TheRealGirl swings and misses

a spring digest of fashion thoughts, bay area recs, shoe recs & more.

“After reading all your free previews for a while, I got a paid subscription to The Molehill as a Christmas gift and let me just say, I’m eating SO good.” - K, paid reader

Morning! Today’s newsletter is more lifestyle-y and Bay Area centric. I cover:

• why readers don’t trust TheRealReal’s Substack recs

• niche indie references at the Chloé Paris show

• Bay Area restaurant/food recs

• figuring out my dance class wardrobe staples

• boat shoe/mary jane shoe reviews

• I spoke to The Cut culture writer Cat Zhang about fragrance in the Ozempic era:

  Last year, Chen observed a cultural arc in which food is being compressed “from solids to liquids (think soylent, branded as a meal replacement) to gaseous (perfume when sprayed),” as she wrote on Substack. In the era of Ozempic, she speculated, gourmand perfumes could replace dessert.

• The Molehill is in print! If you got the March issue of ELLE, you might have spotted my quote in a story about the Age of Accessories where I talk about the appeal of surrealist stuffed animal purses :)

• The Chloé FW25/26 show closed out to Spring Is Coming With A Strawberry In The Mouth (1986) by Operating Theatre. The track starts when Alexa Chung does her walk (casting + timing of the walk, so intentional). The song has been received as one of the best Irish pop tracks of all time, and the indie fashion girlies probably know it as the song Caroline Polachek covered in 2024. In an interview with Irish music reporter Eoin Murray, Polachek said “I listened to that song on repeat, hundreds and hundreds of times: walking to the studio, to get groceries, in the park, on the train. It really just gave me so much life and vitality…It really got me through the pandemic.” This is the sound of the romantic boho chic revival—cathartic, embodied, resilient. I would not describe my style as boho, but I found myself relating to and feeling inspired by the show, likely because of these niche references.

• Rachel Karten
  observed that the TheRealReal’s first Substack chat missed the mark. In summary, they linked an $8K Dior coat and someone named Gaby commented what we were all thinking: “girl we can’t afford this.” I asked my readers what they thought of TRR’s presence on here, as secondhand fashion enthusiasts who understand both TRR and Substack very well. The prevailing sentiment was that readers like to browse TRR for secondhand shopping, but do not trust the brand’s curation or recommendations on Substack. They feel “advertised to,” which is a big turn-off. One reader said the “blurring between person and brand” feels insidious, adding that ”especially during a time where people report feeling so lonely, here's your fashion friend TheRealGirl!”

  Personally, I don’t think TheRealGirl’s anonymous persona has been used in a creative or innovative way. The power of anonymity is being able to dish juicy stories or taboo confessions!!! There has to be a compelling reason for why her identity is hidden—otherwise, it just starts to feel corny. For example, take the mystery girl who penned this thrilling, sharply self-aware essay about shoplifting from Erewhon. I loved it, and so 787 other people. If TheRealGirl wants to play in the same league as Gossip Girl and Lady Whistledown, she’s gonna need to get bolder and stir the pot.

What I’ve been doing for fun—

• 8 weeks into pole dance and I can finally climb to the top of the pole and touch the ceiling (consistently). The tops of my feet are so bruised but I’m giddy with pride. I also did my first inversion! There is no better feeling than surprisingly yourself by nailing a new skill. Learning something new (intellectually or physically) is so good for you as a human. It’s what we were meant to do. I’m also getting the hang of dressing for dance class: my favorite top is the LA Apparel Crop Top Bra because it’s mostly cotton and similar compression as the Gil Rodriguez tops, but are more affordable and easier to move in. I also feel really cute during warmups in my Loup Fleece-Lined Hoodie, it’s cropped and the fleece lining is so gentle on the skin. As for shorts…I’m still experimenting. I have not found one I wholeheartedly recommend.

• Sunbathing at Strawberry Creek Park in Berkeley is my favorite way to have fun for $0. When the sun is out, I’ll bring a blanket, some snacks, my journal and sometimes my poodle. We hang out and enjoy the people watching and stroll around the creek. I also like to eavesdrop on people’s convos…like first dates and techie job interviews and niche East Bay wine bar drama. The Hidden Cafe is right there (I like the kokuto latte, paloma sparkler, and strawberry milk) and blueberry scones from the pasta shop next door always hit.

Home-cooked meals that delighted me + Bay Area food recs—

• Garlicky labneh avocado toast, tomatoes, cheese slices. I like a lot of variety in my breakfasts (can’t eat the same thing every day) and this is how I add flavor and heft to avo toast. I take a slice of frozen sourdough bread from the freezer and grate a clove of raw garlic on the rough hard surface. Toast it to unlock that aromatic allium flavor. Proceed with a layer of labneh, avo, and whatever fixings your heart desires.

• Delicata squash, brown butter labneh, arugula. This is a riff on the Beit Rima brown butter squash dish. Cut and roast two delicata squashes. Put on top of arugula tossed in whatever evoo dressing you like. The brown butter labneh is what makes the whole dish so rich. Melt a chunk of butter until it gets browned and add brown sugar. Mix it with labneh once it cools down a bit. You can really play with the butter/sugar proportions here, I find that a little goes a long way and I’m not saying that to be annoying.

