So the majority of my Italy trip was spent in Bologna, which has a youth-in-revolt college town vibe. (Graffiti! White people with dreadlocks!) As I mentioned yesterday, I got in pretty late on Saturday and didn’t have time to explore, but over the next three or four days I made it around to a host of museums and local sights. I quickly learned that if I said I was press (I am press!) I could get in to a lot of museums for free or at a discount, which was the best discovery ever. (Shout out to the bilingual docent who let me scope out the Artelibro festival.) Typing is hard, so here are a bunch of pictures:
Below are some shots I took in a museum I found while out walking. I can’t remember the name, but if I think of it—or find my ticket stub—I’ll update!
I’m a huge fan of Monocle magazine for the false sense of security reading its pages imparts, as if humanity is going to get its act together and solve some of the most pressing issues facing society today through well designed supermarkets and high-speed trains. I mean, it could happen, right? Anyway, it’s a tightly edited vision I do truly want to believe in, so I was happy to stumble upon this tour of the brand’s HQ in London, Midori House.
“There are about 100 people who are full-time Monocle staff, divided between the editorial and commercial teams,” editor Andrew Tuck told YCN. “We have staff from Hong Kong, South Korea, Brazil, Finland, Switzerland, and the US amongst various other places. It means that you have a huge amount of diverse talent and knowledge to tap into every day.”
“[Our office] is simple, well put together and quietly designed. We have great outdoor spaces where you can work or hold meetings in the summer and we have a communal kitchen and dining room that everyone uses. These things make the building very social. The office is just comfortable and that makes you very happy to linger when projects call for a few late-night sessions.”
I love that Monocle is such a diversified brand, dipping into all sorts of content production. So inspiring! You can read the rest of Tuck’s interview over at YCN.
I feel like I’ve been searching for my “signature scent” for, oh, I don’t know…26 years? The first frag purchase I remember—vividly—was Ralph Lauren’s Polo Blue. I asked for it for Christmas one year and doused myself in it, assured by the model’s harmless, inert gaze that I was destined to become a ‘new classic’, long before Iggy Azalea would co-opt the term to describe a middling R&B record. I think I even had the body wash at one point, though even reflecting on that olfactory overload makes me gag a little.
More recently I’ve scoured many a niche fragrance purveyor in the hopes that I would find something that speaks to who I am now. Something complex, moody, and a little bit spicy. Something…from Portland. Yes, Portland is where I found my new fragrance obsession, albeit by way of the Erica Weiner boutique in SoHo. OLO’s Dark Wave is a blend of cardamom, Indonesian vetivert and wood. It was created, “to kick off the dreary rains [that] inundate Portland for nine months…to envelop you and protect you from the downpour.” If that description isn’t sufficiently angsty for you, watch this music video.
OLO founder Heather Sielaff (above left, kissing her cat) is a self-taught perfumer with a background in aromatherapy, i.e. she spent ten years working with essential oils before getting into the perfume business, i.e. I’m sporting a major granola-boner for her right now. All of OLO’s scents are hand-blended and come with a handy-dandy roller ball applicator. Sielaff even once made a custom scent for YACHT, and YACHT is awesome, so…bow down, bitches. Or, like, go shopping.
Have you guys heard of Tokyobike? They have an outpost in NYC for the summer (it closes August 30) and I am incredibly tempted to run down there and buy a bike. Every day after work the thought crosses my mind. Mostly because they’re really cute, but also because…they’re really cute. Is $700 a lot for a bike? I feel like it isn’t, but I haven’t ridden one since college and am pretty well in the dark on these matters. Do we think it’d get stolen? Maybe I’m getting ahead of myself…
The model I most like is the Bisou, which I would get in navy, because navy is the best. NYC has this summer streets thing where they shut down all of the traffic and encourage people to bike, jog, etc., so I it just feels like now is the time to go bike shopping. Thoughts?
In case it ever gets around to actually being winter, here are three ways to wear three very different kinds of coats to get you through the season. Full posts: 1, 2, 3.
Literally. I’m dying. Also of note: Ok, I don’t know if you ladies are as finnicky as I am about your purses, but it turns out that the WANT clutch I blogged about here is actually made in CHINA. What!? What? Hashtag double take, hashtag letdown. I thought all of WANT’s bags were de facto produced in Montreal or wherever they’re based, but apparently bishes ain’t heard Bey’s Upgrade U in a hot minute. This beauty is made in Portugal, like all good bags, and is perfectly sized for my phone, my wallet, my coin purse, my lip balm and my keys.
Winter is here, y’all—and so, therefore, is coat season. This means that I, your #fblogger #fbuddy, am feeling compelled to tell you all about which coats are cute, which ones are lame, and which ones are kinda in between. Harken to my wisdom!
