LSD Says SLB, + Cassandra Grey's $1,100 Perfume.
I threw a party with Goop! WTF is SLB? $1,100?! Summer starts NOW
It’s Memorial Day weekend, which marks the unofficial start of summer. Last week, I hosted a capital-F FUN dinner with Goop at San Vicente West Village to send everyone off into warmer climes. (More on this next week!) Lots of us won’t see each other until we’re together for fashion week in September. I couched myself between my buddies Grow and Jess Testa, and Jess, ever the ace reporter, got me yammering about why I even started The Love List in the first place.
I remembered a moment in New York when I was still a visitor, calling Atlanta home. I walked into Via Carota at 3 pm on a weekday, sat on a barstool by myself, and ordered a late lunch of Fagiolini verdi con pesto. I was content, but lonely.
It crystallized for me why I began this project: because I wanted to be friends with the kind of girl who would sit next to me at Via Carota at 3 pm and clock my shoes. Maybe that’s vapid, but the girls who get it will get it.
This city always has an electric undercurrent of glamour and whimsy. Feeling stuck in a town I had outgrown, I craved glamour with veracity.
Nutshell, I’m pretty sure that’s it: I built it so they would come. I want to flirt with my girl crushes, and this newsletter is a potent love potion. Maybe I was always going to end up here. Jess observed that I didn’t talk about shopping when I described my motivation to her, and I told her it’s because fashion is secondary: the clothes are cool because of the woman wearing them.
“What are the girls wearing?” is always the thesis question here, isn’t it?
Speaking of glamour, I’m compiling a more robust issue for June about what Hamptons icons are wearing out East this summer. Still, I couldn’t wait to share what my friendly neighbor, Lauren Santo-Domingo, told me: “No summer outfit is complete without a 'silly little bag'."
Her edict made me cackle because it’s so true. Something about the summer beckons frivolity into our wardrobes more than other seasons: Lauren specifically called out Lizze Fortunato’s Riviera Gala Pouch as a prime example, which (natch) is exclusive to Moda. Long live the SLB. I’ve included a bunch of them in my edit throughout the issue.
Speaking of iconic women, our friend Cassandra Grey has soft-opened a jewel box UES outpost of her beloved Melrose shop VIOLET GREY. Yes, I have procured a bottle (no. 288, to be exact) of the ($1100!) Madame Grey perfume, which smells as incredible as everyone says it does. (There’s also a companion hair fragrance, iterated for a private dancer in Cassandra’s circle.) I asked her why she moved to NYC now, after so many years on the West Coast. Brace yourself, because her response made my head explode:
“The Upper East Side has always felt like the most glamorous place on earth—apart from maybe the Hôtel du Cap,” she told me. “My late husband and I fell in love in Room 2701 at The Carlyle and eventually bought the entire 26th floor, collaborating with Bill Sofield (who also designed our VIOLET GREY flagship in L.A., and now the shop on 78th Street). Together, we designed our dream apartment there—a place where we conceived our son and lived for eight years while in New York. (We later sold it back to the hotel, and it’s now the Presidential Suite!).”
I love Cassandra because you never know what will tumble out of her mouth. And it’s always delivered completely deadpan. Like, of course, sure, let’s buy the 26th floor! Anyway, she told me her late husband, Brad, was from the Bronx, and that her entire childhood was about finding a way to New York. “I spent my twenties in a fourth-floor walk-up in the West Village,” she said. “Which I also adored—but I’m an adult now and belong on the civilized Upper East Side. Though I lived in Los Angeles for 15 years, I was always a tourist. New York is my home.”
Thank you notes to Lane at WSJ for including me in this piece about the rising price of gold jewelry (in today’s Off Duty section if you’re a print girl). And to Lauren and Sarah at Puck for declaring this “the summer of the pink shirt” (I agree!) and flagging our collab with Chava as the one to have. If you got one, send me a photo!
See you next week! ‘Til then, it’s me and a piscine.
Oh, and hot tip—Sephora has Ultra Violette sunscreen now!! The US finally got it. Major!
First things first, our fav comf bras (EBY, you know!!) are on a 25% off Memorial Day markdown until the 27th. Had to lead off with that one.
I’ve been engrossed in a massive redecorating project at home. I painted the living room (Scallop by Farrow & Ball), which immediately shifted the vibe. I culled back a ton of furniture and knick-knacks, put everything non-essential in my storage unit, and invested in a lot of furniture with drawers and cabinets to maximize my NYC-sized square footage. I took advantage of the Memorial Day sales at ABC Home (30% off MD sale), bought a new Matouk bed and bath linens, and dressed up our new Helix mattress (25% off for MDW) with a fresh pillow top. I feel like a new girl. Hotel Graves is now open in Gramercy Park. Room service Lysée pastries will be served with fresh coffee until 10 am. Apologies, we cannot accommodate your oat milk preference.
Rohe has restocked *that* leather jacket.
I asked Cassandra what she’d get from Violet Grey’s “Put it in The Bag” event, which has most of the site marked down 25% for the long weekend. She cited Augustinus Bader’s classic The Rich Cream, Victoria Beckham’s Contour Stylus, and MBR’s eye-wateringly expensive Liquid Surgery serum. “I am addicted to it,” she said. “It’s expensive, I know, but worth it. It works.” My pick? NakedBeauty MD’s incredible hydrogel face masks.
My home escapades left me too exhausted to hit much of the party circuit last week, especially hosting one myself at the peak of the week. It was me and Dim Sum Go Go by 7 p.m. So I missed the Jimmy Choo x Moda party, which marked the re-issue of many of the brand’s most iconic styles. BUT! I didn’t miss the shoes themselves. These are now mine.
My inbox is absolutely stuffed with PR and marketing people who want me to tell you about Memorial Day sales. We already went over a handful last week, and there are more in chat, but here’s a quick and dirty rundown of the stuff that’s rolled in since:
NYC local institutions alert. Saks is running up to 50% off. As is Lauren Manoogian. And Kallmeyer. And Desert Vintage. And Maria McManus. And FFORME.
I wore my Bose headphones yesterday — a quick walk to a massage and through the Green Market — and got asked about them three times. They’re $120 off (Now $229, usually $179) from May 19 to May 26.
Niche cool girl jewelry favorite Mosquito Studio is running 10% off, code is MOSQUITAFLASH.
At Present is running 20% off everything all weekend which is major if you’ve got the jewelry shoppies.
My favorite Your Favorite Ex pads are 20% off at YSE Beauty, along with everything else sitewide.
Freda Salvador is up to 40% off select styles.
Upstate favorite Gardenheir is 25% off sitewide.
For those complicated summer dresses that require certain underwear, NOOD is 20% off sitewide with code VIPMEMORIALDAY.
Sold out. NYC is offering 20% off many of the sets you see all the girls wearing with their Alaia mesh flats with code MDW20.
Aureum is 30-70% off everything — stock up on sunnies and statement earrings at prices that won’t make you weep if they fall into the water. (People are dying, Kim.)
"Maybe that’s vapid, but the girls who get it will get it."
I get it. 🤍
because I wanted to be friends with the kind of girl who would sit next to me at Via Carota at 3 pm and clock my shoes