Leandra Medine's Blog, page 81

Milan Street Style Offered Some Very Good Ideas About Hats

My relationship with my khaki bucket hat has become one of discipline. It’s perched atop my belt ladder (it’s real if you name it), right next to my mirror, and my hand twitches for it every day. But I’ve reasoned I can only wear it only a couple times a week lest my reputation begin to meld with it, rendering me more of a “bucket hat person” than I feel I am. Because it’s not really the hat itself that I find so appealing (it’s cheap, a little small, features an unidentified brown stain), it’s the way it makes my outfits feel instantly more complete—not to mention more fun.

Hats do that. This is why I was unsurprised to find that as I clicked through the street style offerings of Milan Fashion Week, all my favorite outfits featured them: baseball hats, wool hats, bucket hats. As with my beige boy, it’s not really the hats themselves I was drawn to (although they are good). It’s the way they punctuate the outfits below, rendering what might otherwise be simple looks into something more memorable and communicative.

Take the styling of this blue baseball cap:

The outfit called to me for a bunch of reasons: The gray pleated slacks contrasted with a dainty knit tank; the unlikely crop of her brown cardigan, the shade of which plays nicely off the neon orange of her sunglasses; the simple gold chain knotted around her neck in conversation with the handle on her baby blue bucket back. But it was the cobalt blue baseball hat that made all of it feel special, and told me something about her in the process (that perhaps she’s a little more casual than her slacks might indicate, a little more boyish than her neckline would have me believe). It’s the hat that made me consider the art of everything she paired it with.

[image error]
Turn on your JavaScript to view content


Or what about this wool riding number?

As a self-proclaimed champion and protector of the dignity of Granny Smith apples, I’m surprised to say this woman’s crochet bag of them was the last thing I noticed in this photo (although I do have questions). The first thing was the oversized alpaca sweater, and then it was the two-tone skirt mingling with the knee-high boots—all appealing in their (luxe) simplicity. But had it not been for the rust wool riding hat, I’d have never noticed the textural harmony of the outfit, which is ultimately what made me want to bookmark it. It also made me think she’s (physically, emotionally) soft, a quality I’d like to transmit myself. Also, vis-a-vis the fruit, I strive to be as benevolent.

[image error]
Turn on your JavaScript to view content


But this (nylon?) bucket hat is almost an outfit unto itself.

I’ll admit the first thing I clocked here was the tie-dye shirt layered under the princess-sleeved cardigan (a surprising choice). The oversize denim shorts are good too; I especially appreciate the rare finished hem. But what would this outfit be, truly, without the bucket, tucked neatly over her ears and forehead like a protective shield against unwanted thoughts? It’s the perfect outfit topper in that it underlines the self-possession her other choices hinted at. I don’t even need to see her shoes to know who she wanted to be on this day (dressed down but buttoned-up, moody but in a fun way).

[image error]
Turn on your JavaScript to view content

I think I’m drawn to hats because they offer a period at the end of the sentence my clothes are trying to write—one that other accessories like jewelry, belts, and bags rarely manage to do for me in the same way, either because they feel too feminine for my taste or too stylized for my laidback inclinations. Hats, meanwhile, are simple: one piece of gender-neutral fabric, one stylistic reference, one punctuation mark.

There are other interesting lessons to be gleaned from our Milan Fashion Week street style photos (like the power of a voluminous beige dress worn with simple brown sandals), so click through below if you’re in the mood to bookmark, too.

57 PHOTOS
click for more

Photos by Matthew Sperzel.

The post Milan Street Style Offered Some Very Good Ideas About Hats appeared first on Man Repeller.

The 4 Personal Blogs I Still Keep Up With in 2019

In the glory days that were 2011, I read more personal blogs than I could keep track of in my feeble human skull, which is why I was a devotee of Google Reader (RIP), the now-defunct RSS feed aggregator. I would eagerly visit my feed every morning before school, opening new blog posts in tabs on my laptop–a bounty of outfit ideas, recipes I wanted to try, and 3,000-word birth stories.

However, just like Google Reader, the heyday of personal blogging seems to have come and gone, at least in the sense that the original players in the game have either stopped blogging entirely (many instead opting to organically ride the Instagram influencer train) or morphed into something different. Furthermore, the blogging space is so saturated now that it’s essentially impossible for any new contributors to stand out and take hold in the same way they once could. That’s why the personal blogs that still exist–and still maintain a steady enough stream of compelling content to keep me coming back–feel like special treasures in the digital abyss.

Only a few fall into this category for me, and, perhaps surprisingly, none of them are fashion-related. I think that’s partly because most of the personal fashion bloggers whose blog posts I consumed rabidly once upon a time, like Susie Lau and Nicole Warne, have pivoted to full-time influencing, a pursuit that doesn’t always lend itself to fleshing out the emotional connection between ourselves and our clothes in the same way blog posts did. Others, like Tavi Gevinson and Leandra Medine (hi!), continued to explore this connection but on a larger scale with Rookie and Man Repeller, evolving beyond what I think of as a traditional “personal blog.”

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by LaTonya (@latonyayvette) on Aug 18, 2019 at 10:51am PDT

The traditional personal blogs I still follow can be classified as either lifestyle or health-adjacent. In the former category are Cup of Jo and Latonya Yvette, who (in addition to intermittent posts from other contributors) keep their blogs up-to-date with highly personal dispatches about everything from milestone birthdays to dealing with anxiety. They also both post their favorite links from around the internet on Fridays, a time-honored personal blog franchise.

In the latter category are Apples Under My Bed and The Real Life RD, which are both run by registered dietitians. I discovered them years ago when I was at a low point in my relationship with food/body image and desperate for rational voices in the world of health and intuitive eating. Heidi, the dietician behind Apples Under My Bed, has tapered off on blog posting since having children, but whenever she does write something I’m always comforted by her perspective. Robyn, a.k.a. The Real Life RD, remains one of my favorite resources for questions related to nutrition and women’s health, but I also genuinely look forward to updates about her life. Perhaps this is why both of these sites and the women who run them stand out to me: I’m interested in what they have to say, but I also just want to hang out with them.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Robyn Nohling, FNP, RD, MSN (@thereallife_rd) on Sep 2, 2019 at 4:40am PDT

Damn. Writing this made me nostalgic. When did personal blogs become such a relic of the past? And what am I hanging on to with these final few? Do you still care about personal blogs? Which ones do you read?

