Alba @ Feleneli wearing Seconda.paris

Happy Birthday Ludo. Ludo wrote a small think piece intro this edit. Her moineker is fixated on Boots and ‘Cowboy’, from an Italian lens, of Americana. An identity, beyond just for aesthetic sake. I asked what she had in mind writing wise these days and this Intermezzo, fit just right with the second reflection series zoomed in on boredom, focused on the inflation of In person experiences, skewed to ideate the visual falsetto of looking like you’re having fun, but there is burnout within that night out, that also just feels like another night out.

I can’t remember the last time I was genuinely bored. Aliveness is a confused stimulation.

The algos convinced us boredom is failure. But boredom is only what’s left of genuine taste, and intimacy in realness.

Real excitement is now found in unusually quiet spaces.

Personas that manage to make people forget to perform excitement for ten minutes.

A spectacular collection, flashy and carefully engineered is what rewards the loudest applause these days, and Micheal Rider, has unsparingly re-written the experience and expectations of how beautiful a collection can demand applause at Celine. The same burnout effect is happening in sports where team success as opposed to the spotlight solely on singularity is the main focus.

We saw this in Spain’s World Cup Clinching, as well as the Knicks. LeBron & Messi are both in their burnout era.

Maybe boredom isn’t the opposite of excitement.

Maybe it conditions excitement to exist in the first place.

When everything is inflated as extraordinary, nothing is.

Love, Ludo ~

These thoughts from Ludo are exemplary, as premise on digital memory in battle with algorithmic addiction.

What does it even mean to exist anymore? Why? Is the question of every single thing that comes up whenever I think, maybe about an event I declined attendance.

There are few things that truly excite me. I’m really tapped out, and when I zoom out of myself, it feels like my head is coincidently exhausted from coexisting in pace of time and the internet’s confluence. We’re like total cyborgs now, with the need to do every singe activity with our phones nearby.

Cook meals with your phone far away, maybe leave it in your room, and leave the separation anxiety wave that hits your brain too, behind. I don’t think Opal (The Screen Limit App) won’t save us. Literally no screen time limit can adjust the ever-present cycle of the constant need to doom scroll online.

And... There are times where I don’t even feel like celebrating holidays because it feels pointless. Promise I’m not trying to be depressing, but you can tell whose runway show was truly enjoyable by the amount of claps it receives afterwards.

That same barometer works since you can also tell if someone is truly excited to be at a dinner table or party. When you watch everyone’s stories from multiple angles. You can just tell, if you’ve made the right decision not to make the trip out, especially when you’ve been to every event. The rush in chasing the feeling isn’t there anymore, and you’re content with yourself.

CrystalMess’ Set at MoMA PS1 as well as Vegyn at SILO, both from 2023, are both memorable because they mastered the art of disk jockey practice, responding to what is needed within culture. So this makes the experience worthy, rather than just another night out listening to what is most popular in the guise of nostalgia, or most recent releases for trend sake. Some say a DJ’s worth is scaled by the amount of tracks you can Shazam off their set list. There’s value in that saying because it’s not just shoving back the top 10 songs in your instagram carousel. There’s care within that curation, as a true experience! I still remember, the audio visual presence from Vanessa Beecroft’s stories, driving listening to Jazz.

All these examples of the value of past memories, indicate the importance of being content with your inner self. I am also questioning why we remember more from past moments than in more recency, in relation where the speed of its scale of connection is heading. When an app originally designed to value, reflections, is now tarnished to support shareholder values as the expense of false engagement.

This is the "Digging" Trap:

Its simply when the algorithm doesn't feed you satisfaction, instead, it leans more into friction on purpose to keeping you slightly unsatisfied, so you can keep (doom) scrolling in search of the hope of a, payoff, or rather…"digging for better".

Homogenization vs. Memory:

Memory is emotionally resonant. it requires novelty. When recent digital experiences are clumped trending audio and remixed formats, with engagement hooks being a constant chase it all becomes…a forgettable blur.

Older memories tied to real-life context were more authentic in natural sharing.

Manufactured Amnesia:

The UI hides your "Following" feed on purpose because it doesn’t want you to have true relational context. It’s designed to reset your intentionality in a high-dopamine "For You" dish of what it thinks you want to see, versus, what you actually Want. To. See.

The Quest for Modern context is the question that rings off like an alarm, in your head when you don’t see your yearn reflected back into the world of your following. Or maybe you do if you’re aware of the three traps above.

The algorithm is built to ignore natural peace, and quaint genuineness, since this feeling improves time management, and makes you actually spend less time within the app.

The algorithm tries to dim these quaint spaces because it’s fueled by chaos in the extremes of uncertainty, in negative feedback loops. And this feeling neglects the constant pressure of stability and a natural sufficiency as boring.

Its cool to like boring,

Its cool just to chill

When a video gets 6 million views, it’s like it looses its soul. In the perfect example of Yves Tumor’s Limerance undergoing extreme dilution, post Tik Tok discovery. The value and endearment I once had in the way it made me feel is less personally coveted and more corrupted by social ignorance, and I have to just let it go. I have to let the song go, it now belongs to social ignorance.

The spectrum of value is not this song that I discovered carefully with care, but now something that Popped up on my “For You” reels feed because the user is chasing empty reach. The original soul and context of the song has been striped away.

Scale without meaning, is my confused observation…why exactly is this person trying to go viral? Who exactly are they trying to reach, and for what reason? Is there purpose behind this "campaign”, if it is at all?. It’s all blurred into a compass of transient visibility that’ll ultimately leads into doom and the false idea of success that recklessly informs others to replicate the same formula in hopes that they will also find the similar vitality. Streamer University in a nutshell.

Watch: Idiocracy (2006)

Maybe it’ll all actually will make sense when boring becomes the trend.

Before we get there, there’s this in-between niche of new companies such as Blacklane for example, in search of servicing high-end niche experiences that demand the price exchange to offer quiet, intimate, predictable, freedom of control, away from noise.

My issue is that the filtering of this noise that fragmented the general public, is highly curable. There are more than enough resources to cleanse and restructure false engagement, designed to leave the users depleted with anxiety, and plagued by FOMO, when experiences that are skewed by hyper optimized for retention, cloud your judgment in a, why am I not, there.. way. I didn’t go to Fête de la Musique, this year, and that’s perfectly okay! New York was turnt with live match screenings of the World Cup, at the Museum of Natural History, WILD in the west village, along with the Whitney Museum, also had a sick vibe. It’s all about a one of each approach in experience with these spaces.

For me, planning a future visit to Schwarzenberg will fill that void.

Human experience is suppose to be cherished when we’re in the act of connecting. Peace of mind, should not become premium reflections, available only to those who can afford them,

And in the constant chase of excess amplification, we should remember, the most powerful people on earth have 0 followers, or maybe a few hundred.

Hopefully drastic change impacted by political socio economic disruptions, won’t be the main push for change, in our realities.

Coming up next,

The third installment of this series is will be a harp, zoomed in on the noise of trending audio. (Especially when you open the app of refresh the main feed).

We checked into ’s resort for the 5 star rules to life.

During your down time, Please catch up on her latest edit to digest why younger generations are negating heritage expectations, and now lean more into, the search of newness and distinct self-expressions.

If you missed ’s latest, please catch up, during your down time. A Seriesnthings artistic referential.

Little Edits Atelier

Wardrobe Rewild

An Artistic collaboration with Seriesnthings…

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a month ago · 17 likes · 6 comments · Little Edits Atelier

Special Shout out to for always chaperoning my thoughts.

Thanks a bunch for reading, Subscribe and Support in anyway you can. Share with a Friend :)

to experience Shifter’s at the Cherry Lane Theater.

The following in writing is coverage from the performance, which I am honored to produce as part of my participation.

I am still in awe of the experience we were invited to witness.

Unsure what to expect, I found myself, along with the audience, completely within the play itself Immediately after Daniel Ezra’s hello. The magnitude of drama mixed with purposeful story telling, sparked an audience reaction, through every moment. Alongside the cast we were completely immersed, in unison, within each scene, lighting, and also sound design. Every reaction inside the room carried the performance through the many timelines, in breathtaking crescendo.

Throughout the Shifters experience, I kept thinking about Interstellar (2014) where the idea that love is the answer transcends into the fifth dimension. That thought echoed within my mind from beginning to the end.

Well fitting cultural references to the 2000s, the music (not for nostalgia sake) woven into pacing, aligned with even the simplicity of the set props,

transformed into furniture but also, rooms, and memories ultimately transforming the production into a living time capsule.

Every creative decision felt intentional.

More than anything, each of the cast’s performance, reminded me why live theater continues to matter. I haven’t been that present for an experience in a long time.

Regret, aspiration, inspiration, and wishful thinking, in planing, from revisited, timelines are all part of the comparisons, within the push and pulls of the casts’ POV.

Looking around, I observed the audience around me, writing their reactions down, quickly into notebooks to capture within scenes before their thoughts disappeared. Spontaneity balanced in the form of improvisation so naturally that the line between each moments within the cast seemed to dissolve within reality.

It will be a while before theater feels like home again. I say this because the closeness of the subject matter, from the cast felt, like older brother & sister.

Thank you to DSYF and the Elba Hope Foundation for making this experience possible to witness. I am incredibly grateful to the Cast, Crew, Production Team and Cherry Lane Theatre. I am filled with immense gratitude to have witnessed fragments of my own life.

Via The_______place

“The Most Creative People I Know Are Always The Ones Who Are In Contact With Life.

Everyone Is Obsessed With Curating Spaces, Having A Community But Personal Taste Can Only Emerge If You Collide With Reality, With Real Life. With Things Beyond Your Pinterest Moodboard.

There’s Nothing More Charming Than Someone Who’s Willing To Get Sun-Kissed By Its Own Creativity And Be Willing To Take A Step Towards It.

Well… That’s What I Believe In :)

Leaving You On This E. Gilbert Quote:

“And You Have Treasures Hidden Within You…Extraordinary Treasures…And So Do I, And So Does Everyone Around Us. And Bringing Those Treasures To Light Takes Work And Faith And Focus And Courage And Hours Of Devotion, And The Clock Is Ticking, And The World Is Spinning, And We Simply Do Not Have Time Anymore To Think So Small.”

