July Outfit Diary!

For a languorous summer night dinner at Village Sake

Wearing: vintage Victoria’s Secret silk slip, Margaux Ada pumps, Loren Stewart chain (kindly gifted) with vintage gold candy charm, vintage Miu Miu ponyhair bag. Magenta slip dress and pink dog leash had me feeling a little Elle Woods.

I’m always excited to eat at Village Sake, it’s such a treat. The melt-in-your-mouth pork belly skewers will awaken your deepest carnivorous impulses. Like omg this is the true meaning of life…to eat a lump of caramelized fatty meat on a stick!!!! Also, my cup of “Otter Festival” sake was so clear and fragrant—next time I might buy a bottle to take home.

For refilling on prescription dog food

Wearing: Loren Stewart chains (long and short) with vintage slipper charm from Florence, Cou Cou Iris slip, Hai ballet flats, vintage Coach bag. I freaking love this cotton slip, and also have it in black. Easiest dress for when you want to be casual and comfy.

Mags has gone through a lot in the past few weeks. It’s been tough. Long story short, age is starting to really catch up to her and our daily routine begins and ends with handling pee pads. The bright side is that we are having good results on a JustFoods formula that we supplement with boiled cod filets and homemade smashed garnet yams. If you have a picky poodle you know what a feat it is to find a safe food they actually like. A few people suggested I read Alicia Kennedy’s recent WIRED story about the rise in people making home-cooked dog food, I thought it was an interesting and relatable article.

For a City Hall wedding & Chinese banquet dinner

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The brand comes up often in the chat, usually related to a question about cute-but-functional footwear and non-conventional bridal outfits.

Cecilie Bahnsen usually gets lumped in aesthetically with other designers who make unapologetically voluminous frilly, tulle-y, ruffle-y confectionwear—like Simone Rocha, Sandy Liang, and Molly Goddard.

But what differentiates the brand from its peers, in my opinion, is that it is consistently the gorpiest of its frou frou fusion genre. They’re not afraid of working with the REI-est puffer jackets and fleece zips; past collabs include ASICS, North Face, and Suicoke. And yeah, I know Sandy Liang has worked with Salomon, but her brand identity feels a little more fluid, more commercial (not a bad thing). Cecilie Bahnsen feels more conceptually specific.

And being from the Bay Area, I suppose I’m primed to love her stuff because gorp is one of our dominant sartorial languages. This past spring, I was looking at photos of the FW26 collection and was bewitched by this look:

I mean, this woman is deeply familiar.

Beyond the obvious ballet styling, I recognize her as your garden variety outdoorsy Bay Area girl. I could find her at Dogpatch Boulders or Tilden Park or eating a burrito on the beach in a well-worn Patagonia fleece. That’s the genius of Cecilie Bahnsen: taking the most pedestrian and relatable building blocks in a Bay Area wardrobe and embellishing them with pink organza frippery. No wonder me and my friends drool over everything she makes!

I present: how to dress like a Cecilie Bahnsen girl, through mostly secondhand pieces. We are going to focus on these four FW26 looks.

Paid readers get access to all four look breakdowns, plus links to 20 secondhand pieces under $200 that belong in the Cecilie Bahnsen universe.

Look 1

Starting with the most “me” look, because I love wearing green and pink, and I love visible blush. How I’d recreate this outfit through mostly secondhand pieces:

• You probably already have a fleece like this. Or your dad has one you can steal next time you visit home. If you care to color match, I’ve come across some celeraic beauties from secondhand L.L. Bean.

• Ok I’m gonna venture and say most of us like the tutu mini in theory but not so much for realistic street wear. Ignore me if I’m wrong. But a wearable solution to this is layering a pink ballet-style wrap miniskirt over white silk pj shorts.

• Legwear: tbh pink tights and gray legwarmers with the shorts AND the skirt feel overstimulating to me. I’d just do gray merino knee socks and nix the tights.

• Finish with a bedazzled sport pack, like this crunchy little pink Keen! Buy these sheer floral appliques and make a craft day out of the weekend.

• The shoes look a lot like the silver Onitsuka Tiger Mexico 66’s, but might I suggest the mary jane ballet flat version.

• Finish with extra rosy cheeks. I would use my “Bright Watermelon” shade from Saie.

Look 2

This stood out as a favorite because I love a gray knit with sheer pink element. There is a softness to this combination. Here’s what the under-layer looks like:

Outside of the secondhand pieces I’d source for the outfit, I also found a dead ringer for the base layer tank top/leotard and a pair of pink metallic sporty shoes that are now on my wishlist:

**Below the fold: three reverse-engineered look breakdowns, plus 20 secondhand pieces to shop under $200.

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Hi! Welcome to the first installment of Mole Digs.

This is the new home organization/interior design vertical of the Molehill. The impetus came from my most common reader request: can we get a closet tour?!

My answer has always been that I want to!!!…but I’m actually not a very organized person. My passion is acquiring and styling vintage clothes. But hanging them up and folding them? Ughhhhhhhhhhh. I revert into a teenager, all eye-rolls and exasperated mutters.

So for most of my adult life, my organization “method” looks like this: I wait until I’m completely overstimulated by my clothing piles and loose heels jangling around in storage bins. Once I’m fed up with my mess, I lock in and rage clean.

This summer, however, I was bit by the closet organization bug. There was no particular reason, I think it slowly built up over time. I had saved a bunch of inspo from Pinterest and decided, why not tackle something super doable? Like, start with one project that is low-lift, low-cost, and does not require a drill—though, we can explore that down the line.

At the age of 31, I’ve come to accept that some habits are fully baked in forever. Being a little cluttered is a part of my personality, and I’m not looking to change who I am.

I’d even venture to say that all the truest vintage aficionados have a special relationship with mess; we understand it can be alchemized into something beautiful, rather than something to be “fixed.” It’s the reason why we’re so good at rummaging through racks of old clothes and seeing potential in the things others might overlook.

Mole Digs is not about the pursuit of a pristine home or a 20-piece capsule wardrobe on a Japandi birch rack. It’s about the journey of applying creative and resourceful approaches to design and organization, for the person whose Everything Chair runneth over with $70 vintage Coach bags with a busted zipper and faded Levi’s with a raw hem you cut yourself. And tufts on pet hair on everything.

For the inaugural post, I wanted to tackle SHOES.

Shoes are just so damn easy to accumulate, especially when you are a fiend for vintage heels. You know what I’m talking about. Once you fall down one designer rabbit hole—Jimmy Choo, Manolo Blahnik, Moschino, yada yada—well, those shoes never come into your home as only children for long. You end up with a whole litter.

My obsession is 90s/2000s Prada and Miu Miu shoes. They’re not shoes I reach for everyday, most of them are heels or mules or something delicate and impractical for daily wear. I’ve never had a great storage solution for them…here’s what I’ve tried and the specific gripe I had:

• Displayed loose on a shoe rack. Love showing them off and looking at them, but they collected dust and older styles were prone to damage from fluctuating moisture levels or color fading from sun exposure.

• Stowed in boxes. Stacked in a corner of my closet that was out of sight out of mind. I’d forget I owned them, or forget where they were.

That’s why I was so convinced by this shoe storage system I found on Pinterest.

The general concept is to store your shoe collection like an archive. The shoes live in their boxes (to protect against wear and damage), and they are visually labeled with grainy Polaroid shots taped to the front. This way, you know exactly what’s inside each box, and you get to enjoy a photo of the shoe.

It also got me thinking about a recent visit to the GAP HQ archive this summer, where old magazines and catalogs were stowed in archival-grade boxes and handled with white gloves. While my philosophy is that a closet should be alive and used, rather than treated as a precious museum, I think we can borrow some of the organizational methods of archives to our everyday wardrobes. Stuff like handwritten labels, ample shelving, chronologically ordered materials.

Over the weekend, I managed to catalog and store ~20 pairs of shoes using this system. Here’s how I did it, and all the creative design tips I learned along the way.

Supply List:

• Fujifilm Instax Camera (or something similar that instantly develops the photo)

• Double-sided tape

• Nice shoeboxes (I mean, any shoebox will work, but I do think that you’ll be happier with the look and feel of a well-constructed box over a flimsy one).

That’s it! For me, the biggest cost was the film for the camera.

Shoot the shoes on colored backgrounds.

At first, I did some test shots with the shoes on the hardwood floor or with a white wall as the background. That’s fine, but as a color-lover, things got way more fun when I started using bright shopping bags under the shoes for some chromatic contrast.

This is especially true for white shoes, like these 1999 Miu Miu floral mesh mules.

For shoes with a distinct side profile, do a horizontal single shoe shot.

Here are my Simon Miller platform bubble sole clogs in Marge Simpson blue. These are such a pandemic era fashion item to me. They are not timeless and I love that. I forgot I had these, and this organization process reminded me I ought to wear them while my ankles are still relatively stable. One wobble and it’s over…

An effective photo is simply one where you can identify the shoe. Maybe you don’t need the whole shoe in frame, just a sliver, or a cleft…

Like my Margiela Tabis. All you need is the toe slit in frame.

Play with photo orientation and negative space on the shoebox.

Mix up the way you place the photo on the shoebox. Sometimes it looks better in the middle (and the white trim pops against a dark colored box). There’s no Dewey Decimal system here, you can do whatever you want.

Other times, it feels more natural to have it tucked in a corner. When you zoom out, it’s these little irregularities that give it charm and make it feel personal to you.

Organize your stacks by shoe box size.

I learned a lot about standard shoebox sizes when I started stacking them in my open shelving unit. Obviously the lines don’t have to perfectly match up, but it does require some Tetris to make sure the stacks are stable and stand on their own.

Include sentimental notes and memories about the shoes inside its box.

Store handwritten notes inside with stories about these shoes: how they came into your life, where you wore them, were they a depressive episode retail therapy purchase you never actually wore, were they a present from someone you love or hate!!

If you decide to try this system out yourself, I’d love to see your process + final results photos in the chat :) It gives me such a dopamine hit.

Paid readers get full access to more stories like this for $60/year, or $1.15/week. Upgrade today to unlock the full archive of 350+ posts.

xo viv

Thanks for being here. You can find me on IG and TT. My wardrobe recs and latest finds are saved here—unless it’s vintage, of course ;) I may earn commission on purchases made through affiliate links.

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‘Tis the season for Bay Areans to pack a swimsuit and Vibram sole shoes, hop in the car, and head to any one of the picturesque coastal towns within a 3 hour drive. There’s Point Reyes, Sea Ranch, Half Moon Bay, Carmel, Monterey, Bodega Bay, just to name a few…

This month, we spent a weekend in Mendocino—a town I adore because it always feels like the day before Halloween, no matter what time of year it is. The fact that it was planned to be the original filming location for ‘Practical Magic’ probably has something to do with it.

Below: the anatomy of a California coastal town weekend trip. What makes it special and memorable, in no particular order 💕

The wind is a paid actor so dress accordingly.

