Recently, at a second-hand shop in Paris my sister and I visit a little too often, I found the most incredible Saint Laurent dress: black and billowy, with a deep V in the most luxurious lurex fabric. A real party dress with a < 1x estimated annual use, but it felt so special. When I got to the checkout, the woman at the counter started laughing. "I can't sell you this dress. It's your sister's!" I texted my sister immediately "I'll buy you dinner". She sighed, annoyed to have missed the resale of one of her many sample sale regrets, but resigned to the absurdity: the dress should go to the sister who'd love it most. "It just didn't make it into my Collection"

The proverbial Collection, as her and I have always called it, is the part of your closet you’ll never let go of: the extraordinary pieces acquired slowly over time, the dresses you’ll pass on to your daughters. Most of mine have been acquired on The RealReal. Like pieces of art, their source is important: artist, collection, fashion year, provenance. Leather trench, Nicolas Ghesquière for Louis Vuitton Fall 2014, bought in Tokyo in November 2023; pink sweater, Phoebe Philo for Celine Fall 2018, bought on The RealReal in 2021. Pretty much all my Dries. My favorite very old Miu Miu slacks, a $31 find (also from The RealReal), and to this day my favorite and most worn pants.
One person’s trash, my Obsessions.

You have to understand something about Paris: it’s an industry city for fashion the way L.A. is one for Hollywood. At almost any dinner table, someone is speculating about which house is about to name a new creative director, or evaluating the current one’s last show.

It also means the second-hand shops are full of the most incredible designer clothes, because the employee sales all happen locally. I love getting back to Paris and shopping my sister Manon’s closet for special events. The one thing they don’t have though, is The RealReal, always bountiful with inventory. Manon, the family’s designated haute couture connoisseur, loves to order things for me to bring back to her when I go home to France… A sisterly win.

I love the way women in Paris dress up for dinner. I’ve always been most comfortable in flats and was ruined by 5 years in LA, where I got to further sediment a particular Eastside French mom style (but always with a clutch) and in spite of all my efforts, I am always a little less dressed than my girlfriends. Everyone has fancy clothes, and everyone loves to wear them all the time. Pourquoi pas?

For the record. In Manon’s Collection: a lace Givenchy gown she’s not yet let me borrow, and the draped Pieter Mulier-era Alaïa, the one from the campaign. In mine: a ballerina Phoebe Philo-era Celine dress she bought at a sample sale and gifted me for Christmas; a beat up navy Kelly I bought at an auction in France; a sequined Rosie Assoulin princess dress. I had three from Rosie that took an unreasonable amount of space. Two were consigned on The RealReal this Spring, one joined my Permanent Collection.

Another epic find: my future wedding dress, a 2014-era (I can’t reveal more yet), bought long before I found the man I hope to someday marry. It magically appeared in my “new arrivals” tab, at about 80% off retail. I’ve never wanted a big wedding and will probably elope (sorry, Mom), so I consider it very practical to have her on hand!

It’s also where I get trends out of my system. Fringes, checkers, metallics and crochets that I won’t keep forever but will absolutely wear five times in the next month, for $55? Be my guest.

It’s where those pieces go when I’m done with them. Right now I’m finally consigning the eventwear I’ve already worn a handful of times, jeans that no longer fit, and a pair of brown Suzie Kondi pants I never reach for, since I don’t have the top to match and live in her delicious sets.

All my obsessions are here.

Do you shop this way too - keeping some pieces for a short season and holding onto others for the long haul?

xx
Melanie

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❤️ Thank you for being here. If you liked this newsletter, clicking “like” helps more people discover my work. (Or leave a comment — it truly makes my day.)
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Hi! How is everything?

NYC feels empty, and it seems like everyone who is here is either working really hard, or working out really hard. Both the gym and the office have been buzzing.

I want to share a very full circle moment with you. I spent the better part of Wednesday shooting for Sezane’s new fall campaign. Not only were they one of the first brands I ever worked with, they’re also a business I have always admired. Just when it seems like the company could not get any better or bigger, they are revealing a rebrand (I much prefer to call it a thoughtful evolution). I got to peep at the new collection, and ride a bike on camera in Soho wearing two sweaters and a coat in 95 degree weather. What a time. The first drop was released this morning, and I’m so excited about some of the suede pieces.

Sitting down to write this newsletter is always the best part of my week. I’m still in my great summer reckoning, and have been thinking about how to keep adding value in ways that are uniquely mine while of course keeping the fun and light aesthetic commentary many of you are here for.

In my online Q&As, I almost always get asked about meal prepping and dodge the question because it doesn’t fit on a slide, and also because I don’t really meal prep! Cooking when [insert excuse for not wanting to cook: small kitchen, cooking for one, tough schedule, etc.] is a challenge in any city, let alone NYC, and the kitchen is one place I try to keep stress free.

It's unlikely that, if you have zero skills, nothing in your pantry, and a thousand other things you'd rather be doing, any newsletter will give you a perfect meal plan and suddenly instill in you an unbounded love of cooking. I will however, do my best with the latter part! I know I won't fall in love with running by signing up for a marathon, and you won't fall in love with cooking by doing it 7 times in a week. This is simply too ambitious. We need to start small, build joy along the way, and avoid watching our good intentions wilt in the fridge. What I'd like is for you to find a little flow, and the safety of a few recipes that feel like yours, so the kitchen becomes a place you want to be.

Nothing makes me feel better when I’m overwhelmed, or when I’ve been swallowing tears about something, than making a cake. During Covid I started making one most Sundays, and friends would just come by for a slice. It was often the only time of the week I would see people outside my computer screen. There is something incredibly therapeutic and sensory about making a cake: the clicking noise of my whisk against the mixing bowl, the too rare feeling of using my hands to bring something to life, licking the spoon, licking my fingers, and of course, the tantalizing smell of the batter browning in the oven. Bake it and they will come, isn't that what they say?

If you’re already an avid cook, the rest of this will be of no use to you, though much like any love, love of cooking is contagious so help me by sharing your favorite easy go-to recipes for beginners in the comments. For everyone else, this is more or less how I still cook most weeks.

Time

Before anything else, get real about what you’re actually committed to. Are we starting with a dinner for four with friends on Friday, or just three lunches to take to the office this week? Do you want to batch a meal to have at home and don’t mind repeating, or do we want to tackle an elaborate dessert recipe just because? The answer changes everything about how you plan and how you cook, and it’s the most planning we’ll do.

My meal plan these days is: I make every breakfast and 4 ish dinners for two per week. For lunch, I suffer through the fast casual options of the Financial District (those meals are for sustenance, not joy). It’s not perfect, but I’m consistent!

Shopping

Walking into a Trader Joe’s with no plan is a recipe for disaster (pun intended). You’ll buy too much, half of it will expire, and you’ll end up feeling like you wasted both time and money and should probably never cook again. That said, I support an emergency bag of frozen cauliflower gnocchi.

Knowing what to get and where is half the battle. I know I don’t have time to grocery shop and cook, so I do a monthly haul at Whole Foods, Thrive Market (the link gets you 40% off your first order) or Trader Joe’s to restock on olive oil, bulk items and pantry essentials. Then I get an almost weekly delivery from Farm to People (use MELANIEM48 for a free small farm box), and their “New and in Peak” section decides a lot of what I’ll make that week. I am “subscribed” to a small farm box (they let you choose what goes in) with lettuce, eggs, lemons, yogurt, the small seasonal fruit basket, and other things we consume weekly. The Saturday farmers market is optional, for pleasure and extra things if we have friends coming over, fresh flowers, and a loaf of bread. Oh and Mr. Mango is open 24/7, and I like to stock up on Alec’s ice cream and buy Ghia there.

I like to always have a well stocked freezer with fish from Seatopia or Seremoni, and I pick up meat at my local small shop (Greene Grape, iykyk), which is right outside the subway to my house. Getting this system down was low-key one of the hardest parts of moving back to New York, after years of being spoiled by my LA ritual of Sunday markets and small butchers.

