Month n.3 into #theruleoffove

THOUGHT N.1 - HAPPY

I bought some stuff but it’s all for the greater good.

Hear me out.

image from Lessico Familiare collab. with Cavalli e Nastri

4: the items I consigned with TRR

5: the unworn pieces I put for sale on Poshmark

10: the garments I mailed to Thredup

2: the stuff I bought new are an oversized navy blazer and a blue striped extra fine cotton man pajama. 

3: the stuff I bought second hand are a trench coat and a pair of boat shoes and I received a too chic to be true vintage MARNI dress as an early gift for Mother’s day. 

5: I altered and mended five garments with the seamstress.

This deserves a pause to say that I am not a designer, of all the jobs I have ever held in fashion, designer was never one, and rightfully so. I revere the profession, the talent, skills, the craftsmanship, the expertise, I respect the process, I am always in awe of the process, I want to know everything about the process. I grew up with a great grandmother who was a dress maker, one who draped fabric around her clients and made the dress before the pattern, and I would be observing from the door ajar, eavesdropping about the parties that those gowns would be made for and then collecting the scraps on the floor after the client was gone. With my students I have a thing that they let me guess if they are merchandizing or design major, and I am never wrong. The mind of a designer functions with different stimuli than the one of a storyteller. And I leave it at that, but it goes to say that when I go to Laura, my seamstress, she knows that “I have an idea” that she translates in cuts, elastics, buttons, stitchings. That’s what she did with those 5 second hand garments I bought last year for a total of under $100

7: Some essentials (all new) a white T shirt, a pair of 70 denier black Wolford tights, 3 pairs of ankle socks and 2 pairs of knee length ones.  

In the scale of happily optimized wardrobe happy person, I am at 19 gone and 5 in, which makes me +14 happier.

Essentials (7) and upcycled/mended (5) aren’t included in the count.

TADAAA… And just like that I am a happy person.

THOUGHT N.2 - WHY

What produced this ebb and flow?

My own version of Sturm und Drang, an internal turmoil that finally came to surface and calmed down, some more work on coming to term with my physical appearance and body weight.

When people experience a heightened sense of physical balance, they’re less likely to overspend and more likely to buy things within their budget.

I don’t want to be tedious and repetitive about my menopausal troubles, it’s all here, but keeping them for myself didn’t help, ask anyone who has gone through it and felt it wasn’t appropriate to talk about it.

It’s hard, man.

Everybody will get there. So now you know, you are welcome.

THOUGHT N.3 - How do I choose IN A NUTSHELL

This is still a good place to start if you decided to go thrifting.

I buy something new if it’s the piece I have decided to splurge on, that is a classic that will go down generations, and find the best offer, like my Large FENDI Peekaboo.

If it’s something more trivial or a staple (we don’t call anything basic here) it has to go with at least 3 looks/occasions.

Where I am radical: no way it will have any polyester content and, before I go buy something new, I have already chosen who’s leaving. Usually she is nice, sometimes cute, but didn’t make it in any looks at all or enough to be on rotation for the season. That is the definition of unworn, but I try to be nice and not tell her and just send her on vacation to a better life in somebody else’s armoire. No harm or bad feelings, not all doughnuts are born with the hole (that’s a poorly translated Italian idiom, but you get the gist).

Month n.2 into the #ruleoffive

February, month n.2 of the Rule of Five, brought no purchases and an introspection on body shape and weight.

THOUGHT N.1

Truth is, my body changed in the last couple of years and I never accepted it or learned how to love it, no matter the hours of therapy. I wouldn’t look at myself in the mirror or mirrored in any window, I resisted appreciating how things wrapped my body in what I thought were the wrong parts, hence I substituted my usual sizes for Large and Extra Large, with no long term plan, just survival and covering tent-like.

When addressing the weight gain, the doctor started talking about exercising, BMI and cholesterol, it’s all blurred now, but I vividly remember snapping out of the blabber “I never had to exercise in my life, I have always been slender, my food intake hasn’t changed, I am not going to start now. I love food and hate exercising.” Both the doctor and I didn’t see eye to eye and I am sure both of us thought “can’t believe she’s gonna lecture me” and politely parted ways.

