Odds and Ends
Muscle-maxxing, general terror, and the one garment that's keeping me going.
Hi! I’m still pretty desperately looking for work, though people with more life experience than I keep insisting that this prolonged period of mid-20s para-NEET-dom is a) normal b) a privilege and c) doomed to continue, because there’s simply no one on planet Earth who needs writing or editing work done right now. I’m definitely fortunate to never be in danger of becoming unhoused thanks to my family, but living without a car of my own in a public transport-reviling suburb thousands of miles away from any friends outside my family doesn’t bode well for my mental health, nor do my genuinely incredible monthly bills and negligible income, which don’t exactly situate me on a road to inspiration when it comes to fashion.
I’ve been struggling to sit down and even begin to create a post for this blog for weeks—I have never felt less welcome in the fashion sphere or more hopeless about my future as a writer/editor. Three things keep me posting here: a desire to affirm my ability to commit to projects even when they’re less than fruitful, the stark fact that the little money I do make off affiliate purchases and paid subscriptions is absolutely necessary at this point in my life, and lastly, a dull, abashed hope that if I push through this period of vacancy, something will come of this all, whether an opportunity, an otherwise missed connection, or even the elusive sense of self-satisfaction that I doubt any amount of money can buy.
I am still so happy you’re here, and I’m as committed as ever to push through this phase of lack by sharing as much as I can muster in the way of fashion inspiration as it comes to me. I’m also very open to any ideas you might have of stories to cover, brands to review, angles to explore—even if I don’t end up using your exact idea, other people’s thoughts help me triangulate around the things that I genuinely want to excavate, so anything you have to say to me is generative and welcome.
Today, I humbly offer you a heaping handful of pieces I’ve seen floating around this season from all corners of the internet that have made me feel anything like a twinge of excitement this past month, from muscle padding to kissing fish, and I hope that something below catches your eye. To all my fellow writers/editors: if you’re ever embarking on a risky creative pursuit, now is the time to rope me in—I’m really down for anything at this point, ‘cause it seems like the only people who are gonna hire (and pay) us are ourselves. Hit me up.
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Starting with some gorgeous photo manipulation courtesy of my iPhone’s pre-set features. The only cloth I’ve purchased myself in months is this $16 sailor top, “vintage” Coldwater Creek, from Swellegant, one of the very few OC true vintage stores, and happily, one with excellent prices. This top is genuinely mind-altering for me: I’ve never worn anything that’s fit so on the nose to how I like clothes to fit, has been so meticulously constructed (linen/cotton blend, subtle bows on each sleeve emerging out of the trimming, classic sailor bib in back, vents at the perfectly-proportioned hem, even a tiny snap button atop the top regular button to prevent droopage at the collar), and has made me feel exactly right gender-wise and cuteness-wise: not too costumey, but not too self-serious. I wore it on a date with a creep and it was the best part of my night. I sailed a sabot (the dinkiest, most bathtublike sailboat) as a kid, and I don’t think I’ve been able to divest from my attraction to nautical gear since.
I liked the muscle padding in Collina Strada’s recent FW24 show, but Fashion Brand Company snaked them with this “business dress” that, for a great price point, is even more compelling in its gendered pageantry. I have no idea where I’d wear this, but I wish I could go back to high school Junior State of America conferences for one afternoon just to scare the pants off some Mitt Romney stans with this one.
On the other hand, this Paolina Russo gown is just pretty and soft and I love the drop-waist. I keep telling myself to stay away from super feminine dresses and skirts because they always end up giving me dysphoria, but as I explored in the piece I wrote for the now-(temporarily?) defunct i-D, I think PR’s cyberpagan tendencies, much like Collina Strada’s neo-hippie-ness, diffuse its gendered signifiers and make its clothes feel more versatile and less attached to norms like pink = girl and so on.
One of my favorite movies since I was 17. I saw someone outside one of the two cool places in Orange County wearing this shirt and would have hit on them/engaged them in conversation if they hadn’t actively been holding hands with their apparent partner who saw me staring at the shirt and fully pulled the wearer’s arm in the opposite direction.
I’m LOVING the 20s and 30s references that have been trickling in to contemporary fashion and beauty, and Skovgaard does it justice (so does Erin Parsons on the beauty front).
I’m tired of ballet shoes, but this snub-nosed go-go boot hybrid feels still compelling to me—I’d wear them with a Skovgaard dress or set.
I love the more androgynous experimentation Diotima’s been doing the past few seasons, edging closer to Wales Bonner territory in its ethos. I feel great in a striped button-down, and the crocheted panels make it feel like a statement instead of a “closet staple” (I am SO over “basics” and “capsule wardrobes”).
This just looks comfy and versatile for summer—would wear with Marland Backus car jewelry to be funny.
Arianna Cho’s Instagram story sales have planted a fire in my chest about Junya Watanabe parachute skirts—maybe someday I’ll get to try one on!
I’ve never seen a Pleats, Please piece this vibrant, the opposite of understated, and I love it—it feels like a display at a souk or feria, dried peppers and beans baking in the sun.
Lest you forget, I’m a Pisces, so I’m a sucker for dual fish, especially when they’re involved in a torrid romance.
Two Two boutique introduced me to Renata Brenha, whose upcycling of football kits into genuinely romantic silhouettes has contributed to the sickening pit in my stomach of missing Argentina, though I had a pretty rough time down there. Don’t it always seem to go.
If this were made by Praying, I’d hate it, but since it’s Online Ceramics, I love it. The former’s limp neo-Catholicism really rubs me the wrong way, and though I can see the latter’s Hare Krishna-isms coming from a really dark place, until a documentary drops about the cult of Online Ceramics feeding its members to goats or something, I’m on board.
This is so obviously Miuccia Prada-coded with the raw hem and all—I’d never actually buy a white skirt because there’s no physical way I wouldn’t immediately sit on someone else’s used tampon and stain it to kingdom come, but maybe one day I’ll get a hand-me-down…
Love Renaissance Renaissance’s more abstract pieces, but if you’re in the market for a straightforward beret (I know a lot of you are going into fall right now, and I stand in solidarity!), Vestige has some good classics on sale for $35 right now.
A precursor to this season’s macho muscle tops I mentioned above, I love when Collina Strada gets sporty in its shapes and materials.
Another excellent Vestige find, which I wrote about in Magasin—the designs look like Miró abstractions or bacteria, right? So special and virtually stain-proof, anything you spill will just be absorbed into the chaos.
Another hat for the southern hemisphere—I’ve made my beanie ire pretty well-known, so any subversions of the classic shape, like this cartoonish but refined iteration in felt, intrigue me, though I’m not sure how they’d look on me, personally.
I’m so deeply in love with this set, modeled flawlessly. Something about stripes has been setting my heart aflutter recently—another facet of the nautical fetish?
Seriously, if I didn’t know me I’d way overestimate my interest in sports and sailing based on this post alone. Custom knits are almost always at the pinnacle of purchases.
Thanks for being here!
<3 HR
Those 11.11 pants are going to haunt my dreams! Forever adore your ideas/eye/words.
I really love your picks because they introduce me to a style I wouldn’t normally gravitate towards. Thank you for sharing and I hope you continue!