♥ Some styles that sold out during the Nordstrom Anniversary Pre-Sale have been restocked online. If you have items saved on your wish list, it might be worthwhile to check the availability of items on your list. Here’s what I’ve ordered so far this year:
♥ Luxury’s Post-Pandemic Recoveries, Ranked (The Business of Fashion): “This spring has seen the sector bounce back far faster than expected, with the biggest groups like LVMH, Kering, Richemont and Hermès all beating estimates for their sales in the spring quarter … several groups have already seen sales surge well above pre-pandemic levels … Hermès: Quarterly sales up 33 percent over 2019 … Richemont: Quarterly sales up 22 percent over 2019 … LVMH: Quarterly sales up 14 percent over 2019 … Kering: Quarterly sales up 11 percent over 2019 … Prada: Quarterly retail sales up 13 percent over 2019 … Moncler: Quarterly sales up 5 percent over 2019 … Burberry: Quarterly like-for-like retail sales up 1 percent over 2019 … Ferragamo: Quarterly retail sales estimated down 10 percent below 2019.”
♥ Gwyneth Paltrow’s ’90s Style Is Back. That’s Good for Goop. (The Wall Street Journal): “Translating … Gwyneth-ness into a line of elevated basics is part of the mission of G. Label, the fashion line launched in 2016 as part of Ms. Paltrow’s Goop empire … G. Label was born of a disruptive, tech-y ambition … she started by tweaking silhouettes inspired by pieces from her own closet, producing them in reputable European factories, and releasing them in monthly, seasonally appropriate drops. Prices typically range from $100 to $600.”
♥ What Matters in a Name Sign? (The New York Times): “Name signs, also known as sign names, are an important component of ‘capital D Deaf’ culture. In 1992, the linguist Samuel J. Supalla noted … that they serve two functions: They provide deaf people with a way to identify themselves and others in conversation, while also representing ‘a Deaf person’s membership in the Deaf community’ … As people go through life, they may receive new name signs that replace earlier ones. If they have a strong connection to other countries, they may also receive name signs in other sign languages, such as Japanese Sign Language or Russian Sign Language.”
♥ Love and Death (Toronto Life): “They depicted themselves as a fun-loving power couple: affectionate, jet-setting, blessed with beautiful children and showering each other in gifts. To a select few friends, however, Elana admitted that Mohammed wielded total control over her social media presence: he made her unfriend people he didn’t approve of and post only the photos he selected, stage-managing the version of their lives that was flattering to him. Mohammed controlled her at home, too. She needed to ask his permission to buy a subscription to the Globe and Mail, which he denied her. He forbade her to let their children play with kids who didn’t live up to his standards. He criticized her parenting, saying that she needed to do more and do better. He called her stupid and useless.”
♥ Where’d You Go, Carrie Bradshaw? (Vogue): “Love it or hate it, Carrie dressed with intent. And at the time we all talked about Carrie’s looks, there was always something to be said, out loud, for her style. Carrie irritated people, but she always dressed with reams of personality. However your feelings about have evolved on Sex and the City, there’s no denying what Carrie (well, Patricia Field) did for clothes.”
♥ Job-Hunters, Have You Posted Your Résumé on TikTok? (The New York Times): “In modern job searches, tidy one-page résumés are increasingly going the way of the fax machine. That may be accelerated by … the TikTok résumé. As more college students and recent graduates use TikTok to network and find work, the company has introduced a program allowing people to apply directly for jobs. And employers, many facing labor shortages, are interested. Chipotle, Target, Alo Yoga, Sweetgreen and more than three dozen other companies have started hiring people via the app.”
♥ The Time Tax (The Atlantic): “… the ‘time tax’—a levy of paperwork, aggravation, and mental effort imposed on citizens in exchange for benefits that putatively exist to help them. This time tax is a public-policy cancer, mediating every American’s relationship with the government and wasting countless precious hours of people’s time … The United States government … has in many cases purposefully made the system difficult, shifting the burden of public administration onto individuals and discouraging millions of Americans from seeking aid. The government rations public services through perplexing, unfair bureaucratic friction. And when people do not get help designed for them, well, that is their own fault.”
♥ Like It or Not, Gaudy Y2K Style Is Roaring Back (Vogue): “The early aughts fervor was first ignited by Gen Z last year, when they began rocking bootcut jeans and silk scarves as tops on TikTok … now, the trend is gaining momentum on the streets as well … the trucker hat … [and] Ed Hardy tees … are also having a bit of a revival … Even the trickiest Y2K fashions are coming back too, including low-rise jeans and midriff-baring scarf tops.”
♥ Brad Pitt in the Boardroom? Why Corporate Guys Are Embracing Long Hair (The Wall Street Journal): “As the U.S. reopens, plenty of once-cropped corporate types are opting to keep their flowing tresses … While some men find maintaining long styles a time suck … others argue the opposite … long cuts need a trim every two to three months as opposed to monthly for shorter styles.”
♥ Buy My House, But I’m Taking the Toilet (The New York Times): “Toilets, particularly expensive self-cleaning ones with bidets, are among the hot items ending up on moving vans, as sellers flex their muscle to squeeze the most out of a sale … Buyers, beaten down from relentless bidding wars, shrug and slog along. What else can they do? This is a seller’s world and we’re all just living in it.”
♥ Chanel Suit Finds New Fans in Gen Z Channelling 90s Nostalgia (The Guardian): ” ‘I think we’re in a generation of nostalgia, and everyone seems to be obsessed with looking back in fashion and remembering a time when fashion wasn’t so serious. Chanel in the 90s is a perfect example of this’ “
♥ Why Bored Ape Avatars Are Taking Over Twitter (The New Yorker): “The avatars came from a Web site called Bored Ape Yacht Club, which had officially launched on April 30th, offering ten thousand unique iterations of the cartoon primates for sale as non-fungible tokens (N.F.T.s), each at a price of about two hundred dollars in Ethereum cryptocurrency … Bored Ape Yacht Club’s initial batch of N.F.T.s brought in more than two million dollars. The collection has since seen almost a hundred million dollars in trading, with the cheapest apes often going for almost fourteen thousand dollars. In recent months, the project has inspired a wave of similar clubs and a mania for N.F.T. avatars among crypto-enthusiasts … When a buyer makes his Twitter avatar an image from a new N.F.T. club, it’s a sign of allegiance, and also a signal to other buyers in the club to follow him on social media.”
♥ The Pandemic Has Exacerbated Existing Political Discontent (The Economist): “… in 2020, civil unrest rose by 10%. It counted 5,000 instances of pandemic-related violence in 158 countries. Violent demonstrations are more common than at any time since 2008 … One direct cause of protests … is economic hardship … Pandemic-aggravated unrest strikes rich and poor countries alike, but middle-income countries are most vulnerable both to the disease and its social effects. Rich countries are protected by vaccination—even if some of their citizens hesitate to be jabbed. In the poorest places, the coronavirus is one burden among many, states are often too weak to enforce lockdowns, and the population’s youth offers a high degree of protection from covid-19.”
♥ Are You in an ‘Inter-Intimate’ Relationship? (The New York Times): “… many couples may … be involved in ‘inter-intimate’ relationships, where each partner has different preferences when it comes to giving and receiving nonsexual affection … Touch is a form of intimacy distinct from sex, with its own set of rules that can threaten to undo romantic entanglements.”
♥ Recently purchased: Zimmermann Silk Drape Dress, Vince Longline Cardigan, J. Crew Silk Popover Shirt, and Maje Mozel Chain Trim Sweater.
Have a great weekend, everyone!