And yes, it was perimenopause, that fucker that screws your life in so many ways it’s scary, nobody knows how to address it, nobody can foresee how or when it will affect your existence, let alone fix it. And yes I felt the subconscious pressure to look at my body and judge it based on an ideal image that corresponds to some strict measurements, instead of embracing it as it was. I went by, I didn’t know anymore what my style was, have I reached tunic peak?, I would wake up with night sweats in a constant state of “WTF is this”.

I persevered, kept looking for someone who would listen to me, instead of giving the sermon, and created my own village of a psychiatrist, a neurologist, an ObGyn, a therapist, and a functional medicine practitioner who all are helping with offsetting the excess of hormones my body is still producing.

AAAAAAAALLL of this on month n.2 of the #ruleoffive which, for those who are new, means THIS. Am I the over thinker? Always been and I take my closet and wardrobe and style and Fashion seriously. I don’t accept an answer that doesn’t satisfy my curiosity. Even for the damn clothes.

THOUGHT N.2

You want to look like you spent money without screaming it out loud: don’t loose focus.

THOUGHT N.3

That it looks simple doesn’t mean it’s not luxurious: the case of inverse snobbery.

THOUGHT N.4

As long as it’s not basic, flat or, worse, copied from someone on IG. And on the topic of social media and people watching, I am extremely proud of the selected group of people I befriended on IG, the only social media channel I use. Because they are a network of likeminded, educated, articulated, at times opinionated people.

I had a chain of one on one conversations with my IG friend Mari Foster, she made me consciously elaborate two concepts: wearing classic staples without looking basic, and how different textures make neutrals interesting by adding that oomph that makes you stop and look at yourself in the mirror and say: “look at you”.

THOUGHT N. 5

I have started enjoying getting dressed again.

On this note, it’s worth mentioning a conversation I had with @PalmBeachVintage about “getting dressed” and “dress up”. She recalled asking the late Iris Apfel if she dressed up for work and got this iconic answer: “I never dress up when I work”. Now that is the definition of personal style. FYI, I am a firm believer that dressing up is for Halloween, Carnival, a themed party, the Oscars, the MET Gala and agree with Mrs. Apfel that we get dressed to go to work, period. I found a renewed confidence in wearing what I want, mixing what the hell I like, digging stuff out of the closet and combining outfits I never worn before.

Month 1 into the #ruleoffive

Thought n.1

The purchasing habits of gents and ladies are different, or should I say were? It used to be women buy all the time, men buy twice a year, women need stimulation and buy on impulse, men assess their wardrobe at the beginning of the season and buy what’s needed to fix the cracks. In the book I documented the way I was brought up and, back in 2016 when I published it, suggested that we women should “borrow from the boys” in that meticulous and matter-of-factly approach.

Is it still relevant? I’d say yes, but there’s room for improvement.

I still believe that having gone through stints of not buying new clothes for months at a time, helped. Yet I was still capable of accumulating so much crap that I had to put a stop to it again. Stuffitis is contagious.

Now for 365 days, with 5 breaks feels good.

Thought n.2

Digging through your wardrobe, you end up pulling out stuff you haven’t worn in ages. If caught by surprise, let’s say an unexpected cold front, you may risk keeping stuff of probably good quality, but that looks dated as if they’d smelled of mothballs. I see it happening in Miami a lot: those 3 days of the year when temperatures go to the mid-60s you see people wearing the most atrocious, unappealing shit.

So when you have too much and only rotate that damn 20%, when you have to pull anything out of that 80%, the risk of finding it ill-fitting are high.

I am doing well at changing my habits and decluttering and parting with things that have been sitting unvisited, ignored, junked up.

PURCHASES

1- I had to buy a puffer coat/jacket for my traveling. So now until March I am done.

