And thank you, the audience, for having chosen to spend time here.

I wish you all the very best.

The post Notice of Wind Down & A Publishing Update appeared first on Repeller.

My grandfather once found two flat-screen TVs on the side of a road in his neighborhood in Florida. He picked them up, put them in his car, and drove home—where he set them up in separate rooms, so that he and my grandma could watch their different soap operas every night, in peace. 

The next day, my grandpa walked up to the house where he’d found the TVs—then knocked on the door and asked for the remotes. 

Looking at the cast-off or once-loved/now abandoned objects in alleys and stoops and dusty thrift store shelves and seeing possibility— this is a trait that runs in my family. Moving into a new apartment after graduating from college meant beginning a new chapter, as an official adult—and wanting an official, adult apartment. For me, this meant spending my entire summer searching for cheap furniture and sorting out how I wanted my apartment to look. Here’s how I did it, with a mix of tried-and-true online and NYC shops.

Mother of Junk ($)
567 Driggs Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11211

Junk is the ultimate spot in Brooklyn for well-priced treasures. I mean, I grew up upstate, so I know I could find almost everything in their store for half the price back home, but within the five boroughs? This place is a goldmine. 

Skip it if you’re not in the mood to hunt: I’ve found all of my gems here by trial-and-error: rifling through painting after painting, stepping on glass on the second floor, and going to the store at least once a week for a month. Unfortunately for those of us inclined toward wheelin’ and dealin’, they do not like when you try to bargain or bundle. I’ve tried.

I got these three framed exhibition prints, which fit perfectly on the wall above my couch and dining set. 

Habitat for Humanity ($)
6201 Northern Blvd, Queens, NY 11377

Habitat for Humanity, although better upstate, is great for used furniture—and they have a store in Queens! Everything here is sold to support their nonprofit work, through which volunteers build affordable homes for families in need. 

At Habitat, I purchased a large mantle, which I later painted white. I also picked up a lamp, a record player, a midcentury dresser, a picture, and a frame.

Dobbins St. Co-Op ($$$)
310 Graham Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11211

Dobbin’s Street Vintage Co-Op is a dream. It’s not cheap, but the prices are reasonable for what they are selling, which is amazing vintage furniture. I often go just to look and dream big, big interior-decorating dreams.

Remix Market  ($$)
33-56 11th St, Queens, NY 11106

Located in Astoria, Remix is a small store with a wide variety of home goods—plus they’re super active on Instagram, so it’s easy to stay up to date. I have had success bundling here—like with a recent purchase of a dresser, lamp, and painting, all for under $100. Remix also gets five stars for its friendly workers, who won’t mind helping you load furniture into an Uber. 

ONLINE ONLY

Facebook Marketplace 

The only reason I have not deleted my Facebook is because of its online market. Sometimes before bed, I’ll go on just to see what people around me are selling: I’ve found mushroom lamps, mirrors, couches, and everything else under the sun. (Often, the good vintage furniture is in New Jersey.) If you’re looking for a cheap coffee table or armchair, have at it, and make offers fast—most people here are moving and want to get rid of their items quickly. 

We got this cute little yellow chair, which fits perfectly in our dining room, for free!

Craigslist

Craigslist: Scary, yet some amazing finds, like beautiful vintage speaker systems, record players, dining room tables, and more. We purchased a green chair here—barely used and in perfect condition, for $100! 

OfferUp

Offerup may very well have the cheapest furniture online—check it out if you’re not on Facebook. I expect the prices here to be half what they are at a shop like Remix. 

Etsy

Etsy has everything: If you can’t find what you’re looking at the shops above, Etsy will have it—whether it’s the perfect grandma-style afghan or a vintage exhibition print. Etsy is full of small vintage shops from all over the world, and many are reasonably priced. If something’s still too much, message the seller and share your budget—it doesn’t hurt to try! 

StoopingNYC

Last but not least: my favorite instagram account. StoopingNYC posts free stuff from the sidewalk daily—like perfect-condition dressers and couches that (probably) don’t have bed bugs. Personally: I would think twice about taking upholstered furniture from the side of the street—but hey, that’s up to you, and my grandpa would totally do it. 

Be careful if you follow this account—it is difficult missing out on exceptional pieces. 

I found a mirror and frame on the sidewalk—I painted it a butter yellow!

While I was at it, I also painted my pot holder and the outer glass that holds my candle in a messy white and yellow check. 

Happy treasure hunting and make sure you bring a friend with you to pick up anything. Wear a mask, and be smart!

What’s the greatest thing you’ve found for cheap or on the side of the street?

The post How to Decorate Your NYC Apartment on a Budget with Street-Scavenged Gems and Vintage Trésor appeared first on Repeller.

I do not want to look like glass.

And yet! There are 348 emails in my inbox telling me I should. There are 402,000 Instagram posts suggesting the same. There are over one billion Google search results for “glass skin,” a mélange of articles and blog posts and product pages, all offering advice on how to make my skin look less like skin and more like an amorphous solid. 

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How To Completely Replace Your Human Skin With Better, Dewier Dolphin Skin!

OK, fine, these headlines are made up—but the energy behind them isn’t. The pursuit of glass skin really is this ridiculous and unrealistic. To embrace glass as the aesthetic goal is to abandon (and worse, injure) the skin’s inherent functions.

There is a reason skin does not look like glass.

The aesthetically inclined have been glorifying glass skin for a while, since 2017 at least—long enough that the K-beauty creation is no longer a beauty trend but a beauty standard. Like all beauty standards, glass skin is a physical impossibility, and as such, the path to Windexed perfection is paved with products that always need to be repurchased. (How convenient for capitalism!) It’s unending. It’s addicting. It burrows into the brain. It inspires that specific kind of obsession that comes with coveting the unattainable. 

I gave into this obsession for a time. I lamented the fact that my textured, sensitive skin would never look like glass. Or a glazed donut, or a seal, or a steamed dumpling, or Saran Wrap or a peeled egg. Insert shiny-skin catchphrase here. 

Then I realized: It’s a good thing that glass skin is unattainable IRL (honestly, have you ever seen glass skin outside of social media?), because all the features I’d need to erase in order to get that smooth, glassy glow literally exist to protect me.

Like pores! Pores are outgoing channels for sebum and sweat, the skin’s natural highlighter-slash-moisturizer and the body’s temperature regulator-slash-detoxifier, respectively. You cannot shrink your pores and you wouldn’t want to. Without pores, or with too-small pores, you would overheat and/or explode. 

And dead skin cells! Heads up: They aren’t dead. They serve an important biological purpose as part of the all-important skin barrier. Dead skin cells also store NMFs, or Natural Moisturizing Factors—basically, they’re the skin’s very own hydration station. The young, fresh skin cells underneath (you know, the ones you expose in an effort to look like glass) don’t do that. That’s why over-exfoliation can lead to dry, flaky skin. 

And pimples! I’ve come to think of pimples as communications from my body, alerting me to what it needs. Cysts on my jawline? Time to take a hard look at my hormones. Closed comedones? My skin’s not into my product lineup. Inflamed cheeks? My body might be begging for a vegetable instead of another everything bagel with cream cheese. Even if I could Zamboni the blemishes away, I wouldn’t. They’re sharing need-to-know information, people!