Chethika Algama wrote a really cute poem for dreamboybook. You can read it, click here

Mary wrote a cute guide to all things floral and Critter Couture: You can read it, Click Here

Asta (2026) - Presented at Plinten, Rödbodtorget, Stockholm

Emma is your host for every thing you need at the Näpänkangas Resort! For the latest On Wellness, Click the Below:

Sierra Blake, MPS, LADC

The Psychology of Wellbeing

Get in, we’re doing a deep dive! The bathhouse market is maturing and it has emerged as a distinct category. It is not a spa, not an amenity, but has nestled itself into the world of hospitality. The experience itself is the offering…

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Moodboards vs. Life Boards

Existing images, past aesthetics, and found objects are in the beautiful echo chamber that is your mood board. You can feel it looped into nostalgia but if you aren’t careful, they can trap you in what’s already been done instead of inventing what’s next. When a moodboard keeps you stuck, it’s usually because it’s functioning as a security blanket. So you’re just functioning as a retweet of what you already know.

The Symptom & The Result

• The Symptom: You have now spent hours pinning the perfect mid-century modern chairs or 2000s paparazzi photography. It feels productive because you’re “curating.”

• The Result: You copy the vibe, wholesale..so it results into the feeling of not creating an actual new thing. Sadly, you realize you’re just re-organizing someone else’s past.

The Escape: Flip the Script into a Life Board

To escape a moodboard from keeping you stuck, turn it into a Life Board. You can flip the script by keeping this in mind:

• The 80/20 Rule: 80% of your board can be the established vibe, but 20% must intentional disrupt. If you’re designing sleek, for a futuristic brand, throw in a photo of a decayed, brutalist concrete wall or a Renaissance painting.

  Throw in, something off… like a collision.

• Abstraction Moves Faster than the Literal: Stop pinning finished products. If you’re designing a shoe, don’t pin pictures of shoes. Throw those out.

  Pin textures of a volcano, or the curve of a Ferrari fender, or the color gradient of a bruised plum, when you zoom in.

• Focus on the “Why”: Identify what works Is it the lighting? The tension between two colors? Isolate that element and discard the rest of the historical baggage.

The Bottom Line: A moodboard should always serve your ideas, and not dictate them. If a board is making you feel safe and comfortable, you need to reshuffle.

We're not consuming media in a natural way, be cautious of the mobile algo, or the device that grabs your attention span in the most addictive way. I'm trying to break away from using insta(gram) and to utilize my laptop more.

I hate being advertised to. I am not a fucking hamster on a data-wheel. But maybe that’s how we’re all viewed @ 1 Meta Way in Menlo Park, CA 94025.

My everyday is filled with mitigating how overwhelming an high frequency ad, that aren't relevant to my life of User Experience, on my phone, and ultimately I feel like I’m paying with fractions of my time and ultimately these fractions add up in life.

On desktop mode, the experience is cleansed. Conversations are more resonant and you feel less distracted.

Overcoming distraction in this case is a display of becoming fully engaged invested within a mono thinking point in conversation, versus, feeling like you have to respond to every other message and notification popping in. Subconsciously, the focus adds up. As in being productive, spills into other aspects of your life. You know?

The trap of overconsumption has diluted consumer culture to solely rely on a slew of constant creation, fueling desires to seek fulfillment through the admiration of acquisition than, the Basque in deep reflection of self, and the limit isn’t just self. Exterior Reflection can also co-exist.

I feel betrayed, with the content difference on mobile, when you open the explore page, not being congruent with Desktop’s. Pretend I am a modern-day philosopher, if I am the same person, on the same account, then what I am shown should be consistent across the board, no?

From my view at least. This is ethical normalcy, from what I expect.

All of Meta’s products degraded poorly into fast-food comparison, and the founder won’t even allow his family to consume the same product they made a business out of. Eventually, we have to demand a version from San Fran, or really anywhere in the world, even extraterestial at this alarming rate, that ressembles in some direction of wellness that Erewhon is pushing.

Maybe its time to delete everything and move to the IRIS APP

Meta also limits you from switching their products, makes the feeling of deviation from their products, quite aggressive. Would the collaboration with Prada align with the intellectual direction of steering clear outside the noise zone? To me that’s the sustenance reflected in their design ethos. There’s calmness in the New York store designed by OMA. There’s Calmness in Foundation Prada also designed by Rem Koolhaas. There isn’t so much calmness when I open the instagram app. Its simply an attention bargain destination, commercially accessorized by ads.

In a way, it becomes parasitical to decide to get off and stay away from our phones, to welcome the feeling of stability from consuming social media, in the most natural way. That’s the feeling I get when i'm on desktop mode. There’s a bit of peace.

Isn’t it suspicious, that anytime, a new app, meta automatically either buys it, or just kills it simply by copying its IP/making a similar feature identifiable.

Disdain is perfectly my adjective to the battle of ‘taste’ that is the driving force of each narrative, within online discourse, one because we all don’t own the platform. At least from a majority voting power angle. Ownership and leadership in the platforms that we argue on, are the winners as they sit back and profit, while we tear ourselves apart because were trying to make sense of why a picture of a dyptique candle in a fairly lit, John Pawson interior reflects intellectual intelligence of what we all deem as a vibe check, and who we equate that feeling of support to.

What scares me is a parasitical explanation of late stage occurence in a hosts capacity or maybe ‘agency’ (dwindling following the take over cycle) is the most fitting word here to explain why it’s all meaningless. The host looses all functioning control. Which is why fashion / design / UX complaints are at an all time high. We have literally lost control of how it means to exist, and this push back has turned into a placebo, of not even being wowed, or quickly moving on when something amazing happens in culture.

Maybe this is an ode to Frank and why he’s always about in Japan. That’s his life. It’s very different from saying, I went for the flex.

War has to be funded and doesn’t just exist without reason. I was crushed when I realized the reality behind this is all gluttony.

In all of this, my next trend prediction is questioning what happens after the boredom of social media becomes something we have to all figure out. What comes after instants? We’ll all become streamers?

P.S,

Martin Margiela would want everyone to acquire a pair of Tabis from Nina Christen’s new store on Rue Del La Paix

Chethika and I wrote this back in February for Diva Corp Mag, and it feels like the right time to share this now.

Essentially, the brief was to cover an exhibition experienced within the Los Angeles area. From February 6, to March 15 in 2026, Julia Stoschek’s curatorial approach felt like the perfect Artistic Gaze of Europe, bubbling in Los Angeles, carving out bespoke space for artists who had rarely, if ever, exhibited in North America, alongside paired artists we deeply admire. Berlin was essentially imported into the West Coast as an invitation to experience another way of not only Seeing Art, as a Collection, but Feeling Art with Your Community.

What stayed with us the most was a performance by Fiona, “FiFi Dunks” Duncan facilitating music, readings, and ultimately capturing the immediacy in fragments of how the earth felt, a day after Valentine’s Day. The takeaway was, togetherness of where we collectively were, and ultimately a reminder that performance still holds the responsibility of emotion on display in ways that can hologram the pulse of the world.

The exhibition at large also challenged the rhythms of norms within what is typically expected from the gallery world. To open in the evening and continue late into the night, closing at 12 AM Pacific Time, long after most galleries would have closed; is not the norm. Time Extension as a breathing space, alone can be considered as part of the performance, allowed for a different audience. Gallerists, artists, and staff who would normally spend their evenings activating openings, now also had the opportunity to experience the exhibition theirselves rather than (constantly rushing from one commitment to another) just the frequency of normally hosting one.

Zooming into the smallest details, popcorn was served, complimentary with each admission, to expan the feeling of contemporary hospitality. Everyone wants to feel considered, and cared for, in 2026.

Looking back, it makes sense why we chose to cover this show. The focus was not just glued to frames of art on walls. Installation of universal art exemplified how institutions can allow new rhythms and audiences to gather and remind us, the most meaningful experiences within culture can take place when community steps outside of what feels traditional and allows a breathing room of indifference.

This Is The French Version Of This Interview. Please Hit The Translate Button For English (Meaning).

Me: Since You’ve Had Some Residency Rejections Lately, Has It Brought Any Distress? Do You

Blame Your Non-Conformist Ambitions?

Louise:

À propos des rejets, je dois admettre que je n’ai jamais eu trop de structure. Aux beaux arts déjà ce n’était pas

Structuré, après l’école encore moins, j’ai travaillé pour des artistes ici et là en plus de jobs alimentaires. Ce qui

A toujours été une succession d’anarchie. Et puis après tout naturellement j’ai commencé à tenter des

Concours, des bourses et des résidences mais c’était un schéma un peu chaotique alors je n’étais pas hyper

Déçue en lisant les retours. Maintenant que ma vie a évolué mais pas vraiment changé en fait. Je ne suis plus

Serveuse, je travaille dans une entreprise de set design, c’est un peu mieux payé et un peu moins éloigné de

Ma pratique mais après tout peut-être pas vraiment… il faut toujours servir un client c’est toujours la même

Chose… disons surtout que c’est mieux payé et que ça me permet d’avoir davantage de temps à l’atelier ! Mais

C’est vrai que quand j’envoie un dossier j’y crois à fond et puis je suis quand même déçu quand la réponse est

Défavorable.

Me: I Saw David Hammons and Jannis Kounellis’, Show At White Cube (Gallery). It Felt More Like A Living

Documentary You Know ?

Visitors Felt Engaged On The Top Floor Section, There Was A Video Installation, That Segmented The Show As Life System Than Just Another, Art Show. Is That The Feeling You Want People To Have

When They Experience Your Work? Are You Concerned What People Even Feel, At All? Or Do You Turn The Comments Section Off In Your Head?

Louise:

Pour David Hammons, il a exposé il n’y a pas longtemps à Paris à la Bourse du commerce, esthétiquement

C’était beau du brillant dans le populaire, ça faisait de belles sculptures. Parfois je pense que c’est important de

S’en tenir là aussi faire de belles choses. J’aime les belles peintures, c’est là aussi que se pose mon “ironie”

D’ailleurs, faire beau un quotidien ou une blague, donner de l’importance au reste que sais-je ?!