Graphic by Madeline Montoya.

The post The 4 Personal Blogs I Still Keep Up With in 2019 appeared first on Man Repeller.

What Prada and Bottega Veneta’s New Collections Say About the Current Fashion Mood

Whether you attribute the recent shift in fashion to our political climate, social media peacocking backlash, or Saturn’s stint in Capricorn, there is no doubt about it: essentialism is in the air. The urge to streamline, to simplify, to strip things down to only their most necessary parts, is palpable. This movement has been particularly interesting to observe during fashion month, wherein brands must juggle the “less is more” mentality with the underlying intent behind designing and producing clothes in the first place: to sell a lot of them.

It’s a delicate balance between catering to consumer desires without sacrificing brand identity and the constant battle for commercial growth. It’s particularly delicate when consumers are hungry to pare back. Prada and Bottega Veneta, who showed their Spring/Summer 2020 shows in Milan this week, walked that tightrope in markedly different ways.

Prada Spring/Summer 2020

“In this moment where everything is excess–too much fashion, too many clothes–I tried to work it so the person is most important,” Miuccia Prada told the press as context for her new collection. The opening look was by far the most obvious example of this effort: a whisper-thin long-sleeved gray polo sweater buttoned all the way to the top, tucked into a similarly sheer gauzy white skirt, a blank canvas upon which the woman wearing it might imprint herself and her personal style. Blank, but not boring–it would be a mistake to confuse Prada’s simplicity with lack of intention. Every detail is infused with purpose, particularly the ones that make you think who’s that? instead of where is that skirt from?

Bottega Veneta Spring/Summer 2020

The skirt, while identifiable on the runway, would never scream “Prada!” if you saw it on the street, which was conceivably the point. Some pieces were more indicative of the brand’s more maximal proclivities, like a bright orange coat embellished with beaded turquoise leaves and lucite buttons, but by and large, and particularly relative to the neon and tie-dye and puffy headbands of recent Prada seasons, this collection was remarkably straightforward. The colors were solid, for the most part, and dark–especially for a spring collection, the silhouettes were tailored, and the details were uncharacteristically restrained. (“I can’t imagine what could have been simpler, short of nudity,” Tim Blanks wrote in his Business of Fashion review).

Even so, simplicity as imagined by Miuccia Prada bears a notable contrast to the equivalent from Bottega Veneta’s creative director Daniel Lee. At his show on Thursday, the only actual item of clothing in the opening look was a one-shouldered black dress with nary a detail to set it apart from the infinite number of other one-shouldered black dresses that exist in the world. The look’s distinguishing factors had nothing to do with the dress itself and everything to do with the two accessories that accompanied it: an enormous butter-yellow crossbody tote, and white high-heel mules that bore a resemblance to whipped meringue, both eye-catching without logos or extraneous hardware.

Bottega Veneta Spring/Summer 2020

The majority of clothes in the new collection served as backdrops for the accessories; even the occasional orange or blue sequin dresses seemed to be designed with moderation in mind. Such is Lee’s impressive approach to streamlined fashion: exercising restraint in order to highlight accessories that are a rare combination of simple and Instagrammable, destined to become “it” items from the moment they appear on the runway. In this sense, even though Bottega Veneta is a paragon of the industry’s current pared-back aesthetic obsession, it is still inherently trendy, proof that manufacturing trends and striving for simplicity are not necessarily mutually exclusive endeavors. It also presents an interesting contrast to Prada’s version of simplicity, one that lacks trendiness but retains a firm grip on relevancy regardless.

Bottega Veneta and Prada’s new collections are two distinctive sides of the same streamlined coin, the former brimming with downtown edge and zeitgeist and the latter an ode to the strategic flourishes employed by uptown eccentrics. Each designer caters to different women with different style sensibilities, but their latest offerings are proof that their motives are aligned—to cultivate simplicity without sacrificing delight.

Feature Photo via Getty Images, Photos via Vogue Runway. 

The post What Prada and Bottega Veneta’s New Collections Say About the Current Fashion Mood appeared first on Man Repeller.

Presenting: The Man Repeller Emmy Awards for Personal Style

The 71st Primetime Emmy Awards are taking place this Sunday, September 22nd, which is an excellent excuse to start making winner predictions based on the nominees. To honor this auspicious and long-cherished tradition, Man Repeller assembled a formal committee of editors to, instead of making predictions, invent fictitious awards of our own, focused on what is sure to become known as the most hotly contested category: personal style.

After getting a required minimum of 8.5 hours sleep and eating a hearty breakfast with physician-approved protein/carb/fat ratios, the committee members gathered in a conference room to dig into which television characters deserved to be recognized for their sartorial accomplishments. For the sake of efficiency, we only took one break (to run wind sprints up and down the office corridors), and only consumed Soylent for the remainder of our meals.

At the end of the day, after much throat-clearing, back-clapping, head-nodding, and debating over the fine differences between terminology such as “jumpsuit” and “romper,” we reached our final prognosis. Scroll down for Man Repeller’s 2019 Emmys Personal Style Awards, and don’t be shy about adding any we may have overlooked in the comments.

The Outfit Heard Round the World Award

Winner: Fleabag, Fleabag

It’s a bold move to wear an immensely flattering and devilishly sexy black jumpsuit with a neckline that plunges down to your navel whilst dining with your father, your stepmother, and their priest, but it is perhaps an even bolder move to wear one that retails for $50 IRL, thus prompting a stampede of show watchers to descend upon it in droves. Props to Phoebe Waller-Bridge, a.k.a. Fleabag, for doing so with utmost grace. We’re very curious to know if sales for double-stick tape spiked in tandem with this phenomenon. 

The Bridget Jones Award for Devastatingly Memorable Heartbreak Attire

Winner: Lady Brienne of Tarth, Game of Thrones

As ardent fans of Game of Thrones and Brienne of Tarth, we were RATTLED to see her character do a [SPOILER] complete 180 in temperament and have an absolute meltdown in the middle of the night when her lover, Jamie, decides to ditch her for his evil sister. The only redeeming factor was her magnificent housecoat, which looked resplendent even as she sobbed. We know firsthand that not every outfit holds up well during a full-body cry, so it was reassuring to witness this small win for Brienne. 

