3.15.2022

style notes: lessons i've learned, pt. ii

                                                                        growing bush beans in my veggie garden last summer


hello again, gosh it feels quite rusty to be back here and writing in this space after all this time.

for the past decade plus, this blog has been a regular chronicle of style discoveries and inspirations, but at some point a few years ago i felt a bit of inspiration drought. what began as a bit of a sabbatical turned into a year, then two, then March 2020 hit. amidst everything in 2020 and 2021, writing about cute bags and mindful wardrobes felt at worst morally tone deaf and at best completely irrelevant. but i suppose there is a kind of courage in seeking out beauty in everyday life, even when it feels like the world is ending on a weekly basis. we are resilient, and it's starting to feel like a new spring; a kind of existential and aesthetic re-emerging.

so here we are, now almost-spring again four years later. my sense of time pre-2020 feels stuck in a funny mirror. the funny thing is, Fashion Time feels like much the same. i think of it in terms of Phoebe Philo's reign at Celine – 2018 felt like the end of a style era, even before the balm of elastic-waist soft pants took over our daily WFH outfits. the fashion landscape has changed a ton – designers and labels that defined the 2000s and 2010s left the scene; industry icons passed away; "the Bushwick Birkin" went viral. in light of all this change, it feels apropos to share some thoughts on what i've learned about what has been inspiring me anew, and what style means to me now.

now, raise your hand if you feel like you took a fashion nap in early 2020 and woke up back in...2001. while i can't say i'm feeling the full on revival of early aughts style, i am really inspired by shopping my closet currently and revisiting my vintage pieces with a new eye. in short, creatively remix to breathe new life into (favorite) old things.

this speaks to probably the most dreaded conundrum we've all experienced  – i have a closet full of clothes, but nothing to wear! the fashion system hard-wires us to continually seek out The New, but the funny thing is, The New is always somehow tied to cyclical revisions of the past. it's fun and incredibly liberating to play with this concept in your own wardrobe. case in point, i recently "remixed" my vintage 1990s Coach bag that i got in 2011.

the problem: it had been sitting on my closet shelf for the last few years looking...a bit blah. i hadn't reached for it for quite some time. don't get me wrong: the material quality and craftsmanship and design usability are as excellent as it was when i bought it more than a decade ago. it just needed something extra. the solution: that x-factor turned out to be an inexpensive, fun bag strap from Amazon. is it a Fendi-inspired dupe? absolutely. do you need to splurge at the Fendi price point to get the same effect? absolutely not. the cool thing is that a leather guitar-style strap has the dual effect of refreshing something old in my closet while also making it even more user-friendly – the wider strap is very comfy for shoulder and crossbody wear (although depending on your height, it may be a more 'cropped' crossbody fit). and while we're on the topic of Coach, i've been very impressed by their SLGs and overall design vibes the last few years. their wide leather novelty bag straps in particular are some of the best quality-for-value and most versatile wardrobe accessories.

vintage 2.0: giving an old bag new life

P.S.: one of my favorite podcasts since 2019 is NPR's Life Kit. this latest episode on lessons we've learned since the pandemic is excellent. 

dear readers, i hope you have all been taking good care of yourselves and finding opportunities to be creative these days. have you discovered or re-discovered something in your wardrobe/life?

14 comments:

  1. I am so happy to see you back, Sophie! I've missed your blog (started my own, recently, definitely inspired by yours!!) Hope all is well and that we'll be seeing you again soon :)

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    1. Sarah, thank you for the kind comment and i'm so happy to have you as a reader and fellow blogger :D

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  2. agreed, what a fun surprise to see a new post from you appear in my feed :) the biggest thing I think I've noticed, with the passage of time/pandemic/having a baby last year, is that I don't even know where to find inspiration anymore. Magazines seem dead, hardly any of the blogs I used to follow are active, and Instagram seems to only show me more of what I already see. Without being able to go out much to people-watch and be inspired by what people are wearing around the city IRL these past two years, I don't really even know what I'm looking for when I go online to shop. As I'm thinking about what to wear to the office as we slowly return, none of my old clothes feel fresh (and a lot don't fit TBH), but I also just feel like I don't even know what's appropriate anymore? Does anyone else feel similarly lost? Where do you go for outfit inspo???

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    1. you are definitely not alone in feeling all of this! i haven't seen anything truly interesting from the fashion industry clothing or accessories-wise for quite some time. but i recently found this "genre" (?) of vlogging where it's just street style in real time in major cities (Paris, NYC, etc): search for "What Everyone is Wearing in --" on youtube. worth a look to do some virtual "people watching"!

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    2. oh, interesting!!! i will go check it out - thank you :)

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  3. Couldn't believe my eyes when i saw your post in my Bloglovin feed! Your blog was one of my favourites when I started getting really interested in personal style. Very very happy to see you back Sophie!
    Love from Italy.
    G

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    1. thank you, Giù, that is so sweet! i hope you and your loved ones are well - and as always, please do chime in here and on instagram :)

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  4. Welcome back Sophie! Have missed you!

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    1. hi Grace! hope you're well and it's good to be back :)

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  5. I spent a lot of time obsessing over finding a new shoulder strap for an old bag...and then I gave up. Don't think I'll revive the hunt for a while since I am between homes, but this is a good reminder to never give up on remixing old stuff!

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    1. Lin - there are some good deals on the luxury straps on the reseller sites. and Etsy has some good handmade/quirky options. hope you're settling in nicely to your new home :D

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  6. thanks P :) like your recent post on insta i've also been looking back on some of my decade-old pieces lately.

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  7. So good to see you writing again, and timely now that we are all starting to return to work and trying to figure out the new new.

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    1. we are all in the same boat re the new new! some thoughts on this very topic soon here on the blog :)

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