Really, any type of texture is a communication from within—even the glass look itself. “A waxy, glassy, shiny forehead is incorrectly associated with a ‘glow,’ which it is not,” Dr. Barbara Sturm, the founder of the skincare line of the same name, once told me. “It is the sign of injury.” Seriously: Skin that looks like glass is skin that’s lost its essential skin-ness, its humanness, its health. If you can see your reflection in your complexion, it’s probably trying to tell you something—like, “Look at what you’re doing to me!!!” or perhaps, “Please stop.”

If glass skin is both unattainable and unadvisable, why do we want it? 

Well, for one, it’s a natural progression of unnatural beauty standards. It’s the age-old pressure to look like a Barbie doll, updated for modern times: We’ve simply swapped plastic for glass (so eco-friendly!) and the male gaze for self-objectification (attempting to emulate an inanimate object is self-objectification in the most basic sense of the word). 

But I also think our phones and laptops and televisions are to blame. In an increasingly virtual world, everything we see is behind a shiny glass screen—and as glass is wont to do, it creates a barrier. It places you on the outside, peering in at all the perfect people. Nevermind that the people are actually pixels. It’s human nature to want to join them, to want to be beautiful, to do almost anything to belong. I feel it, too.

If I’m being honest, when I say “I don’t want to look like glass,” what I mean is, “I wish I didn’t want to look like glass.” 

I wish I didn’t internalize this impossible standard. I wish I didn’t have to justify the existence of my pores and pimples. I wish I didn’t let the state of my skin determine my sense of self-worth. I wish I didn’t doubt it, just a little bit, when my boyfriend tells me I’m beautiful. I wish I didn’t feel compelled to convince us all that it’s OK to let our skin be skin, but here I am.

Skin is skin.

It is not glass, and it is not supposed to be.

It always has texture and pores, and it sometimes has acne and oil slicks and inflammation. 

It’s alive, it’s dynamic, it’s divinely designed, and it’s talking to you.

Do you really want to silence it for the sake of looking like a transparent shard of molten sand?

The post Am I The Only One Who Doesn’t Want To Look Like Glass? appeared first on Repeller.

I don’t even need to cram a cider donut into my face hole to know that the temperature slipping below 60 degrees Fahrenheit (I think that’s like 15 degrees Celsius? Idk I’m not a scholar) means we’ve got yet another fall on our hands. Now: The first day of fall was technically September 22nd, but it hasn’t really been fall until maybe a week ago. How can I say that with such authority? Because until then I hadn’t needed to pull out my light jackette: The jacket that slips over the cozy knits that shield your chilly nips, and/or your Risky Business button downs. 

My light jacket happens to be a fire-engine red swing coat from the one-and-only Judi Rosen, a New York designer whose landmark SoHo location I visited last year on the recommendation of my co-workers. She calls it her “Spiritualized Denim Jacket” because she based it on an ’80s German rave coat. I wore it an obscene amount last fall, and slipping into it this season I found 75 cents in loose change and a ticket stub for Marriage Story, which sounds like a lie but I promise it is not.

In any case, because the totem of “the light jacket” always inaugurates a sense of seasonality, I wanted to ask some of the coolest and chic-est people I know about the first jacket they reach for when the tips of their noses start to get cold. 

Cruise their answers below and see if you don’t find the next jacket to dump on that chair every time you get back to your room this season.

New Mom Ryan Norville Makes Practicality Meet La Mode

Tell me about the first light jacket you pull out of your closet for fall.

The light jacket I always go to first is this cream quilted number by Kordal. I think, for one, it’s the first jacket I see in my closet because it’s such a light color and I gravitate towards it because the color makes me happy. I usually associate colder weather with darker colors, but this jacket is great for people who have a hard time coming to terms with the fact that summer is over, but still want to get their early fall ‘fits off in style. It has snap closures and quilted pockets, so I like the styling options too.

How did you find it?

I discovered Kordal in a small boutique in Greenpoint. There was originally a cropped version of this coat in a coffee color that had sold out immediately in my size. I started following the brand on Instagram and stalked them until they knew who I was. That’s the great thing about small brands—you have accessibility to the designers and feel a connection to the brand. When the new silhouettes and colors were released, the designers Mandy and Jia reached out to me because they knew I was obsessed and I got it immediately.

How would you rate it on a scale of 1-10 in the following categories:

Windproof – 9
Sweaty-pits proof – 8.2
Versatility – 9
Cool factor – 10

So, where are you wearing it next?
I’m wearing this to go apple picking this weekend. I can practically taste the cider donuts right now!

Obviously this season, and getting dressed during this season, is feeling more complicated than it ever has. How are you feeling about getting dressed and showing up in general right now?

In the past six months I’ve seen the height of COVID, mass protesting and social unrest, and gave birth to a human. Needless to say, getting dressed was the very last thing on my mind. I’ve been patient with myself, but once I was ready to put a little bit more thought into my outfits again and have fun with getting dressed, I realized neglecting something I loved wasn’t the answer, either. So now I balance trying to have fun while getting dressed with functionality (can I breastfeed in this? Will I be overheated if I wear the baby in a carrier?). At the same time, I know that it’s not the end of the world if I can’t find the perfect outfit to express myself or have pre-pregnancy clothes that still don’t fit me again.

Kordal

Sawyer Quilted Jacket

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Entireworld

Dogwalker Jacket

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Everlane

Cotton Quilted Jacket

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APVCAMO

Upcycled Military Liner Jacket

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Micaela Greg

Dune Quilted Jacket

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Lauren Servideo Makes the Case for “The Fall Cloak”

First light jacket, go!

I guess this is light compared to, like, an Arctic parka, but it is still a pretty heavy duty coat: my Lindsey Thornburg cloak. It’s made from Pendleton fabric (iconic!) and I absolutely love the shape.

What’s its origin story?

I’ve known Lindsey since I was seventeen. All of her cool and talented friends wore her designs, and I promised myself that when I was older, I would get something of hers. I visited Lindsey’s studio a few years ago, and she very, very generously gave me an old cloak of hers. I especially love it because she wore it herself.

How would you rate it on a scale of 1-10 in the following categories:

Windproof – 10
Sweaty-pits proof – 8
Versatility – 9
Cool factor – 46,000

What’s the next “occasion” you’ll be wearing your cloak to?

Probably to the bodega to get an Arizona iced tea!

How have you been feeling about getting dressed in general these days?

I don’t really think all that hard about getting dressed, other than that I feel better/more ready if I don’t schlep around in pajamas all day.

Lindsey Thornburg

Pendleton Trench Cloak

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Lindsey Thornburg

Pendleton Trench Cloak

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Dreamscape Handmade

Upcycled Pendleton Blanket Coat

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Thrilling

70’s Buttoned Hooded Poncho

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Mi-Anne Chan Loves Lime as Much as Dakota Johnson

Tell me about this chic colorful jackette!

If I’m the first person in this story to reference the “all you need is a light jacket!” moment from Miss Congeniality then I’m buying myself a pint of Cherry Garcia. Cheryl was understandably, zonked on stage when she uttered these words, so it makes sense that she was vague. If you ask me though, a “light jacket” needs to be light, yes, but also functional.

The first coat I pull out come fall is a second hand, oversized Burberry quilted number. A light jacket needs to keep a cool breeze from making my arm hairs stand up, but it also needs to be roomy enough to stuff a cardi underneath if things take a turn for the cold. This one is just that. The quilt makes it feel like you’re wearing a big-ass blanket, yet it’s thin and airy enough to keep me from sweating. I try to shop second hand where I can, so in all honesty, the brand label doesn’t matter much (although, it’s a plus)—it’s more the oversized fit and the quilted vibe that makes this the perfect fall jacket. Type in “quilted jacket” into eBay, ThredUp, DePop, or even Etsy, and you’ll find there are many options to choose from.

