254: Italian underwear and Prada outlet shopping

Plus Khaite's latest, new Studio Nicholson, and Nordstrom Anniversary's extra 20% off.

Half of the suitcase I packed 10 days ago was filled with gifts: plush American towels (Ralph Lauren, of course) and pipe tobacco in exchange for Italian hospitality. I’ve hit a few cities and some villages with that trunk space in mind, and my travels have turned into a little scavenger hunt of local delights.

One of my first stops was Quercioli & Lucherini. This was both out of necessity (I ran out of clean underwear, oops) and interest—the quintessential little shop stocks a great selection of Oscalito undergarments, all made in the brand’s factory in Turin of natural materials since 1936. I bought three wool-and-silk ribbed tanks—two with a satin v-neck and one round-neck—and three pairs of matching ribbed briefs, the plainest of which looks almost identical to a style from Oscalito’s collaboration with Saks Potts earlier this year.

The shop’s stacks of boxes creeping up the walls remind me of Schostal in Rome. The Rome brand is most known for its poplin pajama sets and men’s shirting but also has some overlap with Quercioli’s inventory, stocking ribbed tanks, wool tees, and briefs for either gender. The last time I went to Schostal, I bought a pair of stripy red men’s boxers. This time, I just got a navy blue cotton tank in a style they’d just released to be more suited to women wearers (shorter ribs so that it sits closer to the hips than the million-mile men’s ones…those were practically dress-length on me). The navy tank (this on-sale Dion Lee is my closest match) has been a revelation, seeing as my summer has been enormously navy—mostly on the back of these The Row pants—and gray, a la Ralph Lauren Collection SS98…a white whale of mine that I just stuck a spear in on a kismetic eBay trawl.

Rounding out my Italian intimates haul, a pair of socks from Gammarelli, the family-run tailor to the pope, cir. 1798. (This Magasin piece on ecclesiastical style from January feels relevant.) The cotton-lisle socks I bought are in a magenta-purple shade made for bishops, but they’re also available online in papal red and black.

There is something so personally satisfying—even if in a sanctioned way—about Italian underwear.

Speaking of old, good, Italian stuff…Santa Maria Novella. Founded in 1221! 800 years ago! The oldest pharmacy in the world! Still family-owned! I bought an aloe-based facial toner (so far, so nice) and most delightfully, a myrrh tincture for oral health, which I’ve since learned was used as an antiseptic for tooth-pulling (I got it to look pretty in my bathroom vanity but good to have around JIC).

My most pleasing new discovery in Rome was Atelier Bomba, a knitwear and cut-and-sew label hand making nearly all of their pieces in the back of the shop itself and in a studio across the street. The natural fiber yarns—in knit tees and tanks, darted trapeze dresses, even corsets—set my brain apurr. What I did not expect to find was a small selection of suede and leather penny loafers with delicately thin hides and featuring a tapered toe. I got a pair in dark brown for a reasonable sub-$400. Old Stone Trade, the “Americana” brand making the rounds since a compelling NYT profile, commissioned an apron dress from Bomba for its collection.

(FYI, the platform Issimo does a nice job at highlighting smaller Italian brands including some mentioned above. Lido, the newer but excellent swimsuit brand previously included in this roundup, collaborated with them, as did Loretta Caponi whom I’ve worn at PFW.)

Last thing: I couldn’t come to Italy without sussing out a Prada outlet. And I found one ;) Since SS22’s dual runway that took place simultaneously in Shanghai and Milan, I’ve quietly pined for that pink satin skirt with a boxy little train. After the initial discount (about $1,000 off), a 20% sale-on-sale promo, and the VAT refund I’ll collect at the airport, that exact miniskirt cost me just shy of $350.

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News Editor

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What’s new

• Khaite’s PF24 collection lives up to its title, “Metropolitan Sport,” delivering clothes that seem suited for citybound athletics not yet invented—the oversized funnel neck of a khaki bomber jacket could be used, perhaps, to orient a cell phone for a hands-free talk-and-walk-athon; a gray dress that creates the illusion of a ribbed tank layered over a pleated maxi skirt seems apt for an impromptu set of subway car chin-ups—this collection is the polar opposite of “athleisure.” Athbusy?   

• Each piece in Studio Nicholson’s new AW24 collection is fabricated to ground and comfort its wearer like a weighted blanket—covering up and tethering down—though not at the cost of any characteristic breeziness: shirting fabric rumples across the extra-high neckline of a long-sleeve blouse, a transitional-weather sleeveless dress has a v neckline that stops a hair’s breadth away from showing any sternum, tropical wool trousers’ subtle curve and taper obscures the legs without hindering their motion, and so on.

