🍸 OFF-MENU 003 🍸: Hitchcock Blondes
What I'm loving this week: pinstripe socks, wearing a really big amulet, "On Getting Dressed," and more
Good morning everyone! Milan has been very fun. I’ve been busy with other projects, but I plan to do a little end-of-season write-up on London, Milan, and Paris for HALOSCOPE and cross-post that here. The best of the season so far is undoubtedly Ralph Lauren, with Max Mara trailing closely behind, and then Jil Sander. MY TAKE: the most successful brands are the ones playing at sportswear and its core unfussiness. The most unsuccessful brands are the ones playing at hammy theatrics. People like Lee McQueen did that well, obviously, but audience proclivities swing rapidly from season to season (usually between minimalism and maximalism). People don’t want theater right now — they want well-made, studied clothing. Anything less than that is proof that a designer isn’t listening.
Also — I spoke with Magdalene over at about the role sexuality played at NYFW this year (namely Alaïa and Elena Velez). I adore her thoughtful writing about sexual culture, and I think fashion week is one of the few places where we see our communal desires pantomimed on such a colossal stage. It makes for interesting clothing and even more interesting discussions.
Now, for some of my favorite things…
#1: There’s something about a pinstriped sock
The most common items on my wishlist, in terms of sheer volume, are socks, which is odd because I largely prefer being barefoot. But I do think a sock adds a certain jouissance to an otherwise milquetoast outfit. Those little bobby socks girls were wearing with Mary-Janes last year? Adorable. 2011, when people wore wool and herringbone colored nylons? Incroyable.
For me, Fall/Winter is usually a time when dressing gets chicer and more sophisticated, but also visually heavy — both in layer amounts and fabric weights. Stripes are an obvious way to slough off any aesthetic mass and lighten things up, but it’s difficult to find a stripe (at least a stripe that doesn’t make you look like a 100-year-old French clown) that also isn’t too summery. Enter: pinstripe hosiery. I love these over-the-knee socks from Hi Jinks (aren’t they precious with loafers?), these sheer ankle socks from Nordstrom, and, if you want a full-length moment, these black tights from Swedish Stockings.
#2: On Getting Dressed
A really fantastic essay by Isabel Cristo in The Paris Review that I’ve been thinking about since I first read it this past July. To borrow a graf:
“The reality is that there is a right answer when it comes to the question of what I should wear. I don’t mean that anyone else would notice if I got it wrong. But if I’ve just left the house and I’m waiting for the uptown train and I remember that I bought a long-sleeve dress two months ago that can only be worn with tall boots, and soon the season for long sleeves and tall boots will be over, and I have no plans in the foreseeable future to wear this dress, and the occasion for the dress was in fact tonight but it’s still dangling from a hanger in an overlooked corner of my bedroom, it will break my heart.”
#3: This perfume that smells like… a good date…
To be ladylike about it, of course. If you’re even remotely into fragrance, you’ve heard about Sécrétions Magnifiques, spoken about in the same giddy whisper as celebrity gossip: Etat Libre d’Orange’s ode to sweat and semen. It’s definitely not blind-buy safe — for some people it smells lactonic and mild, to others, something much more disgusting — so I recommend you get an ELDO sample before you really commit. To me, it rings vulnerable, bitter, obscene, the skin scent to end all skin scents. If you actually want to turn heads and seem mysterious and urbane, put down Lost Cherry and consider this fragrance instead.
#4: Wearing a really big amulet
The ‘70s were all about kitschy talismans, from the feather you wore in your hair to the amulet you wore around your neck. SEE: Stevie Nicks’ necklace collection, disco medallions, everything Cher must keep in cold storage. It’s important to make the distinction, here, that I’m not talking about those crystal obelisks from 2014 or anything else you could buy in a vape shop. I think you should really be looking like Ursula when she put her human form into, yes, a giant seashell amulet.
#5: North by Northwest (dir. Alfred Hitchcock, 1959)
I adore Eva Marie Saint — she’s name-dropped in one of my favorite songs of all time — and she’s so perfect in this film, as she is in every film. Also some very divine AMULETS in this one (see above). I’d love to see some writing on Hitchcock’s costuming approach because it’s so insanely meticulous.
#6: These Dieux reusable eye patches
I’m all-or-nothing when it comes to skincare. If I want to put a sheet mask on, then I’m going to put a clay mask on first, and if I want to put a clay mask on, then I’m going to do a scrub first, and if I’m going to do a scrub, I’m going to dermaplane first. My brain can’t make it work any other way. Undereye patches have always felt wasteful to me if I’m not doing all of the above, which takes considerable time.
These Dieux ones, though, are designed to be reusable for an entire year, and I can tell you for a FACT that they’re easy and effective. Just use with an existing serum or eye cream and hand-wash when you’re done. $25 for a set is well worth the money you’d save from so many single-use products. Dieux, if you’re reading this, DM me.
#7: “Jai Ramachandra,” Alice Coltrane (1981)
This summer I got really into spiritual jazz and worked my way through Alice Coltrane’s exquisite discography. This song, recorded on her lost 1981 cassette Turiya Sings, has been on constant rotation since I first heard it (on, admittedly, The Curse). Her voice is so fluent and forbearing, and I hope it brings you into something new.
See you on Tuesday. ꩜