Why is this your go-to “all you need is a light jacket”?

I’ve been defaulting to this jacket for years. It’s both functional and ~vibey~ all at the same time thanks to its chunky shape and acid-green color. The best part though is that I can wear pajamas under this jacket and still feel cool and put together because it’s structured enough to not look too slouchy. Plus, the green makes it 200% more fun.

How did you acquire it?

My mom graciously gave me this jacket. She found it at Salvation Army (or was it Goodwill?) for something crazy… like $14. Initially we had plans to get it tailored, but after wearing it a few times, I decided to keep it oversized.

How would you rate it on a scale of 1-10 in the following categories:

Windproof – 4
Sweaty-pits proof – 8 (it’s roomy)
Versatility – 7
Cool factor – 10!!!!

What’s the next “occasion” you will be wearing your hot, hot light jacket to?

I haven’t left my house all day, so I’ll probably throw it over pajamas and walk to the wine store. The pockets are big so you can kinda fit a bottle in there if you’re careful. It’s also worth noting that the pockets 100% can fit a can of beer.

How have you been feeling about getting dressed and showing up in general right now?

It’s been a wavy ride these past eight months. Sometimes I feel awesome, like I can finally relax and that I don’t have to live up to everyone’s expectations of me. Then, I feel bad and guilty for even thinking those thoughts because I know I should be grateful to have a job and a home and a cat. Generally though, I’ve mostly just been feeling apathetic, and as cliché as it sounds to say, putting on makeup and a nice dress really does make me feel better. That’s not to say I do this all the time—as I’m typing this I’m sitting on my couch in a sports bra and pajama shorts. When I do pull out the stops, it reminds me to appreciate my body and my curves. It’s really nice to know you look good. It’s a feeling I wish to experience as much as possible.

Burberry

Quilted Nova Check Green Jacket

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Burberry

Quilted Nova Plaid Snap Front Jacket

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Bushwacker

Lime Green Button Front Quilted Jacket

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Thrilling

90’s Quilted Floral Print Silk Jacket

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Lilly Pulitzer

Lime Green Quilted Coat

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Abisola Omole‘s Cropped Green Jacket She’s Wearing for a Special Trip to… The Market

So… tell me about the first light jacket you pull out of your closet come fall!

It’s my green wool jacket from & Other Stories! I find it makes anything I’m wearing look super cool. Whether it’s joggers, a cashmere jumper, a dress—heck, pajamas—it’s just got this cool, put-together vibe about it, so I end up wanting to wear it all the time. In previous years I’ve actually gone straight to a coat, but I suppose it’s just based on what I find/fall in love with.

How did you find it?

Nothing exciting, I was just browsing the site and, though they don’t actually make my size, the description said “oversized,” so I bought it in a US14 and it ended up being the perfect fit.

How would you rate it on a scale of 1-10 in the following categories:

Windproof – 4
Sweaty-pits proof – 9
Versatility – 8
Cool factor – 10

Where are you wearing it next? Anything special?

Er, grocery shopping? I don’t have any exciting occasions coming up but I know this jacket will see me through all of the mundane and unexpected places I find myself in.

How are you feeling about getting dressed this season?

To be honest, I’ve always been quite relaxed about how I dress. I favor comfort but I can also appreciate special pieces, so I’m the kind of person that will wear something as soon as it’s delivered, rather than “waiting for a special occasion.” With that in mind, I’ve definitely got some exciting pieces that I’ve recently added to my wardrobe. You’ll likely see me wearing them casually walking down the street or even just while at home. I like to feel and look good wherever I am.

& Other Stories

Oversized Wool Jacket

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Madewell

Johnsville Sweater Jacket

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Wales Bonner

Checked Utility Jacket

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Dejablu Vintage

50’s Wool Short Military Jacket

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Sydney Scott’s Light Jacket with Fringe Benefits (Pls Don’t Hate Me for That, Sydney)

Ooooo tell me about this light jacket!!

The first light jacket I pull out of my closet once the temps start to change is this vintage leather jacket I found in the past year during a Luvsick IG sale! I don’t think I’ve ever bought something faster! It’s a men’s suede fringe jacket and is the comfy, cowboy-core jacket of my dreams. Luvsick always has amazing pieces, but they go quickly so you have to act fast.

Why is this the first one you grab from your closet come autumn?

It has that already worn-in fit and feel, akin to something you’d steal out of your dad’s closet. I’ve had this jacket since spring and haven’t gotten to wear it much so I’m dying to style it more this fall!

How would you rate it on a scale of 1-10 in the following categories:

Windproof – 10
Sweaty-pits proof – 5 (It can suddenly get steamy in there!)
Versatility – 7 (Can be dressed up or down, but always has that cowboy vibe to it.)
Cool factor – 12 (I feel like a Haim sister every time I wear this jacket!!!)

What’s the next fête you’re wearing this to?

If we were in ~non-pandemic~ times, I’d love to wear this to a live music show… but realistically, it’ll probably just be worn as part of a very dramatic outfit for running to get groceries, (I’m fine if the only people who see it are the Trader Joe’s cashiers, tbh).

How are you feeling about getting dressed this season compared to previous seasons?

At the beginning of quarantine, it was really easy to default to sweatpants and PJs, but over the summer, I started feeling so bored and uninspired with how I got dressed. It definitely alters your self-image when you go from getting dressed all the time to only seeing an extremely dialed-back version of yourself. Now, I try to put on “real” clothes at least a couple of times a week, even if I don’t plan on leaving my house. It feels silly to get dressed to go nowhere, but having an outfit on that’s different from my weekly sweatpants rotation never fails to make me feel like a human again! I guess more than anything else, this experience has really made me rethink how I get dressed for myself when no one is around, and how much that affects my mood.

Pioneer Wear

Suede Cropped Fringe Jacket

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Thrilling

Fringe Leather Jacket with Red Rose Details

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Lesa Collection

Suede Jacket With Fringe Tassels

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Pioneer Wear

Suede Fringe Bead Jacket

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Bianca Valle’s Sunny Chic Workwear

Quilted cutie! Why is this your go-to fall jacket?

I love a workwear jacket. Preferably something with lots of pockets! It’s always the same for me: I love certain silhouettes and I stick to them I love this quilted one from Bode especially, right now, because of the colors, but also the brand’s commitment to sustainability.

How would you rate it on a scale of 1-10 in the following categories:

Windproof – 7
Sweaty-pits proof – 9
Versatility – 8
Cool factor – 10

What’s the next “occasion” you will be wearing your sweet sweet light jacket to?
Dinner tonight at Dimes!

Obviously this season, and getting dressed during this season, is feeling more complicated than it ever has. What are the feelings you’re having surrounding getting dressed and showing up in general right now?

Try your best to show up where you can, because why not? We gotta push through for ourselves, our loved ones, and for history!

Bode

Reworked Quilted Workwear Jacket

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Thrilling

Quilted Patchwork Multicolor Jacket

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Deannes Originals

Handmade Quilted Jacket

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Psychic Outlaw

Quilted Supply Chore Coat

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The post What’s The First Light Jacket You Wear Come Fall? appeared first on Repeller.

