edit: FEBRUARY (2021)
hey there,
I think it's time to talk about uniforms! Those creatively cloned outfits patiently waiting for you to get up every morning.
Five super important truths why you should have yours,
or the paradox of the sameness:
> IT’S INEVITABLE. I remember turning thirty and my mom approaching me in a cloud of suspense (I am good at sensing delicate subjects from afar). I rolled my eyes, prepared to listen to her talking about me getting older and having babies. Those who know my mom (a few of you) are aware of how she can bulldozer any touchy topic and make it so uncomfortable you want to cringe. But all she wished was to talk about my t-shirts. “Baby, you can’t wear t-shirts all of your life,” she said with a deeply concerned face, dipping a cookie into her coffee. Like my chances to ever have those children depended on a piece of jersey I was wearing every day in a very industrious manner. I burst out laughing. No matter how religiously I love my bulldozer mom, my t-shirts are none of her business. Thus, circling back to the uniform, I can assure you, if you like something, there is an explanation for it. It’s a part of who you are. Therefore, never give up on it. “We instinctively love what is right for us,” writes Louise Erdrich in this February’s Vogue. I'm not saying I'd have fought for my then ten-bucks-outlets jerseys. Since that birthday threshold I cave into soft James Perse ones with a sensual oval neck, which now I have a whole rack of on rotation. They make me happy. Probably the next level would be to shorten them to a perfect length after shopping but such a luxury can definitely wait till I turn fifty (I've still got time 🤪).
Not long ago I grasped how moving to California, living in my LA bubble, in this perfect t-shirt weather, and at one point working for James Perse’s dad - all this connected into a peculiar little puzzle, which deciphers as “she is simple & straightforward, wants to be comfortable, and doesn't like what is overly girly (maybe except the bedroom).” That sums me up. So, go on, open your closet, and tell me what makes you ecstatic. Once I used to wear a lot of denim (still do) but could easily give it up. Anyway, I think no one makes good jeans anymore. But that’s another tassel. What does your little puzzle say about you? What’s your game?
> IT’S FUCKING PRACTICAL. Who wants to give up 45 minutes of their precious REM sleep and, instead of flushing their brain from toxins and reformatting it, to make looks in front of a dark early morning mirror? Honestly! It’s cool to do it when you have a special occasion. Like, inauguration. The world scrutinized the new fashion icon - Kamala Harris' stepdaughter Ella Emhoff. Her Miu Miu coat with a peaking vintage blouse collar, her playful eyebrow moves. Don’t get me wrong - I loved it so very much. I loved those unshaved young armpits on her Instagram. And I do love your crazy, bright, larger than life zoom outfits with home plants in the background. But “on a special occasion.” That means I can count 364 days of time saving and put it towards something personally exciting. It gives you more hours for books, sex, and bread-baking (in whatever order you prefer). It also shows you are being smart with your time and brainpower when getting new clothes because you always look for the similar pieces. ALWAYS doesn't mean it’s the same thing over the years. Most likely, a good uniform is a variation of strategic sameness, which brings you consistency & recognition, as you become predictable. And being stylistically predictable (with the right connotation) is a sweet sensation. Take the example of Franca Sozzani. She rarely wore the same clothes, but her dress silhouettes were always quite matching, her blouses and coats had an alike shoulder, her hair and make-up were very cohesive, her shoes were always having a comparable nose or heel. Find what makes you shine and use the rest of your golden time to grow & feed the sourdough. Or wandering your city streets like Fran Lebowitz.
> YES, you get this crazy confidence when you are constantly rewearing your looks. Like kind of - “I am this person, deal with it.” In no time you will be surprised how things change in your life, and suddenly you become a derivative of your uniform in bright blues or whites, or add a new hairstyle that transforms everything into a more refined and perfected version of you. You can reinvent yourself with ease by switching from monochromatic into pastel Liberty prints, and from Liberty prints into oranges, after discovering that your North Node is in Virgo. Then you, yourself, become in charge (not because of the nodes, but the uniform). And being in charge is very enticing.
> THERE IS A LOVE STORY BEHIND IT. It just gives you that “what?!” facial expression when suddenly you realize you have been wearing this spin-off of yours for months. You stop worrying about clothes. For instance, even if lockdown grimness makes me long for dressing up, I will still be spotting the same looks again and again because when you get used to it, there is no way back. It empowers you to step out of this “who-wears-what” game. You just stop giving a damn as you are guided only by your own pleasure. If something makes you blush when you see it - go for it. If those shoes make you smile and keep them on your zoom bookshelf for a minute - get them. If after touching this awesome silk jumpsuit in the shade of lime you suddenly change your mind about never wearing greens and then can’t stop thinking about owning it for at least two days (my rule of the thumb) - buy it. If there is no love behind it, there is no need to invest yourself in it. Simple as that.