Building your “Repertoire”

The goal is for you to build a collection of ten or more recipes that you love, can easily adapt and safely rely on making with your eyes closed. And to get to ten we need to start with one. I have a friend who said you always have to commit to 2-3 dates with someone new, and this applies, imho, even more to recipes: it will always be better the 2nd time you make it!

Riviera is a book I’m proud of because it’s built for beginners. Professional chefs and more advanced cooks could roll their eyes at some of the recipes in it, and that’s sort of the point. It’s French-Italian grandma cuisine, and very practical, because my grandmother was a single mom of four. Some of these recipes were my go-to in college, when I would make very large batches of ratatouille in the common hallway kitchen for me and my friends during finals. I especially love recipes that make a full meal or leave you with leftovers, so you get to enjoy your effort more than once.

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I spend so much of the year wishing I could press pause on time and have a week to catch up on everything. Spending August in NYC feels exactly like this. Like a child, I’m programmed to think the year starts in September, and at Ghia, January is our annual Super Bowl, so apart from my favorite planning exercise there is not much time for a reset. This week has felt luxurious: same-day spots available in Pilates, an empty office, the Lion’s Gate portal, an eclipse, and an abundance of tomatoes (and cosmos) at the Farmer’s Market.

I always always get asked about productivity, so I’ve decided to start tackling the topic (it will take several newsletters!). I’m most productive when I’m in a rested state, when I feel quiet inside. The internet loves to call this a “regulated nervous system,” the ultimate pathway to “manifesting” - I despise the words but am a strong believer in the magic (sorry, science) of neuroplasticity and all the good things that being in simply, feeling good can bring. This does not mean being on vacation: I call productivity a high-output steady state that isn’t cramming late into the night on a deadline (something I can also do brilliantly).

Founders build a real thick skin, and certainly a lot of the things that used to affect me don’t anymore - I learned over the years to only lose sleep over things that can threaten my business long term. But there’s this little thing called LIFE, and its endless list of to-dos does pile up, contributing to my admin-phobia, so this August, I’m setting myself up well for a busy fall, and seeing what this machine can do when it’s humming at a cool 85%.

Pre-fall emails, though, are in overdrive, and while I’m holding on to summer for as long as I can, I’m only human and the cravings have begun. Below is everything I did to set myself up for a great fall, and some pieces I have my eyes on.

Productivity: Cleansing my phone number from the internet

I get 20 to 30 spam calls per day, which makes it nearly impossible to ever have my phone ~not~ on Do Not Disturb mode, and completely defeats the primary use of a phone (everything that doesn’t require ringing, if you think about it, is a distraction). I asked Claude Code (Fable 5 iykyk) to help me cleanse my personal info from the internet. It took an hour and a half of back and forth (you still have to sign in / captcha / 2FA everything yourself) but it has already helped SO MUCH. A task to unfortunately repeat seasonally!

Pre-Fall: A chunky crewneck

Four years after it first came out, I still want the Ophelia like I did the first day. I spent at least $700 on dupes last year, but they didn’t quite fill my heart the same. I have most of what I need this year, save maybe for a pair of low boots, but at the top of ym cart is THE Ophelia (buy less but better blablabla)!

Productivity: Booking all my appointments until December

A small thing that constantly reminds me that I'm behind is not having my appointments in check. There is nothing heroic about getting it done, but this is a reminder that bundling little tasks helps keep them “little”, and frees up significant headspace. It took all of 20 minutes to book everything (from the dentist to my dreaded trek up to the French Consulate) on the weeks I know I will definitely be in NYC, instead of scrambling to squeeze them in every week. I try to only burden myself with one appointment a week - spreading them out and booking early gets me more convenient hours too!

Pre-Fall: A great anorak

I love technical fabrics, so this is one trend I easily fell prey to (though I did wait a few months to make sure...). I loved anoraks the minute I saw them on the Saint Laurent runway, and finally got one while I was in Europe (je suis thunderstorm-ready!). There are tons at a range of prices, and I especially look forward to going full 80s by pairing mine with big metal jewelry.

Productivity: A huge office cleanup

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I’ve been in Paris for 6 of the past 8 weeks. This was the vision when I started apartment hunting here 5 years ago: to create a small base that would be my home. Here I leave a set of all my favorite vanity products, a hair towel, and my nice steak knives. I have running shoes and vintage boots such that, while it never happens, I could fly here with just a purse and spend the week.

What I do like, and do well, is sharing a snapshot of my Paris right now, an anti-ultimate guide to Paris of sorts.

Below is everything I am loving in Paris at this moment in time, for anyone who wants to spend more than 3 days here:

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The French have a word for the back half of this ~ la rentrée ~ but the blank pages of a fresh notebook don’t offset my August blues. Time passing, summer especially, brings up a kind of irrational sadness I only associate with childhood. I get it around the holidays, in the second half of the summer, and every Sunday night without fail. It’s big enough in my life that I’ve had to explain it to the people around me, and the only way I can describe it is sand falling through my fingers. Gone before I had time to process how soft and cool and delicious it felt.

Then my heart is heavy, full of made up remorse that I let it go, that the moment is fully gone, that there’s only the vast emptiness of the week / year / cold months ahead. If I survive another cycle, it promises to return next Sunday.

But a world where every day is a Saturday of the summer does not exist, and I must abide by the rules: soon it’s socks, a double dose of moisturizer, and holding my breath before I turn onto Water Street, where the morning wind finds every gap in my coat.

Do you think I am crazy yet, or do you get it too? Some friends say that when you have children, you realize every moment of them being this small is gone too? Guys, I might not make it!..

In any case, everyone’s favorite shopping series is back, every piece in here is $300 or less.

Enjoy!
xx Melanie

• By the way, beauty lovers out there, did you know Violet Grey had a special membership club? which cumulates with my code.

• No one works harder than a blue shirt in September, and Sézane just made my new favorite one: it’s a thick poplin, in a medium light blue, slightly belled sleeves when uncuffed but still so easy to scrunch up. I’m also living in this t-shirt and am eagerly waiting for their suede pieces, always well priced, to drop.

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I just came back from the most magical few days in Italy. Partly because I needed a vacation so so very badly, but mostly because I got to stay at one of my all-time favorite hotels, Le Sirenuse.

This newsletter is not an off-the-beaten-path recommendation newsletter. Le Sirenuse, the Sersale family’s beautiful red hotel overlooking Positano, is an institution for a reason. Established in 1951, it reigns over the Amalfi Coast but is anything but stuffy.

Carla, who runs the hotel with her husband Antonio and their sons Aldo and Francesco, also spearheads the brand Emporio Sirenuse, which so uniquely captures the aesthetic and refinement of the hotel, but also her Milanese sensibility and her love for all the cultures that visit Positano each summer. I got to wear some of the pieces on the trip, and I dream of the Suzani platters for my own (future) house overlooking a yet-to-be-determined sea.

One of my favorite things about the hotel is that something always seems new with each visit: art filling the walls (or the pool!), spaces reimagined as a family member gets inspired on their travels. At dinner on our last night, I asked Carla how they decide what changes, and she told me that much to her delight, the four of them seem to have a rather united vision for the hotel’s future. It’s an extension of our bodies, she says, constantly expanding and evolving.

The theme of this trip, through and through, was legacy, a topic that has come up a lot between Adam and me and was actually the impetus for this vacation. A few months ago, Adam had asked me

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Hi everyone!

This is definitely not everything I loved in June. Most weeks, I pull up my notes app, the repository of ideas labeled “SUBSTACK”, and immediately get overwhelmed by the myriad of topics I want to cover. Perhaps this newsletter should have been titled rabbit hole, because as my friend says, each one of them could be 5 newsletters. All to say, the list of loves is vast and unfocused, and I am plagued by a curious spirit in a world of many wonders.

