I've been thinking about it a lot * week 31

A string of opinionated random thoughts

Friendship goals. Picture shared by British Vogue.

There’s been a lot of talk about why the top-rated Substacks are the usual suspects as in the same who became popular on IG those size zero girls with enough disposable income to afford $900 High Sport pants. You know when they say you can take the girl out of [insert social media platform], but not the [insert social media platform] out of the girl? It’s like expecting a new result by inverting the numbers in multiplication … ain’t happening. Instead of complaining, you can go under-dog disruptive and create and build your niche, audience, style, persona, and business.

Is it easy? Hard no, but envy, complaining, and holding grudges aren’t a solution.

BTW, regarding those High Sport flares, Everlane’s dupes in Coconut are on sale for $25 and J.Crew Factory Kelsey in navy is now $49, and GAP’s run for $47. How fucking smart is that? I don’t have affiliate links, but I’m not a gatekeeper and besides, I am not buying stuff this year.

Manuela Pavesi’s Essentials, feat. in System Mag. 2012. Compare with any flat lays essentials of Summer 2024.

Love

• By popular demand, I wrote a piece on the hacks of a successful second-hand buy.

• Stanley Tucci and his summer salads in the backyard. Simple.

• 90’s Anti-Fashion documentary and you are in for a treat

• A good TRR deep dive for mini dresses. Not that I need a new mini dress, but in case I wanted to add a mini dress to my wardrobe, I want to be prepared, instead of rushing into it considering my frugal budget. I mean look at this Junya, or this Alaïa but then this Cucinelli and wait until you see this rare Saint Laurent. No affiliate links either, I just like good stuff.

  Hate

• Ballerina Farm: the whole thing horrifies me and probably now that I wrote it, the algorithm will screw me. The only farms I am interested in are Isabella Rossellini’s on the East Coast and Pamela Anderson’s on the West Coast. Let’s not even go into Tradewife.

• Cruise ships and the amount of people, trash, and environmental destruction they bring. But, mostly, that suffocating thought of the nonnegotiable vicinity to people.

• Open-toe sandals that show ugly and unkept toes. I can’t, I feel violated.

  

  Only one I approve is bottom left.

How do you say it in Italian?

Il ferro è il ruffiano della sarta, the iron is the seamstress’ ruffian. According to me my grandmother Titti used to say, according to my mother it was her grandmother, my great grandmother Ebe who used to say it, to each their own generation, it’s a family thing. My great grandmother, Ebe, was a skilled, talented, self taught dress maker with an elite clientele. I remember that when the ladies with noble titles, la Principessa such and such or la Contessa del whatever, were coming for fittings accompanied by their ladies in waiting, we weren’t supposed to make noise or peak in the studio. But you can bet that I would sneak in at the end of the day, crawl under the Singer sewing machine, pick up the floor scraps for la nonna Ebe to make the dresses for my dolls.