Leandra Medine's Blog, page 24

Go Ahead, Wear a Robe All Day

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I’d forgotten the virtues of a robe since I last wore one regularly, when I was at college and they were the best option for navigating a communal bathroom post-shower. Back then, terry was the way to go — it kept everything modest while doubling as a towel.

Now, on day 60-whatever of quarantine, I find myself getting out of the shower and simply putting on a robe—and not necessarily terry cloth! What I’m talking about here is the robe as an outfit. There are cotton options, fancy silk ones, quilted ones, and even robes that double as dresses. During a time when I’m not going outside, the robe provides a comfortable easy outfit without committing to getting fully dressed — like a coverup to keep on indefinitely. Sometimes putting on another pair of sweatpants makes me feel hopeless and uninspired, but the non-committal robe doesn’t do that to me. Not to mention, it’s an item that you keep and wear for years.

Follow along below for the world’s easiest dressing item.

Terry to Wick it All Away

The classic towel-y robe wicks off moisture post-shower but is also totally acceptable to wear hours after said wash. My favorite is this Weezie that—while expensive—has maintained its top condition for years. This Snowe robe wicks moisture away like magic; I like it in medium-gray. The two picks from Brooklinen and Parachute are fan favorites—both at $99—and are really cute for couples robes. For a less expensive option, I was super impressed by the quality and thickness of this one, which I got for photoshoots. This $30 robe is nice and sturdy; the wrist-length arms help it stay out of the way while I’m doing chores. Happier with a hood? Try this groovy striped one or this lavender one. If you want a fun color, The Company Store offers a veritable rainbow. I feel obligated to share this $60 tie-dyed robe—it’s fleece and exceptionally cozy. Finally: This printed one is like an entire outfit in a single robe.

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Cotton as the Perfect Middle Man

Don’t need your robe to double as a towel? I recommend light-weight cotton. My favorite is from Lunya—I prefer the short length for easy leg movement, but it comes in a long version, too. This Coyuchi robe in an organic cotton jersey is similar. Eberjey’s version is like the black-tie version of lounge robes, for under $100. For a variety of colors, this one has pretty piping (and is just $23.99!). Natori’s thin, flowy, easy-to-wash robe has high customer ratings. This shorter one is $38 and comes in a pretty, summer-y seafoam. Speaking of summer, I love the beachiness of this Brooklinen style. For some print: This Liberty of London-print robe! And this Cuyana version with two front pockets in heather-gray pima cotton is basically the utility robe—the cargo pants of robes, if you will.

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Feeling Like A Million Bucks

When I want to feel like Moira Rose, I opt for a luxurious, silky robe. Lunya tops my list again, with this cleverly designed robe with elastic-cuff sleeves. Then there’s this one, which comes in a slew of jewel tones and is just the right length. Speaking of jewel tones, what about this mini sapphire one? I’m in love with this lace-trim snake-print one from Torrid, available in sizes ranging from 00 to 6X (we should all have the chance to feel so luxuriously glamorous). This ladylike printed robe would go great with a cup of tea, caffeinated or not. This one from Etsy comes in several beautiful prints, but I especially love this cheery yellow. This one is a SUMMER CASHMERE and on sale, people!

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The Interchangeable One: The Dress as Robe

Since by now I’ve convinced you to wear your robe around your home all day, why don’t we go a step further and wear our robe in public! These are patterned robes in everyday fabrics: cotton, linen, and the like.

This yellow linen one could be worn open or closed with proper shoes and some necklaces. This one from Etsy is technically a bathrobe, but I could very much see myself wearing it over a white cotton set. This green one comes in a plethora of other colors. And this one with the fringe trim is technically a dress but basically a house robe. Also technically dresses but interchangeable as robe-wear: this one from Three Graces or this embroidered white vintage one. Venturing back into linen territory, this striped one is 70% off and its mandarin collar would convince any Zoom meeting that you’ve put a lot of thought into your appearance. I would picnic in the center of my apartment The Song of Music style in this gingham number from & Other Stories. This vintage crinkle satin number with ruffle trim sleeves is perfect for a walk. And brace yourself for this one-of-a-kind quilted robe—and $28! What an incredible find, if I do say so myself.

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What one-and-done items are you wearing around your home these days? Give me some ideas to marinate on in the comments below!

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6 Quarantine Trends Ranked From “No, Never Again” to Life-Changing

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Over the past two months, I’ve become obsessed with quarantine trends. I’ve watched Normal People, Tiger King, and Too Hot To Handle (the quaran-streaming trifecta) not because I have nothing better to do, but because if there’s a fuss around anything, I want to know what it’s all about. I even listened to the Fiona Apple album from start to finish one (1) time, despite still not really knowing who she is. And while there are a number of quarantine trends I’ve personally yet to try—my hair remains un-buzzed and my sweatpants are not tie-dyed—I can confidently say that I’ve tried most of them.

So, without further ado, here’s every quarantine trend I’ve tried so far, ranked from worst to best. Take it with a grain—or, if you’re currently baking banana bread, a pinch—of salt.

6. Fluffy coffee

Much like ordering another round of tequila shots at 1 a.m., making dalgona coffee is thrilling… until it isn’t. The fluffy coffee includes an amount of instant coffee and sugar nobody should ever be allowed to have before 9 a.m. The photos are cute, sure, but are they worth the sugar comedown? No siree, Bob!

5. Zoom parties

Nothing has proven the truth in the saying “too much of a good thing” like video get-togethers. While face-to-face time is just swell, there should never be more than four screens allowed in the one conversation. Sadly, not everyone abides by this rule I have unofficially set, so here we are.

