August Hotline
Wins, flops, and jeans cuffed at the top
On My Calendar…
I am determined to go to the beach this month. I haven’t been once this summer, which is frankly criminal.
I have been getting my little bit of sun and swimming at Hamilton Fish, my beloved local public pool. I spent way too many years sleeping on the NYC public pools! The one by me is huge and clean and none of them allow phones, which is genuinely freeing. Reading a book in the sun without even the slightest temptation to doom scroll? Say less.
My August schedule is blissfully uneventful, something I can’t say for the whirlwind months I’ve been having since spring. I am hoping to go on the Rosen House Focus Tour: Inside Lucie’s Wardrobe at Caramoor, just outside the city in Katonah, before they wrap up tours at the end of the month.
What Else is Happening in NYC Vintage, Fashion, and Art…
To Shop:
🪡 Pickwick Vintage Show is back at Grand Central Terminal on August 15th!
🪡 My friend Jess of Yesterday Tomorrow just opened a beautiful vintage store at 35 Allen Street! I haven’t had the chance to drop in yet, but I already know it’s goooood.
To See:
🫧 Yves Saint Laurent and Photography, featuring over 300 archival objects and photographs, on view at ICP until September. More on this below!
🫧 Iris Van Herpen: Sculpting the Senses is on view at the Brooklyn Museum until December 6th. This exhibit requires timed tickets for entry.
🫧 Costume Art is on view at the Met for the rest of the year. I wrote a little about my visit in the July Hotline!
🫧 Revolutionary Women is on view at the New York Historical through October 25th. The new The Weitzman Shoe Museum was also unveiled there earlier this summer!
In The Shop…
What’s Selling: To be completely honest, not much! I had one of my worst sales months I’ve seen in a long time, at all three stores I’m stocked in. Summer is historically never a busy month in retail, but I was hopeful after a strong June that I could keep up my momentum. July was officially a FLOP.
What’s Sitting: I have a couple of (mostly designer) pieces that I brought back from Arizona this spring that still haven’t sold! Last week someone finally picked up the very cool early 90’s concho belt I was wearing in my May Hotline, but the knee-high Gucci boots and the blue Fuzzi draped mesh tube top haven’t had any takers. I’m guessing the boots are mostly a seasonal thing, but I’m truly shocked nobody has bought the top yet. I would’ve kept it myself if it fit! Happy to offer it at a special price for anyone here that’s interested - it would best fit a bustier M or a L, probably even an XL. It’s very stretchy.
What I’m Sourcing: I’m taking August off from any intentional sourcing. Here’s a little secret for my NYC readers: Seven Wonders Collective is starting our end-of-season sale this Friday! Each vendor choses how they want to participate (if at all), so not everything is included, but it’s one of only two times a year anything in the store is on sale. I will be discounting everything I have in both locations (LES and Boerum Hill), which means focusing on moving summer pieces and older inventory this month while I prepare for fall. Hopefully I have a fruitful month and can afford to start buying again in September!
In My Closet…
My first little Substack announcement was for paid subscribers only, but I think it’s time to loop the rest of you in: I’m pregnant! And my belly is OUT.
I’m officially at a visible stage and not giving up my crop tops no matter how many random people leave comments like this on my Instagram:
Obviously, I blocked her and turned it into content.
What I’m Buying: Last month, I mentioned being on the hunt for light, breezy, drawstring pants. I gambled on a handful of styles from The Real Real, and was reminded (once again) how dumb and unreliable their sizing/photos/product descriptions are. I ordered multiple pairs that would ostensibly fit me based on their listings, but ended up with only one that came even close. At this point I’ve had more bad experiences ordering there than good, including the time they sent me a FAKE (and absolutely destroyed) Prada bag. Thank god they accepted the return.
I did order a few cute things online from another vintage dealer’s story sale, but was a little bit disappointed by something when my package actually arrived.
