5 Great Things, July 2023

The most multi-functional earrings, Georgia O'Keeffe's shoe style, a shirt made with love and more. Also, happy anniversary...to us!!!

Good morning readers! As we start off this morning’s letter a note to say today marks one year of 5 Things. It’s gone so fast, no? So I just want to take a moment to thank you all for being here. From the bottom of my heart! I love this community. I love bringing you the work and I’m truly happy you are here!

For those of you we’ve picked up along the way, I started this newsletter to be a respite from the endless scrolling of the internet. To bring what is good and useful and fun and fabulous right to your inbox so you can spend your time out there wearing it instead of inside, browsing your life away.

Breaking fashion down, making it useful, making it joyful, is what makes me tick. And it has been so so sooooo wonderful connecting with so many of you over the course of the year. So before I start to let the waterworks flow onto my keyboard, I’ll get going.

This week, a (now traditional) 5 great things on my mind.

The most universal earrings

Charlotte Chesnais’ wave hoops are perfect. What can I say. They have a magic quality to them. The size is just right - not big but not so small that they are non-existent. They just kind of highlight the face. And importantly, they don’t feel like a throw away pair of hoops. They have a thoughtful design and a little heft. They feel summery in the summer and dressy in the winter. They are one of my most tried and true pieces of jewelry. Never going in the jewelry box because I need to keep them more accessible to throw on. I’ve been wearing them especially a lot lately (even though I’ve had them for four years) because my summer style is so pared back - which is why I am divulging them now. They give a plain t-shirt the little style boost it needs. Hope you love them too.

Charlotte Chesnais wave hoops. Worn with a Tod’s men’s button down and my Mason and Books Becky band.

Close up.

Even closer up! They’ve since improved the closing mechanism so yours will lock into place instead of stick out behind the ear.

Georgia O’Keeffe’s uniform shoes

My kid is of the age (and of the nature) to destroy. If it’s not nailed down in my house, its on the floor, in his hair or hiding in a rip in the sofa. But the other day, when we were supposed to be eating breakfast, he started pulling the big coffee table books off the shelf and the Georgia O’Keeffe Brooklyn Museum book fell open to this page:

Georgia’s shoes in Living Modern: Georgia O’Keeffe. This book is a great gift for fashion nerds btw.

I was like…Georgia, fashion goddess, are you sending me a message!? This is it. The summer city shoe for right now! Such a perfect pairing for all the summer too too - mesh, sparkle, prints, ripped jeans, flounced skirts, etc etc etc. The centering breath our outfits need. So I went straight to Zappos and got myself a pair. I can’t wait to wear them in like hers - perfectly sun-bleached and dusty. I am wearing a 7.5 (sock free) and am usually an 8. FYI.

Here they are with a white linen shirt and drawstring khakis. Apologies, realized after taking this one my phone was covered in sunscreen from camp drop off, woops!

Here we go, thats a brighter photo!

With an Oddobody tank (hey Oddobody, have you ever considered making t-shirts!?! we want them!), an old Khaite skirt but any pencil will do and this white pouch that we talked about in May. This one is also great and less steep (but no crossbody strap)

With a Doen girly top (sold out but this is basically the same) and the Attersee satin cocktail pants, an item I truly cannot live without.

A shirt made with so much love and care I cried when I opened it

Those of you who have been here for a while probably remember when I told you about Old Stone Trade. A company started by my friend Melissa Ventosa Martin (one of my personal style icons and one of the foremost arbiters of taste out there, sorry if that is embarrassing Melissa, but its true!). Anyway, she finds small artisan businesses that are the best in their craft and then she commissions specific designs based on their expertise and her style sensibility. It’s one of the most special places on the internet. Anyway, she recently launched a design with bespoke shirting company 100 Hands and she sent me a shirt to celebrate the collection. It was such a generous gift and it was such a beauty to unwrap and discover in person that I welled up, I’m not kidding!

Old Stone Trade x 100 Hands shirt Fresh out of the box. You don’t see a women’s shirt packaged this nicely very often. Right?!

The backstory. The company (100 Hands) was started by a husband and wife team in Amsterdam with Indian textile roots. Working in investment banking in Europe, bespoke shirting gave them their lightbulb moment. Their first customers were Savile Row tailoring shops (so you know this stuff is beyond perfectly made) and now they produce non-custom (but still made-to-order) as well. They say creating the perfect shirt requires fifty people, the name 100 Hands, referring to the number of people that touch and tune your garment before it gets to you.

For all you construction nerds out there like me. Look! At! This! For those who have no idea what I’m talking about, go look at the inside seams of your clothing. I bet they do not look this tidy, finished, hand-stitched and flat. True story: I almost majored in sewing in college. Then panicked, thought “what if sewing doesn’t work out!?” and switched to journalism. At least when I write now, I know what I’m looking for!

My initials in the collar. <3

Sure, there are a million shirts out there. But you can feel the love put into this one. The finishings are immaculate. The collar, perfectly scaled. The sides cut straight with a slit to wear untucked. The fit boxy but polished. I love clothes and get excited to put a lot of things on, but the warm and fuzzies with this one were pretty wild. And I feel SHARP.

The shirt, with a vintage Prada skirt and Chanel ballerinas

The shirt, with The Row pants and shoes. Great pant alt here. And not no to these shoes? LOL. I’m only slightly kidding. But also these.

The shirt, with a tank you will read about below, Levi’s jeans and the Tod’s sandals from our first Five Great Things newsletter one year ago.

This handwritten note. And this stationery. Sobs. Totally copying this embossing style.

A retro catchall

Collecting ourselves here and moving on. Something about a nylon tote - especially in a funny color - feels like summer to me. When it’s too sweaty out for a leather laptop tote. Or I need to bring six changes of clothes for my kid to our three hour adventure to the botanical garden. I like a tote that feels a little old. And a color that feels a little off. It’s an easy way to make your same old outfit feel a little less same old. These both feel like they would throw off an outfit, in the best way. Very, “oh I just found this in my parent’s garage and threw all my stuff in it.” No fuss if it gets wet or sunscreen-y. The ease of not having to match that only summer can bring. These two are both IN. MY. CART!

LL Bean nylon tote. Yea yea we all love the boat tote. But sometimes you need something a little more malleable.

LeSport Sac book tote. This brand is due for a comeback, am I right!? You heard it here first people. Love the funny color way of this one. It also comes in solid black which is pretty chic if you want to use into the fall/winter.

The world’s most luxurious tank top

You think I’m exaggerating. But I’m not. This is your tank top for when you want the tank top to be the look. I mean, it’s a black diamond level layer too. But she is a very special cami. Really, all of the Frances de Lourdes camis/tanks are magical, I just like the play on the grey (not sheer) sportiness with the slim strap on this one in particular. The white with black trim, also a great one!

Just please please please do not put in the dryer. She is part cotton, part cashmere. LEARN FROM MY MISTAKE! NOOOOOOOOOOO! Machine wash (or hand wash) on gentle cycle and lay flat to dry.

The tank, with Maria McManus pants and Prada slingbacks I sleuthed on The RealReal. These and these are similarly great.

The tank, with an APC skirt from this newsletter and Leandra’s new Cayumas collaboration slippers.

The tank, layered under a Maria McManus shirt worn as “summer jacket”, Agolde shorts, intentionally bought a size too big and Worishofers.

Love to you all. And happy anniversary to us!!!!!!!

Yours TRULY,

Becky

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