214: Inventory day
214: Inventory day
Plus Vestiaire's stash of grails, Baserange's 70% off archive sale, and Aaaaahhhlaïa!
Today is recycling day for my block, which is a good reminder to do a little inventory of the pieces I’ve added to my closet lately.
Some I’ve already touched on briefly, like the Rue Sophie Provenance Jacket and Parc Pants that, at sub-$300 and -$200 respectively, are already getting much more wear than the pricier pieces I own (it’s been so easy when they are just the right weight for the current weather). I sometimes wear my new Mansur Gavriel Candy Hobo with the jacket, but its bone-white shade makes it a better match for more contrasting tans. When wearing blacks (and grays and whites and tans, too), I’ve been switching out between two new brown suede bags that serve different moods: the relaxed, evening-ish Little Liffner Pillow Pouch (to which I’ve gotten both, “Is that Bottega?” and “Oh, Khaite?”) and the daytime-y, put-together Metier Cala 32—I heard a rumor the brand uses Hermes leather…after some first-hand experience with the tote I’m tempted to believe it.
Some pieces I haven’t yet gotten much wear out of yet because I sent them straight to the tailor for hemming are these super flattering mid-rise St. Agni jeans and these Enza Costa Everywhere Pants in white and gray that are half-loungey, half-dressy. I foresee a dependence on all three pairs.
Mostly, it’s been a big period for reinventing my shoe collection. I parted with many pairs and added a shocking—even to me—number of new ones. Firstly, a pair of Margiela tabi boots in brown leather found on sale at SSENSE for half off in a size I worried would be .5 a size too tight but actually fit with a bit of welcome wiggle room. I also got a last pair of The Row Graphic Thong Kitten Heels for 60% off at La Garçonne (sold out now but currently on sale at Saks)—I haven’t worn them out yet but can tell they will need a break-in period…going to hit them with the hairdryer for a few minutes and accelerate the process since I’m eager to wear them with everything.
Instantly comfortable, however are the Jamie Haller ballet flats I adopted in brown (no one delivers such soft leather with the structural integrity that Jamie does) and these Keen Jasper Sneakers, the outdoor activity shoe of my dreams. I can’t wait for foraging season and upstate weekends and wearing these in the woods surrounded by lushness and life.
Miscellaneous other additions include this men’s belt and men’s field jacket from AYR, both extremely The Row in the context of the rest of my wardrobe, but for fantastic prices. And an Everlane ribbed knit vest (it’s on sale for $31) in the burgundy everyone seems to be wearing this spring. I hung it up next to my Kallmeyer tomato knit cardigan and had a crystal clear download of a full-saturation look I’ll soon be wearing.
With News Editor
What’s new
Vestiaire Collective’s reintroduction of its “Archive Room” can be boiled down to it putting all of its world-class, collectors’-fantasy grails in one place. In only the first few pages, I’ve already spotted many pieces from my personal watch list and and cousins to my own closet members: three different Bottega Intrecciato Hobos; the Comme des Garçons disembodied hands skirt; the Prada AW99 wool corset in green; a CDG Lumps & Bumps dress in picnic blanket red; a Dior stamp corset; a Tom Ford Gucci thong bikini with interlocking G hardware at the tramp stamp spot; and many a Robert Goossens piece for YSL and Chanel. It’s priced with a watchful eye to the market, so don’t expect bargain basement deals on, like, Hermes by any means. But that’s not to say everything is entirely taped off—for under $400 you can still find a brocade Prada pencil skirt, Mugler wool halter, Louis Vuitton corset, killer Versace sunglasses, Gucci horsebit belt, and all-leather McQueen mini dress (seems crazy to be priced so low IMO). And for a little bit more, a skintight Alaia minidress, Dolce “SEX” heels, and Jean Paul Gaultier tattoo skirt.
It might just be an arcane commercial practice, but the fact that Alaïa’s new collection at Bergdorf Goodman is winter/spring instead of the traditional SS feels apt when considering the sedimentary nature of many of its pieces, like the layers of soil flowers are poking through at this time of year: exoskeletal bucket bags, striated knit pencil skirts, and a high-necked horseman of the return of the bandage dress feel definitively “transitional.”
For Puppets and Puppets’ penultimate clothing-centric collection, Carly Mark makes her presence known in a way few designers dare—she models for its ecomm, copying her own runway bow look in a mesh t-shirt printed with the most famous unicorn in NYC’s Cloisters and showcasing less diaphanous pieces like a faux-windblown coat in tan sateen; meanwhile, a resin banana on a leather strap (cutting out the bag middleman altogether) and cookie Claddagh ring foreshadow the brand’s soon-to-be-singular focus on accessories.
Pending the brand’s autumnal embrace of womanhood, Sandy Liang’s SS24 is going through a phase worthy of an Avril Lavigne music video, with perversely pickle-colored and frilly track pants, tank tops mimicking belly button piercings with strategic cutouts and dangling pearls, the resurgence of the cult favorite “RETURN TO SANDY LIANG” dog tag necklace, and triumphant appropriations of skater style as in a crossbody bag that appears to be a gigantic—quick, can you guess?—bow.