A coastal town is always going to be windy, so lean into it with fabric that billows and ripples. For me the answer is light, airy cotton separates (when the temps permit—you’ll need a sweater at night).

I wore the Cou Cou Iris tank (worn backwards here actually!) with a floral corsage pin and the Emma Rothkopf pintuck skirt for walks in the grassy fields along the beach. This is not an outfit I would gravitate to as much at home—it’s what the coast/”countryside” brings out in me. Shapes get more flowy, prints get more sweet and delicate.

The first bite of roadside burger.

Growing up, when my family would make the drive from the Bay to LA, I witnessed two very different road trip philosophies from my parents. My mom was all about logistical efficiency and ran our Honda Odyssey like the navy. She would buy sacks of bulk size Cuties and pastry trays from Costco as sustenance for me and my siblings.

My dad, however, was all about stopping for little treats. Sometimes he’d randomly peel off an exit and we’d be like wait what’s going on and he would mutter something about a Starbucks frappuccino. I loved tagging along and picking out my own drink. And we never missed the Kettleman City In N Out. Those burger stops are sooooo nostalgic to me. It’s not a road trip if the car doesn’t smell like french fry oil.

For the drive up to Mendocino, I love stopping at Jumbo’s Win Win. It feels like a retro diner.

The bathrooms are also very distinct. The soap is dill pickle scented and there are funky illustrated tiles on the walls. You MUST order the apple hand pie. It’s sooooo warm and buttery and cinnamon-y.

Ruminating by the ocean in a Big Little Lies sweater.

Drumroll…the view we came all this way for.

Stunning! Makes me think of accidental manslaughter and small town scandal. I start humming “Cold Little Heart” under my breath.

It’s chilly, so you need a layer. Ideally, a Big Little Lies sweater. Which is just any piece of knitwear that harnesses the spirit of a Monterey Five Woman. Gazing into the horizon with her arms folded across a cardigan, globular wine glass in hand if you’re on a balcony.

Exhibit A: the bohemian variety in wool-y cable knits and silver jewelry—

Exhibit B: the rich divorcee variety in cashmere and pearls—

My version of a Big Little Lies sweater is white cotton rollneck sweater. I am really particularly about the neckline—I don’t like a mockneck knit, it has to be a boatneck but not too wide.

This sweater is three years old now and still comes with me on every oceanside trip. It’s from Erica Tanov. Exact one here on Poshmark for $215. Here’s a black version on eBay for $90 OBO.

The brand’s knitwear is similar to Lauren Manoogian, but I find the proportions better suited for shorter people, i.e. sleeve and torso length. Other places I’d shop for a Big Little Lies sweater:

• Eileen Fisher on ThredUp or on Poshmark for best prices

• Nikki Chasin

Tucking into a bowl of clam chowder.

Everyone has their favorite coastal seafood dish. For some, it’s lobster rolls or fish n chips or a pearly Hog Island sweetwater oyster. All of those things are great. But my favorite is CLAM CHOWDER.

This was at the MacCallum House restaurant, which was my favorite meal of the trip. Seasonally-driven menu, feels like Chez Panisse with a little more creativity in the dishes. Sitting on the porch of a white seaside Victorian also feels very Practical Magic :)

The look and feel of small town shops.

The charm of these tiny “downtown” areas is that all the stores are sort of kitschy and rustic. I was getting so much design inspo from the shop signs and decor.

Submerging in a body of water (hot tubs count).

This hot tub at our inn was nothing fancy, but my stress melted away after a soak. Hot water is amazing for the bones. I stared up at the tree and tried to think about nothing.

Had I not been so relaxed and in the present, I would have totally missed this sweet little banana slug hanging out by the hot tub ledge. I posted a photo of her on my Instagram story and someone said the funniest thing—they thought it was “a tamal with microgreens.”

Golden hour stroll where everything reminds me of dessert.

Like this Dr. Suess topiary that is curiously shaped like a soft serve swirl.

Or the cotton candy hues of the sky. The light feel more pink in person than in the photo.

This looked like a trio scoop of ice cream that would be marketed as “hojicha neapolitan” or whatever.

xo viv

Thanks for being here. You can find me on IG and TT. My wardrobe recs and latest finds are saved here—unless it’s vintage, of course ;) I may earn commission on purchases made through affiliate links above the paywall.

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My poodle’s chronic tummy issues have been flaring up, so my life currently revolves around her eating/medication schedule and boiling filets of cod. I can’t get the fish smell out of my fingers. I’m gonna try for a solo date this week (lunch + something nature-y) to stave off the pet caregiver burnout. Would love your recs <3

Today’s newsletter is the final installment in my Italy travel coverage this summer. You catch up on the Rome and Tuscany guides here :)

This guide includes:

• A recap of the Gucci Museum

• Four vintage shops I loved, and what I bought at each one

• A curation of vintage/secondhand jewelry pieces inspired by my Italian finds

Palazzo Gucci

I enjoyed this more than the Uffizi Gallery. A must-see for anyone with an interest in fashion!!! It’s part archive, part experiential exhibit, part store. And if you’re going there during the summer, the cocktail of AC and whatever Gucci fragrance they spray in there is incredibly refreshing.

As someone who doesn’t have the deepest knowledge of Gucci’s history beyond the Jackie bag and some Tom Ford era prints, I thought the exhibits were educational in a super engaging way.

VINTAGE STORES

1. La Botteghina di Serenella Rossi

A tiny jewelry store with vintage and antique pieces hand-selected by the woman who owns it. The doorway is this pretty stone arch with the warm glow of yellow and green lights from inside—you can’t help but wander in like a moth…

The selection was great—glimmering gold treasures and radiant costume jewelry pieces—but don’t expect bargain prices.

I would say that vintage shopping in any major city with a tourist economy is going to be more expensive than on online secondhand platforms. There were so many unique pieces that I ooo’d and ahhhh’d over, and I got a little anxious thinking about how much I had already spent in Rome. Tbh, that’s on me for underestimating how fruitful the vintage shopping in Florence would be…

I had 10-15 pieces placed on a velvet tray to “think about,” but ultimately I narrowed it down to the pieces I loved most/felt that I could not easily find a substitute for online.

The first was this bronze fish on a cord chain with links. I think bronze is good for playing with bigger, bolder, more experimental jewelry styles that would be cost-prohibitive with gold. The chain is super long, and it looks best worn over a long tunic or flowy dress.

And I just couldn’t leave this one behind— an 18K gold slipper with a tiny diamond. So delicate and pretty, but weighty for its size.

After I made my purchases and the shop owner packed them in velvet pouches for me, I tucked them into the most secure inner pocket of my bag as I walked back to the hotel, smiling like I had a secret.

Beyond the paywall: more vintage stores I loved, what I bought, and secondhand vintage jewelry to shop.

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Here’s what I wish someone had told me when I made the career leap to self-employed fashion writer: you need a proper closet system, perhaps even more than you need an office.

I can write from my desk, kitchen table, or my bed (I love writing in bed).

But there is no substitute to having a functional closet. Let me explain what I mean by that.

Legacy publications famously have epic closets in their offices, where all the clothes are stored, inventoried, and pulled for shoots. And if you think of fashion newsletters as mini-magazines, well, it makes sense that the writers are spending a lot of time in their closets. Hanging, folding, ironing, steaming, tailoring, styling, photographing, etc. If I am producing a lookbook-style newsletter, I might change outfits 10-20 times in a day. And if I have successfully concocted outfits that meet my creative standards, it also means I have a mountain of clothes to re-organize. A task I loathe.

For this reason, my closet is always in some state of disarray. I’d love an organized magazine-level closet, something that looks like a vintage boutique—but to be honest, I have never been able to form the habits required to achieve that. It’s just not in my nature.

I’ll toss clothes on my Everything Chair until the pile starts looking like a Buffalo Exchange intake bin, and it gets so overstimulating to look at that I cave and drag out the hangers.

Lately I’ve been trying to form better habits. For example, one task I do find rewarding is organizing all my silk dresses. They are the most cherished section of my wardrobe, and I love seeing them hanging in rainbow order.

My silk dress collection is my pride and joy. It’s mostly vintage and/or secondhand, and I’d estimate that 30% of them are in the green color family.

My method for building this collection is pretty straightforward…I’m basically always looking online and have dozens of keyword search saves.

The rest of today’s newsletter is a curation of 40 secondhand silk pieces to shop, all pulled from my brand name/search term saves (a handy list is included at the end).

Note: the secondhand sonar drops will now live in newsletters like this one moving forward, instead of the google doc link I previously used. This is because lots of readers have asked for the option to view an archive of secondhand listings I’ve linked after they’ve sold for inspo/reference—and keeping it all in the newsletter archive feels like the most user-friendly way to do this!

Here’s a sneak peek of what’s below—everything is under $200. I’m currently drawn to cotton candy colors, romantic silhouettes, and precise pleating details.

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Summer in San Francisco does not reveal itself through the weather.

Our region is famously temperate. While the rest of the country is sweating through a heat wave, it was a mild 67 degrees here today. Breezy and blue-skied. It never gets that hot or that cold.

A July day can look like a September day can look like a March day. This is both a pro and a con, depending on your need for distinct seasons. Some people can’t stand the sameness, the mildness—it can feel too easy, like a beautiful summer day isn’t truly earned without having suffered through a bitter winter. I get that.

But personally, I looove living through the seasons on easy mode. It’s a gift to be able to wear a light sweater almost year-round; the Bay Area climate has taught me everything I know about layering! I’ve also come to really appreciate the subtlety of the seasons—it forces you to pay attention to little sensory details.

So, where does one find summer in San Francisco?

It’s revealed in flavors: the silky corn triangoli at Cotogna, the bright watermelon spritz and cool tofu at Joodooboo, a juicy Frog Hollow Farms peach with a single green leaf still attached to the stem.

It’s revealed in car rides: whether it’s a day trip along the coast or a nighttime joyride after the city gets dark, there is something distinct about experiencing the season through a car. So many of my memories of summer growing up are through the window of my parents’ Honda Odyssey, peering down at the blue crush of the Pacific Ocean.

And it’s revealed in park life: school is out so the kids are sitting in a circle with their Yi Fang bobas, office workers are playing hooky, lawns are dotted with picnic blanket squares.

If you live in a “seasonless” city, I’d love to hear what makes you feel like it’s summer :)

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End of season sales I’m browsing:

• Sandy Liang—up to 50% off. Notable pieces: the “Fava” mismatched bean earrings and offbeat bridal dresses.

• Freda Salvador—up to 40%. I love how breathable the woven Jada flat is. My color pick would be the metallic mint green, they remind me of these from Simone Rocha.

• Margaux—up to 50% off. I can attest to the comfort and walkability of the Ada pumps, they passed my 10K step test. Note on sizing though: I am normally a 6.5 in most shoes, but since Margaux offers wide widths (yay) I tried on a 6.5W and my heel was popping out the back. The 6W, however, was perfect. So I recommend sizing down by a half size if you’re going for the wide fit.