June took me to Formentera, a quiet island off the coast of Ibiza, Ravello (breathtaking!), LA and back to NY. I got to see my mom for a short few days. I also never seem to be caught up on work and look and feel a bit depleted.

In July I plan on taking 2 long weekends without my computer, but for now, I am recounting some of the things I really liked in June.

I am a Wispr Flow enthusiast

A few months ago, on the recommendation of some Substack readers, I downloaded Wispr Flow - basically supercharged Siri. I press one key on my phone or computer and start blabbering and it understands, punctuates, even turns my rambles into bullets for decks or the team. You can add a dictionary of words, so Wispr knows “Ghia”, the spelling of every one of my team and family members, and it can recognize sentences in half French half English. And if you can picture it, yes, I speak to Claude with Wispr Flow. I’m a dork first and foremost!

A media “undiet”

I’m giving my Brick another try, unsubscribed from 10,000 newsletters, re-sorted my inbox alerts and am purging my calendar. On the recommendation of my most intellectual friend in Paris I started reading Le Grand Continent, but it’s dry and a sharp contrast from my usual “Everything I wore this week” Substack diet (no offense to anybody here). Now that I have a clean slate, please help me find something in the middle!

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Books!

I just finished reading The Correspondent and listening to Still Bobbi by (she narrates it). I highly recommend both and am especially in awe of Bobbi’s commitment to her family values while she built two empires (by the way, this foundation is great). I’m starting A Natural History of the Senses and Bending Reality, as I like to have a fiction and a non-fiction book at any time.

I’m patiently waiting for Margo’s Got Money Troubles to be available on Libby, and I’ve picked up 101 Essays That Will Change The Way You Think again. This is a great book to have on your nightstand or in your bathroom, and to pick up a couple pages at a time when you are feeling anxious.

Catbird’s New Italian Holiday Collection

By now we know I love stacking maximalist jewelry along my earlobe (one hole for each breakup) to add a little zazazou to simple everyday wear. I have always loved Catbird: when I was hired at Glossier a decade ago, I bought myself one of their signature dainty chain bracelets and wore it for two years straight, until it was swallowed by the ocean one day. Their new Italian Holiday collection is bold and colorful and unfortunately, well, I need it all, together.

Apatite, tanzanite, aquamarine and peridot all set in gold. I fell the hardest for the tanzanite, but the max effect drop earrings have my heart.

Spritz-in-the-City

One of the highlights of this spring has been planting a garden on Adam’s rooftop. I affectionately renamed our little paradise “Brooklyn-sur-Mer”. If in the long NYC winter I admit to having had a few cravings for natural wine, this summer feels very clear-headed for me and I crave my nightly Ghia more than ever - Blood Orange for him, OG for me, and when the basil or the mint needs a trim we stuff herbs, ice and our original apéritif in a shaker and top our naughty nectar with a splash of sparkling water. So good. Get 15% off on drinkghia.com with the code NIGHTSHADE (works 1x per human).

The Gorgeous Ceramics of Danelle Satherley

I peeked at a gorgeous vase on one of ’s Instagram stories. I don’t know Laurel well, but she and I share an affinity for practical clothing that still incorporates a daily dose of sequins (have you been to her LA store, Earl IRL? I imagine it is very dangerous: she recently hosted styling pop-ups with the founders of Donni and Comme Si and basically built her own glittery princess and animal print palace in Beverly Hills). Danelle’s ceramics are lovely on their own, but even more as just-a-few-buds vases.

Thank you for being here,
Melanie

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🐟 Order my cookbook!
🌟 ShopMy, The RealReal and vintage finds, Shopbop Hearts, but most importantly GHIA!

Much like Dua Lipa, everybody thinks I’m on vacation all the time, and I don’t mind! Summer is my favorite season and I will gladly stretch it longer if I can. It’s also the season I shop for the least: every year around this time I gleefully pull out the box of sarongs and crochets — the one box to escape my monthly purges — to reassemble the wardrobe I feel the best in.

I’m back from Formentera and Ravello by way of Paris, where it was even hotter than they say. I was welcomed back to America by ~Prime Day~, and I feel a great responsibility to tell you to only buy things you actually wanted, or stock up on what you already use all the time: my Riviera cookbook and Ghia are both on sale.

I purchased only some clean dishwasher soap, a Brick for my sister, Bala weights (I’ve been working out at home enough to feel like I deserve them), my favorite summer hair mask, which I apply generously top to bottom with every wash and before going in the sea. The Ghia team was excited about EADEM and Summer Fridays being on sale (on Amazon? Weird I know — apparently it is secretly HUGE for beauty). I’m partial to the Violet Grey experience and selection, where MELANIE15 gets you a discount any day of the year.

I love a June vacation, the great amuse-bouche of a euro-summer. If I’m lucky and get some downtime, I use it to take stock of the year as it hits its halfway point.

The first leg was spent in Formentera, hosted by Marine Layer, the beloved California brand that makes great t-shirts and everything soft in general. They basically gave us a wonderful house, the best friends, our weight in aioli and a stack of well-chosen books: I devoured the spicy aioli and even spicier The Plunge, and am now making my way through the much less racy but equally delicious The Correspondent.

There are two aiolis on my mind. The one in my book is yellow like the sun and a perfect soft dip for lazily steamed artichokes and asparagus. The one they make in Ibiza is strong and dense like the crowd at Circoloco. It can easily be made with an immersion blender, and the trick is to use no eggs and half neutral, half olive oil for a lighter, purely garlicky taste. It wraps like a blanket on toasted sourdough.

The next leg took me to the Belmond in Ravello, on the most exquisite trip hosted by Aerin Lauder, founder of Aerin Beauty. I pride myself on being someone who sweats the details and I was humbled: custom branding just for the occasion adorned decks of cards, embroideries, hand-painted fans and even yoga mats! Aerin is so elegant and charming that she delighted all of us strangers with personal stories as if we had and would continue to know each other a long time. A skill I admire but do not possess. I loved their tuberose gardenia scent already, but this trip was all about Mediterranean Honeysuckle Soleil, which layers in touches of neroli and orange.

I was left to my own devices for all of 45 minutes and managed to spend 600 euros in a store owned by a nonna named Rosanna on a new collection of Murano glassware. No regrets!

The word is that when I left Ravello for Paris, Dua Lipa and her beau headed south to Il Pellicano. I wonder if she stole that beautiful ashtray from the room (I did). Stars, they’re just like us!

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xx
Melanie

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❤️ Thank you for being here. If you liked this newsletter, clicking “like” helps more people discover my work. (Or leave a comment — it truly makes my day.)
🐟 Order my cookbook!
🌟 ShopMy, The RealReal and vintage finds, Shopbop Hearts, but most importantly GHIA!

Hi everyone,

I’m writing to you from Paris, where I’m taking advantage of the local habit of slow Sundays to have a quiet morning to write. The city is silent but this peace is temporary: tonight is the Fête de La Musique and the city will be ablaze in celebrtaion of the first day of summer. There’s a little breeze coming in before another day of the heat wave. My coffee is iced and strong.

I’ve hinted at this newsletter a few times and finally got around to putting it together, a beginner’s guide to automating some basic tasks with AI (with 5 easy beginner integrations that save me ~ 10 hours a week). It’s long, and you don’t have to read the whole thing. Just pick a task that speaks to you and learn to use my favorite robot this way!

Before we begin, I want to clarify that I’m not trying to promote AI - in general, it’s created a lot of slop that I can’t support. I truly wish I lived in different times, ideally the 70s, on the Riviera without a cell phone. But in the past 8 years building Ghia, my biggest sacrifice has been personal time. It takes a lot of computer hours and menial tasks to build a brand that people actually connect with, especially for someone as detail obsessed as I am. And if you’ve been here a while, you probably know that I don’t cut corners at work, but will always try to make the most of life while it happens.

How you spend your days is how you spend your life.

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I also love learning, and when I started looking into AI it was easy to get excited. At work I guide, I review, I pivot, I approve. Apart from the occasional long-form brainstorm, I rarely get to be immersed in a task, in a state of flow, learning something new. My daily frustrations are always about time running out, not having time to think, getting buried in the small details.