NOTE: That 1 dream high priced luxury piece that I give myself every year manifested itself as the best occasion/deal ever that I couldn’t pass it. And to buy it, I sold two key pieces from my wardrobe, so we are good. And btw, that piece is a Fendi Goatskin Large Peekaboo.

The year I will only buy 5 items

Let’s talk about the commitment to only buy 5 clothing items in 365 days. The campaign has been formulated by Tiffanie Darke and it’s based on scientific calculations from one of the latest reports of the HotorCool.org

There are things you should know by now: the 1.5 degrees Celsius limit set by the 2015 Paris Agreement which sets an aspirational target of keeping the average global temperatures below.

The G20 as a “mix of high- and middle-income countries playing different roles in the production and consumption of global fashion.”

Concepts like Net Zero Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Climate Neutrality, and Just Transition are macro issues that make the fashion system a wicked problem. Policy changes are necessary and for that we can become advocates for Governments, public and private entities, organizations, factories, producers, middle-men, manufacturers.

But what can we do?

ONLY BUY 5 new THINGS

How do we resize our wardrobe and our consumption habits and inspire others to do the same? We are active citizens before being consumers and our individual choices have an impact. Any collective decision, movement, proposition, stance

[it] starts from one

I say let’s be disruptive and loud, there’s no silver-bullet, we aren’t looking for perfection, nobody really knows what they are doing, just take up courage and do it, with all imperfections, errors and mistakes.

Why?

A PERSONAL REASON

Set a task.

I don’t do New Year’s resolutions, I don’t do well with lists, I am a right-brain person who functions with creativity and the unpredictable. Numbers, lists, and mathematics bore me, I become disenchanted within seconds.

To my salvation, to offset that impulsive effervescent right-brain side, I can be a rigorous planner and give myself tasks such as graduating with a master’s degree during a pandemic with both a full-time and a part-time job.

I learned to visualize the part of the day that I spend awake as if it were a 100% battery. You know you can use 20% more of your brain every day, so you can keep that battery well-fed. And I am not talking about “busyness” for the sake of showing that you have shit to do, showing off productivity, above & beyond blah blah blah, I mean purposefully setting a task and using the energy waves of your neurons to complete it. It’s something as practical as baking a cake: you start with the ingredients, follow the instructions, and then you have to complete in the oven. Can’t leave it half-baked.

AN ENVIRONMENTAL REASON

We have to snap out of the deceiving system of being addicted to buying for the sake of buying and falling for socially influenced territory.

What’s allowed

• Mending, alterations (by now you need to have a seamstress, a tailor, and if you are lucky, a designer friend who will lend their talent and crafts which you will pay for)

• Underwear, lingerie, socks

• Renting (I am more of a borrower, but will leave it as an option because who knows)

• Swapping (I count on this a lot)

• Caring and repairing

What’s not allowed

• Gifts (think about the unwanted gifts that your friends received for Christmas, they could screw you up)

• Second hand

• More than 5 new (to your closet) items, I mean there’s no way around it.

how

Some of my advantages, or at least I’d like to think as so:

• I gave up fast fashion in 2015

• I only buy second-hand, whether it’s basics or luxury brands, so I wonder if my rule of buying second hand only after having sold an item from my closet will even out the count?

• I only buy 1 new thing a year, the earlier I choose the better it is because I have expensive taste and I will probably have to save up money for it.

• I am an early riser (I don’t know why, but I find it advantageous in many situations. I will leave it here, I probably will come back to it during the year).

• I switch seasons in my closet, I wrote a chapter in the book about it. In short: every 5 to 6 months you have a rejuvenated closet, it feels good, helps taming compulsive buys, allows for changing shit up with the seamstress.
  

A long, dangling, eloquent pause

As in

When you think that it’s 10 years from the Rana Plaza collapse of a garment factory building that left 1134 people without life in the name of clothing. Not Fashion, but clothing.

What shall we do?

• Do anything: ignoring it is no longer ethically, or socially accepted.

• Stop buying shit.

