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Zara Larsson singing

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“POV: You’re in the Mind of a Taurus”

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I’m a Taurus cliché. I love beautiful things, I want a home that feels lived-in and cozy, I don’t want to leave said home, and I’m sick of people’s shit <3

Thinking back to my childhood, the thing that stands out most isn’t a specific outfit or moment - it’s the confidence my mom passed down to me without me realizing it. She always said, “The way you dress is a reflection of how you see yourself,” and while my closet is probably a mess - thanks to my undiagnosed ADD - I always manage to look like the most put-together person when I leave the room.

My mom, Fiona, was a single mother who loved working as a stylist because it allowed her to make her own schedule and raise me without a nanny. When I couldn’t come with her to an unexpected meeting, she would drop me off with her friends on Rodeo Drive. Fabulous women and men who worked at Dior, Jimmy Choo, Chanel, you name it. Some of my favorite childhood memories are of them dressing me in pieces straight off the runway while I ran around the store, helping clients find their sizes, and living out my very own version of Eloise at The Plaza.

At eight years old, I remember going to fashion shows with her in a long fur jacket and knee-high boots - little me, afro, unbothered, and completely certain of myself. People would stop to tell me how much they loved my outfit and ask who had styled me, and even then, I always made sure they knew I had styled myself.

While my mom and I lived in West LA, I was able to attend school in Beverly Hills because she worked there. Being one of the only mixed-race girls in a school full of people who didn’t look like me made it hard to make friends, and the bullying was really tough. All I wanted was to fit in, and I was convinced all of my problems would disappear if I showed up wearing Abercrombie & Fitch - the uniform among my peers.

I begged her for it, but my mom refused.

To her, it was practically sacrilegious.

Instead, she took me to sample sales for brands from around the world. Secretly, I loved every piece. But none of it made sense to the other twelve-year-olds around me, and more than anything, I just wanted to be cool.

As I got a little older, the shopping became more serious. My friends weren’t going to Abercrombie anymore, they were at Elyse Walker and Barneys, and while I had the best time telling them what they should and shouldn’t buy, I was never in a position to walk out carrying a bag of my own. But boy, did I love Zara. My friends would ask where my clothes were from, I would tell them, and they would insist they could never find anything good there…then I would come home from sleepovers with pieces mysteriously missing from my overnight bag. Whenever I felt annoyed and confused about why they wanted to take my things, my mom would remind me of one of her most important lessons:

“Money doesn’t give you taste, and no one can take your taste away from you.”

To this day, I FaceTime my mom before I go anywhere important, and every single time, without fail, she tells me to try a different jacket, change my shoes, or sometimes start over entirely. It’s always followed by, “Trust me, I do this for a living.”

I’ve heard that line my entire life and it honestly still triggers me. I instantly become that little girl again, saying, “Well, I don’t care, I like it better this way!” But now I catch myself having the exact same thought about my own future children…

Why would I ever want my child to look like everyone else?

Funny how the thing I fought her on hardest became the whole basis of my style. The second I started posting on Instagram, I never cared about the obvious brand everyone already knew. I wanted to showcase the brilliant, under the radar label nobody had heard of yet.

And that is why I wanted to start this Substack. I want to share the things I love from all over the world and at every price point - the clothes, the home goods, the little details, the things that make life feel more romantic, and probably a few things none of us need but will desperately want anyway.

Money might not give you taste, but having the proper guidance can damn near get you there. And if you happen to already have it, then let’s get cozy together and geek out over romanticizing life as much as we can.

I can’t wait to go on this ride with you. I’ll make sure to bring the blankets.

xx,
Isabella Meyer