21: Everything I'm Wearing and Everything I've Bought
IF ELOISE GREW UP, MOVED TO BROOKLYN, AND ONLY WORE BLACK
Before my departure from TikTok in May, the only videos I still enjoyed filming were EVERYTHING I BOUGHT IN (INSERT MONTH). I started filming them to hold myself accountable for my consumption—to see everything I was buying and give myself a way to look back and reflect on the purchases. But really what I liked most about filming them was seeing everything I bought in one place (I’m a product of haul culture) and seeing how they all complemented one another, what I was gravitating to, and what themes emerged.
The series made me more thoughtful about what pieces I was bringing into my wardrobe. For the last year or so, my shopping motto has been largely about editing and curation. I’m incredibly particular and becoming increasingly so about what I buy. Right now, my wardrobe is the smallest it's ever been—partly out of necessity, my boyfriend and I share a singular closet— but I’m finding a lot of satisfaction in keeping a tightly edited closet of pieces that I love and constantly gravitate towards.
I shop entirely secondhand, except for underwear and the occasional shoe purchase. If you can, shopping second-hand is wonderfully rewarding. My commitment to secondhand is largely about the ethical and environmental consequences of firsthand production but even if I didn’t give a shit about that, god forbid, I’d still buy used clothes.
The secondhand market opens up a wonderful world of possibility and excitement–– I have the last 100 years to explore! I am able to buy designers I love and the quality that I want at a price point that is usually less than the new items. I’d certainly rather buy a pair of vintage Chanel trousers for less than a pair of new J.Crew ones or a Simone Rocha dress for less than a Reformation one. I say all of this because I wear a lot of clothing from designers that are prohibitively expensive at retail but all of these pieces were bought secondhand and usually for much less than I’d have to pay at any large retailer.
All of that being said, I wanted to migrate the monthly series over to Substack and this month I am including a bunch of fall outfits as well with a lot of old pieces you’ll recognize from TikTok. My sartorial vibe is like if Eloise grew up, left the Plaza, moved to Brooklyn, and only wore black.
EVERYTHING I BOUGHT IN SEPTEMBER AND OCTOBER
When I was home in Seattle at the beginning of September, I traded Amelie her pair of black Issey Miyake Pleats Please trousers for my 1960s Bonnie Cashin coat. To accompany my lovely new pants, I ordered a black Pleats Please top that's trimmed with polka dot fabric around the shoulders and at the bottom. The two of us went to Red Light (Amelie, not the top) and I bought a tiny and impractical 1940s black felt hat that I only noticed was made in Firenze after I returned from Italy. While in Seattle, I also spent the rest of my Lucky Vintage credit at their store in Ballard where I bought a 1960s raw silk jacket which I am yet to wear and beginning to regret. (Not pictured) Post-Italy I’ve ordered a pair of black silk Ann Taylor trousers, a vintage black cashmere cardigan, and a pair of 1995 velvet Comme des Garcons Tricot velvet trousers.
I had the lovely pleasure of meeting the woman herself, Simone Rocha, at Dover Street Market in this dress a few weeks ago. Violet sent me a message the night before telling me she would be in the store for a book signing and I knew I had to be there. It was such a pleasure listening to her speak and when she signed my book I told her about the Louise Bourgeois exhibit I had seen in Florence the week prior. I feel like, for so many of us, Simone’s work is representative of what we love about fashion. I remember discovering her in early high school and feeling this all-consuming excitement about the world she was creating.
CHEERS! LOVE YOU!
Sophia
Love it all, devoted Pleater (Pleathead? Pleatinator?), must know where the glasses in the first look are from. Prescription? Chic add-on? Absolutely obsessed!!
Looove your style, Sophia. I mean this as a huge compliment, not as a side-eyed critique, but it would be fun to do this with receipts. I am a pretty hard-core secondhand buyer and I just don't feel like I find these kinds of scores, and certainly not for less than new J.Crew. Sometimes I splurge on a secondhand piece from a "fancy" design house that I really love, but would love the price points, mostly just as a reference point. xo !