Most Consistently Inappropriate for the Occasion

Winner: Moira, Schitt’s Creek

Who but the queen of wigs, pajama vests, and errand gowns living in a rural podunk town could be deserving of such an award? Moira’s style, which consists mostly of monochrome cocktail and black-tie attire on the structural-beaded spectrum, plus a dash of inexplicable punk-rock, has gotten increasingly out of control over the course of the Schitt’s Creek series, becoming a form of scene-setting unto itself. There is little on television that inspires as much genuine joy as seeing Moira arrive at a Schitt’s Creek town hall meeting in a dark wig and floor-length red carpet look. The progression of her wardrobe over the series ought to go down in history as one of the most expertly executed in television.

Most Promising Newcomer (Genetically-Blessed) 

Winner: Blue Ivy Carter, Homecoming

Fashion may be about clothes, but style is about something else entirely. Those who have style can light up a room in an outfit that would go unnoticed on almost anyone else. Someone with style can stand out against a group of highly trained dancers at the top of their craft. Like Gwyneth, Tracee, and Zoe before her, only someone with true style can stand next to their mother—an icon, a goddess in her own time—and hold their own. Blue Ivy has proven that she is one such person, who has such style. We look forward to seeing what the dancer/chanteuse/creative director has in store for us in the  years to come. 

Preemptive Red Carpet Dominance Award

Winner: Billy Porter, Pose

We have no advance knowledge of what Billy Porter, nominated for his role as Pray Tell on Pose, will be wearing on the red carpet this Sunday, and we need no advance knowledge, because we know what Billy Porter has worn on every other red carpet leading up to this Sunday. That, everyone with eyes as big as their hearts will agree, is grounds for this award. Congratulations, Billy, stan you later. 

The Professor George Falconer Award for Excellence in Professorial Daddy-ness

Winner: Three-way tie between Abe Weissman, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel; Professor Valery Legasov, Chernobyl; and Commander Joseph Lawrence, The Handmaid’s Tale

Due to the overwhelming talent in the field this season, this award is shared between three Daddies who did their utmost on screen to steal hearts. First, let’s acknowledge Tony Shalhoub as the indomitable (but ultimately domitable) Abraham “Abe” Weissman in The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, whose hard-as-nails heart turned to butter this season. All eyes were on Shalhoub’s three-piece suits, tweed blazers, and infamously tight walking shorts he sported on vacation.

Secondly, we must address the overwhelming accomplishment in the genre from Jared Harris, star of the dramatic masterpiece Chernobyl. Even as widespread radioactivity created unparalleled levels of angst in Russia and Ukraine, Harris’s character, Professor Valery Legasov, did not spare us one single moment of coke bottle lenses, suspenders, loosened tie, dull Soviet suiting, and generally heroic behavior.

As for Bradley Whitford, what is there to say about him that hasn’t already been said by science? In the most recent season of The Handmaid’s Tale, he was a beacon in the dark of the darkest show, offering up some professorial style of the most reserved and constricted. Jury’s out on his moral code.

The Groundhog’s Day Award for Best Repeat Outfit

Winner: Maxine, Russian Doll

Throughout the entire first season of Russian Doll, Nadia’s best friend Maxine wears the exact same outfit: an aqua-blue top with long, sheer billowing sleeves, what appears to be a crochet metallic halter layered over it, teal spandex patterned pants, a pair of orange leather slides, several necklaces including a long gold chain and a black choker, and perhaps most memorably, squiggly blue eyeliner sketched artfully across her eyelids. It positively never gets old, unlike even the sweetest birthday baby.

The Wooden Spoon: The Stanley Tucci Sauce Man Award

Winner: Randall Pearson, This Is Us

As Nora so aptly put it, “a Sauce Man is a person of any gender who gives off the aura of feeding you marinara on a wooden spoon, gently blowing on the sauce to make sure it is not too hot, seeking both your approval and admiration in their slow simmering labor.” Who embodies this (life)style with more tender charisma than Sterling K. Brown’s Randall of This Is Us, in his cashmere sweaters, camel overcoats, overzealous Thanksgivings, and deep admiration for his wife, Beth? It should be noted that Randall is flawed and occasionally strays from his sauce man ways, but the style with which he behaves himself otherwise makes him worthy of this award.

Award for the Most Intimidating—Borderline Murderous—Use of Menswear

Winner: Villanelle, Killing Eve

Villanelle, everyone favorite assassin (sorry, Barry Block), always looks good. Even covered in blood, even escaping a hospital in a young boy’s pajamas, even dressed as a cartoon pig—but she looks especially good when she’s following Eve’s husband, Niko, all the way to Oxford, just so she can brag about the fact his wife stabbed her while they were in bed together. This is a big moment for Villanelle, as she comes face to face with the man who’s life she’s been trying to subtly ruin from a distance, and she dresses for the occasion. Ready to have a “man to man” with Niko, while not-so-subtly trying to fit in with the Oxford aesthetic, she dressed in a vintage sweater and button-down shirt, patterned tie, leather belt, and pair of camel Raey trousers that are comparable to no trousers I’ve seen before. The sweater is precisely pinned around her shoulders, barely shifting when Niko pushes her against a wall, as though she’d placed an extra safety pin somewhere in the fold for added security. For a scene that features the lines “You look like someone stuck a mustache on some fudge” and “Smell you later!” it’s almost surprising that this outfit is this memorable.

Most Accidentally On-Trend Outfit

Winner: Selina Meyer, Veep

Presidential candidate Selina Meyer is known for her spiffy sheath dresses and artfully tailored pant suits, which is why it was both notable and amusing to see her decked out in very on-the-nose Western garb (a peplum denim jacket with a turquoise-accented silver statement belt) in an attempt to win over a donor in Colorado. Given the fashion industry’s recent foray into hallmarks of Western fashion such as cowboy boots and prairie dresses, Selina deserves credit for her accidental and very off-brand trendiness. 

Outstanding Performance by an Undergarment

Winner: The thong from Pen15

How old were you when “The Thong Song” came out? If you are of average Man Repeller reading age, you were probably in middle or high school. Therefore, you likely had the same visceral reaction watching the thong episode of Pen15, during which we were all snapped—like a cheap strap of polyester and spandex—back to a time when you became aware of such a garment. Desired to wear one. To look damn good in one. To feel the hot, hot heat of stealing one belonging to a bitchy frenemy. Truly in awe of this incredible meditation on nostalgia, jealousy, and sexual awakening from such a flimsy piece of fabric.

