Two Days, Ten Shows, Zero Sleep

NYFW's beautiful chaos continues.

Oh, we’re deep in it now! Excuse the hyperbolic title of this newsletter send, I liked the alliteration. ANYWAY. I’m about to start getting ready for the Khaite show, but I wanted to tell you some things (both fashion-related and not) that I’ve gathered over the last few days since fashion week has been going on.

The overriding sentiment seems to be that a lot of people are sick of being made to feel bad about liking to shop. Clothes are fun, and while nobody I talk to is looking to consume recklessly, I think everyone would like to be allowed to just… be excited about a new pair of shoes again.

Clothes and fashion are the same and different. Capital F-fashion is an entire world, an industry, full of personalities and opinions that primarily exists in a handful of cities. The people who work in this industry in these cities sometimes forget that there are a whole lot of people outside Manhattan or Paris or wherever that still get dressed every day and want to look good! Clothes are what we put on our bodies every day and may or may not be FASHION, but at the end of the day, most consumers don’t care about the construction nuances of the garment; they care that they can afford the jeans and that the jeans make their ass look good.

Okay! So that said, I’ve seen a lot of things over the past few days. Some of it was clothes, some of it was fashion, some of it was so sad and weird I’m not even going to tell you about it. THE GOOD! Ruadh. Ruadh was a tight little presentation, but man, you can tell Jac really thinks about what she’s putting out there. And she’s got a knack for reaching and impressing the fashion people but still making CLOTHES that people LIKE.

A lot of the things we see come down the runway are brilliantly styled, but when you see them hanging on a rack, they’re just a red t-shirt, you know? Brands/designers are what give you context and help with identity.

R&D break to take in the new Soho Dries store again.

It’s the same thing I do! I tell you about a red t-shirt and a pair of jeans, but I try to find you the ones that I think are really good, and will feel good on your body, and are made by someone who cares about what they’re doing, and help you figure out how to style them in a way that looks cool, so on and so forth. I’m like, you don’t NEED a red t-shirt, but if you want one, this is a great one, and the person who designed it is fantastic, and here’s a belt that would take it from an 8 to an 11.

That’s how I feel about Ruadh, and a lot of these New York brands that are tackling the controversial universe of “elevated basics”, which is very often just marketing language for “clothes that look good without having to think too hard about it”, right? Most of us are spending ten minutes or less getting dressed. And if you’re reading this newsletter, my money is on the fact that you care about clothes and want to look good, but maybe you’re semi-paralyzed by options. So you come here for some distillation, conversation, and context. GREAT!

New York designers are a perfect place to begin looking for that, because of the way New Yorkers live. When you walk around a lot, your clothes have to be practical. They do. They have to work. You can’t be teetering around in stilettos when you have a bunch of appointments on the cobblestone streets of SoHo. You can’t be be-bopping around in a cute-but-flimsy coat when the cold is whipping around those buildings like an invisible knife.

But! Even if you don’t live in New York, that same pragmatism extends in a lot of directions and still works in a lot of people’s lives! Because ultimately, very few of us wear stilettos more than a few times a year, and even if you don’t commute to work on foot, a coat that doesn’t keep you warm is going to piss you off. Most of us are reaching for jeans, t-shirts, and sweaters. We want leathers, not feathers. And this batch of small(er) New York designers I’ve seen this week, like Ruadh, Maria McManus, OSSOU, Heirlome, Still Here, TWP, Rachel Comey, FFORME, Aflalo, and even Khaite or The Row (not small anymore, but count), really contextualize pragmatism while still making uncomplicated but intelligent CLOTHES. To some, that’s boring. To me, it’s grounded and cool.

It’s why women who love Phoebe Philo are ravenous for her, because we feel like someone gets us and is dressing us for our best self, not telling us to be someone else.

I (personally) am not a maximalist, but I’m not a hyper-restrained minimalist either. I live in the liminal space of being interested in fashion, but not obsessed with it. I like getting dressed, but I don’t want it to impede or hinder my morning in any way. I like options, but I don’t want a closet spilling over with so much crap I don’t even know what I have. I have money to spend on clothes, but I don’t want to spend ALL my money on clothes.

So when Maria McManus sends a milky silk pant down the runway with a tunic in a fabrication that looks like pajamas, I think to myself, ok, yes, I would genuinely wear that. I could probably afford it, and I also feel terrific about buying it because Maria McManus cares a LOT about what she puts out.

Or when Aflalo sends me a pair of harem pants with an elastic waist, I think Awesome, fancy pants for dinner that require the same effort as leggings, what a win. Still Here made this whipstitch suede overshirt that I’m so excited to wear because I know exactly how I’m going to wear it, and I can think of a lot of ways to wear it without thinking very hard at all — which means I’ll wear it often.

That isn’t to say that something driven by fantasy is bad; my shopping habits just are not personally driven by fantasy, so it’s not the rabbit I chase.

So many New Yorkers only write for other New Yorkers. I like to watch runways that feel like something I can bring back here to my reader in Atlanta or Silicon Valley or who works from home every day or who’s a busy Mom and say Hey, I feel like you could really use this!

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It’s why I don’t just tell you about clothes. It’s why I tell you…

• Before I got undressed after yesterday’s show, I used this great Elemis face wash that left no trace of mascara gunk in my eyes the next morning.

• My skin isn’t strung out this week because of an impressive new hydrating serum I’m trying under my makeup.

• Between appointments, I popped into Banana Republic to see what was going on with the mall brands. I found a great oversized cashmere turtleneck sweater, a denim chore coat with corduroy cuffs that caught my eye, and a rock-solid trench for under $500.

• That I had a little too much fun the other night because I kept putting CANN Roadies in my Hugo Spritz (Blood Orange Cardamom ftw).

• The new Metier pop-up is very beautiful, but if you aren’t in New York City, then their new Pendulum 30 shape is my favorite bag they’ve ever made.

• If you like the whole Phoebe Philo universe but her prices frighten you, one of her favorite muses, Erin Wasson, just did a collab with Buck Mason that channels a different dusty tomboy vibe.