June 3, 2021

I’m from the east coast, but visits to California always feel like a homecoming, especially this last one. Before a hilariously long Uber road trip down to Orange County to stay with my sister who’s on the brink of having her first baby, I caught up with some LA peeps: soul sisters, best friends, and former neighbors, over delicious meals al fresco, coffee hangs, and walks through hilly neighborhoods. I came home feeling full and whole in more ways than I could have imagined.   

It’s always interesting to check in on siblings in their own habitats, versus the childhood home we grew up in; I learned how similar my sister and I are in our feelings towards Instagram, our compulsions to organize literally everything, our distaste for Valentino’s grossly popular Rockstud collection, and our mutual affection for ribbed knits. And of course, deeper things, including ways we view the world. I saw how we differ too, but this time with real curiosity and wonder, and in turn, acceptance and pride. The more I learn about my siblings and who we’ve each become (and how we continue to change), the more I learn about myself. Likewise, I keep wondering:  Is it that the more accepting and loving you are of yourself, the more accepting and loving you can be towards others? Or vice versa: to love and accept others is to love and accept yourself?  What would mom say?

1.

Many of us are psyched to slam the door on Covid and get back to living our lives—with ebullience—including the fashion industry. A recent story in the WSJ celebrated “joy dressing” and this upcoming fashion show season already seems poised to be one exuberant affair. But what lessons from the last year will designers and the industry at large take into account? The Met Gala, for example, is scheduled for September 13, butting up against the culmination of NYFW. Will that caliber of event (aka the “Oscars of fashion”) put a strain on designers and their teams, working tirelessly as it is to get their collections on the runway? And how glam do the optics of $25k-plus tickets (nearly 18 times the average stimulus check amount) actually look in this current economic climate? 

2.

It’s Pride Month, and LEGO wants you to know that everyone is awesome.

3.

Not something you’d ever expect to see here…but then again, not something you’d ever expect to see in hockey. While watching the Bruins game this weekend, my sister and her husband informed me of player Brad Marchand’s strategy for throwing off his opponents: with the flick of a tongue. 

4.

Speaking of sports, Naomi Osaka’s decision to step back from the French Open wasn’t just a remarkable act of self-possession and honesty about mental health. As this great op-ed piece argues, it was the ultimate power play against an exploitive system that doesn’t always act in the players’ best interests—far from it, in fact. 

5.

My favorite local appetizing shop Russ & Daughters just got one heck of a menschwear model in Jake Gyllenhaal. Proceeds from beloved institution’s recent collaboration with Gyllenhaal on this black-on-black “Lox” hoodie will go towards the Actors Fund and the support of theater workers still affected by the pandemic. (I have more puns, but I’ll quit here.) 

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