The Fran Lebowitz Lifetime of Sartorial Consistency Award for Distinguished Sameness in One’s Wardrobe Across a Notable Span of Time 

Winner: Guy Fieri, Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives 

Guy Ramsay Fieri needs no introduction. At this point the mere mention of his name conjures up images of what… a flowing bowling shirt bedecked with flames? Sunglasses balanced delicately on the back of his head? A jovial face set off by a head of metallic spikes? His look is singular, recognizable, and consistent. Guy Fieri makes his own rules yes, but he sticks to them with a discipline few could master. 

Best Reminder You Can Love Someone’s Outfits While Hating Their Decisions

Winner: Shiv Roy, Succession 

As Edith Young so thoughtfully put it in her recently published ode to the style of Succession: “Shiv Roy is television’s heroine of the office-appropriate capsule wardrobe.” Away from the office, Shiv layers like a seasoned professional by mixing autumnal tones and textures, occasionally adding a baseball cap as the cherry on top. When she’s in the office, wide-legged pants, tailored blazers, and just-interesting-enough blouses are key. Shiv’s moral compass may be questionable, but her fall-dressing skills cannot be underestimated. 

The RuPaul Andre Charles Award for Achievement in ELEGANZA

Winner: Yvie Oddly

Season 11 of RuPaul’s Drag Race delivered metric tons of eleganza, but the clear fashion queen reigning triumphant from the season was Yvie Oddly. The bizarro season 11 winner, who says she’s inspired constantly by the “weird” in fashion and the likes of Alexander McQueen, was obviously the fashion queen du saison. Oddly served us looks from from full Jelly Fringe Couture (an actual giant jellyfish look, but fashion) to a Met Gala-worthy gown look that, upon closer inspection, she made replete with three fingers, three breasts, and three eyes. Certainly an oddball, but always eleganza.

WHAT DID WE MISS?

Photos via Everett Collection.

The post Presenting: The Man Repeller Emmy Awards for Personal Style appeared first on Man Repeller.

“Renaissancecore” Is Coming for Your Wardrobe

There’s clearly something in the water when an Instagram posted in 2019 could easily pass as a portrait of Anne Boleyn. Or when a magazine editorial looks like a scene from The Crucible. Or when your Soho barista has paired her oyster silk blouse with pearl drop earrings and a padded velvet headband. Indeed, renaissancecore–the only logical name for this phenomenon–has thoroughly descended upon the zeitgeist.

Certain brands, such as Simone Rocha, Brock, Markarian, and most recently Khaite, have been promoting this aesthetic for multiple seasons now, their collections an ode to all things brocade, velvet, cinched, and pearl-encrusted. But it was arguably Prada’s Spring/Summer 2019 show, wherein headbands so regal and puffy they could conceivably cushion a sore neck on an airplane abounded, that spread it on social media like wildfire. A number of contributing variables helped fan the flames: The fashion industry’s answer to the waning prairie dress trend, i.e. cotton frocks reminiscent of 16th-century peasant attire from brand like Dôen and Reformation (not to mention a consumer base that has been thoroughly acclimated to costume-adjacent daywear). The increasing popularity of positively Shakespearean blouses with billowing sleeves, rendered in casual form by Instagram-savvy brands like MaisonCléo, but also notably appearing in more fanciful iterations on Christopher Kane and Roksanda’s Fall/Winter 2019 runways. And finally, a burgeoning interest in corsetry-inspired belts, tops, and even skirts, thanks to cutting-edge brands like Orseund Iris and Kim Shui.

[image error]
Turn on your JavaScript to view content

This simultaneous deluge is cause to consider our present culture’s collective obsession with using clothes to carry us back into the past. Renaissancecore is undoubtedly the most extreme example that we’ve witnessed thus far—transporting us centuries as opposed to decades. But unlike 90s-era chokers and slip dresses or 70s-esque flares, renaissancecore trends are not the stuff of nostalgia, memorialized in throwback photos of ourselves and our parents or grandparents. Instead, they are fragments pulled from history itself, from text books and fairytales and artistic masterpieces, from an era so removed from our own it feels strangely… fresh, at least from a modern style standpoint.

I recently attended an informal work dinner that looked like a Rembrandt painting come to life. Essentially every other seat was occupied by someone sporting their interpretation of renaissancecore, from waist-y tops with hook and eye closures done up the front to dark floral skirts and earrings that looked like relics from an Elizabethan exhibit at the Natural History Museum. Though this aesthetic movement is hardly the first time Renaissance fashion has influenced more contemporary sensibilities, I would posit that it represents the most literal manifestation yet.

A style trend or movement rarely takes off in the digital era unless it can be compressed into a neatly packaged form. Unless it can be recognized and named, by headlines and on Instagram. Such is the power of renaissancecore’s growing appeal. With its innately exaggerated air, its sky-high headbands and impossible-to-ignore sleeves, Renaissance-era fashion was seemingly made for social media. The very definition of “before its time.”

8 PHOTOS
click for more

Photographer: Sabrina Santiago

Stylist: Harling Ross

Market: Elizabeth Tamkin

Model: Isabella Enrico

Makeup: Olivia Barad

Set Design: Andrea Parra

Set Design Assistants: Janai Rodriguez and Shelly Alvarez

Stylist Assistant: Share C Koech

The post “Renaissancecore” Is Coming for Your Wardrobe appeared first on Man Repeller.

What Happens When You Grow Up Twice?

A few weeks ago, over breakfast with a new friend, I discovered the joy of feeling “regular.” It was one of the hottest days of the summer, and after we exchanged niceties and apologized for sweating and reassured each other that we didn’t look as sweaty as we felt, we quickly fell into a discussion about our shared fear of falling behind.

We’re both in industries (media, entertainment) where people younger than us achieve dizzying notoriety—sometimes seemingly out of nowhere. And while most of the time we feel successful (we are successful), it’s hard not to feel, couched between wunderkinds, like we’re missing a certain arithmetic others located easily. Saying these things out loud always helps. And it can feel especially rapturous, in the company of a new friend, to share an insecurity only to find they feel largely the same way, are talking themselves off the very same ledge. We worked ourselves into a bit of a tizzy, sharing in perceived slights, railing against the establishment, knocking over a stray spoon.

“But,” I said, realizing I needed to calm the fuck down, “life’s better than before.”

