consider the magpie
consider the magpie
+ 15 pairs of fun printed pants in this week's secondhand sonar roundup.
This Monday I had a “school night” hangout at a friend’s place. None of us are in school, but there is a specific energy about it that reminds me of grade school socialization. It’s 9pm. We are all tired from work. I showered around 8:30pm, changed into inside clothes (not pajamas but not outside clothes) and drove over with some clam chowder (the
recipe…it’s good) I had made for dinner. There was no concrete activity or plan. We just all marinated in Monday melancholia, sat on the ground, nibbled on parmesan bread, talked about whatever. I brought a Sandy Liang pullover for K to try on, and she let me try on her Tabi collection.
N had a box of old Seiko watches, so we decided to paw through the selection. He laid out every watch (vintage, non-functional, requires battery repair) but I wouldn’t use a watch for its functional purposes anyways. To me a watch is a decorative bracelet. And in this particular wave of analog fetish within fashion, I don’t think I’m the only one who views vintage watches that way.
I found 3 watches I liked and brought them home with me. A silvery modernist one that reminded me of a scaly fish, a gold modernist one with little dark shiny speckles, and a leather strap one in a rich brown hue.
But the best part was feeling like a group of magpies, hovered over a cluster of shiny old objects, examining them with beakish fervor, admiring the glints of gold, silver and mother-of-pearl under the glow of artificial indoor light.
Playing. At some point we discovered that the watches could be linked together, so we made a Seiko watch chain belt and that felt very Chopova Lowena in its treatment of reworked metal objects. We may not have been the Project Runway team with the most technical expertise, but we had the most heart!
The experience reminded me that I needed to re-connect with my inner magpie. (Actually, it’s been debunked as a myth that magpies like shiny objects, but the cultural meaning of a magpie persists and I’m into it).
Lately I have struggled to find balance in my writing practice. Between the “there’s deeper meaning to this” pieces about ideas and the “it’s really not that deep” pieces about objects. I can get into a deeply obsessive research mode about ideas and big-picture stories. It fuels me in a specific way, but it’s also not sustainable. After I hit publish I often feel free. The intellectual responsibility has been lifted off my shoulders, and I have to tend to my neglected embodied self now. I am a body, not just a brain—and those other non-brain parts are just as deserving of attention and care.
If every single piece were a sociological analysis of something something something, I would lose my mind. (And reader….you might too!).
I am trying to be more observant of these magpie moments. You’ll know it when you feel it…it’s that combination of surprise and delight.
Like when I was getting lunch at Middle East Market and peered over the glass into the jiggly swirly rows of Turkish Delight candies, and realized it looked just like the print on my vintage Miu Miu bag. I just couldn’t help but smile because how random and divine that these two objects look so similar but were created independently of one another? (I mean who knows though, maybe Miss Prada is a fan of Turkish Delight).
I look at this photo collage and feel like everything is connected.
Tell me about your most recent magpie moment in the comments!
Secondhand Sonar: FUN PRINTED PANTS
I also want to remind everyone about this paid subscriber perk—access to the secondhand sonar google doc.
It’s a google doc that I update with stuff I think you’ll like/stuff I enjoy as I do secondhand shopping research online (an ambient 24/7 lol). The reason it’s a google doc is because:
1). I needed something more efficient for sharing links in a casual, non-aesthetic way. It saves me time with all the fussy Substack formatting, so I can focus on the actual value it delivers: well-curated secondhand clothing. I spend no time on the extra frills and marketing. The document doesn’t look pretty, but the clothes are.
2). I needed something more dynamic for sharing secondhand finds. Newsletter posts work well in a static format. But I found myself not liking how my secondhand roundup posts would age because things would sell out. ALSO secondhand listings can go fast, so if I waited to send out one newsletter with say, 10 links, 3 of them might be sold already if I sit on them for a day. Ugh!
So that’s why I use this doc. Here’s the feedback I gathered from you, and I double-starred the ones that multiple people asked for. Thank you for trusting me with your feedback.
This week’s roundup is FUN PRINTED PANTS. There are 15 pairs in the doc right now, all secondhand, and size options ranging from XS-3XL. Somewhat inspired by the Prada ugly-chic tile print ones I got from Japanese eBay.
Throughout the next week, I will be dropping more fun printed pants in the doc as I come across them online.
Feedback for future roundups:
Fun printed pants**
Puffers + wool coats**
Vtg Prada + Miu Miu shoes
Long skirts
Chunky jewelry
Water repellent green trench coats
Vtg purses
More 14/16+ sizes!
That’s all for today!