I've been talking about it a lot * week 1

A string of opinionated random thoughts.

WELCOME back!

For all my new followers, you can also read my style diary on the blog, the book I wrote and on Instagram.

Some housekeeping: wherever you see THIS font, it’s a new addition to the newsletter.

Love

• A movie: Lee with Kate Winslet

• A TV moment: The induced abstinence from the Real Housewives. Hilarious!

• A book: I fell in love with Eve Babitz writing with the first book I am reading, Slow Days, Fast Company and there’s that. From being a loyal, persistent, cultish aficionado of Joan Didion to taking notes from Eve.

• A recipe: A fennel bulb, blood orange or pomelo, pomegranate salad dressed with light vinegar (I have a rosé vinegar), fleur de sel and olio nuovo.

• A fashion moment: The Miu Miu Doctor; textured grey tights; feathers;

• A song: I will not burden you with Silent Night but let it be known that I keep the decorations and the Christmas Classics on Spotify until after the Epiphany, tomorrow.

• A beauty moment: I am a no-makeup makeup person on the day-to-day, I am 56 and spent my youth suntanning like that woman from Something About Mary, never took good care of my skin, never did Botox or fillers despite living in the most filler-ed city in the world. I trust my dermatologist, who doesn’t oversell anything, swears by creams I can buy at Target, and prescribes what is right for me. I am naturally blessed with just the right amount of wrinkles, but I hate those frown lines around my mouth that capitulated under the spell of the law of gravity.

• Today’s product of discussion is Volufiline an active ingredient to add to the under-eye cream and let it absorb, applying reusable under-eye patches. I discovered this knack from Devon Kelly who is big on TikTok, but I found her on IG.

I don’t care

• About the Birkin nor the Wirkin, I am so bored about that. I love fashion, I talk and speak and write about fashion, and to me, Veblen’s theory still stands, luxury 101: the demand increases when the price increases in stark contradiction with economics 101 the law of demand. We can discuss it forever and ever, the sociologist in me will prevail. I am no economist.

The sustainability debrief

I decided for this new addition to the newsletter because usually news in the realm of sustainability don’t make it to mainstream media, remain confined within the still too limited echo-chamber of sustainability people. It’s my world though, I read, investigate, research, I review papers, I assist teaching a class in a sustainability management masters program. In here we are an awe inspiring community of + 600 individuals, citizens, shoppers, and consumers, we all get dressed and make choices, and I figure I can start sharing little beans of knowledge.

• First news of the year, I am sorry is bad news. It’s the devastating fire that on January 2nd destroyed more than 60% of the Kantamanto Market in Accra, Ghana. Kantamanto is the largest secondhand market on the planet that exists because of what’s known as waste colonialism. We, the wealthy powerful Global North, export to less affluent countries in the Global South our 100 billion garments waste every year, perpetrating a form of environmental racism that includes import dependency, human rights violations, land occupation, environmental harm. Kantamanto accounts for circa 30000 traders, men and women whose livelihood consists of selling what we trash. You can find out more here and here. If you can and feel like it you can donate.

How do you say it in Italian?

Il mare d’inverno, the ocean in the winter. Thing is, in the Mediterranean basin we call it Sea because it’s not as vast as an ocean. The Sea is like a god, she is a natural god that speaks to us, gives us strength when we are sad, offers refreshing chills when’s too hot, lets us float in stillness, prepares the most perfect line for sunsets, and shows off all the different shades of blue. In the winter months, the color is a deep steel blue. Perfect.