a miu miu print so nice, i bought it thrice.
30 similar pieces in the secondhand sonar google doc 🌀
Hi! This week has felt so long. Today I’m picking up some Vivienne Tam skirts from the tailor and going to a mahjong for beginners event in the evening. Now that I’m typing that out, I realize that I should wear my Vivienne skirt to mahjong.
Before I get to the secondhand sonar topic, here are some recent noteworthy threads from the chat. I love how active everyone is over there!
Today is the official launch of the USPS Goodnight Moon stamps, though it’s been available for pre-order. Please let me know if you see them IRL at your local post office. And I’d like to see your Goodnight Moon inspired outfits.
Elsa Peretti bean-mania continues. Nicole found a bean link bracelet at a flea market for £3 and Gweny’s mom casted one in silver for her.
Where to buy vintage Issey in stellar condition? My recommendation is to buy from Japanese resellers (step- by-step guide here). However, with the tariffs and De Minimis ending, proxy shipping from Japan is going to get more expensive. How will this change my buying behavior? I’ll still shop jp ebay because there is nowhere else I’m getting pristine Martiniano glove flats or Auralee hard twist jeans for under $100. Just be prepared for the deals to be not *quite* as steep.
GAP x Doen is all over my timeline. I didn’t buy anything from the first drop and don’t plan to shop this one either (mostly because I know how to find vintage that looks like Doen), but what do you think?
Today’s secondhand sonar drop is inspired by the FW2000 Miu Miu swirl print.
After buying these vintage Miu Miu pants ON SIGHT from Magda Violet for about $140 (I am elated that I don’t need to hem them!!!), I’ve found myself hypnotized by the loopy crescent swirls of red white and black. I love this print because it reminds me of fingernail clippings, silver hairs, knockoff Jackson Pollock paintings and Vegas casino carpet.
This is one of my all-time favorite Miu Miu prints…so much so that I actually have the matching top. Got this one for $60 on Poshmark. It feels very serendipitous, the fact that these decades old pieces were reunited after being scattered by the winds of time. They were meant to be worn together.
If I were a hypnotherapist, this would be my daily uniform.
For reference—the print on the runway. This collection had lots of 1940s influences, you can see it in the draped neckline scarf-tie.
The third piece I own in this print is technically not from Miu Miu. It’s from a Y2K brand called Mannequins, and I bought it last year on Poshmark for $35. My theory is that certain prints were popular around the same time (early 2000s) and some brands were able to source the same fabrics to construct similar styles. Up close, the print is exactly the same as the Miu Miu one, and it’s 100% silk, so I really don’t care that it is not “authentic Miu Miu.” I’m in it for the print!
The swirl is a gateway to increasingly psychedelic, mesmerizing prints.
Like my Miu Miu holographic swirl purse (aka the Turkish delight purse). It evokes a sense of Y2K digital futurism.
Beyond Miu Miu, there are other designers who sent swirly pieces down the runway in the early 2000s. Here is the Tom Ford Gucci take on psychedelic swirls with an all-black look.
I would consider zebra print of the cousin the swirl print. It’s sexy and understated, accentuating the movement of your body in the simple visual language of black and white.
Once you are zebra-pilled, tiger will start appealing to you. This Vivienne Tam tiger print dress is one of my vintage grails, but every one I’ve seen is way out of my budget.
My guess is that fast fashion microtrends have ruined swirl and swirl-adjacent prints for many of us. (I’m specifically thinking of the House of Sunny pastel prints from the early 2020s that are now sitting in Goodwill bins across America). But don’t let that turn you off from playing with prints. In the spirit of the Custo Barcelona tops, sartorial nonconformity is more important than ever.
How to know if a print speaks to you:
does it stir an striking visual association—like fingernail clippings or Vegas carpet?
you can’t explain why, but you can’t stop staring at it
this is something you have never seen before in your entire life, it offers true novelty
I don’t have any advice for styling these prints without looking like a microtrend stew except for this: you have to genuinely like it. When you like something, it will make you joyful, and you will exude that joy organically, which will be felt by others.
Here are 30 swirl-inspired pieces to wear this spring, which you can shop in the google doc beneath the fold:
So many gorgeous prints, and many under $100. I also added a golden bean necklace and some silver cuffs, in honor of Elsa Peretti’s birthday :)