4. Baking bread

Baking is a consistently wholesome activity, but while cookies and brownies are simply that—cookies and brownies—baking bread opens you to a world of opportunities: fancy-ass toasts, sandwiches, croutons, and even fresh breadcrumbs. Plus, you can’t mindlessly scroll on your phone while your fingers are covered in sticky dough, so that’s an automatic five-stars from me.

3. Puzzles

I will double-tap any photo of a puzzle I see because they are, in my opinion, the perfect activity. You can do a puzzle with a friend, your lover, your self. They are creative but also (almost) impossible to mess up. Plus they have an end result that really pays off!

2. Animal Crossing

If I could sip that sweet polyjuice potion and turn into anyone in the universe for an hour, I would turn into my Animal Crossing alter-ego. Sure, we both live on islands, but mine, Manhattan, is quite literally made of garbage and hers is a butterfly- and wildflower-populated oasis where she picks fresh fruit daily and catches fish in the stream. She also has affordable housing and medicine, which she only needs if she gets stung by wasps, a.k.a. the only bad thing that can happen to a gal in Animal Crossing. Plus, there’s always a chance that AOC or Elijah Wood might come to visit.

1. Regrowing scallions

Every morning I wake up, have a glass of water, then go and check the jar of scallions that live on the windowsill of my living room. Though I bought my scallion children over a month ago, they’ve been regrown and eaten at least four times (yum!) and are still going strong. Beyond their tastiness, my scallions satiate my internal desire to live a sustainable lifestyle (while also using a disposable Clorox wipe on my phone, credit card, keys, and front door handle every time I leave the house). Regrowing scallions is FREE, and a delightful reminder that days actually are passing, as they slowly inch taller and taller.

 

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I Made Robert Pattinson’s Chaotic Pasta From His Bewildering GQ Interview

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There’s a new issue of GQ in town today, and it’s weird as hell. The cover story features actor Robert Pattinson who agrees that “chaos agent” is an accurate summarization of the way he moves through the world. This rings true: Somehow, he managed to give an interview that resulted in a third of the story—1,414 of its 3,886 words—to be devoted to the cover boy’s bewildering relationship with pasta.

In the piece, Pattinson speaks of an aspiration to give pasta “the fast food credentials” that burgers and pizzas have, with the help of ingredients like sugar, pre-sliced cheese and cornflakes. From here, the whole convoluted pasta narrative takes on a life of its own. Reader, there is even a microwave explosion.

So, this morning Mallory asked me if I’d like to try making it myself. I said yes, by which I meant no, and headed for the kitchen. I chose to try Bobby P’s recipe for what he calls Piccolini Cuscino (Italian for “little pillow”) on an amuse-bouche scale, in case the recipe didn’t turn out like it was supposed to, leaving me with nothing but depleted resources to show for it.

Of all the reactive writing published in the quarantine age, I believe this profile of Pattinson will persist in the cultural memory and become singularly representative of the moment. The author describes Pattinson, and the rest of us, as “pinwheeling through space and anxiety and history.” Can you think of a better frame of mind for innovating a new approach to pasta? Anyway, here I go.

1. Selecting a Pasta Shape

Robert’s instructions: “There was one type of pasta that worked. It definitely wasn’t penne.” Then he adds penne.

Given the available options in my household (Banza elbows, fusilli, and pappardelle), I consider which would be best suited to be a “pasta which you can hold in your hand?” Something about the shape of the pappardelle distinguishes it against its contenders. Plus the bag’s already open. According to the time stamps, it is at this point in my process that The Cut had deemed Pattinson’s pasta “unholy.” I think about the credit under one of Pattinson’s thigh-baring GQ self-portraits that says, “Underwear, his own.”

2. Cooking The Pasta

Robert’s instructions: “All right,” Pattinson says. “So obviously, first things first, you gotta microwave the pasta.”

My parents don’t have a microwave—which honestly feels integral to this whole operation. Nearly defeated already, I cook it in hot water over the stove top, subbing in the cereal bowl for an eensy pot. If my interpretation of Pattinson’s recipe sounds familiar, it’s because it smacks of every comment you’ve ever read under the New York Times’ Cooking section.

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Exactly as prescribed @nytcooking (Roasted Cauliflower Soup) Thanks @_rubybelle !

A post shared by NYT Cooking Comments (@nytimescookingcomments) on Jan 20, 2020 at 10:37am PST

Eight minutes in the microwave sounds like a long time, but Pattinson insists! In case you, like I, were wondering, here are some other things you can allegedly microwave for eight minutes: corn on the cob, hard or soft-boiled eggs, bacon, cornbread, fudgy brownies. I am not wearing latex gloves, although Pattinson did. I’m not entirely sure what those were for—a rubbery note in the flavor profile after he’s massaged the pillow?

3. The Part with The Sugar and The Aluminum Foil

Robert’s instructions:  “He pulls out some sugar and some aluminum foil and makes a bed, a kind of hollowed-out sphere, with the foil…In the meantime, he takes the foil and he begins dumping sugar on top of it.”

Kind of hard to visualize this but I believe I’ve done what I’ve been told.

4.Add Cheese and Breadcrumbs

Robert’s instructions: “I found after a lot of experimentation that you really need to congeal everything in an enormous amount of sugar and cheese.” So after the sugar, he opens his first package of cheese and begins layering slice after slice onto the sugar-foil. Then more sugar: “It really needs a sugar crust.” Then he realizes that he’s forgotten the outer layer, which is supposed to be breadcrumbs but today will be crushed-up cornflakes, and so he lifts the pile of cheese and sugar and crumbles some cornflakes onto the aluminum foil before placing the sugar-cheese back on top of it.”

