354: Shop like you're running through shallow water
Plus SSENSE Private Sale opens, Fane lands on SSENSE, and perfume bottle necklaces.
Outline recently nuked its ecommerce in favor of catalogs, which I get. It’s vaguely self-defeating for me (as Magasin) to suggest that buying clothes through the internet has become too easy.
In covid, when I started this newsletter, I would order a Bode shirt from the SSENSE sale (coincidentally…happening again now) and then launch into a fashion show, audience of one, in front of my full-length mirror as soon as I took it out of its plasticky packing film. Now, I tell people that Cristaseya is my favorite store because you get the whole gorgeous place to yourself in the company of a coyly disinterested woman who’ll pull sizes and dole out positive feedback when it’s warranted and never when it’s not.
Either way, it has always been about the experience, not just the object, and in fact the experience itself marks the thing you buy indefinitely. And it’s becoming a growing requisite for my full-blown adulation of clothes. This week, I sought out two such experiences:
After clocking it at Cristaseya on my last Paris trip, I booked an appointment at Jutta Neumann, a 30-something-years-running handmade leather sandal and bag brand in Alphabet City with a flamboyant-prehistoric vibe. You can buy from their available inventory OR, as I ended up doing, you can go either of two custom routes—tier one being selecting the style and leather of your choice, and tier two being all of that plus they take a tracing of your footbed to shape the sole. I went tier one on a pair of wide-band sandals with a looped toe post in suppppple black deerskin. Cost me about $450 after tax + adding a shipping option.
A couple days later I was at a dinner celebrating Maria McManus’ Earth Month capsule at Bergdorf’s, where I sat next to BG’s Sarah Park. She was wearing an incredible sterling silver bangle, like a big bubbly cuff that hugged the wrist, which she told me was made by a woman named Carrie Parsons who goes by @vieux.wave on IG and does jewelry on the side. I got in touch, and Carrie insisted we meet for a fitting before she agreed to make me anything. She stopped by my place with samples and happened to have a newly cast version of the cuff in a narrower mold that fit so exactly, she sold it to me right there. I may seriously go back for the skinnier version as she seemed to already know I would.
What I enjoy is friction. I think a lot of us regard resistance to some extent when shopping—via price barriers and exclusivity/rarity most commonly. Time is another. I’ve been diligent about pre-orders this season, staking my claim in pieces from brands I love that are effectively made to order. A shantung set by Shereen Mohammad, a fitted fleece and cotton voile bloomers from Colleen Allen, a buttercup-yellow knit dress (the dress) from Emily Dawn Long, a very ‘80s scarved leather jacket from Nicklas Skovgaard, a “collar bag” (as in…inspired by bags once used to carry men’s collars) and ponyhair leopard jacket from Cawley Studio. I am also approaching studio visit number two (two point five, technically) at Olga Basha to get myself a pair of the world’s objectively best jeans after discovering on my last visit she’d be rolling out new fabrics mid-month.
I know what comes next, and that’s the vast world of made-to-measure. And beyond that, bespoke. Stoffa, Clementina, Saman Amel, Martin Greenfield. ZN Ali, which
once pointed out to me cuts to your specifications at no extra cost. A few beautiful ways to shop with resistance, like you’re running through shallow water.
What’s new
A lot of perfume bottle necklaces cropping up in my fashionable midst—from Mies (Parisian Margiela-era Hermes collector) and Mantel (UK art deco objects store) and taste-having person Beth Newman’s IG stories—and while they each have sublime offerings on that front, corded sterling silver vessels, really remarkable ones, can be found on eBay and Etsy for not that much at all. This one that comes with a companion bottle is my favorite I’ve seen and it’s only $89. (Whoever buys it, send me a pic.) And if you’re looking for name brand (which can be very giftable), this Elsa Peretti-designed Halson perfume pendant is $231 and appears to still contain fragrance nearly to the top and comes with the original box. The RealReal has Chanel, Lagos, and Givenchy, though they’re pricy. A beauty for $69. This one’s also a clip, $85. A “flask” for $59. And a Peretti-esque teardrop for $140.
Fane is finally back on SSENSE (!(!(!((!)!)!)!) The Bra bags, the Mie bags, the Lisse bags, even an exclusive gray nubuck style.