What’s worked for me has been learning by doing, so for those of you who don’t know where to begin, I’m going to share 5 easy-to-adapt automations on Claude Cowork. I estimate I save around 10 hours a week with these, and I hope you will too. Mostly they’re a jumping-off point to make your own. And since this newsletter is for paid subs only, I’ll be alllllll your questions in the comments.

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I hope you had a beautiful weekend. I love the effervescence of Art Week and the first day over 80° in the city, truly heaven. I had my first terrace dinner at Bar Pitti (gleefully waited 45 minutes for it), and have a big project this week to finally retire and put away my heavy coats and sweaters and to dig out my summer box.

I’m leaving again in 2 days, but for a fun reason: Adam and I are shooting a campaign together in Europe over Memorial Day weekend. This may or may not have been written in my planner back in January!…

oh and it’s also the most confusing time of the year, because it’s not quite Memorial Day yet, and half the pieces I’m coveting are 50% off while the other half is just dropping. I could never work in fashion!

Okay, here’s everything I loved in April:

The Before Trilogy

One of the thousands of things I love about Adam is his love for love movies, and we’re currently making our way through The Before Trilogy (Before Sunrise, Before Sunset, Before Midnight). Even I cannot resist Julie Delpy’s French accent.

The trilogy was shot in real time, meaning the actors get old with each movie, and some devout followers are still hoping for a fourth. Highly recommend!

Design Week Things

Fixing my teeth.

A few months ago I was looking for a new dentist in New York for a cleaning. I decided to follow my friend Elizabeth's extremely enthusiastic recommendation for her friend Sheila. I went uptown and immediately felt comfortable: she slipped a hand mask onto my hands during the cleaning (!). I've never really liked my teeth, but they weren't bothering me enough to prioritize the expense, and I didn't think any of it was fixable without veneers. Well - Sheila has me on a PROGRAM to whiten, straighten and add a bit of bonding to my front teeth - I can’t wait to show you!

In My Bathroom: Sunscreen.

For the sunny days, I stocked up on my favorite sunscreens at the Violet Grey 20% sale (which ends tonight): U Beauty’s Multimodal Sheer is best for anyone who doesn’t like the texture of sunscreen. It primes the skin perfectly. Sofie Pavitt’s sunscreen leaves a nice dewy finish and never clogs the pores (I love everything from her line, all of which is on sale).

I also must shout out Supergoop, also 20% off right now, for all the family-size body SPF and, my personal favorite for summer, the Glow Screen in Golden Hour which acts as a bit of a bronzer and leaves the most beautiful sheen behind.

Fresh towels.

After three years, my beloved Onsen waffle towels were starting to really wear. I realized that I mainly use the very large bath sheets and decided to add a pop of color to my bathroom with some mix-and-match bath towels from Parachute. They're even better in real life: so plush and soft and perfect for every day (and 25% off for MDW).

Making a money date.

I tend to fall behind on admin work, lately more than ever, but I am working on myself. I listened to Mrs. Dow Jones's new book "Future Rich" — don't laugh, this space is supposed to be safe! The book is very beginner-level, and I can't say I learned anything new, but the one thing that resonated was: making a monthly "money date". Two hours to go through credit card statements, bills, subscriptions, investments, and any adjustments. I did it this week and even used the time to categorize my expenses for the month, something I'd usually put off doing until April 14th, if you know what I mean. I didn't hate it and I felt great afterwards!

So much of being more productive this year has come down to doing things well in one go, without touching them many times. It removes the mental load of carrying it all around in my head. Now I almost look forward to the money date, because it feels like I’m doing something for myself and my future.

• From the Net Sale: tons of denim, sandals and this flowy dress that’s been in my cart for a year.

• You’ll need to log in to access it but the Toteme private sale is a trove - I love this pocket top and leather skirt.

• Nili Lotan is having a blowout 70% off sale, sizes are slim pickings on the pants but it’s worth sorting by size.

• If, like me, you shop for investment pieces on the sale, the famous Caragh is finally 30% off. More weather appropriate is Gap’s viral crewneck sweater (every woman at Ghia seems to have at least one).

Next week I’ll walk you through my curriculum for using Claude to automate annoying things in your life, with simple examples crowdsourced from instagram, the Ghia office, and my own work. No AI shilling, I promise! And for the record, I’ve never hit my token limits, so I think I’m using it pretty efficiently. It will be a simple beginner’s guide, behind the paywall. A full year of Night Shade is on Memorial Day sale at $40 until the end of the month. If you love this newsletter, I hope you’ll subscribe. And no matter what, thank you for being here.

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À bientôt!

Melanie

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I’m writing to you from the SFO airport, on my way back from one of the most intense, nourishing, exhilarating 10 days of my life! At one point I fell behind on posting — with every hour outside of the tour needing to go to Ghia, and I started getting super anxious. Then I thought, how many times in my life will I actually get to go on a book tour? Especially one that involves driving up the Coast of California with my love, something I had always dreamed of doing and regretted never happened when I moved out of LA.

A huge shoutout to The Infatuation for organizing my dream launch party in NYC at bar Oliver for the book launch - Paul + Tara, I owe you for life!!

I decided to lean in. I put a short OOO on my email, set up a few skills in Claude to make sure anything important would get surfaced to me, and let my text messages and emails accumulate in the 100s. This fueled a virtuous circle of being present: outside of team calls (and my immortal enemy, Slack, which sadly forever follows me into the night), I had zero desire to scroll, or do anything but take in and think about life with a super big L.

For anyone new here, this is very unlike me! Balance starts with inbox zero and coffee on an empty stomach.

First stop! LA. Ghia & Riviera took over the newly reopened and renamed Bar Besito for a little themed night. Both nights were packed, and I was shocked that over half the room was friends from LA showing up for me. It was so nice to see I still have people in LA. The first of many times that week I’d watch someone interpret the recipes from the book. A whole new bundle of emotions.

In LA, I kept going through my bucket list of California regrets. First Denim Doctors (used to be appointment only, now open a few hours a day). Then Mohawk, still the best men’s and women’s store in LA in my opinion, where I caved for the Substack satin pouch and a cutout Auralee top. A launch-week treat!

From there, we had our only free day. At that point I was already feeling a little zonked from two 5-hour event nights, and it would have been easier to relax in LA and fly to SF for the next bang-bang-bang (three events in two days), but I was committed to the adventure.

Breakfast tacos, then up the coast. We pit-stopped in Montecito for an iced coffee at Oat Bakery (and a bonus Peter Shire mug; every year I lived in LA, I’d get one or two at his annual studio sale) and a slice of pizza at Bettina, a cute little spot opened by a Roberta’s alum.

Our goal was to make it to Big Sur to take in the view by sunset. The road in reopened a few months ago after being closed for years. I’d been over 10 years ago and yearned to go back.

All the mid-tier options like Treebones, Glen Oaks, and Deetjen’s were full, but we figured we could always drive up to Carmel.

I was sad to hear Big Sur Bakery had burned down in 2024 and the hot springs were closed, alongside the new hotspot Solstice. But the diner breakfast at Roadhouse and the views more than made up for it.

We even had a drink at the Post Ranch Inn, which is breathtakingly beautiful, but we didn’t feel like a fancy tasting menu (I almost never feel like a fancy tasting menu. I like to choose what and how much to eat, sorry).

A tip from the lady at the Fernwood gift shop: every cabin in Big Sur keeps a few rooms open for last-minute travelers like us. We loved our sparse but clean cabin there, and the breathtaking drive to Carmel that ensued.

We made our way to Carmel-by-the-Sea, a town I’d always wanted to visit. I knew an Instagram friend lived there — the wonderful Alissa, who makes some of my favorite stationery. I shot her a DM and she met us for a spritz. Again, the new cool restaurant here is Chez Noir, but we didn’t feel like a tasting menu. A cozy night of catching up on work before San Francisco.

