taking a virtual reality stroll through the world’s best department store
It's like Christo wrapped my mind in dupion silk.
I’m back and I’ve been SCROLLING.
I’ve been thumbing through Instagram (lol) but also Vogue Runway, Pinterest, newsletters, magazines, The RealReal, Etsy, brand websites, brand blogs, old fashion blogs I used to love that no longer update, and not Twitter because Elon Musk succeeded in making it suck. I’ve been inspired and distracted by it all.
I haven’t spent enough time outside this winter and I’ve been trying to change my life. Those two facts are to blame for whatever unhinged writing is about to spew out of my brain to you, in a biweekly newsletter that only comes out every four months.
So… hey. 😏
My scrolling has felt like taking a virtual reality stroll through the world’s best department store. In my imagination, I try on all sorts of clothes, shoes, accessories, and the costumes of lives I may want to live.
The people watching has been great, as I stalk young Manhattan Instagram influencer-socialite types while they document their nights out to candlelit restaurants that must be, honestly, overrun by iPhone (and point-and-shoot film camera) flashes, and then their post-dinner martinis at other chic bars that definitely serve great olives, and then their photo shoots in front of brownstones before they head to their final destination and dance to DJ sets in strobe lights. I watch it all with binoculars from my Rear Window. That’s how it feels. Who even are these people? I really don’t know them.
I’m zeroing in on their outfits. Outfits that I’d probably be too scared to wear to the club anyway lest someone spill their vodka soda or worse! on them. Anyway their outfits are often SO CUTE. I literally say out loud, “Wow that’s so cute,” when I look at these posts, and then I imagine myself twirling a tortellini in a bar with dim Cara Cara orange lighting, and it’s my birthday, and they brought out a cake with those really excited candles shooting sparks everywhere, and my friend who’s the best in the group at photography takes their own flash video, and I’m smiling and everyone loves me. And none of the sparks even got on my pants!
And then I, too, want a magenta dupion silk corset. Those influencers deserve every penny that fashion brands give them. I reach for the corset and say, let me try it on!
I used to be one of those annoying people who says they don’t really watch reality TV (omg have you seen Traitors?) but is that not what this scrolling is? It’s not television, no, but it feels like a reality TV show with its lifestyle porn, and aspirational wardrobes, and excess oozing out of every Italian vacation. Morsels of drama. The knowledge that somewhere, this is someone’s real life, but also what I’m seeing isn’t a real life at all. And the advertisements! Ubiquitous, but I wouldn’t even pay for the ad-free version. The medium’s best form yet.
I’m skeptical, but still, I’ve been enjoying it. I stay in the department store on purpose (right? I do, right?) and I think there’s an exit somewhere in here. It just must be hidden, or it’s at the end of a very long T.J. Maxx-style checkout line of everything I’ve ever wanted to buy.
Here’s a list of some of the things I’ve lusted after: silk, specifically dupion silk but also softer, more buttery silk, wool, wool-silk blends, linens for summer, cottons for summer, summer, in general, large baroque pearls for my earlobes and neck but they could go on my fingers too, pointy rubber court jester boots (those ones I got!), great red wine, martinis that are mostly olive, seashells, smocking, leather, mod sunglasses, black lace skirts over hotpants, pleated trousers that are too big for me, a gigantic lace handkerchief but it’s a top (this one I got, too!), orange, cornflower blue, navy, things that dangle, things that remain close, skinny straps, and anything a fisherman might need to wear for a morning on the sea.
I’ve also realized that with great clothes comes great responsibility. As in, I have to wear them. And I haven’t really been desiring the kinds of clothes you wear cuddled up on the couch to read books… or while your obsessive imagination makes you learn everything you can about tsunamis until 1 a.m. These clothes need to be taken out for walks, and drinks, and plays. So I’ve been trying to do that, too.
I’ve been enjoying this. It’s my favorite escapist genre. But I’ve also felt incredibly distracted. My mind enjoys latching onto things and thinking about them forever and ever, almost like they’re fidget spinners for my imagination. It’s fun, a little exhausting, and not always fulfilling. If consuming is buying my favorite junk food from the pharmacy and eating it while watching YouTube, then creating is like cooking a nutritious dinner with all my favorite ingredients and sharing it with someone else. One of those activities is much easier to do. It also mimics the other one, in that I feel really happy when I eat Funyuns (don’t judge!) and then the happiness wears off and I’m like… did I really just eat Funyuns? Like a lot of Funyuns? And why am I watching this stupid video?
I’m back. I’ve been scrolling. And I should be writing. Writing, and scrolling, and strolling, and connecting, and seeing more plays. And changing my life!
Now, for some clothing talk with less morality. I present to you… my recent documented outfits.
Off to go live my life! (Watch the Traitors reunion.)
xx Francesca
Loved the Tar film also. Styling was impeccable. Loving your style and philosophy.