I investigate the refrigerator and find no evidence of pre-sliced cheese. I am not going outside for a Kraft Single. I also have no cornflakes. At this point, I wonder if there’s one hero product that can add the texture of the cornflakes and the tangy flavor of cheese. I open a drawer, and bingo: We still have cheddar Goldfish. I crush about five into the tinfoil “pillow.”

5.Sauce Man Sauce Man Sauce Man

Robert’s instructions: “Then he adds sauce, which is red.”

I’m not sure where the tomato sauce is and I don’t want to tell my parents what I’m doing, so I use ketchup instead. Robert said, “Just any sauce.”

I include the avocado for scale.

At this point, I strain the pasta and add the “pillow” to the mixture—now I’m off script, because at this stage in his process, Robert Pattinson’s microwave went the way of Britney Spears’s home gym. When I add the sauce to the pasta, I confront a disturbing sensation: It actually smells kind of good. It makes me wonder if Pattinson arrived at this recipe by researching what failed experiments led to the invention of Spaghetti-Os, or by reverse-engineering how Spaghetti-O’s are made. This step was not photogenic enough to include in the story without a black censorship tab.

6.Restaurant-Caliber Plating—Bon Apple Tea!

Here’s the thing: we don’t really know what it was supposed to look like. (As you may recall, Pattinson blew his microwave up in the midst of the interview.) At some point, I believe a flambéed hamburger bun was supposed to come into play. I don’t have a hamburger bun and furthermore refuse to eat a carb served atop another carb, but I gather that that’s what Pattinson intended. Ultimately, he flambéed his entire dish, so I skip that step.

I make sure to plate the final dish in a sexy way, tenderly draping one strip of pappardelle atop the other. I take a bite and there’s a sandy crunch that makes me momentarily worry that I’ve broken a tooth, only to realize that was just a textural cornerstone of the dish, the Goldfish gravel.

As I wash my plate, I conclude that this dish would be well-suited for the menu of a Catskills resort, where an elderly woman once said to her friend: “Boy, the food at this place is really terrible,” and her friend agreed: “Yeah, I know; and such small portions.”

I wonder where Robert Pattinson will next take his talents after Batman’s production resumes and wraps: as the lead man in a biopic of Jacques Pepin or Anthony Bourdain? In a live-action remake of Ratatouille? As an entrepreneur pitching Piccolini Cuscino on ABC’s Shark Tank? Each of these ideas feel just as plausible as the last.

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“How Can I Cancel Virtual Plans Last Minute?” And 8 Other Quarantine Etiquette Questions, Answered

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What’s vexing you these days? Is it a slow shopper impressing their fingerprints on every lemon at the grocery store? Or the mask that conceals your deeply felt facial reactions? Below, I grapple with some of your most pressing questions, in this next installment of our quarantine etiquette column.

How do I politely get someone to pick produce faster? This man at Trader Joe’s touched every lemon. —Speedy Sally

Imposing your own etiquette framework on any stranger these days is a gamble—and not necessarily one I’d encourage. My first suggestion is to find a way to maintain a well of patience during this time. A virtue, sure, but I think patience is actually a skill which can (eventually) bear fruit in all compartments of your life, and what better time to refine it than now? (Wait, is this an etiquette column or your horoscope?)

If you live in a place where interacting with strangers is commonplace, the most polite solution seems to be reframing this as an educational opportunity. Rather than asking someone to pick up the pace, can you teach someone your tricks for selecting ripe produce from six feet away? Here you can assume the role of kind stranger, even if your motive may be ulterior. Either the slow-shopper will be appreciative of your generosity of spirit, or they will look for the quickest way to exit this social interaction.

When it comes to shaking peoples’ hands and greetings in work environments, what will we be expected to do? —Handsy Harriet

The handshake has gone into retirement for the foreseeable future, and I can’t envision an elbow bump performed in a professional setting. (I know this is an unpopular opinion among my age group, but under typical etiquette circumstances, I am Team Handshake.) It is my opinion that a succinct, friendly wave will have to sub in for the meantime. Instinctively, most people will follow this with a self-conscious shrug that says, “I’m sorry I have to wave at you from six feet away.”

Can I eat my breakfast on Zoom meetings? —Hungry Hans

Sadly, no.

(And I do think you’ll enjoy it more if you eat it before!)

(Have you ever had Cracker Eggs?)

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Cracker Eggs. Don’t judge until you taste! Recipe on @food52 calls for Saltines. I used Triscuits. #f52community

A post shared by Amanda Hesser (@amandahesser) on Apr 29, 2020 at 12:34pm PDT

As a smiler, I’m feeling anxious about how to convey politeness through a mask. Especially when interacting with cashiers, I want to know the best way to let them know I am appreciative, without removing my mask. —Expressive Enid

My inclination is that we now have to use language and tone of voice to compensate for what is concealed when wearing a mask. This means being more vocal than usual, for some people, and practicing over-communicating until the correction feels like second nature. In the recent instances when I found wearing a mask to be a social roadblock, I found myself articulating things like, “I just smiled—sorry, I forgot you couldn’t see it,” when I realized I might be coming off as cold or unreceptive.

Adjusting your overall posture and body language are certainly valid ways to telegraph friendliness, but I find them more difficult to control than speech.

I’m finding I’m more extroverted than I ever realized and craving whatever social time I can get, but I worry about putting something extra on friends who aren’t feeling the same way and are finding it difficult to socialize right now. What do I do? —Gregarious Gloria

What a conscientious question! In this scenario, I recommend taking cues from a tennis pro, and feeding the ball into your friends’ courts. You can send them an open-ended invitation to talk (“I’d love to catch up whenever feels right for you!”). I feel pretty confident they’ll take you up on that offer, now or in three weeks. If you have enough of these tennis balls lobbed in the air at once, your social calendar will fill up in no time.