For me, growing up in the tree-shrouded foothills of rural eastern Oklahoma, plants were never far from my periphery. My mother was a green-thumbed gardener, meticulous. My grandfather could scatter seeds to the wind with his eyes closed and produce something beautiful. My favorite smell is still wild honeysuckle. Plants are our oldest teachers, our connection to life outside of ourselves, and they should be honored accordingly. But how? How do we nurture this relationship now, when the anxiety is suffocating, when we’re locked away from each other, and the loneliness is almost palpable in the air? 

In my quest for answers, I interviewed five people who have let plants take over their homes, who now live in lush mini-conservatories filled to the brim with plants (and sometimes frogs, fungi, and cats.) From our conversations, I learned more about what it takes to stay and keep something alive, and the healing relationships I think we should all cultivate. 

Courtney (@_cspaige)

How did you become the green witch goddess that you are now? When did this journey begin for you? 

Honestly, childhood! I come from a long line of plant mamas. I grew up with plants with my mom and my grandmother. As far as myself, about six years ago, when I got the space and the lighting for them. That’s when I told myself, Okay, it’s time for my own plants. I felt like I was missing something. They complete the space as far as I’m concerned. 

That makes a lot of sense to me. Especially with the deep familial connection you have there. Not having plants would be like missing a piece of home. 

Definitely. Originally I’m from upstate New York, always around nature, and being in the city it can be a bit sterile sometimes. Plants are my way of reminding myself of home and bringing some of that to the urban area. 

Did your mom and grandmother keep indoor plants? Or were they outside gardeners? 

My grandmother was mainly an outside gardener—she had a really big backyard. I grew up helping her in the garden and watching that journey of planting the tomatoes and seeing them grow and then being able to pick them and then helping her cook. Those are really treasured memories for me. My mom was an inside plant owner, though we did have a lot of plants in our backyard that we ended up taking when we moved. I have a lot of connections with plants in my childhood. 

How do you care for all those plants? Is it meditative or routine for you? Do you sing to them?

I will say that we’re a ’90s hip-hop and R&B household! I keep the music on basically all the time. So I don’t sing specifically to them, but they also don’t have a choice in listening. As far as their care, I do have a calendar reminder because—well, life is so busy. I try to keep my personal life and my work as organized as possible. I usually break it up into two separate days, just because there are so many of them, and certain plants require less water than others. Just so I don’t kill them. As a plant parent, you go through trial and error with what works and what doesn’t work—and the types of plants you can maintain and take care of, and which ones you haven’t figured out. I try to stick with ones that I haven’t killed off. I try to keep it as organized as possible—if I don’t, I’ll forget.

So we’ve talked a little through why you’ve done it historically, but why do you do it right now? Especially in this frankly scary present moment. 

I’ll be perfectly honest. I’ve purchased around ten to 15 plants since the pandemic began. I moved into my apartment in February, and I definitely paid attention to making my space as comfortable as possible. I didn’t know how long I would be at home. I worked remotely for three months. I just felt like it was so important to do the things that really matter to me, the things that bring me joy during these scary and unknown times. 

Do they have names? 

Okay, I’m not really a namer, but I do have one called Courtney. I figured out if you pick one and call it by your name, you’re literally nurturing yourself.

I think that’s incredible. 

Agatha (@plant.ma, @plantingforprogress)

What is your plant goddess origin story? When did this journey begin for you? 

Plants have always been close to my heart, but the zero-to-100 transformation of having 160 plants in my apartment happened two or three years ago. I’m originally from Los Angeles, and my family is still there, but when I moved to the East Coast, having plants in my apartment, starting with succulents, was just to have something green close to me. Then it transformed into something therapeutic.

Did your parents have plants? 

I actually had a pretty unique childhood. I was born in the Philippines, and my parents were frequent travelers. I grew up with plants around me, both with the garden outside and house plants inside. I accidentally killed one of my mom’s Monstera deliciosas when I was a kid, and looking back at that from my adulthood, I’m like, Oh, no, what a beautiful plant—how could I have done that? Plants have been something that has connected me to my family, too, especially in the era of covid. There was a period of time where my grandma and I had a text thread that was just plant pictures!

It seems like a real matrilineal tradition for you. I think that’s really beautiful. 

For sure. It’s kind of a no-brainer when it comes to spreading the joy. My plants grow and propagate, so why not send them elsewhere to friends and loved ones? Even if I wasn’t in a one-bedroom apartment I think I would want to share. 

How do you actually care for all those plants? 

Before I had as many plants as I do now, I used to make a day of it, but now there are way too many for that. Now I tackle them by groups of similar care and so on. For example, a lot of Hoya plants that are indigenous to Southeast Asia are really hardy and by the window, but they don’t get as much water as others do. By grouping them, I learn more about them and make sure all of them are getting the care that they need. Also: I’m a great multitasker, so I could be repotting plants while on a call. Paying attention, obviously, but also doing something with my hands. 

Tell me more about why you’re doing it now. Especially within the frame of the Planting for Progress Project. 

At the beginning of quarantine, I was having a really hard time, like so many people were. After finding myself furloughed from work, I wasn’t able to donate to the social movements and causes that I really wanted to. It was at that time that I started propagating some of my rarer plants and auctioning them for donations. It got a good amount of traction, and in the last few months, we’ve been able to raise about $5000. We’ve donated to BLM, the ACLU, and have done a few things with the Audre Lorde Project, the Innocence Project, and the Foresight Project. So my love for plants became not just therapeutic for me, but a way to give back. 

I think that pretty well answers my next question of what your plants mean to you. They’re a lifeline. 

Oh, absolutely. I don’t know what I would do without them. They’ve not only helped me personally, but they’ve helped me create a larger community, something that felt impossible in the current climate. 

Eric (@botany_spears) 

How did you become the great plant whisperer you are now? When did the transformation begin? 

I grew up upstate, in a rural area, so I was used to being surrounded by plants and nature from a young age. We had a big garden and flower beds and the forest was basically my backyard, so when I moved to the city ten years ago I was surprised that no one had that. And if they did have space, it was rocks, poison soil, and maybe some garbage the last tenants left behind. I started by getting the kind of plant everyone has in their apartment that they treat as their baby, and then I got one more, and now I decade later I have something like 120. 

Wow. 

It grew slowly, but it was something that was always in my realm of interest. I also work as a photographer, which means I spend a lot of time at home, and the plants are a way for me not to feel like I’m stuck in a big white box. 

Did your parents garden at all? Or did you step into it on your own? 

My mom had her flower beds that were her prized possessions. My family is Armenian, and my grandmother grew grapevines that we then made into stuffed grape leaves, so that was always a big event and showcased that you could grow something and eat it, too. I learned the value of plants in general just by what my family found important. 

How do you care for your 120 plant children? Do you sing to them? 

I don’t sing to them, but I do talk to them a lot! If I get a particularly stressful email or something, I will leave my office and come vent to them, mostly in hopes that somebody in the ethos will hear me and something will change. It feels like having friends around, as corny as that sounds, and it’s reassuring to have that kind of company. As far as their physical care, everyone has this idea that having a lot of plants is harder than having one plant, and from my experience, everything likes bright and direct light, everything wants water once a week, and if you notice something is off, adjust one of those things accordingly, and that’s it. I’m not more or less talented than anyone else—certainly not a botanist. 

