195: Pulls, fittings, gifting suites
Plus Alaia FW24 at Moda, good jeans for short people, and an NYC pre-order event.
It’s the week before fashion week, which means editors and influencers are scurrying to tie up the looks they’ll be wearing to the shows and the debris in their orbits (dinners, panels, cocktail hours, after parties).
Sometimes it’s the brands on the calendar themselves that offer dressing (I’m most excited to be wearing Tibi and Kallmeyer), which is a great way to celebrate the collections from the previous runways that are just now arriving in stores. Other times, agencies will invite you into their showrooms to pull from a broad selection of clients—you’ll be seeing me in Tove, Interior, Veronica De Piante... And quite often, brands that aren’t showing will send gifts with which to build outfits to unspecified events. Not that it needs saying but this is how “Everyone at Fashion Week Was Wearing This ONE Item” clickbait gets made. Judging by the offers I got in my inbox, I expect that to count a lot of Agolde, Citizens of Humanity, Smythe, Hereu.
All of this for the sake of transparency, but also to share some insight into how these practices influence shopping. For me, I appreciate the opportunity to try before I buy, when it comes to loans. We’re only a day into the week-before-the-week (a calendar-packed week itself), and I’ve been easily convinced that I should buy this Tove coat that I happened to mention in a market edit a week or two back. And that, in fact, I should go ahead and buy a lot more Tove in general. I’ve pulled it off the hanger every night since I received the garment bag of loans, and not just for the pragmatism, but the relaxed and elegant way it makes me feel.
With gifting, there’s the chance that you might discover something you wouldn’t usually buy for yourself but that becomes instrumental to your wardrobe, or even expands the perimeter of your perceived personal style. I had the extremely good fortune of connecting with the folks behind Casa Shop, which I’ve admired for years, and they offered me a piece of vintage jewelry from their collection—from among the transcendent assortment, there was a gold ring with an embedded emerald cabochon that opened my eyes and my jewelry collection up beyond fine metals and into the vast world of gemstones. It’s incredible what brands are able to teach you about yourself sometimes.
I get that this may not be utterly relatable, and that these sorts of channels for discovery are endemic to my niche job (and a privilege that does not go unappreciated!), but it’s an important part of the story of how things land on my radar, and therefore in this newsletter.
With News Editor
What’s new
Pieter Mulier’s paradigm-shifting, brand-reviving FW24 collection for Alaïa is available for preorder at Moda Operandi, fresh off the runway. Wavy, high-necked minidresses with open backs and chalky pink jogger pants made of a single thread, looped, are both hewn in merino wool and evoke everything from fresh pastry to fungus—layers, folds, and creases define this collection, extending to accessories (a rippling leather skirt-belt redefines last year’s trend) and exudng a sensuality that’s equal parts primal and perfectionist.
Also at Moda, but available to buy now, Jacquemus’ latest collection “Les Sculptures” is full of gem-toned, cocktail-adjacent pieces like ballooning leather trousers in candy apple red; an emerald satin slip dress with a gold logo clasp at the back; a pearlescent, pleated camisole with an asymmetrical neckline; and new iterations of the prolific, low-profile Le Bisou bag adorned with oversized amber beads.
In anticipation of Valentine’s day, Reformation’s “Love Collection” offers a selection of date-oriented pieces, most under the $300 mark—a black-and-white linen bustier with layered necklines matches a bubble hem midi skirt for a Hitchcockian femme fatale fit, rosette-centric slip dresses recreate the Sandy Liang look for under $200, and Mansur Gavriel heads will be happy to find an M-frame purse in ruby patent leather for half the price of MG’s currently-sold-out classic.
We were recently introduced to Nelle Atelier, a nascent denim label specializing in jeans tailored for people under 5’4” that launched in late 2023. Between the thick, beautifully-dyed fabric, custom gold hardware, and a tight curation of three essential cuts in the brand’s unique sizing (a standout being the Claire straight-legged, mid-rise style), the short among us have been blessed with a shopping experience that doesn’t entail tailoring drama or a visit to the kids’ section.
Haus Agency has invited NYC-based readers of Magasin to its February 12 pre-order event in the city—RSVP here for access to special prices on incoming pieces from brands we love based everywhere from Copenhagen to Argentina—Helmstedt, Dubié, and Mozhdeh Matin are just three of the dozen-plus labels representing on Monday. Drinks by Ladies and Gents and the high likelihood of bumping into a fellow Magasin enjoyer are icing on the cake.
Lisa Yang’s offerings for spring are made entirely of cashmere, from a gray fisherman sweater with cowboy-style fringe draping from shoulder to shoulder to a creamy, cloudlike brushed camisole and a tan fit-and-flare dress with a sweetheart neckline and built-in underwire support.
Byredo launched its first collection of fine jewelry based on an intriguing chain design that unifies the pieces with its interlocking bars and spheres—an 18-inch necklace is crafted in solid 18-carat gold or sterling silver and matches a selection of rings, pendant earrings, and bracelets intended to walk the line between day-to-day adornment and something a bit more experimental.
