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Esther Hong, NYC-based jewelry designer and Petricore creator, talks found objects, cyborg feminism, and the self-delusion of being an artist. I meet up with Esther Hong in cyberspace, our conversation about her experimental jewelry brand, Petricore , aptly mediated by screens. Esther is fresh out of the shower when I catch up with her from her parents’ home in Houston, Texas. She is sporting her choppy black hair — cut high across her forehead — narrow, frameless glasses, and an air of unaffected coolness.  Esther has returned home to the Lone Star State from her Bushwick apartment and nearby art studio after a recent manic episode led to a brief stay in a psych ward. This break from her whirlwind artist’s life in the city has given her the chance to reflect on her creative path, the inspiration behind her designs, and the consequences of building a career online — reflections she shares with perfect candor, wisdom, and reverence for the power of art.  Petricore was launched in 2019, in what Esther refers to as a lockdown-inspired act of desperation. The experimental artisan jewelry brand quickly shifted toward cyber aesthetics and found objects. Across the Petricore archive, you’ll find circuit boards on necks, watches strung together across waists, and iPod Shuffles clipped to locks of hair. You’ll also find recognizable faces like influencer TinyJewishGirl, IMG Worldwide model Luke Clod, and actress/writer Ariela Barer. In 2024, Esther rebranded as Petri core and joined Studio 103, a collaborative artists’ studio in Brooklyn featuring textile, jewelry, and accessory designs.  Originally Petri chor , a term for the smell after rain, the nascent branding reveals its early inclinations: flower charms and beads awash in vibrant VSCO-filtered light. An olfactory term might seem misplaced for a jewelry brand, but Petricore is much more than mere accessory: Multisensorial, multifunctional, and now, multifactorial. Petricore’s newest endeavor, dubbed the “Modular Collection,” offers sleek, silver designs that snake around the body and writhe with adjustable drawstring stoppers. The pieces, which can be mixed and matched in interaction with each other, lend a cyborgian effect to the wearer as the silver cords seem almost like wires connecting one’s various circuit boards.  The new Petricore merges its two components seamlessly, with the organic and the artificial playing out in perfect harmony. Esther describes her newest collection of silver hardware as “inspired by the form of dew drops:” symbols for the digitization of nature. Petricore, in my estimation, plays within the gaps and exposures of the postmodern. It is interested in playing with the identities offered by the digital world; Petricore wearers are Manic Pixie Dream Girls, cyborgs, TikTok dominatrixes, femcels, and artificial influencers like Lil Miquela. Petricore’s designs define adaptability as the transgression of boundaries, and the identity of Petricore wearers is as unstable as the pieces themselves.  Brandi Martin: Can you describe the evolution of Petricore?  Esther Hong: It started when I was looking for a job during COVID and no one would hire me. I was just stuck in my room, stuck with my family, just looking for a way to make something work and make something beautiful. It was during the Y2K trend when everyone was making friendship bracelets and kitschy things, and it hit for all of us for some reason. I was looking at this one account called @uglyaccessories that styled Beabadoobee in friendship bracelets. I was like, “Oh, my God, I can fucking do that. Like, why can't I fucking do that? Why can't I be the one styling Beabadoobee?” And so I went to Hobby Lobby, and I found the exact same little beads, and I started making them myself, and just by the generosity of my friends, sold them on my Instagram story. After that, I started experimenting with clay and all these different mediums.  It was basically a huge ongoing project of “Can I do this? Oh, I can. Can I do all the things I see online? Yes, I can.” I was just proving myself right over and over again, and also ripping artists off over and over again [laughs] but adding my own twist to things. I eventually revealed to myself that I had a creative style that was unique. Now it's a completely different thing, where I'm experimenting with modularity in terms of stainless steel and the most resilient materials. And it's completely unique. I don't see anyone else doing anything like it. So it makes me so proud that the love child that was the internet and my friends, and people believing in me, in other people, in art that is kind of derivative but not, ended up making something that is actually original.  BM: What have been your big milestones with Petricore?  EH: Definitely TinyJewishGirl. Ariela Barer posted this photo wearing her piece with Tegan and Sara and I was like “Oh my God. I can die now.” I met Quelle Chris at a concert venue I worked at in college. He’s this rapper I’ve admired for a really long time. I offered to send him a promo piece and we became mutuals.  Once stylists and influencers saw me as legitimate after my clock era and into my circuit board era, that was huge. That was the defining moment that made me believe Petricore could really be something. People were finding me left and right. The algorithm finally swept me in and I was becoming explore page material. Someone posted my work on a style blog Instagram and it was like “Woah,” because I was that girl, and now that girl is using me as inspiration.  The biggest milestone I’ve had was making my modular pieces, which helped me enter into a phase of real sophistication with my art. It went from kitsch to architecture.  Oh, and getting my Shopify domain was really big. That shit is expensive.  BM: Why jewelry?  EH: I am just truly, seriously an impatient person. With fabrics, I can't even think about sizing variations and I don't want to. I don't want to have to discriminate for the sake of efficiency. It seems way too complicated — the body and its form as a template. That's too much for me to even think about, let alone making [sic]  sure each stitch is perfect. If I were to make clothes, it would be very conceptual, and it might only be for my body because I can't think of every other body. Jewelry makes it so that you can adorn any body, any gender, any spectrum. It's so accessible, and that’s what makes it beautiful. BM: You’ve sourced vintage watches, lockets, charms, iPods, and circuit boards for your past work. Can you speak about recontextualizing and giving new life to these items? EH: Recontextualizing is my practice of love, renewal, and rebirth. When I started this jewelry project at home during COVID, I could not really source too much, and I wasn't even really thinking about sustainability or zero-waste to start with. It was as simple as “watches would look so cool on the neck.” I was being vain and being poor at the same time and that led to making things that were truly beautiful in a completely different way. I feel like I want to be such a rebel child, but I am so soft. So my way of rebelling, the biggest way that I could think of in the confines of my budget and who I was as a person, was putting lockets right next to a watch or putting pearls right next to Cuban chains. It just unlocked a whole new power for me to take just about anything and imagine something completely brand-new.  It’s funny, too — when I first started and I didn’t have much capital I was stealing so much from Hobby Lobby. I was like “I hate being here in Texas, I hate this Protestant-owned company, I hate what they do against gay people. I’m just gonna rebel against it by stealing and then creating something gay.”  BM: Recently you’ve transitioned to your “modular” pieces. Why is this where you’ve shifted your creative energies?  EH: The idea just dawned on me when I was in a rush to have something new to show for my studio opening. There was no pre-planning, no vision board, no eureka moment. I was just playing with snake chains and magnetic clasps and drawstring beads I ordered. I ordered them all in bulk because I had this vision of wet, slippery metal, and the more I played with it, the more I was like, this could be wet and slippery all the time; it could be wet and slippery in between people. And then I made modular pieces. I love the concept of them because it allows anyone to play with jewelry as something that is not so dainty but is also very strong, and very mathematical.  BM: If I may draw upon our interest in Donna Haraway, these pieces feel like a manifestation of cyborg feminism: a dissolution of jewelry taxonomies; in active interplay with the body; a continuation of Petricore’s cyber aesthetics.  I'm literally screaming. You're talking to me and I'm talking to you. Now that you're telling me Donna Haraway I'm freaking out because — I'm gonna get personal now — I don't know what it is about our friendship that has carried me through so much of my life without you even being present. I'm so impatient I can't read Donna Haraway, but I hold on to the titles and the tidbits that you say, and I'm sure that I use them in my art.  BM: I’m the theory, you're the practice.  EH: No, it's so crazy. So what this is reminding me of is that in anything I make the general themes that I want to embody is the delicate balance of soft and hard — and now with the modular collection, balancing use, function, form, fit and style all in one, which I think Japanese people do really well with all of their design. Good design being a piece that fits into your life, in its philosophy as well as its use case, as well as it just simply being so beautiful — which is a fucking woman. BM: Oh my god yes.  EH: It's just a pregnant woman.  BM: So when you’re balancing all these disparate themes and ways of being, how do you conceptualize the life force of your art? Are you the agent, or are the materials? EH: I'm such a messy person. I mean, I just exploded into mania. When I do Petricore, it's truly a feeling of such deep catharsis for me, because I literally have no idea what I am doing at any point in time — which is why I'm so confused when people say they like it because I feel like it's a scam. I feel like a scam artist sometimes, even though I'm literally making art and I'm pricing it fairly and I deliver. It’s just a ball of confusion for me.  I do everything backward. I buy so many pieces in bulk, and I spend a lot of money on them, just so that I can be in debt and then have as much time and space as I need to make something beautiful that I know will happen. It's this delusional faith in knowing that the art will come out, because it has come out time and time again, and people have loved it time and time again. And that's why I feel like it’s a scam, I guess, because I do it backward, but I'm scamming myself into believing that I'll be a good artist, and so I turned into a good artist.  BM: I think you might have landed upon the only way to be an artist.  EH: Yeah. Now I want to get into painting after I had my big break [laughs] well, breakdown. I just want to be a painter now. I do want to do Petricore but I have it figured out, and it's easy for me to do now. It seems like a cycle of just doing because I locked into something, a medium that feels original and beautiful in all facets of good design — and so I don't have to “think” about Petricore anymore. It has its own self-revolving diametric of play and work. But I miss discovering things, I miss the chase, and now I think that will have to happen with painting or drawing.  BM: What is it like to experience your career (and life) online and has it informed your work? EH: It seriously has. I had my psychotic break online which is a really big and funny moment for me because I was like “Oh my God, I cut my hair like Lane from Serial Experiments Lane. Am I God?” Everything felt like a metaphor upon itself, upon itself, which was me. And that is real, if you want to think about it that way. Your phone could be so real, especially because I started Petricore online. Everything I did that helped me become myself was online so I had a really hard time separating myself from my phone.  I saw myself in everything and it's too easy to do that. But now that I'm out of that moment, I still think it's miraculous, the ability to be with the world on such a grand scale, to create art at such a grand scale, to discover art and exchange goods at such a grand scale. I wouldn't be an artist without my phone, and I wouldn't be an artist without Instagram, but I am an artist at heart and in soul. I think it's going to be a lifelong journey of knowing and trusting that it's in my body and not on my phone.  BM: Phone is just a tool.  EH: Phone need not be pregnant woman. BM: You’re the pregnant woman. The phone is just the sonogram.  EH: Oh my god yes.  BM: How and why did you come to work in a studio?  EH: I found a group of people who all had a greater vision for their work. We were all chasing different things, but together made a truly precious space to create. My life circumstances aren’t compatible to keep up with it, but while it worked it helped me really solidify what Petricore could be.  The stability of being able to clock into a space and make things is so important for anyone. When I first got it, I remember going there and taking the time to organize all of my little bits, all of my used pieces that I hauled over from Texas. They’re still sitting there in their tiny little boxes since I’ve yet to do much with my old upcycling practice because I had the time and space to create a new idea while keeping all my little found treasures near and organized. That did so much for my headspace; It did so much for my confidence. I wasn't just a college student, splaying out everything I ever owned on the floor and trying to see things from it. I think every artist really deserves to have a consistent space like that. Murakami said something about being consistent, but I don't like him.  BM: Actually, I think Esther Hong said that.  EH: Yeah, fuck him.  BM: What advice do you have for pursuing a creative career?  EH: Being with friends, connecting with friends. Friends are the best thing for any creative. I feel like the state of play is really hard to access as a creative in this world, and it feels like delusion, because the world is really fast and hard and rough, and to be an artist is a very crazy thing to do technically.  Every epiphany I've had that has helped me create something real has come from conversation and just being in awe of another person's mind, even though it has nothing to do with me. Like us, when we would just talk about girlhood, literature, fashion, secrets — that led to thinking about beautiful things, which led to searching for something like that in my life…butterfly effect.  It has such a magnificent impact on creatives because that's their own working mind they don't share with other people. The more you talk, the more you realize truths for yourself, and the more real your art gets, and then one day, it comes out in something beautiful.  BM: Where is Petricore going next?  EH: Oh my God, I don't know. I have many ideas. One of them is building a modular system that interconnects seamlessly with each other. So I can see how this bracelet can make two earrings, or how a belt can be broken into two necklaces. Create a diagram or an ever-growing database that allows you to see which piece can connect with which to give wearers unlimited agency to modulate their own wear and use function, every time. Basically arithmetizing my pieces so that I can add a whole new layer to the accessibility feature, where it could be like a game that you play or items to collect to make something big.  For more information about Petricore, including upcoming drops or custom orders, please visit their Instagram .   🌀 Brandi Martin is a writer, artist, and self-professed femcel scholar. Her work often covers post-structural feminism, monstrosity in the horror genre, and aesthetics.