• Loren Stewart—archive sale and 20% off full-price pieces with code SUMMER20. I’m a sucker for peridot, so my picks are the teardrop pendant, this grape-like amulet pendant, and the mini gem signet.

• East Fork—30% off imperfect seconds. When it comes to dinnerware, I shop by color. Imagine a scoop of Straus strawberry ice cream in this pink bowl, or fresh squeezed orange juice in a stout robin’s egg blue cup…

• Rachel Comey—up to 60% off. A designer I consistently recommend to friends who want to dress like art professors. Here’s a cool wedding guest dress, and I love these disc charm flats.

Coming next week for paid readers: the vintage lover’s guide to Florence + a secondhand silk roundup to shop.

xo viv

Thanks for being here. You can find me on IG and TT. My wardrobe recs and latest finds are saved here—unless it’s vintage, of course ;) I may earn commission on purchases made through affiliate links.

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Happy Friday!

Did any lucky ducks actually manage to snag Daisy Chain Fields presale tickets?! I never made it out of the waiting room…

If you’re an editor who wants to send me there on a press pass to cover concert style, let’s get in touch! vivthemole@gmail.com 🌼

This newsletter contains partial sponsored mentions from Sezane and Tuckernuck.

1). Taking the ferry into the city.

The ferry is such an underrated way to get from the East Bay to the city. It’s like the business class equivalent of crossing the bay—comfy seats, laptop desk space, even a minibar. I’ll concede that it is less convenient for a commuter maximizing for time efficiency (getting to the Richmond or Alameda terminals is kind of annoying, and it does not run as often as BART).

But it’s so damn comfortable. Instead of trying to get from Point A to Point B as quickly as possible, I actually savor the ride. For one, the views are gorgeous. I love the gentle wobble as we go anchors up, the feeling of ripping through the water, the crisp Pacific breeze out on the deck. It’s giving seaside cure commute.

In June, I took the ferry into the city twice to plan out a perfect SF summer day itinerary (newsletter coming soon). Once with Maggi in tow too, because they allow dogs in carriers. I plan to do more ferry day trips this summer—including the transfer route to Sausalito AKA we have the Amalfi Coast at home.

2). Printed bikini tops under a sheer tunic.

You guys helped me convince me to buy this vintage pool blue YSL silk tunic blouse in Florence!! So thank you. I’ve played with sheer dressing for quite a while, with mixed results…and my conclusion is that you really just have to play with combinations of prints, colors, and levels of opacity to get it right.

I was thrilled with this combination: a brown zebra print Sezane x Yse bikini top under medium-sheer blue silk. It’s see-through enough to look intentional, but not so much that it feels totally out of place in the city. I’ve had good experiences with the Sezane x Yse swim collab pieces; Yse is a swimwear brand so the construction delivers. Here’s a cute gingham one-piece and another with leopard print and a plunging low back. I find that the compression level is on par with the Left on Friday suits.

Here’s a trick I only learned this year: if you don’t like the sensation of a halter string bikini (it gives me neck pain after 30 minutes), you can tie the strings so it’s like a DIY spaghetti strap! The lines don’t look quite as “clean” from the back, but I don’t care. The point of a string bikini is idgaf, live laugh beach energy.

And here’s my longer swimsuit roundup from earlier this year, inspired by what people were wearing at Good Hot bayside sauna.

3). The beautiful cycle that is hosting and being hosted.

Katie Hintz-Zambrano is one of the Bay Area’s great connectors. We ran into each other at GAP HQ the other week and she was like, hey I’m co-hosting this dinner next week with a bunch of cool creative women, you should come! A few days later, I got more info about the event—it was in collaboration with a salsa macha brand called Showoff, founded by Oakland-based .

It didn’t feel like a typical “brand event” (positive). It felt way more intimate and personal. Margarita welcomed us into her beautiful home tucked in the Oakland Hills, and as we helped ferry plates of glimmering aguachile and airy Tartine sourdough from the kitchen to the long table under the towering redwoods, the contagion of hosting bit me. There is something about experiencing hospitality that makes you want to pass it on.

So, the following week, I had friends over for a dinner party. Our chicken and salad spread was modest, but K baked a fresh loaf of homemade bread and I made a whipped ricotta with cherries dish inspired by Margarita’s menu <3

5). Dyed silk everything.

I wore this outfit to Pickwick Vintage. The orange silk dress is vintage, from eBay, and the silk corsage is from sssilk666 (Olivia Rodrigo wore the exact same one on stage with Robert Smith!).

The rich colors are everything. I think this outfit would read so different if it were cream/light pink/baby blue/the standard colors that vintage silk slips tend to come in. The bright orange makes it feel more contemporary and less lingerie-esque.

6). Southeast Asian food.

Summer makes me crave Southeast Asian food. The spices and lime and fish sauce flavors hit soooo hard with a cold drink.

Two places that I thoroughly enjoyed:

• Lunette: a Cambodian spot in the Ferry Building I’ve been meaning to try for a long time but it’s always crowded during peak lunch/dinner. My friend and I went after Pickwick and were gleefully chomping away on the salt and pepper fried chicken. Everything was bright and savory—I can’t wait to go back and try more.

• Praaw Thai: a West Berkeley restaurant that opened last winter I think? Really cute interior with movie posters and a DJ vinyl booth. Danni and I shared a pumpkin curry and crab fried rice, agreed we had to come back with a bigger group to try more things. I asked for a refill of the green chili sauce bc it was that good!! I would add this place to my East Bay restaurant rotation.

7). A barely-there bolero as a warmup layer.

Ordered this $36 LA Apparel “Cheesecloth Bolero” (awful name, imo) on sale last week. Thoughts: it’s stretchier than expected and I wish it had a bit more structure, but it’s a very practical cotton warmup layer for dance/workouts! I like how it looks with a simple strappy tank.

Molehill Miscellany

• Summer is not-so-secretly a great time to buy cashmere knits with off-season pricing. But if you live in the Bay Area, you’re wearing a sweater anyways because of the June fog. Here are a few I like on sale: molehill green cashmere cardigan with covered buttons, jade green cashmere crewneck, pool blue cashmere cardigan.

• I tried getting the Korean lash lift at Mosaic with Amanda, and am VERY HAPPY with the results. When she held the mirror up at the end, I was like, I feel like a camel :) Amanda was meticulous and understands how to work with Asian eyelids. If you go and tell them I referred you, I think it gets you $20 off your first service.

xo viv

Thanks for being here. You can find me on IG and TT. My wardrobe recs and latest finds are saved here—unless it’s vintage, of course ;) I may earn commission on purchases made through affiliate links.

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Last month, I got engaged in Tuscany :)

While I wasn’t clued into the details of the proposal, I was aware that it was going to happen several months in advance. So earlier this year, knowing that it was on the horizon, I started thinking about a RING.

I’d venture to guess that most of you who are reading this have questioned the heteropatriarchal origins of marraige and all the traditions that surround it, especially if you are coupled. And, like me, you’ve probably thought about how you’d want create your own meaning—should you participate in these institutions and practices.

I felt like doing it “my way” started with the ring; I wanted every decision to feel like a conscious and personalized choice. Here were some considerations I had going into the search:

• From the start, I knew I wanted to pick or design the ring myself. Everyone approaches this differently (see Reddit thread below lol). I didn’t want the ring design to be a surprise. In the past, I’ve gotten so much pleasure from working with a designer to get the specs and proportions justtttttt right, and so I knew I wanted to be very involved with the design process.

• While this would be a ring for everyday wear, it isn’t realistic for me to wear it 24/7 and never take off. I swim in a chlorinated pool, and I have dyshidrotic eczema on my hands, which makes it painful to wear rings when I have a flare-up. I wanted a ring that would also look nice as a simple pendant looped through a chain.

• I considered both colored gemstones and diamonds. I figured I’d cast a wide net and just see what spoke to me as time passed.

The ring research phase was pretty easy.

I’m a jewelry magpie is constantly poking around the internet for cool jewelry, so I already had a lists of designers whose work spoke to me. I have experience working on bespoke pieces with jewelers, so that route did not feel intimidating. And I know which ring design features I like (signets, bezel settings, thick bands) and dislike (ring mounts, visible prongs) for me. Emphasis on for me—it goes without saying the best ring is the one you love best.

The hard part was narrowing it down to just one at the end.

As you’ll see below, there were so many designs I loved, and it got increasingly difficult to winnow down my favorites from 10 to 5 to 3 to 1. In hindsight, I think I was also putting a lot of pressure on this ring being a literal crown jewel encapsulation of my personal style. I had to remind myself that while an engagement ring is a very special and cherished piece of jewelry, it is also part of a broader collection that spans the course of my life. This is the philosophy I’m trying to bring into all the bridal decisions…like, the ring and dress are a part of your identity and story, not your entire identity or story.

The ring I couldn’t stop thinking about—the one I could most clearly and consistently envision for everyday life—was a scalloped cigar band with playful princess-cut diamonds by Chicago-based designer Karmila Darling. Her work has been on my wishlist for a while. She makes jewelry that feels like enchanted lockets out of a folk fairytale. We worked on a custom ring based off her Sugar Band, with tweaks to the proportions. Karmila was great to work with—she sent me over 8 resin ring replicas to make sure every detail felt perfectly right before making the real thing.

Here are the 10 jewelry designers I considered in my search—and the 17 rings I saved as inspiration.

As mentioned, it was incredibly hard to narrow down my favorites!!! I love every single piece on this list. Also, research is never wasted! This is essentially a reference for future big milestone jewelry gifts.

Soft Good Studio

Emilie’s portfolio never ceases to make my jaw drop. I was very drawn to these two custom ring projects posted on her Instagram because of the auspicious cloud engravings around the band.

J.Hannah

Diptych Ring (Carnelian)—the twin red stones remind me the Chinese double happiness character. Also comes in a diamond version.

This quatrefoil diamond ring made it to my top 5. I think it would have been a touch too heavy for my hand, but I adore the quatrefoil shape.

Mondo Mondo

Ondine ring—one of the daintier options, I like the bezel setting and how it reminds me of a mirror.

This next ring only came on my radar last month, but had I seen it earlier…oof, I would have STRONGLY considered it.

Either way, it has sparked a burning flame of COVET and I cannot stop thinking about it…

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Hi friends! Hope your summer solstice weekend involves some fresh stone fruit and grass under your feet. I had this exquisitely fluffy whipped gorgonzola & cherry & salsa macha dish with hunks of airy sourdough bread at an event this week that I must re-create at home expeditiously.

We have such a special guest for today’s letter!!!

The first time I heard of was in 2021, when a friend recommended her novel Yolk to me.

I was engrossed by the writing—I had this thought, that whoever this author was, she has completely mastered the art of Noticing Things. She must be a ball to people-watch with. My friend and I would message each other about her book, always referring to her by her full name, “mary hk choi.”