• Pledge to reduce your carbon footprint. There are many ways: from air drying your laundry to buying second-hand/Vintage/pre-loved; from refusing to buy anything with polyester in it to wearing and re-wearing, mending, fixing, upcycling, and altering what you have in your closet; from switching wardrobes seasonally to working with a personal stylist.

• Do a beach clean up, a closet cleanup, dig in your own trash.

• It starts with one, the only wrong move is the one that you don’t take. My most difficult step was pledging not to buy anything for three months. It’s like when you take antibiotics and cannot have that end-of-the-day glass of wine, it sucks but then it’s over and you’ll feel better.

Wide leg denim

and no you don’t need a LV bag to make it look good

WHAT I AM THINKING OF BUYING THIS WEEK

My make-believe shopping cart this week had socks for open-toe sandals and baggy wide-leg jeans.

FIRST

Mid-calf socks for open-toe flatform sandals. They need to be thin, as in high-thread fiber, sheer, not sparkly, they can be fluo-colored or greige. The look is as specific as it can be, an aesthetic: an A-line skirt or culottes or a shirt-dress, it needs the perfect balance of tailored and girly or it’s a batshit hot mess.

Falke (of course) is the OG and Gallo if you are in Italy. I discovered these smooth silk socks from Artemesia though and they seem promising.

I still don’t have the sandals, I probably will be settling for Marni flatforms. TBC.

SECOND

It’s another aesthetic: these jeans that are baggy, wide-leg, and voluminous, high-waisted, and barrel cut or sitting on your hip bones.

For now, I am in love with Haikure a brand I didn’t know of and discovered thanks to an IG friend who has the most exquisite taste, a fantastic wardrobe, and knows more than me about all things fashion, brands, designers, and showrooms.

THIRD

Disclaimer: I am a member of a selected R&D group for DEHIYA, plant-based skincare Imagined in Morocco, Made in California. Their lip & cheeks tint in Nymph and CBD-infused Biru balm are my lifesavers. Now that the secret is out, go out and buy both of them profusely. They are committed to sustainability, no BS allowed, their natural ingredients are ethically sourced, their packaging and shipping are biodegradable. You know that I am not big on makeup, yet the gals at DEHIYA revolutionized my relationship with skincare. More so, the experiment of wearing colors that I’d never dare wear, made me realize that I had a snobbish approach to makeup. “We don’t wear makeup” is one of the chapters of the book and it’s as inaccurate and insincere as people saying “I don’t follow fashion” or “Fashion is frivolous”. We all make a statement with what we wear and how we care for our skin and hair. So in a week from hell, when my menopause went haywire, this was the opportunity for a great breakthrough.

Sandals

+ socks, not any socks though

I lovE

Pigmented lip and cheeks tint. Spaghettini al dente. Classical music while driving calms me down and averts road rage. Asking questions. Getting dressed. Netflix The Diplomat specifically the script.

I hate

Panic attacks. Absence of empathy. The concept of dressing up, because from dressing up for an occasion it has become dressing up to pose for your fake life on IG and then you can go back to being lazy with your sweatpants. Sweatpants. Influencer models that pose laying down porn like à la Kardashians (yep, I said it).

Italian waters

Catch of the Day

La torta coi bischeri is Tuscan torta that everybody claims was born in their city, which means a civic war. The thing is it’s delicious, it has cocoa powder and rice and pinoli and I like seedless raisins in it pre-softened in rum or sweet wine. So when you travel through Tuscany and find it in a dessert cart, try it, but wholeheartedly avoid engaging in the conversation about its provenance and say YES or Mmmmhhhh like you would with your stubborn right-wing uncle at Thanksgiving dinner. You are welcome.

embrace the mess

Embrace the mess is like when life gives you lemons on a different level because there’s no way life is perfect.

I HATE

Being photographed, the more you ask me to pose, let’s do it again but do this or don’t do that, the worse of me you’ll get.

Milk chocolate.

That we lost the freedom to be without phones and not having to document everything.