How do you maintain relationships with the people you normally saw via spur-of-the-moment, spontaneous interactions. Like how I keep up a bond with distant friends I’d occasionally run into on campus or at the mall?

—Spontaneous Siobhan

Send them a funny meme, out of the blue, every two months? Or maybe this tweet:

imagine trying to explain this video to someone 3 months ago pic.twitter.com/SWuoCkPcKK

— jodie (@jodieegrace) May 8, 2020

Marco Polo, Zoom, Discord, Houseparty…. At what point can you tell a friend, “I do not care if that’s your preferred method of communication in this crisis, I will not download another app onto my phone.” Help!?

—Overindexed Ophelia

I can commiserate. Next time someone asks you to join a new app, send them a menu of all the options you’ve already downloaded and ask them to pick one. That way, you don’t have a preferred method of communication—which would render this question hypocritical—and they can choose from a spread of options. To make this exchange more fun, you can tell your friend to close their eyes and pick one of your many already-downloaded apps at random.

How do I last-minute cancel virtual plans when everyone knows I have nowhere to be and nothing to do? —Flaky Farah

I think we, as a society, should avoid last-minute cancellations to the best of our abilities. As a fledgling etiquette columnist, I feel that I cannot in good faith suggest ways to politely cancel fast-approaching plans. Emily Post is always watching.

The last-minute cancellation should be reserved for only the most necessary situations: You were asked to work late on an urgent project, something at home went unexpectedly haywire and you’re in tears, you spontaneously fell in love with Julie Delpy on a train to Vienna, etc., etc. My suggestion here is to honestly consider your plans before you set them in stone, judging them against the criteria of how you anticipate you’ll feel when you hear the ping of the calendar notification 30 minutes before the start time. If you’re setting yourself up to cancel last minute—whether it’s because you’re not giving yourself enough of a time buffer or you just don’t want to attend another Zoom party—don’t commit to the plan in the first place.

Here’s an experiment: Instead of plotting out your virtual social calendar for a week, leave it empty with the intention of spontaneously calling a few of your friends when the mood strikes, and hoping they pick up. It’s like intuitive eating but for keeping in touch. Let me know how it goes!

I’ve been making dinner a lot lately for my cohabitants—at what point in the meal can I ask my diners what they think of their food? —Curious Candace

Every home cook has their own methodology when it comes to gleaning feedback on their food: Some treat the meal itself as a conversation starter at dinnertime, while others will either wait until a) the diners have either finished half of what’s on their plate or b) the people they’ve fed have steered the conversation in the direction of the dinner itself of their own volition. Not to coast on my responsibilities here, but my well-mannered reserves are running on empty, and I’m curious what you think? What’s the routine wherever you’re quarantined? What is the optimal point in the meal when Curious Candace can ask her diners what they think of her food?

Feature Photo via Everett Collection.

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Here’s How to Make Dippy, Jammy, Soft-Boiled Eggs

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Did you know that up until about four years ago I hated eggs? I thought they smelled like sulfur. The whites looked like the stuff that comes out of robot Ian Holm in Alien (sorry for that). A scramble made me gag, and an omelette was the world’s worst pancake.

And then, after seven months of living in a French attic apartment on 150 euros a month with only an electric stove as my companion, I realized I had no choice but to love eggs. They were cheap. They were protein-packed. They served as a solid vehicle for better things, like avocado, salsa, and most important please-do-not-text: cheese. I learned to love the sulfuric smell and the chalky richness of the yolk, so much so that I’ve dedicated the past five years to incorporating every style of egg into my wheelhouse, making eggs the coup de foudre on all of my half-brained bowls and plates. Oh how they are beloved.

One of the final frontiers of my eggspertise (don’t exit-browser for that one, I beg) was a soft-boiled egg. Or, a jammy egg, as my Virginian friends call them. The first time I had one was when said Virginian friends served them in a bed of cheesy grits, crowned with cilantro and hot peppers. That dippy egg looked like a little prince and tasted like heaven. I have since perfected the soft-boiled egg and am here to offer my trade secrets for a fraction of their price (free). You may take notes!

Equipment needed: standard-sized pot, slotted spoon, large bowl.

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Serving suggestions:

I have served my egglets in many ways. I actually believe there is no place you can’t put a soft-boiled egg, and anyone who disagrees is insulting my honor and will have to be challenged to a duel. I don’t make the rules!

Suggestion #1: The Tried & True

A piece of toast, crispy on the outside, fluffy on the inside. Mash half a ripe avocado with a fork until it looks like a little avocado sea. Nest the soft-boiled egg in the middle and gently cut in half with a knife, allowing the guts to spill out. Top with your choice of: Maldon flaky salt, Everything but the Bagel seasoning, red pepper flakes, furikake.

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Suggestion #2: The “I Miss New York”’

If you can get a fresh bagel, then get thee a fresh bagel. If not, toast a frozen bagel (SORRY) in a toaster until outside is hard but spongy, you know the deal. Layer it with cream cheese, dill, cucumber, smoked salmon, red onion and—you guessed it—the runny egg. Cut in half. A completely delicious mess.

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Suggestion #3: The “I’m European, Luv”

Toast soldiers, as they call them, is as integral to British cuisine as can be. It requires you getting a chic little egg cup, cracking the top off your hot egglet, and slicing toasted bread into little toast-fingers that you butter excessively and then dip into the yolk. Flaky salt is imperative here. Eat the white when you’re done if you’re a real one.

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Suggestion #4: The Niçoise Twist

Take big fronds of kale (can I even say that?) and de-stem them, massaging them into submission (can I say that? lol). Crisp up a big bunch of quartered fingerling potatoes in the oven with olive oil and salt, add a handful on top of the kale. Cut a bunch of cherry toms in half, add on top. Trim some green beans, boil them for 3 minutes, add on top. Use either oil-packed tuna or sear some tuna steaks and add them on top. Add a handful of kalamata olives. Make a dressing with oil, lemon juice, Dijon mustard, and a smidge of honey, plus a little je ne sais quoi. Mix it all up and experience heaven.