The New York designer talks about the inspiration behind his FW25 collection. Does anyone know color better than Colin LoCascio ? You'd be hard-pressed — especially this season — to find anyone with the temerity and taste necessary to embrace such vibrance. Hailing from Queens, the 31-year-old designer cut his teeth at RISD, then became a 2023 finalist for the CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund prize after establishing his namesake brand. LoCascio's ascendancy comes at a time when American design finds itself at a crossroads — NYFW, both across the Fall/Winter and Spring/Summer seasons, followed an unusually sparse calendar, and rising tariffs now push designers' sales and craftsmanship trajectories. It's easy to feel embittered by this tension, but designers like LoCascio understand a fundamental truth this season: hope is the thing with feathers. This interview has been edited for length and clarity. Savannah Eden Bradley: Your Fall/Winter 2025 collection seems to mark a new chapter for the brand — both in terms of craftsmanship and personal evolution. How did your time in the CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund shape your approach to this collection? Colin LoCascio: Being a part of the CVFF was such a transformative experience. During the fund, you are constantly meeting industry insiders and pitching your brand- — what makes it special, what makes it different, and ultimately why they should choose you. That process really allowed me to identify my brand and what I stand for. I looked back at the last 5 years of collections and used that as the building blocks of the new collection. I identified key elements from my collection and doubled down on those. SEB: You note Van Gogh’s “Yellow House” period as an influence, a time marked by change, optimism, and intense artistic experimentation. How did these themes manifest in your design process, both aesthetically and emotionally? CL: I was really inspired by the color palette that Van Gogh worked with in that era. The sentiment of starting anew and going in a new direction [with ]the work he created at the time echoed the sentiment of my collection. "Over the last few years, we’ve built a visual vocabulary and language for the brand, and now it’s just about evolving and elevating." SEB:  Your signature florals have transformed into tactile, sculptural elements this season, appearing in both hand-embroidered and 3D-printed forms. What excites you most about this interplay between centuries-old techniques and futuristic fabrication? CL: I wanted to explore new materials and new ways to imagine my signature flowers. 3D printing was always something I wanted to explore, and this collection felt like the best time to do it! I really liked the idea of rooting the world of technology and 3D printing in more historical mediums like hand embroidery and hand dyeing. SEB:  Moreover: handwork — dyeing, embellishing, crochet — plays a major role in this collection. What draws you to these intimate, labor-intensive techniques, and how do you see them coexisting with the more digital aspects of fashion’s future? CL: I think the artistry in fashion [lies] in the pattern-making, the artistry of the handwork and finishings. Our customer loves to see some “hand” in the work we develop. I love being able to collaborate and work with centuries-old techniques and people whose skills are passed down [from] generation to generation. SEB:  Your early work was known for its print-heavy mesh designs, but this collection moves toward intricate, highly crafted pieces that have even appeared on major red carpets. How do you see your brand identity evolving while staying true to its core DNA? CL: Over the last few years, we’ve built a visual vocabulary and language for the brand, and now it’s just about evolving and elevating. Our brand is founded and rooted on the love of color and texture and the idea that fashion can be a means of self-care and self-expression. Our customer base is older than when we first launched, and she’s looking for new things from us. SEB:  Fashion is in an ongoing dialogue with technology, but there’s often a tension between the digital and the handmade. In your view, what is the future of fashion craftsmanship, and how do you see your work pushing that conversation forward? CL: I think the future of fashion is about embracing both aspects of digital and the handmade — finding new ways of incorporating centuries-long techniques in new and fresh ways. I think the future of craftsmanship is [in] utilizing technology and various mediums to further world-build within your collection. You may view the entire Colin LoCascio FW25 collection here . 🌀 Savannah Eden Bradley  is a writer, fashion editor, gallerina, Gnostic scholar, reformed It Girl, and future beautiful ghost from the Carolina coast. She is the Editor-in-Chief of the fashion magazine HALOSCOPE. You can stalk her everywhere online @savbrads.

A glimpse into the forgotten Gen X Soft Club aesthetic. Being nostalgic for a future that will never exist is nothing new; Gen Xers did it first — but only after fantasizing about it. Sure, we now know that technology is only going to get worse until it gets better; the internet is growing increasingly hostile, AI is slowly but surely hunting all of its corners, and it has been hard to avoid digital doomerism ever since the years began to start with the number 2. There was, however, a small window of time during which these technological changes, as fast as they were being developed, brought not only hope but a joyous portrait of the future.  And thus, from the brief period between c. 1997 and 2002, the Gen X Soft Club aesthetic lived. Coined by Sloane A. Hilton , Gen X Soft Club originated in a time marked by huge and hasty technological development that was responsible for many of the hopes and fears of these years. This was the time when the Internet was taking its first steps as a commercial vehicle and physical distance was becoming less of a nuisance in communications. Technological advancements were making the future seem bright and exciting; surfing the internet became a way of exploration, as if it were uncharted waters. The digital world was new and huge, and everyone was curious about it. All of this, together with the advances and marketability of quick and easy ways of communicating with each other (think of the “novelty of texting”), created highly abstract spaces and digital landscapes that are reflected in the art and overall aesthetic of these years. And, just as the ‘80s found its way of projecting a fictional future in flying cars and spaceships, Gen X’s future came in the shape of shifting, blurry cities painted in artificial colors and in vast and alien spaces such as the ocean or the space that aimed to mirror the artificiality and otherness of this newly discovered digital world. All of this is better understood by picturing one of the most representative shapes of the era: the Blobject , a design style defined by the lack of sharp edges and the presence of bright colors, and is known for being the hallmark of this era’s technology. Designers such as Ross Lovegrove  and Karim Rashid  were some of its pioneers, working closely with these futuristic, organic shapes. In Charles Reeve ’s exhibition catalog  for Karim Rashid’s From 15 Minutes into the Future (2007), the blobject  is mentioned in relation to the artist’s curiosity and hope for the future, reversing the, at times, terrifying expectations of previous generations regarding technological advancements. Recent references to this iconic shape include viral moments like Coperni’s Glass Mini Swipe  or Diesel’s Play bag ; although not in the same spirit, these models are clear examples of the functionality of the shape — even though back then the blob was the embodiment of unfulfilled potential, a shape adjustable enough to hold the infinite possibilities imagined back then. The irregular, fluctuating roundness of the blob mirrored living organisms and cells, and yet it made the digital world feel alien and artificial instead of fully alive. Sea motives, drops of water, silver, and transparent/translucent textures were ever-present, alluding to the growing fluidity of time and space technology was enabling. Contemporary music videos, such as George Michael’s Fastlove  (1996)  or O-Town’s Liquid Dreams  (2000) , made use of these motives, and artists such as Aaliyah,   Janet Jackson , and Hype Williams  were part of the creators that forged this aesthetic that heavily relied on its inherent coolness, metallic textures, and real or imaginary technology. Imaginary internet spaces trickled down to architecture and design; the digital became the physical by force of using plastic materials, artificial colors, and round interiors, finding inspiration in either the retro-futuristic design of the ‘70s or the radical, bluish minimalism of spaces like waiting rooms or laboratories.  This digital, modern spirit was all mirrored in the fashion and styling of the time: the ‘90s minimalism that we all know and love, although still somehow present in the depurated lines and use of cold neutrals, shifted towards a more metallic and futuristic palette and a style that drew a lot of its elements from the UK and Japan’s club scene and contemporary hip hop fusion. This mix of minimalism and utilitarianism was seen in the presence of tube tops and clean lines, in the voracious attempts to make clothes look shiny and artificial by using polyester, mesh, and nylon, and in the ethereal makeup colors that often worked with white/silvery eyeshadows, cold shades, and shiny lip glosses.  “Statistically,” fashion photographer Sarah Moon   stated , “it's a fact that every decade or so, a bubble bursts on the scene.” The novelty of image accessibility was both an overwhelming burden and a photogenic dream; consumers were bombarded with images of objects they could access but could not have at the same time. In many ways, they were the first ones to translate digital sensibilities into the real world through images. The heavy reliance on abstract environments and online artificiality made it hard to recreate; however, it was slow in a world that was getting faster by the second. The social issues that go into the bursting of a bubble may vary, but its fabric is the same — in chasing novelty, fashion always meets its limitations, and, as the recession hit, the social spirit shifted towards evasion rather than optimism, leaving way to what we now call the Y2K aesthetic.  