What it's like being a girl in June
Donuts, fashion music, 2002 Prada, and Susan Cianciolo's RUN Collection.
‘Tis the season of that girl you barely know posting a carousel of photos captioned “finally summer” with a cherry or watermelon emoji next to it. And the cooler version of that girl posting the same exact photos, but with no caption to seem blithe.
Right now, the scent of Alison Roman’s biscuits are wafting into the living room where I’m writing this. The smell is a cross between heaven and Christmas. I can’t wait to enjoy them in the morning with some jam. I must apologize for my brief hiatus that probably no one except me noticed. I was on three sets last week and had no time to write about anything at all. I missed you. I love writing this newsletter, though she is young, I have great expectations for Miss Sandwich.
Yesterday, I stumbled into the LA Grocery & Café soft opening on my way back home from Venice. A new grocer on Melrose by Wilton. The aisles are stocked with niche pantry goods and the middle of the floor holds a roundabout produce section. I’m excited to venture here and not spend all my money on a bag of coffee beans for $36 at Cookbook, which has a smaller selection than this. They had sunflowers for sale, a perfect opening to June in LA.
On Saturday night, Devon and I dressed up for Emily Furgueson’s new show: It Girl at Nicodim Gallery downtown. I wore Prada from 2002 that I got on the Real Real for 85% off (luck of the Irish) and a MNZ skirt with Prada kitten heels. Devon wore an Iko Iko skirt (a sadly discontinued design from Kristin) which suits her so perfectly, a ripped up vintage tee, and beige YSL on her feet. Devon and I shot Emily in her studio earlier this year. It was a wonderful cold February day and the gathering of women in an art studio bonded us in a special way. The show was beautiful. I love Emily’s work, and this show was especially feminine. A portrait of Carrie Bradshaw, Joni Mitchell, and a few nods to Margiela. One of his infamous glove top titled Warm Leatherette and another of some tabis titled Rocks Off. There’s a black glove top on sale here and a white one on sale here. Who is behind that Depop account? I need to know. Below is my favorite piece from the show.
Since writing about the Chateau I have become the local correspondent:
It was mortifying walking into a coffee shop in disposable flip flops, fresh from a pedicure, only to run smack into a work client. I walked fully down La Brea from my far away meter essentially barefoot; I felt totally like a woman. My teal green nails are the talk of the town. I was inspired by a Prada green which I’ve had in my head, though I’m not sure if it's Prada or something else. I looked at the recent collections and can’t find this color in any of the garments or accessories. I swear it was from a recent collection, but all I could find is Look 19 from Fall 2013. Since Substack cropped the image, Kristin Owen is wearing this look. Not surprising, I gravitate towards anything she touches.
I spent a lot of time on set this week, only to top it off at Milk Studios, truly the resort of all the studios in LA. A favorite to many. I have heard that the desk in the EQ room exists as a type of concierge service. Allegedly, they will give you anything you ask for, including drugs. Obviously this would also depend on who you are. I don’t know this as fact, I just say what I’ve heard and love rumors. Here’s a playlist I started of the best music to listen to while on set.
This and this song in particular aren’t on there, but are what I like to call Fashion Music, which is defined by: would be played at RIP Spring Studios Mercedes Benz Fashion Week Bryant Park edition in 2007. Also, especially, and I cannot emphasize this enough, this. A lot of the time on sets, playlists rotate between Channel Orange and Kendrick Lamar albums with a smidge of The Smiths mixed in for flavor (but not the good Smiths, just How Soon Is Now?), and it makes me want to pull my hair out. Thank you Lord for NTS. Milk Studios was having a party the night that I was shooting there and they were prepping for it that afternoon. Leaving the calm of Studio 4 into a full on rave in the courtyard while the DJ “warmed up”. Here’s a meme that my friend Andrew made who attended the party and said it was “exactly what you’d expect” when I asked for a report.
The May gray has now turned into June gloom. It starts to clear up around 3pm which is just not enough sunlight for me, personally. Half of my friends have left LA. For a sunshine substitute, we drove to Bub’s and Grandma’s in Eagle Rock (another country) for a strawberry donut. The most pillowy donut in LA. We also love Bob’s Donuts at the Grove, but I love going there in the fall and winter time. Something about it feels cozier when I’m buying caviar from Monsieur Marcel on the same trip.
I was sad to have missed Susan Cianciolo’s newest show Light Workers at Bridget Donahue last Friday for her RUN 15 collection which Anna Santangelo and her team assisted in the creation of. All of the garments are handmade. This quote from Art Forum in 2016 still holds, “Cianciolo’s clothes were handmade for particular individuals, designed, assembled, and adorned in a process that pooled various types of knowledge, techniques, skills, and non-skills, in a punk-constructivist reimagining of the production line: couture as collective improvisation.” The girls of SC103, Coco Gordon Moore, Iman Dabbous, and a few other downtown hotties walked the show. This quote from stylist Camilla Nickerson perfectly describes Susan, “I felt I was scratching the surface and she was living and breathing it. She was quite aligned to the times; Margiela’s influence was still being felt.”
Last year an auction was run by Liz Goldwyn, a former muse of Cianciolo, selling a bulk of the RUN pieces she had collected from over the years. Everything Susan has made is extremely rare, a true 1/1. The auction site is no longer active, as I’m assuming everything sold. You can’t read much about RUN online, and there’s only a few articles about Susan’s work. Goldwyn says, “her work represents something more ephemeral than the big names: the subversive bygone era of New York’s 1990s creative scene, before fashion was hyper-commercialized.”
It’s no wonder the entire auction sold. Of course, anyone would want to buy something that represents a time when fashion was less about constantly consuming. Isn’t that why we’re all buying vintage now? It’s a funny paradox, we want something to make us feel nostalgic, but we continue to constantly consume. Living in a post-Covid world, we’re all permanently online, our phones practically another limb at this point. Vintage stores have suddenly appeared everywhere, Depop girlies are taking over (I don’t partake), and clothes are being sold off racks on the street. Your favorite influencer’s best The Real Real picks are behind a paywall. All this just to say: this is mine, you can’t have it, it’s one of a kind, better luck next time. The gate keeping world is alive and well– it exists in niche brands like Susan’s, and on a bigger scale, the entire vintage clothing resale system.
Kaitlin Philips posted a screengrab of the new and highly anticipated (by me) Didion Babiz by Lili Anolik, which won't be available until November. That’s forever for a girl like me, loves Joan but is partial to Babitz. If you know how I can get a galley, please contact me. It’s for research. The blurb for the novel reads “Joan Didion is revealed at last” and “Eve Babitz, goddaughter of Igor Stravinsky, nude of Marcel Duchamp, consort of Jim Morrison (among many, many others), a woman who burned so hot she finally almost burned herself alive.” OK, but if Eve didn’t have “many many” other consorts, she wouldn’t have had such great stories to tell. Nothing wrong with many consorts…
The blurb Kaitlin posted on stories is below:
“They were both heavy, heavy drinkers,” said Bret Easton Ellis. “The last time I saw them was at a dinner at Elio’s [New York restaurant], and Joan was just asking the waiter for a large glass of vodka, no ice.”
I can’t wait to see you next week, and to tell you everything forever. Until then!
We all must know the nail polish color! Love!
I haven’t written since I was in high school, and this makes me want to write again, I love this Grace🎀