I've been talking about it a lot * the week of
A string of opinionated random thoughts.
I am so excited to welcome soooo many new friends in here that it’s only fair to do some housekeeping.
I have a daughter who is the love of my life, I am Italian, born and raised in Tuscany and even after almost three decades in the United States, still so Italian, I don’t even know how much. I don’t sell anything on Substack, I simply tell you what I like, obsess over, think and talk about a lot. There are three sections the Love, the I Don’t Care, and The Sustainability Debrief. The How do you say it in Italian? is now behind the paywall because gatekeeping in small doses is good.
I have an Instagram profile that I cherish because I have met some of the best friends social media can possibly find you, one website, I wrote and self-published a book. I love writing, talking about, and teaching sustainability in fashion practices. Last year, I committed to the Rule of Five (it went OK), I only buy second-hand unless my uber-talented designer friends create magic with their hands and brilliant brains for me.
I hate trends and having pictures taken, I have my can’t do withouts.
You will learn the rest by reading.
Love
First, I love how I forgot all about the MET Gala red carpet. My brain farted and it was only after seeing a text from my friend Fabiana that I realized I had forgotten the red carpet.
Of course, my first read is Rachel’s eloquent take on the WSJ and her highlighting of three independent labels owned by black designers that were a standout on the red carpet. Big SO to Grace Wales Bonner, especially with the exquisite gown she designed for FKA Twigs, inspired by Josephine Baker. Wales Bonner was a co-chair of the event and she dressed three attendees. Pharrell was another co-chair who, backed by LVMH, dressed 14 people, including himself and his wife. Do you see where I am going? One is a designer the other one is not, one is the designer of an independently female-owned label, the other is a celebrity and a Happy singer who lands his taste for klout to a brand owned by one of the top 5 richest men in the world who, as the streets report, opted to be in DC for a meeting with the first felon occupying the White House instead of supporting his business in NY.
This year, the Gala raised a record $31 million by elevating, showcasing, and exploring Black culture in a moment when racism, fascism, and anti-wokeness are rampant. So take that, motherf%^&#s
My favorites were Diana Ross and her daughter Tracey Ellis Ross, and Zendaya. But, in terms of:
The Black female dandy—with her impeccable tailoring, strategic accessorizing, and calculated presentation—engages in what Miller describes as the practice of using “immaculate clothing, arch wit, and pointed gesture to announce their often controversial presence.” These become tools of the self-making process. This carries particular significance for Black women, whose bodies have historically been sites of appropriation, regulation, and exploitation. By adopting and adapting elements traditionally associated with male dandyism—pocket squares, suspenders, watch chains, immaculate shirting—these women craft identities that refuse the limitations of both racialized and gendered expectations. - as read on smith + co.
The teaser of the Peaky Blinders movie with Shelby on the horse gave me life. The question in the streets is, “Do you think Shelby will die?”
I am elated by the election of Papa Leone XIV, and it’s not because I am Catholic, because I don’t practice, but because for his mission and ministry, he will be a pope who will advocate for the poor, the marginalized, and for peace. Also, an American who speaks Latin, Italian, and Spanish fluently, wow.
A movie moment: I watched The Room Next Door, the Almodóvar movie with Julianne Moore and Tilda Swinton. It’s an intense and moving friendship story intertwined with illness and death, so I must warn you, you will have to feel psychologically ready to watch it because when you start, you will not let it go, you will keep watching it. What is outstanding in a movie that explores death is the direction, photography, set design, costume design, use of colors that make it exquisite.
I don’t care
For how many influencers, celebrities, and, unfortunately, many Italians, are not familiar with the African diaspora and dandyism, or do not understand what a zoot suit is, don’t know about the dandy daffodils, and think that the event was about wearing a suit.
I am not excited because summer is coming: I don’t care for the heat, the humidity, the scorching sun, the perspiration, the melting tinted SPF, people entitled to wear flip flops and shorts, I don’t want to see men’s exposed armpits.
The sustainability debrief
Praising red carpet looks, whether it’s the MET Gala or the Cannes Film Festival, is highly deplored by my peeps in the sustainability world. Makes sense from a rigorous, scientific, conscientious POV, but I am a Fashion theorist and a hopeless Sagittarius, and I will always look for the story, the fabrics, the inspiration, the choices, the research, the history, the work of the designer and the personal stylist, the why, because Fashion is our first unspoken language.