At its very core, Gen X Soft Club did not just address the new contemporary digital reality in which Gen Xers lived; it also translated digital landscapes to metaphors, tying together the new technological reality that came from the expansion of cyberspace. The newly developed digital landscape came with a deep sense of displacement: "If not here, then everywhere else,” it seemed to scream. Privacy suddenly dissipated, and in its place appeared a world in which being a voyeur into someone else’s life was the norm. This new fear of voyeurism and promiscuity is seen in MVs such as  Jennifer Lopez’s “If You Had My Love” (1999),  in which a woman’s life was completely accessible via livestream (this fear was later on embraced, giving birth to reality TV…). Some of these issues feel eerily contemporary; instead of solving the problem, time would only aggravate it. As Gen X’s future catches up on us, are we revisiting its futuristic optimism, or have the remnants of this aesthetic taken on a new meaning in today’s digital world? The promised digital land has already been explored, and the new technological reality is not looking that good. We now find ourselves in a sort of neo-retrofuturistic  idealism that can be seen in a lot of the designs, colors, photographs and materials used in contemporary fashion and art: from Pat McGrath’s glossy, synthetic Glass Skin for Margiela to the rediscovery of old tech and their design (such as Coperni’s bag/CD player or the iPod Nano/hair clips), Soft Club’s projected future is being simultaneously projected onto ours.  Our way of keeping up with the future is, however, subtle and slow. As the fear of technological advances and of being under a constant state of surveillance impregnates our social fabric once again, we find ourselves yearning for a time in which the Internet was a place of easy exploration and fun. There have been subtle attempts at rekindling this spirit by repurposing technology (the mentioned iPod Nanos as hair clips, wires as hair ties, used fish nets as t-shirts…), resurrecting the hazy portrayal of urban life, mixing terrestrial and alien looks, or reintroducing club music to the mainstream. New anti-surveillance spirit is often seen but rarely explicitly experienced: high-fashion moments like LOEWE’s SS25 feather masks , brands like OHMNI (self-described as the “ last frontier at preserving your privacy, autonomy, and rights over your body and your data ”), MVs such as Amaia’s “M.A.P.S"  or album concepts such as Oklou’s choke enough ;  they all seek to highlight the state of surveillance and the impossibility of keeping up with internet images.  If the fears of these years were unfounded, why are they still present? As we sit and witness AI infiltrate every single aspect of our lives, the alienation of workers in the fashion industry, could we take refuge in an organically artificial  cyber-landscape? By propelling this ultra artificiality, by willing digital landscapes into reality, can we also transform the future of fashion into a more sustainable way of repurposing technological waste? The future certainly points in that direction right now, just as it did back in 1999. And perhaps this bubble will burst, too. In the meantime, the cities should remain blurred. 🌀 Paula Luengo is a freelance writer based in Madrid. Her writing explores subjects that go from music to fashion and media analysis, with a nostalgic eye for the old and battered. Find her on X , on  IG , or anywhere in between.

Designer Maria Grazia Chiuri looked to vintage Dior — and Lewis Carroll’s childhood classic — for divine inspiration. Christian Dior’s childhood home shaped his favourite colours within couture: “ very soft pink, combined with gray gravel. ” This colour palette comprises Dior’s new Spring/ Summer 2025 haute couture collection. Designed under the artistic direction of Maria Grazia Chiuri, the first female director of the atelier ( who is also rumoured to be leaving ), the collection returned to themes of childhood and femininity, while also upholding Chiuri’s emphasis on the female gaze and devotion toward archival collections, creating a dialectic between past and future Dior.  To begin constructing the collection, Chiuri looked towards vintage Dior, particularly La Cigale  from the Fall/Winter 1952 collection and the 1958 Trapeze  line, the first collection designed by Yves Saint Laurent following Dior’s passing. She also turned to Alice In Wonderland  for inspiration, and, in a romantic return to Rococo-esque aesthetics, I see a trapped child-woman reminiscent of Marie Antoinette. Conceived by Christian Dior himself, La Cigale  was manufactured with a blend of cotton, rayon, and acetate. Although the structure designed to hold the shape is unknown, it is thought to have a stiff petticoat supporting it. To create the iconic silhouette, Dior utilised and accentuated feminine shapes, unusual seams, and multiple pointed shapes, a direct contrast to the streamlined fashion popularised by the post-war style. For the 1952 Paris Collections report, former Vogue  editor Jessica Daves nicknamed it the “ Queen of Hearts skirt ” which aligns with Chiuri’s nod to  Wonderland . The silhouette of La Cigale  can be seen in multiple garments for this year's Spring/Summer collection through the crinolines, panniers, and even the skirts of the dresses that lack them, too, through high-low and asymmetrical hems. Through the return to archival Dior, Chiuri is upholding her ”commitment to modernising the female gaze.” In the Trapeze collection, Yves Saint Laurent echoed the 1920s waistless silhouette with narrow shoulders and bell sleeves as well as Dior’s 1947 A-line skirt. The afternoon dresses in the collection included centre-front buttons and bows, referenced by Chiuri. Peter Pan collars were included in the Trapeze  collection, and while some of the garments showcased the collars, they’ve been reimagined to fit Chiuri’s vision. For Trapeze , Saint Laurent devised flattering and elegant designs, suiting Dior tradition — like his predecessor and mentor, it’s clear that Saint Laurent wanted to curate glamorous sartorial experiences that celebrate the female body. Writer Barbara A. Schreier noted that “... a woman had only to step into a Dior gown; the interior scaffolding did the rest. ” The same can be said for Chiuri’s collection, which balances a streamlined structure with flounces, adding a sense of elegance throughout the garments.  Back in  Wonderland , Chiuri borrows the concept of the looking glass as a metaphor for the studio’s mirrors. Suspending past and future in a dream-like aura, Chiuri yet again focused on femininity in fashion to contextualize the Dior brand. Using La Cigale’s silhouette, original moiré fabrics, and the Trapeze  lines’ “baby doll” effect of obscuring the body beneath the garment, the Dior identity is sartorially reimagined with crinolines and panniers. The crinolines are modernised and visible, similar to the visible underwiring of the corsets, bustiers, and blouses. Some are layered with draped organza skirts, while others have the cage structures visible with cascading hand-crafted flowers and intricate embroidery, creating “ entrancing effects of transparency and layering. ” The adorning of flowers and bows, united with feathery organza pleats, ruching, and ruffles achieves a slinky, gliding effect upon movement. The flower branches that drape the skirt accentuate contrasting proportions and create different focal points, thereby “ [yielding] to the most excessive fantasies and motifs. ” The garments that lack the large crinolines have either a small embroidered skirt or tulle embroidered culottes with a fitted tailcoat to continue Chiuri’s proportion play.  While the colour scheme is primarily Dior’s favoured pink and grey, some designs feature a sobering black, which helps to highlight the minutest of motions within the garments’ swing and foreground the fitted tailcoats. The longer dresses shine with burnished silver embroidery. The delicacy of the whimsy is juxtaposed against the organza feather mohicans, integrating a punky pastoral quality into the look. This “flower-woman” and “bird-woman” evoke Carrollian fairy gardens, elevating the outlandish contradictions within Wonderland. This metamorphosed return to childhood is playful and evocative, a continual “hide-and-seek.”; the lace-trimmed culottes, according to Chiuri, are the “buried memory of a child-woman capable of crossing as many boundaries as she wishes, adapting the world to her scale: immense or tiny.” The garments render these models as curious, careful child-women rediscovering who they are after falling through to Wonderland. In this sartorial fusion of girl and woman, it allows the child-woman a suspended, dream-like space to explore her soul, without expectation or perception.  In recent years, there has been a significant rise in design deconstruction, with corsets turned into shapewear and underwear into outerwear. Maria Grazia Chiuri is certainly following suit, continuing this trend with visible corsetry. Evoking a sense of neo-romanticism, she designs around the boning structures, accentuating them yet also heeding contemporary boundaries to create her own look suspended within and without. A significant element of the new line is the use of panniers, crinolines, culottes, and petticoats — underwear worn as outerwear. Certainly, culottes and petticoats, with their layers, can be experimented with and reinterpreted to transform the figure and clothing for a modern audience. Seeing these designs come to life makes me believe in the reclamation and resurgence of historical attire. Crinolines and panniers are slightly more difficult to refresh, but haute couture may start using these to create structure and silhouette, a la Jean Paul Gaultier or Simone Rocha.   Recently, at the Critics Choice Awards, Ariana Grande wore one of the pieces from Dior’s new collection and Leighton Meester wore a Dior gown reminiscent of the new collection’s colour palette, with visible corsetry, embellished with sequins, similar to the longer gowns — however floor-length, with multiple layers and much less structure. Luxury clothing brands and high street fashion may take inspiration from and transform crinolines and panniers into peplums to keep a structural design in evening wear.  Since succeeding Raf Simons in 2016, Maria Grazia Chiuri continues to prove herself as a designer reshaping the cultural zeitgeist of fashion. Chiuri revives classic silhouettes with beautiful aesthetics metamorphosed into Alice in Wonderland’s  eternal child-woman. 🌀 Hazel J  is an artist and freelance writer focusing on fashion, film, and literature. She can be found on Instagram @hazelaart.

