I've been talking about it a lot * the week of the long weekend
A string of opinionated random thoughts.
It’s Memorial Day weekend, and lil housekeeping: we don’t do sales, we don’t follow trends, we avoid the beach, pools, and any barbecue-adjacent activities like we did with Covid with hazmat suits, shield, and gloves. We’d rather not be exposed to the extent that we protect ourselves from UV rays with a SPF 50 protection. True story: on one of my dog walks, I was confronted with this combination of cottage cheese wiggly derrière and a red Solo cup walking barefoot in the parking lot. Those things should be reserved for a private balcony up up up on a 40th floor, or the city should make warning signs like crocodiles crossing.
Love
It’s officially wrinkled dresses and free the nipple season.
THE Fashion moment of the year: Pierpaolo Piccioli is back. This time at Balenciaga and … girl, we have thoughts. First, the joy of having a true creative, a designer who has demonstrated a unique ability to bring the past to the future with no melancholy. He is one of the few, together with Miuccia Prada and John Galliano, with the rare sensibility to be ahead of everybody else, even including trend forecasters like WSGN, producing runways that are goosebump-inducing and standing ovation-worthy. He is the guy who brings what we didn’t know we wanted. Second, Mr. Balenciaga will not be turning in his grave anymore. I am going to make a gross comparison, but Demna at Balenciaga had become like having the convicted felon as president: you never know what you wake up to, but you know it’ll be cringy. Third, we have someone who speaks many languages fluently, including Couture.I have a question now that my fab friend Julia asked, and I don’t know how to answer: has the Maison gone too far to be rescued?
Maison Martin Margiela, anyone? Galliano is retired, rightfully, at least for the moment; he closed the curtains, and we can all see him tending those roses in that castle. A successor has been appointed, Glenn Martens. Ok, so this is a bit of a shuffle within OTB (Only The Brave), the company owned by Renzo Rosso that includes MMM, Diesel, Marni, Jil Sander, Viktor & Rolf. Martens was the creative director at Diesel and Y-Project, but now that the Y-Project is no more, he will sit in the dual role of artistic director at Diesel and creative director at MMM. He no doubt has all the qualifications, he is an in-house talent, but his debut will be Couture now in July, very very little time to work on a Couture collection, but considering that it will be the first collection after Galliano’s last EPIC masterpiece of the century collection, all I am saying is good luck kid.
It’s time to address gingham. Yeah, groundbreaking for summer, but hear me out. It came from an email exchange with my friend Tracey, who brought up a friend’s Substack post dedicated to checks and gingham. It’s a print that brings joy, whether it’s on a coat or bed sheets, it gives under the Tuscan sun al fresco eating with cicadas. For a second, I got stuck with the baby-pink gingham Prada coat, and how la Signora usually wears men's coats.
Going back to gingham: we settled for a more frugal version of the Prada gingham coat, and I am now obsessed with this brand out of LA and honestly, it’s BAD, but I will use it to keep my consumption urges low like I do with menopausal hormones. Further, both she and I have started appreciating GAP again (Hey Zac, we see you, keep doing what you are doing), she snapped a gingham denim jacket from the sold-out DOÊN collab, I am seriously contemplating this from their Studio collection and a pair of VERY UNUSUAL FOR ME denim shorts. We also have this thing for Aran sweaters, and look how she found THE perfect one:
I had been wanting a fisherman knit sweater for so long but they all seem horrible. Then, at Easter, because Jesus was about to resurrect, I was at the desert thrift store called... The Frugal Coyote...and saw the sweater below and started to freak out.
I checked the yarn: obviously wool. It was starting to feel right....
checked the sizing & shape, sleeve length: perfect.
Also: wooden buttons!
checked the label: and my heart soared.
Every time I wear it, I think of you
I know you understand and appreciate the depth of my satisfaction and joy.
Check the many reasons why she is my friend. A) I stand by the annotation that fisherman sweaters can be horrible B) She goes to a thrift store in the desert called The Frugal Coyote (I mean) C) Wooden buttons OF COURSE D) The sleeves must be neither too tight nor too loose, they need to be perfect; E) We know that at some point we will retire in Italy, specifically in a remote, unaccessible, preferably populated by more animals than humans area.
I don’t care
If you bought $900 jelly sandals and they break, fall apart and they cannot be repaired. I thought we had left that story buried in the things I did last summer. Move on.
Another fashion moment, worth addressing, but that has already lost its luster: how horrified are we on a scale from 1 to 10 at the choice of Demna for Gucci? Because I am at the stage of thinking that he is like the tail of an iguana, no matter how many times it gets cut in a fight, it grows back. Julia, my fab friend, is a bit more diplomatic and hopes that someone knows something I don’t.
“Why Gen X is the real loser generation” the article of the Economist that got the rounds this week. General consensus from all of us Gen X: we didn’t even read it, so you def lost that readership chunk, also, dear Gen Asshole who wrote that article, WE ARE FINE.
The sustainability debrief
I hate how Business of Fashion has the nerves to come up with a headline like “Is Sustainability Still Marketable?”. So disheartening how in 2025 the needle hasn’t fucking moved and there are still journalists that treat sustainability as an accessory to be sold as an add-on, like a keychain. If they were my students they would have to resubmit the assignment if they wanted a grade.
How do you say it in Italian?
Mi viene il magone, when you think of an event, or hear a song that reminds you of something that makes you knot-in-the-throat emotional. For example, this week marked 33 years from the due stragi di Capaci e via d’Amelio, the assassination of the two courageous judges, Giovanni Falcone e Paolo Borsellino, who had made their life mission to defy la Mafia. I still have the chills when I see those pictures, see their last interviews, e mi viene il magone.
Devon’s drawer (Vancouver) and LWN.la have delectable gingham long skirts as well, and both brands use dead stock as often as possible.
what do you think about that tan double-breasted jacket?? I have it in my shopping cart too