Rants
Category
Quiet Luxury My Ass
If you followed any style conversations in 2023, you know it has all been about quiet luxury and old money. So I am months if not years late with this post and you may be sick and tired of reading about it, but this topic still triggers me. And it’s my blog, so here we go.
Against the Capsule Wardrobe
Ladies, gentlemen [in the voice of Christina Aguilera in ‘Dirrty’], I have found more reasons to be against capsule wardrobes. More?! you cry, how can there be more after this devastating piece 5 years ago? Indeed. I will get to that in a moment.
On Understanding the World
I have been away for more than a week in Indonesia and India. Before you get jealous, let me underline these were work trips with minimal free time and hardly any sleep: I have said before that my job is intense and I’m not joking. This doesn’t change the fact that being able to travel to the other side of the world as part of one’s job is a huge privilege – not just because it’s interesting to see other places (and it’s warm), but because it expands your mind.
On Getting Older (and Golden Capes)
When I first received the pictures from this photoshoot (which, for the record, I absolutely adore), I momentarily considered asking the photographer to touch up my face. While I got over this reaction almost immediately, I cannot deny this happened*. And for the first time in my life, I didn’t have that impulse because I thought I looked ugly (this has happened on countless occasions), but because I looked old. Or perhaps more precisely, I looked my actual age: in the harsh light outside, you can pretty much count every single one of my 41 years on my face.
On the Importance of Trying Things On
If there is one thing that being obsessed with clothes gives you, it’s a good understanding of what works for your body and your style and what doesn’t. I can walk into Zara and leave in ten minutes with a full, entirely functional outfit. Faster, if there’s no queue. (Of course, this is only possible because I have a very standard body in a size that Zara caters to.) (And of course one is trying NOT to walk into Zara for high-speed shopping sprees, but it’s just a more believable example than Gabriela Hearst.)
How to Create a Modern Wardrobe
This is a misleading title, as I don’t really know how to create a modern wardrobe. It would be more accurate to end it with a question mark, as the following is an exploration rather than a solution, but it’s perhaps useful nevertheless. Everything, after all, begins with the right question.
On Reading Too Much
I do realise that this is probably going to be my least relatable post of all time – and my posts include one about a perfume that costs 400 euros and several about wearing evening gowns at every opportunity.
On Pain and Other Disabilities
I woke this morning* a little past four with searing pain and horrible cramps. I used to have extremely unpleasant periods when I was younger, but they have gotten better with time and age, to the point that I hardly notice the discomfort these days (the fact that I consider the feeling of someone stabbing me with a knife from below at random moments to be an entirely acceptable thing to experience on a regular basis probably says something about the way women are conditioned in a patriarchal society, but never mind). In fact, I had forgotten it so thoroughly that I didn’t even have suitable painkillers at home when ’women’s trouble’ struck this night.
This Is Not My Dress and Other Thoughts
This is going to sound arrogant (and perhaps it is), but I rarely find people whose thoughts on fashion I’m genuinely interested in. The insiders can be uncritical and take themselves way too seriously, the outsiders often don’t understand how the industry works and/or are bitter because they are outsiders. The best person to have views on style – and on most things, really – is a somewhat disillusioned (former) insider.
On Recommending Books
“Oh, you like books, tell me, what should I read?” is among my least favourite questions in the world. It’s not that I don’t like to recommend books per se – I do, I like doing almost anything book-related and it’s also rather flattering when people see you as some sort of a book whisperer who can pick the right one for them. But that’s exactly the problem: recommending books is a bit like working with vulnerable animals – very tricky and also a huge responsibility. What if I mess up?