Why do you do it, besides your familial connection, especially right now? 

I’m a Virgo. I love controlling the situation. I love having only myself to blame when something goes wrong. It’s really nice to have something to hold onto, in this time where every time you open your phone some new and fresh horror awaits. Plants offer me an escape. I take care of them, and they offer new growth. I wish that that was the norm: We take care of each other and offer each other new growth. 

We’ve touched on it a bit, but what do your plants mean to you? What do you think you mean to them? 

My plants are a stamp collection that have become a deep emotional connection. My friend gave me a cutting of a plant one year for my birthday, but that plant had been in her family for over 100 years. It’s this thing that has a heritage older than I am. It’s hard not to have reverence for. I hope I can take care of these things with the preciousness and the respect that they deserve. 

Which is your favorite? I promise I won’t tell. 

My most common, oldest plant I have. It’s called a Scindapsus exotica, and she’s not the one I brag about, but she’s the one who has seen the road with me, and that is something I deeply love her for. We have history. Like the friend who has embarrassing pictures of you that they can never show anyone.

Missleidy (@missleidytheplantlady) 

How and when did your plant journey/botanical glow up begin?

It started about a year and a half ago. Before that, I was living in an apartment with one dingy window and nothing else. When I moved and had the light, I went to the plant shop across the street and decided that if I was going to be working on myself mentally, and getting myself to a better place in general, I needed to make my environment reflect that. I thought back to what brought me so much joy as a kid, and that was being with my grandmother and grandfather in the garden. I was already doing drag by that point, so I knew that I wanted a plant that was a diva. I wanted people to look at her twice. A month after that, I had 40 plants in the window. It became an opportunity for my love of drag and my love of plants to intersect and bloom—that’s how MissLeidy the Plant Lady was born. 

Tell me more about when you were a kid with your grandmother and grandfather in the garden. 

They basically raised me. My grandmother was and still is my idol. They’re such an inspiration to me—they immigrated from Cuba in 1979 with absolutely no money and then helped the rest of my family come to the United States. Everyone had a place to stay and something to eat. Once I got into a conversation with my aunt and during it, she said, “We grew up really poor.” And I was like, “Are you serious? Did we grow up in the same house?” I was almost convinced I had grown up rich because my grandparents filled me up with so much love, community, and family that there was no room to miss anything else. My grandfather was a jack-of-all-trades. One of his hobbies was breeding rare tropical birds. In our backyard, we had everything from albino peacocks to turkeys to parrots. 

So you basically grew up in the Secret Garden? 

Yes! When I was a kid I had this idea if I planted enough trees I could make Vegas a rainforest. Every time we went to the store I would ask to buy a tree or plants for the garden beds in the front. Plants have always been in our lifestyle and our bloodline. 

Onto your plants specifically, how do you care for all of them? Is it a routine for you? 

It is a routine for me. It became a way to help strengthen my sobriety and deal with depression. Anytime I take a living thing into my home, I become responsible for it. So even if I feel terrible in the mornings I have something to work towards. I want to give the plants (and poison dart frogs) the optimal conditions to thrive since I’m taking them out of their environments and putting them into mine. I chose to bring this thing into my home, so I have to get out of bed. By incorporating this into my life, I get to see new growth in the plants, which in turn stimulates new growth in me. 

Why do you do it? Why do you do it right now in the terrifying times we find ourselves in? 

It all goes back to mental health for me. If I didn’t have the outlet of plants, I’m not sure I would have been able to handle everything that has happened. 

What do you think you mean to them (your plants)? 

I’m the drag queen Mother Nature up in this bitch. I do enjoy all of this so much. It is serious, but it’s also fun for me, and I think that is important. They’re showgirls at the end of the day. 

Cartreze (@blackboyplantjoy)

How and when did you bloom into the green-thumbed plant collector you are now?

I’ve been interested in plants since I was a child, but with my day-to-day theater job, there just wasn’t enough time to collect and care for the plants I wanted. With the pandemic, even in the chaos, I’ve had the time at home needed to start diving deep, and I mean really deep, into all things plants. I went from having ten plants to my current count of 80. 

That’s a lot of plants. Did the jump from ten to 80 happen in the last six months?

It is a lot of plants. And yes, 100%. If things were different, I’d be traveling right now, but instead I can help them grow and love them as they deserve.

Who helped your love of plants along as a kid? 

My great-grandmother Gladys. She used to have as many plants, if not more, as I do now. She had lots of prayer plants, pothos, and other run-of-the-mill house plants. The kind that I imagine every grandmother or abuela has in their house. She also used to do ceramics, and so she would paint individual pots for all of her plants. I’ve actually picked up on that ritual because I paint my terracotta pots. I have so many family members tell me that we are especially connected, and that’s so special to me. 

Miss Gladys sounds like quite the woman. How do you care for your 80 plant children? 

A lot of stress, anxiety, and chaotic energy! But there is a routine. I water them once a week, on Sunday, or on Thursday as needed. The first thing I do after waking up is check on them. I like to see what’s growing, what’s not growing, and what might need a little more love. So it’s check plants, make coffee, and watch Wendy Williams. 

Do you talk to them? 

Oh my God, I talk to them like they are my really close friends. I say things like, “OK, girl, you’re not gonna grow today? That’s fine. I see you. If you really want to act up I’ll get you more water.”

So along with Miss Gladys and the freeing up of your schedule, why do you do it? 

I did not expect that caring for these plants would bring me as much joy as it does, but it does. At the beginning I thought it would be a couple more house plants and that’s it. I do it because caring for my plants is actually a form of self-care. Tending to them, watering them, and helping them grow, as stressful as it is for me some days because there are so many, the act of caring for them is so helpful. It relieves some of the anxiety of the world as it is right now. Helping them helps me. And also: why not now? This is the best possible time for me to become a crazy plant parent, and rather appropriate, I think. 

What is the first plant that you purchased? Was it just one or did you get a pair? 

I got a few so they wouldn’t be lonely. A pink polka-dot plant, a prayer plant, a cactus I named Keisha, and four others. Out of the seven, only three are still here—rest in peace, Keisha. But they did their job and they served a purpose. 

Your connection to them is almost spiritual, isn’t it? 

It is. As corny as it sounds it’s very spiritual, very connective to me. There’s a deep love and respect there, and I cherish that. It’s so bizarre because I never thought I would be able to hold so much feeling inside of myself for them? But I do. They have personalities, and lives, and I never thought I would be that person, but here we are, honey.

Photography: Ryan Razon
Photography Assistant: Will Pippin

The post What it Takes to Keep Something Alive: 5 Plant Parents on Raising their Botanical Brood appeared first on Repeller.

While there are designer quilting brands—like Bode, which makes epic quilted jackets—I want to spotlight the vintage brands and independent upcyclers who embrace quilting. Here, see their work on three of my fellow quilting enthusiasts, including my dear co-worker Amalie, whose collection includes a very special custom jacket by the brand Psychic Outlaw. If you can get one of your own, it’s a very cool item to invest in. 

Scroll on to see how all three style quilt, and why they agree it’s a great option for fall dressing.

Amalie

Deputy editor at Repeller and ardent quilt and patchwork enthusiast, prematurely diagnosed cat lady, village elder.

I ordered this coat from Psychic Outlaw back in February. Psychic Outlaw, which I seemingly can’t stop talking about, makes fabulous coats out of vintage quilts that either they source or YOU source. How cool?