Coat Thom Browne // Bag WANT Les Essentiels de la Vie // Scarf Acne // Boots Saint Laurent // Jeans Balenciaga // Eau de Toilette Comme des Garçons
This look is super simple, which I love, and draws heavily on what I think of as classic English references—the houndstooth coat, the military boot, the less-classic-but-still-English “punk” skinny jean. It’s pretty well monochromatic, which I get off on, and is super-luxe without being overtly so. Also, just for the record, that WANT clutch is actually pretty affordable (and totally gorgeous.) The EDT I literally only discovered this past weekend—I actually reworked my lil’ collage here to fit it in. I am completely and totally consumed by desire for this frag. No joke. When I think about it, I want to touch myself, that’s how good it is / LOLZ #TMI. Another really good fragrance I recently discovered is Like This, Tilda Swinton’s collaboration with Etat Libre d’Orange. It’s Tilda, so obvs it’s unisex, and it basically smells like the complete and total opposite of CDG Black—perfect for those days you don’t want catching a whiff of your own wrist to incite overwhelming sexual desire. Anyway, while I love the Thom Browne coat, I think I may be leaning this season more toward really oversized lady coats.
Zara actually has a pretty nice, albeit overpriced, drape-y robe coat that’s a little bit boner-inducing (and actually a wool/silk blend, natch.) I’ve told myself I’ll get it the second it goes on sale…unless I find something better / actually cut for a small man and not a woman. Below you’ll find Christophe Lemaire delivering his signature blend of casual cool, plus some other coats/jackets I’m into. Are you ready for coat weather? Or are you kind of over it already? Image sources on ma Pinterest, clockwise from top-left: 1, 2, 3, 4.
(Clockwise from top: suit + turtleneck c/o Alder New York; ph. John Kim // Clément Chabernaud in Balenciaga; ph. Tetsuhara Kubota, styling Eugene Tong for Details // The Sartorialist // Dapper Lou // Steve McQueen) I don’t mean to toot my own taste horn, but I told you turtlenecks were going to be hot this season and—according to the moodboard I just made—they so totally are. Don’t just take my word for it—Glenn O’Brien agrees! (In an article from like, 2005, but whatever.) A more recent testament to their hotness would be Details’ editorial Ready To Wear, in which hottie-with-a-body Clément Chabernaud wears a Balenciaga turtleneck and makes dudes be like, “Where my manties at?” They’re on the floor, drenched in sensational f*cking style, that’s where they are.
What I’m trying to say is that turtlenecks are wicked sweet, even though you may think they’re kinda nerdy in a Steve Jobs way—or, worse: in a Steve Jobs as played by Ashton Kutcher sort of way. Maybe you think they’re stylistically on par with bellbottoms and polyester point-collared shirts, but I’ve got news for you: ok, 1) bellbottoms are amazing and 2) so are turtlenecks. Polyester shirts are literally the worst, so I can’t fault you there. Read my tips for wearing your turtleneck like a pro, after the jump!
Ph. McArthur Joseph // turtleneck American Apparel // sportcoat A.P.C. // pants Marc by Marc Jacobs // shoes Rachel Comey // pocket square vintage // reading Monocle
Blah blah blah, faShIon! I have so many thoughts and stuff to talk about, but I’m exhausted—not because I was hopping from one show to the next in heels, but because work has been really demanding lately and now I just want to nap all the time. That being said, I did manage to fit in some #NYFW action this past week—it was my first time ever actually getting invited to anything, y’all! The two runway shows I had time to see (pics below) were The Art Institute of NYC (top) and Concept Korea (bottom).
I got the chance to meet Tommy from MyBelonging this week as well. We share a love for Zara leggings and Azn fashion, so after the Concept Korea show we took pics of each other’s outfits and practiced looking bored:
I know! I’m wearing a leather apron skirt! I am telling you nothing about it, though…you’ll have to wait for the full outfit post/details next week. Aside from actual runway shows, I got to take in a few presentations (pics below, again, duh). Two favorites were Frank & Oak (top two) and William Okpo (bottom two). Also of note: Frank & Oak just released a really sweet ‘zine (you saw it on Insta h with top-notch photography and an interview with Waris Ahluwahlia. Looking forward to seeing more from them…
…and I loved the William Okpo presentation, too—great prints, great hair. Then I took some other street style snaps of people (you can see another angle on this lady’s outfit on The Sartorialist).
I got up to some other life choices, all visible on IG, in case you’re looking for more! And now I’m going to go get a large coffee…Like this post? Check out my other fashion week-related posts here and here.