“Much better,” she said. “Now we’re just regular people.”

Regular. What does it mean to feel regular? This friend and I both came to our current careers “late,” starting over in our late 20s after building different, more stable lives. Lives we didn’t really want. And now that we’re here, our problems are just… problems. Not bone-deep anxiety, not existential spirals, not immobilizing panic. We want more money, we want to succeed, we worry if we should move or network more or try to develop a bigger Twitter following (I recognize this is not, like, a normal career concern, but you get it). It is in these moments that I try to remind myself that it’s actually kind of nice to deal with smaller, ever-shifting bits of dread, rather than carry around the weight of living the incorrect life.

My days were so easy, so charmed, but it only made me feel ungrateful for feeling unhappy.

I know that weight well. In my early twenties, I played it safe. I took creative-adjacent jobs that seemed stable enough and told myself I was happy. I got a competitive apprenticeship after college and never looked back. When it became clear that something wasn’t quite right, that my life didn’t totally fit me, I blamed it on money stress, so I picked up an extra retail job. Then I blamed it on the wrong set of friends, so I made new ones. Then I told myself it was just growing pains, until finally I blamed all my problems on location and moved to the Pacific Northwest with no job, no plans, and one friend.

Many told me it was brave. My mother told me I was crazy, then cried at the airport and told me I was brave. But deep down, I knew I was running, and when I woke up six months later to the same me and the same problems, I had to make a decision: Go after what I wanted, start small, start now, and figure it out, or give up on the things I secretly believed about myself. Instead, I created a third option: I drank. And kissed people on street corners and in cars I probably shouldn’t have gotten into. I turned attention into validation and collected compliments to keep out the chilling thought that I was wasting my life. My days were so easy, so charmed, but it only made me feel ungrateful for feeling unhappy. It felt like I was growing around myself, collecting milestones and making choices, a life growing fuzzy around the pit of who I was.

My apartment was shitty, I was broke, classes were disappointing and hard, but when I stumbled into my first media job, I finally felt like myself.

Eventually I made another career change, moving back to the midwest under the misguided hope that one more big and bold move would cure my wanderlust, but as I lay in bed one night, months later, it occurred to me that I felt like a fire burning down in a hearth, the logs collapsing in on themselves as the embers glowed slightly. Normally I would have chastised myself for such a dramatic metaphor, but it was finally the image I needed to propel me forward. I was suffocating under the weight of my own choices, and I needed to propel myself toward something, rather than away from everything.

So I did it. I mean, I did it in about as safe a way as you could: grad school. And it felt like drawing a straight line between myself and what I wanted for the very first time. When I landed in New York, everything clicked. My apartment was shitty, I was broke, classes were disappointing and hard, but when I stumbled into my first media job, I finally felt like myself. Everything that didn’t go right hurt in a sharp new way, but the drive to get back up and keep moving felt new and foreign: I had tapped into a sense of resilience I didn’t know I had. I was doing it. I did it. I was building something. All of a sudden that core, that pit in the center of all my empty actions, was expanding.

I’ve never wanted one thing. Or maybe I’ve never wanted one thing for long enough to pursue it in a clear-eyed way, which I’ve used as an excuse to hide. I was always fairly ambitious and fairly successful, but that drive felt empty because I was going after the soft edges of what I always wanted, not the thing I actually wanted.

“You’re right. It’s nice to feel regular,” I replied to my friend.

I’m still learning how to be a normal person. What do I do with all this energy that isn’t spent feeling like jumping out of my own skin? How do I move forward now that things I actually want are, holy shit, kind of in my grasp? How do I do all of this at a time when my friends are buying houses and having babies and that little voice rises up to tell me I’m foolish, I’m an old embarrassment, threatening to stop me in my tracks? How do I grapple with finally feeling at ease with myself when the world feels like it is falling apart? Now that I’m here, how do I turn around and give back?

Growing up the second time, where my desires and my life are layered on top of each other and not on parallel tracks, has been a thrilling type of puberty. I am finally free to live my life instead of observe it. How nice it is to revel in the mundane. To sit with a friend over coffee and pause to be thankful for where we are, for the life we live.

Feature Illustration by Mia Christopher.

The post What Happens When You Grow Up Twice? appeared first on Man Repeller.

A Mid-Fashion-Month Meditation on Why I Still Love Getting Dressed

The first time I witnessed an act of rebellion against the stagnancy of everyday life, I was 14 years old. I was sitting on my grandparents’ patio when my grandmother handed me a review of the Chanel Fall/Winter 2008 Haute Couture show, which she had cut out for me from the German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine. She knew I was interested in clothes; I had practically spent my entire childhood playing dress-up, I loved to walk into her closet and try on her old fur coats and printed silk scarves, and I always had a very specific idea of what I wanted to wear. I was, however, not really aware of fashion—the designers, the photography, the magazines. I had never heard of style.com, and I definitely had never been to a fashion show. I lived on the outskirts of Hamburg and shopped at H&M and didn’t know who Margiela was. It was a boring life.

My sister and I, 12 years ago, after rummaging through grandma’s closet.

But then I saw this newspaper review—a full page—with a photo from the Chanel show at the Grand Palais in Paris. A group of huge, silvery steel pipes had been erected in the middle of a circular runway, and the perfectly coiffed, smokey-eyed model that walked around them wore a long, gray dress with tiny fabric tubes artfully draped around her shoulders and bust. It seemed clear to me that I would never get close to an event like this, or a dress like that, but that’s not what fascinated me so much about it. If my teenage years felt like waiting for a bus that never came, as Morrissey once famously put it, this show represented the exact opposite: the promise of a new beginning, a new life waiting somewhere, some…when. For anyone who wanted it.

Grandma’s closet: Look 2.

From then on, fashion became my obsession. I asked for coffee table books about famous designers and fashion illustrators for my birthday. I watched Breakfast at Tiffany’s and “designed” an entire collection based on Holly Golightly’s style on paper. I asked for a sewing machine. I asked for a Glamour subscription. I stole my very first Vogue from the dentist’s waiting room—I remember there was a big haute couture report in that issue, and while marveling at the shiny pictures of Christian Lacroix’s lavishly embroidered babydoll dresses and John Galliano for Dior’s candy-colored silk ruffles, I felt the singular peace of mind that comes with finding your place in the world.