Pour le retour du roi c’est un tout. C’est d’abord comme dit plus haut un lien unique avec un moyen âge

Fantasmé sublimé. La possibilité d’un pont. C’est aussi la vision d’un homme. De manière très anecdotique

Avec mes collègues femmes de l’entreprise de set design il a été d’accord commun qu’il est l’un des plus beau

Acteur pour les femmes de notre génération (1990~) Et c’est avec et sans ironie que je plonge avec sincérité

Dans ce qu’il incarne et dégage. Fiabilité, loyauté etc des vertus et des morales “désuètes” certes mais qui se

Révèlent être simple et lisible. En voyant cette figure on se dit “voilà quelqu’un dont on ne puisse douter ! “ il est

En somme une “obsesion” comme si on doutais de tout .. d’où la référence avec la chanson du groupe

Adventura qui doit dater de l’époque des films. Et je pourrais continuer.. je procède aussi (malgré un

Détachement que je dois au recul que je m’inflige vis à vis de toute chose ) par obsession. Des phases, pendant

Un temps je vais regarder Buffy ou Stargate SG1 et puis après je vais avoir envie de regarder autre chose…

Enfin c’est beaucoup en référence à télévision. La télévision c’est un espace magique, politique de contrôle

Mais magique et les américains sont très forts pour ça !

La musique c’est compliqué j’écoute toujours la même chose pendant une période pour une série de tableaux.

Je dois admettre que j’écoute beaucoup de techno progressive, type trance ou acid. Ca m’entraîne ça bloque

Mon cerveau et sa m’empêche de trop penser. J’écoute beaucoup Scarlatti, Bach et Schubert mais parfois ça

Me rend trop triste mon ironie s’envole et ma gravité arrive je vais douter de tout et me demander pourquoi je

Peins Simon Campden mais j’ai déjà constater et j’ai pu en discuter avec un artiste que j’apprécie énormément,

Charles Hascoet, on ne peut pas peindre ces individus (Bach beethov etc avec la même ferveur que l’on va

Octroyer à une vedette déjà l’octroyer à un proche c’est délicat (dans le cas de mes enfants que je peins

Parfois) comme ci pour être vraiment sincère la légèreté était de mise. À faire le pédant ont perd en honnêté et

À l’image des personnages que je choisi de peindre la franchise est de mise !

Me: Your most recent paintings you shared with titles “Obsession, Return of the King”, give us

The backstory story behind it, What was the ahhhh! Moment?

Louise:

Cette toile est née d’un moment de pure frustration créative qui s’est transformé en révélation. J’étais dans

L’atelier tard le soir, entourée de sketches qui tournaient tous autour du même thème : l’obsession humaine

Pour le pouvoir, le retour triomphal, mais aussi sa vanité ridicule. L’« ahh ah ! » moment est arrivé quand j’ai

Renversé accidentellement un pot de pigment doré sur une esquisse sombre. Le doré a coulé comme une

Couronne qui fond sous son propre poids. Tout s’est connecté d’un coup : l’obsession (cette fixation maladive

Sur la grandeur) rencontre le retour du roi, épique mais teinté d’ironie — parce que le roi revient… pour régner

Sur quoi, au juste ? Des ruines ?

La composition joue sur des contrastes forts : formes monumentales évoquant un trône ou une silhouette

Couronnée qui se dissolvent dans des tourbillons sombres et lumineux. Clin d’œil à la fois à l’épopée et à la

Peinture classique (Poussin et ses triangles d’or). L’humour est dans le titre implicite : l’obsession n’est pas

Glorieuse, elle est humaine et un peu absurde. Comme une perruque qui tombe au pire moment.

Me: How Does James Turrell’s Work Land For You Personally, Not Just As A Painter, But Also As A Human

Being?

Louise:

Personnellement, Turrell me touche au plus profond. Sa manière de traiter la lumière comme une matière

Vivante, presque spirituelle, me rappelle que nous sommes tous des « mangeurs de lumière ». Ce n’est pas

Seulement visuel : c’est une invitation à ralentir, à douter de ce que l’on voit, à entrer dans l’œuvre plutôt que de

La regarder de loin. Ses Skyspaces ou Ganzfelds me procurent une quiétude cosmique mêlée à une légère

Angoisse existentielle…comme si l’univers te regardait en retour. En tant qu’être humain, ça me calme et

M’exalte à la fois. C’est Quaker dans l’âme : direct, sublime, sans chichis.

Seriesnthings: Any Paintings Outside Of Yours Or Theatre Performances That Asphalt Ingrained Level, Stuck With You Lately?

Louise:

Un spectacle qui m’a vraiment collée à la peau récemment : une performance immersive autour de la lumière et

Du son dans un ancien entrepôt (inspirée de Turrell mais avec une couche théâtrale plus brute). L’actrice

Évoluait dans des faisceaux changeant au rythme de sa respiration…ça devenait hypnotique. Ça m’a rappelé

À quel point le corps et l’espace peuvent raconter une histoire sans un seul mot. Sinon, une reprise audacieuse

D’une pièce contemporaine pleine d’ironie noire m’a fait rire et réfléchir en même temps.

Me: Any Music Artist On Your Heavy Rotation List Right Now / Any Album On Repeat? (If This Is Hell By

Space Afrika, then this album ~ ‘Not To’ Remastered 2016 By Colin Newman) Automatically Transports Me To Nantucket. Both Are Equally Important To Me.

Louise:

La musique c’est compliqué j’écoute toujours la même chose pendant une période pour une série de tableaux.

Je dois admettre que j’écoute beaucoup de techno progressive, type trance ou acid. Ca m’entraîne ça bloque

Mon cerveau et sa m’empêche de trop penser. J’écoute beaucoup Scarlatti, Bach et Schubert mais parfois ça

Me rend trop triste mon ironie s’envole et ma gravité arrive je vais douter de tout et me demander pourquoi je

Peins Simon Campden mais j’ai déjà constater et j’ai pu en discuter avec un artiste que j’apprécie énormément,

Charles Hascoet, on ne peut pas peindre ces individus (Bach beethov etc avec la même ferveur que l’on va

Octroyer à une vedette déjà l’octroyer à un proche c’est délicat (dans le cas de mes enfants que je peins

Parfois) comme ci pour être vraiment sincère la légèreté était de mise. À faire le pédant ont perd en honnêté et

À l’image des personnages que je choisi de peindre la franchise est de mise !

Serisethings: Thank you A Billion Bastille Day Fireworks for These Answers. I feel Like I just walked Out of the Wolfgang Tilman’s show at David Zwirner.

Louise: De Rien :)

Seriesnthings: A Lot Of Your Interests Visually Result Into, The Impression That It Stems From Irony. Jamian Juliano-Villani Is A Literal

Irony-Filled System. What Do You Make Of Her And Her World Of Whateverness?

Louise:

Ok wah super so, clairement

Oui il y a une grande part d’ironie dans mon travail, c’est

Même l’humour qui me porte et stimule. C’est comme un roman du marquis de Sade qui commence toujours

Par une blague. Une chute ou quelque chose comme ça. Il me revient que dans un de ces romans Justine ou

Les malheurs de la vertu l’œuvre s’ouvre sur une perruque qui se détache de la tête de son porteur à la suite

D’une chute.

Pour ce qui est de Jamian Juliano-Villani sa technicité est très bonne, et j’aime ses compositions qui se

Maintiennent entre elles, échangent l’une et l’autre à la manière d’une composition de style classique, comme

Nicolas Poussin et ses triangles d’or… mais je pense peut-être que nous n’avons pas le même humour.

Seriesnthings: The Louis Cruise Show In New York, At The Frick Collection With Keith Haring As The

Main Focus? In Your Taste, Is Haring, The Best Reference Point From The City, In 2026?

Louise:

La Frick Collection est un endroit particulier, déjà ce lieu abrite une magnifique collection de Fragonard, une

Collection de cette taille et de cette ampleur n’est visible qu’en Amérique. Sans oublier les portraits de Ingres

Satiné. Que Louis Vuitton décide de s’approprier cet espace à des fins personnelles et lucratives n’est pas

Étonnant. C’est une façon pour eux de dire nous sommes “chez nous.” Parmi Fragonard et Ingres (entre autres)

Mais peuvent-ils réussir ce coup de com ? Je ne sais pas. La mode s’infiltre partout… c’est délicat et peut-être

Un peu trop politique.

Peut-être parce que Vuitton se voit comme un riche collectionneur et qu’il a l’image du bâtisseur de la Frick, il

Veut montrer qu’il peut lui aussi avoir une riche demeure où il peut inviter ses amis et investisseurs. C’est de la

Politique dans une forme de prise de position et un peu racoleuse.

Maybe since it was originally the house of a mega-collector, Nicolas Ghesquière’s Vuitton team decided,

The Frick, would be the perfect house, to create a reminder of ballroom style theater, and intimate elegance, that we (as French) are used to.

Seriesnthings: Your Paintings Carry This Grown-Up Post-Fairytale sneeze. Is That (Intentionally) Something You Consciously,

Play with?

Louise:

Pour le post fée oui, il y a des mots comme ça qui sonnent. Des expressions qui retentissent. En ce moment

Parfois on peut entendre des expressions comme “cottagecore” je sais de quoi ça parle mais ce qui me parledavantage c’est juste cette expression elle raisonne et retentit comme un son lourd et laisse libre cours à

L’imagination. J’imagine que je fais pareil avec les fées. J’ai grandi dans une campagne qui peut parfois

Ressembler aux pays des elfes et d’ailleurs les histoires de gnomes et de fées persistent là-bas malgré

L’avancée du christianisme. L’univers des fées évoque également un médiéval sublimé, c’est le pont que je

Peux emprunter pour rendre hommage à une époque que j’aime énormément. Pendant longtemps j’ai

Photographié, visité les cathédrales. Écoute Josquin des Prez ou John Dowland, admiré les enluminures…

J’imagine que cet hommage post fée est le sérieux caché de mon ironie.

Seriesnthings: I Remember After Sharing, Some Of Your Work, Molly (@Icantseemt0findmolly) Started Following.

No one ever is too privy into her day to day. Saturday she’ll flick up the Yulong River at the most random of times, say like 11pm, then, the following Tuesday,

We’ll get the WeHo skyline, at like 2pm from her feed.

We try to never to ask, because privacy is the ultimate luxury,

In Paris..

But she’s one of the most personified, identities on earth; in the sense that her visual persona, is carved beyond trends but she still finds her way to retain, visual measure and coexists in timelessness.

What is coolness in Louise’s world ? Do you actively retain a sense of coolness as a signature in your painting style?

(Let Tadao Ando’s 3 dots in his unfinished cement style guide your thoughts and answers here). Or on the contrary, is this effortlessly (I dislike how attention seeking of a buzzword a very common term ‘effortless’ has become) your true self and there is no effort to nag in,

A signature scheme?