• Finally leaving Paris since its arrival in stores over a month ago, Carven’s SS24 collection is now available online, and luckily, summer’s not over yet, so the label’s gamine, New Wave-y stylings of pistachio-striped pajama shirts tucked under structured, sheer toile skirts; bunchy, unserious lingerie-inspired tops paired with huge, sack-like crimson clutches; and mules with square toes so abrupt they feel like freshly clipped nails all appear primed for imminent wear.

• Actress and tastemaker Laura Harrier teamed up with Reformation on a capsule embodying Harrier’s personal style, seemingly predicated upon a somehow cozy brand of slinky sensuality: deadstock silk halters with necklines that dip almost to the belly button, cream gowns with cowl necks and backs, cardigan and knit shorts sets in a warm shade of greige, and more, with a smart brown leather coat to lend the softer pieces a bit of structure. 

• For those unmoved by the aesthetics of Brat Summer but still wanting to act out sartorially somehow, the latest collection from I’m Sorry by the genre-defining Petra Collins exists at the exact midpoint between Courtney Love and Olivia Rodriguo—its pieces are mostly visual gags, like a pageant-girl’s white mini dress strung proudly with an “I’M SORRY” sash and a chimera with the top of an 80s wedding dress and the skirt of a cheerleader’s uniform.

• If its J.Crew collaboration was a bit too just so for you, Maryam Nassir Zadeh’s new drops for SS24 frays at the edges in the ways we know and love, the skinny straps of its Viola halter top resting slightly askew, the first innovative deployment of a ballet shoe we’ve seen in seasons (a cinched-up wedge heel), a reissuing of its unimpeachable Bisou skirt in disarming optic white, and more pieces that skew just off.

• Casey Casey is already deep in its winter bag for FW24, with enormous collared trapeze dresses; frizzy, oatmeal-brown cardigans, no buttons needed; radiant, poppy red button-downs in the label’s signature crinkly cotton, and more preemptively cold-weather-ready pieces.

• Nothing’s broken in the label’s territory, so Wales Bonner’s AW24 “Dream Study” collection rightfully doesn’t try to fix anything, offering up its standardly quirked-up, color-saturated polos (though maybe playing a bit with the volume and length of their sleeves), sporty matching skirts, and varsity sweatshirts, this batch in partnership with Howard University, though a few new footwear styles like a pair of bling-forward, croc-print slides do (delightfully) disrupt the brand’s norm.  

• The new Kiko Kostadinov x Ecco Kollektive capsule at LN-CC is most notable for its sportstyle slip-on sneakers and tiny leather coin purses, both defined by perversely perfected color combinations, alien like spherical outgrowths, and veiny piping—these two brands are still doing futurism with a sense of whimsy, a comforting presence in a largely future-agnostic fashion world. 

• There’s also: There’s no convenient way to sort for them but the pieces in Completedworks and Net-A-Porter’s new bridal capsule (labeled “Exclusive”) are worth the extra 30 seconds of scrolling, with clusters of pearls gracing chokers, drop earrings, hair combs, and more; Pharell pushes back against the memeification of the shoe with a Louis Vuitton x Timberland collaboration for the label’s FW24 mens’ line—lots of logo-laden denim plus elevated versions of the boots themselves, all wrapped in an inexplicably “city cowboy” package; the A.P.C. x Tame Impala interaction provides a surprisingly strong capsule of relaxed, beachy casuals in sunset shades encapsulating the band’s hazy sonic sensibilities; Collina Strada’s latest shoe collaboration is with Puma and includes some sweetly floral ready-to-wear pieces alongside the ruffly neon kicks we’ve come to expect from the label’s footwear endeavors; Evan Kinori’s furniture collection is finally live and its carefully hewn pieces in thoughtfully selected cuts of oiled elm and cypress wood, plus a selection of grounded ceramics, was worth the wait; and J.Crew partners with the USA Olympic swim team on a limited-edition collection of beachy loungewear, swimsuits, and sun-blocking accessories.

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What’s on sale

• For all the retailers’ seasonal bluster, the Moda Operandi summer sale (now up to 70% off) might functionally be a better ‘vacation edit’ than all the official roundups of full-priced products foisted upon us since April: quietly kinky, pointy-toed Aeyde mules go for $152; a square-necked Matteau swimsuit for $160; a vaporous silk top by Christopher Esber is $300; and Jacquemus’ cheekily dog-eared take on an LBD runs less than $250. 

• An extra 20% off select items makes the Nordstrom Anniversary Sale’s designer clearance section feel very high stakes indeed—a businesslike Loulou Studios tank with a sprawling square neckline is less than $140 down from nearly $300, Renaissance Renaissance’s take on a summer LBD with tulle-circled shoulders is $403 from $840, some sub-$250 Bode camp shirts are still up for grabs, and there’s much more where that all came from. 