Years later, Mary and I connected through our respective newsletters. By connected, I mean that I ate up her essays about buying a $4K Rick Owens jacket whilst unemployed, and I think she liked reading about my secondhand shopping fixations. While she is still THEE Mary H.K. Choi, it’s so cool that she is also sometimes just Mary to me—a cool older sister internet friend who I’ve never met in person (this will change soon, I know it).

Her fourth novel and adult debut Pool House came out earlier this month.

Pool House is a lot of things: it’s a mother-daughter novel. It’s an LA novel. But for me, the most thrilling hook is that it’s a 90s archive fashion novel. Within reading the first chapter alone, I felt like a dog hearing all its favorite words. Faye Wong. Ralph’s on Sunset. Tumblr. Bjork. Alt Asian Baby Girl.

Below, Mary and I talk about LA fashion, all her 90s fashion obsessions, and how a Molehill-inspired easter egg made its way into the fictional wardrobe of Pool House.

Viv: Pool House is set in present-day LA. Tell me about your relationship with the fashion in LA: how did you observe and absorb it? What do you make of LA fashion as a New Yorker?

Mary: Yes, Pool House is contemporary but so much of the world is defined by Moon (the mother character’s) memories and particularly the LA she would have encountered when she first arrived from Texas two decades prior.

If I were to describe LA style in a single statement, especially then, it would be: Rock-N-Roll. There are of course other eras that are distinctly LA-coded to me, especially as a New Yorker—Von Dutch Trucker Hats circa Tara Reid giving Peak Kitson, or else taupe Yeezy x Kardashian athleisure or an entirely different direction with feather earrings, turquoise jewelry, fringe jackets and a flat-brimmed Coachella hat.

But what I wanted for the LA style that is influential to Moon is Viper Room. Duff McKeegan. Kelly Bundy. Those black and white photos of bands hanging out at Canter’s. It’s whatever Hedi Slimane was drawing from for Fall 2016 at the Palladium. Narrow hips. Pointy shoulders. Long, dude-scarves. Shaggy hair. Peak Chris Robinson Black Crows, whatever Sombr is gesturing towards. It’s why Chrome Hearts will always remain relevant to a certain milieu no matter what else is culturally going on.

It’s interestingly a style that I also strongly associate with white people. It evokes cultural segregation sartorially speaking and I think that definitely has a lot to do with the Hollywood Moon would have been contending with and certainly some of my own feelings towards what I experienced when I lived and worked there for two years in my thirties.

How did you go about writing the fictional fashion in the novel to be LA-specific? Were there certain neighborhoods or subcultures you drew from as references?

Moon and Stevie live on the East Side but Stevie works on Fairfax.

And while Moon definitely would have gone through a Ben Davis or Dickies work pants appreciation era—with brown liner and a nude lip—in the same way that so many Korean dudes who grew up in LA draw from that East Side, Chicano, white-sweat-socks-with-shower-slides aesthetic, I wanted her to have enough of a chip on her shoulder about class and race, as well as her age, to buy into the power of luxury.

Especially since Moon isn’t from LA, she moved there in her young adulthood, searching for fame and fortune. It’s why she carries a status purse when she leaves her house but when she’s off-duty, she’s wearing tattered Opening Ceremony T-shirts as a nod to founders’ Carol Lim and Humberto Leon’s asianness but also to ground the book in that Coastal Elite life. It’s why she’s also wearing a Sci-Fi Fantasy T-shirt, the brand founded by skater Jerry Hsu, because she would have been acutely aware of him if not peripherally friendly.

So I don’t know if it’s subculture or neighborhood-driven but there are definitely Easter Eggs throughout to suggest who Moon is, what her hangups are, and how cool her tastes are when she’s not disguising herself or masking. And then of course there are her more outré moments that are reminiscent of Bai Ling doing a red carpet or the heyday of all those pre-viral red carpet looks, like Rose McGowan in her naked dress and Bjork’s Marjan Pejoski swan dress.

Walk me through the moodboards for Stevie, Moon, and Adam. I wondered if Moon’s wardrobe was inspired your dream designer grails...

I really came of age in such a golden era of fashion. A lesser known part of my career is that before I wrote books, I worked at MTV primarily to unearth House of Style, a fashion TV show that Cindy Crawford hosted that was monumentally significant to my life.

At a certain point in my career as a reporter and editor, I was just like, “Why isn’t House of Style on YouTube?” The short answer is that there’s no way to clear it. For a full year I tried to clear as much of it as I could to blog about it for MTV Style, cherry-picking segments off VHS that didn’t have famous artwork in the backgrounds or didn’t have literal Prince songs running over the dialogue since they didn’t keep an archive with split tracks for the recorded audio.

In any case, I was so taken with fashion from the 90s and how accessible fashion felt for the first time. I swore by American Vogue and Cindy Crawford for MTV, Elsa Klensch for CNN and Jeanne Beker’s Fashion Television.

So that’s Moon. Moon loves what I love. She’ll always be in love with the Supermodels walking for Versace. Christy and Todd Oldham being friends. Steven Meisel editorials. The pastel boucle suits for Chanel. Alexander McQueen’s bum cleavage pants. Drew Barrymore appearing in Guess ads. It’s like, where were you when Shalom Harlowe was spraypainted by robots for Spring/Summer 1999? That’s very much her ministry. But if I had to pick one person who was central to Moon’s mood board, it would be Faye Wong.

And obviously Galliano deserves mentioning for the dress that she wears to an important funeral.

Stevie is influenced by Moon obviously.

It’s the fate of the MILF’s daughter to always spend a little too much time inspecting your mother’s personal branding and feeling attacked by it. Her mood board is about change and outside influence. She begins in Kirkland pants that she wears for work. As well as a heavily stained purple pique polo. But when she begins to steal more of her mother’s clothing—there’s a Calvin Klein Collection bias-cut, silk slip (very Love Story; peak PR-girlie Bessette) that is her gateway—she experiences more power and begins to identify who she is in her clothes.

Something in her unlocks. I was definitely hearkening back to those crucial, pivotal moments in the formation of someone’s taste or aesthetic intelligence of dressing differently and being treated differently. When fashion becomes a kind of disguise or else armor that can sway other people. I can’t imagine anything more intoxicating. This culminates in a makeover later in New York that becomes a crisis of identity.

Adam is funny, I had such fun dressing him.

He shows up partial to white colonial classics after spending time in Hong Kong, a former British colony. I literally put him Nehru collared linen shirts and sandals in his early moments in LA to suggest this idea that he’d been somewhere exotic and desperate for everyone to know. It’s giving Graham Greene, Merchant Ivory or else pulpy James Clavell, the guy who wrote Nobel House, Shogun, Tai-Pan—kinda your early days Arthur Golden (the white dude who wrote Memoirs of a Geisha). Or even how the Beatles were post India.

He’s also giving big time Starter Pack energy. The theater kid who went to Spain for year abroad and lisps all over the place, Barthelona, etc. He’s cosplaying a time that doesn’t really even exist anymore which suggests he’s a romantic at heart but also inadvertently racist. The more time he spends in LA, he gets breezy, workout-forward, but then of course once he’s back in New York, literally at the moment he touches the JFK tarmac, he dresses New York. A beautiful, long coat. Gorgeous, heavy, visibly expensive sweaters. He would definitely wear a floral sweater or something a bit more louche but with the classics, Lemaire, The Row, given he has all that money.

I’m so tickled by the Monah Li dress reference. Can you tell me how you decided to write in that Easter egg, and how fashion Substack newsletters informed your research for the novel?

I’ve been terribly bored with fashion post-Covid. The whole quiet luxury era coincided with me entering my forties and I couldn’t reconcile this idea that investing in a coat or sweater “like an adult” would mean paying thousands and thousands of dollars for a navy quarter zip.

I couldn’t get over how safe and dull everything was becoming and yet everything that wasn’t a charcoal or stone or brown part of a capsule wardrobe, was this overpriced, drapey “avant-basic” shape in a fabric I didn’t love, in a print that was too loud for me. I was also discouraged by how vintage clothing prices were skyrocketing as well.

But then I started reading about fashion again, feeling so buoyed by how progressively irritated was becoming at The Washington Post and now at CNN, about what she saw on the runway and then how diligently she would seek out and speak to the designers she did want to champion like, Dario Vitale, despite his ill-fated tenure at Versace.

And then of course things really started cooking with the designer musical chairs and all that shakeup last year and the gossip from the year before. But I was also definitely substack-pilled. Less the newsletters that rely on affiliate links, no shots, but they always make me feel insane, but the writers who were so clear on their interests and their personal style.

Like you, of course, and ’s Shop Rat and now Avery Trufelman’s show notes for her excellent podcast . All of you have such clear taste and a sense of terroir. Like, you’re very California coded whereas Emilia is super New York. I just got swept up by the curiosity and sense of discovery again. I love watching you love getting dressed. Or finding the perfect legume accessory. Or your strategies for vintage shopping in Europe or how you dress for certain climates.

The funny thing is, I have very little in common with what I consider the Molehill aesthetic. Fluttery silk dresses in glinting colors and prints are not my thing at all. I love oversized Japanese shapes but what I adore is loving people who love what they love. I think something that blew my mind is that recently you bought a pair of pants in Italy that you weren’t sure was flattering but delighted you. I tuck those moments away somewhere and feel reassured when getting dressed or going shopping myself and I certainly think of moments when I dress my characters.

You’ve been developing your work for film and TV and I imagine you thought about what the adaptation process would be like for Pool House. Do you think about how challenging it might be to get the actual archival pieces you mention, the Galliano funeral dress or the Gaultier mesh shirt, for the production?

I think about how Miyako Bellizzi, who did wardrobe for Marty Supreme and also one of my absolute favorites, Bonjour Tristesse, with such transportive magic, just had this archival back catalogue to draw from as though she’d been waiting to dress these films for her entire life. A few years back writing for Elle, I interviewed Alexandra Carl, a stylist and creative director who’d just done published this magnificent coffee table book with Rizzoli, “Collecting Fashion: Nostalgia, Passion, Obsession,” where she spoke to hyper-dedicated archivist and collectors.

It featured photos of Michele Lamy’s expansive collection of Comme as well as the largest private collection of vintage Helmut Lang from the late 80s to the aughts that tallies at 5,000 pieces. I know that someone can get me access to the butterfly print mesh Gaultier shirt. And the Spring/Summer 1992 priest dress from the “Napolean and Josephine” collection. I just believe.

Then again, I’m also happy to change any detail to suit my needs. It’s how the Monah Li dress reference used to be Vivienne Tam until I fell in love with the Monah Li dresses from your coverage of the designer. If we can’t do Galliano, we’ll do head-to-toe McQueen. Or Dolce & Gabbana’s priest frock from 1997. Or else a Mugler gown from the late-90s. It’s about the vibe rather than a fidelity to the source material. It’s what nice about being the architect of the source material.