Brand to know: Korean brand Lexx Finger Marche—which often goes by LFM—is rolling out its SS24 collection with a second drop landing this week. It draws a line between suiting and soft femininity (much like Carven and Auralee), as shown in its midi-length pleated skirts and Italian crinkled nylon trench. It’s prices are even more easily weighed compared to its competitors, with jersey knit basics found for under $100 and spring coats around the $500 mark. LFM has been around for over a decade, but a recent wave of seeding (Brittany Bathgate, Jessi Frederick, Sarah Halpin…many of the Studio Nicholson community, in fact) indicates a bigger push into the US and UK.
Bode’s new arrivals may be as far aesthetically from Barbie as possible, but its multi-character approach to womenswear does kind of ring the same conceptual bells—there’s Sailor Bode in a red linen shirt inspired by 1920s seafarers; Rodeo Bode in a western-style button down with the requisite chintzy embroidery and smile pockets; and Beach Bode in a chocolate cotton-silk kaftan—but as always, the vintage silhouettes and precious-feeling materials read more Gray Gardens than Greta Gerwig.
There’s something unrepentantly creepy behind the beauty of Issey Miyake’s latest arrivals—lavender shirt dresses swirl around every limb as if being sucked down a bathtub drain, collarless Klein blue blazers hinge at the oversized shoulders a la cyborg David Byrne, and pleated tops are pinched into spindly sculptures, but Miyake’s sense of visual humor buoys the collection into wearability, not to mention desirability.
The elastic strap on its new Tabi mules is frayed at the edges, as are the rest of Maison Margiela’s new arrivals, with crunched-up cotton poplin button-downs; the “Glam Slam,” a top-handle purse that bulges in quilted leather like the empty spot on a subdivision’s couch; and more Tabis, both Mary Jane and ballet flat, in a new, sure to-sell “anisette” colorway, a graying sage—everything feels harried, but seduces with its mess.
The pieces that make up Molly Goddard’s SS24 run the gamut from supremely innocent, as in a lambswool jumper edged in satin like a baby’s blanket and buttoned down the back, to subtly scandalous, like a gray midi skirt with bunching at one hip to mimic a grab that suggestively raises its hemline, revealing a spray of white ruffles.
The first thing you’ll notice about Christopher Esber’s new arrivals is the way its hero piece, a torso-baring white gown, hinges on a large slab of citron quartz that sits right next to the belly button and feels like the only anchor for an otherwise slithery, rippling thing. The rest of the pieces have similarly Noguchi-like auras of subverting natural order, from crinkled, feathery wrap tops to flat shoes twisted out of strands of leather.
Caron Callahan’s latest drop exemplifies the underrated brand’s ability to make the platonic ideal of any given garment, especially in the warmer seasons: a silk broadcloth sundress is romantic and unfussy, a denim jumpsuit has seams in all the right places and golden ratio-level perfect proportions, and a white poplin button-down’s lace detailing is heirloom-level stuff: these are rare examples of truly luxurious clothes at prices that undercut almost every “luxury” brand you could name.
Sensoria finishes out its Market 002 marathon with a third and final delivery featuring Helena Manzano and A--Company archival pieces pulled from the vault and imagined by the platform’s creative team with new life. The founding trio of ex-MNZ-ers inspire in the expertly executed knits and wovens (I love that they paired these designers together in this delivery, each being first class in their respective textile approaches) a strong sense of long-term wardrobe potential, the kind of pieces you get and hold onto for many years to come.
The new season of “essentials” at Wardrobe.NYC introduces shades of chestnut and olive into the brand’s bare-bones color canon in the form of double-breasted coats (the impact of the Balenciaga hourglass silhouette still hitting), cropped long sleeve tees, and more pieces that forward-shop into fall, with some summer-ready stuff sprinkled in (see: a leather halter top).
Tibi’s new “Fundamentals” seek to minimize wardrobe anxiety by providing steadfast investment basics. Slyly marketed as “Men’s,” a perfect slim-cut striped button-down is definitively genderless and quietly powerful—look at the cut of the shoulders—while “tropical wool” trousers provide a year-round basis for any top imaginable and a washablecashmerecrewneck sweater ties it all together.
There’s also: Marsell and Diomenne by Damir Doma team up on a single flower-embroidered suede ballerina; Gil Rodriguez expands on her universal (at least in LA) stretch jersey knits with a line of breathable crinkle pieces; Gimaguas’ new seamless elastic collection offers tight-fitting t-shirts and tiny, summery shorts (with or without shiny silver studs) fit for insouciant sun’s-out-buns-out times soon to come; the new offerings at Story mfg. are a balance of shockingly sweet—gingham, embroidery, love hearts—and satisfyingly introspective, like if Online Ceramics did matcha instead of ayahuasca; Evan Kinori’s latest artisanal menswear builds full capsule wardrobes of stripy linen and hemp twill; Baggu’s Deadstock Collection drops today, full of bags hewn out of past seasons’ materials; as long as Flamingo Estate keeps producing limited-edition honeys from the back yards of cool characters, we’ll keep writing about them—the latest is via Jane Goodall in honor of her 90th; and The North Face releases its first collaboration (hinting already at a second?) with Hike Clerb—a hiking boot, a sandal, and two tees.