My love for fashion grew out of a longing for the new and unknown. And every time this longing was satisfied a little bit, it felt as if I had just opened a door to a glistening new world: When I skipped literature classes in college to report on Berlin Fashion Week for Vogue.de (my first gig in the journalism world). When I was sent to Paris Fashion Week as a newspaper intern because the fashion editor didn’t have time to go herself. When I was hired by this exact newspaper as their new junior fashion editor. When I sat at the Valentino haute couture show in Paris in July of this year, still unbelieving that greenhorn me (I’m 25 now) was allowed to experience something of such otherworldly beauty in real life and time. But also when I watched this season’s Marc Jacobs show on my computer in Berlin, giddy with excitement at the sight of SO MANY NEW IDEAS I could try right here and now: Cowboy hats with flowers! Multiple belts stacked on top of each other! Crochet tights with glittery golden mules!

I am addicted to this feeling. Fashion is addictive, and it’s often criticized for that. But I believe that there is endless hope to be found in fashion, in the longing for beauty and the act of getting dressed—a hope that goes far beyond wanting to own some “it piece” or “must-have.” Every new fashion show I watch on screen or attend in person feels like a new beginning. That moment when the music starts and the first model strides onto the runway fills me with a deep sense of optimism. There will be a future, because someone is dressing us for it. The same applies to my personal approach to clothing. Every new outfit that I put together, whether created from new finds or old clothes, means a chance for a new discovery, every day, over and over again.

What is behind my endless desire for the new? I sound like I care only for what’s next. But I’m very nostalgic. I always have been. I cried on my seventh birthday because I wanted to stay seven forever. I fear the end of everything: summer holidays, family weekends, Christmases. I can barely look at childhood photos without tearing up.

In its ruthlessness to throw out the old and bring in the new, fashion poses a challenge to my relationship with the past, but at the same time, it also heals me from it. Fashion reminds me that, no matter how beautiful yesterday may have been, it is absolutely vital to make room for tomorrow—in my closet, but more importantly in my head—in order to create new stories and memories.

Now mostly creating looks pulled from my own closet, but with no less excitement than before.William Fan coat, Maryam Nassir Zadeh shoes, vintage clutch

Every time I feel hopeless, or I’m unsure about where I’m going with my life, or I feel lonely or left out or desperate about the fact that everyone I love will die one day, I rely on clothes to comfort me. I spend an evening watching videos from the recent J.W. Anderson and Prada shows. I start putting together outfits in my head for the three days I’ll be in Paris at the end of September. And if it’s not fashion month, I just try on an outfit I haven’t worn before: I iron my shirt, I add a sparkly pair of earrings, I put a new belt on an old pair of jeans, I brush my hair, I replace a necklace with a flower brooch. And then I walk out into the world, hopeful and confident. Getting dressed gives me a prospect. It assures me that life always goes on—if fashion isn’t the best reminder for that, what is? It provides the materials for new dreams and fantasies. No matter how many dresses and handbags and shoes you own, no matter how much you know about style, there will always be great outfits and outfits that didn’t live up to their potential. Each morning that you commit to getting dressed for a new day, you get a chance to try again.

Claire is wearing Paul Smith blazer, Ralph Lauren shirt, Closed belt, Citizens of Humanity jeans, Di San Giacomo sandals in feature photo.

The post A Mid-Fashion-Month Meditation on Why I Still Love Getting Dressed appeared first on Man Repeller.

The Denim Silhouette I Can’t Stop Thinking About for Fall

It’s been a while since we’ve witnessed a bonafide denim trend in fashion. I would probably peg the last one to around 2014, when vintage Levi’s were all the rage, buoyed by the normcore phenomenon and the seemingly infinite number of cool women who paired them with Patagonia fleeces and redefined the meaning of “effortless” style. For the past few seasons, though, a certain denim mood has emerged. I’m calling it a mood and not a trend, because the infinite denim options that exist now (cut, wash, rise, you name it) are such that I’m fairly sure we are living in a post-denim trend world. That said, there’s definitely an identifiable movement afoot: jeans that aren’t quite straight leg in the same sense that the trendiest vintage Levi’s were, but also aren’t quite skinny. High-waisted and not cropped. Finished edges. There’s something almost tailored about them, like a fitted trouser, rendered in denim.

The aforementioned mood is almost certainly a product of what Leandra described in her recent story about the streamlining of fashion. We have brands Bottega Veneta, Khaite, and Eve Denim, and WARDROBE.NYC to thank for the association between this particular denim silhouette and the simplified aesthetic people are gravitating toward these days, because you know what looks really good with brown suede loafers and a navy crewneck sweater? Streamlined jeans. (Please note I’m not wed to that terminology, but the perfect name for what I’m describing eludes me.)

See All 4

Since I identify this particular silhouette as part of a pendulum swing in fashion away from flimsy, social media-friendly one-hit wonders and towards non-boring, structured, solid basics that will stand the test of time, it should come as no surprise that its predecessor was circulated in perhaps the most classically iconic denim advertisement in history: 15-year-old Brooke Shields in Calvin Klein:

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by This Was Fashion (@thiswasfashion) on Jan 30, 2019 at 5:34pm PST

Not quite traditionally straight or skinny, high-waisted, with finished edges. There’s something reassuring about these characteristics, which I’m sure is part of the resulting silhouette’s appeal. It doesn’t assume anything about who you are or what you want to look like (items that do are often what render your style a caricature of itself). Instead, it is the perfect blank canvas, quiet enough to let you seamlessly evolve instead of constantly shedding misaligned selves like a soul-searching reptile.

If that sounds as refreshing as it felt to type, scroll down for a roundup of streamlined denim options at various price points for your perusing pleasure.

 Under $35

+These appear to have just the right amount of knee baggage

+These and these are great plus-size options–the former looks super comfy and the latter comes in a variety of washes

See All 3


Under $75

+If you’re into a frayed hem as an anti-streamlined rebellion, try these

+This pair comes in the perfect shade of cream

+Zara is on a roll with fitted trouser jeans! These are a really unique color–blue so light it almost looks white.

+These go up to a size 20 and are LINED WITH FLANNEL I repeat LINED WITH FLANNEL

See All 4


Under $100

+These have just the right amount of whiskering

+The wash on this plus-size pair is super dark blue and the fabric type is literally called “butter denim,” which sounds very promising

+A black option, if that’s your jam

See All 3


Under $150

+Bless J.Crew for this classic pair that looks like something a polished school boy would wear (a.k.a. IDEAL)

+I’m picturing these with cowboy-esque boots and a big gray sweater

+A plus-size white pair that verges every so slightly into bootcut-adjacent realm

How do you feel about this denim style? Have you already bought into it? Let’s talk.

