I first became aware of Geoff Snack through a New York Times profile by that was sent to me by my creative assistant and fellow Substacker , who thought I would appreciate Geoff’s penchant for all things 70s and 80s New York, and his refined mix of clu…

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I reported recently that the Paris-based shirt shop Rubirosa’s is expanding and opening a second location right next door to their or…

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I am taking a brief detour from our regularly scheduled (style) programming…

Earlier this week, the Substack sent out a note about the lack of diversity on the Fashion & Beauty leaderboard on Substack, pointing out that only two of the newsletters in the list of the Top 50 bestsellers were written by people of color. REVISIONARY’s note resonated with me…

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And when the universe drops these truth bombs onto me, it usually reveals itself to me in my everyday, this time in amazing technicolor.

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Outfit: Grace Jones at Celine

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Outfit: Giovanna Flores Floral and Beat Up Denim

A couple of Fridays back, I slammed my l…

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I think w…

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The other day, my friend Brianna Capozzi came over to borrow some clothes for her book signing and the opening of her solo show, “Womanizer.” Brianna has just had a baby and her body has changed. Especially her boobs, which have, well, grown. Grown exponentially. So she’s been looking toward her fellow generously breasted fri…

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In a lot of ways I find beauty a lot more fun than fashion. It’s more universal. Accessible. The press trips seem to be better and ever-flowing (though it’s not about that). I think so many people find themselves excluded from the conversation when it comes to fashion. The fit of a skirt, probably designed on…

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I’m in Savannah following a brief excursion to London, one of my favorite places in the world. No matter how long I live in New York, London will always be my home and I take any opportunity to go back to see my loved ones and reset. There is no place I feel more calm. I am forewarning you now…this is not my ULTIMATE guide to London (let me know if you want that and I will work on it) but if I had a few days for some chic what-have-yous, this is what I would do.

Where I Would Eat

If I’m going home say for 72 hours, there’s a couple of places that I have to stop by. One is Straker’s, where the above langoustines are from and were devoured within minutes. EVERYTHING is good here, though the mussel toast, the crab linguine and the scallops are particularly delicious.

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If there’s that old Coco Chanel quote about taking one thing off before you leave the house, I’m saying, perhaps consider putting 6 things on. It’s a maximalist approach to dressing which I think is really coming back. In fact, we covered it this week at me ol’ day job. It’s also what my dear friend Steff Yotka of , (and fellow accessories slut), wrote earlier this week about “romo-boho” (Steff, we’ll confab about a different portmanteau) and how we’re moving past the era of fashion minimalism into something that’s a little more brash, a little more loaded. A little more annwwwhhhhrrrrr. And obviously there’s a fine line between being tasteful with accessories and being the bag lady at the bus stop. But I don’t think I’ve ever seen an outfit with beaucoup accessories that I didn’t think was at least an interesting conversation starter. And I’d rather an interesting conversation starter than being boring.

It’s all over the culture too. Celebs are starting to do things wrong, and that feels right. I thought this was good (albeit not the most wrong thing you’ve ever seen). And this, and this too, although it should have had the milkmaid hat (see: the toppers matter!). The Matthieu Blazy Chanel dress that Alexa Demie wore to the Euphoria S3 afterparty last week encapsulates the next frontier of this. Not only is the dress adorned all over with these technicolor flowers, and a corsage-like one at the back that holds it together, it’s hard to distinguish the difference between Demie’s layered necklaces and the dress itself. It’s like her accessories and the dress are all one unit. This is good. I see a similar energy in this Junya sweater that I forgot to buy that has a necklace sewed into the neckline.

And because I practice what I preach, I’ve compiled some recent looks (with links where appropriate):

I have a couple of patron saints when I think about accessories-maxxing. Is that a thing? I’m making it one. As I said a few weeks ago, jewelry designer Tina Chow truly understood the importance of great accessories. Lisa Eisner is one of the best dressed people in the world right now and this look made me yelp out loud. Single ostrich feather top from The Row and the space-y black and silver hair barrettes are from another dimension. She is unrivaled. Also, the late, great Diana Vreeland, whose classic look inspired this Chanel look from the New York subway 2026 Metiers d’Art show and was really my impetus to buy this white fringe Dries Van Noten scarf (see below) which I didn’t just imagine as a scarf. I saw it as a belt, a skirt, maybe some sort of snow yeti top in one iteration. (We’ll see.) Maryam Nassir Zadeh, whose commitment to the scrunchie as anklet/bracelet/anything that’s not a scrunchie and general love of accessory flourishes, is a port in a storm. My friend Becky Akinyode will fashion fishing gear into a headdress if she has a vision (and I love her for that). Andddd, Mrs. Prada and her suites of brooches, earrings and lashes of necklaces is an obvious example.* And if its good enough for Miu Miu, it’s good enough for me.