Louise:

Si je comprends bien la question en lien avec Tadao vis-à-vis de la fraîcheur, j’imagine que la fraîcheur

Universelle est une question d’empathie. D’empathie dans le sens se mettre “à la place de” et non pas “essayer

De comprendre”. J’ai l’impression que c’est une question d’effacement de soi selon le vers de Rimbaud “je est

Un autre” devenir anonyme pour devenir tout le monde. C’est peut-être être à l’abri de l’âge et du temps qui

Passe. En tout cas “je est un autre” est un point de ciment que j’essaie de garder.

In The Second Portion Of This Interview, We’ll Curtain on Coolness as a toolbox, and the Obsession & the Quiet (Tetris) Work of Ambition.

As always, thanks for reading.

Lots Of Love

Thanks For Reading Seriesnthings’s Substack! Leave A Like If You Enjoyed This Digest, And Subscribe To Receive Cool Posts And Be A Real Support System..

First off, the set reminds me of the clear Pioneer DJ controller, that transparent Apple Mac, or like a Sega or GameCube Remote Controller.

Prada’s sets always wows me.

There’s something very Swedish about this collection. I’m sure Ellen Hodakova Larson would approve of this smile.

There’s this sense of reduction, not really recycling, but a very upscale, essential way of producing a feeling of necessity for the foundation of the show.

It’s not even minimalism anymore. You can’t call it that. It’s essentialism. Neo-essentialism is how minimalism exists in 2026, projecting how fashion should feel in 2027.

There’s a lot of chatter about the footwear not being everyone’s palatable preference, however, essential core of a cropped denim look is easily digestible as a concept, when one is focused on their profession, and less of the look of their profession. There’s no need to over-explain it. The focus is less on clothing and more on what we want to do in our lives.

What’s actually important to us?

In an image, how do you focus on the natural environment?

That balance of Raf Simons and Miuccia Prada is projecting exactly how men(s) should look in 2027.

Then there’s the mismatch with the goggles when we zoom into accessories. I think, maybe that’s their fun way to speak to misidentification. It’s honestly just a discourse about feeling discombobulated.

What is the reference point? What even is fashion anymore? Those goggles seem to ask all those questions. Because it isn’t about aiming for coolness. The aim is for accepting, feeling lost, but still searching for meaning, in the misunderstanding of all the noise that fashion as an industry and also as a business, has turned (all us) into.

So yeah, I think it was a brilliant show. There’s also something about Ralph Lauren revisiting their Milanese, palazzo to exhibit their mens’ shows, and their Upper East Side Townhomes or Headquarters, to show new womenswear. Fashion shows are slowly turning into a mirror of salons and soirées. I’m more and more invested and excited in the pre-show arrivals

the atmosphere, the arrival of guests, not just at Prada but at any show.

These are all the things I think about when I experience Prada on a Sunday afternoon.

I hope the audience continues to digest and refine their understanding of the importance of intellectualism in fashion. And I’m grateful for yet another amazing show from Ms Prada and Mr. Simons.

SS27

Beyond Selling Pre Loved Products,

How Do We Visually Communicate The Mindset Of Someone Seeking Escape, Or A Restoration In A Temporary Reset?

The Starting Point In Conversation With The Founder Of 1_800-Shop Was To Build A Visual Narrative Harping On The Emotional Anticipation

Attached To Stepping Away From Routine.

A Desire For A Reset:

The Creative Direction Explored What It Feels Like To Be In Transit Between Points A And B,

Whether In An International Vacation, A Weekend Escape, Or Simply A Beach Close To Home.

Photography, Design, And Copy Were Developed To Amplify Awareness, Towards Product Offering, As Invitational [Acquisitional] Consideration.

Grain Texture And Landscape Compositions Prioritized A Sense Of Familiarity In Immediacy Around Seasonal Assortment.

Ultimately This Practice, Successfully Increased Key Engagement In Consideration Metrics By Near 12%, Since The Images Were Published To The 1-800-Shop Audience.

Driving More Product Inquiries And Stronger Overall Interaction.

Visible Increases Are A Testament Into How Design Within Documentary-Style Imagery, And Copywriting, Can Evoke Current Emotions In Contemporary Storytelling, Demonstrating The Power Of Design To Translate Emotional Storytelling Directly Into Business Impact.

Additionally, A Curated Playlist Was Developed In Collaboration With The Founder. This Playlist Served As A Lasting Souvenir Intended To Uplift And Amplify The Mood Within The Audience’s Daily Life.

Whether You Purchased Something Or Not, The Playlist Stays With You, A Reflection Of Our Investment In The Audience, Rather Than Simply Selling To Them.

Were near the finish line with this series and Lady Gaga pulling a 2010 McQueen for her Grammy look in 2026, felt like referencing her own self ..as in the clothes were an extension of the tools that built her introduced her into fame.

Paloma Elsesser is also someone people are making TikToks about specifically because she seems to align her character with what she wears, rather than just having the access to buy something museum-level.

From your perspective: What’s the actual difference between someone casually browsing a vintage score, because they understand it versus having access to rarity?

Soph: Like, either way, you’re spending money, sis. It’s still expensive. Get your Shein haul out of my face.

Seriesnthings: I love that realness about you.

Soph: Its always a joke because my mom’s like, “You can be so cruel.” I’m like, can I not say the truth? My intrusive thoughts? The inner voice that goes, “Wait, keep speaking. Come on girl!”

But yeah, what were we talking about? I’m sorry, I cut things off and I never land the plane. This is the plane of conversation for me. I love circles in the air.

Seriesnthings: I enjoy circles in the air! In a way, you’d think you’re going off script, but everything is connected. Just like how you said there’s a bit of politics in about everything? Fashion really is involved with so many things beyond what people think it is.

Soph: Everything you’re seeing now is relative to… okay, tell me to land the plane if I start going crazy.

Seriesnthings: No, erupt. Do everything. Keep flying.

Soph: This is a fucking film.

There was something that I liked that you asked on the paper. I liked all of what you said on the paper, but there was one question in particular.

Seriesnthings: How Much is too much inspiration?

Soph: You mentioned Dimes Square and what people are going to be wearing now, comfort level, flats, tall socks. A lot of that, I feel like, comes from when an icon or celebrity passes. People harp on that.

Carolyn Bessette, Jane Birkin, Bridget Bardot. Whenever iconic people pass on, that’s when we appreciate them and bring their style back. None of it is really living icons.

A lot of the ballet flats thing gets labeled “chic,” but a lot of it comes from trusting an icon’s style and trusting that other people loved it too. Wearing it becomes socially comfortable because you know people already approve of it.

That’s why girls cosplay Carolyn Bessette. Everyone collectively appreciates her style and it’s easy to recreate from your closet.

That’s why style right now leans more, easy grabs. Fashion-forward icons become people to idolize rather than fully mimic.

Think,

Kate Moss. I adore her, but I wouldn’t necessarily copy one of her exact outfits. I’d mimic how she feels in the outfit. If she feels cunty, I’m gonna figure out what makes me feel that way in my own way.

That’s why ballet (flats) came back. Jane Birkin passes, now everyone romanticizes the French girl style again. Even like tabis.

Seriesnthings: Overdone at this point.

Soph: Literally. Mine are beat! Broken! They have holes (in them). I wore them down to their core.

But you can’t really tell someone they’re mimicking another person cuz every fashion icon probably mimicked somebody too. So who’s truly original?

Seriesnthings: Who and What?

Soph: A lot comes down to authenticity. You can tell who got dressed for themselves and who got dressed because they saw a specific look viral on TikTok.

I’m a huge fan of graphic tees. This summer I’m really trying to wear more of them. I was talking to my friend Aphrodite because she bought a vintage shirt from me that said “Achy Breaky Heart.”

Graphic tees say so much about a person. You can tell if it’s truly vintage, if it’s Urban Outfitters fake vintage, if somebody actually went to the concert, if it’s political, ironic, funny.

I think graphic tees are one of the best personality items somebody can wear.

BTW Are you New York based?

Seriesnthings: I am.

Soph: There’s a store called 10 Ft Single by Stella Dallas.

Seriesnthings: I’ve heard.

Soph: Yeah. In Williamsburg. They used to have giant stacks (of tees) for thirty (dollars), then the tees hanging on the wall for four hundred (dollars). It’s crazy how much value a t-shirt can hold.

Seriesnthings: I saw Salavat Kypere wearing the band Blondie’s tee and I loved it. Blondie is one of my favorite bands.

Soph: Heart of Glass, right?

Seriesnthings: People really into music might say Blondie is “entry level,” but I don’t care. I love how they make me feel.

Soph: Debbie Harry was Andy Warhol’s muse, right?

Seriesnthings: Yeah. Miley Cyrus pulls a lot of inspiration from Debbie Harry too. That’s brilliance. You don’t necessarily see Debbie Harry directly, but you feel the lineage.

Everything I’m into stylistically right now is very Moscow-based. Moscow understands irony. If you took New York community and mixed it with Parisian style, you’d get Moscow. My friend anywayanynotway is the coolest Moskvichka.

Soph: I like that you pay attention to location. It’s giving Berlin. Geography is not my thing.

Seriesnthings: We all love Demna. This is a safe space.

A lot of my friends are over his theatrics, but I appreciate art even if I disagree with it.

Demna can still cook up his accessories. Nobody talks enough about the loafers from Gucci with the spikes.

Soph: Why do you think he’s mimicking Tom Ford-era Gucci so directly? He knows he’s doing it. So why?

Seriesnthings: Demna is fundamentally a communicator before anything else.

A lot of his archival references is intentional communication. He creates visual confusion and visual understanding at the same time.

It polarizes people who are purists, but it also gives people leaning more into subculture to larger, near mainstream to belong to. Its more that just the clothes even the though its still about the clothes. Virgil said it best, “Runway is just the message”. And even though subculture barely exists anymore, since everything thing has become almost globally amplified.

Most people talking about Tom Ford Gucci never even lived through that era. We only know it through photographs.

Soph: Exactly. Fashion now is fully catalogued. Back then there wasn’t Instagram tagging or repost culture.

Demna is building conversation around himself constantly.

When Balenciaga got cancelled, people sold everything they had immediately. I should’ve bought a City bag during that window.