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Suggestion #5: Cheesy Grits ‘n’ Jammy Boys

Stealing this recipe from my Virginian friends, because Virginia Is for Lovers. Not for the faint of heart. Boil 3¼ cups of milk in a saucepan and add a half stick of butter and a cup of grits. Stir in an obscene amount of pepper jack or cheddar cheese. Really any cheese. Add diced jalapeno if you’re naughty. Sautée diced tomatoes, yellow onion, red bell peppers, and yellow bell peppers on a stovetop with chili flakes until stewy. Slap grits in a bowl, add the bell pepper mixture and a jammy egg, and transcend.

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How do you like to use your dippy/soft-boiled/jammy eggs? I’m looking for new ways to employ mine and require your help. Status has moved to urgent.

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In Which I Offer to Be Your Personal Shopper Today

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Leandra likes to say I shop for a living, and I kind of do: sometimes my job is to find best-ever basics (t-shirts, leggings, loafers) and other times the requests are more specific, like, “the best high-waisted trousers that don’t run too long and have notches in the front.” Most recently, I was asked to find: summer cardigans, fancy button-down pjs that “don’t cost $500 to look like Moira Rose from Schitt’s Creek,” short pajamas in a similar style, and an upgraded pair of sunglasses round/cat eye. And the hunting was pretty fruitful:

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Lately, as I find myself shopping less frequently and more thoughtfully than ever, and with considerable downtime to kill, I’ve been able to tick a few “white whale” items off of longterm shopping list. That’s been pretty satisfying. So now I’d like to extend that service to you: Tell me about something you’ve been trying to find in the comments, and I’ll find it for you. You can specify price points, materials, sizing—whatever you want, there is no request too specific. The personal shopping assistance will be free for you and a load of joy for me.

If you want a taste before you commit, see here for the answers I gave to some shopping questions posed on Twitter, or check out our shopping newsletter, which solves a specific dilemma every Tuesday.

At your service below, my friends.

Photos by Edith Young.

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I Heard It on MR Thoughtline: “Where Can I Find a Cloth Mask With Flair?”

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The necessity of wearing a mask when going outside has become part of our cultural reality—and thus, by default, it has become part of our sartorial reality, too. The best masks for civilians are those made from cloth (leave surgical masks and N95s to healthcare professionals and essential workers). And while the functional significance of any protective mask makes it much more than an object of style, there’s still room—and desire, we’ve found—to inject some personality into the equation. This was made clear during a recent conversation on MR Thoughtline, during which a subscriber asked: “Where can I find an effective cloth mask with flair?”

According to the CDC, an effective face mask should fit snugly but comfortably against the sides of your face, can be secured with ties or ear loops, includes multiple layers of fabric, allows for breathing without restriction, and can be laundered and machine dried with damaging or changing the shape. (Check out their website for tutorials on how to DIY a mask that conforms with these guidelines—they offer instructions for using a sewing machine, a T-shirt, or a bandana.) If you’d like to purchase a mask from a brand that is donating to charity–or from an independent Etsy seller making and shipping masks directly–see below for a rundown of efforts to give back, and scroll to the bottom for a curated, flair-centric shopping edit courtesy of our market strategist Elizabeth.

Man Repeller will be donating any affiliate revenue generated from this story to MasksOn.org, a non-profit working to mass-produce reusable, sanitizable Emergency Use face shields for clinicians who do not have access to FDA-cleared equipment.

Charitable Efforts

Reformation – Partnered with the city of Los Angeles and Mayor Eric Garcetti on LA Protects, an initiative to organize local manufacturers to make five million non-medical masks for essential workers.

Collina Strada – For each mask purchased, Collina Strada will provide five masks to healthcare workers in New York City.

Outdoor Voices – 100% of proceeds will benefit Direct Relief, a humanitarian aid organization.

Christine Alcalay – Making masks to donate to health professional across the United States.

Rowing Blazers – Donating one mask to the NYC Food Bank for every mask sold.

Clare V. – Donating non-medical-grade masks to frontline and essential workers.

Batsheva – 25% of proceeds go to NY Food Bank.

Misa – Partnered with L.A. Protects to produce non-medical grade masks for essential businesses and in limited quantities to the general public.

Nili Lotan – 100% of profit goes to NYU Langone.

String King – Donating both two-ply washable cloth face masks and three-ply disposable 3-layer face masks for free and at reduced cost.

Steele Canvas x Food52 – For every mask sold, Steele Canvas and Food52 will donate a second mask to medical facilities across the U.S.—or you can choose to buy two masks and together, and they’ll donate both.

LAMade – Over 22,000 masks donated.

Baggu – For every pack of masks sold, Baggu is donating a pack of surgical masks to healthcare workers through Masks4Medicine.

One for One: Brands Donating 1 Mask for Each Mask Ordered

Abacaxi

Lykke Wullf

LoveShackFancy

Araks

Hyer Goods

Casetify

Camp Collection

J. Papa

And now, masks arranged lovingly, by style…
Perfectly Patterned

With elastic backs…

Abacaxi


Safe Styles


Smokey Mountain Fabric


Lena By Hailey


Christine Alcalay


Sew Cute She Sparkle


Vicki of Vienna


VIVIT Handmade


Serendipity Des Studio


Pearian Bespoke


Social Masks


Mask My Face


Find Your Mask


Lykke Wullf


Rowing Blazers


LAMade


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With adjustable ties…

Clare V.


