A million girls would kill for this job

Oct 06, 2022

I feel really out of the loop for not watching this Dahmer show. But it’s also mired in controversy, so maybe I’m on the right side of history without even meaning to be?

Name Drop

Interviews with insiders, experts, and boujie bitches

For most regular people, “engaging” with Paris Fashion Week means half-heartedly swiping through whichever runway highlights the Instagram algorithm favors while you ignore Slack messages from your needy colleagues.

But for the Emily Charltons of the world, it means an all-access pass to fashion in its most elite and influential form.

This week we’re beyond lucky enough to spill some dirty mar-tea-nis with Instagrammer @shit.u.should.buy, a high-powered womenswear sales director by day and discounted luxury curator by night.

In this EXCLUSIVE interview, she breaks down what normies can actually take away from the A-List event.

Q: For the untrained eye, Paris Fashion Week gave us a lot to unpack – dark romance from Versace, liters of black mud from Balenciaga, Cher in spandex. . . can you translate for us at home, what trends are going to trickle into ready-to-wear that are actually feasible for everyday peasants to pull off?

A: It’s definitely a lot. I like to joke that there are no trends, which isn’t entirely true, but it’s close. There are a ton of mini trends right now, so it’s a good time to experiment and kinda throw style shit at the wall and see what sticks.

But in a bigger sense, we are possibly in the most directly referential moment I’ve ever seen in fashion. It’s not just mini references being reinterpreted like “western” or “Moto” but more like entire decades are being recreated to a T.

Which means it’s the best time to shop vintage because even the semi-trained eye can’t tell the difference between the original and the new product. I talk about this a lot on my page. Brands like Celine, Dior, Dolce (ew) and Gaultier are not just referencing but fully resurrecting archival styles that are readily available at great prices online.

But you also don’t even need to shop designer to get the current look. If you find some old ass Limited Too or 90s Gap or Diesel or Betsey Johnson or Ralph Lauren on eBay you’ll look cool as fuck for cheap.

The other trend is drapey, relaxed tailoring — not new but still going so strong.

When all else fails, throw on a big ass blazer.

Last season we saw Zendaya and the Valentino crew decked out in “Pink PP,” a pantone created specifically for the brand. Did any major colors like that emerge last week that we should start incorporating into our wardrobes this season?

This isn’t the first time a brand has claimed a color as a marketing push. It’s so smart honestly— I work for a top 3 US contemporary brand and I have clients coming into my showroom pointing to the “Valentino pink suit” and the “Bottega green dress.” Even if you don’t own any of the brand’s product, they’ve taken up a little of your mental real estate.

Which is also to say, these things aren’t coincidental. There are huge budgets behind these trends (e.g. Valentino covering their entire Paris building in Christo-esque pink fabric for Paris Fashion Week) and because no one has bought a color yet this season (to my knowledge) there isn’t one color we’ll be flooded with in quite that way.

As for NORMAL trend colors, I’d say soft denim tones and beigey or olivey neutrals with pops of sherbet colors will be big. And there’s a fresh, slightly lighter and greener turquoise I’ve been seeing around too, most notably in a really cute Bottega dress.

We have to talk about the Coperni finale – whether you follow fashion or not, if you’re even a little bit online, you saw Bella Hadid in the spray-on dress. This blew up the internet, but what was the actual sentiment like from insiders on the ground?

Speaking of references and our hugely millenium-nostalgic moment— this was a very smart reference to the Spring 1999 Alexander McQueen show in which robots spray painted Shalom Harlow’s white dress for the finale. I love Coperni and I’m so happy for them. I think this moment would make Lee McQueen proud.

As a fashion girl I’m a little sad it happened on Bella, whom I could never see again and be kinda happy. But as a salesperson… WOW. Coperni just went from an insider brand to the name on everyone’s lips. Genius, bravo, cheers.

“But as a salesperson” is totally giving Kris Jenner’s iconic “but as her manager. . .” meme. And speaking of, did you catch a glimpse of any rogue KarJenners roaming the streets of Paris?

No, lol they don’t walk. Pretty sure they have armored cars bring them everywhere especially after Kim’s horrible burglary in Paris.

BUT I SAW NAOMI CAMPBELL which is approximately 100000000000x better.

I’ll let that comment slide. Lastly, your IG account @shit.u.should.buy curates the best deals on luxury fashion from sites like TheRealReal, taking the legwork and the guesswork out of the equation for your followers. After spending the week in Paris, are there certain brands that you’ll be eyeing more than usual?