Whenever artists get cancelled, that’s when I buy their stuff. I bought so many Yeezy hoodies because I knew historically they’d age in an interesting way.

Tom Ford Gucci wasn’t even necessarily “new.” He just styled existing ideas perfectly and created a lifestyle around them.

That’s what creative directors do.

Seriesnthings: Exactly.

It’s similar to vintage band tees. Nobody at Woodstock thought they were creating archival objects.

Soph: Wait. When did artist merch even begin?

Seriesnthings: Look it up.

Soph: Apparently The Elvis fan club kicked off graphics on tees in the 50s. Then in early 60s, the Beatles produced shirts for their US tour, and then late 60s, the Grateful Dead, Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin followed through.

Seriesnthings: That’s wild. Vintage Led Zeppelin tees are always incredible. I’ve never seen a bad Led Zeppelin vintage tee ever.

Soph: Those graphics feel hand-drawn and human. Today everything feels hyper-digitized. I got preloved Tabis, cuz I knew I was gonna destroy (them). I’d never spend north of $800 just to ruin shoes.

Also had a Lana Del Rey Ultraviolence tour shirt that I cropped because cropped tops were trendy then. I probably threw it away. It would probably be worth more now.

Seriesnthings: Do you listen to Addison Rae?

Soph: I do. I love her music. She doesn’t feel boy-centered in the way most pop music does.

Taylor Swift and Sabrina Carpenter are constantly too heartbreak-oriented.

Addison feels more like affirmations. I’m gonna be a pop star, like, yes these are my feelings, and I know you feel the same, and the song is not voice centered.

Her merch graphics disappointed me though. They looked too pop-art, like Andy Warhol imitation. But now I regret not buying them cuz screen printing ages beautifully.

I think I’m really gonna have a graphic tee summer.

Seriesnthings: You should go to Zurich instead of Paris. Or Tokyo.

Soph: You were talking earlier about Paris syndrome.

Seriesnthings: Zurich gives you access to Basel, and Basel is one of the greatest places for art, taste, and design culture.

Swiss life is also culturally in the middle of everything, the French, Italian, German influence all merging together.

Do a lot of your friends travel? My friends are really split out across the world, funny enough and lucky, you know?

Soph: That’s fascinating to me because I’m from (bumfuck) Jersey. My friends don’t really travel.

European summers feel so distant, to me.

Seriesnthings: If you need to spiritually reset, go to Ibiza.

2-800 Shop W Soph!

Seriesnthings: Domesticity is on trend, Are we fans?

Spring Summer 2026 offerings are heavy on aprons thanks Miu Miu, or soft tailoring, the stance on, idealized home / femininity

Saint Laurent is dialing in opulence, down to accessories.

Is this search reflected in what people are hunting for right now in the vintage atmosphere, or are they coming in, to escape exactly what the major Maisons are pushing while still being inside the algorithm bubble?

Soph: I love the apron approach. I’m like 90% Italian..well ..we don’t really know fully haha but I’m part Irish, pretty much Italian, and a little Welsh.

So the aprons from Miu Miu.. hits home since I’m used to seeing my nonna wear those making Sunday dinner. She had so many aprons she gave me from when she passed years ago. These vintage Italian florals…the apron is so multifunctional.

I loved that question. And right now there’s a huge relationship with Gen Z trying to understand what it means to be old.

Seriesnthings: Yeah, that’s very valid.

Part of it is what people used when they were 30, taking photos on Polaroids..we do that now digitally, but can’t get out of the ’90s for some reason.

There’s this huge influence of film, the visuall feeling for looking at anything, Calvin Klein, and what Alaia is pushing now with denim and stuff. There’s this 2026 confusion driving everything.

How do we step outside of that and move forward?

Soph: The general audience is addicted to morphing the ’90s and early 2000s together. So 10 years and 10 years become 20 years together.

This leads to blurred eras when you think about the large impact of referencing, from an aftermath, since you’re time traveling digitally into pre-phone, pre-internet or the beginning of its' daily use. So we group it together.

Now there’s the internet to reference bits of Paris Hilton and the rest of celebs’ life style, but most of what we rely on is left over press photos and tabloids to understand that era.

So it all kind of got flattened into singular aesthetic memory. Then phones came, more involved with daily life,

Seriesnthings: Especially with selfies being the most photographed format starting in 2013, that marked the transition!

Soph: And we started documenting everything day by day instead of only dressing up for events.

So it all feels like a blur.

Hopefully we move into the ’80s now. Madonna’s about to drop a new album, and there’s a resurgence of pop, in this playful, spunky style.

Seriesnthings: Like Marble and Confetti!

Soph: Right now, everything is so minimalist, Calvin Klein neutrals: white, black, beige, nude.

But I feel like the ’80s had color..magenta, teal, fun, freedom! I’m all about color. People are dragging the Y2K thing too-too far. It’s repetitive.

Seriesnthings: Do you see your customers are looking for difference from any other store front and is that how you position your offerings at 1-800Shop?

Soph: I really try to push for difference. I was telling a friend, I haven’t been thrifting as much because there’s so much inventory.

1_800Shop is a deviation in finding what the girlies are already looking for. I want to show them what they haven’t found yet.

A lot the pieces I style, I’ll post them, list size, price, year, and then I’ll style them in a way that isn’t..so bland.

let do more…thinking outside the box, think a tutu pairing, with a graphic tee. I want chatter, even if it turns negative.

I don’t have a large audience yet, but were growing, now, enough to feel confident in saying:

‘no, you’re not wearing that low-rise skirt with a bra top’

lets get you elevated.

No shade to anyone. It’s a tough business. But I want to offer difference through my personal style.

Seriesnthings: No cliche too.

Soph: You have to trust yourself enough to put that on people and say: This is it.

Seriesnthings: And I love that. I’m about this way of thinking too. How do we elevate the basic fit?

It gets boring. Regurgitation. You kind of can predict what someone’s going to wear before they post it, everyday now.

Everyone’s activity is a thirst for acceptance. And it’s like fuck being accepted, sometimes.

You need to own your spark, especially to stand out.

Soph: Exactly. Especially if you want to inform people. That’s why so much of my interest is in fashion,

it’s like, what else am I supposed to do on this earth except push fashion into people’s lives?

Even with athletes, people don’t realize someone curated those outfits.

Seriesnthings: That’s PR!

Soph: Fashion relationships, runway thinking. Fashion is everywhere!

It’s almost like politics you want people aware of what’s happening.

So fashion is a new politics.

Seriesnthings: That’s a good quote.

Soph: Yeah, it really is. I learned a lot of that in a college class…quality manufacturing control. My professor said, ‘if you’re not into politics, get into it, because it affects, imports, exports, relationships.’

I don’t care what side you’re on, just understand the mechanics.

Seriesntings: And you se e it with tariffs and imports. I ordered something from 4TH ARQ and UPS said I had to pay $50 to release it. I already paid $8 shipping what is even happening ?

Soph: Yeah, and with tariffs and everything hidden fees, it gets complicated. And also because they don’t want to shell out a net wider than their budget..

This week was scorching hot in NYC and Jersey, because we’re in “Almost Summer’” territory. A few weeks back, in conversation with Sophia we niffed about Downtown New York’s mirror, specifically how predicables are on the algorithm-flatteners of personal style, and its plateau.

Whenever it’s slightly warm, even if it’s still objectively cold, there’s this rush to dress like we just unlocked a glimpse of summer.

Our conversation evolved into an assessment on uniform culture with the overload of usually tiny vintage tees, usually paired with running shorts and then tall socks and then leather flats, as the final layer. This combo is just the default fit, April through October if you frequent, Time Again Bar or Ten Degrees.

Styling wise it read as personal, about 3 years ago but its easy to decipher, who’s dressed like that before it became a trend’s trend. There’s individual instinct on one hand and the true feeling of almost naturalness until you saw the same look over and over and over and over and…yeah, that’s how repetitive, now it’s more so, just not the feeling you like the serotonin that hits when you take a sunset pic.

So that’s why I wanted to talk to Soph, she’s founded 1_800Shop and keeps a watch, on people browsing for individuality while often also, navigating the reasons they reference the same saved images on their phones.

This is our conversation trying to decipher how people are shopping in adjacent to the reference images that they’ve saved on their phones.

What it means to shop for something “unique” when everyone is referencing the same archive? The goal after you read this, is an attempt to re-understand the responsibility of curation as a relationship with vintage and revelation within personal style in how it gets constructed online.

Soph: A lot of things this morning. How are you?

Seriesnthings: Not too bad. Just finished therapy, you know?

Soph: Oh my GOSH, what’s today Tuesday?

Seriesnthings: You just had a little birthday celebration last weekend I saw you DJing! That was cool.

Soph: I did! We had! A little birthday..you know.. celebration. Lemme just prep my coffee?

Seriesnthings: Love the flowers.

Soph: Oh my God. I have so much! Ya, so went to college and studied fashion. Ciché is an affinity. I’ve always loved fashion. Every aspect of it. Originally wanted to design and then realized I was horrible at drawing.

And then I realized I loved film, I loved movies! I loved the fashion involved in music, and fashion they go hand in hand so well.

Then I started styling a bit since I went to Montclair State. It’s in North Jersey, and they’re known for film, TV, and dance.

Seriesnthings: All the A R T s

Soph: Then made friends with lots of film majors, and a lot of them needed help with styling, so there I was on set!

Seriesnthings: Styling!

Soph: Then it lead me to, freelance, cuz I was hitting people up like, “Do you need a personal stylist??” All of that.

I started selling vintage clothing cuz the list of people going,

“I want to buy your clothes. I don’t just want to be styled in them.” just kept elastic-ating. The drip was too good!

All of my fashion journey has been: let me wing it. Not even fake it till I make it more let me be what I am and make people attracted to what I love.

So that’s a bit of what I’m doing currently, styling and vintage commerce.

Sorry, I could yap for hours, so just tell me to stop if I’m losing the plot.

Seriesnthings: No, I don’t feel like you are, You’re all of the clouds, in your own sky. Self-expression-based. French theming and DJing your own birthday is so you. There’s personality to it, and I can see the authenticity.

Used to work in styling as well, so I understand the framework of that world.

Soph: Oh, well thank you so much. I really appreciate that. I know as an artist there are so many ebbs and flows of self-identity,

Who am I?

Am I an imposter? Or am I just being myself so much that it feels fake?