After rolling our exclusives from The Row SS25 before they even reached the brand’s ecomm last week—this woven N/S Park bag (!) in black and these ‘90s platforms are still only on MyT—MyTheresa follows suit with Lemaire. This viscose knit t-shirt dress is burning a hole in my cart.
Tangerine’s Martiniano buy this season is insane. It’s just three new sandals that seem like exclusives, as far as I can tell. I’m losing my mind over these tomato red slides with medallion uppers and these gold-silver flops. What the fuck, actually. They’re so good.
There’s finally a landing page for Tory Burch runway pieces, so now I don’t have to hack the site to find it all. That is to say, the real SS25 is here—velour maillots, sliced-waist wrap dresses, pierced bags, this lil swimming alien brooch! (Second season of aliens…Has anyone figured out what the connection is yet? Was she abducted? Did they plant the Toryssaince?)
The Row did a towel accessory, and before that MNZ did a towel accessory. Now, Literary Sport has its own sweat-dabbing towel accessory in collaboration with Happier Grocery. It’s $28, so don’t feel bad if you use the Run Towel for its intended purpose, pièce de mode though it may be.
Bag watch ding ding ding! Lemaire’s accessory tear continues with the Belted Baguette Bag, adding to its hobo series; Medea veers way into big bags with the Cabin Bag, which I can see being a great airplane companion; and dimensionally similar, Mansur Gavriel introduces the Woven Capsule, including a scrap leather tote AND brings back its Stamperia Pascucci collab for another season (how I know summer is here).
There’s also: Beaufille restocks the suede bag, shirt, and maxi skirt that landed it on our latest Brand Rank; new Emme Parsons SS25 arrivals—alert to the Meta thong and woven Mary Jane; Kallmeyer comes to SSENSE; I assumed the new Gap × Dôen would have sold out by now, but some is still in stock; Comme Si is back with more Liberty prints; and Bode launches swimwear…but it’s kind of a flop?
Home releases
I got to see Danny Kaplan’s new collection of mirrors, table lamps, and rugs at a preview cocktail at his apartment-studio last week. What a place. What a designer. The Agnes lamp in particular has an echo of Armani/Casa, which I adore, but with a rough, touchy-feely finish that Giorgio could never.
What’s on sale
SSENSE Private Sale is absolutely the headline here. (The dek is that you need to sign in to see the discounts.) But there’s so much more in the body: an Issey Miyake “Multicolor Photon Midi Skirt” for under $400 (matching top if you so desire); every Martiniano is on sale; a lot of Meta Campania Collective I’ve been dreaming of (trench! v-neck!)…though it’s still out of my budget; a Tove beach set that’s like the Toteme monogram pieces but not that; speaking of Toteme, there’s no reason to buy a shearling jacket right now but look how wasited this one is (it’s 60% off); THE Auralee jeans are down some $60; Carven slides for under $400; a BUNCH of High Sport stretchy pants and sweaters; phew.
There’s also: Coucou Intimates kicks off its first-ever sale (the password is COUCOUGIRL) and everything is 30% off; Sensoria off-price trunk show on Mondo Mondo jewelry is live; and Net-A-Porter’s sale right now is so good for summer shoppers…so, all of us?
Magasin code index
Swedish Stockings: 25% off / MAGASIN
Ciao Lucia: 20% off / LAURA20
At Present: 20% off / LAURA20
Aureum: 20% off / MAGASIN
U Beauty: 20% off / MAGASIN
Motif: 20% off / MAGASIN
Omarovicza: 20% off / LAURA20
CO: 15% off / COXLR
Lunya: 15% off / magasinltd
Nomasei: 15% off / MAGASIN15
Lingua Franca: 15% off / MAGASIN15
Splits59: 15% off / MAGASIN
evolvetogether: 15% off / LAURA15
Mimchik: 15% off / MAGASIN
Asher: 15% / MAGASIN15
Soru Jewelry: 15% off / LAURA15
The Light Salon: 15% off / LAURA15
Bardelia: 15% off / magasin
NOOD: 15% off / LAURA15
Freda Salvador: 10% off / LAURA10
Simkhai: 10% off / MAGASIN
By Pariah: 10% off / LAURA10
Cesta Collective: 10% off / Magasin
Sskein: 10% off / LAURA-10
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