The accessories designer embraced the world of performance art this season. Brooklyn icon and jewelry and handbag designer extraordinaire Alexis Bittar  showed his latest collection  at New York Fashion Week for the first time with a performance art piece at Performance Space New York.  After a wait on the streets of the East Village, intensified by the February cold, a chic crowd of guests in their Fashion Week best was taken up an elevator to a hallway with a tasteful photo op with the brand’s logo, and, at the other end, a dark space with a stage where the performance looped for three hours. The collection was displayed in front of the stage in glass cases, for guests to admire, walk around, and experience the art, jewelry, and handbags. Select guests were also wearing the collection and Alexis Bittar team members wore all-black outfits with pieces from the brand, adding a level of IRL approachability to the experience rare for Fashion Week shows; runway shows can often do the opposite and make the designs seem unapproachable, unwearable, and more appropriate for fantasies than for day-to-day life. The performance was a choreographed loop where a woman sits at her vanity in her underwear, looking into “not a mirror, but a portal.” Five other performers, zipped up in sheer, tan-colored latex suits from head to toe, act as “humanoid AI attendants,” moving robotically around the woman and performing domestic chores. At her vanity, the woman finds everything she needs to become a specific version of herself: jewelry, of course; a fabulous handbag; orange bottles of prescription medication; and makeup. A crackling soundtrack boomed as the performers repeated their mechanical, rigid choreography, featuring cicadas, a TV ad with a woman’s voice describing makeup products, and eerie static. The set, which blended the aesthetic of the ‘80s and ‘90s with an “imagined future in 2050,” helped create an intimate bubble, where guests watched as the woman grasped at societal expectations of beauty.  The FW25 pieces are poetic and alluring. In Bittar’s style, sculptural pieces that play with shape and texture push the boundaries of what we understand as jewelry, like a pair of earrings with giant, clear, liquid pendants linked together by small golden pieces resembling sections of a backbone. A red handbag with golden hardware shaped like sewing scissors had a retro air. A bangle with one edge formed like a lying lioness carried an edgy mysticism. Seeing the pieces on selected guests and performers ablated the icy cold sensation of the glass cases and made the collection come alive. The choice to showcase the collection against symbolism-laden performance art gave the pieces an air of mystique. The person who wears Alexis Bittar is perhaps trying to free themselves from the social confinements of what is deemed “appropriate” for someone of a specific gender or age. Bittar had plenty to say and gave his collection the chance to do so, through art straight out of the Uncanny Valley. The collection holds weight on its own, but the message landed firmly through the presentation, directed by the designer himself.  Everything about this presentation was thoughtful and meticulous. Showing at Performance Space NY  was not a thoughtless logistical choice either. This venue prides itself on “propelling cultural, theoretical, and political discourse forward” for the “last 40 years,” and is a cornerstone of queer culture. It became a “haven” for queer and radical voices during the AIDS epidemic, and it carries forward this history and legacy.  Influencers, however, don’t seem to know the etiquette of enjoying performance art. I found the photo op near the entrance a tasteful indicator of what would be appropriate inside the room  — enjoying the art, perhaps photographing the jewelry —  but this didn’t stop anyone from standing in front of the stage and taking photos. Someone had placed their belongings over one of the glass cases, covering up the collection. While fashion week is filled with passionate people and moments of genuine connection, many of us seem to only be interested in being seen, rather than doing the seeing. 🌀 7.6 Laura Rocha-Rueda  is a Colombian fashion and fiction writer based in Brooklyn who holds a Creative Writing MFA from The New School. She is your local Swiftie and will gladly chat about anything glittery and soft, and about why dismissing pop culture as frivolous is misguided and sad.

Thoughts on the Tod's renaissance, Julian Klausner at Dries Van Noten, and a sale at Marina Moscone. Welcome to The HALO Report — HALOSCOPE’s new weekly digest, an of-the-moment mix of news items, opinion pieces, and sale announcements designed to keep you posted on the nitty-gritty of the fashion world and all of its tangents without having to keep a constant eye on your feed.  This week, Sandy Liang gives us nothing in a frustratingly dry interview, “rubber lips” are in, Tod’s is the new epitome of chic, the ex-wife gets a redemption arc via jewelry, pants with pockets that turn into punctuation marks are on sale, and more. The latest long-ish reads from the brightest minds in fashion. From Timmy Chalamet’s buttery leather Givenchy suit to, of course, the unimpeachable Colman Domingo in crimson Valentino, it’s true that “ On the 2025 Oscars Red Carpet, Men Had All the Fun .” In the Vogue  piece by José Criales-Unzueta, the writer notes that since we are so primed as a culture to accept the bare minimum of a well-groomed man in a black tux as applause-worthy, efforts like Jeff Goldblum’s whimsical boutonniere or Jeremy Strong’s abstract take on a bow tie are enough to mesmerize.  In a valiant attempt at an interview, Viv Chen of The Molehill  writes “ i asked sandy liang about the bow tax ,” but unfortunately, the designer’s answers to Chen’s thoughtful, expansive questions were, in a word, dry. Liang went so far as to claim she barely knows what the word often associated with her brand, “coquette,” means, and politely demurred when Chen initiated a conversation about the so-called bow tax. It’s fine not to prioritize an intellectual engagement with your brand, but Sandy Liang (the label) has long courted a specific type of bow-loving intelligentsia, filling its front row with so-called critics who spew word salad about the ontologies of girlhood — it feels a little weird to step into the end of the pool marked “DANGER! DEEP WATER” and find that you’re still in the shallows.  “ Welcome To The Lip Balm Economy ” by Totally Recommend is a well-researched, historically informed look at what the lip makeup the market pushes at any given moment says about that era’s economy: lipstick (or, in the 2020s case, lip balm) is a tiny factor of one’s life that can feel controllable in the face of overwhelming economic anxiety, hence the fetishization of Hailey Bieber’s “glazed donut” maw.  As someone who never has and never will be able to wear even the slightest of heels, Camille Freestone’s “ The Enduring Appeal of Christian Louboutin’s So Kate Pumps ” for Refinery29 was like a dispatch from another world, one in which a near-vertical incline of one’s foot is a given, the world of stars like Zendaya and Kate Moss. A few of Hypebae’s “ 10 Beauty Trends Already Defining FW25 ” by Valeriya Chupinina are a given — 90s makeup? Groundbreaking — but some ideas, like huge lashes or “rubber lips,” are genuinely inspiring and seem daily achievable at home. What to keep in mind — and look forward to — in the past and coming weeks. You may not think of Tod’s when you list the first ten high fashion houses that come to mind, but this season’s showing  may change that — creative director Matteo Tamburini has found his stride with an eloquent but not too  understated interpretation of minimalism that charmed attendees of Milan Fashion Week. Loro Piana also wowed  with a collection inspired by Argentine gauchos, English Aristos, and other global horse-riding cultures, using rich colors and layers upon layers of sumptuous fabric to re-prove itself as the epitome of an Old Money-worthy label.  Today, maybe as you read this, Julian Klausner debuts as the new Dries Van Noten creative director  following the departure of Van Noten himself last year — let us know on Instagram  what your thoughts are if you catch the show! For those of us ending no-buys in March, Gemsun’s latest collection  is deliriously tempting with its cropped summer cardigans, boatneck T-shirts, coats with built-in scarves, and more carefully-considered warm-weather garb. Hai’s latest fare  is just as tempting, with crisp linen-cotton sets that will be perfect for the sun come May.  Jeweler Lia Lowenthal of LL, LLC presents an AW25 collection  inspired by the concept of “the ex-wife”: necklace charms read “I LOVE YOU” in the Chase Bank font, rings are engraved with the words “mysterious acts” in French, and more details gorgeously rendered in precious metals add to an aura of irreverent freedom that Lowenthal hopes will redeem the ex-wife from her shameful connotations.  For Yahoo Finance, Colleen Barry writes that “ Prada posts double-digit growth in 2024 in a down market as it eyes Versace acquisition ,” suggesting a union of one of the coolest brands of the 2020s with one of the least feted. Will Prada be able to snatch Versace from the jaws of death? What do Donatella and Miuccia talk about over drinks at Fashion Week? We are asking the important questions! Less about impulse buys — and more about tracking discounts on the pieces already on your wishlist.  The Bungee Space winter sale  is replete with bizarro wearable sculptures by the likes of Fey Fey Worldwide (think pants with pockets that, when turned inside out, hang at the hips as puffy punctuation marks) alongside more straightforward wintry gear by Baserange, Paloma Wool, and more highbrow labels.  Marina Moscone’s Friends and Family Sale  takes up to an unholy 80% off cutesy cotton pajama sets, decidedly not-cutesy blazers with sculpted waists, sub-$200 party dresses, and more.  Long tie-dye puffer coats, surprisingly (for the brand) understated lounge sets, and gorgeous knits depicting a cloudy sky or sunset are all 50% off in the Helmstedt seasonal sale . Aether Apparel offers up to 60% off  its technically-savvy winter gear: fleeces, snow pants, and even items that are hard to find stylish iterations of like snow bibs are all up for grabs.   With SALE10, get an extra 10% off The Outnet’s on-sale slew  of Vince poplin shirts (some for under $40 with the code), Ganni going-out tops, Jacquemus cutout dresses, and much more.   🌀 Em Seely-Katz is the creator of the fashion blog Esque, the News Editor of HALOSCOPE, and a writer, stylist, and anime-watcher about town. You can usually find them writing copy for niche perfume houses or making awful collages at @that.esque on Instagram.