• Jamie Haller’s end of season private sale ticks off enough boxes of our past FW shoe shopping lists—penny loafers in the python print we spotted about a hundred times last winter, the Magasin chat’s unanimously elected platonic ideal ballet flat, a tasseled slipper in suede the cardinal red we’ve swooned over annually—that it makes a compelling case to simply pick the list right back up as FW24 draws nearer, using PRIVATESALE for 30% off the mentioned styles and more. 

• If you’re familiar with the prolific ‘Bale’ jackets the Uzbek-Korean brand initially rose to fame for, J.Kim’s sample sale is offering a few for $700 down from the well over $1k they usually go for, but the sale is also a great intro to the label’s fluency in uniquely covetable casualwear for any season, including summer: voluminous black Bermuda shorts go for $80; a black bikini set with the brand’s iconic petal cutouts for $165.

• Rosie Assoulin’s virtual sample sale takes 80% off (use newfriend10 for an extra 10% discount) a selection largely comprised of dresses that feel refreshingly pointed in a formalwear era characterized by obsessive understatedness—a long white sash slashes across a crisp, collared black maxi dress; a camisole dress’ white silk top is pulled down by pearlescent trim to meet its off-white linen skirt, and a swingy navy wrap dress’ knife-pleated capelet seems hefty and weightless all at once. 

• Carmen’s summer sale is seriously beating every brand at its own game this season, with 40% off pieces like studded silver Paloma Wool wedge thongs (though more than 40% off what’s listed on the brand’s own site), and might as well be the David to SSENSE’s Goliath—even the latter’s notorious sale prices a slinky brown Baserange tank dress $30 more than Carmen does, and a scrunchy little off-the-shoulder dress by Paris Georgia rings up at $248 against SSENSE’s $490. 

• Rare that a sale’s selection actually lives up to the initial dopamine burst at the mere thought of a discount, but the pieces up to 30% off in Mondo Mondo’s summer sale are all talismans for invoking different types of comfort: the energizing boomerang of a lobe-traversing pearl earring ($130), the cushy coziness of a necklace bearing a ruffly silver pillow ($228), the straightforward morale-boosting of a ring carved into a pleasant little guy ($158), and more.

• Last call, it seems, for Puppets & Puppets’ FW24 ready-to-wear remainders, on sale for up to 30% off alongside a collection of handbags at even steeper discounts—up to 60% off faux croc hobos with craggy resin greyhounds (as in the dog) for handles, crimson leather hobos with handles that are oversized silver spoons, yellow rhinestone hobos with banana handles, and other styles of bag like a frizzly tinsel tote—all bags mentioned well under $300. 

• Most standout pieces in Sea’s summer sale are its least patterned. The label is wont to overcomplicate fundamentally easy designs with fussy prints, but when it doesn’t, as in the cases of a faded black sweatshirt dappled with crocheted circles; an a-line midi skirt in thick, crisp cream cotton; a drop-waist sundress edged in eyelets; and quite a few just-frilly-enough swimsuits; all up to 60% off, it captures unpretentious romance like few other brands are able. 

• Use EXTRA20 for a 20% bump on the Mohawk summer sale, bringing one of Mara Hoffman’s most interesting (and last, aww) strapless dresses fronted by a bigger-than-skull-sized rosette down to $300 even, a rib-knit Paloma Wool miniskirt to $71, and more, plus tons of picks from lesser-known brands, say, a sporty, self-belting maxi skirt by Girls of Dust under $200 or a Pleats Please-like high-necked top via Anaak for under $300.

• There’s also: Take 30% off the entire site of Brat Summer uniforms in Dion Lee’s summer sale, including its already-discounted sale section; Wardrobe.NYC’s archive sale offers up $100 bikini sets, $125 miniskirts, and more straightforward summer staples; the Hereu summer sale ups its stakes to 50% off woven purses, fisherman sandals, and more dependable warm-weather leather goods; get 25% off a wide selection of bikinis, one-pieces, and rash guards in Tropic of C’s mid-summer sale; Camper’s Family & Friends sale takes 50% off an array of unpretentious-as-ever footwear, including lots of sandals, for subscribers to its newsletter; use CHERRY for 25% off sitewide in the Realisation Par summer sale full of sundresses and semi formal frocks; Good Friend’s sample sale discounts homeware by beloved brands like Dusen Dusen and Helen Levi, plus tons of under-the-radar artisans, up to 25%; take an extra 20% off the already-discounted work-appropriate basics in Theory Outlet’s seasonal sale; Saks’ up to 70% designer sale features tons of Jimmy Choo pumps and sundresses from every direction; and Wolf Circus’ sample sale takes over 30% off dozens of everyday sterling silver and gold-plated baubles.

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