• Roasted sweet potato, butter, salt. A deeply basic food, I will love it for 3 days in a row and then get sick of it and the cycle repeats. The kelly green handle of the spreader knife is so satisfying against the beta carotene burst of the potato, which has been roasted to a spreadable pudding consistency.

• The next time you are shopping at Berkeley Bowl, consider a bottle of yumé boshi ume plum syrup. I serve it with cold sparkling water and it’s super refreshing and tart. My family loves it. Also a good option for an equally attractive non alcoholic bev at parties.

• Your next brunch plans should be at Tanzie’s, a new(ish) Thai spot in a charming storybook-esque space outfitted with arched stained-glass windows, sage green walls and a roaring brick fireplace. They specialize in Chiang Mai style food, so don’t expect to see pad thai on the menu. You have to order the kanom krok. Texture is custardy coconut perfection with a crispy bottom.

• I was in the Pacific Heights area for an event so I popped into Little Shucker for happy hour. It’s a good deal for raw oysters, especially for San Francisco, but the tomato soup I ordered was quite bland and mealy.

• And I never leave Pac Heights without stopping by b.pattiserie for kouign amann and a black sesame latte (which doesn’t have espresso in it, perfect for me!)

• Not picture, but this miso glazed cod recipe has been a household favorite for transforming Costco black cod into the most angelic soft savory pillow of a fish filet.

Pet topics I’m researching + things I’m reading/watching—

• Pastoral Capitalism—the history of how the American corporation moved from the urban center to the suburbs after WWII and used pastoral landscapes to virtue signal. One of these corporations was Bell Labs (ahem the real-life Lumon campus). Reading Pastoral Capitalism by Louis Mozingo.

• Techno-Orientalism—the way Gemma and Miss Huang are portrayed in Severance and discussed by internet fans got me thinking about Asian women are depicted as cyborgs and robots. Reading Ornamentalism by Anne Anlin Cheng.

• Eggs and the Ovular Form in Design—eggs are expensive rn and the government is taking away reproductive rights (controlling eggs…). obsessed with how our cultural relationship to eggs and fertility has manifested in art.

• Chinoiserie—I am going to pre-order this book, Monstrous Beauty: A Feminist Revision of Chinoiserie. This is also going to be an upcoming exhibition at The Met. I’ve noticed a lot of white women in interior design and fashion gush about chinoiserie as an “eccentric rich auntie” aesthetic and think it’s important to be educated in its history as a distinctly European fantasy of “the East.”

• Victorian San Francisco—this week, a famous blonde TikTok influencer posted about visiting SF and posted an ootd in front of the Painted Ladies. Got me thinking about the urban history of Victorian San Francisco, and how the houses were a result of nouveaux riche’s flamboyant tastes. This quote from Walker goes hard: “This vulgar display was on Thorstein Veblen's mind when he wrote The Theory Of The Leisure Class while teaching at Stanford University […] San Francisco was literally the Las Vegas of its time, from its gambling to its vernacular excesses.”

• Like everyone else, I’m living for Severance Thursdays and White Lotus Sundays. You know I’m a secret Survivor fan so Wednesdays are fun too. This season feels markedly more like Old Survivor—less podcast bros and superfan castings (annoying af), which makes for better TV.

• Labucq Norman Maryjane—I ordered these sample 1/1 pink mary janes from the brand’s Archive Sale. I have the exact style in patent navy, so I knew they were comfortable for me, though they run a little long in the toe box. The strap keeps my foot in place. They haven’t gotten much wear yet because I’ve been so lazy about shoes with laces and buckles. Idk, I’m just in a low energy fashion mood lately and always end up in clogs or slip-ons. But as Slyvia Plath said, in March I’ll be rested, caught up, and human—and then I’ll be wearing these.

• Sezane Caroline Loafer—Boat shoes are everywhere right now, and I had been holding out on them because most of the designs I’ve seen look too…traditional/true to the original boat shoe in the way that Saxon from White Lotus would wear them. I don’t like the khaki colorways, I don’t like a flat/thin sole, I don’t like the ones with the leather scrunching around the toe area. I am picky. Surprisingly, I was interested in Sezane’s take on the boat shoe mostly because of the thicker, almost-platform? sole. It looks like a chunky loafer; the “boat” element is subtle. I ordered them with leftover gifted site credit. I’m drawn to the toe shape and genuinely love how they look. Someone on IG asked me if they comfortable and my honest answer is they’re medium-comfy. They take time to break in—the backs of my ankles get cut up if I don’t wear socks. I won’t pretend this is supple leather, because it’s not. So far I’ve worn these for dinner out, cafe work sessions, strolling in the park, grocery store runs. They slip on easily, give me a bit of height, and look great with all sorts of socks.

• Cuyana work tote—To be honest, a work tote is my last choice of bag…I’d much rather carry my vintage Miu Miu purses as a fashion statement, but when I need to get shit done at a cafe, this is the tote I use. It’s boring as hell. I mean, it’s just a black leather tote with two sets of straps, you know? But I’ve had it for about 2 years and it’s not going anywhere. I recently got a dragon dance Monchichi for $15 from jp ebay which makes it…less corporate looking.

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The last cool thing I want to share with you: vintage strawberry stamps from around the world. I can’t wait until the grocery store strawberries start getting darker, smaller, and sweeter.

xoxo viv

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