Hello from Tokyo!
I’ve been visiting my parents here before I officially hunker down at home and prepare for 1-800-BABY. My trip thus far has mainly consisted of visiting as many flea markets and vintage stores as possible, eating, hanging out with family, and marveling at the fact that my “solo” days are actually days spent exploring Japan with my son! Pregnancy is wild. I’m sore and tired and still kind of jet lagged and I really miss my husband, but I’m glad I’m here.
But don’t even get me STARTED on my travel. I encountered so many deeply unlucky and unfortunate events getting here that it eventually became (tragically) comical. After multiple days of delays and cancellations and a seat downgrade, what else was there to do but laugh when I finally arrived at the Haneda baggage carousel and checked my AirTags to see that my suitcase with ALL of my clothes was in Virginia? (I flew direct out of New Jersey…)
I’ll spare you the gory details, but I was reimbursed for the $300 I spent on a mini capsule of wardrobe basics, a bunch of nice Japanese toiletries that I would’ve bought anyways, and a cute pair of little velvet tabi flats. So, silver linings I suppose.
On My Calendar…
I have less than a week left in Japan before I head back to New York and fully lock in to fall vintage season. I’ve already filled up one large checked bag with amazing vintage and designer, and I’m feeling pretty good about the additional flea markets I plan to visit this weekend. Living in NYC is so funny because one of the “luxuries” I appreciate most about visiting family elsewhere is access to in-unit laundry. I’ve been able to clean and process most of my new inventory at my parent’s apartment when I inevitably wake up every morning at 5 AM (I’ve accepted that it’s just my schedule here), which means I can unpack and immediately start restocking the stores as soon as I’m home!
After my longest ever hiatus from vending at markets, I am so excited to be setting up a booth at the Threadbare Show in DUMBO at the end of the month! It’s a true vintage event that I’ve really appreciated over the years as a shopper (and once working the door), but this will be my first time on the seller’s lineup. As much as I love the trendy designer and 90’s-Y2K that has largely taken over the NYC market scene, I am sooo looking forward to being in a room with lovers and wearers of the real old stuff. I’ve been stashing away tons of incredible true vintage, from Edwardian lace to 40’s dresses to 70’s suits, and can’t wait to show it all off!
For my fellow NYC fashion nerds: I’m considering signing up for an online course by fashion historian Cassidy Zachary (formerly of Dressed podcast) next month and wanted to gauge interest for an in-person discussion group! What Women Wore to the Revolution: 1930s-1960s, will be taught live across four 1-1.5 hour lectures every Sunday in November. The full course is $100, and recordings are available if you can’t make it to the live sessions. I wanted to arrange a coffee shop/bakery hang once a week after each lecture (Mondays? Tuesdays?) for us to meet up and discuss. Let me know if this is something you’d be into, and if so, what day of the week would work best for you throughout November!
What Else is Happening in NYC Vintage, Fashion, and Art…
To Shop:
🪡 Find me at the Threadbare Show on October 23rd & 24th at 26 Bridge Street in DUMBO. Get your tickets here!
To See:
🫧 You can still catch Martina Cox’s Heart Eyes at Jarvis & Werner! On view until October 3rd. Really bummed I didn’t get a chance to see this before I left town.
🫧 31 Rue Cambon, a “Chanel boutique” with garment and accessory replicas made entirely of materials like cardboard, plywood, and LEGOs by artist Tom Sachs. Groups of eight are allowed in for five minutes at a time, so you can pretty accurately estimate your wait time by eyeballing the number of people in line. It took me about 20 minutes to get in and I felt it was worth it! On view at 245 Center Street until October 10th.
🫧 Revolutionary Women is on view at the New York Historical through October 25th. The new The Weitzman Shoe Museum was also unveiled there this summer!
🫧 Iris Van Herpen: Sculpting the Senses is on view at the Brooklyn Museum until December 6th. This exhibit requires timed tickets for entry.
🫧 Doll Dressing is on view at the Museum at FIT until January 3rd, 2027. More on this below!
🫧 Costume Art is on view at the Met until January 10th, 2027. I wrote a little about my visit in the July Hotline.
In The Shop…
What’s Selling: Trench coats! Leather! Ponyhair mules! It’s the best time of year for fashion and I get to sell all of my favorite things!!
I love the texture shift into fall, so I’m pretty thrilled to finally start stocking transitional knitwear, velvet, and real jackets with linings.
What’s Sitting: Tops are moving a lot faster than bottoms at the moment - pants and skirts were some of my lowest selling categories last month. I’ve been seeing lots of chatter about skirts lately (see The Dressing Room below), so I’m curious to see if this buzz actually translates to sales.
What I’m Sourcing: This is my first time back in Japan since I started dealing professionally, so I’m approaching secondhand shopping in an entirely different way. I’ve been focusing on interesting true vintage for Threadbare Show, particularly anything utilizing Japanese textiles. I’ve picked up a few coats, mostly lighter pieces to save room in my luggage, though I couldn’t resist two truly incredible furs. And, of course, there’s all the Japanese designer - tons of Pleats Please, HaaT (a personal favorite Issey Miyake line), Comme des Garcons, Yohji Yamamoto, and a few cool pieces from lesser known local names.
In My Closet…
What I’m Buying: Obviously, I’m not selling everything I’m buying here! I’ve been test driving a lot of the stuff I’ve sourced so far to decide what stays in my closet. I know that my body will continue to change a lot in my 3rd trimester and postpartum, so everything feels pretty temporary these days. One of my best personal finds so far are the Y’s pants in the photos above and below - they have an internal drawstring at the waist and adjustable elastic cording a few inches below. They’re definitely designed to be scrunched up paper-bag style, but the design accidentally lends itself to being really amazing maternity pants!