See All 3

Feature photos via Eve Denim and WARDROBE.NYC.

The post The Denim Silhouette I Can’t Stop Thinking About for Fall appeared first on Man Repeller.

6 MR Team Members Steal Style Tips From Their Younger Selves

When one of my colleagues asked if she could borrow something from my closet to recreate her childhood outfit for this story, I didn’t think much of it. When another colleague asked me the same thing a day later, I was confronted with an unavoidable revelation: I, a fully grown 27-year old woman, must have a wardrobe akin to that of a little kid. This suspicion was confirmed mere hours later, when I surveyed my own childhood photos and realized I could easily approximate any of them with the clothes I had on hand. Easily!

So while I may not be the most objective choice of writer to make a case for taking styling tips from your younger self, I can certainly claim some degree of expertise. Upon reflection, the benefits of doing so are crystal clear: When children dress themselves, they prioritize joy. Comfort. Impulse. Emotion. Play. You know–the important stuff. The stuff that reminds you that the daily task of getting dressed is really just a never-ending game of dress-up. What better time than Growing Up month on Man Repeller to tap back into that sentiment? Scroll down to read which style tips five MR team members (myself included) are taking from their younger selves, and feel free to add yours in the comments.

Dasha Faires, Director of Product Development

Age of Little Dasha: I have no idea, maybe 12?

The story behind the outfit: Relatively certain by the bible I’m holding that I was on my way to church and this also looks like an Easter dress—or I want to believe it was given the floral and puffy sleeves that I was dressing up for something.

Recreating it for today: I love the puffy sleeves and the tea length! Puffy sleeves aren’t an everyday occasion for me, but it was fun to mix it up and wear a similar shape but in a very me way, over 20 years later: all black with sneakers.

Elizabeth Tamkin, Market Strategist

Age of Little Eliz: Nine years old, first day of fourth grade

The story behind the outfit: I was a big fan of Mary-Kate and Ashley (still am) and loved their outfits in the opening theme song of their then “hit” show So Little Time, where they wear oversized wrap sweaters and jeans with huge cuffs while running around on the beach. I became obsessed with recreating the look for the first day of school (it was still 80+ degrees, mind you), so I found this sweater at Abercrombie Kids in San Francisco. They only had it in blue rather than the preferred camel, but I settled.

Recreating it for today: I am fairly impressed with my use of the giant cuff as a nine-year-old. I recall that the jeans HAD to be raw denim, nothing else would do, and they had to be long enough to have such a massive cuff. It was so important to me. It still is! I think a stiff raw denim jean is the only kind that successfully works with such a styling trick. The wrap sweater was a cool touch (if physically very hot), I respected the pairing.

Matt Little, Head of Business Development

Age of Little Matt: 6

The story behind the outfit: It was Easter morning and this outfit was likely the result of a hurried rush to get the egg-stravaganza started. Looking back at my childhood photos, a lot of my outfits consisted of clothing meant for football/basketball/baseball practice (lol) worn as daywear and, apparently at times, holiday formal attire.

Recreating it for today: Lesson learned–when in doubt, and particularly when in a candy-incentivized rush, stick with something monochromatic and comfortable. It’s also interesting how looking back at such a mundane and convenience-based outfit could so seamlessly translate to the uniform dressing of today. If my younger self taught me anything it’s that there’s no shame in doubling down on the things you love and the importance of balancing the form/function equation in my day-to-day sartorial choices.

Patty Carnevale, Head of Partnerships

Age of Little Patty: 6!

The story behind the outfit: It was dance recital day, but when I tell you I felt perfectly myself in this outfit I really and truly mean it. I loved it, every extravagant detail down to the little pink bows my mom tied onto my dance shoes. I even asked my mom at one point to take photos in the neighbor’s yard because her flower bed matched my outfit. I was a spectacle and I was into it.

Recreating it for today: It’s not uncommon to see me in sequins and feathers, but all very tastefully, like you have to pay attention to catch it. It is pretty uncommon these days to see me in a swath of COLOR color—really out there and seeking attention, though the truth is I was and always will be a ham. Wearing this strawberry, jammy frock made me feel bright from the inside out.

Harling Ross, Fashion Director and Brand Strategist (Me!)

Age of Little Harling: I think I’m around 8 years old.

The story behind the outfit: Well, since it’s a nightgown, it was clearly getting close to bedtime. My sisters and I had all just had a bath. We’re in my childhood bedroom. I love that it looks like a scene from The Virgin Suicides or something.

Recreating it for today: This photo is ample evidence that a nightgown makes an excellent dress, no matter what time of day you happen to be wearing it. I wish I had the precise one I’m wearing way back then (I love the lace details at the top, and the pale pink satin bow), but any long white cotton nightgown will do. In the updated version, I’ve paired one with suede loafers, a hair-kerchief, and sunglasses, all accents that definitely announce I am not, in fact, about to go to sleep.

Andrea Araujo, Director of Client Services and Production

Age of Little Andrea: 4

The story behind the outfit: According to my mom, it was just a typical day. She’d also like you to know that the “beautiful Italian leather Mary Janes” I was wearing are sadly cut off in this photo.

Recreating it for today: Don’t underestimate a short-sleeved button-down (or any button down)! I love the way they make otherwise baggy or frumpy bottoms look instantly more put-together.

Photos by Sabrina Santiago.

The post 6 MR Team Members Steal Style Tips From Their Younger Selves appeared first on Man Repeller.

The Moral Alignment of Beauty Trends, From Needles to YouTube Feuds

There is no one true beauty pope anymore. That authority formerly held by renaissance idols, supermodels, and magazines has long since diluted and democratized as digital media has taken over, offering visibility to individuals with unique and interesting aesthetics, spawning self-informing beauty trends and cultures therein. Beauty is increasingly in the eye of the beholder, the today, the eye has way more ground to cover. With so much more to see and so many complex interpretations of what beauty and vanity can be, I’m loathe to judge beauty by any moral standard. But considering its rapid industrial-age levels of expansion in the past five or six years, the proliferating beauty trends can most definitely be aligned, if not realigned.

