01: Welcome to The Pleat

The return of the hat, American Ivy, Yves Saint Laurent 2014, books and other recommendations

I am finally caving to the same pressure everyone with a small internet following inevitably does and am starting a s*bst*ack. I had a .com but I am trying to save money where I can because I need to feed myself and as much as I preach anti-consumerism I want to keep buying vintage little black dresses and little black heels. My eyes are on this Dries Van Noten dress but I seriously doubt it will do for me what it does for her.

We are going to begin this newsletter with a list of what I consider recommendations. This is not an in and out list but next time I promise to sprinkle in some things I hate. After an extremely tragic month, I had my soul retrieved by a spiritual healer last week. As a result, I am feeling lighter, more myself, and most importantly, inspired. Maybe more on that later.

The Return of the Hat

All three hats are Cristobol Balenciaga from the MET Collection

I am ready for the return of the hat. One for day, one for evening, and one for church if I ever decide to go. All vintage and all matching my coats. Think Cristobal Balenciaga, Dior and Charles James. Big and ridiculous but incredibly chic. 

The American Ivy series on the Articles of Interest Podcast by Avery Trufelman

If I could recommend one piece of media for your immediate consumption it would have to be the American Ivy series on the Articles of Interest podcast. I started it this week and was done within a day. Over the course of seven captivating episodes, the host, Avery Trufelford investigates the origins and history of America’s Ivy league style. 

There is something quintessentially American about old Ivy style that I have always appreciated and have been intentional about referencing in my own wardrobe. I love wearing my Weejuns with white socks and cropped wool trousers. I love a relaxed button-down, a three-button blazer, and a sweater draped over my shoulders. But I do not identify with Ivy Leaguers, East Coasters, or Wasps and I detest the brand Rowing Blazers. This podcast strongly acknowledges, and rightfully so, the controversial roots of ivy as a style born out of white wealthy communities. But I think one of the many strengths of this podcast is that it dismantles the notion that Ivy league style is uniquely white. 

The depth and range of this series if immaculate. Trufelford traces preppy style from its roots in the 1920s and 30s, to Ivy League campuses in the 1950s and 60s to its 1980s resurgence. She dives into the work of Shosuke Ishizu, the man who brought Ivy to Japan and forever changed Japanese style, the version of Ivy league style adopted by Black youth at historically Black universities, jazz musicians, writers, and activists, and the growth of counterculture movements. Classically preppy brands like Brooks Brothers and Ralph Lauren are dissected. Trufelford speaks to several authors including Jason Jules of Black Ivy: A Revolt in Style and Lisa Birnbach author of the now-out-of-print and highly coveted The Official Preppy Handbook. My expectations of fashion writing and research are perhaps unrealistically high but this podcast did anything but disappoint.

If I Could Buy One Thing

If I had not just bought a pair of expensive shoes, I would buy these Yves Saint Laurent F/W 2014 knee-high glitter boots in a heartbeat. If Miu Miu S/S 2010 was the show that inspired a generation of twee millennials, mine was Yves Saint Laurent F/W 2014. The show was an amalgamation of everything I was obsessed with. I spent every day pretending to be older than I was on polyvore.com, I had just learned about Edie Campbell and was regularly consulting images of Twiggy in patterned tights and mini skirts as I dressed myself in the morning. Alex Turner and Miles Kane sat front row and the spirit of Alexa Chung and her effortlessly cool and quintessentially British take on mod fashion was everywhere. I had just gotten her book It for Christmas, I was disappointed by it but still adored her. With references to the 1960s Yves Saint Laurent started his label in, Hedi Slimane adorned the runway in patent leather and sparkly mary janes, glittery knee high gogo-esque boots in silver, gold and shades of vibrant pink, tiny mini dresses and oversized fur coats. And I loved it. 

This show inspired my favorite shoe purchase the same year, a pair of 2 strap light blue glitter mary-janes from Topshop. Four years later this show was the reason I saw navy blue glitter-covered Margiela tabis as a fitting addition to my closet.

If I Could Buy Other Things

Agnes B. 3 Button Blazer, 1950s Taffeta Skirt, Moschino Cheap and Chic Polka Dot Sweater, Rodolphe Menudier Heels, Vintage Pony Hair Bag

Things I Wish I Bought

This blue sequined 1960s pill-box hat, this Bella Freud Sweater, a set of mother-of-pearl caviar utensils, and a pleated vintage Chanel skirt that sold for $125. Memorialized here.

Culture Strike: Art and Museums in an Age of Protest by Laura Raicovich

If I could recommend a second piece of content for your immediate consumption I’d recommend Culture Strike: Art and Museums in an Age of Protest by Laura Raicovich. This was the first book I read this year and it was shockingly enjoyable and readable. I read a lot of books published by Verso and they are not always easy to parse through. Drawing on contemporary museum scandals like the Sackler name and the absurd amount of stolen and looted artifacts, Raicovich questions how the “myth of neutrality” functions within cultural spaces and asserts that museums are inherently political spaces and in an age of protest and reckoning must be understood as such. I won’t go into more detail, just go check it out from the library.

“There is a fundamental claim of the universal museum as a neutral space, made for all, but it is not at all a neutral space despite such claims. This neutrality and universality is claimed on behalf of a white, Euro-American perspective. Under the banner of universality, neutrality hides that there was always a been a perspective, a set of biases, an exclusivity that is at its core political and has always been.” - Laura Raicovich in Culture Strike

Music

Screenshots from the Madame Hollywood Music Video

My favorite songs right now are Madame Hollywood by Felix Da Housecat, Track X by Black Country, New Road, and Друг by глум. My favorites of last year were Miracle Crush by Bar Italia and Runaway by The National.

The End.