are up to 50% off in the still-chugging-along Luisaviaroma summer sale; the sharpest pleats of the season are steeply discounted in Altuzarra’s up-to-40%-off sale; Cecile Bahnsen is offering 30% off styles like its rich cobalt Fang dress with a tucked-up design inspired by intrepid, skirt-wearing bike riders; and Camper’s private sale takes up to 40% off the brand’s most summer-appropriate styles.

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With contributions from News Editor Em Seely-Katz