I've been talking about it a lot * week of the first Full Moon

A string of opinionated random thoughts.

So we are entering four years of n.45 reloaded toxic broligarchy. I suggest a plan of action: stay put, pull a Michelle when in doubt, focus on shit that you can control, and shield yourself and your people from all of THAT, just imagine deep diving with your nose clipped in apnea for four years because their expiration day will come when they will transmogrify back into pumpkins.

In which the coolness of Laura De Valencia makes an appearance

Love

• Lightness of volume and deconstruction while I am getting ready to pack for the first of my winter short little trips.

• I insist on making the case for the Loden coat

I know these are older guys, but the chicness is undeniable

• Tsundoku: the art of buying books and piling them up. If it’s considered an art, then I am an artist with a full-on system developed. When I find them available in Thriftbooks or have some extra money to buy them at full price on Bookshop.org (not Amazon), I buy them to pile them by topic, subject, or reading order.

• Playing Barbie: Things I learned this week from the friends who played with me. First, I had to give her a name, so I held a small parents’ summit to gather more intel, and she was called Franny, unanimously approved. My IG bestie Gigi came up with the perfect name and concurred with me that we never named our dolls, but it’s ok, we are fine, no drama. She told me a heartwarming story of how back in Turkey, where she is from, Barbies were precious, and her father, a well-known architect, was the one who brought the two Barbies she owned back from his frequent trips to Europe. This, then, reminded me of my collection of dolls that my father brought back from his trips, and that’s another magic rabbit hole for which I have to thank IG. Back to the absurd demands, tho, Gigi’s Barbies had a made-to-measure wardrobe sewn by her mother, and there was another parallel lives scenario, as my great-grandmother Ebe was the special dressmaker of all my dolls. The result of all of this is that Franny uncannily resembles Fran The Nanny, “a simple girl with simple tastes”, wearing vintage Lacroix and Moschino. TBC.

• LA fires continued: I defined a budget and chose where to direct my donations. A friend’s sister whose house was burnt to the ground, the Altadena Teen Girls Fire Recovery fund, a cashmere item to Ryan Roche, pretty straightforward and got the SUAY Pay It Forward bag.

I don’t care

• For the verb marinate I have seen it circulating enough to be scared that it will be another demure or salty thing.

• The IN/OUT lists, or NY resolutions: lists make me anxious, hurricane preparedness list, list of ingredients, my non linear brain goes in tilt.

• Anything Gwyneth Paltrow. It’s a pet peeve of mine, no bad feelings. It’s just that for me la Gwyneth resides in the same insipide folder of Katie Holmes. Insipida is the word we use in Italian when something’s cooked without salt added, flavorless, flat.

The sustainability debrief

Is there such a thing as over-thrifting? If you find yourself buying into trends or you buy something because it’s cheap, then it’s over-consumption disguised.

How do you say it in Italian?

Gli stupidi vedono il bello solo nelle cose belle

- Oliviero Toscani

The stupids see beauty only in the beautiful things. This week we lost Oliviero Toscani and David Lynch and it feels like the last generation of geniuses is being decimated. Toscani was the rebel who spoke with no constrain and unapologetic with his photography.

For all my new followers and anyone who wants to chat, feel free to check out my style diary, the book I wrote and published, and my posts on Instagram.