> IT’S NOT BORING. Who said that uniforms are dull? No one. Oh, WAIT! My beloved editor from her GMT+1 Swiss mountain shack just emailed me back with (RE: read this!??) a pour-over of sad lukewarm reminiscences on her soviet uniform. She spent most of her youth in it (by the way, me, too). Was it nostalgia for her young days or a political commentary? She berated that flat, stiff and cold ex-soviet reality that is mostly remembered in black & white with exception of those shitty brown austere wool school anoraks. I agree, they were really itchy, and youth is a fleeting thing. After a couple of digital exchanges we had fifteen minutes of a trans-continental cathartic mediation and came into agreement that a forced choice and all kinds of restrictions will never compare to the answers you courageously and open-heartedly find for yourselves. Vive la résistance!!
So, look into the uniform. It’s not a “capsule wardrobe” and it’s not “a minimal closet.” I would call it your INTUITIVE WARDROBE. A perfect way to reduce consumption. A perfect way to stop whining that you don’t have anything to wear. It binds “true you”, your time + money, confidence, and emotions into something you always craved becoming. Something you will enjoy every day all the time. Something that will teleport you into your exciting future. And, of course, I am ready to help you. Just email me, if you'd like me to gently bulldozer you into this new thinking.
Steps to take towards your uniform. Answer candidly:
What do you like? It's the same exercise as for a new couple plunging into sexual adventures, just less blushing. Write it down.
What do you wear? Even if you eat lettuce every day, you switch up the sauces, right?
Bind the first with the second: do you wear what you like?
What’s missing? Salt, spice or honey? How do you know what you like? Or what would you like?
Where does it all bring you? To a therapist? Just kidding. To a sixty-eight-year-old skiing instructor Johnny reigning over St Moritz? To a back facialist? (thanks to my client who shared one with me).
Does this process make you feel happier & purged? Maybe we just need to find a new perfume with a hint of sage for you. Or a good tailor to make those skirts shorter.
Cool. I'm so happy we finally started with these baby steps.
Now, do your homework, and don’t forget to subscribe to our notorious “barely-there” newsletter!
#uniform #theparadoxoflife
Yurga
// February 2021
This image is a perfect illustration of why having a uniform is not only all those things I mention in the article above but also a sort of emergency relief. That day I got up at 4AM in Vilnius to catch my flight to Frankfurt and to land somewhere in Italy in the afternoon. The whole neighborhood black-out that night was the only one I could recall since the 90’s. So, I had to navigate the night to the cab using my iPhone flashlight. Since I usually wear a pretty similar boyfriend t-shirt for sleep (not all the time though!!!) and for the day, my pajama top ended-up following all the trip: protecting from that pitch-black stress, and cozily wrapping me in the sleep on those two planes. Worn with an oversized black linen jacket, this intuitive extension of me was a good reminder that when you find something you like, even in the middle of the night, you can just get up and go.
AND here are things that excite me right now >
1) The idea of a Kundalini yoga retreat in Tulum with my girlfriends. In 2022. I am a big fan of delayed gratification.
2) Vegan butter and cheese from Miyoko’s Creamery. My butter dough galettes are going vegan (which I am not to be factually accurate).
3) This book on money: stories on wealth, greed and happiness. So well written.
4) Rye Sablés by Apollonia Poilâne. Her grandmother called them “punissions” (punishments). Find out why! Or try her Avocado toast with bananas, chili flakes and honey. Impressed with her sensual simplicity and wisdom.
5) This rising sign video! Funny and good as a procrastination break.
6) Finally got onto Michael Lewis fans team with his book on the friendship of Kahneman and Tversky. Thank you, Thomas!
7) Simplistic Rory Sutherland’s thought: “the opposite of a good idea can also be a good idea.” Rewiring myself with this.
8) Sugaring LA do-it-yourself waxing kits that are biodegradable. Messy waxing at home purgatory is definitely not for me (to the horror of two my beloved hair stylists, I would rather cut my own hair than wax myself) but this looks like a neat lockdown project. If you are tired of your hairy arms (me).
9) Did you know that Francis Fukuyama is also a pretty good woodworker? Can’t get enough of his Instagram.
10) And this scientific paper just wins everything. Could not just scroll away and not click on it: “how do wombats poop cubes?”.