Thoughts on Simone Bellotti at Jil Sander, plastic boobs, and a sale at Rowing Blazers. Welcome to The HALO Report — HALOSCOPE’s new weekly digest, an of-the-moment mix of news items, opinion pieces, and sale announcements designed to keep you posted on the nitty-gritty of the fashion world and all of its tangents without having to keep a constant eye on your feed.  This week, outdated trends deserve love too, we need to wear MORE CLOTHES (but not in the way the industry tells us to), huge boobs are the latest going-out top, Simone Bellotti takes his place at the helm of Jil Sander, Doechii dominates, Chloé clogs and Fair Isle knits are on sale, and more. The latest long-ish reads from the brightest minds in fashion. “ 9 Outdated Fashion Trends That Vogue Editors Still Love in 2025 ” for, of course, Vogue  by Christian Allaire, is a quiet win for sustainability in fashion—romanticizing the outdated trend (among those listed are Crocs, PS1 bags, and of course, skinny jeans) is a mentality that has potential to encourage less turnaround in one’s closet and more long-term appreciation of pieces that don’t feel current. Now, if only the piece hadn’t listed the infamously un -sustainable Canada Goose puffer… Cult Classic ’s Tara Maria Gonzales writes “ The Fashion Film No One Talks About (Enough) Inspired My Future Mugshot ” about—make your guess now—yes, Party Girl  (1995), a film that I’d argue is talked about enough and is about to be talked about more  than enough in light of Parker Posey’s White Lotus -induced renaissance. Still, the film’s wardrobe is undeniably fun to peruse, especially when guided by a good writer.  If you’re unfamiliar with Canadian indie fashion, “ My All-Time Favourite Canadian Brands ” by Isabel Slone is a great starting point. Not a good time for US-dwellers to get into Canadian labels, maybe, but it's great for those elsewhere and prudent to keep in mind for when (and if) relations between the US and Canada ever recover from recent foolishness.  “ The More Clothes Manifesto ” by sustainable designer Janelle Abbott will radicalize you, as it should—as someone deeply invested in the fashion world herself, Abbott’s message is all the more dire. There are ways we can slow the production of, at the moment, one billion-some garments per year without completely tanking the industry.  “ Doechii’s Glam Team Said ‘Oui!’ to Dominating Paris Fashion Week ” by Vogue ’s Ana Cafolla is a fun look at the new star’s past week in outfits and glam—it's hard not to get verklempt at Doechii’s victory lap after a meteoric rise this winter. What to keep in mind — and look forward to — in the past and coming weeks. Sometimes, it feels like the fashion world plays tricks on us… the discordance both of Demna’s latest Balenciaga show , which felt stale, uninspired, and superfluous in its attempts at elevating streetwear for the 47th time, and Nicolas Ghesquière’s showing at Louis Vuitton , which had some excellent moments but on the whole failed to prove itself as essential or urgent, might make one long for the years Ghesquière made revelatory work at Balenciaga (sans grisly CSAM controversies). The opening and closing looks at Duran Lantink , a feminine model in a plasticine top resembling a well-cut masculine torso and a masculine model wearing pendulous, gravity-defying breasts, trod the line between genuinely funny and tiresomely hammy—time will tell if these “looks” ever find context in actual closets (and if literally anything else about this collection is remembered).  On the heels of a well-received FW show , Simone Bellotti is appointed as the new Creative Director of Jil Sander . Bally-heads, Throwing Fits devotees, and androgynous dressers: rejoice.  Tomorrow, March 13, Cecilie Bahnsen drops its long-awaited collaboration with The North Face —the former’s famously frothy formalwear lends itself especially well to mashups with gorp-y labels (in the past, Subu and Asics), and this all-black capsule of romanticized techwear looks like it will fly off the e-shelves.   Wales Bonner’s FW25 collection, “Selah,”  is now available to preview , the always-on-point designs affording us a glimpse into the trends that will dominate the scene come fall: duffle coats as writer Jalil Johnson  has championed all season (both a fairly conventional iteration and one rendered in baggy leather), sculpted-waist jackets a la Doechii in Schiaparelli’s version of a Canadian tux , tons of fringe, and more. Less about impulse buys — and more about tracking discounts on the pieces already on your wishlist.  Ahead of the impending warm weather, take an extra 10% off Deiji Studio’s sale section  full of linen sets and a few quirky knits with VIP10. Though we were disappointed last week  with the designer’s reluctance to engage intellectually with her own work, we can’t deny that Sandy Liang cuts a good going-out top, many of which are among the dozens of pieces up for 15% off  (alongside the requisite pleated skirts and cardigans) to make way for next season’s wares.    Use FR20 to receive an additional 20% off the Luisaviaroma seasonal sale , which boasts studded Chloé clog/mule hybrids, Loulou Studio knits, limited-edition Salomons, and more.  If you’re a Fair Isle lover, a selection of pieces with the famed knitwear pattern are up for a 40% discount at Rowing Blazers  using FAIRISLE-FLASH, from fleece zip-ups to more legit knit sweaters.  In a classic buy more, save more sale, Solid & Striped offers up to 75% off  its beloved swimwear and cover-ups to kick off the warmer seasons.  🌀 Em Seely-Katz is the creator of the fashion blog Esque, the News Editor of HALOSCOPE, and a writer, stylist, and anime-watcher about town. You can usually find them writing copy for niche perfume houses or making awful collages at @that.esque on Instagram.

It’s the story of our clothes that matters — not their aesthetics. It’s February 2025 and Afghan coats are everywhere. For every black puffer jacket worn under the cold, white sky of London, there is a long, brown sheepskin coat with a fluffy trim. New York is similar; my friend describes the current fashion of the Lower East Side as looking more akin to the wardrobes of A Complete Unknown  than the bandage dresses of Anora.  Come summer, both sides of the Atlantic will shed their flared jeans for white prairie skirts and fitted turtlenecks for bohemian blouses. The jury is in: boho chic is back. Instagram fashion bible Databutmakeitfashion  predicts the style will be a definitive trend for the year, an assured assumption already declared by Vogue. Trendier labels such as Superdry and Urban Outfitters are already cashing in, the mannequins of their storefronts draped in white lace dresses and suede fringe. On the other end of spectrum, luxury brands are being championed by It girls like Daisy Edgar Jones, styled to exquisite boho extremes in thin flouncy fabrics and wooden clogs. For years, the unofficial uniform of rural summer festivals and cigarette-rolling students was bohemian dressing. Now it is once more part of the fibre of modern street dressing in a way not seen since the last iteration of Boho Chic in the noughties led by the likes of Edgar Jones’ foremothers Sienna Miller and Kate Moss.  “...Runway brands like Chloe and Isabel Marant are both boho with a Parisian edge that extends to the everyday audience,” stylist Lauren Glazer  tells me. “Even this Asos order I’ve put through has been directly inspired by Chloe’s boho movement.” Perhaps the writing was always on the lava lamp lit walls. Glazer attributes the resurgence of bohemian dressing to the popularity of the 2023 series Daisy Jones and the Six , which chronicles a rock band in the early 1970s. The impact was somewhat immediate: TikTok and Instagram surged in mood boards and ‘get the look’ collages, with pieces like cowboy boots and high-rise flared jeans upticking in sales. And two years prior, Taylor Swift’s Folklore  album, celebrated as a definitive sound of mandated lockdowns, ushered in prairie inspired fashion that reflected not just her album cover and music videos, but the slower, folkier sound of her new direction. Suddenly, peasant blouses and flowing white skirts, traditionally associated with European bohemia and the scene’s romanticism with rural living, were worn by young people in TikToks dancing in fields of flowers in homage to the album. This association between bohemian dressing and an album by the world’s biggest popstar has proven stubborn. “RIP Joan Baez,” someone tweeted a week ago after seeing the aforementioned Bob Dylan biopic. “You would’ve loved Folklore.”  Baez - who is still very much alive - with her paisley prints and modest white dresses, was more a reflection of the 1960s-bohemian dressing rather than a trend-setter in her own right. And when compared to Hunter S. Thompson’s vivid 1967 gonzo piece of his trip to Haight-Ashbury, the San Francisco neighbourhood that became something of a hippie headquarters throughout the decade, Baez’s dress seems almost more art teacher than revolutionary radical. “...He will be wearing a long Buddhist robe or a Sioux Indian costume,” Thompson wrote of a performer at a bar on Haight Street. “There will also be a hairy blond fellow wearing a Black Bart cowboy hat and a spangled jacket… Next to the drummer will be a dazed-looking girl wearing a blouse (but no bra) and a plastic mini skirt.” Today a look more associated with Coachella than commune, what was then a means of dressing to express dissatisfaction – if not total disassociation – with mainstream American society is in 2025 a series of outfits that would still be worn, if not significantly dialled down. A direct influence from the influx of Indian music and religion that circulated across the 1960s counter-culture, the period saw bohemian dressing encompass kaftans and Moccasin boots, turquoise jewellery and stacks of bangles. Today, Glazer says, boho chic is something “people like dipping into… Some people may want a cowboy boot or a suede fringed jacket. Something that can be brought into daily lives”, without whole-heartedly embracing the look. Even the original boho chic aesthetic of the noughties was a look associated with music festivals and hedonistic party girls; now even “corporate girls”, Glazer points out, are buying “pieces like tote bags and ruffled shirts”.  Sixty years ago, this means of dressing was accompanied with some degree of a lifestyle shift; this was an era that saw young Western people embrace Indian practices like transcendental meditation and, on the more radical side, commune living as described by Thompson. Cowboy styles and reclamations of the American flag was a physical display of anti-government protest; even the long hair sported by hippie men was a direct rebellion against the military crop mandatory for those drafted to the Vietnam war. The statement was assured. Out were the rigid structures of shirts and form-fitting skirts, designed to make young people look as much like their parents in their assumed path to grow up to be like them. In its place was a cacophony of symbols repurposing a new ideology and political mandate of the fight against international war, traditional norms, and an embrace of a peace and love ethos. In 2025, wearing an Afghan coat does not indicate a stance on Middle Eastern politics, but perhaps a girl crush on Kate Hudson’s character in Almost Famous.  