San Francisco is a blur. In spite of my best efforts to try the chicken at Zuni Cafe, by the time I sat down for dinner after my double event day, I could barely stay awake. The city completely won my heart on this trip. When I visited eight years ago (for the Glossier Fried Chicken pop-up, if you remember), I hadn’t had the chance to leave the city. The proximity to so much nature and beauty nearby is really enticing. Maybe in my next life I’ll have a tech job and surf in Marin County!

Finally, we drove to our last stop: Scribe Winery, where I was lucky enough to be invited as chef in residence for three days. It really only required me to say hi to happy diners in the most beautiful setting, while Kelly, the chef at Scribe, who runs this 250-acre winery with her two brothers Andrew and Adam, cooked my recipes better than I ever could. I may even have had a little rosé pét-nat myself. No complaints.

waking up on their hacienda, overlooking the vineyard, was nothing short of magical. While I am certainly excited to get back into a routine this week, we almost pushed our flight because the weather and the vibes were irresistible!

Before heading back, I did a book signing at a strawberry-picking fest at Cassidy Ranch, the most adorable way to say goodbye.

In my wildest dreams, I never thought this could be my life. I’m so glad I took the time to take it all in.

Thank you to everyone who came to say hi, brought chocolates and notes (and even a coffee table book!) and bought my book and started cooking from it and told me how much you love Ghia.

You’re the reminder of why I get up in the morning and do this, even when things get really hard.

I’m most grateful to Adam, who put his week on hold to make this time extra meaningful. I also can’t believe I found you.

xx Melanie

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New York: Come paint! We have a few tix left for our event at Happy Medium this evening. All tix include a copy of my new cookbook, which I can sign and dedicate to you or your mom for you there :)

What does one even wear on a book tour? I’ve been contemplating this all week, and every idea I had got derailed by 40-degree weather.

I went to my first book signing on Sunday at the Cherry Bombe Jubilee, a true full circle moment since I catered Jubilee in 2016 when I worked at Dig Inn. My love proudly sent me on my way with a beautiful pen he bought me, and even took a picture of me and my red pants on my way out.

I spent the better part of the weekend planning every detail of the cookbook tour. Going on tour on top of my Ghia CEO duties could be really stressful, but I’m choosing to make the most of it and make it fun, I even snagged a reservation at Chez Panisse! This whole process was a labor of love, from sponsor outreach to route mapping, venue and detail coordination, and calendar syncing. I used Claude a lot to help me in the past couple of months, and I can’t wait to tell you more about that so you all can either do more with the same amount of working hours, or do less and get some of your life back, whichever you choose.

Promoting something always comes with a lot of internal turmoil, most of which I will spare you. The feeling of holding something it took me two, almost three years to make trumps them all. The truth is, I’m uncompromising and the toughest on myself, and I’m really, really proud of the book. Yes, I found a missing word in the acknowledgments. And there are three images I wish I had reshot. But I’m choosing to believe everyone who told me that only I see these things, and just lean into the warm feeling of seeing my work come to life.

I went to sign a copy at Greenlight Books today, and saw a few people pick it up at Kitchen Arts and Letters this weekend, and it reminded me of the early days of starting Ghia. Butterflies!

A Book Tour!

Tonight! New York Spritz & Paint @ Happy Medium. We have a few tickets left, grab a friend and come hang out. All tickets include a book.

Tuesday, April 28th: Brooklyn 11am Pre-order signing at Books Are Magic, Cobble Hill flagship.

Wednesday, April 29th: New York Private cocktail party for press, hosted by The Infatuation (thanks a million to them for making this happen!)

Friday & Saturday, May 1–2: Los Angeles Two nights of a Riviera-inspired menu at Bar Besito. I’ll be there both nights with lots of familiar faces in the room. Reservations here.

Tuesday & Wednesday, May 5th-6th: SF Speaking at Stanford (!!!), followed by a Ghia Riviera aperitivo at Penny Roma, presented by Soho House. We’ll be opening 10 community tickets this week! Wednesday Author talk at Omnivore Books, 6:30pm. A conversation, a signing, a hang.

Saturday, May 9th: Sonoma Book signing at Cassidy Ranch as part of their Mother’s Day Gift Shop + Strawberry Festival.

Saturday, May 16th: New York Post-tour aperitivo at Buba Bureka with a special collab.

May – Sep: Part II (Hamptons, Austin, Paris, Miami)

The book is, in many ways, full of motherly memories. My grandmother taught me to cook and had a huge impact on my life. Digging through them with my mom, collecting and scanning old photographs, was painful but equally healing.

She was also extremely frugal with herself, but incredibly generous to others. In my teenage years, I worked at a tobacco shop where unsold magazines got refunded by the publisher: we had to detach the cover and send it back, and I got to keep the rest. I loved giving them to my grandma, who loved magazines but never bought them for herself because she thought they were a waste of money. “They get obsolete so quickly.” In retrospect, I wish I could subscribe her to all the magazines today.

Just like her, I spend my Saturday mornings reading with my coffee. Substack has replaced many paper magazines, but the two subscriptions I keep are Bon Appétit and The World of Interiors. Maybe your mom would like one of those?

Watching my friends become moms has taught me that mothers don’t necessarily want more stuff. What they want is time, ease, and to feel like themselves. But these guides are fun to put together, even if a little useless. The last time we managed to whisk my friend Amrit (Spread the Jelly co-founder, mother of them all) out for a girls’ dinner, we paid for her babysitter, and it brought her to tears. Maybe instead of registries and too many clothes babies will outgrow, we should gift our friends a babysitter fund?

Objects of Desire (for me)

• Higher Dose red light shower head. I love my red light mask more than anything, but it scares the shit out of Adam when I wear it. I am vain and love a moody shower, so I am the target audience for this expensive piece of equipment.

• A diamond cover for my Oura ring. I love the Oura for tracking my cycle, but I hate how it looks, so I currently only wear it at night. This would solve all my problems?

  

• This suede blazer. From afar, the brand seemed like a lot of dupes, prices too good to be true (I ordered from Quince once and will never again, and worried this might be similar). It took a little while to come, and the packaging was a bit rough, but I am happy to report the blazer is really beautiful and I would purchase again with-my-own money!

And for moms!

• My mom gets all of her wellness recs from Elle France and me, and I love going through my “PR closet” aka the 2 shelves next to my washing machine where I store unopened gifting, to pack goodies for her before flying to France. The one cream that she always requests is Theraplush, a truly magical retinol overnight treatment that will soften cuticles and erase wrinkles on the hands, but I also like to use it on my elbows, knees, and feet. They just launched a mother-of-pearl version specifically for Mother's Day, so that one is going straight to France.

  

• My friends have been raving about this chic thinning hair treatment (Melanie15 for a discount on all Violet Grey).

• One of my favorite serums is having a big promo if you get 2 — one for you, one for mom. I use 3 euros prescription retinol and layer with a generous layer of their cream.

  

• No matter where you are, I am begging you not to ship flowers. I have never received flowers in a box that were in good health or brought me joy. It is lilac season, and a quick trip to the farmers / flower market with this $60 jar will be 1000 times better!

• This year, my mom requested a radio transistor (for real) - I’m taking recs! Last year I got her an ice cream maker, to use up all the figs in her garden, and it was a real hit. I love the price point of this one, but since everything is bigger in America, if she lived here I would probably get that one.

xx

Melanie

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❤️ Thank you for being here. If you liked this newsletter, clicking “like” helps more people discover my work. (Or leave a comment — it truly makes my day.)
🐟 Order my cookbook!
🌟 ShopMy, The RealReal and vintage finds, Shopbop Hearts, but most importantly GHIA!

Hi everyone!

I am writing to you from Brooklyn. I was supposed to be in Paris this weekend, but I hit a point and never made my flight. I had given my apartment to friends and I’ve been staying with my boyfriend, which feels like a vacation, not just because of his playful spirit, but also because I am living on a tiny suitcase and the weather finally calls for 2 iced coffees a day.