I’ve credited her in the past, but Ruby Redstone initiated my intrigue with the coat she had made from her grandmother’s quilt and wore while emulating S/S 2018 Simone Rocha. I knew I wanted to snap one up before everyone flooded their inbox, so I commissioned a coat from a quilt they had sourced and opted for a hip-length, snap-closure number. It’s very mint leaves and pea salad vibes, but I’m going to wear it in any and all transitional weather.

I have… more than a few quilted items. I feel like quilting/patchwork is inherent to my style DNA. Since I love print mixing and am unafraid of looking like a craft project, I feel like these pieces work hard in my closet. I have a pair of pants, another jacket from B Sides x Bode that I scored on major sale from Opening Ceremony a while back, a Ralph Lauren blazer, a Tyler McGillivary top… I wear them all frequently. I know what I like! And I always want the colors to be right for me. I have a pretty specific color palette, most of the time, which involves a lot of what I guess I would call “hunting colors.” (Think: forest green, beige, navy blue, red, burgundy.) But I also have a secondary color palette that is a little more vibrant: mint, lilac, pale blue, sea green, yellow. It’s a whole jumble of things. But when I see a patchwork garment I like, it largely has to do with the interplay of colors.

Since this jacket is very “spring chicken,” I’ll probably want to make some stylistic elements feel a little heftier for the season. I plan on wearing it with a pale blue turtleneck underneath, some straight-leg, dark-wash jeans, and loafers. It needs the right things to go with it, from a color and silhouette perspective. I’d definitely call it more of an “occasion” coat, in that I need to plan my outfit around it, but it’s one that I looOoOove having in the rotation.

There is literally not one single item on this earth that I would not enjoy in a quilted form. You will catch me at age 80 in head-to-toe patchwork, waving my cane on my porch in Maine with a lobster tail hanging out of my mouth.

Psychic Outlaw

Quilted Supply Chore Coat

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Bode

Reworked Quilted Workwear Jacket

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Thrilling

Quilted Patchwork Multicolor Jacket

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Upcycled Gypsy

Upcycled Quilt and Chenille Jacket

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Sea NY

Paloma Patchwork Coat

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Deannes Originals

Handmade Quilted Jacket

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Avry

Avry is 28 years old, lives in North Carolina, and has a cute and tiny colorful home. She also owns an online vintage shop, where she curates cute vintage wearables inspired by her wardrobe. 

I’ve owned these pants for a little over a year now. I found them while thrifting, and at that time I was looking for quilted items like CRAZY! I was super excited when I found this pair. 

I own three vintage quilted items. Two of them will be for sale at Nxcvintage Shop very soon! The other I’m too obsessed with right now to let go of. I normally look for pastel colors in quilted garments because that’s my aesthetic—I’m not picky about the lining, design, or material. 

While I won’t be wearing this piece for the fall—since it’s coming to Nxcvintage Shop—I also own a vintage quilted trench coat in lilac that I plan to wear with flared pants, a T-shirt, and chunky boots. I’ve styled this in the past with a tucked-in lilac blazer and heels for a more dressed-up look. They are extremely comfortable and can be worn almost everyday.  

Quilted clothing is so fun, and I love the texture and character they bring to an outfit!

Front Country Designs

Handmade Mid-Rise Quilted Pant

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Polygonal Forest

Handmade High-Rise Quilted Padded Pants

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NARRŌ

Quilted Liner Pants

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Front Country Designs

Handmade Floral Quilted Pants

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Awesome Vintage Tees

70s Floral Quilted Pants

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Miriam

A fashion design graduate now working in Finance, Miriam expresses her love for fashion through dressing up in vintage and sustainable clothing.

I got this velvet quilted jacket on Etsy from Butter Vintage Store last winter, after searching for weeks for a quilted jacket that fit my style. I had only found army green or denim, which are two things I never wear—but eventually I found this brown velvet jacket! And shortly after, a black velvet and a silk, wine-colored one. I was ecstatic because these are fabrics I always seek out for their durability, expensive look, and texture. I always look for fabrics that are natural fibers and these had silk or cotton lining, which was a big bonus. This is my most-used quilted jacket since it’s my favorite! 

I typically wear it with a sweater underneath and trousers or high waisted pants so I was excited to style it with a dress and booties for fall today!. I plan on wearing it with dresses and boots this fall since fall in California isn’t that cold. 

It’s such a versatile piece that I wore it everyday when I got it, but because it’s vintage I have to remind myself to be more careful with it and not overuse it. I would love to find a quilted coat, headband, or even a quilted dress would be a fun piece to wear. 

Butter Vintage Store

90s Quilted Velvet Jacket

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Worn Vintage Shop

70s Quilted Velvet Jacket

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Thrilling

Susan Bristol Green Quilted Velvet Jacket

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Fashion ReWork

70s Quilted Velvet Jacket

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Hard Travelin’ Vintage

80s Paisley Quilted Velvet Jacket

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The post Take Your Bed With you: 3 Cozy People Style Quilted Clothes appeared first on Repeller.

This lyric, sung by Angie Stone and written by Ty Dolla Sign, opens the iconic early 2000s hit sitcom, Girlfriends, and isn’t only a catchy tune. I think of it as a rite of passage, the greeting I sing as an endearing welcome to my best friends at dinner, the name of our infamous group chat that dings with messages of romantic dates and nightmare work stories. Girlfriends, the hit sitcom that graced our TV screens for eight seasons, just marked its 20th anniversary and has the world reflecting on the cultural imprint it’s left on generations of women. Joan. Toni. Maya. Lynn. These women flashed on my screen starting when I was seven, when I watched it with my mother as she plaited my hair, and grew with me into a teenager wanting to understand love and relationships through the lens of women in their late twenties. Now, as an adult, I sit in my Brooklyn apartment, living through some of the same intimate moments that these characters portrayed.

Maya’s “Oh, hell no” jolts my nostalgia and reminds me of my everyday self. As a 27-year-old Black woman, I realized the life I manifested was inspired greatly by these iconic characters.  Their tenacity to discuss life, love, and sex from four different perspectives opened my world to what looks like to be a woman finding love, building a career, and have a evolving sister-friend group. Sex in the City came to me as an adult and I was never much interested in Friends. Joan and her crew of Girlfriends were the embodiment of the women I wanted to become—and 20 years later, I am. 

As I binge, starting from the first episode, I watch Joan open the show in a backless, sexy cowl-neck dress. I chuckle at the resemblance, her magnetic energy, and how opulent it is to see myself in the women of my childhood on TV once again. This time, I’m watching it as a grown woman, during a time where being present in my Blackness is just as important as my womanly prowess. Below, I recreated some of the most memorable looks from the show, and talked with Repeller’s Mikaela Clark about it.

Toni

Let’s start with Toni. What were you trying to convey?

Toni is a beautiful woman who really knows her curves. Toni is self-obsessed. She knows what she wants. She knows how she wants it. And she goes for it. She knows her body—she’s top heavy, she loves a nice slit. I wanted to give her some sexiness, but still feel a little polished. I really wanted to have a hot, sexy number—a hot red dress with my red lips and a really cute stiletto. She always had such a lady-bag, so I have a little cute lady bag for her as well.

Maya

I love the way you interpreted Maya. The actress who played Maya had such an iconic way of speaking—everything about her character was so bright and loud. How did you try to capture Maya’s personality?