An “all you can eat” buffet.

I LOVE

Suede gloves in the spring.

Any small little town in the Hudson Valley with Victorian houses or Greek Revival anything (oh, I can go OCD specific). And I guess I am not alone.

Long-haired Angora bunnies, but I still have many questions unanswered: Is there a bunnies sanctuary where we can adopt one? How do people manage the mini-poops at home? Do they crawl in the home plants? Do they need to be crate-trained?

The street market super early in the morning, half set up, when the flowers and the tomatoes are still fresh, the snow peas with their flowers, and the aprons of the cheese and prosciutto stands still clean and crisp.

A good tall pinky cocktail ring.

WHAT’S ON MY SHOPPING LIST

A) I am not being paid, just genuinely sharing since I am always asked for suggestions.

B) But if you buy anything that I list here, I would love to know, just out of curiosity.

C) Some rules: I am not buying anything new, unless it’s beauty products or something that I have been wanting long enough that I keep going back to it. That also means I have vetted the brand/designer and made sure that no greenwashing or dubitable practices are performed. Preferably I tend to lean towards new upcoming designers, small enterprises, vintage digs.

And by that I mean something like this (read below):

Fridays are good days to sit in the corner of a bar and while you’re asking for your caffè you think about what you’ve done. Sì ! we love Fridays and we love caffè.
Zatebe has a good heart, il gesticolare italiano plus ex-Jugoslavija family aesthetics heritage. We are from i palazzi brutalisti & we live in Italia by the Mare Adriatico. Zatebe is human connection small business with a sustainable & ethical vision. All the stuff are designed by Maja e Sijana and handcrafted in little tailoring labs in Abruzzo & Umbria. Our recovered fabrics are from Italian deadstock. The circular fabric standard gives a second life to quality leftovers fabrics. The environmental impact is significantly reduced. We try to do our best.

And you bet I bought a bag right away. It sits somewhere at my mom’s waiting for the next good soul flying to Miami.

The P E R F E C T white Tshirt of all times

A proper

2-needle t-shirt.

L.A.C. Milano is having a PRIVATE SALE, so you saw it here first. Their name stands for Limited Artisanal Collections. You may have seen me wearing their friulane slippers in navy velvet and khaki corduroy. I may, or may not, add powder blue and satin something.

How about Dauphinette and Lessico Familiare

Also, and unrelated, I don’t own shorts, not one pair. Here’s the thing: I live in Miami and there are plenty shorts, like … a lot, and every time I see a grown ass woman wearing shorts I would wear something else, hence I wouldn’t even have any occasion to need shorts.

You know I was going to say ludicrously

Well hello and

welcome to some of the thoughts that passed through my brain this week.

“The Hundred” is so perfect: it’s exclusive and insecure at the same time. (for my Succession people).

There’s beauty in digression, in rhythm, and in the complexity of the individual, so abandon the idea of perfection.

Shall I venture into crocheting or the art of Ikebana?

And just like that n.45 was indicted, Gwynny WASPed the hell out of conviction in Utah and the world ended with a screeching halt. My IG feed seemed infected by videos of Jane Birkin showing her eponymous bag with a lot of dangling trinkets as if it was something revolutionary and genius and I decided to take a 2-min social media hiatus just to trick the freaking algorithm. Life is hard but goes on.

Then in the US, we had the TikTok guy grilled by a Congress commission because of China and data and firewalls and shit. Bigger pressure on Congress to regulate A.I. in a week when the Pope showed up in a white puffer holding a to-go cappuccino cup (no seriously, he was in the hospital with a respiratory infection). Apparently, yes, brands use artificial intelligence to help projections and buy for the next season, but V. Friedman, as always, made a point:

“the department store problem.” […] an issue designers bring up all the time. That is, store buyers want to order only what sold the season before, rather than take a risk on a new style.

Honestly, again with this thing of uniformity, trends, over-production, and over-consumption

Yet, what is so special about fashion […] is the unexpected breakthrough; the clothes you didn’t know you wanted, […] It’s the “don’t give them what they want; make them want what you give them” axiom.