In the past two weeks I have gone to five brand events, three book launches, recorded four podcasts in person, went to the office with the team every single day, and finalized the details of my book tour (which we will announce next week). I also spent four hours buying plants and gardening (from 6 to 8am). I exercised three times (lower than average). I visited three apartments, applied for two, got zero. I sent my Substack on time. Our Ghia team is just seven humans, selling in more than 5,000 accounts. It is ~ too much! ~

I say this not to promote a toxic hustle culture, quite the opposite. I've been thinking a lot about how we glamorize doing it all, and how maybe we do that because we know it's impossible. We are bound to fail, not just because time has limits, but because by trying to do it all we enjoy none of it at all, hence losing it all along the way.

I attended a really fancy book launch party for Emma Grede's Start With Yourself at Tory Burch's house. The Substack I want to write is her apartment tour, but I think it is weird to take pictures of people's houses without asking, and I was not about to ask. So I'll let you wander around this house tour instead. Emma does it all. She has a hot husband, a beautiful family, house, career. She seems to be genuinely fulfilled. And still, the WSJ ran her book under this headline: "The Kardashian Whisperer Who Says Three Hours With Her Kids Is Enough." It is a bummer that women cannot win. To quote the great Taylor Swift: "They want to see you rise. They don't want you to reign."

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Still, the best part of going out is going home, and the best part of my week was arranging the little garden on Adam’s roof at sunrise with a fresh pot of coffee and sleepy eyes. My biggest influence these days is my boyfriend — who always navigates complex moments with poise and grace. As I have been thinking about how hard it is to fulfill every expectation society has placed on us, I have a lot of compassion, too, for men being asked to be strong all the time. Doing it all is a delusion!

On a lighter note, Adam is also my vintage Levi’s guru. He took me to Front for my first pair and patiently waited while I tried on maybe twenty. I got a darker, slimmer bootcut pair at Aazar on my last trip to Mexico City, but he outdid himself by showing up in a pair of off-white vintage Levi’s Orange Tabs, and I have never, in my life, wanted anything more. My guy.

As humbling as it is, there is something exciting about apartment hunting in New York. It forges the character. Each visit is a fork in the road, the set for the next chapter of my life. I love the possibilities. Especially if I find a place I can move into with my love. Will we cook on the roof? Will our friends come over? Who will be our neighbors?

• This week we also went from freezing to furnace. Summer crept up so fast, and I realized that all the things I had wanted to do by now (laser on my face! laser on my body!) I did not do. Cue these gifts from the ShopMy gods: a tanning set, a magical body oil that is now my go-to gift for mom and all friends, and an at-home laser removal device. The first two I highly endorse. The last one I admit is still sitting under my desk.

• For those of you attending weddings this summer, there is a very good limited time 30% off evening edit at CO. I got this dress. Vestiaire is also a trove for clutches and all hidden gems like this.

• A couple months of waiting paid off, and I got an exciting “back in stock” for Sezane’s suede 70s trousers. I have worn my baskets from the collection as laptop bags ever since getting them, and am loving the playful, boho energy of their Spring collection (dare I say, a tad sexier!). I got this top (but also really love this one) and this really fun pink t-shirt, which has made every blah outfit feel fun and spring-y.

  

  

• And if you’re in a hunting mood, it’s sales on top of sales at both Mytheresa and Net-A-Porter - it helps that I compulsively “heart” things to write this Substack. Last year’s dream-list is today’s affordable treasure: I’m here for past season Isabel, terry coverup, this Sacai sweater!, so, many, shoes (and at MT, so much eveningwear).

There are quite a few of you here now, and I want to say thank you. I opened my eyes today, way too early, and leaned out the window to look at happy New Yorkers in
t-shirts, and I thought: how lucky I am to have all these happy things fill up my life, to the very, very brim!

Cheers to doing a little less and enjoying it more.

Happy Sunday!

Melanie

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❤️ Thank you for being here. If you liked this newsletter, clicking “like” helps more people discover my work. (Or leave a comment — it truly makes my day.)
🐟 Pre-order my cookbook!
🌟 ShopMy, The RealReal and vintage finds, Shopbop Hearts, but most importantly GHIA!

I am writing to you on my way to the very new, very beautiful, and still very affordable though I’m sure not for long Pocketbook Hotel in Hudson. On the agenda for the weekend is a lot of quality time with my love, dinner at Stissing House and Casa Susanna, and visits to local antique shops. I’m excited to escape the city, to escape the news, to escape my instagram feed which has become a weird amalgam of war news, how-to-use-claude videos, and “dupe” drops. Thank you to the chat for all the recs!

Hoping this newsletter brings some lightness into your weekend - here’s a lot of the things I loved in March!

This Book!

It was really hard picking what to read after Belle Burden’s Strangers. I’d heard great things about Coco Mellors and Cleopatra and Frankenstein came up at the library - I love that the NYPL lets you borrow e-books through the Libby app.

Definitely dark, but there’s something really fun about reading a book set at the same time and in the same place as where you live, and recognizing the restaurants, picturing the exact streets. I picture “Frank” to be Jon Hamm in Mad Men. I loved it and need to find my next read - if you have any recs, please run to the comments section!

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New Stuff in my Bathroom!

Maybe it’s the very long winter, and maybe it’s because I just turned 35, but I have been leaning way more into beauty and skincare lately - my first attempt at defying gravity.

I roped in a friend into a 30-day challenge with my ZIIP HALO, a small handheld microcurrent device which like most skincare tools, only works if you actually use it - so I had to build in the habit!

It uses small electrical currents to lift and tighten the face, and it really, **really** works. It can also zap pimples and do other things like reduce pigmentation and boost collagen, but the 6-min “Sculpt” from the app is my favorite. I have to say, after 30 days I’ve really seen a difference, especially on my jawline and my brows / eyelids, which are my main areas of concern. You just wipe off the conductive gel (which contains skincare actives) and do your regular nighttime routine after, and the whole thing feels very nice and soothing. Also, the battery seems to last forever and it’s very compact so I take it everywhere with me. Use code MASARIN for 10% off the device and gels

Gosh I love good design, and until SURI I didn’t think my love for a toothbrush could run this deep. Really it made me realize my old electric toothbrush was kind of disgusting - this one is made from aluminum and plant-based materials, and it has a UV feature that cleans the brush head right in the case. No more throwing a damp toothbrush into a toiletry bag. The battery also lasts over a month on a single charge, so I never really think about it when I take it to France, and it simply uses the USB-C all my other devices use to recharge.

My Spring Uniform is Back

The first nice day in New York, the first thing I pulled out of my closet was last year’s silk bias pants from Comme Si. They’re good for work, drinks, dinner, and citibiking around the city. They are the best travel pants and everyday pants. And they just feel so soft on the legs.

I’ve been really enjoying this transitional weather trick of mixing summer pieces with winter ones. Allow me to pull a Zoë Kravitz reference: she’s been wearing her The Row Estelle bag all winter with a coat, which I wouldn’t have thought to do. Yesterday I threw a sweater over my outfit with this new bag from Sézane (sold out, but they restock Sunday, and the beige is also incredible). I loved the look so much it came upstate with me this week.

More uniform things: long necklaces over v-neck t-shirts, sneakerinas that aren’t a million dollars, and this adorable knit set. The viral chili lime strawberry snacks are back in stock and will bankrupt me!

Finishing the apartment I’m trying to move out of

It’s been a long search for a new spot. For those of you asking why I want to leave mine: the owners want to sell the building, and given that I’m always at my boyfriend’s or in France, the rent is high for how little I’m there. It’s also a railroad with a really dark kitchen, which is where I’d like to be spending most of my limited home time right now. I’m looking to downsize a little, but since I can’t help myself, I’ve been nesting in the meantime.