What’s on sale
The Baserange Archive Sale I slipped into this weekend’s Brank Rank is operating at full force, the Parisian “basics” brand going for as much as 70% off. You could throw a dart anywhere in this sale and hit something interesting and wearable that would open up your existing wardrobe in new and surprising directions—how about a tights top that flips the classic hose shape upside down and slips it over your torso? Or terry-corduroy lounge pants that are down to $49? A robe that might be a coat or vice versa, who’s to say? Even the vast selection of bralettes and underwear on sale are inspiring.
The under-$300 contingent of the Cettire FW23 up to 60% off sale is where the quietly hard-hitting retailer shines: for those of us looking to pick up a DVN-era piece of Dries, there are plenty of accessories like festive, ribbonlike earrings and oversized aquamarine sunglasses to go around alongside summer-y Toteme pieces like these $168 high-waisted shorts, knit Wales Bonner skirts for $260 down from $535, Bally loafer-pumps for over half off, and more.
Everyone is family at Maison Rogue, at least this week while its F&F sale lops 20% off the top of nearly 400 products with FF20. The new Sandy Liang and Christopher Esber we covered above are both included, as are the already-affordable Posse, House of Sunny, and Eterne.
“So Many Ways to Save” reads the banner at the top of Nordstrom’s so-called Limited Time Sale, but my favorite way is to navigate directly to the markdowns at Nordstrom SPACE. Herein you’ll find an adorable Bode pony sweater for under $400, chestnut Acne Studios blazer also for under $400, and a boxy Rick Owens leather jacket that is around $1,000, but it’s insane??
It’s early days of Mr. Larkin’s midseason warehouse sale, and there are eight pages of freshly-stocked pieces, from exquisite shell barrettes by newly-canonized cult favorite Isshi to Diotima’s lace bodysuits, down to $235 from $525, and easy, striped Chelsea Mak tops under $200.
Collina Strada is taking up to 70% off a selection from last season, and the brand continues never to disappoint with its generous sale pricing: a sporty mesh long-sleeve top bunched into a U-turn curve at the chest is $120 down from $300, a pearlescent tank top with high-reaching horns sprouting from its shoulders goes for $220, a pocketed satin dress in a verdant shade of yellow is discounted $375, and so on.
Young Aussie brand Maroske Peech has a sale section up to 50% off until April 5, where you can discover the gist of the brand’s cute-not-virginal ethos: a slouchy gray sailor sweatshirt might pair with lace spiral leggings and a coy, cream-colored bubble skirt, and the prolific lace bodysuit is an easy add to any wardrobe at $139 down from $192.
A stressful amount of items in Clyde’s archive sale have that doom-laden “Only one left” notification next to their images, plenty of which are summer-appropriate, like a floppy eyelet sun hat or a straw bucket hat in pink and purple stripes (somehow this makes sense in context), both over half off—there’s also a rather large and surprisingly comprehensive selection of intriguing vintage or one-of-one pieces to comb through.
Take 25% off a selection of “friends & family” styles at Sandro, including a Pucci-esque patterned sundress and its matching scrunchie, studded black-and-white loafers, a fringed top-handle purse painted like porcelain, and more.
The Theory Outlet is having an archive sale, taking up to 75% off layerable cashmere crewnecks (under $100), comfy slub cotton tank dresses, buttery pull-on trousers, and more.
It’s up to 20% off at Credo when you spend over $250—easy TBH when they carry Ilia, Necessaire, Goop, Moon Juice, Corpus, and Westman Atelier, and there are no exclusions…only on for one more day, though.
There’s quite a bit of welcome freakiness in Reike Nen’s up to 50% off sale, from leather gladiators to spangled, pointy-toed kitten heels; more shoes can be found over at Nicole Saldana’s Super Sale, among which are her signature bow-tied Mary Janes for under $200 down from over $400; Body of Work’s end of season sale brings down a swath of its thoughtful basics (faded hoodies, packs of t-shirts, quarter-zip polos) down to under $100; an alphabet’s worth of brands, from Acne to Y-Project, have pieces up to 50% off in the End. mid-season sale; Levi’s spring savings event takes 30% off virtually every single thing on the site, so you can score a pair of forever-appropriate 501s for $56; and Fazeek’s archive sale takes half off a score of colorful houseware items, from star-shaped platters to color-blocked flax linen napkins.
I may earn some money if you make a purchase through one of the links above.
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⛵️clear sailing for the tomato 🍅 & aubergine full color saturation vision. Will never forget friend in Dublin bequeathing me a pair of Fogal matte tights upon my chilly March arrival eve years ago, & knowingly nodding.. “they’re aubergine”
Say no more xo