LoveShackFancy


Collina Strada


Micheles Primitives


Araks


Sweet Gia Boutique


Hyer Goods


Misa


Nili Lotan


Batsheva


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Solidly Satisfying

With elastic backs…

Crystal Rose Label


Castify


Tailored By Narine


Mini and Company


Los Angeles Apparel


Outdoor Voices


Lynet Designs


String King


J. Papa


LAMade


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With adjustable ties…

Reformation


Steele Canvas x Food52


Vida


RedStitchQuilts


Camp Collection


SuSuDesignStudio


LittleQTUTUS


Baggu


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If you know of any other brands or designers who are rising to the occasion by making or donating masks to those in need, please feel free to shout them out in the comments—we’d love to hear about it.

Feature Photos via Collina Strada.

The post I Heard It on MR Thoughtline: “Where Can I Find a Cloth Mask With Flair?” appeared first on Man Repeller.

Dispatch #009: Toward (But Never Back To) “Normal”

Exciting news: we’ve launched MR Think Tank, a digital braintrust we want you to be part of. We’re kicking it off with a survey that will help us get to know you better, so we can keep making stuff you love. In exchange, you’ll receive exclusive content and other fun things. Interested? Sign up by taking the survey.

I walked past my favorite coffee shop on Sunday. It’s been closed since the end of March and I can barely recall what it was like to go there. I used to go every morning, and if I didn’t, Abie would stop in on his way home from the gym around 7:30 a.m., and return with a 16 oz. latte. If ever he missed a morning, or I missed a morning, the shape of the day was incomplete. And here it’s been two months without that.

On Sunday, I tried really hard to remember what it was like going there—putting on a “coffee outfit” and then experiencing the simultaneous thrill of being dressed and the anticipatory buzz of imminent caffeination, and, for some reason, I recalled this one memory of sitting in the back of the shop, scrolling through my phone while picking my eyebrows and wearing an ivory cardigan with a doily collar and high-waist blue jeans.

While lost in this exercise, I experienced a new sensation where suddenly, life BC (before corona) wasn’t a memory the same way all the other ones were. It was a different entity. Almost like someone else had lived it. There was no through-line, stringing past experiences together with current reality, weaving it into the sweater called Me.

Have you felt this way at all? I mentioned it to Abie on Sunday and he seemed to know exactly what I meant. Now that I think about it, I bet this—the finite separation of time: before calamity, after calamity—is the way a lot of people feel after they have encountered a significant bout of grief. The loss of a parent, a partner, a child, any external piece of you, really. I guess I’m lucky because I have never experienced grief in this way. After a miscarriage, for example, I could recognize who I was before the loss and she was still connected to who I was after the loss.

But the reason any of this is noteworthy at all is because I’m not grieving. At least I don’t think I am. Am I?

I have known for at least the last three weeks to throw the term “back to” away when discussing the topic of “normal.” There will be no going back. Only toward, forward, to something… New? Different? I’m not really sure. And maybe the sudden red-sea-split of time is essentially an internalization of this acknowledgment. I guess the thing of it is, for as much as I navel-gaze and analyze and criticize and contemplate, for as much as I complained and could find the dark holes with as much ease as I could find a silver lining… I liked how a lot of things were—in my life, that is—before the pandemic. I wouldn’t mind going “back to,” instead of “toward.” Not all of it, but some of it. This is probably not a popular opinion to share on the internet, and it runs counter to the way I have recommended that we stop and think and sit still and discard the excess, the ways in which we have distracted ourselves from being able to see ourselves and finally, to confront the Big Bad Truth and do The Hard Work that is becoming our most righteous, highest selves.

But you know what? I have been doing that—while missing some things. And in the process, I’ve discovered a lot of new dirty laundry I’ll need to send out for dry cleaning (I’m just kidding, I will wash it myself. Delegating things I have to do, even though I can rarely delegate what I don’t have to do, is one of the garments that require washing), but I might be approaching a new stage of lockdown. And in this stage, I’m good. I’m tired of excavating even though it served me well for a while. I’m good. Or at least I’m harvesting what is good, thinking less about the things I want to change, the things I look forward to changing, and more about the things I had and knew and liked before the lockdown.

Like, for example, my work. The writing, the dressing, the partnerships, the team—all of it. And an excuse to put on something nice even when I don’t need to. I could always make the case. And my space! The world I get to have that is mine independent of my family. It adds dimension and perspective and endurance to the relationships between these walls. It also adds a bit of thrill: the extent to which I used to look forward to Saturday nights to get dressed, go out, and just talk to Abie. Damn, we had it good.

Have it good.

Time is different now. And maybe I am grieving how it was before because I know it won’t be the same. It can’t be. Even if I tried to restore the past, it’s not only too far removed from the present, but it’s also too foreign a concept. I guess it’s just that even though I liked it (dare I even say loved it), I’m not that sad.

I don’t know if it’s reductive to time this turning tide to the weather brightening up, but I’ll be damned if it doesn’t help to watch the sun saturate the planters full of tulips that line the streets of Greenwich Village. If sitting outside on grass and watching my kids collect branches and then rub them against the soil, cleverly turning sticks into pens with which to write on each other doesn’t remind me of a Kurt Vonnegut quote I find myself coming back to every time simple pleasures trump complicated thoughts: If this—the stand-alone satisfaction of sitting on the grass with my kids—isn’t nice, what is?

Graphics by Lorenza Centi.

The post Dispatch #009: Toward (But Never Back To) “Normal”  appeared first on Man Repeller.

