Notes from April: Revisiting
Three women (Jil Sander, Ann Patchett, and St Vincent), one winter ritual, and a Rule of Five shopping update.
Things I enjoyed in April
Listening to this podcast about Jil Sander (the designer, not the brand). I was too young to have ever seen and touched Jil Sander garments in real life, but I have two core memories about the designer. One is me browsing a copy of Vogue in a bookstore when I was 13 or 14, and seeing a a photo of Cate Blanchett wearing a grey cashmere t-shirt and grey wide-leg wool trousers. I remember being enamoured by the utter purity and simplicity of the outfit (which looked a lot like the one above), and the fact that the cashmere t-shirt looked so soft, even in a photo.
The second core memory is her 2000 spring/summer collection, which came out before she abruptly left the company she founded, right after she sold Prada a majority stake. It’s crisp, fresh and airy—still rigorously minimalist, but done with a lightness that was almost ethereal at times. When I revisited the collection, I was struck by how well it has aged. Lovely bit of summer dressing inspiration if you’re looking for it.
The podcast was pegged to a launch of a book about Jil Sander by Maria Wiesner (sadly in German only), and it made me go down a rabbit hole of looking at other old Jil Sander collections1, and admiring the fact that she rose from relatively humble roots to build a US$200 million company, designing clothes that set the standard for 1990s minimalism. She was also fanatical about fabric and apparently her clothes were phenomenal in terms of luxury and quality2. It’s rather sad that, like Helmut Lang, she lost her name to the corporate bigwigs that have come to dominate the fashion industry. I actually liked the brand’s Raf years, and the present designers seem to have done a fair job staying true to its minimalist roots, but Jil Sander’s Jil Sander was captivating because her clothes were a manifestation of her personal creativity, vision, values and idiosyncrasies. When there’s no person and no story behind the brand, isn’t it just nice clothes, and not much else? Why do we force brands to live on past their founders, instead of supporting new designers?
In a way, thinking about this made me want to root for Phoebe Philo—her designs may not excite me but I really want to see a woman run her own luxury brand, succeed and remain in control.
Reading this Q&A with St Vincent. The fact that St Vincent can talk about champagne, Eggo waffles and vintage microphones all in one interview makes me love her even more than I already did.
Reading Ann Patchett’s “These Precious Days”. I love Ann Patchett but found The Dutch House to be rather unmemorable; thankfully this little collection of essays about friendship, childhood and not shopping (she was well ahead of the “no-buy” curve) more than made up for it.
Watching “Queen of Tears” on Netflix. Not usually a K drama fan, but this hit series had me hooked right from episode one—love how it gently mocks K drama tropes while revelling in the unabashedly drama-ness of it all. It’s still corny the way K rom-coms are but it’s also slyly-acted and I enjoyed every moment.
Making winter stews. I make soups year-round, but winter is a fun excuse for experimenting with new recipes, and this year I’m deeply into making tonjiru, a Japanese stew made from pork and various root vegetables, melding together in dashi and miso. I have it with rice and some simple poached or stir-fried greens on the side, and it makes for a nourishing, warming comfort meal.
Favourite item of clothing in April: My freebie New Yorker tote. I have a few of these and I usually give them away, but I kept this bright blue one from last year because the colour (and illustration) is adorable and the colour really lifts an outfit, particularly in a wardrobe as neutrally-toned as mine. I have used this tote nearly every day because the size and shoulder-strap drop is just right for my needs, whether it’s popping out for groceries, using it as a laptop bag when I go to the library to work, or stashing it into my suitcase as part of my travel wardrobe. And I really love that I can pop it into a washing machine when it needs a wash.
Shopping addendum
I didn’t buy anything in April, but I did receive an item that I ordered in March: a secondhand Dries Van Noten dress. I wrestled with this because my “do not buy” list includes dresses (I don’t wear dresses much) but I have already worn this twice. Also, Dries Van Noten announced his retirement from his brand a week after I bought it, and I am somewhat relieved I bought the dress in a state of relative calm (rather than FOMO).
This brings my shopping tally for the year to three items:
January — Babaà jumper (new, bought online)
February — Vintage jumper (secondhand, bought in person)
March — Dries Van Noten dress (secondhand, bought online)
April — 0
I’m still debating whether to write a longer update on how my
shopping goal is going, but in a nutshell, it’s going ok, even though three out of five doesn’t exactly put me well ahead. I think the shopping I did in the previous two years is paying off as I now have a nice foundation of clothes that fit me and my lifestyle, and I have been quite happy with my wardrobe, so it’s relatively easy to say no to the “nice but filler” items (compared to the year before).BUT, I often fall deep into obsessive internet shopping after going down inspiration rabbit holes (eg, listening the podcast on Jil Sander made me start hunting for 1990s Jil Sander on eBay), and other times, I feel this urge to “collect” pieces simple because I feel nostalgic about the designer (Consuelo-era Marni, always). Gotta work on this because it is such a time-suck and filled with potential for regrettable buys.
Anyway, ending this post on another beautiful image from an old Jil Sander campaign. Shalom Harlow is such a great model.
This collection from 2004, when she made a brief return to her namesake company, is exceptional. Also, this is a great profile of her from 1994 in Vanity Fair.
This sent me down a shopping rabbit hole and I was extremely tempted to order some vintage Jil Sander, just to see what the fuss was all about. I have so far restrained myself (most of the stuff online are blazers and I am not a blazer girl), but I am very curious!
That Dries dress is so lovely! I know what you mean about the nerdy fashion rabbit holes fuelling a desire to collect. I find the Rule of Five pretty helpful in drawing parameters — it forces you to balance chasing holy grail items with meeting everyday dressing needs. It’s also a good reminder to take a long term view with building your wardrobe instead of responding to every seemingly urgent impulse. I might not own the Guernsey sweater / Issey Miyake set / [insert covetable item] of my dreams right now, but someday…maybe.
I saw St. Vincent at a small concert hall in my town about 12 years ago. She’s truly electric, and it’s one of my all time favorite shows. I enjoyed that FT interview as well.