Can bohemian dressing be revolutionary again? Can any style of dressing, in today’s culture of micro-trends and fast fashion, mean anything beyond personal aesthetic? Last month, Kanye West appeared on the red carpet with an utterly naked Bianca Censori. Far from ‘breaking the internet’ in the vein of Kim Kardashian’s nude photoshoot for Paper magazine a decade ago, the appearance was, for the most part, met with half-hearted disdain, with most of the discussion revolving around her facial expression. Are we simply beyond any article of clothing – or lack thereof – really meaning anything? “I think dressing can be an intentional, deeply spiritual thing,” Anushka Shah , founder and designer of sustainable bohemian brand Casa Nushki , says. With an emphasis on organically made and sustainably produced products, her store works with partners in Morocco and Latin America to create hippie style pieces inspired by these countries for today’s boho chic dressers. She acknowledges that today fast fashion “can copy literally anything” so it is “very hard for small brands to compete”, but does celebrate a positive impact of globalisation within a fashion aesthetic so reliant upon other countries’ cultures. “It has always been done by women and the artisans I work with have mentioned it being meditative, a way for them to feel connected to their culture and each other.” “With South American textiles… They were explaining to my friend in Peru the symbols within the tapestries. Mother Earth, it’s all very connected.” Shah and I discuss the current zeitgeist of young people travelling through Central and South America in a manner not dissimilar to the rush to India and Morocco in the 1960s. “The floral embroidery I work with in Oaxaca”, for example, “is a direct impression of the surrounding nature of the Sierra Norte.” Far from being the first American woman to pick up a guitar and sing ballads about love, Swift’s Folklore  album wasn’t necessarily pioneering in its sound. What did resonate so much with her audience to trigger a wave of field-running, flowing-skirt-dressing young people was that she broke with her former pop sound to express a sound more yearningly nostalgic, romantically pastoral, at a time we were all found ourselves introspectively gazing from within the confounds of lockdown. And perhaps the same can be said about the return of boho chic dressing. Whether explicitly sourcing pieces from a sustainable brand, or merely what we select upon the mannequins of our malls; a singular piece within the day’s outfit or an explicit influence upon an entire wardrobe; it is, perhaps, no mere coincidence we are once again turning to the styles that so define a longing for a freer, less turbulent life in a time of great national and international tension.  Are we all looking for something more romantic? Some type of escapism, an affinity for another time – or even other cultures – that can be reflected within the clothes we wear, without radically compromising our modern lifestyles? “I think bohemian dressing is back because people are on a quest for freedom and to live in a way that feels like it holds that,” Shah says.  For an aesthetic that transcends all avenues of clothes-making, from luxury fashion houses to fast fashion brands to independent labels such as Shah’s Casa Nushki, there’s even an argument to be made that in 2025, the bohemian ethos is centred less what the clothes look like but how they are made. Many pieces of this shabby and unkempt aesthetic are too, perhaps, ‘out there’ for fast fashion design, with an emphasis on the second hand; I am not the first to note our generation’s celebration of the hustle to source such pieces with genuine excitement. Go to any smoking area in London or New York and you’ll find a girl who will earnestly tell you a jacket or a belt was bought in a charity shop, a market abroad, or even – usually delivered with the most satisfaction – their mom’s. If the symbols of peace and flowers were sixty years ago a wearable manifestation of connecting with the earth, today the origin of the clothes themselves assert a desire to save it.  The heart of it, Shah tells me, is “knowing how something is made, the story behind it, the significance of it… Having things that are handmade, with soul, not mass produced.” Glazer, after a phone call discussing the difference between the integration of boho chic on the high street and bohemian dressing as a wardrobe aesthetic, agrees with Shah. “Look,” she tells me. “You’re either that girl or not.” 🌀 Bea Isaacson is a culture and travel writer based in London.

Thoughts on the preppy revival, how to dress like the Erewhon Cloud Smoothie, and a sale at Girlfriend Collective. Welcome to The HALO Report — HALOSCOPE’s new weekly digest, an of-the-moment mix of news items, opinion pieces, and sale announcements designed to keep you posted on the nitty-gritty of the fashion world and all of its tangents without having to keep a constant eye on your feed.  This week, dress like an Erewhon Cloud Smoothie with a side of liver, what the preppy revival might essay about the state of our fashion world, the irony of White Lotus  for H&M, Milan Fashion Week missives, GOOD socks on sale, and more. The latest long-ish reads from the brightest minds in fashion. Kayla Roolaart’s No Crumbs  is one of the only publications I know of that directly associates food with fashion, and “ Color Combinations I Love of Food Pairings I'd Hate ” is truly the blueprint for that crossover — Erewhon Cloud Smoothie + Liver and Mustard + Grape are my personal favorites from among this repertoire of nightmare snacks that make for brilliant outfit recipes. Seemingly following suit after last week’s Teen Vogue sustainability pledge , Vogue  curated “ The Best Vintage Looks From the 2025 Awards Season ,” including Cynthia Erivo in archival Givenchy by McQueen, Keke Palmer in 1985 Chanel (first worn on the red carpet by Jamie Lee Curtis decades ago!), Rachel Sennott in vintage D&G, and more.  Kendall Flavin’s article “ Anti-Intellectualism and the Prep Revival ” for The Dressing Room  makes the point that preppy fashion cannot exist without conservative undertones, all the more relevant in a world where Pete Davidson is getting his tattoos removed and Sabrina Carpenter’s has catapulted to the pinnacle of stardom on retro aesthetics alone.  I <3 Mess ’ Emily Kirkpatric continues to stun with her prescience (she predicted the pannier trend long ago) and wit, and her latest thoughts in “ Why? What have you heard? ” suggest that we may soon see celebrities wearing their hearts on their sleeves, literally — think anatomically-correct, innards-as-outers viscera couture.  “ Style How to Style Oversized Suits, The Celeb-Approved Trend to Watch in 2025 ” by Sara Delgado for Teen Vogue  is a genuinely helpful tool for people like me whose bodies aren’t necessarily proportioned for effortless, Julia Roberts-esque suit-wearing: apparently, it’s all in the tie. What to keep in mind — and look forward to — in the past and coming weeks. “ How The White Lotus Costume Designer Used Season 3’s ‘Escapist Aesthetic’ To Create An H&M Collab ” by Victoria Montalti for Refinery29  is an interesting article in that it doesn’t seem to acknowledge the irony of making a mass-produced, fast-fashion collection in tribute to a show that revolves around the foibles of the wealthy — the mention of an “escapist aesthetic” is deeply ironic in light of White Lotus ’ actual message that you can’t escape from the existential terror of being human, even when you’re rich, even on vacation. “ Gucci kicks off Milan Fashion Week with furry coats as it awaits new designer ” by Elisa Anzolin for Reuters covers the storied brand’s latest offerings, its tamest in years — oddly enough, I’ve been seeing people online write that their favorite  Gucci collections are those produced when the house is in between creative directors, a sentiment I couldn’t agree with less. For WWD, Julia Teti notes that “ Naomi Campbell Hits the Runway at Burberry’s Fall 2025 London Fashion Week Show in Dramatic Purple Coat With Fringe Details .” It feels strange that Naomi seems never to have been taken to task for the allegations against her of loathsome, violent acts, but apparently the clothes were good enough that Anna Wintour smiled through the entire show (from photos, I found them a bit overwrought). Reporting from Milan Fashion Week, Jacob Gallagher writes for The New York Times that Dsquared2 has made “ Ridiculously Fun Clothes ” this season, comparing the sleazy, sultry garments to the clothes worn by Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson in Zoolander  and citing Doechii as the show’s most iconic guest. Everyone needs to see the titular look of “ Julio Torres Is the Quirky Red Carpet Risk-Taker We Need ” by Christian Allaire for Vogue . The cheeky “utilitarianism” of the accessories (honestly, I need to start carrying scissors with me wherever I go) plus the cartoonish details like a faux-windswept tie are so much more compelling than 99% of the rote red carpet repetitions we see these days. Less about impulse buys — and more about tracking discounts on the pieces already on your wishlist.  Take 20% off a selection of Damson Madder’s beloved causal wear  with 20FORYOU—quite a few late-season knits are up for grabs at great prices right now! Kolonaki’s archive sale  discounts the Spanish label’s quirked-up blazers, cable-knit sweaters, and silk blouses (plus more) by up to 70%. In the brand’s archive sale, SOCKSSS  socks are available for $25 a pair, which seems steep for a discount, but I will note that my one pair of purple SOCKSSS has lasted upwards of four years with nearly zero wear and tear (and let’s just say I don’t  hand-wash the contents of my underwear drawer). With SOS20, get an additional 20% off the already-discounted pieces in Nikki Chasin’s sale section . Plenty of unique, season-defining coats to stock up on for next year’s cold or use to brighten up these last weeks of winter. Possibly the best end-of-winter deals on the market right now are at Girlfriend Collective , where you can stock up on long john-like leggings, cozy fleece jackets, and more for prices that rarely surpass the $50 mark.   🌀 Em Seely-Katz is the creator of the fashion blog Esque, the News Editor of HALOSCOPE, and a writer, stylist, and anime-watcher about town. You can usually find them writing copy for niche perfume houses or making awful collages at @that.esque on Instagram.

