Love letter: functional clothing
Thanks, it has pockets! Also: things to make small talk about, reader advice for bad-day outfits, fashion wisdom from an unlikely source & more
Hello friends, lovers, and former high school classmates who stumbled upon this Substack from my Instagram bio!
Welcome to this week’s edition of Style & Error, where I talk about getting dressed through the lenses of art, travel, and sustainability. If that sounds a little high-minded, hang on a sec, because things are gonna get… tangential.
In this edition:
In praise of *real* wrap dresses
Style small talk: The easy listening of news roundups
Reader responses: What’s your bad day backup plan?
Parting wisdom from a special guest & a bonus Reductress callback
In praise of *real* wrap dresses
I have a bone to pick with vestigial details on clothing. You know, stuff that’s there for decoration, but is sort of skeuomorphic in that it’s the grandchild of something useful. Like tiny fake pockets on women’s clothing, or button plackets that don’t actually open.
On the other hand, there’s something deeply satisfying about functional clothing. I know I’m not alone, because “Thanks, it has pockets!” has become the refrain of smart cuties everywhere. Bonus points if you shove your hands into said pockets and swirl your skirt around a little.
Enter the wrap dress: a dress that actually opens all the way up like a robe, and closes with two sets of adjustable ties. In addition to being romantic and almost universally flattering, I love wrap dresses because (1) they size up and down with your body and (2) they give you a chance to show a lil’ leg if you want to. And I always want to.
I had a ton of fun over the weekend shopping for this dress, which has an all-over daisy print that adorably inspired my son to say, “Mommy, like-a flowers!”
I do prefer to shop secondhand, but in this case, I needed a dress pronto for a kids’ birthday party with a bunch of intimidatingly stylish (wealthy) Italian moms. I took advantage of this opportunity to drop by a little boutique here in Bologna that I’ve been walking past for months, thinking I probably couldn’t afford anything inside. I was pleasantly surprised at the price point, which was Zara-esque, but with way better options.
In the boutiques here in Italy, there’s inevitably a friendly attendant with a fantastic knowledge of what’s available. At first, I was a little overwhelmed by the close attention, but unlike in the U.S., I don’t feel pressured to buy anything if I can’t find the right item.
While I unfortunately can’t vouch for the sustainability of the fabric, I do like that this dress was made in Italy, and I’m happy that the wrap design means I’ll be able to keep it in my wardrobe even if my weight fluctuates.
I asked, you answered: What’s your bad day backup plan?
Last week’s post really resonated! Thanks to a lively Instagram Stories Q&A, I got to find out what you all wear when Mercury’s in the microwave.
The results are in, and you say…
YES TO: Stompy boots, baseball caps, turtlenecks, cheerful accessories, soft things (from hoodies to sweatsuits to full-on PJs), clothing that’s just one piece (overalls, jumpsuits, flowy dresses)
NO TO: Bras, makeup, hard clothes of any kind, belts, bras. Did I mention we’re not wearing bras?
Three main approaches emerged:
Physical comfort is king. These people snuggle into their favorite things and cancel all their appointments. I applaud their commitment to self-care.
Dress for revenge. Philosophy: If you can’t cancel your appointments, attack them. These warriors confront an off day with Hot Girl Clothing and probably a pair of Docs for kicking ass.
Default dressing. Their rule of thumb is to keep a safe and classic backup outfit on standby. A black turtleneck, baseball cap, jeans—or their personal equivalent. Brilliant in its zen-like simplicity. Accept the bad day, do your best, and keep going.
Thank you to everyone who chimed in! I’ll definitely be posing more questions in the future. It was fun to read your honest (and witty) feedback.
Do you have a question you want answered? Drop it in the comments, or slide into my DMs. I’d love to make content just for you ;)
Style small talk
Some incredibly low-stress news tidbits. Use them to strike up a fun and interesting conversation this week.
Would you shop a livestream? According to Forbes, Poshmark is piloting a program called Shows, which sounds like QVC meets LuLaRoe Facebook group. Not hugely appealing to me as either a seller or a buyer, but apparently shopping livestreams has already caught on in Asia, which could mean it’s headed our way sometime soon. Regardless, I do absolutely love to see innovation in the secondhand shopping space.
Thoughts on vegan sneakers? Apparently a big makeup company and a big shoe company is having a baby, and the gender reveal shows it’s… a line of fairly run-of-the-mill athletic shoes!! But made without animal products! I’m no sneakerhead, so feel free to argue with me on matters of taste here (I encourage it, actually). However, I do get that little greenwashing Spidey sense whenever I see a big marketing push using the V-word, especially slapping that label on non-food items.
Whether the vegan label allows you to “pair your fashion with your principles,” as their marketing copy suggests, depends on whether you’re more concerned about kindness to animals or environmentalism. Either way, I’d like to explore those claims a bit, as they sometimes turn out to be disingenuous publicity ploys. Plus, if we’re talking personal principles, it’s kind of a slippery slope, isn’t it? After all, the best thing you can do is probably just wear the sneakers you have.
Like hiding vegetables in your baked goods, the delightfully unchallenging reality series Love Island is continuing its partnership with eBay to promote secondhand shopping. This time, their “Pre-Loved Ambassador” is a vanilla bean of a man named Tom Clare (is this a celebrity? I am out of touch).
Apparently the company wants to encourage men to shop used clothing, because their research shows men are much less likely to have tried secondhand than women. But, like, have you ever visited the Goodwill men’s section? It’s so tragic—I wouldn’t try it either. Here’s hoping eBay’s offerings are better, and that dudes everywhere hop off the fast fashion train because super-famous reality hottie Tom Clare is doing it. Shrug.
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Until next week…
I’d like to leave you with a bit of fashion wisdom from my partner in life and in crime, who is stuck listening to me pine for every dress in every window here in Italy, the Instagram Husband behind my outfit photos, (drum roll please) the one and only Tom Gatto:
“I don’t think tall people should wear yellow, because they look like bananas.”
Somebody’s been watching Curious George again.
Kisses,
R
P.S. In case you’ve never seen it, a favorite of mine….