Career-wise for me its more, building a portfolio and becoming this icon, working with so many people, touching lives, and having lives touch mine, being unforgettable.

Are you trying to get into photography, or more like expanding ?

Seriesnthings: It’s more the intent to align my independent studies in art direction or photography gigs, to land a professional role. From courses and learning, the best advice was to naturally lens someone you feel drawn to in projects of your own.

Writing is part of how one thinks creatively too, and stylish research, led me to your shop, and how you’re reimagining vintage in a specific way. That’s why I drafted those questions and shared them with you.

Soph: I love that. Do you have a Substack?

Seriesnthings: I do, yeah.

Soph: Because I feel like I was already following it. I loved your writing.

Seriensthings: I’m so flattered. I’m so honored.

This conversation continues diving into examining authenticity of self vs. curation in relationship with armoring vintage as a means to maintain identity VS. re-evaluation / refute from offerings notable Maisons in France and Italy, propose as new in 2026.

Gucci also posting at 12 am New York Time is so interesting, as a shift from the way companies slot in their 5pm scheduled posts.

“Gucci’s love story with this city began more than seven decades ago on Fifth Avenue. So bringing this show to New York feels like a homecoming for the brand.”

..is the opening line from Demna’s manifesto for his decision to show Gucci Cruise26 in Times Square of all places, 60% of the total looks shown will be worn uptown particularly in the Upper East Side, the Northern Section in the K shaped recovery.

Times Square is not New York reality, because no one who actually lives in the city, actually goes there, but in the mind of an advertising think tank POV, selling a myth is Demna’s oxygen, and he’s living his dream. (If you’re reading this Demna this is a compliment)

Tourists go there first, immediately when they land to see live-streamers and an pure oversaturation, so much cameras, ten years ago selfie sticks were everywhere, I remember leaving my first job in hichschool on my way home, walking past Kris Jenner with a selfie stick in Columbus circle, that kinda vibe is what is being sold here, and the advertising, is selling well, Demna merges digital into a billboard so everything is now a stage, everyone becomes part of the set.

By placing Gucci in Times Square, it's a 101 class on how to activate intrinsic, advertising. Demna is putting the brand directly back inside the conversation of the silent battles at the conglomerate hill of dominance where, Dior and Chanel have been at war since the September, design lead debuts

More importantly, outside of Gucci,

Cruise shows are turning into something far beyond just a filler collection. The Cruise concept is now less of a recycled throwaway course of looks that didn’t make it on the main fashion’s calendar, re-packaged as fools gold for the Very Important Client.

Cruises are now cultural microscopes in where the wheels are spinning in each city a brand visits. Chanel at Casino In Biarritz, Dior at the pristinely newly opened wing of the LACMA, and now Gucci in a commercially commonality space, ultimately to be rooted in art of the artistic news cycle locally. The Gucci Palazzo ad, in the middle of Times Square, right after Venice Biennale opening week, one night before Frieze Fair closes is perfect thinking.

Paris Hilton amplified the fantasy of living at the pinnacle of a Luxe lifestyle.

Seeing Mrs. Hilton, recently in an Old Navy campaign but also, suddenly on a Gucci runway in New York is a polarizing juxtaposition that leaves you head scratching, to rethink the mass-market Americana colliding with luxury mythology. Considering her rebrand of leaning into the y2k craze, her appearance felt sharp but the loud prints were synonymous with the middle aged lady floating between Gramercy and Bridgehampton. If a critic hates this, they’re thoughts are Demna continues to lean near the Jeff Koon-ism of cultural reproduction solely for reach and a reminder that celebrity itself is now reduced to accessory, versus indecently existing in their own right.

Tom Brady actually looked like ‘The Corporate Terminator’, in my own words.

Maria Carla Boscono will always look heightened,

Gabriette, is the continued embodiment of the downtown girl cruising through NoHo on a Friday night.

Candice Swanspoel is a living reference from the matrix, where Morpheus mentioned distraction as a red dress,

All these image capture the city’s current social uniform.

The winning truth is, the collection succeeded because it made tailoring feel newly casual.

Look 1 suggested that suiting could become the new tracksuit, especially with the wax finish, the blazer replacing the sweatshirt.

Formalwear is now simply how to dress, if you want to look awake to the world.

In, Look 2, the lilac suit in between pink and light purple, is one of the best examples on how to beautifully cut, deeply tactile, 75mm film, that is the level of crispiness, in how precise it lilac becomes cinematic.

Look 3 felt made for Kendall Jenner.

The references to an older fashion memory,

Look 11, with the oversized green shirt and graphic belt motif, is distict in Ralph Lauren memory, as almost Demna paying homage, the greatest American designer, maybe that’s why we saw horses, by lots, in the Gucci billboard take over!

The sensibility of the oversized green shirt and graphic belt motif, also with the exaggerated Golden Zip Trousers, also echoed what Michael Rider is exploring at Celine, and its not retro, but more revitalizing emotional infrastructure.

Look 25 felt directly connected to Demna’s first collection at Balenciaga. Leaning back into this theatric, nature feels more like, if everything failed in the last show, (in Europe), this trick will always work (in America). Ambiguous in color for a coat, somewhere between olive, navy, and a muted brown, is exactly, kind of difficult to understand, however this color factor, will perform positively in stores, if you think, “The Perfect Fall Coat” because it resists being categorized.

Personally would prefer for Tish Weinstock to be in a London based show, however, she’s pumped the Connor Ives coat at London fashion week, and now is sporting all black, on the runway, with flats classic and just, one of the strongest moments of the show.

One of the smartest styling details was the use of books as accessories. Instead of hiding them inside bags, select, models carried them visibly in hand. Bags usually hold things, but in Demna’s world, the object itself is part of the (Gen-Z Baited) look.

Maybe, a page out of Kai Gerber or the Book Club from Miu Miu, as Cindy Crawford also closed the show in a gown close in resemblance the Last Cotoure show from Balenciaga, butI admit this play, is subtly making intellectualism look aspirational again. Even if books become an accessory first, the style-sell still influences how people want to be seen.

Overall, the show passed the mark, since not every look worked. Looks 38 through 41 felt comparatively stale, and the denim, key tags, and footwear lacked, sharpness, compared to the rest.

The monogram on any accessory feels tired and is holding Demna back in any way he attemps to restyle it. Free game to Demna, monograms will only work if they’re completely thrown out or painted over. Monogram bags remain my biggest criticism. Gucci just needs a new monogram system. Yes, current canvas is iconic, but I automatically cringe when I see it on anyone, You can rinse the loudness off, no mater how its styled. It no longer feels progressive enough for a collection this forward-looking. The clothes evolved but you can see every monogram accessory behind held back

.Look 42 onward, entered another gear. Especially, looks 45 (Reminds me of the love triangle of Rick Owens Trying to Impress His Wife after she was swooned away by the Red Kawakubo’s structures, ) through 51 were relaxed but polished without losing ease.

Look 62 is Chez Fifi good. This one fully translated come bid for this Italian palazzo from Gucci’s fantasy. It felt for, the kind of woman leaving a private event during Biennale (Venice) opening week and somehow ends up in here Park Avenue Town House the next morning.

Cherry On Top,

Demna described the collection as a permanent wardrobe:

Peacoat, Trench,

Suit for Business,

Pencil Skirt,

Staples,

reassembled into a “core” that will evolve over time.

That Archetypes of people you might pass on Madison (Ave), or Wooster (Street).

Ultimately, Gucci Cruise in New York, is Demna’s reminder that he’s still,

Observing the pulse of status, aspiration, wellness, all those ads ( courstesy of @ sub.global ) show the toality of how all these characters, fit together in the most theatrical place in the heart of East America.

Demna showed in Fidi last time he was here, on Wall Street, actually inside it!

Times Square this time although Odd as choise, felt perfectly paced as fantasy, but irresponsibly (Tone Deaf) in reality.

Thank you Sub.global, Thank you Demna, Thank you Gucci. And Thank you the elite of New York City,

For being invited to the best set design this weekend in fashion.

CC. Alicia Franzen

There is a zeitgeist of contemporary women embracing transformation instead of mourning desirability.

Okay Kaya is stunning swim tweeds, on the runway at Chanel cruise in Biarritz,

Katie Greifeld is live on air @ Bloomberg, Navigating your earnings season + portfolio repositioning in the middle of an Iran War Stagflating Pandemic unch.

Latto is revealing her baby bump, through a music video rollout for a new album,

Rihanna is tattooing her children’s drawings onto her body after The Gala at The Met,

and according to , Ok Lou is being played loud in Stella McCartney’s office, performing in the center of a figure-skating freestyle,

Laura Beham, is working on set behind the scenes of the ‘Father’ Music Video

It’s all like metamorphosis, and none of it feels like they’re apologizing for their nature, transformational embrace is in!

This frame of Helena’s sibling, exerts the self certainty, and without a sign of public opinion resulting as an over shadow.

All of these women mentioned above, and a lot of women in the world right now are embracing fluidity, instead of mourning the version of themselves from an exterior opinion, they reject how to be marketed. In their new identity, they’re allowing evolving becoming anew publicly. They all refute, hiding transition.

In a way, I think this story connects to a larger feeling shared between late millennials and Gen-Z.

There’s a strange moment after youth stops feeling infinite. You realize culture moves in cycles, and eventually attention shifts to the next generation. Trends were internally lived through, and defining what became references, that were sort of inside jokes of a generation, sometimes projected to the news,

Swag , Aura , ( What’s next to define new? )

Aesthetically, Gen-Z built so much of its identity around hyper-visibility, trend fluency, and documenting in hyper, real time.

BeReal and threads were cool for like a year from 2022-2023, then everyone logged back on to Insta, and X.

What we’re seeing in this era is that even success can be a negative for product, and eventually aging out of “youth culture” almost feels foreign. If you’re born in between the Millennial and Gen-Z timeline, you’re used to a very specific awareness of growing up at the speed of theinternet, and the teen years that felt like life being put on the internet, is now the opposite.

Eventually, the attention moves on to Gen-Alpha to start a new idea of cool, and suddenly life Feels like Dongada by Mario Rui Silva, playing in the background because its quite confusing to adapt to a new language.

What is sigma?

That’s why I think, self sufficiency is super important now. A real passions outside of scrolling up on “new aesthetic”and what is algorithmly “IT”, will save your identity. If it’s only built around the fit in of, cultural relevance, eventually you’ll wake up and realize culture no longer mirrors you back in the same way.