I’ve been feeling Celine despite hating Hedi Slimane for over a year, and Paris def reinforced that. I’d say Dries and Sacai had somewhat dropped off my radar but now I’m heavily back on their bandwagons.

But from an item perspective… I’d say it’s the shoes, outerwear and bags that separate the wheat from the chaff here in Paris.

Get your shoe game right. Doesn’t have to be expensive, just has to be right.

Get yourself one really fucking good everyday bag. Doesn’t have to be full price because that’s two months rent… but it won’t be cheap.

And for god’s sake don’t do what I did and show up for an entire week in Paris with just a blazer and a denim jacket. It’s all about the big coats, whether they’re vintage men’s trenches or Max Mara teddy coats.

For more advice from @shit.u.should.buy, follow her Instagram for the trendiest fashion steals.

Rough Cut

Movie review, TV binges, etc.

I went to two brunches last weekend, and the soapy Netflix show Partner Track came up at both of them.

One friend said it reminded him specifically of the shared trauma we endured in prestige PR (nomenclature I just invented akin to Big 4 consulting), so I was like alright, I’ll try it for old time’s sake.

Once I started, I immediately disagreed with this sentiment due to the fact that the employees have access to a free “waffle station,” and the only amenity I ever encountered was dirt water coffee in our sad galley kitchen and the occasional Dig Inn leftovers from client meetings that I scavenged like a little rat.

Anyway. . .

Partner Track Season 1 Review - But Why Tho?

The logline: Ingrid Yun is dead set on making junior partner at her fancy NYC law firm, but she’ll have to contend with the boy’s club culture that stands in her way.

What else?

Every guy she meets falls in love with her. Except they all kinda look the same, like you accidentally stumbled into a Pillsbury Dough Boy convention.

She has two lawyer friends, a manic pixie dream girl lawyer who doesn’t care about getting promoted, and a stereotypical gay bestie lawyer who coordinates her makeover sequence.

The most egregious part is the $10M apartment that she probably spends 3 hours a days in since she’s always promising her boss Marty that she’ll be accessible in the office all night. Until she eventually decides that there’s more to life than being a Girlboss and starts prioritizing her troubled sister who dropped out of NYU and the cute charity gala guy who would "walk through fire to see her again” or something to that effect.

The yasses:

You could maybe watch this at the gym? If you need something to kind of hold your attention while you try to distract yourself from the the fact that you can’t breath?

The nasses:

It feels like watching a UCB show where comedians are improv-ing as lawyers. Like, “this is what a lawyer sounds like,” with the most exaggerated impression you can conjure.
They talk way too fast, in an effort to communicate how smart and sexy they are. It’s like trying to cheat off The West Wing’s quiz from two seats away.

You should watch if you liked: My friend Deja, who was the third person to recommend this in 48 hours, described it as love child between Suits and The Bold Type. I’d also throw in Emily in Paris for good measure.

★☆☆☆☆

Earlier this week I curated a Halloween Horror Movie Guide for those looking to add some spooky flair to their October Letterboxd diaries.

Skinny Soundbites

Half-baked mini thoughts

This week we saw some bad behavior.

Kanye West and Yeezy models wore White Lives Matter shirts at his fashion week show. A Vogue editor called him out, so he put her on blast on his Instagram like he did with all those Adidas managers last month. Then Gigi Hadid called him a “bully and a joke.” Baz Luhrmann made a video about all of it?
And speaking of the Hadids, Yolanda finally addressed #AlmondGate on TikTok. For the unfamiliar, old clips from RHOBH have resurfaced of Yolanda encouraging young Gigi not to eat to fuel her modeling career — most infamously, Gigi calls Yolanda when she doesn’t feel well, having only eaten “half an almond” that day. Yolanda tells her to eat a couple more almonds and “chew them really well.” Now in this bizarre new TikTok, Yolanda filmed herself in various location with a massive bowl of almonds, along with the caption #worstmomever. Facts?
Meanwhile, in other rich person news, Kim K was fined $1M+ for neglecting to disclose a paid partnership with a crypto coin on her Insta. She was like, that’s North’s weekly allowance so sure, have at it.
And sadly, Gisele Bündchen and her husband have apparently assembled their divorce lawyer avengers. This is what happens when you tell yourself “ball is life” twenty times in the mirror every morning.
Plus, Dame launched a limited-edition Mitch McConnell dildo. Republicans are mad that Velma is officially a lesbian. And Billy Eichner is mad that straight people didn’t show up for his gay movie.