Founders Discuss: “How Are You, Really?” With Tibi’s Amy Smilovic

Uncertain, unprecedented, unpredictable—words that have been used to describe the time we’re living through are words that founders are used to grappling with. And still, there is nothing normal about doing business right now, no matter what industry you work in. So, today, Leandra is kicking off a new series in which she calls upon some of the most creative thinkers she knows, to have honest conversations about the unique challenges entrepreneurs are facing and to find out more about the unique, bold, and inspired ways they’re meeting them. First up: Tibi founder, Amy Smilovic.

Leandra Medine Cohen: How are you doing?

Amy Smilovic, founder of Tibi: Every day is different, right? It’s so indescribable. And weird to have something where there is no expert who knows how to handle this. Officially, no one’s been through this shit.

LMC: It’s funny to hear that coming from you because you’re a founder—and I get the sense that most founders tend not to rely on experts.

AS: That’s probably true, but at least I’d like to hear from one so I can feel more confident in a decision I’m going to make anyway. But there’s no perfect [fashion ecommerce] company to follow in terms of best practices.

Officially, no one’s been through this shit.

LMC: I think sometimes we forget that we look to companies we admire as models for how we want to be, when ultimately, we all have a unique set of problems. It’s like trying to model your family after another person’s. Anyway, how are you feeling this week?

AS: I’m worried about the tidal wave of bankruptcies to come [for brands]. And I’m hoping that a lot of them can come back stronger, for the sake of smaller stores. Every worst case scenario that we could have dropped back in February is now being realized. That’s crazy.

LMC: Amy, I feel like you specifically have known that something is coming and it’s part of the reason that you started building an own-able platform with Tibi.com, and the reason you never took on funding, and started to pull out of department stores. You’ve been so vocal about the ways that the industry is broken. Do you feel like any of those insights are kicking into high gear?

AS: I’m just so glad that we stayed so small and operated by instinct. I think all of the things you’re saying, they weren’t prescribed on paper, it was just us operating by what felt right.

I’m glad we get to figure this out as a team without investors calling in, or department stores holding the keys to our fate. I mean, my God, I’m so thankful I didn’t do a runway show for the first time this February. It’s weird how sometimes you just know something is afoot.

LMC: What are some ways that you’re seeing your instincts pay off?

AS: When we were ordering spring inventory back in September, we (and this was for a sustainability reason) decided to go with zero excess inventory. And now I’m like, “Oh my gosh.” I mean, the one time that we sliced our inventory position was for the spring and now here we are in the middle of a pandemic. So that really did pay off. And then I think being small and nimble has let us rethink what Tibi looks like going forward. And I feel really good that.

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LMC: What does it look like? You sound very inspired!

AS: I am, because we don’t believe in big department store business. But I do believe there is big business to be had. So we are going double down on our global network of smaller specialty stores. Department store terms are tough for small businesses and as [the smaller brands] can no longer manage working with them, there’s a chance for specialty stores to get special again, with unique product that is not offered at every department store.

We’re really kicking away at this new way of selling where everyone who participates can win.

And then the other thing is that we’ve been trying to figure out our version of live selling for a long time — why doesn’t Home Shopping Network have a good, better, best model? Why is it the only segment of any industry that has no good, better, best?

For the first time we have an extremely captive audience that is our own network of amazing models, videographers, photographers, and incredible stylists who are all like, “We need a new way of doing business.” So I’m thinking, why aren’t we using our extended family to sell things, and instead of giving a department store half of that revenue, why wouldn’t I just give half to this community of people?

I think we’re really kicking away at this new way of selling where everyone who participates can win.

When I let go of half of our staff right after this pandemic hit—sewers, cutters, pattern makers, technicians, production people—I realized how many people did not have a safety net, and it scared the shit out of me. For years, I hadn’t been able to reward people financially the way I would want to because we were so compromised by having to do so many different things for so many different partners. Everyone had this different way of doing things and disrupting that came at a cost.

But it’s just crazy. It just really pissed me off the last few years that we weren’t able to really grow good employees because we were spread so thin. The new mantra is, like, keep the money in the extended family.

LMC: Does any part of it feel relieving?

AS: Yeah, it does. I had always been so proud, I was like, “We’re like a speed boat. If we want to take a sharp right, we can take a sharp right, we’re not a tanker.” But for the last couple of years, because people were spread very thin, you couldn’t go in and [change things] to move forward.

LMC: Do you have an idea of what the path forward looks like? I just came out of a leadership meeting, and the big topic of the day had to do with our office lease.

AS: Yeah. I mean, just since the pandemic, we’ve already racked up exorbitant bills in rent between the store and our office. So, that’s a fucking nightmare. And the store guy has been a total dick. But the office people are working with us.

If we move forward with this concept, then I see our office turning half into a studio-type space. And if the concept would work well, I could also see other brands coming in and using the space to sell their product. So I think you either have to pray that we can get out of spaces and downsize or take the space and really rethink its usage.

I mean, who knows, maybe the future is that we have some other designers working out of our space… there’s a lot of different options. What the pandemic has done for sure is it’s forced everyone to be a really creative thinker.

I think [when you’re on] a smaller team, everyone viscerally feels a problem.

LMC: Necessity is the mother of invention!

AS: Exactly. I was watching a documentary on Chiara [Ferragni], and I don’t know if you’ve seen it, but it reminded me of when you started out. They were saying she didn’t have this rock-solid business plan, so she just did everything by what was right for her. Whatever was best for her was going to lead the way. And I feel like that’s so much of what you did when you were starting Man Repeller.

It was just like, if it didn’t work for you, why would you do it? So you ended up creating something pretty perfect for the moment because it was ultimately fulfilling the needs that you had right then. And it turned out to be something incredible, new, and fabulous. So I think that if you think about the last 10 years, so much of the inventions have not been driven by a necessity.

LMC: Or even an honest desire!