Thank you Mary for the 90s fashion nerdout session! You can order a copy of Pool House here. Below, enjoy a passage from the book :)

Hollywood Forever

Finally, Dano turns the car into the black wrought-iron gates of Hollywood Forever to ease toward the valet station. The car stops and Moon’s door is flung open, a gust of heat engulfing her as she swivels her hips to set one platform-heeled shoe on the ground. The valet offers a beefy forearm to hoist her out without upsetting the temperamental fabric of her dress and she is flustered by the sudden closeness of the man, his warmth, the whorls of arm hair, the sunbaked clean smell of his skin, neck, shorn scalp and finally, the Pachuco crosses tattooed on his hands. When he releases her to Dano, he bows slightly as he steps away, making a quick, wry sign of the cross as he takes in her dress, a runway Galliano from ’92, black, slippery silk, with a high priest’s collar and a train, slashed in places at her thighs, her hips, and her ribs. On her feet, Alexander McQueen armadillos in python that she cannot walk in without help. The purse is the only thing she’d had to buy, a small hard black clutch she’d looted her checking account for that she assures herself she will resell, vintage McQueen, among the first minaudières, with a skull at the closure, jewels as eyes.

Over the past handful of years, Moon has had to liquidate her investments, then her retirement. Each month the margin narrows, but she just about makes her mortgage. She’s not proud that she rents her house out, but it says something about her character that she is willing to make sacrifices. She’s nothing if not hardy. She’s never relied on parents, or a man, she has her kid and herself and she makes it work. She will not be made to feel shame for her choices even if it means selling some jewelry, a watch, and a cluster of status purses, no matter how surly and ungrateful her adult child is about any of it.

Most of her clothing she has tried to keep together. She wants it as a collection. As an archive. As part of her legacy. Moon had left Texas with nothing. Her mother, Sunny, had burned it all—clothes, books, and CDs—incinerated at a church gathering, a radical act of parochial zeal that enraged and frightened Moon enough to leave. None of her pieces had been expensive but they were lovingly collected, pristinely maintained, and mostly one-of-a-kind vintage, tailored to fit her exactly. But now in a deep closet off-set from the upstairs lounge, with a lock and an additional bolt, away from the renters, in PEVA garment bags sprayed in pyrethrin to repel moths, she keeps her collection chronologically organized—all the former versions of herself, everything she’s worn for red carpet, interviews, shoots and productions, from designers, many of them bought by Mac who’d never buy her jewelry or furs but whose own clotheshorse tendencies migrated to the occasional piece of women’s couture at auction or else straight from the runway.

He loved to dress her in canny little suits, wasp-waisted Mugler, Ghesquière shoulders, StellaMcCartney satin bustiers, tiny and slightly tarted up, the clothes of a business-minded brothel madame ready to transition from day to night as was the trend of the time. He’d been partial to intricate, fussy, sculptural Philip Treacy hats, which were not at all Moon’s style, given her massive Korean head, but she loved them for the craftsmanship. And whenever she removes the lid from a hat box with all the acid-free tissue inside, to lift out a polychrome fascinator of shimmering butterflies, never worn, she recalls how happy they’d made him.

He’d never cared for grunge, never understood Marc Jacobs. Anna Sui. Todd Oldham. He’d loved Mr. Armani, and later would pretend he’d always loved Prada when this absolutely had not been the case during the designer’s more militaristic utilitarian years that he referred to as mannish. He openly disliked the flashy Italians Moon favored—Versace, Cavalli, Moschino, Dolce & Gabbana—the outré designers, but they could always agree on McQueen, Westwood, and most of all, Galliano.

Moon hopes one day her collection will increase in cultural value once her own stock rises, and she often imagines these moments, casually re-wearing a highly photographed dress at the exact perfect occasion so when they make the comp of past and present, it will be seen as significant. Minimally it will be noticed on someone’s Substack or a particularly in depth podcast by staggeringly fashionable men. Possibly Las Culturistas. She can also imagine herself auctioning off an infamous look for charity. She still has the naked Alaïa dress, for example. And when she can’t fall asleep, this is what she thinks about behind her eyes, switching out details at night in bed.

This is exactly such a moment. Mac’s funeral. She has never worn the Galliano publicly. She is as nervous as she would be on the first day of a big job. And she knows exactly what part to play.

xo viv

Thanks for being here. You can find me on IG and TT. My wardrobe recs and latest finds are saved here—unless it’s vintage, of course ;) I may earn commission on purchases made through affiliate links.

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The morning we left Rome, I got into the taxi and didn’t look back. The city was a lovely intro to Italy—and a trove for vintage shopping—but I was ready to go somewhere pastoral and quiet. A change of pace. A view of rolling hills and fluffy sheep. A pool where I could lounge and tuck into my book. I was also pretty thrilled to be reunited with the good ‘old American creature comfort that is an air-conditioned mini SUV. (Sorry not sorry).

Today’s newsletter is a recap of our 4 day itinerary through the Italian countryside:

• where we stayed and ate

• cool medieval towns and activities to book for day trips

• & a bit of personal news!

It’s bloated with photos that might cut off in email so read in browser for the best experience.

Day 1: Yogurt gelato is a religious experience in Spoleto.

From Rome, we drove to Umbria and decided to spend one night in Spoleto. There are plenty of small medieval towns in the countryside, but here’s what made Spoleto stand out:

(1) It’s artsy. They host this huge international event every summer called Festival dei Due Mondi. We weren’t there for it, but you can tell from walking around town that it’s a major cultural/economic engine for the town. During golden hour at the cathedral plaza, we saw a group of theatre kids doing a photoshoot in costumes that I can only describe as Catholic furry-meets-Michèle Lamy.

(2) It’s extremely pedestrian friendly. Out of all the medieval towns we visited, this had the most accessible infrastructure for anyone with mobility limitations. Or anyone who just hates hiking up steep hills in the heat!!! I’m in a much better mood when I’m not huffing and puffing up crumbling stone steps. The historic center is connected by a network of free underground walkalator/escalators. It was soooo nice to ride an escalator to the top of an ancient castle. They should make Spoleto a case study in urban planning school.

We stayed at Hotel dei Duchi. It was not particularly fancy but had all the comfort and amenities we needed to feel recharged. I slept a lot better here than in Rome.

The town is compact, so you can explore all of it in one day. Also love how un-crowded it was. I found myself more prone to wandering into shops “just to browse” and look at all the tasty cured meat I couldn’t bring home bc they would get 100% get flagged by the airport USDA beagles. Didn’t want to risk it.

This is also where we had the best gelato of our entire trip: Gelateria Crispini. Specifically, the YOGURT flavor. Omg. If you like tangier flavors or grew up drinking Yakult, you would love it! It was small shop with no line, but we later discovered that it won the top prize in the 2017 Gelato World Tour. It was so delicious I forgot to take a photo.

I felt energized enough to do a full face of ~golden hour makeup~ before dinner. Side note, can we talk about how much work it is to do makeup on vacation?! I swear it takes 2x longer. Different mirrors and counter space throw off my muscle memory, I suppose. Also sometimes my vacation brain lures me into trying something BOLD. Next thing I know I’m wetting some Q-Tips to wipe off 2cm of botched eyeliner.

Anyways, the products that did the heavy lifting were: layering two shades of blush (‘baby’ as a base and ‘flirty’ as a saturated highlight) and the trusty eadem lip balm in bissap glaze.

Ended the day with dinner at Pecchiarda, a restaurant we picked solely because they had grilled chicken on the menu. I never thought I would CRAVE something as basic as grilled chicken but it sounded really good after exclusively eating cured meat carbonaras in Rome. Also, when you live in the Bay Area, you get reverse sticker shock abroad—this 8 euro natural wine would easily cost $40 at a place like Verjus…

I couldn’t get over how the eggplant parmigiana looked like a butchered Hungry Caterpillar:

Day 2: In which I went to a remote medieval town and still saw a fashion hoe in Margiela tabis.

Left Spoleto in the morning and made a stop in Orvieto (another medieval town) on the way to Montepulciano where our farmstay was. You know what’s so crazy?

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Sometimes I see an outfit so utterly impeccable that it reminds me of what it feels like to love fashion.

It starts with an imperceptible gasp under my breath. Then my body freezes, my eyes glaze over to appreciate the totality of the look, then they focus into precise laser beams as I zoom in, taking in the details.

This week I was bewitched by Greta Lee in a crisply cut microbang and a red fringed halter dress with little white stars all over. Oh and a shooting star placed on the hip, like a cheeky tattoo.

Her Toy Story 5 press tour looks, styled by Danielle Goldberg and makeup by Nina Park, have been TOO GOOD. I wrote about Greta Lee’s style back in 2023, and she remains one of my favorite actresses on and off screen because she takes fun fashion risks.

But also, I suppose it’s impossible not to look like the coolest, most stunning fashion girl when you have both Danielle Goldberg and Nina Park working for you, right??? A dream team if there ever was one…

This red halter dress is High Sport, a brand I’ll forever associate in my head with the “$800 pants” discourse from a few years ago. Not available online, maybe later this year? I’m not enough of a retail insider to keep track of these things. It’s not a dress I feel like I need to own to wear. I just love admiring it.

Anyways, it must be so fun to treat Toy Story as an outfit prompt—and this outfit lands the thematic connection without being too literal. The red is a hypersaturated primary color, and the stars and fringe evoke a Western cowboy vibe a la Woody and Jessie.

The next look is something I’d totally wear:

When I saw this post, I rushed to click on the tagged designer, “yvonnne_.” Who could this yvonne underscore be??

Once I saw that her name was just “yeji” in lowercase letters and she had Central Saint Martins tagged in her bio and no website, I was like lol ok, this is some ultra-niche shit that only star stylists like Danielle Goldberg have access to!!

This set is called the Music Note Top and Skirt, “inspired by musical notes from sheet music,” according to yeji’s IG. How freaking whimsical.

Similarly, this print works as a nod to the Toy Story theme because the circle shapes look like Mr. Potato’s eyes. Maybe this was intentional too, but her pose here feels like a figurine. A bit stiff and plasticky, in a satisfying way because she looks like a toy on a shelf.

This BTS look was posted on Danielle Goldberg’s IG stories:

Another fun riff on the Toy Story primary colors. I don’t remember the Barbie press tour fashion in much detail, but I do know I felt visually hungover from seeing the magenta pink everywhereeeeee bc the marketing was inescapable. In contrast, I feel refreshed and intruiged by the primary color play for this press tour.

And now for the latest look we’ve been blessed with this week…

She’s wearing a red and white Dior puffed-top dress that matches the Toy Story color palette. The exaggerated proportions feel dramatic enough for a red carpet look but it’s also playful and funky in the same vein. It’s kinda giving Buzz Lightyear’s puffed-chest silhouette.

The makeup and hair was to die for…I’m in awe of the gap of space between the strong eyebrow and the wispy microbang. Do you know how hard it is to get that exact distance right?!!! If I ever get my makeup and hair professionally done, I’ll just show them this photo.