*And don’t get me started on the time she wore the lemon beret.

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Now, for my inaugural post, a new philosophy…for fashion week and beyond.

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Introducing…Second Row Seat, Front Row Mindset

I’ve been going to Fashion Week a long time. From sneaking into London fashion weeks at sixteen and empty seat hopping until the music starts, to getting on the British Airways City Airport flight to Milan only for it to be cancelled when you are on the tarmac. And what I’ve learned is this: if you ever want to see a really comprehensive and exorbitant amount of peacocking, there’s nothing quite like Paris Fashion Week.

New York is the warm-up. The World Championships. Paris is the Olympics. The Olympics of Peacocking.

That’s probably not surprising, right? No one goes to Paris Fashion Week to be the perennial wallflower. You go there to show up. Even folks who say they don’t. But this season, I witnessed a little bit of a phenomenon. Like never before, the second row was where it was at.

I can say this with authority. In New York, I would say I’m firmly a first-rower. But nothing like a Paris Fashion Week to boot you back to your rightful (second row) place. And thank God, to be honest, because the second row was where all the action was this season. All the best looks, all the best gossip, all the best snacks, and all the best seatmates.

Case in point, my experience at Chanel this season would have been considerably worse if I didn’t have José Criales-Unzueta from Vanity Fair next to me to nod about the virtues of Matthieu Blazy picking Lady Gaga’s “Just Dance” as the finale song. High! Camp! The clothes were pretty great too. Though I feel like my feelings about Chanel have been well documented as of late.

At Balmain, I handed out the very best fizzy candies on the market, from that Swedish brand Bonbon, to my fellow second-rowers while we nattered about would-be dinner plans and who we were hitching a ride from for the next show.*

* The idea of chic dinners at candle-lit brasseries is very FROW. Having to pile-in 8 men to a 7-man Mercedes sprinter, not so much.

Dior was hot as a furnace—one editor recalled her phone shutting down due to overheating—but worth it for that incredible collection. I was lucky enough to be sat next to stylist Alex Harrington who not only admired my new Phoebe Philo flower brooch, but also told me how I could get a second one made for wayyyyyyyyyy less. Yes, I’m gonna gatekeep that.

And, of course, all the second row looks were top tier. I saw attendees in archival Junya, little 90s Manolo heels, unreleased Phoebe Philo gig bags, and TRR finds that you wish you got first. My observation is that the front row doesn’t really have to try, they don’t have anything to aspire to. They’ve “made it.” The understated jeans and leather jacket is the new uniform of having nothing to prove. A second-rower, on the other hand, has imagination, aspiration, and maybe a hint of desperation.

All of the above is peak what I’m calling Second Row Seat, Front Row Mindset, or SRSFRM. It’s a philosophy that could only come from Fashion Week, but it has reach beyond Fashion Week. It starts on the runway but it’ll take you to the subway.

SRSFRM is one that you can take on in every facet of your life. How? It’s about having a no-holds-barred belief in the full potential of your bad-bitchery. It’s about elevating the less-fabulous aspects of life, regardless of your status quo. It actually should be the official motto for living in New York City. New York is fabulous, but everything you go through to live here kind of sucks. They sell you champagne, they give you lemonade. Not grandma’s homemade lemonade either, the-shake-a-sachet-of-powder-and-just-add-water kind. You’re on the subway in your buttery cashmere Prada coat that you scored from the sample sale (budgeting is key folks!) and you’re wondering why some guy is showing you his dick. You have to find some way to go on.

In a world defined by everyday and sartorial tyranny, SRSFRM is a reminder that when it comes to living well it’s not really about where you are physically, but who you are mentally.