“There’s something earthy, a little bitter, behind the citrus, that makes it feel fresh and open; I feel like I’m outside in an orange grove, not sitting behind a desk.” In the world of perfume, citrus fragrances can feel a little bit basic. They are simple and straightforward, palatable and accessible scents that run the risk of being a little boring: we all know what an orange smells like! Of course, there’s a wide range of citrus perfumes, from the classic chypre, with notes of bergamot, oakmoss, and labdanum, to the juicy and photorealistic, like Phlur’s Tangerine Boy  or Atelier’s Clémentine California , perfumes I can only imagine on the wrists of absolute orange enthusiasts. Citrus notes can be clean and aldehydic, like the musky lemon of Santa Maria Novella’s Bizzarria  or the sparkling yuzu opening of Strangers Parfumerie’s Yuzu Soda , or layered with white florals, like the delicate lilac of Jo Malone’s Orange Blossom  or Imaginary Author’s Sundrunk , which smells exactly like drinking a generic brand orange soda under a tendril of honeysuckle. Citrus is easy to discern in a perfume but it’s almost always a top note, more of an opening act to a perfume than the real star of the show. That might be one reason people who really love perfume usually gravitate towards more long-lasting notes, the kind of scents you can’t always find in your kitchen: tobacco or tuberose, oud or weed, incense or iris.  I usually don’t reach for citrusy perfumes either, until this winter, when I began eating citrus more regularly, enticed by the promise of both seasonal eating and buying fruit on sale. At work, I’d peel a mandarin or two and luxuriate in the aroma lingering in my office. My snowy afternoons felt like they changed color, a little more golden than before. Mandarins are in season only briefly, in December and January, and if you think you don’t like them, I beg you to try one again during this window. The brightness of the mandarin, sweet and tart fruit, oily and slightly bitter peel, reminded me of other citrus scents that I used to love: a gray Ohio day of high school interrupted for a few glorious minutes by the decidedly powdery orange of a friend’s Clinique Happy  sprayed by a locker in between class periods. The zesty sweetness (and tiny microplastic beads) of the pink grapefruit Bath and Body Works hand soap  in my grandmother’s bathroom, always luxurious to use name-brand soap (from the mall !). Citrus notes can feel a little dated, a little reminiscent of Y2K and the aughts, a period dominated by fruity body sprays and pervasive citrus/white floral combinations like the so-sweet Viva la Juicy  and powdery, musky Flowerbomb . I became obsessed with finding a perfume that could recreate the intensity of a mandarin, or grapefruit, or lemon. Whether you gravitate towards it or not, citrus is ubiquitous in perfumes. “I don't think there are many perfumes out there with zero citrus in them,” says Alie Kiral, the brilliant mind behind Pearfat Parfum , a Chicago-based independent perfumery known for dreamy, surprising combinations of synthetic and natural. “All of my perfumes have at least one citrus note, but not always because it’s part of the story of the fragrance. Using citrus can help clarify or boost other notes,” she says. Kiral jokingly advises her students to add bergamot when they are crafting a fragrance that isn’t quite right yet: essential oil from the bitter yellow-green fruit can act like salt and pepper, helping to blend different notes into a whole. I think of Pearfat’s most popular perfume, the gourmand Bread & Roses , which has a subtle pomander accord, orange and clove, that lends a warmth to the more dominant notes of cocoa, yeasted bread, and rose. But making citrus the star of a perfume is complicated. Citrus notes almost always live on the top of a perfume, most apparent in its opening, and rarely last very long. “That’s because citrus molecules are extremely volatile,” Kiral says. “When we smell something, we're actually taking it into our nose and processing it in our olfactory bulbs, and the molecules of citrus are very light. They're very diffuse and small. Compare that to something like a wood or an oud or a musk, which are heavier, larger molecules that stick in the receptors and your olfactory bulbs for longer.” There’s even more variation among citrus fruits themselves — lemon is more diffuse than green mandarin — and between processing methods and materials. Limetol, which Kiral uses to craft a lime cola accord in the arcade-inspired Multiball , is a synthetic compound also used to flavor candy. Lemon sfumatrice, which Kiral uses in her lemonade accord, is made by processing the entire lemon (peel, fruit, and seed), while most citrus essential oils are extracted from the peel only.  Lemon sfumatrice works beautifully in two of Pearfat’s perfumes that pair citrus and aquatic notes: 2030 Park Avenue  and the summer seasonal Up North . Like all of Kiral’s perfumes for Pearfat, each unfolded almost nonlinearly through time, surprising me the more I wore them, sticking in my mind like a line from a Frank O’Hara poem . 2030 Park Avenue opens with a realistic but somehow warm petrichor accord, exactly like the beginning of a summer thunderstorm on sun-soaked pavement. The candied lemon is like the twist in your drink, a little bit boozy and sparkling, a sweet contrast to the mineral notes. I’m left with a dusty, warm floral that’s still rainy and fresh. It smells like walking home alone from the bar on a rainy summer night: you’ve just enjoyed time with your friends, you’re just the littlest bit buzzed, and the rest of your night is for you. You put your headphones on to play a song — the kind of song you only listen to when you are completely alone — and stroll home, enjoying every step, each moment full of possibility. I’m surprised by how much I reach for 2030 Park Avenue: I can imagine this wearing perfectly in the spring, but in the winter, it reminds me that soon enough things will be back in bloom. A freshwater aquatic with a powerful lemonade accord, Up North  reminds me of childhood summers in the Midwest — swimming in the blue expanse of my favorite body of water, Lake Michigan, but also in smaller lakes where grass grows right to the edge of the water, where you might find mud instead of sand. Imagine Sailing Day  set on a pontoon on an inland lake. Up North opens with a blast of sparkling, synthetic lemon: where 2030 Park Avenue slides your French 75 across the bar, Up North hand delivers you a plastic cup of Country Time Lemonade, mixed in a big plastic pitcher with a wooden spoon. You walk barefoot across the grass to a well-worn picnic table, sipping slowly while you watch your cousins splashing at the edge of the lake. There’s something infectious and enthusiastic about Up North, a fizzy opening that fades into an earthy sort of freshwater funk that might only register as summery to those who go “Up North” and not “out East” or “down the Cape.” I’ve loved wearing Up North through the winter, when the mineral notes last on my sweaters for days at a time; when Kiral restocks this summer, I’ll be first in line for a full bottle. “In perfumes that might be a little bit more abstract or interesting or weird,” Kiral says,  “citrus notes are generally familiar and comforting.” I think of Byrdeo’s discontinued cannabis perfume   Open Sky , which opens with juicy pomelo and the slightest crack of black pepper, a bright, airy opening that leads into the most green, unburnt cannabis note I’ve smelled in a perfume yet. Or Contradictions in ILK’s Libertine , a dark, woodsy perfume complemented by a surprisingly sweet and spicy citrus. The bitter orange and orange blossom layer tart and sweet, floral and fruity, in an almost euphoric opening, before it dries down into a lovely blend of rose and amber, reminiscent of Portrait of a Lady  but with more leather. The result is a perfume that is fresh but dark and sexy: you’re drinking a negroni in a library lined with walnut shelves and leather chairs, reading Izumi Suzuki’s latest novel  while the aroma of oily orange peel and herbal Campari diffuses around you into the dark room. Many citrus perfumes feel bright and fresh, sometimes a little bit loud. I love Creed’s Virgin Island Water , which matches creamy, lactonic coconut with fresh lime, though I confess I can’t really imagine wearing it anywhere but the beach in summer. Diptyque’s underrated L’Eau des Hesperides  is a green spicy citrus, more garden than beach, like Bohemian Lime  but very herbal. The citrus top notes — I get a strong bitter orange here — mellow into a minty, grassy, woody smell punctuated with a sort of sweet immortelle. I’m underwhelmed by everything but the gorgeous bottle of Xerjoff’s Lira , a citrus gourmand dominated by a sweet lemon opening that fades into a sweet caramelly vanilla; if you want a more interesting gourmand, Kiral recommends Marissa Zappas’ Annabel’s Birthday Cake , which has a similar lemon cake accord and floral middle but opens with a latex note that reminds me of balloons and gives the whole perfume the sort of intricacy that I’ve come to expect from Zappas. Personally, my favorite citrus perfumes embrace the innate sharpness of citrus: fragrant zest, acidic juice, bitter pith, oily peel. I’m taken with Xerjoff’s 1861 Renaissance , which opens with a strong cloud of citrus — I get lemon and tangerine — complemented by sharp mint. It’s intensely floral, pairing rose and lily of the valley, and a little herbal as it unfolds: it’s a bright perfume with a kind of polish and poise. I imagine 1861 Renaissance as a special occasion perfume for a practical woman with an edge: she throws excellent dinner parties with balanced menus (she even owns a wooden salad bowl!), but she secretly can’t wait for the part of the night when her friends drink enough wine to start arguing about ideas. I get a similarly delicious citrus bite in Jouissance Parfum’s En Plein Air , by far my favorite of their recent debut collection . A play between soft and sharp, En Plein Air is a citrus perfume for the clean girl with a dirty secret, for the woman slowly reading Annie Ernaux’s juiciest diaries  outside over her lunch breaks. En Plein Air crackles open with sharp notes of lemon, an almost oily grapefruit peel, and bitter bergamot. The excitement eventually settles into a lovely, musky white floral with just the hint of the promised outdoor air, but the citrus lasts quite a while, much longer than many other perfumes I’ve tried. It’s an undeniably bright perfume with just a hint of musk that stays close to the skin: wear this to the office when you have secret plans after work that you’ll be daydreaming about all day. These days, my only after-work plans are my night classes in Italian, where I’ve received so many compliments while wearing En Plein Air that I’m coveting the beautiful full bottle . I’ve ended my search for the perfect mandarin perfume, though, since trying Samar Perfumery’s Grove is in the Heart . It opens like the exact cloud of pungent, tart, almost oily citrus essence of mandarin that first transfixed me in my office, then settles into a honeyed linden blossom that feels sweeter than straight floral. There’s something earthy, a little bitter, behind the citrus, that makes it feel fresh and open; I feel like I’m outside in an orange grove, not sitting behind a desk. I find Grove to have incredible sillage — given the perfume’s coconut oil base, my roll-on performs more like a perfume oil, lasting all day. I love how fragrance can transform the ordinary. A spray of perfume can change how you see yourself, make an outfit you’ve worn dozens of times seem new, and return you to a long-forgotten scent landscape from childhood. And citrus fragrances can seem so particularly ordinary, so regular and routine, even outside the world of perfume: there’s a lime wedge in your gin and tonic, Lemon Pledge in the cupboard for dusting, fresh orange juice in the fridge, a juicy grapefruit body spray with perfect 2000s minimalist design in your eBay cart . But what changes if you pay attention to the ingredients of that ordinariness? To the particular scent of gin-soaked lime? The limonone and terpenoids in Lemon Pledge? The difference between peeling a Satsuma mandarin indoors in January and eating a navel orange on a hike in June? In the end, all fragrance is an invitation to pay closer attention to sensory experience, a way of alchemizing the routine into the terrific, even in the deep blues and grays and browns of winter. 🌀 Bekah Waalkes is a writer, critic, and perfume enthusiast based in Boston. When she’s not stalking eBay for Italo Calvino first editions or vintage body spray, you can find her scrolling on Twitter  and updating her online reading journal .