To my suprise, one of the pieces I bought was from Mossimo. If you aren’t familiar, Mossimo was a long running in-house brand sold at Target that I bought plenty of as a teenager. The pants themselves are perfectly fine, wearable and decent quality, but probably not something I would have spent $40-ish on if I had seen the label. I don’t want to publicly name this seller as I find their curation generally really great and their pricing super fair! But it was good reminder to me to ask to see tags if they aren’t included in the listing.
What I’m Wearing: At the risk of more angry Instagram comments from faceless boomers, I’ve been wearing a lot of crop tops and little t-shirts with my round lil stomach hangin out.
Sadly, my beautiful collection of (mostly) high-waisted skirts isn’t an option this summer, which means I’ve been relying on pants more than usual. I’ve basically been on a rotation of: indigo dyed cotton Issey Miyake HaaT pants I got at a sample sale this spring, oversized green pants I found at May Brimfield made out of old army tent fabric, white linen pants with fun waist grommets from my fellow Seven Wonders Collective dealer Tomatoes Vintage, and (most often) a pair of secondhand Margiela jeans half zipped and folded over.
I’m finally in a good groove with pregnancy dressing, despite many unexpected bumps (lol sorry) in wardrobe adjustments. More on that soon!
On My Mind…
What I’m Reading: My friends Justine Larbalestier and Scott Westerfield released their very first co-authored novel last month, The Mortons. They’re both best known for their YA work, and The Mortons was able to really capture so many of the things I love about YA in a sexier, more grown-up story. Not only was the story fast-paced and super engaging, but it was full of vintage clothes! I wouldn’t expect anything less from a couple who wore Issey Miyake and Vivienne Westwood to elope in the woods.
I mentioned starting American Psycho last month. My delight waned after I adjusted to Ellis’ style, and I started to find the neurotic detailing really boring. I stuck it out to the first kill, which was disappointingly grotesque. At that point I felt like I “got” the schtick, and decided I wouldn’t feel personally fulfilled by continuing. DNF.
What I’m Watching: I finally watched The Devil Wears Prada 2. I’m going to be nice here and say that it felt unnecessary. The initial fan service excitement of getting the old crew back together was fun, but the movie itself just fell flat for me. I would’ve been more entertained revisiting the 2006 original, again. I didn’t watch any other movies this month.
On Display…
What I Saw: I visited the International Center of Photography last week to see Yves Saint Laurent and Photography. I can’t believe it’s taken me this many years to visit this (very good) museum in my own neighborhood!
The YSL show was excellent, much larger than I anticipated and with a surprising focus on the designer himself. Saint Laurent isn’t necessarily a designer that I associate with being in front of the camera, so it was fun to see his own personal style evolve throughout his career.
My husband went to the exhibit with me, immediately wandering off, as he is apt to do. He started texting me photos of photos from across the room:
What You Can See Outside of NYC:
🫧 (Atlanta, Georgia) Dior: Crafting Fashion is on view at SCAD until August 23rd
🫧 (Barnard Castle, England) Vivienne Westwood: Rebel - Storyteller - Visionary is on view at The Bowes Museum until September 6th
🫧 (London, England) Schiaparelli: Fashion Becomes Art is on view at the V&A until November
🫧 (Venice, Italy) The Only True Protest is Beauty, the inaugural exhibition at Fondazione Dries Van Noten, is on view until October
🫧 (Berlin, Germany) Many Shades of Grès Fashion Becomes Art is on view at the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin until November
🫧 (Antwerp, Belgium) The Antwerp Six is on view at MoMu until January 2027
🫧 (Belfast, Ireland) Ashes to Fashion is on view at the Ulster Museum until January 2027
🫧 (Getaria, Spain) The Givenchiaga Family is on view at the Cristóbal Balenciaga Museoa until February 2027
In case you missed it, here’s what else I put out this last month:
Mementos of a Life
At the end of June, I took a six-ish hour drive to a part of New York state that you’ve probably never heard of.
Thanks so much for the shout out and for coming to the launch! Loved the YSL photography exhibit!
Congrats!! And man, this newsletter makes me feel so jealous of people who live in NYC!