Maya was out there—she was loud, in your face. Didn’t care what anybody thought about her as a black woman. People would judge her, call her whatever they needed to call her. But she was like, “Oh, hell no!” I love her, she’s such a great character. 

Her personality really bleeds through her fashion, too. Maya’s look is eccentric—she’s always had a very neo-soul energy, and I really wanted to embody that. I had this spunky Ugg x Eckhaus Latta collaboration shoe with her red pants. Maya is very red leather pants. And, you know, the girls always wore cowl-neck blouses, so, I wanted to give her one of those, too. It was a Joan thing at first, but they all kind of embodied it.

Lynn

Let’s look at Lynn. You pulled out a part of her character that could fly under the radar if you didn’t really watch the show. What inspired you to go in an edgy direction with her, when people might pigeon-hole her in maxi dresses?

Yes! In the beginning, Lynn was very boho—maxi dresses, knits, silk skirts—but then she transitioned her style, and in the later seasons it got edgy and polished, a little gothy. I was wearing a lot of Versace in that look. I wanted to elevate her a little bit and really accentuate the things that I love about Lynn. She was, especially for Black alternative women, the girl that we wanted to be. She got her degree because she didn’t want to work in corporate America. She wanted to be something different. She was finding herself as a biracial woman. All these different things really spoke to me.

Joan

Okay, now onto Joan Clayton: The one and only.

I’m a Joan. When Girlfriends came out, Joan was the beautiful black woman with the ‘fro wearing her hair natural, and her smile was impeccable. She wore her suits in a very beautiful way that didn’t feel boring or corporate. Her accessories were spot on, whether it was a fire bag, a beautiful shoe, or great jewelry. Honestly, when I think about style icons for workwear, Joan and my mother definitely are my hugest inspirations. Even for my mom, she dressed like Joan, too. That’s how I saw my mom going to her offices. There’s something so regal about seeing a woman in a suit. Joan has had so many other moments, whether it’s her jeans and a really cute, sexy top, but I really wanted to give her a suit. I wanted to showcase a power woman in a suit with her natural hair, flowing through life.

She was in a law office, and her suits weren’t boring. She accentuated her curves—Joan had hips, she had a booty! And they made her look amazing. I wore a Jil Sander pant with this Acne Studios blazer and a Bottega Veneta button-down and a cute hoop and this bag from EDAS. It was just one of these things that really took Joan to 2020—what would Joan wear now?

Would you say that Joan has inspired the way that you style just in your own profession?

I think they all do. I’m definitely wearing a Toni dress if I’m going on a date. I’m definitely wearing a Joan power-suit if I have an amazing business meeting with a client where I really need to seal the deal. I’m definitely Maya, wearing a funky pant and a cute top, when I’m going to hang out with my girlfriends. And I’m definitely Lynn when I’m lounging around my house or going to the grocery store.

I want to talk about these absolutely stunning group shots. How excited were you to put the group shot together?

When watching this show, I was just like, “Yo, I have girlfriends like this.” And so I thought, How can I bring my girlfriends into this story? How can I really showcase how I authentically have this within my own life? 

I wanted to show the pastels in a really beautiful way—to do a 2020 version of what this image could be in Brooklyn, in my neighborhood, with my girlfriends. I wanted it to be authentic, and for you to see who these characters are from a fresh perspective.

When you chose which person would embody which character, did you match them with the character that they vibe with the most?

Yes. In the beginning I was very gung-ho on saying, “Okay, you’re this person, you’re this person.” But we all embody these characters in different ways. When I saw the pink Lanvin dress on my rack, I didn’t imagine it for me. Then, when the dress arrived, I thought “Oh my God, it’s beautiful. I want to wear it.” So of course I was like, “Okay, I’m transitioning into Lynn.”

We, my girlfriends, all embody these characters in different ways, but we definitely showcase our own personal style within the shots. For the denim group picture, even in our makeup, you can just see how we present ourselves with our own beauty choices. We all wore a red lip, a white tank, and jeans—but you can still see our personalities.

Photography: Beth Sacca
Styling: Mecca James-Williams
Hair: Mick Smith
Makeup: Jalessa Jaikaran
Models: Mecca James-Williams, Samantha Mims, Sade Mims, Asiah James

The post How “Girlfriends” Helped Me Find My Girlfriends (And Myself) appeared first on Repeller.

There is a change that only I know about, and that’s because it happens in my dreams. People are spaced out—not hazy-visioned, but really, actually far apart from one another. In the UK, there is a two meter rule. Even the landscape of my dreams had stretched to accommodate the space between me, and you, and the other.

When something reaches your dreams, it becomes real. It feels realer than real. It has outsized itself by internalizing itself. We notice this because our dreams are bigger than us.

The fact of change is as imperceptible as coming off of birth control. A little, little pill, nearing the end of a pack. Single in a pandemic. Succumbing to the hormonal fluctuations and changes in my skin. Indistinguishable changes from a distance of over twenty centimeters away, but my hands are addicted to the magnified side of the bathroom mirror. Deep diving into retinoids, French pharma, and ice water. Prodding only makes it worse. Reminder: it’s part of the fullness of being human.

The news has come that there may be life in the clouds of Venus. Venus, the Roman goddess of beauty. Venus, the planet of love and money. When Lana said ‘life on Mars ain’t just a song’, she got close. When Bowie said it, he planted the seed. But neither of them said ‘Venus.’ This means that the news is new news, and so it is exciting. Maybe we could all celebrate by wearing pink and telling our loved ones just that: that we love them. On this planet, the imperceptible change is that where I am, it is becoming autumn. Where you are it might be becoming fall, or maybe even something else.

The internet is ethereal. My Google searches include but are not limited to: ‘blonde root touch-up at home,’ ‘soul dancing,’ ‘christine selling sunset,’ ‘twin peaks.’ Every interaction with the computer is becoming meta, and it’s all a game of language. If networks are edges and windows are mirrors, then does the internet really exist? The change occurs at the level of paranoia. We started off clinging to the 24/hr news, the notifications from the news app, the health app, the governmental warnings. But now it’s all TikTok – Kourtney Kardashian impressions, ‘how to dress like a 1960s italian mafia wife,’ cats dressed as babushkas, and teens dancing to Kate Bush.

The change is eclectic. It is incongruous. It can’t be rushed or hurried along. It only happens when it wants to. As Andy Warhol once said of change, sometimes people ‘die before they get around to it,’ but equally, ‘when they want to, you can’t stop them.’

For me, it might have started when I stopped wearing a watch. But I still relish in the memory of rewinding it. My red fingernail under the little gold screw, levering it out, and dialing re-wind, re-wind, re-wind. A mechanical manual reset that symbolized a tangible and physical shift. The marking out of time in space. Re-synched to run five minutes early so that I’d never be late. The symbolic solution to the physical problem.

Is change really as clean as starting one thing and stopping another? As clean as doing something for 30 days and forming a new habit? If so, how come Lydia Davis said:

‘All my life I have been trying to improve my German.

At last my German is better

— but now I am old and ill and don’t have long to live.

Soon I will be dead,

with better German.’^[1]

Perhaps the most honest and beneficial change happens when we’re not paying attention, and that’s why it is beautiful – because change is a force of nature – as messy as a struggle for togetherness, as rugged as the worst clean break, and murky as bath water or a change of heart. We stutter and skip over it. Change happens through absorption. It’s the background noise, the moonlight shadow, the rings around your fingers, your childhood hair.