Long winded way of saying, people need hobbies.

You won’t stay young forever isn’t meant pessimistically in this case and it’s more of a reminder to enjoy the feeling of, while it lasts.

Find ways to remain curious. Find things that make you feel alive outside of trend cycles. Build a sense of self that survives after the era people associate you with ends.

Because the real evolution of adulthood is not becoming less desirable, it’s becoming

more fully in accepting yourself.

Florence has a way of revealing things before you hear them. There’s a specific moment in our interview where Noor and Ole responded to how New York Feels Just Like Florence, miles apart, when people pass, you can tell who’s American without a single word being spoken.

Its a uniform problem.

Ole: We’ll literally look at each other and go yeah, American.

Noor: Every time.

Seriesnthings: Black turtleneck. Blue jeans. Uggs. It’s always some version of that.

Noor: Copy-paste.

It’s not even criticism just observation.

It patterns into consistentcy, in the worst of ways, that it becomes a kind of visual shorthand. Like an archetype.

Seriesnthings: So it becomes less about individuality and more about… maybe recognition?

Ole: Exactly. It’s like a shared visual language. But the problem is it starts to feel like no one actually thought about what they’re wearing.

Noor: It’s safe.

Ole: Way too safe. Safety, in this context, reads less like comfort and more like hesitation. Its a quiet agreement, submission even to not stand out.

Seriesnthings: I saw someone wearing Vibram toe shoes on the train the other day. And my first thought was, people might think this person is insane. But yet again if it were Balenciaga versioned, suddenly there’s a (youthful) context. Still strange but acceptable strange.

Ole: They’re still terrible shoes.

Noor: I don’t think it matters who makes them. Toe shoes will always be…

Ole: Let me say something. If you want to find your individualism, first thing, you need to stop caring. Completely.

Seriesnthings: So conversation sharpens, not around trends, but around permission?

Ole: No one cares about you as much as you think they do. That’s just a fact. Unless you’re doing something extreme, people move on in two seconds.

Noor: And even if they don’t so what? So whaaaat? 

Ole: Exactly. You have to remove that filter. That constant “what are they thinking?” loop.

Seriesnthings: As obious as it sounds, It rarely is. Most people don’t start from zero they start from awareness.  From being seen, then they build constraints around that.

Noor: I think experimentation is a process. You don’t just wake up one day and suddenly feel confident dressing differently.

Seriesnthings: So where do you start?

Noor: At home. Honestly. Try things on when no one’s around. Then maybe with friends. Then out in public. It builds.

Ole: It’s like exposure therapy.

Noor: Exactly. And having people around you helps. I wouldn’t dress the way I do now if I didn’t have Ole.

Seriesnthings: That part lands differently. Because it reframes individuality as supported, not as something purely internal.

Noor: I found my fashion soulmate.

Ole: That’s real though.

Noor: He makes me feel comfortable dressing weird. And now I’m like wait, I actually like this.

Seriesnthings: There’s a shift there going from self-consciousness to shared confidence then ownership

Seriesnthings: So it starts as a safe space, and then becomes ..a system?

Noor: Exactly.

Ole: A support system that pushes you further.

Seriesnthings: And maybe that’s the missing layer in most conversations about individuality. Not just what you wear, but who allows you to become that version of yourself. Since uniform isn’t just about clothing.

But more throwing the:

- fear of getting it wrong  

- fear of being first  

- fear of being seen without context  

Out the window/finestra

Ole: Social media makes it worse. Everyone’s watching everyone. It creates this pressure to fit into something recognizable.

Noor: It becomes less about expression and more… approval.

Ole: And then everything starts looking the same.

Seriesnthings: So the irony is, the internet promised infinite variation, but Instead, delivered hyper-visible sameness.

Seriesnthings: Do you think people actually want to stand out?

Ole: I think they think they do.

Noor: But not enough to be uncomfortable.

Seriesnthings: So the dividing line, isn’t taste, access or even knowledge, its just tolerance for discomfort?

Ole: The best way to figure out your style is to try things you don’t like. Textures, silhouettes, colors, you would normally avoid.

Noor: And then see what sticks.

Ole: Exactly. Because your taste isn’t fixed. It evolves.

Seriesnthings: and there’s something almost clinical about it. Trial, error and adjustment. But underneath, something more human, like the permission to change your mind.

Seriesnthings: So the uniform isn’t really about fashion.

Noor: No.

Ole: It’s about fear.

Seriesnthings: So, once you see it that way, it’s hard to unsee. Every identical outfit feels less like coincidence, and more like a conglomorate of seprate (badly made) decisions, at least, suddenly, 

to stay within the lines.

To be continued in Part III: Fashion Isn’t Art (Until It Is).

Part I is about: Who they are why they speak

Part II is more on: Why everyone looks the same

Part III is an air out of: Why fashion can’t be fully free

Hope you enjoy!

Seriesnthings: Mindset, grindset.

Noor: Literally. Grindset is so TikTok. It’s so vibe-coded. Like…I’m online.

Seriesnthings: How have your days been so far this weekend? I love the podcast. I see clips all the time each, a day ..it always catches me at the right moment.

Noor: That’s so nice to hear. We actually sat on the idea for like… two, three, almost four months. Ole You tried doing a pod solo before, right?

Ole: Yeah, it didn’t really work out. And I did one for a school project. But we both wanted a space to express our point of view in a more thought-out, more intentional way.

Noor: And approachable.

Ole: Exactly. Because we come from different backgrounds, but we’re living in a very specific moment. And there’s something to be said about that. People are scared to say things now …because of cancel culture, or whatever that even means anymore. But honestly, anyone can be “canceled.” It’s meaningless at this point.

Noor: Someone could get offended by anything.

Ole: Exactly. So it’s like—say what you need to say. And maybe by doing that, we can encourage other people to do the same. Low-key, just being voices of our generation.

Noor: I think our generation has a lot to say about this stage of life. But not everyone has the discipline to actually sit down and express it consistently. That’s something we’re trying to master too.

Seriesnthings: What about you two makes this the right time?

Noor: It’s kind of funny—we both finished our masters around the same time. Ole in July, me in November. We were in Italy, working, applying, figuring things out. And I just said—we need to make something for ourselves. And immediately: we need a podcast.

Ole: Because we could sit and talk for five hours straight. And people had told us that before. So we thought—okay, maybe there’s something there.

Noor: Milk the cash cow.

Ole: Like the Joker said—if you’re good at something, never do it for free.

Ole: We also felt like we had a unique perspective. And right now, with so much of life moving online, your physical presence..your uniform, your style…it matters more than ever. We didn’t want to make something that’s just a list of trends or products. It’s more like… a survival guide. For navigating identity right now.

Noor: And creating something positive. A space that feels good to exist in.

Ole: Also…if we want to be part of the fashion industry, no one is going to just hand us a seat at the table. We have to build our own. This was the most natural way to do that.

Seriesnthings: What does daily life look like for you right now?

Noor: I work full-time at a creative agency here in Florence. It started as contract work, now it’s full-time. It’s the most creative job I’ve had. And applying what I learned in school to something like this…our own project..that was a big part of the “why.”

Ole: For me, I studied math and economics first. Then worked in sports tech for almost two years. But I knew fashion was where I wanted to be. So I went back to school for fashion brand management.

Noor: He was supposed to do trend forecasting.

Ole: I was even looking at roles at [Redacted]…trying to merge analytics with fashion. But honestly, now it doesn’t feel like work anymore. It just feels like… lifestyle. In a non-toxic way. Pure interest.

Noor: My background is kind of all over the place. I’m Palestinian American…I moved a lot growing up. Lived in the UAE for nine years, then Germany for fashion design, then London for an internship, then Italy for my master’s in fashion business.

Ole: And she can do everything.

Noor: I like to think of it as… flexible. Design, styling, creative direction…whatever’s needed. I don’t like limiting it.

Ole: You’re also working on something right now you can’t talk about.

Noor: A small capsule collection. For someone kind of important.

Seriesnthings: It sounds like you’re not just observing fashion…you understand how it functions. The business, the structure, the execution.

Noor: Exactly. And I think that’s missing sometimes. People get stuck in what they studied, instead of exploring different parts of the industry.

Ole: And the industry itself is changing. Fast. There’s a perception shift happening…about what fashion is, what it represents, how it communicates.

Noor: Brands are trying to figure out how to feel real again.

Ole: And as long as there are stakeholders, fashion will always be both art and business. That tension isn’t going away.

Noor: There’s just a lot happening right now. Globally, culturally. People don’t trust things the way they used to. So part of this is about building something people can believe in…even if it’s small.

Ole: Even if it’s just a conversation.

Noor: A space. A vibe.

Ole: That’s why it’s called Left Undone.

Some things are better left open, and still forming. Everything is in Motion!

To be continued in Part II: The Uniform Problem.

Can you be at your absolute best and still not belong?

Thragg is the most powerful, as a Viltrumite, and still witnessed his planet get blown up

Thragg is self-made, has reached peak apex level, is certain about everything he says and does. There is no more throne for him to sit on, and further worse he isn’t connected to royalty by bloodline.

He clawed his way up through dominion alone, not merit, which means he’ll never rest at the top.

In Britain, a billionaire plumber is still seen through the lens of his origin, as working class.

So when a self-made king ruling through strength, still feels like an outsider, and still needing to prove a necesitiy to deserve to lead, Is that true power? or Power trapped in a form of in authenticity?

When you have absolute power but with zero legitimacy it feels tainted. Like it doesn’t feel real. That realness of being freer than anyone, still alive, only by strength, kind of feels like a prison of its own.

The end scene when eve encourages Mark to fly, to clear his head, then he flinches and second guesses if he is truly experiencing reality, then Thragg affirms it. It’s truly him. and that moment feels slow paced, in meaning. Then as Mark lunged at him and punches him with everything he has. Nothing happens. Then the most powerful human (Viltrum hybrid) gets flinched as if he was a fly.

For a moment, Mark’s face goes blank. think of when a baby cries because their toy dropped, and they can’t reach it. In their view the world stops working the way the baby thought it would.

That seems to be how Mark felt, he pestered at him in vulnerability as a reflection of being afraid. Not of loosing power, but loosing everything he loved on earth. Even earth itself, as he once knew it. Thragg is in this position not as vulnerable as mark but in his case, because he wishes to repopulate the Vilrtum race, he brings his request to Mark.