And the story goes on, no right or wrong, just c o m m o n s e n s e.

I lovE

Un caffè al volo. Everything spring, like violets, rainfalls, wild asparagus, khaki suede, and raincoats. Il budino di riso. The smell of freshly cut grass. NYC fire escapes and summer. Patchouli.

That coat thing

And the hi-low alligator bag + Teva-like sandals.

I hate

People chewing. Being a wedding guest. People that cannot thank you, because they will never be good colleagues. Anything March Madness, first of all, because I don’t speak sport and it’s boring. Department stores. Summers in Miami.

“Do you exercise?”

ME

ITALIAN WATERS

Catch of the Day

Il mare d’inverno, the sea in the winter is a state of mind. The beach clubs are closed, but you go for a walk for an hour of sun, salsedine, dunes, and foamy waves on the shore, you remember all the shenanigans, because of course, you still go to the same part of the beach, even if everything is barricaded, because the killer always comes back on the crime scene.

WHY IS THE MET GALA STILL SIGNIFICANT

Before we start, a disclaimer: sustainability at the MET Gala are two unreconcilable, contrasting, parallel concepts. That it, for example, a brand like Gucci claiming “planet neutral” kudos for using left over lace for a one-of-a-kind gown that put in motion an average of 10 intercontinental flights and 300 people is NOT sustainable.

I teach, research, study and speak Fashion and if you are reading this I guess you do too to some extent. So, yes I watch events, red carpets, fashion shows and I find it my duty to dissect what I see, especially the behind the scenes, expose greenwashing, PR stunts, power trips as well as talent, creativity and purpose.

Why was it such a big deal fashion event?

Believe it or not it raised more than $17 mill. Also, you may or may not have noticed through the mayhem of butts and tits, the week before the first ever Conde Nast Union was created. To put things into perspective, behind all the Ritz there are hundreds of uncredited workers whose job security, pay raise, safety, inclusion aren’t protected.

However, we have seen more re-use and vintage on the red carpet and here are my picks.

Quannah Chasinghorse in Prabal Gurung and Antelope Women Designs

Quannah Chasinghorse is a Fashion Model, Climate Warrior, Land Protector. She wore a gown designed by Prabal Gurung that made her “feel seen (while) indigenous have been overlooked and misrepresented people. The piece de resistence, the jewelry, was made with Earth Elements like shells, quills, tanned hide and tipis representing her communities. If you are lost with all these details is because it’s a culture to which we aren’t exposed and it’s generally abused and misappropriated for profit. Nothing wrong with being exposed to it and if I spike some interest in knowing more of it, well, I am glad.

Above are my favorites pieces with a meaning: Christopher John Rogers partnered with SJP beaming the light on the work of Elizabeth Hobbs Heckley a seamstress, designer, social activist, philanthropist of the Gilded Age (more on theme than this), Adut Akech wore a Lacroix vintage piece from Shrimpton Couture archives, Billie Eilish with Gucci’s team made a remarkably spectacular number from deadstock, Amber Valletta being the super model with a vintage Loris Azzaro reminiscing NYC architecture.

Below I have to speak my mind: Emily on Lacroix gets a 6 for effort but 1 for execution , because nobody like Yasmeen Ghauri could pull off that masterpiece.

Gabriela Hearst and Amy Schumer intention was to make a statement about climate crisis, so 7 for effort but I give them 2 for execution as it seemed that each brought an WOC accessory.

Why you should churn on news instead of doomscrolling

Select your sources.

Read the room like an observer from the balcony.

Absolutely don’t watch TV (I don’t own a TV nor a cable subscription since 2014)

It’s a crazy world out there and how do you keep yourself updated? I mean two years of a pandemic, Harry Styles, a war, the Johnny Depp trial, the IPCC reports, Wordle, Succession …

I READ.

I selectively choose - a synonym for a process of elimination that is as refined as a bottle of Tignanello.