As the press tour continues, I’ll be seated for more of Greta’s looks! Which one is your favorite so far?

Molehill Miscellany

• My first guest piece for launched yesterday—a heels-on-the-ground Euro Summer style report, aka what people are wearing in Rome and Florence! Take a look, it’s a fun photo-heavy piece to scroll through on Friday. It’s always a pleasure to work with as an editor. I learn a lot from the way she thinks.

• The star wand lip gloss I mentioned in my makeup to buy from japan newsletter is on sale rn for $5. It’s the cutest thing to keep in your purse. Try whipping it out at a group dinner or happy hour, everyone will be like oooo what IS that?!

• If you were emotionally devastated by the Gemma episode in Severance, I really think you would enjoy reading “My Dear You” by Rachel Khong. It’s a collection of short stories that I would describe as Black Mirror written by and starring an Asian American woman. Like, the story about the factory worker training an AI sex doll story made me cry. There are also some Bay Area cameos in the stories, which made it all the more juicy to read in a San Francisco wine bar last night.

• I’m inspired by all of your summer bucket list items in the comments. I’m working on my realistic bay area summer bucket list (fall version here).

• Anyone else going to Pickwick this weekend? I plan to hit up Sensitive Vintage.

• RIP buffalo milk soft serve </3 It has come to my attention that a few months ago, the milk supplier for the soft serve at Palace Market (and several other Bay Area spots) changed. If you’ve had Palace Market soft serve you know that it was the creme de la creme of soft serve…truly nothing else in the world compared. The milk is now jersey cow, and not buffalo. For some, this news is food snob minutiae and they claim there is no difference in taste. I posted about this on on IG Stories and a few people responded saying they had Palace Market soft serve recently and it doesn’t taste as creamy or rich anymore (I believe them). Now I am very invested in the politics of Central Valley buffalo herd sales.

• I’m a major skincare and haircare loyalist in that it takes a LOT for a product to make it into my routine, or replace something in my routine. But two things have broken through the noise: (1) the ROZ leave-in conditioner, which I surprised myself with how much I love—my hair has been extra crispy and dry lately bc it’s outdoor swim season, but this conditioner smells like a five star hotel and leaves my hair much smoother after a wash. (2) the Sophie Pavitt Mandelic Clearing Serum *gifted—I’ve used a mandelic serum in my routine for the past 9 years, ranging from a mild 8% to a stronger 11% when I have breakouts. The Sophie Pavitt one is 8% and I used it every day when I was traveling in Italy. I think it helped keep breakouts and sun exposure pigmentation at bay, because I was doing a lotttt of skin-stressing things lol.

• Last month, my profile of Tory Burch for LA Times Image magazine came out. We talked about her instinct for wearable clothing, freaky footwear, and how a long career in fashion is its own kind of sport.

xo viv

Thanks for being here. You can find me on IG and TT. My wardrobe recs and latest finds are saved here—unless it’s vintage, of course ;) I may earn commission on purchases made through affiliate links.

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Last week, I covered my top vintage recs in Rome, including a cheat sheet of Italian designers to search secondhand online.

Today’s city guide newsletter covers everything else:

• outfit diary of what I wore

• where I stayed, ate, and retail shopped (bonus for paid readers)

This post is very long and bloated with photos, so it might cut off in email.

OUTFITS

For daytime exploring, I rewore this outfit several times (our apartment had a washer and dryer). A cotton Cou Cou tank, a pale yellow silk skirt from Belle Anna, old Martiniano glove flats, and a suede Madewell tote bag. I tried to always incorporate some kind of accessory, which usually ended up being a Mondo Mondo star necklace and a silver ear cuff.

There’s a lot of RED around Rome—tomato sauce, Vespas, Catholic clergy outfits— that definitely influenced how I reached for pops of color.

For a brisk morning with light walking, I opted to layer a green &Daughter lambswool sweater (50% off rn) over my cotton tank. It actually was quite chilly at 8am and I was grateful for the extra layer. It was also time to debut my vintage purple mesh Vivienne Tam Buddha skirt (I ADORE THIS PIECE SO MUCH), and take advantage of a low step count outing with lace trim thong heels. They look good with skirts but are not the best on cobblestone…

For a retail blitz afternoon, I wanted to wear something a polished that would still allow me to move easily/change in and out of clothes at stores. This ice blue silk dress from Argent (gifted) falls soooo beautifully, but does not feel restrictive. I wore my silver Elsa Peretti bean locket to play up the cool tones.

It was a little windy out, so I’m glad I packed my beloved vintage trench.

For a brief pastry run near the apartment: my heatwave essential Cou Cou cotton dress, Casa Allyon leather clutch bag, Madewell bandana and star necklace.

For a dressy dinner out: a breathable Erica Tanov cotton sweater as a nighttime layer, this extremely joyful red Issey Miyake Ole! Skirt (gifted), star necklace, old Martiniano glove flats, Madewell suede tote.

The red theme continues. On this day, we woke up early for breakfast at Forno Conti and it was chilly out, so I wore a cotton long sleeve red tee over the Cou Cou cotton slip dress. Green socks and my trustiest Keen Jaspers for a day of marathon walking. Accessorized with my star necklace and bandana.

When I started accumulating vintage pieces on my trip, I couldn’t wait to wear them, so the in unit laundry came in soooo handy. Here I am in a vintage MaxMara silk wrap top, the Vivienne Tam Buddha skirt, and lace trim thong sandals.

More recs below the fold: where I stayed, ate, and retail shopped.

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My corner of the internet is abuzz over the Baggu x Sandy Liang 2.0 collab coming out today (9am online, 10am in stores—good luck, godspeed). The Terminator bunny is my favorite print because it’s a cheeky nod to the knockoff Gucci/LV bags sold on Canal Street.

As a paid reader perk, I’m raffling away 3 of the blue market plaid pieces from the PR package I received but realistically won’t use: the large market bag, the large pouch, and the standard Baggu.

To enter, just leave a comment below sharing one thing on your summer 2026 bucket list. I will select 3 winners by next Wednesday by responding in the comments; each winner will receive one of the 3 items.

Over the next month, I’ll be sharing several travel/city guide newsletters recapping my time in Italy. We’re kicking it off today with the Molehill vintage lover’s guide to Rome.

Dare I say Rome is my all-time favorite city for vintage shopping?

It exceeded my expectations, both in terms of the selection/curation and how many things I ended up actually purchasing. I think it boils down to two main reasons:

• Vintage clothes and jewelry in Rome tend to be aligned with my personal style—colorful, expressive, and funky! Lots of prints and drama. Comparisons to shopping in Tokyo kept coming to mind…while I enjoy vintage shopping in Japan and have found some gems, the overall selection at a standard secondhand store leans Americana and workwear, which I’m less drawn to.

• The sense of antiquity in Rome permeates the air. You are surrounded by ancient ruins and monuments; you can’t help but marvel at how old things have endured through time. It puts you in the mood to sift through 15 trays of costume jewelry and appreciate the past lives of objects. Vintage shopping in the Eternal City…how romantic!

This guide covers my top vintage recs in Rome, including what the selection is like at each shop, and what I actually spent $ on.

I also want this guide to feel engaging and useful even if you are not visiting Rome!

So, I’ve included an “Italian vintage brand cheat sheet” at the end of the newsletter with brand names and keywords to search online. If the vintage piece I bought had a tag with a brand name on it, it’s included on the list. Also, some of the stores I mention offer online/IG Story shopping.

1. Cavalli e Nastri

140 Via del Boschetto (also locations in Milan and Madrid)

I stumbled upon this shop in the most memorable way. After a breakfast of pizza bianca and green tea, I was wandering around the ivy-covered streets of Monti taking pictures.

Then I saw a blue pleated blur on a store window mannequin and thought…wait a minute…is that an Issey Miyake set???

I waited for a roaring Vespa to pass before bounding across the street. Lo and behold—yes it was!

Unfortunately, the shop had not opened yet, so I stared longingly at the Pleats Please set, locked behind blue metal bars. From what I could see on the racks, the store appeared to be curated with vintage designer labels. I had an awkward 35 minutes to kill, so I walked back to the vacation rental apartment to charge my phone before coming back right at opening time.

You can expect to find lots of designer labels here. Strong selection of Prada, Rick Owens, Dries, and Cavalli. There’s also a focus on Italian designer costume jewelry from the 70s-90s.

I ended up buying a crimson red silk Alberta Ferretti top and a 1970s fuzzy green purse from a Florence-based designer called Scheilan. The top actually came as a set with a skirt, but the skirt was too big and the design wasn’t quite conducive to tailoring, so I asked the shop lady if she would sell it separately with an adjusted price and she said yes :)

Beyond the paywall, five more stores—

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Interesting, I REALLY miss being caught up on media. I have FOMO over not having seen I Love Boosters yet. And I need to watch the Hacks finale. So that’s the plan when I get back. Go to all my favorite East Bay food spots and watch movies and TV. And coo over all my Italian vintage finds!!! There’s a lot of laundry, ironing, and styling to do. It’ll keep me busy.

Here are 5 things on my summer wishlist—

• Cou Cou’s “French Blossom” print is a natural continuation what the brand does best…sweet, simple, wearable cotton basics for daily life. I have decided that I will order the Iris slip dress because the black colorway is already one of my most worn pieces of 2026. It’s one of the only things I feel somewhat stylish in on a seriously HOT day, and the black color can read dressier with heels or more casual with flats.

• Oddobody puts their own spin on the most famous cami in cinema…the one Nicole Kidman wears in “Eyes Wide Shut.” The neckline in particular is what speaks to me—the depth and scoop is somewhere between a U and a V shape. Their cotton just feels so gentle and nice on the skin, I’m a fan of most things they make for that reason.

• Has anyone else noticed that Larroude has been doing more collaborations with small designers this year? I loved how their Tanner Fletcher collection turned out (the black lace trim thong heels are the most versatile, imo) and their recent Ciao Lucia sequin wedge mule had to be inspired by 1999 Prada sequin mules. Fun inspo for summer shoes, also a good lead for searching secondhand in these styles.

• The Alex Mill totes now come in a piggy bank pink (a % of sales goes to breast cancer research at Memorial Sloan Kettering). Personally, I think the color looks best in the mini size as a pop of color for punchy summer outfits, with a red V monogram. I would wear it without the canvas strap, which is practical—but to me, feels a tad bulky. Instead, I’d tie one of my vintage black and white polka dot silk scarves around the handles.

Coming this week for paid readers: the Molehill vintage lover’s guide to Rome!

Everywhere I shopped, what each store’s selection was like, and what I actually spent $ on.

Upgrade today if you don’t want to miss out.

Ciao ciao!!!! Talk soon.

xo viv

Thanks for being here. You can find me on IG and TT. My wardrobe recs and latest finds are saved here—unless it’s vintage, of course ;)

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For context—I have had the best carbonara and tiramisu of my life thus far in Rome. Like, beyond scrumptious!!! Loved it. (Also, the tap water here is so crisp and fresh, I get a lil dopamine hit every time I pass by a drinking fountain).

