winter break brain dump

last minute gifts, $250 worth of jewelry alterations, heated rivalry's archive fashion moment, and a new book by the bay area's high priestess of perfume.

It’s winter solstice and I’m going to the grocery store to get some potatoes and broccoli for dinner later. On my way, I saw this yellow school bus passing through the flame orange foliage, and a wave of “winter break feeling” rushed over me.

It feels like being 19 and coming home from fall semester of sophomore year and wanting to get out of the house, but you can’t actually drive yet, so you walk 0.7 miles to the beach in an olive green zara parka and mesh paneled leggings for a taste of FREEDOM. It feels like watching TV shows on your laptop at 4:30pm in the living room with the stove exhaust screeching from the kitchen as you wait for your sibling to finish showering so you can finally use the bathroom.

Time feels extra fake during this time of year. The days are just a soupy vat of suburban-coded errands (meat counter pre-orders…), stupid administrative tasks (what if I just ignore this Vox harassment training video…), hitting YES on the “are you still watching?” TV prompt (judgy bitch…), and plodding around the house in fur-lined slippers with a tuna melt to sit down for yet another Heated Rivalry rewatch.

In an attempt to cut through the mental molasses, here are my highlights from last week.

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Last-minute gift shopping

• Ebiko in Oakland is my favorite spot for high-quality sushi at pretty reasonable prices. (It’s takeout only, so the low overheard helps with cost I’m sure). My sibling introduced me to Ebiko and loves getting the torched salmon for lunch, so I got them a gift card because who wants to make their own lunch after going back to work in January???

• Got a demi-gloss hair treatment to even out the color— my ends can get brassy from when I’d lightened it this summer. Now my hair is giving witchy raven, and I wanted a pair of lighter/warmer glasses to counterbalance the jet black-ness a bit. So, I went to the Warby Parker 4th Street location and picked up a pair of amber orange readers (sponsored mention) as a present to myself.

  

  in hindsight i think the turtleneck plus the glasses plus the hairstyle looks overly stern. but whatever, this really hasn’t been a stylish week and that’s fine.

• Berkeley Bowl is my go-to for last minute food gifts. Think jams, honeys, preserved snacks, tinned seafood, honeycomb chocolate, etc. I need to grab a few things for the relatives…I also guarantee you that a BB gift card would be the most COVETED thing at a White Elephant.

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Picking up jewelry alterations

This was the most interesting errand of the week. In November, I brought three items to Aster Jewelers to get altered.

Here’s what the process was like and how it all turned out:

My pieces:

• Elsa Peretti bean locket (wanted to shorten the chain)

• vintage silver cuff (wanted this tightened)

• 10K gold peridot ring (wanted this sized up and stone replaced).

getting my pieces inspected and trying on various cuffs for sizing reference.

Aster is in Montclair which feels like a 90s small town frozen in time.

I liked this handwritten order form with the illustrations.

Here’s how the pieces turned out!

I got the bean locket shorted and love how it sits higher on the necklines I tend to wear! This is one of my most treasured pieces. I’m thrilled to wear this more.

Gosh I must have had this cuff for 3 years…I got it for $80 on eBay and always meant to get it tightened. The tiny abstract star etching makes it feel “me” vs. if it were a plain cuff.

This was the most involved alteration. I got the ring sized up, and the jeweler discovered the original peridot was attached by glue and not very secure, so she suggested getting a new peridot inlaid. I was like yes whatever you think is best for the longevity of the item. The original ring was only $50 (!) so even though the additional cost of labor exceeded that, I think it’s worthwhile for such a unique/semi-bespoke design.

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TV Show Rotation (& Costume Design Thoughts)

Heated Rivalry has consumed every fiber of my being. Episode 5….WTF MY HEART!!!! I was initially intrigued by the premise of an HBO (sorry, Crave) gay hockey romance , but what really pulled me in was the quality of the acting (the Russian accent work…the watery-eyed gazes) and the emotional storytelling. It’s not a fashion-y show in the way that Emily in Paris is, but the costume work captures 2010s male fashion and the Slavic jock/club rat persona with heinous accuracy.

And we do still get one great archive fashion moment with Ilya in JPG! Dedicated newsletter on the show’s costume design coming out soon :) See you at the cottage on Christmas freaks!

I also fell for the tuna melt propaganda.

Pluribus had me hooked from episode 1 because I love Vince Gilligan’s New Mexico and how he creates this compelling cinematic universe out of the American Southwest. Basically, the whole world gets infected with this thing that turns them into a smiley and servile hive mind that talks like ChatGPT. Again, this is not a fashion-y show at all but I appreciate how the costume designer dressed the hive people. They’re wearing the clothes they had on at the time they got infected. It’s all very Old Navy. Nondescript normie American outfits sprinkled in with the occasional work uniform.

Apple TV

I thought it was cool that Diabaté’s colorful suits were inspired by Black Dandyism, according to costume design Jennifer Bryan.

Finally, I Love LA wrapped up its first season yesterday. I thought the finale was sort of weak (needed to build up the tension/stakes between characters just a littttle more imo), but I laughed several times and also screamed “DYLAN, NOOOOOOO.” You can watch my convo with Tara Maria Gonzalez about Episodes 1-4 here:

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Books

The Bay Area has a High Priestess of Perfume, and it’s Mandy Aftel. She’s a total legend in the fragrance world and we are lucky to have her in Berkeley, where you can visit her archive of scents as a weekend activity. She recently published a beautifully illustrated book: Symbolorum, The Secret World of Emblems.

I asked Mandy how living in Berkeley inspired the ideas explored in the book.

"In my generation, Berkeley was the epicenter of the counterculture, and having moved here after growing up in Detroit I was dazzled by the artistic and bohemian atmosphere. That atmosphere is totally alive in the Symbolorum: through beautiful pictures and writing it displays aspects of living a creative life through stories of plants, birds and animals."

W. David Marx is the author of one of my favorite fashion history books (Ametora), and his new book Blank Space tackles big ideas with the same thoroughly-researched precision.

If you miss taking social studies classes in college, you’d like this book. I’ve listened to a few of his podcast guest episodes over the years and he’s a super engaging speaker as well. He said something on a podcast once (forgot which one) that really stuck with me—he described himself as a writer who subsidizes his books/research with income from brand work/consulting.

I thought, huh, I’ve never heard anyone frame it that way but I honestly relate hard.

Happy Holidays!!! Take it easy guys.

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xo viv

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