In more fine jewelry news, La Collection launched its first line, with pieces like hoop earrings embedded with emeralds, sapphires and rubies, gold lariat necklaces, and double-layered rings defining the High End of high-end jewelry as it (miraculously, still) exists in 2024.
Going three for three on jewelry, Sophie Buhai’s online-only Exclusives collection ranges from silver-plated collars in Lapis Lazuli to cord necklaces dangling with huge shells carved in onyx, with a bunch of baby baubles like a pearl necklace for the most glamorous of the sub-12-month-olds and an egg charm anklet for tiny legs alongside the regular-sized offerings.
Fear of God’s Collection 8 is heavy on the outerwear, each with its own idiosyncratic, slightly psychedelic twist—a lightweight blazer is etched in geometric patterning, minty boiled wool is lined with iridescent cupro to make an overcoat that feels very California Winter, a shearling hooded bomber is the way-evolved version of a velour track jacket, and more.
Marithé + François Girbaud came back on the scene after going dark for over a decade, but its new offerings are a bit of an anticlimax for those of us who loved the quirked-up denim and cyberpunk-lite skirt sets of the brand’s 90s era—all we’ve gotten so far is understated athleisure, and even though strategically placed seams and studs call back to the brand’s detail-oriented origins, we can’t help but hope for a future expansion beyond loungewear.
Gil Rodriguez’s SS24 collection is now at Bona Drag, with a focus on expanding the brand’s texture portfolio—a long-sleeved, black lace thong bodysuit and lettuce-hemmed pointelle shorts in white venture into lingerie territory, a first for the primary color-heavy label.
There’s also: Presley Oldham’s Valentine's Day 2024 collection is a limited run of bracelets and necklaces strung with freshwater pearls and handmade Japanese glass lips pendant from the 1950s; from soap to lotion to cologne, everything in A.P.C.’s new “Self-Care” line is orange blossom-scented and made of 98% “ingredients of natural origin”; and Clyde introduces the Gauntlet gloves, made from cream lambskin for everyday wear either pulled up to the elbows or scrunched down toward the wrists.
What’s on sale
The Mohawk General Store sale is down an extra 20% with EXTRA20 and still stocked with 13 well-curated pages of sculptural-but-wearable Dries Van Noten heels for under $450, cotton Deiji Studios lounge sets for $117, knotted-up Chelsea Mak blouses in champagne-colored silk for $215, an intricately embroidered Cecilie Bahnsen skirt for over 60% off, and more, from Lemaire to Low Classic (including a ton of menswear!).
Take an extra 20% off the already-up-to-50%-off Ludovic de Saint Sernin sale with EXTRA20—its gender-agnostic selection also spans a wide range of seasons, with pieces like a long, cream coat trimmed in fluffy shearling at the neck and cuffs available alongside handkerchief-hem halter dresses and matching poplin boleros for under $130.
As if it were an opera, “Part 3” of Peter Do’s archive sale has some of the brand’s most dramatic deals, with up to 70% off deconstructed suiting in both mens- and womenswear camps like a pair of trousers with ladder stitching up each side and a leather waistband ($560 down from $1400), the first skirt-belt we’ve seen that dares to go maxi length, and more.
Our sources (the Magasin chat) tipped us off that sadly, Paa is going out of business, with a sale of up to 85% off its entire catalog—everything is unisex, from a crinkly lime button-down now $80 from $348, a quickly-selling collection of $30 beanies and baseball caps, and more—RIP yet another small business.
James Street Co.’s winter sale takes 40% off the entire site at checkout, with extrafine merino wool “skirt leggings” (basically maxi skorts) for $220 down from $368, a beanie-scarf-mittens bundle under $200, and a trove of sweaters to stock up on so you don’t have to go winter shopping while it’s still warm out in the fall.
Georgian label Materiel Tiblisi’s archive sale offers up to 60% off its contemporary takes on classic cinema style, with pieces like a silk “scarf dress” that loops around the neck to hold itself up and a peachy lace dress in Annie Oakley-esque ruffles for under $200.
Leather purveyor Officina del Poggio is taking an additional 20% off its winter sale on pieces like a slim, shearling lined Sabot slip-on shoe, a haircalf bucket bag designed to fit the phone/keys/wallet essentials, and a handful of wool pieces like a hooded poncho in 100% merino.
There’s also: A curation of designer Valentine’s Day gifts, from Bottega phone holders to Prada keyrings, is on sale at Italist; Marni jackets and Jil Sander knits are up to 75% off in Elyse Walker’s winter sale; a ton of under-$300 sneakers and sub-$400 puffer jackets are available in the Axel Arigato sale; Jack Erwin’s winter sale takes 30% off a selection of leather footwear, from Chelsea boots to lug-soled loafers; Girlfriend Collective offers up to 70% off 150 of its athletic and loungewear styles in a huge array of sizes and colors; and almost nothing in Thierry Colson’s winter sale of precious, embroidered cold-weather clothing rings up over $300.
I may earn some money if you make a purchase through one of the links above.
Follow us on Instagram at @magasin.ltd