However, my palette simply isn’t used to eating Roman food back to back to back to back. So here I am now, on Day 4, googling “best pho rome.”

I think it’s also true that Californians miss California cuisine when they’re traveling. Your tastebuds just get so spoiled by the fresh ingredients and bright flavors back home!!! I find myself wishing I could carry a lemon in my purse to douse on everything. And maybe a handful of herbs.

All to say, these circumstances have put me in the perfect headspace to share my favorite East Bay restaurants I eat at regularly. Absence makes the stomach grow fonder.

These are the 8 places that taste and feel like home to me. I am always in the mood for something on this list. Save this for the next time you’re in the Oakland/Berkeley area.

1.) Joodooboo

There are only two restaurants in the world where I’ve eaten and seriously thought, “I think could be vegetarian if this is what I could eat every day.” One of them is (or, was—it closed during the pandemic) Ashirwad the Blessings, a Gujarati restaurant in an Inland Empire strip mall off Route 66.

The other one is Joodooboo. It will make you fall in love with tofu, even if you don’t think you love tofu. They make it in house and everything is so seasonal and fresh and FLAVORFUL. I always feel nourished and cared for after a meal there, like I’m going to magically wake up the next day with clear skin and a thriving gut biome.

Mole menu tip: Go with another person and split the Acorn Noodle Bowl and the Fried Tofu Set. Get the daily fruit juice seltzer before it sells out. I dream of the kiwi guava…

This is probably the first thing I’ll want to eat after the long flight home.

2.) Rose Pizzeria

The pizza I’ve tried in Rome has been just okay to good. I recognize that the style of pizza here and the toppings are regionally specific. While it’s tasty, I am not mind blown. I find it lacking in flavor intensity for my personal taste. Everyone has a style of pizza they consider the benchmark for good pizza, and mine is from Rose in Berkeley. Thin crispy crust and briny savory toppings.

Mole menu tip: Start with the spicy caesar salad. For pizzas, try the She Wolf if you like briny pickled flavors, otherwise you can’t go wrong with the Classic Pep. Definitely get a glass of the L’ambrusco. All the desserts are good.

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A few weeks ago, I asked the chat what TV shows you guys were loving, and Margo’s Got Money Troubles was the most mentioned by far. So, I hope you enjoy today’s letter and I’d love to hear what you thought of the finale!! And thank you to the brilliant for editing this piece.

SPOILERS FOR THE SEASON BELOW.

Here’s a question for you: picture an OnlyFans star. What is she wearing?

As Gen Z “bops” such as Sophie Rain, Ari Kytsya, and Levi Coralynn have gone mainstream as social media influencers in recent years, a uniform for contemporary adult content creators has taken shape. There is a certain look we associate with OF style: perhaps it’s tiny crop tops with strategically placed peekaboo cutouts, or stretchy spandex booty shorts that miiiight just get flagged for “violating Community Guidelines” on TikTok. As the line between social media influencing and sex work gets increasingly blurred, we’re seeing more media that explores the topic (ex: Euphoria Season 3).

The most compelling social commentary on sex work through costume design right now is in Margo's Got Money Troubles, Apple TV+'s dramedy based on Rufi Thorpe's novel.

Margo Millet (Elle Fanning) is a 20-year-old aspiring writer whose life is upended when she gets knocked up by her married college lit professor. When baby Bodhi arrives, Margo finds herself without a steady income or childcare—meaning, our girl needs a remote job that pays the bills, stat.

This is how our headstrong protagonist ends up opening an OF account under the stage name HungryGhost. When Margo first joins OF, she looks to other creators on the platform for outfit/profile inspo. After all, we all need some guidance for what to wear for the first day of a new job…

She scrolls through examples like “Jen Rides an ATV,” who poses suggestively in a camo-print crop top and matching booty shorts, or “Bethany Bakes,” who leans into tradwife cosplay in a pearl necklace, a cleavage-baring pink tank top, and an apron.

Inspired, Margo’s initial attempts land her somewhere in TikTok baddie territory, wearing a black crop top that’s more metal rings and cutouts than actual fabric, bright heavy eyeliner, and two space buns. But when she meets WangMangler and SucculentRose—two more experienced OF creators she hopes to collab with, all bleached brows and mullet cuts—they deem her vibe a bit basic.

Margo gets humbled, but it also pushes her to find her own voice as an OF creator. Which just so happens to be…a blue-skinned alien hot girl with retro space age-inspired hair and makeup. I was immediately obsessed—the vision! The drama!

Costume designer Mirren Gordon-Crozier brings the look to life with precision and playfulness. Every detail is dialed in: from her silver metallic minidress, to her matching gloves and platform boots, even her lace tights and pair of antennae.

Compared to the mainstream uniform of “mattress actresses”—tiny stretchy clothes that land somewhere between lingerie and athleisure—this is a lot weirder. It’s funky, off-kilter, and borrows from alternative cosplay subcultures.

And it’s also so Margo, because it captures her desire to be seen and understood in her entirety. In her day-to-day life, which is consumed by breastfeeding and the joys that come with it, like swollen nipples and milk stains, Margo wears loose graphic shirts. Namely, a black tee with a cartoon alien on it. She also loves power clashing with animal prints (clearly influenced by her leopard-print loving mom), the occasional Hawaiian shirt, and retro accessories like bubble-gum-pink heart-shaped sunglasses.

These sartorial choices continue to bleed into her OF life.

There’s a scene in the show where Margo wears a bikini, but she styles it in an unexpected way with glow-in-the-dark body doodles of dollar signs, hearts, and flowers. (To me, personally, this look is all about her googly-eye sticker headband.) You can imagine that one of Margo’s OF subscribers is watching this video of her dancing in a bikini, but his gaze is reflected back at him by dozens of googly eyes. In this sense, she’s flipping the male gaze back on the viewer.

What begins as a desperate last resort to make money evolves into an outlet for self-expression and creative agency. A place where Margo can create full-blown narrative arcs with storylines, multiple characters, elaborate costumes, and DIY sets. In other words, she’s finally found an outlet for her original dream of becoming a writer—just not the way she thought she would.

Ultimately, a large reason why I think the show’s costume design succeeds is because Margo’s character is fully fleshed out. We get context for why she dresses the way she does in each scenario, whether it’s breastfeeding at home or going to court over a custody battle. What’s refreshing is the way Margo tries to make every outfit her own, regardless of the performance she’s putting on.

P.S. If you’re feeling inspired to dress like a hot weird alien girl, here are some brands to check out.

• Start with basics like these metallic lamé crop tops and bodysuits from LA Apparel.

• If you want something a little more flashy, consider these paillette micro-shorts from Guizio.

• I could also totally see Margo wearing fun prints from Tyler McGillivary. Like this Saturn planet print top that matches the sci-fi theme, or this halter top that would have been perfect for her Las Vegas trip.

xo viv

Thanks for being here. You can find me on IG and TT. My wardrobe recs and latest finds are saved here—unless it’s vintage, of course ;)

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Concerts are fashion shows.

As the date for the Hayley Williams Ego Death at a Bachelorette Party show at the Fox approached, I started brainstorming my concert outfit. It’s a fun exercise because you get to treat the artist/album as a creative prompt and interpret it for yourself and your style. Should I go full-on FRUiTS girl mode, as a subtle homage to “Dream Girl in Shibuya”? Or maybe I should wear a sheer purple skirt to match Hayley’s mesh/see-through tour looks? I changed five times before landing on this:

It’s a little bit of everything, but I knew I wanted to make a statement with the tights—and it worked! I got so many compliments on them. The shoes with the silver grommets just felt very punk, and complemented the sea of Doc Martens and Converse nicely.

Here’s what 20 Molehill readers wore—mostly from Oakland, but other cities represented as well!

There were more submissions than I was able to include, but I appreciate everyone who took the time to submit an outfit. I will start a chat thread later today for anyone else who wants to share their HW/concert outfits more generally. Thank you <3

Denise, Oakland

“Being a mom of a toddler means wearing an outfit that can take you from the Oakland Zoo in the morning to a Hayley Williams concert at night at the Fox on Mother’s Day. I wore my vintage racing jacket (doubles as a purse because it has 3 inside pockets), secondhand Dickies jorts from my younger brother, Noble jumpsuit, silver accessories, and my glasses to distract from the fact I didn’t have time to do my makeup!”

Estefania, Oakland

“I wore the half black/half white virgin mini dress from Fashion Brand Company along with the matching blazer from FBC as well. Decided to wear this because of Hayley tour promo in it she’s wearing the long version white virgin mini dress.”

Lisa, NYC

“I flew in solo from another city that afternoon and thrifted the green vintage slip hours later (I think it was destiny??), which I paired with a sheer newsprint shirt, a Loren Stewart safety pin necklace (that Hayley also has), and trusty Chelsea Docs platforms. I really wanted to emphasize the transparent vibes and bright pops of color I'd seen Hayley wear throughout the tour.”

Thea, Oakland

“I hand drew my outfit with lyrics from Ego Death but with a throwback to brand new eyes with the glasses. Thrifted dress.”

Mya, Los Angeles

“This outfit is a ‘heart on my sleeve’ moment; All you need to know about me is encased in each selective piece. It’s comfortable, chic and has a punk attitude about it; it’s black girl magic entering the cathartic Ego Death At a Bachelorette Party Tour.”

Juliet, Oakland

“My friend and I drove up from Pasadena to see Hayley at the Fox on Sunday (resale was way cheaper than in LA). One of the crazier things I’ve done, and yet all was worth it to see and hear Hayley lay her heart bare, raw.

I thought more about this outfit than I usually do for a concert - her fits on this tour have been unbelievable. I splurged on my first Doen purchase, a sheer brown slip, and wore purple underneath (not really visible but both top and bottom were the color of jacaranda trees, the bottoms were a Molehill-influenced Oddobody purchase), and then of course a yellow clip in my hair and yellow purse from Ross, for our girl. I liked how my tattoos peeked through the sheer skirt. My dear friend wore a lil bridal veil, for our girl- this one is hard to explain to people who don’t know the album haha.”

Maggie, Minneapolis

“The details are inspired by the album’s early-2000s girly nostalgia, DIY (for one of my favorite songs, Glum), and Hayley’s insane eye for layering! I was so excited to pore over the thrift searching for things that were all new to me: light neutral tones, casual asymmetry, and clashing textures.”

Rowan, Oakland

“I thrifted this AllSaints dress the same day of the show and am obsessed with the color and print—paired it with leather boots+ chunky silver accents and felt like I achieved the femme rock vibe I was feeling for Hayley. Also, sometimes tattoos are the best accessories ;)”

Annabel, Oakland

“I did not end up shaving my whole body just in case Hayley noticed me but I would say my cute lil fit made up for it. Top from Princess Polly, denim jacket from Zara, skirt from Walmart, and boots from Zara! For accessories I attached one of my broken bracelets to my skirt with some earring hoops. I also put HW inspired pins on that my friends made to give out during the show!!”