Blessed by a beautiful winter day of clear blue skies, Aistė Hong FW25 was suspended atop the world. The power of Aistė Hong’s FW25 collection lies in the dramatic poetry threaded into the clothes. Described by the brand as a “fusion of nature, nostalgia and modern femininity,” the looks blended structured, corporate siren energy with irreverent rock and roll: the wardrobe of a woman with sharp teeth.  The show ran about half an hour late, mostly due to the logistical chaos of getting guests from the lobby to the fifty-fourth floor of a luxury Park Avenue South building. On my way up, we stopped at the backstage floor and picked up a few of the models, ready in their looks – it was a chaotic, yet intimate moment that reminded me of the community that builds New York Fashion Week. We’re all here to simply appreciate the art of (hopefully) good fashion and hear what designers have to say. Even if influencers rush to have their picture taken on the runway before the start of the show.  A talented violinist and cellist performed live music as models walked slowly down the runway. Some seemed to struggle with the slow-motion walk, but the movement allowed appreciation for the clothes in detail, and moreover, felt antithetical to the hectic chaos of the city. It’s as if Hong was telling us: right now, we are here, there’s no need to rush, nowhere else to escape. This idea of stillness feels like a brave take during the blustering fashion week schedule.  The beautiful models, tall, skinny, and young, had the features of trends that transcend the color of the season: the appearance of the hottest beauty crazes of “preventative” botox and lip filler. Perhaps obvious, but I saw it as a symptom of the deep grasp of today’s beauty standards. This trend felt somehow antithetical to the clothing, but the collection added a layer of sophistication and individuality that made the women visibly come into their power. I would have liked to see older faces on the runway, and an emphasis on exalted natural beauty.  At first glance, there’s a serious, sophisticated side to Hong’s modern woman, which consisted of detailed tailoring and highly skilled finishing details. Pants with perfectly angled seams to fit the model’s body, blazers with cape detailing, classic belts with golden logo buckles, exaggerated pussy bows, sleeves that balloon and flow. What Nicole Kidman should have worn in Babygirl, if you ask me.  But the collection has a second side, the hidden face of a woman who is tired of the bullshit and embraces her sensuality, her individuality, and her power. Slouched leather elbow-length gloves adorned with golden bubble rings. Dramatic faux fur accessories and jackets. The cape-blazer hybrid, but in a black leather-like material, paired with a matching skirt and an exaggerated pussy bow blouse. An electric green, a shade more mature than Brat green, loudly breaks the palette of cream, black, and baby blue. Shiny fringe irreverently cascades down one sleeve of an otherwise quiet, traditional bodycon, long-sleeved LBD. Somehow, also what Nicole Kidman should have worn in Babygirl.  If I saw a woman walking down the street in these clothes, I would think she looks ethereal, and at the same time, I’d get the message: don’t fuck with me. With the exception of a shoulderless top that resembled the texture of a bath mat too closely, the clothes were beautiful and daring. The setting was perfect: a luxury apartment, adjusted to runway use, with floor-to-ceiling north-facing windows to an impactful view of the Empire State Building and the Chrysler Building, among other New York City icons. Blessed by a beautiful winter day of clear blue skies, Aistė Hong FW25 was suspended atop the world.   🌀 7.8 Laura Rocha-Rueda  is a Colombian fashion and fiction writer based in Brooklyn who holds a Creative Writing MFA from The New School. She is your local Swiftie and will gladly chat about anything glittery and soft, and about why dismissing pop culture as frivolous is misguided and sad.

Thoughts on Willa Bennett's Cosmo takeover, the flared jeans renaissance, and a sale at La Garçonne. Welcome to The HALO Report — HALOSCOPE’s new weekly digest, an of-the-moment mix of news items, opinion pieces, and sale announcements designed to keep you posted on the nitty-gritty of the fashion world and all of its tangents without having to keep a constant eye on your feed.  This week, we learn the difference between bootcut and flared jeans, Willa Bennett takes over Cosmo , Liz Claiborne gets her flowers, Louis Vuitton does something sartorially jaw-dropping, a Dirty Dancing  summer is foreshadowed, tons of gorp-y brands have compelling sales, and more. The latest long-ish reads from the brightest minds in fashion. Happily, Hannah Jackson’s Vogue piece “ What Is the Difference Between Bootcut and Flare Jeans? ” rights a wrong that plagued the frenzy over last week’s Super Bowl fashion statement: according to Celine, the brand behind the much-feted denim, Kendrick was wearing flares, not bootcut jeans. Thank goodness for hard-hitting journalism.  The incredible 8,000-plus word essay “ Sugar and Death: The Phenomenon of Baccarat Rouge 540 ” by Miccaeli for their newsletter  Fumes  led me into an hours-long wormhole in which I read the entirety of their published canon — I recently began a job at a perfume shop that sells niche fragrances more old-school than the ones I typically write about, and Miccaeli has given me a unique entry point from which to learn about and better appreciate even the most nausea-inducing scents (I am not a Baccarat fan). Brilliant writing that will even compel those not at all acquainted with the world of fragrance.  You can tell that an inspired new talent has taken charge at Cosmopolitan — Willa Bennett, the historically smutty magazine’s new Editor-in-Chief, has brought a fresh, clear-eyed perspective to the table in her first issue at the helm (featuring a lovely profile of Brenda Song and Macaulay Culkin ), and articles like “ Prediction: You’ll Be Accessorizing Your Headphones in 2025 ” by Hannah Oh are only the tip of the iceberg of creativity comprising the physical mag’s pages. Looking past the Hermès charms and Airpod Max-exclusive accessories, the DIY implications are exciting for those tired of bagmaxxing and looking to cutely clutter an even more prominent accessory.  Guest curator of the newsletter Thanks It’s From , Katie Casper, provides online second-hand tips and tricks (go for Givenchy, find a $2k handbag for $200 via Ferragamo) for under-the-radar scores in “ Thanks It’s From eBay: 123 .” Most of us already know that “ Liz Claiborne is a very good thing ,” but especially if you’re not familiar with the thrift store staple label, this piece from  Best Friends  details exactly why we are all inevitably drawn to the festive, unfussy casuals and provides a bounty of links to pieces that have not yet been plucked from resale sites to start you on your Claiborne journey.  What to keep in mind — and look forward to — in the past and coming weeks. The always-forward-thinking   Teen Vogue ’s new “Pledge to address fashion waste”  sets an example that the rest of the fashion writing world would look pathetic not to follow: the publication’s editors and writers have promised to include vintage pieces in every photo shoot, avoid greenwashing rhetoric, include second-hand pieces in all of its shopping guides, and more action items that serve to affirm the publication’s place at the vanguard of all that is ethical in the realm of style. Bravo! Vogue’ s Christian Allaire buries the lede in “ Inside the Stylish Weekend Celebrating Saturday Night Live’s 50th Anniversary ” — scroll down until you see the dress that Emma Stone wore to the event because every other red carpet look pales in comparison to what the actress pulled off. The shocking twist: the concession stand of a dress is Louis Vuitton. Who would have thought the recently-waning house could pull off such a campy coup? “ Tory Burch Takes First Place in Social Engagement During New York Fashion Week ,” writes Lisa Lockwood for Yahoo, and it’s no wonder — with Amanda Seyfried brushing elbows with Martha Stewart in the front row, this season cemented the label’s status as a titan of today’s fashion world. TikTok gobbled up Burch’s FW25 showing  of brushed wool sweatpants, padded nylon jackets, speckled sets, and more pieces that felt equally sporty and sultry as they swished down the runway.   The two most exciting drops of the season might also be the two most under-the-radar: Tigra Tigra’s latest offering  of raw silk dresses and heartbreakingly beautiful beaded blouse and skirt sets competes with Fey Fey Worldwide’s new season  of bemusing, architectural windbreakers and peplum skirts printed with the items one would find on a packing list for custody of my fashion-loving heart.  In boring news, “ Pete Davidson’s Tattoo-free Campaign Earns Reformation $1.2 Million in Media Exposure ,” as per Renan Botelho for WWD . Such blatant pandering to a conservative aesthetic at this moment in history feels in bad taste, and the clothes advertised don’t give anything but the last gasps of a millennial version of normcore that hasn’t been relevant since nearly a decade ago.  Less about impulse buys — and more about tracking discounts on the pieces already on your wishlist.  Less about impulse buys, more about tracking discounts on the pieces already on your wishlist.  La Garconne’s sale section  is awash with wintry wares like shawl-collared FFORME overcoats and Totême sweaters with built-in scarves — take an extra 20% off the already-discounted pieces with FEB20LG. Use WELCOME10 for a 10% discount on Gil Rodriguez’ freshly-restocked selection of greatest hits , including ballerina-like wrap tops, multicolored baby tees, and an oversized vest-style tank I might have to snag for myself. There’s an 80s Dirty Dancing  vibe to the pieces that, mark my words, will largely define this summer’s casual wear.  Plenty of off-beat, cult-y winter sportswear is available for 30% off at Minor Planet NY  — the cryptic beanies for under $40 are the most compelling deal of the lot.  Madewell takes an extra 30% off  its sale pieces with SALEONSALE. It’s as good a time as ever to pick up a trench coat for under $250, but I’d recommend trying it on in-store if you can, as I’ve found the brand’s sizing to be unreliable in the past.  We’re ending with a trilogy of gorp-y sales: Cotopaxi offers up to half off  a ton of its reliably sturdy travel bags and puffer jackets, REI has plenty of discounted Patagonia , The North Face, and Merrell (Jungle Mocs forever!) to scavenge through, and a good selection of Hoka running shoes  are on the chopping block, price-wise, as well.   🌀 Em Seely-Katz is the creator of the fashion blog Esque, the News Editor of HALOSCOPE, and a writer, stylist, and anime-watcher about town. You can usually find them writing copy for niche perfume houses or making awful collages at @that.esque on Instagram.