Close your eyes and it might happen.

Watch out—it comes so fast.

^[1] Davis, L., 2020. IMPROVING MY GERMAN. Paris Review, (234, Fall 2020).

Graphic by Lorenza Centi.

The post Writers Club Winner: “Change That Looks Small But Feels Big” appeared first on Repeller.

Have you ever used the “touch up my appearance” filter on Zoom? I didn’t know it existed until a month ago, which I guess makes sense since I didn’t know Zoom existed until a month ago, but it was a source of immediate fascination. All you have to do is check a box in Zoom’s system preferences, and your face is transformed from “just your face” to “your face in heaven”–i.e. lit and blurred to perfection, as if you were standing in the presence of a holy being.

I don’t keep the box permanently checked (TBH, I’m afraid I’ll forget what my real face looks like), but I’m not immune to the allure of its magic-adjacent effects. So, when I was conversing with an MR Thoughtline subscriber who casually mentioned she had found the beauty product equivalent of the Zoom “touch up my appearance” filter, I sat up straight at my makeshift desk. According to Zoom, the “touch up my appearance” filter “smooths out the skin tone on your face, to present a more polished-looking appearance.” Apparently Ilia’s Super Serum Skin Tint SPF 40 does the exact same thing–but in real life.

“It’s like a tinted moisturizer but has squalane and niacinimide and hyaluronic acid and SPF!!!!” my new beauty advisor gushed. “It’s makeup that doubles as skincare. And you don’t need to do anything else to your face for it to look good–it’s like you’ve done a whole routine, but it’s only one product, and it comes in 18 shades.”

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I was sold at “squalane”—which, for the uninitiated, is a natural emollient that locks moisture into your skin. So I requested a sample and have worn it every day for a week. Let me state for the record: This stuff is BETTER than the Zoom filter. It doesn’t make you look like you’re standing in the presence of a holy being, it makes you look like you are a holy being–or at the very least like you swallowed a flashlight. I’ve never experienced such an instant uptick in glow, as if I’ve just come back from a spa instead of just coming back from my second trip to the pantry for snacks. It’s a band-aid for lack of Vitamin D if there ever was one (the fact that it contains SPF at a time I’ve never needed sun protection less is an irony that will hopefully pay off later).

My only qualm with it is the consistency, which is pretty thick (I usually opt for sheer coverage when I wear makeup), but it melts into my skin like–yes–a #stickofbutter, so there’s none of the terrible cakey texture that often comes with full-coverage foundations. The product becomes part of my skin instead of sitting on it, if that makes sense?? Anyways, this stuff is great. I’m looking forward to wearing it for more auspicious occasions than virtual work meetings and dinner with my immediate family, but in the meantime it’s the ideal pick-me-up for my perpetually pajama-clad state of existence.

The post I Heard About It on Thoughtline: A Serum That Makes Your Skin Look… Perfect appeared first on Repeller.

This outfit was created with fall in mind. To me, Fall has everything to do with layers and comfort. I won’t sacrifice my comfort. As someone who continually commutes in New York City, I need to be comfortable at all times. The foundation of any comfortable outfit is comfortable shoes, so I normally style outfits from bottom to top because I firmly believe the type of shoes I wear is not only the baseline for wearability, but they also set the tone for the day I’m trying to have. Whether it’s a day of walking around the city commuting, or a drive around the city type of day, the shoes really define the look. But, plot twist! Fall is an excellent time to switch things up so this time around I actually styled this outfit from top to bottom. 

For this look,  this amazing ivory HM X Giuliva Heritage suit jacket was the first thing I put on and became the cornerstone of the fit It’s a limited edition piece that can be found via HM.com. The collaboration in my opinion was perfect!  It brought out the amazing Italian materials and cuts that we love from Giuliva to our U.S HM stores, at an affordable price. From the minute I saw this collaboration go live via H&M, I knew that I needed this  ivory statement set. The big question  after settling on  this  affordable and luxurious ivory jacket (two big wins in one piece) was….should I do a color block theme or simply go monochrome? 

After much serious deliberation, monochrome won this time around. Once I decided that ivory was definitely the vibe,  I centered my entire outfit around this color palette and decided to wear a matching ivory turtleneck with my suit.

The look doesn’t last forever (too much commitment), but it’s the biggest statement you can make without saying or doing much . 

With the all ivory everything look in full swing, I needed to find the perfect shoes that would pop on their own, without taking anything away from this bossy suit. I thought to myself, boots would be amazing, especially if they had a heel to it. Preferably a thick heel, because, as I said, comfort is key. I found the creamy leather Tory Burch boots that complimented my ivory suit without stealing the show. These boots have gold buckles so I knew that gold jewelry was the necessary next step to achieve total ivory power suiting transcendence. 

But oh, the journey to P. Diddy white party suiting perfection was not over yet. The all-important bag selection was the final step. I didn’t want an ivory bag because I didn’t want the bag to blend in to the look, but at the same time, I also didn’t want it to be the loudest guest at the party. When wearing a monochrome outfit,  your accessories need to have their own  stand out moment too and a  dash of a different color will make a huge difference. When it comes to handbags, the best advice I can give is to look for bags that have big personalities. Like so much personality that if that bag could speak it would say “ I’m a snack”….better yet…I’m a whole snack. Like this furry Marc Jacobs bag is for sure saying that she is a whole snack and she deserves to be a part of my outfit. 

I wanted to look super chic and elegant and this outfit gave me that. From the oversized jacket to the matching colored trouser, this outfit knows its worth. This outfit is going places. This outfit’s dream day is brunch at a California beach on a beautiful Fall morning followed by a relaxed day alone at a cafe reading an inspirational book, something like “Becoming” by Michelle Obama. 

I remember watching this video as a kid, attempting to be half as confident as Jlo in my small bedroom in Massachusetts. I have a vivid memory of her wearing an amazing ivory outfit at a beach house in this video and she wore the monochrome so confidently as she strutted through the frames. That’s exactly when I knew a full ivory moment communicates heavy Queen vibes. 

This is the beauty of styling a powerful look during such uncertain times. Honestly, I have loved getting dressed during the pandemic. For some reason, I actually feel like I have been much more creative and aware of my outfits choices, now more than ever. It has affected my style in a positive, affirming way. 

Nowadays, I will get dressed to the nines with nowhere to go. Getting dressed helps me emotionally feel good, and who doesn’t need that right now? The me prior to the pandemic would not get dressed to go to the grocery store but the me now has allowed the grocery store to become the equivalent of the red carpet at the grammys. Well, not that extreme, but you get the picture. 

And you might think that an all white outfit is too accident-prone to wear for a normal day in the life. You might ask, do I only eat clear foods? Do I ride around in town in a bubble? Am I laminated? Nope. I’m actually very clumsy, but I’m a risk taker by birth so I live on the edge. Life’s too short to not wear a dangerously pristine ivory suit set. The only real advice I could give if you want to emulate this high stakes styling is don’t order spaghetti and meatballs for dinner, and just keep dressing like we live in a world without mustard.

Creative Direction: Micaéla Verrelien
Photographer: Jeremy Mitchell

The post “Life’s Too Short to Not Wear a Dangerously Pristine Ivory Suit Set”: The Outfit Anatomy of Micaéla Verrelien appeared first on Repeller.