I hand write notes everywhere and use different colors (never black).

I don’t listen to voice messages longer than 30 seconds after which they become monologues. Last time I listened to a voice message was in the machine, I lived in Milan, circa 1993.

I am analog and my memory is selective, as in “I don’t listen” type of selective, as my daughter would say. Thing is, if it doesn’t stimulate any sensorial or visual interest, I move on and leave space for something … more interesting, that is.

When I am 100% invested in one news, topic, story I write notes, text message “For me” to remember to research by the end of the day and you’ll hear me talking about it at nauseam. Until the next one.

Here’s how it goes on an usual day:

BREAKFAST is for NEWSand coffee

• world news - first Zelensky and last Zelensky, in between international, national, politics, social, very little local unless it’s something socially relevant like reproductive rights, homelessness and voter suppression.

• fashion news - Italy (kill me!), international and national.

---

keep calm and move on

〰️

keep calm and move on 〰️

LUNCH is for INSTAGRAM while in the parking lot

Abandon all hope ye who enter here. We pop culture, gossip, snoop, scoop, stalk, DM, chat, comment and casually post something.

---

DINNER is for RESEARCH and Johnny Depp trial

• this is a free-for-all, it could go from the NYT Cooking to reading in between the lines of the latest greenwashing inventions of the fashion industry, or researching for an assignment because even if I graduated from my Masters program, I do love perfecting, rewriting, exchanging notes.

Is this easy?

NO

Is it overwhelming?

FOR SURE

Why do I do it?

Because I had to find an antidote that would prevent me from being bombarded by news at rapid fire, like fast fashion or fast food.

LET'S INVENT OURSELVES ONE DAY AND BAG AT A TIME

“Personal style is outstanding when it’s backed up by knowledge and confidence.” 

‘The Chiffon Trenches’, André Leon Talley

André, like he was known in fashion, was a barrier breaker, wit, erudite, opinionated, extravagant, curious and thirsty of news, savant fashion editor, stylist - “a custodian and curatorial person of fashion” as he described himself. “He was a mixture of Southern front-porch grandee, straight out of Welty — he was from North Carolina — and persnickety Beaton-esque observer.” opts in Cathy Horyn in her Op-Ed for The New York Magazine.

“No script writer could have invented André.” says Hamish Bowles remembering working with him.

Knowing what feels, not looks, good on you now, not 6 months or a year ago (forget the pandemic for a moment), the fabric’s composition or where the item was made, inspecting seams, threads, lining, button holes, having a seamstress or a tailor on speed dial for an alteration or an epicycle job, bring confidence along. We should all be opinionated when it comes to expressing ourselves with our personal style.

See? Here’s the point: it doesn’t matter trends, the age, body shape, what colors theories tell us look good on us or what sparks joy, it’s not about the rule, it’s about being balanced, relaxed, chill, pragmatic yet creative, mostly rebellious and always overdressed.

As women we are labelled, judged, body-shamed, critiqued, stereotypically boxed. 

Without going to the depths of social, political, or psychological investigation, the expectation of having to fit in a style, preppy, conservative, whimsical, modern, business attire, deconstructed, normcore, indie sleaze, twee is exhausting.

An even more demoralizing aspect of our daily life is to be given the side-eye, expected to be cheery and smiley, cat called, described with diminishing epithets by other women.

The constant scrutiny depletes the levels of creativity and curiosity and I even think that for the common good commercial brands have invented the bridge market of no couture nor streetwear but just plain mediocre stuff.

And then I came across Noiranca’s DE-LABEL campaign “Succinct yet eclectic, [it] heralds a new era of femininity – of nuance, confidence, and agency – amidst the rambunctious veneration of archetypal femininity, while tracing the rumination in empowering oneself out of the typical. 

How can a handbag brand be a vessel of positivity you ask?

By disrupting the gender-binary mindset and disparaging common misconceptions like ageism with three models who posing with confidence reveal their authenticity and “reclaim their voices.”