I printed and framed a lot of pictures, and framed them (some myself, some professionally, yes it’s a total racket!). I re- organized every drawer of my Thuma dresser, which is truly one of my favorite things, using the folding technique of my favorite cleaning influencer (it’s a thing!).

I also got this same for A, in a 3x3 for lots of storage, and stacked nice piles of vintage books at the top, it is such. a. vibe. A lot of you have asked me to do a coffee table book post, so that’s in the works, but remember the best books are the ones relevant to you!

My Cookbook!!!

I finally found the chair matching my vintage desk and jumped through the many hoops to import it, and decided to push them against the wall, hated it, so it’s going back to its floating position in the living room.

And a current wishlist…

Turning off all electronics for the weekend!!

xx

Melanie

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❤️ Thank you for being here. If you liked this newsletter, clicking “like” helps more people discover my work. (Or leave a comment — it truly makes my day.)
🐟 Pre-order my cookbook!
🌟 ShopMy, The RealReal and vintage finds, Shopbop Hearts, but most importantly GHIA!

I’ve been trying to find a better rhythm with this newsletter, one where I’m not writing it every Saturday, but between Ghia and planning my book tour, every hour is spoken for. My dreams of creative thinking on a Wednesday have been put on hold yet again. I ~will~ get there! There are so many topics I want to explore and too little time. As always, suggestions, feedback, and requests are welcome!

I got the first hard copy of my book this week and cried a bunch of happy tears just minutes before sending this to my mom !!!!

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This week, we’re talking about JEANS. For most of my adult life, I didn’t like wearing them. Skirts and soft pants felt better on the fluctuations of my PCOS body, the two-size monthly swings too much to reliably find a fit that felt good. But after a year and a half working with Dr. Neil Paulvin, my body finally feels like mine again. And jeans? They’ve finally felt good, and eased the transition out of a very long winter.

There are so many shapes, colors, and brands right now, it’s nearly impossible not to find a pair that hits home. I was excited to try all the newcomers on the market to show you, and the hardest part of writing this newsletter was not buying them all (I did keep three pairs, whoops).

Ciao!!
Melanie

The Gateway Jean

The first jeans I reached for were OSSOU’s rider jean in reed wash. I have been loving lighter jeans, these come in this earthy green and a gorgeous straw color, which feel more polished than navy. They hold their shape but barely touch the body. They’d look great with a chunky knit in October, but who wants to skip ahead to fall already (not me).

The tapered jeans

Still from OSSOU, truly a favorite new brand discovery of the past year for me, the tapered silhouette feels fun and flirty for Spring, but the latte color brings it up a notch. I love my little fabric pumps but will probably dress these with my dream beaded sandals this summer.

The Sport Jeans

It’s hard to write about denim without mentioning Still Here, and their internet-breaking pants. The sport jeans, ever so cinched at the bottom and super low rise. I feel all the good parts, and only the good parts, of being 27 years old in these.

The Pollock Jeans (I bought these)

This is my grown up version of ripped jeans, which I wore way more than was acceptable in my early 20s (though I will admit to yearning over these, which didn’t make it in time for this newsletter, and I’m also being practical with the cost per wear).
I’ve been wearing these painted, straight legged ones so much, in a casual way like the below but also with my favorite red belt (very on sale), ballet flats and a cropped sweater for a bit more polish.

The Flare Jeans

I have vintage Levi’s almost exactly in this shape, but these otherwise would have been the first to be purchased - they make my legs look like Vogue cigarettes and are low rise but not painful at the crotch if you know what I mean.

The Pink Jeans

These are everywhere, from Phoebe to H&M. I usually pride myself in resisting trends, but I loved these the minute I saw them and haven’t taken them off all week - they pair well with my many burgundy accessories, and the little splurge I got in Paris last month.

The Pants-but-Denim Jeans (I bought these)

These are the pants version of jeans, but the incredible brand Ruadh. Flattering everywhere, they make my legs look way longer than they are. They’re my most worn jeans of the season - I have loved wearing them with a fancy white tee and my suede shirt.

The Wide Legged Jeans

I love that all of these different shapes are currently in style, and in this case Jeanerica strikes again. These jeans hold a special spot in my heart, as they remind me of one of my favorite fashion references - Kate Moss in wide legged Chloe jeans and platforms, circa 2006, 20 years ago (!!), and still so relevant. This is the image that sedimented my love for braided belts (very high to high to low) and I come back to when I don’t know what to wear.

The Overdyed Jeans

These called my name because I love a dark look, but don’t like grey or black jeans (on me). They’re fun, comortable, and like everything Aflalo makes, incredibly beautiful and flattering. I could see myself wearing these with a graphic tee (I’m currently deep into a 2008 world cup archives rabbit hole, but anything from Made Some will do) and ballet flats and be on my way.

Honorary Mention: Yesterday’s Jeans

A gift from MyTheresa that turned out to be this week’s hero! 90’s classic but without trying too hard to be CBK (are we all over this already?).

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❤️ Thank you for being here. If you liked this newsletter, clicking “like” helps more people discover my work. (Or leave a comment — it truly makes my day.)
🐟 Pre-order my cookbook!
🌟 ShopMy, The RealReal and vintage finds, Shopbop Hearts, but most importantly GHIA!

I have six holes in my left ear. I've collected them over the years, "one for each breakup", like you collect seashells on a beach. When I first started getting them, I didn't want my grandmother to see. She wore clip-ons her whole life.

Yet she loved jewelry. Her love of bling, clear plastic shoes, and leopard coats, I undoubtedly inherited from her. Every summer, at one point or another, I’d see her rummage through drawers because a piece went missing or rather “misplaced inside the house” - she was forgetful and clumsy, and so am I.

I inherited a few pieces from her when she passed, and those are also currently misplaced in my house. Up until a few years ago, my jewelry collection was mainly beads and seashells, then hero earrings, then my first tennis necklace and a chain with an "M" a friend gave me for hosting her in NYC. An engagement ring I traded with a friend and sized down for my pinky. I never take it off, a reminder to love myself. It got me thinking that an heirloom doesn't have to be passed down, even if I really hope my grandmother's jewelry turns up inside the house soon.

I love wearing them all at once, and I especially love wearing them when my outfit is a blank canvas - they shine double over favorite jeans and a tee, or a simple button up as a frame.

When I discovered the brand, I fell in love with the pieces - they felt modern but really timeless, beautiful but not flashy, and I loved reading about all their artisan work. Some of them take 20 hours to make, all by a single artisan in their Bali workshop. When they reached out, I was so excited.

Choose and mix your metals

The first thing I’d tell anyone about wearing jewelry is to figure out which metal actually works for you. ChatGPT once told me that gold pieces bring out the yellowness of my face. It was arguably a bad day, but I survived, and what came out of it is that I understand now why I’ve always gravitated toward silver for statement pieces.

I love to mix metals on my jewelry but not my hardware. I’d never pair a silver buckle belt with gold buttons on a jacket, but around my wrist and my neck, I love it. Something about mixing metals in jewelry makes it feel more lived-in.

Layer your lengths

More is more, until you take one thing off, and then it’s perfect. I also love to take a pendant and hang it on my own beads — it makes them less stiff and formal.

Wear the good stuff

This is less a styling rule and more a rule for living. Having fun keeps you young, and in my 30s I’m really leaning into enjoying my life more. Having well-kept nails and a nice pinky ring makes typing on a keyboard for 12 hours all that more enjoyable, and you deserve it. A great necklace brings a little zazazou to your favorite shirt. I mix expensive things with cheap ones and I love each equally.

All the favs are linked here!

That’s it from me!

x

Melanie

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❤️ Thank you for being here. If you liked this newsletter, clicking “like” helps more people discover my work. (Or leave a comment — it truly makes my day.)
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Hi!

This one gets a little weird but was a highlight of my year, so it felt very worth sharing!

First, I’m not very woo-woo. I have always believed in consistency, hard work, simple rituals, olive oil. A precise vision for the future, and lots of flexibility for the unexpected. The last few months, though, I have felt a lot of resistance in certain parts of my life, and I walked into my birthday this year running on empty.