Mark trained his entire life, built toward certainty to defend what matters. Earth. Everything he loves and values is inside Earth. There is natural balance in this thinking. Opposite to Viltrumite’s value for power, increased agility, through conquest to ascend.

With a landscape angle, shot in that aerial scene both are on top of the world, flying, both of them are powerful, but one of them unmoved. Mark realizes his training and everything he’s been through did not prepare him for the decision he was about to make. Especially without Cecil’s consultation.

Thragg doesn’t react. He just looks at Mark, with certainty and says “You are our savior”. To the same person that destroyed their planet.

Even in Episode 7, where Thragg tells Mark give his best shot, and tells mark to show how much power he has, Thragg shows an indifference to earthly vulnerability. More as an assessment then designs the design to spare Mark, as a way to rebuild the Viltrumite empire. In defeat, this somehow crowned mark. Very different from the treatment Oliver got, in battle.

Can this be where real, true power lives? Not in the ability to destroy, but in the ability to make someone choose their own cage?

Mark has keeps imagining every worst-case scenario. And now, standing in front of someone powerful enough to end humanity without effort, he has to make a choice.

IF, he sys no, everyone dies. IF yes, earth is bound to a future he never agreed to.

I think of the Zoo Hypothesis here. This is the feeling of everything you’ve ever made progress towards being wipped away.

There’s freedom in refusal but this comes at a cost, to watch the world burn, and turn into an unrecognizable concept.

A hallow feeling in that decision parallels to the Artemis mission, communication was lost for six minutes on the un-visible side of the moon. Feeling out of control, uncertainty, being out of reach and powerless to change your reality, does not feel good.

Mark is the most powerful human who ever lived. But to Thragg, he’s still insignificant.

He has inherited potential but this feels almost measured into a Hamster Hypothesis.

Power is defined in so many variables in this episode, especially when Debbie passionately explains how Nolan’s mistrust is a broken tableware. Nolan is not as strong as Thragg, in battle but is of royal bloodline, and far stronger than Debbie, but is at her mercy if he truly wants a rekindle their relationship.

Mark surrenders earth at the price to maintain peace and even within reach, in a scenario where there is a billions of humans compared to 37 Viltrumites. He faces a ceiling he can never break. He’s free within limits that feel impossible. He searches for Thragg but only finds him due to Thragg’s decisions to be noticed. Thragg is now king but still wears Argyle’s coat.

Each character has to think through the duality of life and freedom. And neither one gets to choose which cage they live in.

Table for 1

30 Ultra Chic accoutrements, acquired tastes and insider acquaintances to help you conquer April.

Why we’re betting it all on the Ultra Chic.

It dawned on Little Edits Atelier and Seriesnthings on a Monday afternoon, after exchanging half baked thoughts and articles on niche media topics and cultural opinions,

Ultra chic.

We’re just these two people from the East Coast, we’re actually farmers, and the barn is substack. No but Little Edits Atelier literally grew up on a farm. Seriesnthings is harvesting fiberglass in Brooklyn in Louise Trotter’s Bottega. The following list is a double brain dump on all ‘Little-things’, closer to how we feel about everything and everywhere we love. The list speaks for itself.

Ultra Chic is our shield from the screech in the word ‘chic’. which has turned overwhelmingly brain rot. Don’t you get a bit of a bitter aftertaste in your ear when you hear it on every corner of the internet. If you’re present in the midst of a panel, you politely Kyoto smile right after.

Sit out trends. Watch them like it’s Nat Geo and you’re in a safari, in Africa. The more comfortable the internet gets with less popular, more

acquaint things, which is imaginably uncomfortable, the more we learn the wiser and more fulfilled, we become the whole mile.

Try out those societal shears. Practice a mirror inwards. Silence has value and ultrachic. Learn how the rest of the group feels.

You’ll miss out on soft details concerning the idiosyncrasies you should actually care about, if you don’t take a minute and a step back to get a 40,000 foot view.

If you’re the easy going type, usually (hush) to yourself, turn up the volume, do speak up for a change.

Switch it up, let your feelings be known within the group. Or even beyond the group. We learn more about ourselves when we do the opposite of whatever is popular, or typical.

It’s incredibly hard to do, but its possible! So how does one deviate from pop choice? If everyone’s hoisting on their shoulder a Chanel, how does one find the courage to opt in for a Delvaux?

If Dior Loewe and Celine being the heavy push to mainstream destinations that sell for your Parisian trip in June, Nina Christen’s new shop on Rue De La Paix, should probably be your priority instead. She’s the lead Footwear design person @ Dior currently. In the everyday, go window shopping to research. Understand the sides of the streets and its streetwear. Our choices should be informed not corralled.

Case study? Some brands are doing it right. Unplug but maintain connection. There is usually a phone ban @ The Row’s runway show(s) however this time, guests were allowed a few snips at the post show gathering, and the little white boxes of individually wrapped blackberries stole the show alongside cherries, madeleines, and ultra chic (French) chocolates!

Blackberies served at The Row’s Post Show Gathering

Embossed promotion. Lobmeyr’s Ultra Chic glass wear also got huge press this season. In fashion there are cosigns that fall through out of nowhere. But in a pool of 180 brands, with one mention, the cult following and billion dollar evaluation that the Row has tailored, this glassware company is about to get more emails, more orders more dollars signs than they know what to do with. It becomes a challenge because of the numbers.

They got to be present in The Row’’s Post-Show space gathering. This is how orbit becomes a psychosomatically associated accessory beyond a fashion moment. Which in our opinions, is the ultrachic badge of honor, as everything surrounding the Row stays small quaint and intimate by design, a cut above free advertisement.

Another collaboration between Luca Guadagnino and Matter in Shape is having a slice of carrot cake from Jean Gorges’ ABC Kitchen and eating it too. Luca directed a huge portion of Timothée Chalamet’s early films that catapulted him into the limelight. Luca is also Italian. Italians, especially those with years on the belt, have a good understanding of ultrachic when design is in conversation.

This propels astronomical increase and interest as replenished awareness.

Which sometimes isn’t what an historic brand wants. However in today’s climate you need a little bit of dilution in welcoming awareness to protect and ultimately preserve the history that holds your bottom line. The reason why your brand exists. Economics 101. Jonathan Ferro from Bloomberg Surviellance, would agree.

There is just a middle ground layered interest that draws in quantity without compromising the thing that made you play the game that everyone has to play in today’s Internet age.

Overall it’s a double win. A glassware company turned Italian filmmaker collaborateurs.

In shape and at the Row’s After party, all of this is Ultra chic!

So are the ‘little-things” in between.

Out of 76 looks only, 5 stay true to the codes of the Maison Margiela house,

These are all the looks I felt, did not stray the farthest from the codes of the Maison Margiela house,

There’s useful friction when you put Figura Services next to Glenn Martens’ Margiela.

Figura, founded in 2021, is a Demna Disciple, reflecting the obsession with contemporary identity Vetments was fond of in 2015 and you can feel Demna’s fingerprints the almost Stanley Kubrik stare. A lineage that traces back to what Margiela meant in his earliest days, to Demna. The DNA connects. It makes sense and It’s compatible.

Glenn Martens’ Margiela is a more a different story. He and Martin Margiela are both from Antwerp, and yet something doesn’t translate fluently. Galliano always understood what made his era at Margiela feel definitive.

Each collection was a clear statement of self,

expressed entirely with the cherry on top that still felt familar in Margiela’s language.

The audience was never confused about what its overall mission.

Galliano summarized Margiela, quite British-ly. You knew exactly who was speaking and why.

Martens’ work feels like closing Google Maps when you’re in unfamiliar territory. You’re navigating without the map. There’s something disorienting about it that isn’t fully difinitive.

it’s a signal that has strayed far from the foundation’s of Martin Margiela. It isn’t quite landing the way it the basque of, raw artisinal.

It feels like the aim is for celebrity, in a speculative sense. Like 2026 Kim (Kardashian) is whom all of the dresses are being made for.

A result of over zealous ambition to erode whatever visual heritage the brand has once meant. You can see through it in the masks.

It feels empty, like a shell of martin.

Remember also, when Kim, wore marilyn monroe’s dress? That’s how this show in shanghai feels.

It feels like something essential is being quietly peeled away from Martin Margiela’s original vision at Maison Margiela.

There are two pressures at work. One is the impulse to overwrite Margiela’s rawness with superficial gloss under Glenn Martens’s control.

The other is the reality of OTB Group’s survival as a business, where profitability inevitably shapes creative decisions.

In today’s landscape, chasing that profitability can start to feel like a quiet compromise of the very soul that made the brand matter in the first place,

It almost feels like to be profitable in this age, one has to sell their soul almost.

The first show felt alien. The second was genuinely cute. And this Shanghai show doesn’t truly hit, if its referencing the set/ show location from LV men’s 2022 / feels like a return to that alien quality, which reads less like evolution and more like a plateau, of being mis understood (badly).

If you were to rank the eras Galliano goes in first, blazy in the middle, Martens projected at the back unless he returns back to the source.

This is not a a controversial take, from a purist’s perspective.

What’s interesting about Martens is that you can feel the ambition. He’s not like someone just coasting. He reads like someone working to cement a permanent place in the history books, especially after the buzz of the years @ Y/Project serving as his best work.

Legacy isn’t salvageable and there’s a difference between building on something and trying to inscribe yourself into it.

Martens doesn’t seem to be attempting to recapture what Martin Margiela did at his own house and that’s fine, maybe even honest but whatever he is trying to say hasn’t fully crystallized yet.

It’s the feeling of having something precise in your head that keeps slipping when you try to put it into words. That gap between intention and execution is Martens kryptonite at margiela

You have the power to unfollow.

“Someone who’s interesting doesn’t stop being interesting” is probably the most memorable quote from this feature.

Interesting people don’t sit in disappointment, they look for more, and refine. They don’t cling to what no longer resonates.

A lot of people complain that Vogue doesn’t give them the same hit it used to, yet they literally have the power to unfollow and look for something else.

For example, E72 just did an amazing feature with Kate Moss, refreshing-ly focused on the longevity of her career. She’s photographed by Nick Knight.

No idea why this isn’t being talked about more online.

I think the less we complain and instead move toward something better, rather than clinging to these futile anchors of happiness, the better off we’ll be.

Progress becomes a lot easier when we do that