i've seen my future (anna sui madcap heiress) and it's bright.
secondhand sonar doc updated with 40 pieces inspired nyfw's best
Happy Sunday!
Hope everyone had a sweet Valentine’s Day. You can see what readers wore in the V-Day outfit thread here; I landed on my black silk beaded Sue Wong dress that was covered up by a big coat because it’s been freezing cold in SF.
I thoroughly enjoyed a couple’s dinner of Hong Kong steak, XO snails with milk bread, clay pot rice and red bean shaved ice at Four Kings with my partner. The space itself is a little cramped, in true HK style—most couples were seated along a wall lined with glossy posters of Cantopop divas. The couple behind us scored the coveted Faye Wong table, we ended up at the Anita Mui table (a menswear fashion icon in her own right). I’ll admit that any restaurant using Wong Kar Wai posters to score cool bathroom clout elicits a seed of skepticism (is this a tactic to distract from me from soggy lap cheong…), but no—the food was superb.
I’m confident my parents would approve, though I’m not sure if they’d find the decor to be delightfully nostalgic or corny second-gen-diaspora-core ephemera.
I don’t keep up with every NYFW collection, nor do I read every critic’s review (Rachel Tashjian’s incisive read on the Rowdents is the only one I needed to make sense of the big picture).
But there were a few collections I feel invested in or inspired by this season: Sandy Liang, Colleen Allen, Anna Sui, and Selkie. Please note, I use inspiration quite loosely here—there are some elements of a collection I’ll really latch onto, but it doesn’t mean I love everything about it (I thought the fabrics at Sandy looked cheap). That’s the point of fashion week collections though: to offer a compelling point of view, and let us interpret it for ourselves.
So, there are 40 new items in the secondhand sonar google doc inspired by my favorite looks from fashion week (paid reader perk, link below the fold).
What you can expect to find:
Cotton Victorian style skirts under $100 (inspired by Selkie but didn’t include a collage bc they don’t have imagery on Vogue Runway
Silk coats and dresses with subtle bow details
Satin brocade slippers
Patterned cropped jackets
70s leather + shearling
Here are some visual examples of inspo > what I sourced:
Sandy Liang: Swing Coats, Collared Lady Jackets, Pea Green, Bubblegum Pink
I liked the color combinations a lot, probably because they were so Prada. Like, exactly…and I am drawn to the lady jackets and swing coats. Secondhand is the move here, you can find so many silk gems for under $50.
Colleen Allen: Velvet, Saturated Monochrome, Long Lines, Stand Collars, Hook and Eye Clasps
The use of velvet and claspwork really excites me! And color—we are missing this level of crayola richness these days. Honestly, the jackets look like pieces from my grandma’s closet, something she would wear to my sister’s ballet shows growing up. I think a long velvet gown would be an unexpected, high-impact alternative to a Reformation floral dress for Reformation-type social events (weddings, girls’ trip, birthdays).
Anna Sui: Ornamental Prints, Fur Trim, Old Glamour, Deep Berry and Forest Colors
So, I’m VERY supportive of ornamentalism as an antidote to minimalist beige fascism. The Anna Sui woman, the “madcap heiress,” is the eccentric 40-something year old aunt without children who has niche skills like bookbinding and also has three pet snakes. She has the best coat collection, some of them are old MaxMara and some are bespoke from her tapestry importer friend from college (Bryn Mawr).