My love offered to cook dinner, which is my favorite kind of evening. But my group chat had different plans for me, and when I walked home, I found a room full of friends and flowers. The perk of everyone knowing your lockbox code: if I didn’t have the bandwidth to plan and host, the girls would.

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I had been talking at length about how getting fresh market flowers for my space made my whole week better, and how I wanted to get better at it, a small practice of beautifying the container of my life. I had never had a surprise birthday before. I was incredibly grateful.

After the workshop (lead by Emily), the last few people who stayed gathered with —who I have long suspected is a witch, I say this with full respect and deep affection—for a ritual she had designed just for me. A few of us rolled our eyes at first, what are we getting ourselves into?

It ended up being one of the most special moments of my year, something each of my friends brought up again and again in the days after.

I had gotten some bad work news a couple weeks prior that were weighing on me. And the following morning, I got a call that a mistake had been made, and actually the numbers had been incorrect (!) and a few other good news I like to attribute to my friends channeling good energy for me.

I don’t know if any of it will translate into text, but I asked her to share it because it was such a nice way to call in the year ahead and could be applied to so many life moments: a wedding, a new year, a new job. I could honestly use it on a lot of Mondays too. No witchy skills required!

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Hi everyone,

Between blizzard #3 and #4, I accepted a fun invite from Dorsia, for a last minute trip to Mexico City to see some art. Zona Marco, the art fair that takes over one of my favorite cities every year in February, has become so popular, it’s a little overwhelming. This was Dorsia’s first foray beyond its specialty of hard-to-get restaurant reservations. You can now use the app to book lots of cultural moments - in our case, a standout meal at Pujol, private tours of the art fairs, Barragan houses (very difficult this time of year) and parties etc. Will they help me get World Cup tix to make me girlfriend of the year? Only time will tell! But I am very excited for them to be doing more things in the art world and grateful I got to not wear socks for 4 days.

My shopping in the city was limited by the size of my carry-on, thank god, but I did manage to get away with some really nice braided candles, a few candle holders, and my love treated me to a vase from the magnetic Perla Valtierra. I’ve always loved her ceramics! Mexico is a place very dear to my heart and it has felt really surreal watching the news there after a few days of such lightness.

Then we were back in New York and it was snowing again! But here’s everything else I have loved and saved in February, minus something very special that a friend did for me on my 35th birthday which deserves its own moment so I asked her to share in our next newsletter for paid subs :).

Have a nice weekend!

Melanie

Glasses Vases & Candleholders

A slight rebrand and beautiful new products from the brand Gone (previously upstate), they also make gorgeous carafes and objects for the home.

Turquoise <3

I day dream of a week in Sifnos, and let turquoise blue creep into my head. I want these joggers to wear for anything but the gym. Turquoise earrings, a perfect turquoise merino layer. Turquoise goes with red, green, gray, brown, black, and denim. Is there anything more versatile than turquoise really?

Drinking enough water!

I’ve been obsessed with upping my water intake without ever being seen drinking out of a Stanley Cup. Lemon, chlorophyll drops, and even multivitamins - anything goes to drink more uncaffeinated things. I recently received this multi-everything from Biologica. It has 19+ essential vitamins, minerals, botanicals, electrolytes and probiotics and so far, I have really enjoyed my daily packet of “elderflower lemonade” - packaging and flavor are great and I’ll report back on results.

This text message

The first person to make a recipe from my upcoming cookbook! Riviera comes out in 2 months exactly, which means I’m in the throes of panic-hustling sponsors for my book tour!

You can pre-order a signed copy at Books Are Magic!

We sent a digital version to editors for PR consideration, and Kate, who works at Bon Appetit, texted me the carrot salad. It gave me the same butterflies as when I saw Ghia at a retailer for the first time! Nothing beats the feeling.

A wishlist in cappuccino palette

And fringes for peak grandma chic!

Treating my t-shirts like they’re my pets.

My favorite piece of clothing always is a great t-shirt. I run cold so I wear at least one every day, usually two to build heat. I happily received quite a few favorite t-shirts in February: rainbow pointelles, a thick boat neck one and one with fun finger-holes by Still Here.

I have been very excited by colored T-shirts lately, specifically peeking out from underneath a V neck. Influenced by ’s repair month series and our incoming Sky Ting closet purge, I invested in a stain remover kit, white vinegar, and a fabric shaver and spent the better part of Blizzard #4 giving a second life to my favorite layers.

Extra clean protein

I do not count macros and I do not obsess over protein, but I have always been a girl with an appetite and my friend Alay makes these homemade protein bars that are just absolutely delicious. I keep them in my desk for when I’m tempted by the snack station at the office.

If you, like me, nearly vomited when you tried David’s protein, you’ll appreciate this 10/10 ingredient list: dates, almonds, prebiotic tapioca fiber, pumpkin seeds, goji berries, coconut, flaxseed, grass-fed New Zealand whey protein, hemp hearts, sea salt, vanilla extract

I posted this bag in the Substack chat and 30 of you bought it.

This amazing Spring Coat, this amazing book, and how cute I look wearing this coat and reading this book on the train.

It’s unfortunately still the time of the year when our coat is our entire outfit, so a new coat feels like a whole new outfit. This one is lux and light, somewhere between a robe and a coat, and I want to mix the A-line shape with something more casual, like jeans.

A Safari Dress and Suede

If it’s feeling like everything is completely unaffordable, it’s because it is, except for Sézane, which has just managed to stay consistent. By this point you know my love for the brand and admiration for their business, so I’m an easy target, but I joyfully purchased a suede shirt from them at a very good price. I actually think all of their leather pieces are amazing quality and value - the Ciara pants and the Will jacket have been staples in my closet - world’s most flattering pants, really! This dress is very Saint Laurent when he was still named Yves!

Ciao!

Melanie

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❤️ Thank you for being here. If you liked this newsletter, clicking “like” helps more people discover my work. (Or leave a comment — it truly makes my day.)
🐟 Pre-order my cookbook!
🌟 ShopMy, The RealReal and vintage finds, Shopbop Hearts, but most importantly GHIA!

Hi everyone! I have some good news!

Spring is in 32 days. Three back-to-back snowstorms sent me into a cleaning spiral, label maker and all, and I shed the depths of my closet with the last of the year of the snake.

I emerged from the great purge with a very clean conscience, a huge bag of clothes to drop off at The RealReal, a $1,600 site credit from consigning last time to shop with, and yesterday even brought a 32-feels-like-62 day. Snow snow go away!

Big things are happening—and I don’t just mean Harry Styles gracing us with a new album and Rosalía coming to MSG. The Year of the Fire Horse is upon us, and I intend to honor it accordingly: a lot of color, a lot of sparkles, more fun all around, and outfits designed entirely around the moment you’re finally eating al fresco with a Spritz in your hand, blinking into the golden hour like finally. I want to be slightly overdressed every remaining day of this year, the revenge Spring we all deserve.

This is my Spring Fling edit. Everything below I’d wear straight through from the first warm day to the last.

Til later

x Melanie

Because we still have to have outerwear for a few more months, but the weather is not life threatening anymore.

Tis about the be the season where my favorite tie dye t-shirts come out of the shadow, thank you Proenza.

I saw this jewelry box in Aspen last year and fell in love with it - who in the world would consign this? THANK YOU!

Any raffia bag will do

• IN THE TRENCHES

• Here’s a million more because I could do this all day!

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❤️ Thank you for being here. If you liked this newsletter, clicking “like” helps more people discover my work. (Or leave a comment — it truly makes my day.)

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Hunting for old things is a favorite pastime. It’s often about more than just the object- its history, who made it. Mostly there’s the deep satisfaction of getting the exact right piece of my puzzle on a friendli(er) budget. A little table made in Vallauris, Italian sconces, or most recently, an old Kelly bag from the 60s.

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