Lawful Good: 40 Shades of Foundation

Wild how all it takes is the right person to release a makeup line with 40 shades of foundation to upend the entire industry’s approach to complexion makeup. It took Rihanna to shed light on the fact that people of color darker than “mocha” have cash to splash on makeup and gladly will once the shades are available to them. Of course, studio brands like Make Up For Ever and M.A.C. have had a similar range of shades for ages, but for all their serviceable selection, neither of those brands caused the Rih-pple effect (heh) that set the industry bar for inclusive shade ranges. Anything less is simply unacceptable now, especially by well-established brands—who are now happy to boast their 40+ shade ranges, some going to far as to launch with 100 shades. We may be spoiled for choice now, but at least we’re all covered.

Neutral Good: Bespoke Beauty Products

You’ve probably been introduced to most of these via targeted ads or Instagram spon-con. It’s not necessarily a new idea, but the branding has greatly improved, I think, and overall it seems to be a natural response to fast beauty’s quickly flooding market, offering sustainable options for you to feel good about consuming. Most of them require taking a cute little online quiz, which, as anyone who came of age in the early 2000s can attest, we love. I very much enjoy my Native custom deodorant (it has my name on it! I love when my name is on my things!) and my custom-blended Skin Inc serum. I smugly finished my entire Saltine cracker-looking ream of Care/Of supplements (six pills a day is a lot). And I cherish my custom-blended Ex Nihilo fragrance. These self-indulging purchasing experiences aren’t exactly inexpensive…but you do get to take a quiz.

Chaotic Good: Anything with needles

As someone who has microbladed brows, a few brushes with lip filler and Botox in her past, and more than a couple tools to puncture and slice my way to glowing skin, I am no stranger to sharp implements in the name of beauty. I would, however, advise against microneedling, because esteemed esthetician Renee Rouleau once told me there’s basically no suitable research ensuring its long-term effects, but there is a fair amount of research on physical trauma to the skin causing latent hyperpigmentation years down the line. And what is physical trauma to the skin if not rolling hundreds of tiny needles over your face like some sort of sadistic garden aerator?

Lawful Neutral: Double-Cleansing

Yeah, I know—washing your face is not a beauty trend. Nor is double-cleansing a new concept; it’s been a k-beauty staple for years. But so many people are still not aware of it and insist on removing their makeup with rough cotton rounds (that tug on your delicate eye area, yanking out eyelashes in the process) and micellar water or those bi-phase salad dressing-like eye makeup removers. Maybe that was fine 20 years ago, but we have longwear foundation now. We have primer now. We have three layers of contour now. Double-cleansing is, in my humble and professional opinion, the easiest and gentlest way to remove all your makeup and grime—which also makes your whole skincare routine more effective, by providing you with a totally clean canvas.

True Neutral: Water

It’s true, haha. Pure water’s pH is a neutral 7, right in the middle of the acid vs. alkaline tug-o-war on the pH scale. Water is also, according to countless supermodel soundbites, the key to clear and glowing skin. And also, according to Derek Zoolander, the essence of wetness, which is the essence of moisture. And there’s a dude who knows his humectants. Water: the source of life. Drink it. Bathe in it. It’s not a “trend” (you will literally die without it) but several trendy water bottle brands are on a vaguely successful mission of making water-drinking—or at least the vessel you choose to be seen watering yourself from—a chic and fashionable statement. Is an $80 glass water bottle with a giant rose quartz inside it really necessary? If it stops people from buying plastic water bottles, I mean…sure.

Chaotic Neutral: Astrology-themed beauty products

All the proof we need that astrology is having a moment is the number of beauty brands pumping out astrological merch. Brands, big and small (ColourPop, BH Cosmetics, Milk Makeup, Bite Beauty, Fresh, Wet N Wild, to name some off the top of my head), are releasing a product or a collection for every zodiac (including the Chinese zodiac, in M.A.C.’s case) this year, most of which have sold out. It makes sense—astrology is at a perfectly relatable intersection of mysticism and narcissism (my Capricorn-rising would argue).

Lawful Evil: Multi-Level Marketing

Multi-level marketing has been a successful business model for some beauty brands for awhile now, but instead of going door-to-door like the Avon ladies of yore, these cosmetic cults now can reach prospective customers via DM. I’m sure for some, MLM is a fun way to make money and moonlight (sunlight?) as a beauty influencer. But the brands at the top of these pyramid schemes are making off with the fat profits while their eager minions go on to alienate and annoy everyone they know on Facebook. (Look, person I went to high school with and knew only vaguely, I get enough targeted ads! I don’t need you messaging me out of the blue under the guise of catching up only to have you pitch me an all-in-one face palette!) It’s not a scam, but it’s at least scam-adjacent.

Neutral Evil: YouTuber Feuds

For a beauty editor, I have fairly elementary knowledge re: the ins-and-outs of YouTuber drama. But while I may not recognize the name of every influencer who releases a collab with a brand, I do know that editorial coverage on any related gossip (public social media gaff, quality control issues with products, or quarrels with other beauty vloggers) can float a beauty site’s traffic goals for a full week. Beauty vlogger fame is often accumulated via cosmetic creativity, yes, but also largely by personality, so when big names fuck up, it feels personal, and the fallout, to fans, is commensurate to a sense of betrayal. Cue the makeup-free, sobbing apology videos, cue the public make-up tweets, the screenshot receipts—the receipts! An entire protocol of how to handle a micro-celebrity scandal has emerged in the past five years or so and it is captivating, for better or worse.

Chaotic Evil: 3-in-1s

The notorious 3-in-1 shampoo/conditioner/body wash—and all similarly simplified body care products marketed towards men—has been on continuous roast on social media, for good reason. Beauty has long been considered a frivolous pursuit due to its association with femininity, but conventionally feminine beauty standards are evolving, so why can’t masculinity’s traditional relationship with beauty do the same? The practice of marketing products as oversimplified to the point of aggressive functionality (or in some cases, branded to reference literal warfare) reinforces not only toxic masculinity but also the gendering of how one chooses to take care of themselves. It makes navigating a glow-up trickier than it already may be. But everyone deserves to glow up on their own terms, and the brands that recognize and facilitate that are the ones changing and winning the game.

Graphics by Coco Lashar.

The post The Moral Alignment of Beauty Trends, From Needles to YouTube Feuds appeared first on Man Repeller.