What I’m Wearing: Speaking of maternity… I’m six months pregnant, and I have yet to purchase ONE single true maternity wear item. Turns out, pregnancy clothes kind of suck! The options are overwhelmingly in three categories: stretchy/elastic/athleisure, baby shower/tradwife/homesteader, or things in deeply unsettling price ranges (outrageously expensive and boring or scary Amazon poly garbage). I like drape and tailoring and volume and still want to dress like myself, and only one brand I’ve seen so far actually caters to that: Australian maternity label Etape.
I was very kindly gifted a pair of their gorgeous navy trousers and their barrel jeans, and I’m very excited to report that THESE. ARE. IT. Etape designs specifically for all of their pieces to be worn throughout the entire pregnancy and after with extremely thoughtful hardware that is both functional and looks good. Not a single hideous elastic waistband in sight! The adjustability means I can actually change the sizing on the go, which is amazing because my belly fluctuates pretty notably throughout the day. They’re also super easy to get on and off, which is a huge plus if you suddenly need to pee 45 times a day (IYKYK).
You know these pants are good when I’m constantly fielding questions from extremely well dressed, non-pregnant people! I have 100% confidence that I’ll be wearing these for years, which is exactly the kind of brilliant design that’s missing from so much maternity wear on the market right now.
On My Mind…
What I’m Reading: I finally started Pachinko by Min Jin Lee - I’ve had a copy sitting on my bookshelf for years. I like reading novels set in the places I travel to, so a flight to Japan finally felt like the right time to pick it up.
Unfortunately, it turns out that the combo of six months pregnant + economy seats + person in front of you all the way reclined = barely enough room to comfortably hold a book/use a laptop/do kind of anything but sit there. I expected to get a lot of writing and reading done on my flight and I unfortunately didn’t do much of either - I mostly just scrolled on the shitty WiFi, listened to podcasts (thank god for new episodes of Maintenance Phase and A Bit Fruity), took a 45 minute nap, and binged the whole first season of Widow’s Bay.
What I’m Watching: I also watched Weapons on the plane (I was clearly in a scary spooky mood) and it was… whatever. Before my trip, I watched Project Hail Mary on my husbands’ insistence. I don’t normally care for space movies, but it was indeed very heartwarming.
On Display…
What I Saw: A group of my friends braved a very rainy day to meet me at the Museum at FIT to see Doll Dressing for my birthday! It was, as always from FIT’s Senior Curator Colleen Hill, absolutely fantastic. I’ve registered for the symposium in November, and I’m really looking forward to hearing from Lynn Yaeger, Valerie Steele, Jason Wu, and more on the topic.
A few days ago, I trekked about an hour and a half from Tokyo to Yokohama to see Marie Antoinette Style. I was soo jealous of everyone in London that got to see the exhibit at the V&A last year, so imagine my delight when I realized it was starting a world tour in Japan at the same time I would be here!
Because so few of Marie Antoinette’s personal belongings actually survived the French Revolution, the exhibit primarily highlighted clothing, jewelry, and objects that were the same age and style as those she wore herself, or things that were later inspired by her trendsetting tastes in the centuries following.
A few highlights for me included several silk panels of incredible 1760 textiles (including one likely worn by the queen herself), a truly dazzling display of ridiculously juicy jewelry sets, a bunch of Antoinette-inspired art from the 1920’s (Erte!), and shoes and dresses worn in Sofia Coppola’s 2006 film.
I can’t find any information about future plans for this exhibit, so we’ll just have to stay tuned to see where it goes next! Fingers crossed for NYC so I can selfishly see it again.
In case you missed it, my full exploration into the costume design of the 2006 movie with friend and historical costumer Blossom Darling is linked below!
What You Can See Across America:
🫧 (Auburn, WA) The White River Valley Museum is currently showing Boho, an exhibit about bohemian fashion co-curated with Articles of Interest host (and previous 100 Fashion Films Project guest!) Avery Trufelman. On view until November 1st.
🫧 (Los Angeles, CA) Adrian: Designing Hollywood, Dressing America is on view at ASU FIDM until December 12th. I can’t believe I’m too pregnant to go to LA to see this before it closes.
🫧 (Cincinnati, OH) The Cincinnati Art Museum launched their permanent fashion and textiles gallery this summer, featuring pieces from their collection of over 15,000 garments & objects.
🫧 (Kent, OH) Aimee Lee: Every Last Scrap is on view at the Kent State University Museum until May 2027. The museum also debuted a small “Paper Fashion” display in dialogue with the main exhibition, where two 1960’s paper dresses (and their original packaging) are being shown in the alcove above the museum lobby.
🫧 (Phoenix, AZ) Colorwear: A Kaleidoscope of Fashion is on view at the Arizona Costume Institute until August 2027.
What You Can See Around the World:
🫧 (Venice, Italy) The Only True Protest is Beauty, the inaugural exhibition at Fondazione Dries Van Noten, closes on October 4th.
🫧 (Berlin, Germany) Many Shades of Grès Fashion Becomes Art is on view at the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin until November 10th.
🫧 (London, England) Schiaparelli: Fashion Becomes Art is on view at the V&A until November 15th.
🫧 (Yokohama, Japan) Marie Antoinette Style is on view at the Yokohama Museum of Art until November 23rd.
🫧 (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.
🫧 (Paris, France) Look: 40 Years of Fashion at the Museum just opened this week at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, featuring 40 iconic outfits to celebrate 40 years since the opening of the Musée des Arts de la Mode.
Most of my writing this month will be more on Japan - but all vintage related, don’t worry! I’m also working on a piece I’ll be crowdsourcing stories for, so keep your eyes peeled for a request coming your way soon.
NYC fashion nerd here! Would love to meet irl to discuss the lectures. Sunday, however, is my only free day. Please keep me posted if you plan anything!