AS: You see this ad and you’re like, “Have you always wanted socks to come in 30 different sizes? Well, we have your answer!” And I’m like, “I have never thought about a sock coming in 30 different sizes. You’re making this shit up now.” So I think that for a long time there was nothing disrupting the global needs.

LMC: It’s almost like we stopped operating based on primal instinct. All of a sudden it was like, “Well, this brand made this and so here’s a solution to the product they made. And then that product ‘solved’ this but here’s a solution for that.” And it just got so far from the core.

AS: I think with a smaller team, everyone viscerally feels a problem. No one’s coming at it from an intellectual standpoint.

Did you even think about the Met Gala? I don’t think bullshit fashion has any place in the future.

LMC: In the grand scheme of this pandemic and what we’re learning, how important do you think fashion will be? Do you ever worry about the future of your business because of the way in which the pandemic is revealing how much we don’t need?

AS: Did you even think about the Met Gala? I don’t think bullshit fashion has any place in the future, but I think, based just on my own incubator on Instagram, that people do still want to feel good about themselves and they still equate having style with feeling good. I think if you can help people discover how to feel better about themselves through style, there will always be a place for that.

LMC: Well, yeah, I mean that’s the difference, right? It’s fashion versus style. I’ve been cooking so much and as a result, have been drawing so many correlations between the necessity for food and clothes. And obviously they’re different. Because after we eat food, it goes away and we need more. We don’t need clothes to the same degree, but

AS: I get it. Because even with food, right? You could either eat beans all day or you could choose to make a really delicious, beautiful pasta. And so I still think many people prefer the beautiful pasta.

LMC: To be clear my perspective on style is that it’s as important as ever because our worlds have become physically so much smaller and clothes help us to develop narratives about all the different parts of us that we can’t expound upon anymore. But I do wonder about what people are shopping for.

AS: They’re buying what we discuss with them. Sales are happening online but no one is laughing to the bank. What is selling are these cargo nylon pants that we did. The lightweight cashmere sweaters have been strong. For sure any of the cozier stuff is doing really well. Shoes are like impossible to solve right now.

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Although I posted some fall penny loafers the other day and got a huge amount of pre-orders on them. People do seem to be optimistic about shoes next season.

LMC: Well, yes. They’re optimistic about their relationships with the concrete for the future. Right?

AS: Exactly. Half of the buyers though are people writing things like, “We just want to support you guys.” That’s one of the biggest things that I’m hearing from people, is that they just want to support people that they like. And that’s why I do think that boutiques have the potential to be big winners out of this.

LMC: What kinds of pivot strategies have you developed that are yielding good results? Do I sound like a tech startup founder?

AS: Well, [Styling Director] Dione Davis and I go live on Instagram every Friday, and we take three key pieces and style them with lots of other things in our closets. Things that aren’t ours as well, that we’ve both just had. So, that’s been really great. And then on Wednesdays, Elaine [Tibi’s CEO] and I do an Instagram business class for young designers and entrepreneurs.

People send me questions during the week: How do I calculate cost returns? Or what are my legal options if this department store is canceling an order? My factories are refusing to ship unless I pay. And so we answer all those questions every Wednesday. So that’s been great.

LMC: You’re calling it great because the engagement’s really high? What’s the, to sound like a tech start-up founder once more, “ROI”?

AS: The engagement is high, but I also think it’s nice to show your real personality and I find that even just regular customers are interested in the whole business of fashion. And people, it seems, are glad to see that companies would help other companies right now. I don’t know, people are a little more curious than before.

LMC: I’m now looking at the help us give back post that you put on Instagram on March 25th.

AS: That was my favorite thing we’ve ever done. Thanks for promoting it.

LMC: Well I sent you that screenshot of someone who received an outfit because of you.

AS: We sent out 1500 items and that made me realize how important it is for the employees too.They really get behind that kind of stuff. They needed right then for us to be doing something selfless.

LMC: What do you hope doesn’t change back after all of this?

AS: I mean [the international] fashion weeks for all their pros and cons—whatever people say about it—it’s this time where you get to escape your family and hang out with people who are speaking 20 different languages at one time and they’re all together.

Fashion week was so good in that respect. Especially for women. Men get their board meetings and summits and this was really great that way where you could have a table of women from 20 different countries eating and drinking and laughing, and you’re having a really good, rounded business conversation. You’re not just talking about skirt lengths. I want to get back to that.

LMC: What about for your own business? What do you hope doesn’t change back?

AS: I want all my specialty stores to stay solvent so that I can help them and they can help us. But our industry was on a lifeline at best. And so there’s not a whole lot that I want to stay the same. I’m really ready for the 3.0 version. 2.0 happened in the mid-00s. So I’d like it to be 3.0. Not a new look, but a new way.

Graphics by Lorenza Centi.

The post Founders Discuss: “How Are You, Really?” With Tibi’s Amy Smilovic appeared first on Man Repeller.

Chloë Sevigny’s Baby Is 6 Days Old and Already Cooler Than Me

Exciting news! We’ve launched MR Think Tank, a digital braintrust we want *you* to be part of. We’re kicking it off with a survey that will help us get to know you better, so we can keep making stuff you love. In exchange, you’ll receive exclusive content and other fun things. Interested? Sign up by taking the survey!

Finding out Chloë Sevigny was pregnant with her spaceman boyfriend, Sinisa Mačković, is maybe the best thing that’s happened in 2020. The second best thing that’s happened in 2020 was the actual birth of her son, Vanja Sevigny Mačković, on May 2. Here’s the full announcement, for the record:

View this post on Instagram

Welcome to the world Vanja Sevigny Mačković Born May 2nd New York City Thank you to all the staff at Mt. Sinai East for your bravery, perseverance and kindness, especially the nurses for being so gentle and patient. Blessings to all the other families giving birth during this time. #ilovemyboys