Keelie, Chicago

Sese, Oakland

“I was inspired by all the sheer and lace material Hayley has been wearing and this makeup took me about two hours.”

Meag, Austin

“Upcycled petals for armor shirt that I made into a drapes dress using sheer chiffon, and hand dyed lace. My prize ribbons were also made by me featuring some of my fav lyrics from the new album :)”

Violet, Phoenix

”I first originally got inspired by the whole “bachelorette party” vibe, and then after seeing what she was wearing to her shows I got inspired with the sheer layers and pops of color. I saw beautystudio say “Hayley’s version of bridal-core but slightly spiraling.” Which I LOVE! I decided on the pops of yellow as a homage to the album colors and thrifted a sheer top to show off the yellow bra and a bridal-esque mini skirt. I found some sheer white stocking socks and yellow ballet flats and had to finish it off with the yellow garter and the bridal veil to pull everything together. I loved my outfit and it’s now my most viewed fit check on tiktok!

Guppy, Oakland

“I made my top and shorts and rhinestoned them by hand myself! The colors I used were shades from the album cover, and the patterns I rhinestoned were callbacks to art from the singles she initially released!”

Mhy, Phoenix

“I went with what I already had in my closet. knowing phx weather, a tank top and skort were a must to stay cool and some boots to protect my toes while dancing!”

Sofia, Austin

“I went to Hayley’s Austin show and wore the miss paramore baby tee that I got from the merch sale earlier in the day along with some high waisted dark denim jeans and black ankle boots I bought from goodwill the day before!! Middle school me always wanted to dress like the Haim sisters in the “Want You Back” music video so I was happy to live out that dream to see Hayley.”

Sarah, Oakland

“I got too shy to take a photo at the venue, but I was inspired by the jorts of the “Ego Death at a Bachelorette Party” music video as well as all of the transparent/sheer pieces Hayley has been wearing for the shows. I liked how the aqua mesh top looked with the mauve triangle bra peeking through which is sort of a shout out to the song “Zissou” and another look Hayley did in the rollout.”

Sara, Chicago

“I thrifted this silk beaded dress for $9 and wore it with some Doc Martens and a thrifted belt. I was kind of nervous to wear it, but thought if I don’t wear this dress to see Hayley Williams when will I ever wear it? So I did! And got lots of compliments.”

Rogan, Oakland

“This outfit is a take on a bachelorette gone punk! She's hard, she's got combat boots on, but she still wants to look pretty. It's a black prom dress I covered in your standard scene kid Spencer's chic.”

Adrian, Nashville

“Miss Hayley Williams has been pulling my true-self out of me for a couple years now (Trust me — I WISH I had found her sooner!). The dress stopped me in my tracks (well, my scrolling), and I wanted to wear it in a place I knew I would be accepted for whatever I wore — and, that is a Hayley Williams concert. I channeled my inner-Brian for the makeup with yellow eyes/black liner, and I was stoked to see her makeup was the same combo that night Nashville N3!”

xo viv

Thanks for being here. You can find me on IG and TT. My wardrobe recs and latest finds are saved here—unless it’s vintage, of course ;) I may earn commission on purchases made through affiliate links.

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In other news, the Hayley Williams concert in Oakland was such a fabulous time. I’m putting together a newsletter of reader-submitted looks from her EDAABP tour shows. Email vivthmole@gmail.com with (1) your name, (2) 1-2 sentences about your outfit, and (3) a photo of your outfit for inclusion. Will cap submissions end of next week, or once I get ~15 submissions!

In 2019, if you were shopping for a wedding guest dress, you basically had two options in the retail landscape.

You could go the Reformation/Realisation Par route and pick out a dress somewhere in the flirty-to-sexy spectrum. These dresses had ditsy florals and polka dots, with subtle ruching and smocked bodices that would lay the groundwork for the milkmaid frocks of the early 2020s. I remember reading that Jia Tolentino New Yorker essay about “Virtue and Vanity at Reformation” published in 2019 and thinking, this style and brand of dress has really ascended into a cultural object, hasn’t it??

And then there was the Ganni route—edgier, funkier, more rebellious. Specifically, that green and black checkered dress was everywhere. Publications deemed it the “dress of the summer” in 2019. I distinctly remember microbang muse/novelist Abigail Bergstrom wearing it to officiate Lydia Pang’s goth wedding, which altered my 20-something brain chemistry.

I was never a bona fide Ganni girl, but a lot of my friends were. We were early career working girls in the 2010s when Scandi soft power was in full swing. No one was completely immune to the zeitgeist, which was all hygge and smiley face stickers and pastel-colored outfits. We read Refinery29 articles about why Copenhagen Fashion Week was “actually” the coolest fashion week, and spent our money on things like secondhand pink cocoon coats and lug sole boots.

At that time, Ganni was the brand on the lips of every plugged-in fashion girl on the internet. But slowly, it lost its cultural clout.

At some point, I remember deleting “Ganni” from my TRR saved searches. The brand stopped coming up in conversations. Honestly, I had not thought about Ganni in a very long time, until last month, when I saw Barbie Ferreira wearing this green spot dress from Damson Madder, a UK-based brand. I’d been aware of the brand for about two years—the swimsuits in particular caught my attention.

As I scrolled through the check print dresses on the website and the “Avo Choc” one-piece I subsequently ordered, I was struck by how much it reminded me of Ganni’s aesthetic.

While Damson Madder has been popular in the UK for a while, 2026 seems to be the year they’ve achieved that sweet spot in the American market—not totally niche, but not yet mass. They just opened an LA store last month, and the clothes translate well for a casual Californian wardrobe.

These observations culminated into a realization: Damson Madder has successfully wooed the ex-Ganni girl demographic.

I posted this throwaway thought on Notes and was surprised by how many people chimed in. Some replies:

I was just one of many fashion girls who were noticing this shift, and clearly, people wanted to discuss it. So I made a survey with these four questions:

• What did you love about Ganni in the 2010s?

• What was THE piece of clothing that was a dead giveaway that someone was a Ganni girl?

• Why did you stop shopping and wearing Ganni?

• What do you think Damson Madder is getting right as a brand?

A total of 45 self-identified ex-Ganni girls replied (if you were one of them, pls email me for a comped month sub!).

Below the fold, I share the top data findings, themes, and kicker quotes.

1) What did you love about Ganni in the 2010s?

Here were four few words that came up repeatedly:

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I met my partner in college. You could say that we had a quintessential campus romance, one that started with me lending a pencil during Econ class. This was during the mid-2010s, so while dating apps existed, they were still relatively new. In hindsight, it feels like we were among the last wave of couples who met before the widespread adoption of apps.

As a result, I have no firsthand experience with what it’s like to use them. So I’m fascinated when my friends tell me about their Hinge stories. Like when they describe how they navigate the online dating “relationship escalator”—the points at which people move their conversation off the app, how the talking stage unfolds over text, the progression to a first date, etc. They often express how exhausting it is to go through the motions of noncommittal interest that fizzles out on a never-ending cycle, and going on "cleanses” where they delete the app until they’re ready to re-download.

Maybe it’s because I’m an eldest sister, but I take my role as a friend very seriously when it comes to being there for my friends who are using dating apps. But instead of doling out advice based on my personal experiences, I just try to listen without judgement, and simply sit with them through the feelings of uncertainty and confusion. I’ll also check that they got home after a date safely, or offer to debrief together over Facetime or brunch. I’m also a strong believer that platonic love is just as important as romantic love, and the depth of the friendships you nurture can teach you what you want in a romantic relationship.

In contrast to an online dating profile, my first encounter with my partner was in-person. We saw each other in real life before we saw photos of each other. I don’t think it was a “better” or “superior” way to date—and I lack the personal experience to even compare the two—it was just different. Sometimes I wonder, if we lived in a parallel universe where we met on an app, would the trajectory of our relationship have unfolded in the same way? How would he have perceived my hypothetical profile, and vice versa? I truly have no idea, but it’s a compelling thought experiment that crosses my brain every now and then.

Earlier in April, at a dinner party hosted by psychotherapist Esther Perel, I had the chance to reflect on the role I play for my friends who are currently on dating apps. Nine guests, including myself, were ushered into the glass-paneled Eames House Studio tucked in the winding roads of Pacific Palisades. We sat around a table, nibbling on asparagus risotto and whitefish as Esther facilitated a conversation about the biggest issues Gen Z faces when it comes to modern dating. At first, I felt a twinge of imposter syndrome because (1) I was the oldest person there aside from Esther and (2) I don’t have firsthand experience with dating apps. What could I contribute to the conversation?

But my anxieties quickly melted as I realized it was okay—more than okay, actually—to be there as an active and supportive listener, in the same way that I try to show up for my close friends.

As my fellow dinner party guests started talking about their dating frustrations and philosophies, I was struck by the universality of the relational dynamics that came up. One person shared that they recently broke up with their girlfriend and are starting to casually date again, but knew they needed some time before the next serious relationship. As others responded with similar anecdotes, I shared that I felt the same way after a friend breakup. Two people talked about the feeling of “delayed timelines” and being “late bloomers” in their queer dating journeys, their sentiment best summed up with the quote “why was everyone sooooo afraid to be gay in high school!?!?” That made us all laugh.

There were several moments where I’d make eye contact with someone else over the glowing wax candles, and we’d exchange a smile that simply said, “I’m present, I see you, I hear you.” The fact that no one was on their phone definitely helped create that intimate environment. I felt like everyone was really open and vulnerable with their stories, and whatever they chose to share deserved to land on empathetic ears.

The contemporary forces of social media and dating apps have created a unique set of challenges in which people are trying to find love. The word “performative” was used countless times. But humans have always been humans. Terms like “ghosting” and “situationships” and “divine feminine” may be new to the mainstream cultural lexicon, but the underlying dynamics have always existed. I may have never known dating apps—but I know what it’s like to feel insecure, to fear rejection, to yearn for connection.

I told Esther and everyone at the table that when people ask me about dating or relationship advice, I’m hesitant to give it. Not because I don’t want to help! But because I think people are far too inundated with pop psychology “advice” and other peoples’ opinions online. What works for me won’t necessarily work for you. In fact, it probably won’t, because we are completely different people.

There’s value in sharing dating/relationship experiences because it makes us feel less alone, but I would never give you prescriptive advice like what to text your crush or whether doing long-distance is right for you. One thing our group agreed on over a post-dinner tea circle was that Gen Z could benefit from consuming less dating advice on the internet. It’s honestly such a gift to debrief dates with my friends and laugh and cry and scream and just be a witness to the full range of human emotion in the pursuit of love. We all need more human presence, not more advice from strangers.

At the end of the night, Esther said something quite simple but true that stuck with me: “I may have a lot of opinions, but I’m not always right.” In a world where dating discourse is louder than ever, we’d all be wise to remember that.

xo viv

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