+ our visual board for February:
ABUSE OF POWER COMES AS NO SURPRISE. No surprise at all. How many views Alex Navalnij movie has right now? Last time I checked was over 100M. He was sentenced for more than two years of prison. // photo: Times Square, 1982 by Jenny Holzer.
Exercise for those beautiful behinds. Twenty five minutes a day.
Hermès lipsticks (for their packaging mainly!). To stack them up as decor on my desk. And then open-and-close one - catching this sexy ‘click’ sound when trying to come up with a word substitute in front of my laptop. Favorite choice (I haven’t tried them all) is the chapstick. But for $67?! Only because it’s fun, and invented by Christine Nagel, Hermès first female perfumer who tests scents she is working on by spraying her car with them and leaving overnight until she is headed to work again. // photo
Renata Litvinova with her daughter in Paris. Just because.
MENDING: the magic of your moth gatherings discovered during the lockdown.
YES, Fran Lebowitz has a perfect uniform. Exemplaire, I would say!! Besides her smarts & wits, those are good things to master. "About one third of people in the street in New York City have a yoga mat. That alone would keep me from yoga." She has “never made a good real estate decision in life.” She hates working and would prefer to lie on her sofa and read all day. She doesn’t believe in guilty pleasures (“I don’t feel guilt at feeling pleasure”). She is unashamedly herself, and all the cooler for it. In a society that fetishes youth, health, and the monetisation of everything we do, this attitude feels revolutionary. Her lack of self-consciousness and self-loathing is defiant and freeing” - excerpt from Harper’s Bazaar.
Franca Sozzani and her very feminine style. The movie made by her son reveals how strikingly independent and untamed she was. And so soft to look at the same time. The paradox of life. Once again. // photo: Matthieu Salvaing for AD.
Jean Arp was a French sculptor, painter, and poet - one of the leaders of the European avant-garde during the first half of the 20th century. Also a favorite artist of Peggy Guggenheim, a millionaire heiress with taste, brains, and a wildcat persona. Above, a wall sculpture from “The Nature of Arp” retrospective in 2019.
Our Penis / Key collection is here to remind you to harness your masculine energy. ALSO, we are working on something top secret that we think you would like! Subscribe to our newsletter to learn about it before everyone does.
Same old obsession with elegant and quirky new-Bottega girl. She surely has the best black uniform in town.
Candle set by Raf Simons for his new digital platform www.historyofmyworld.com. Was sold out in hours. So pretty.
The scarf I am hunting: hesitated for too long when it was released in 2018. “Awoooo!” drawing by Alice Shirley for Hermès. While you are worried about your “shorted stocks” I wish I got five of these and would resell them now for a small fortune. Resonates with the book by Jungian analyst Clarissa Pinkola Estès: “Women Who Run With the Wolves” on the archetype of wild women.
My beloved grandmother. Miss her summer raviolis with wild blueberries. She would have turned 90 this year.
Perfect jacket for your morning run. This one is an old Patagonia from before Wall Street guys took over that brand. Look for more vintage here.
Who wants to start a pink indoors garden project with me? Here is a super nice reportage on how to care for houseplants. AND pink leaves I am eyeing. // photo
Neat (as always!) Sacai x Nike collaboration. How can we talk uniforms without talking sneakers?! To please my Virgo North Node. The shoes will be released sometime this year.
Is it ALREADY summer?! Gilles Rigoulet started his photography career around 1975 with Le Monde newspaper. These Molitor Pool series are pure magic: “1985. I’m taking a 28 francs ticket to enter, go to the mixed lockers and arrive around a pool already full of swimmers. I put down my bath towel and take my Nikon, climb the passageway where there are cabins, I’m overlooking the pool. Nobody pays attention to me, no embarassment, no need for authorization. The bodies are brushing against each other. The young women loosely roll their swimsuits one-piece on their hips, or remove the top of their bikini, attentive to the marks of the tan. They swim bare breasts. Children make "bombs", jump, dive. The skin beaded with drops, people are having an after-bath cigarette.”
I keep my memories in museum quality frames. This more affordable priced startup is a very good help.
Books department: Clarissa Ward released her memoir. On being a conflict reporter. But also pregnant in the war zone, told by Fox’s Roger Ailes to let her hair down, and working as Uma Turman’s stand-in in “Kill-Bill” right after graduating from Yale.
Shio Kusaka (she is also Jonas Wood’s wife!) makes those cute porcelain animals. Can’t get enough of them. The pieces are hard to find, but Blum & Poe exhibition album is still available. // photo
