Shopbop is running one of its rare sale promotions — 15% off purchases of $200+; 20% off purchases of $500+; and 25% off purchases of $800+. My favorite finds:
P.P.S. This dress is selling like wild fire — only a few sizes left, under $100 (with promo code), and perfect for Thanksgiving.
P.P.P.S. On making our way through the hardest part of COVID: “It begins with a prayer, and it ends with something laughably, improbably trivial, like the splash of champagne that spilled over the edge of a coupe on my Easter Sunday table as I sat with family after months of separation. Both are reassurances that life — that love — will find a way. It is my mother kneeling and crying at the House of Mary, and it is my mother calling me on the phone to ask: “Did you want me to pack you some snacks for the train ride home? I know you like Cheez-its.” It is the expansiveness of faith and the preening minutiae of motherhood, and one way or the other, we have made it.”
By: Jen Shoop
In seventh grade, my homeroom teacher asked us to select an artwork of our choosing and write an essay on it. I recall classmates groaning at the assignment, but I was delighted. Even now, I get a thrill out of the open-endedness of the prompt, a barely-mantled invitation to corral the ping-ponging thoughts of a twelve-year-old into something of shape. I selected an obscure wood carving by Renaissance artist Albrecht Durer titled “Melencolia.” My election is as close to a portal into the psyche of a 1997-era tween as you will find. The theme was slightly morbid in the way of the Ouija board and dark lipstick and subtle obsession with witchcraft then in vogue, and overtly self-indulgent in the way of a twelve-year-old. These were the years of tamagotchis, sleepovers, passed notes with “do you like Katie? check yes or no,” butterfly clips, lip smackers, spin-the-bottle, boys who wore flannel shirts unbuttoned over white tees, Alanis Morisette, chanting “Bloody Mary” into the mirror, “Teen Wolf,” the Goth trend, pamphlets labeled “Your Changing Body,” the book Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret, chokers, and those hideous black Steve Madden platforms with the stretchy band that conformed to the top of the foot, which my Dad aptly dubbed “clod-hoppers” which he in turn sometimes appended to just “clogs,” which then became a stand-in for any footwear he disliked for the rest of my life. (A strange kitten heel with a jarring buckle on the toe? “A clog,” to my Dad.) Of course, I was too much of a skittish rule-follower to ever actually chant “Bloody Mary” or play the Ouija board. I was convinced that if the devil didn’t get me, my mom would find me with my palms over the board or my hands in front of my face and my life as I knew it would be over. I knew this with confidence because she had once told me that her father (my Granddad, a pious man) was appalled by the cocktail of the same name — or, more accurately, the non-alcoholic variation, the Virgin Mary, and would refuse to order it on naming convention alone, and she delivered this information with such firmness and reverence that I still think about it to this day when I see it on a restaurant menu. Anyhow, I suppose that writing an essay about melancholy was as close to rebellious self-expression as I could get as that time. It is agony to be a tween! was the subtext. Durer gets it.
I think back now and imagine my teacher smirking as he skimmed my loose-leaf paper. Amidst a sea of reflections on “Starry, Starry Night” and Degas’ dancers, here was…Albrecht Durer? Is that even an artist? he might have asked, not having Wikipedia as an easy reference. These were the dial-up days — DOS prompts, computers that weighed a shipping ton, heavily-pixelated Michael Jordan v. Larry Bird, etc. How I even found Durer is a marvel to me, although I am fairly certain it was from a set of encyclopedias my father kept in the basement that we mainly used as “bricks” in fort building but found sporadically useful for oblique self-expression in open-ended essay prompts.
My teacher gave me an “A+,” on the assignment, which was not unusual for me, but added: “See me after class,” which was. My stomach dropped. The last thing I needed was my teacher to ask if I needed counseling, and I was aware enough that my topic might have earned me that conversation. How could I have been so bold?! I immediately started worrying about whether my parents would be called. Would Sister Joan, our principal, be involved in all of this? Ah, the spiraling of a 12 year old Catholic girl!
When I timidly approached my teacher’s desk at lunch, he grinned.
“Durer, huh?” he asked. I gulped, but found the smile disarming enough to begin to resume some posture of normalcy.
As it turns out, he simply wanted to praise me for my writing, and for the effort it must have taken to source the artwork I’d written about. He also looked me square in the eye and said: “Keep writing.”
The episode now reads like a parable to me. I took a risk at self-expression and it was fraught with peril and in the end it not only paid off but spurred me forward.
Keep writing.
Two of my uncles used to say the same thing to me, often in long-form letters. “Still writing fiction?” my Uncle Jim would ask me when I was thirteen, fifteen, nineteen. He’d urge not to stop, once tucking a xeroxed copy of a favorite Salinger short story of his into the envelope, as though an ebenezer for future attempts at fiction.
Keep writing.
My mother enrolled me in writing workshops, sat in audiences at poetry competitions where I would read my work in trembling sotte voce, kept a hand-written story of mine in her bedside table.
Keep writing.
The other day, I sat down and wrote an email to three girlfriends of mine telling them that — without their even knowing it — they had shaped my life as a writer in a meaningful way. I had just moved to New York, just dissolved a business with my husband, just had a baby, and I felt adrift and throttled. All three of them were successful creatives in their own right, and I was entranced and encouraged by not only the quality of their art but their fearless entrepreneurship. They became models for my own confidence. But mainly, it was their earnest acceptance of what I was doing, the way they’d ask what I was working on or let me know when they particularly liked an essay, that motivated me.
Keep writing, in different words.
It is easy to be deterred by criticism, and more often than not, I am the loudest of the howling wolves nipping at my heels — that is, I am often the harshest critic of my own work. In past occasions where my writing has been poorly received, I have sometimes felt like saying, “Oh I know. Tell me about it. Horrible!!!”
And you know —
I think I have not thoroughly acknowledged the patronage that has brought me through. For most of my life, when generous people would say nice things about my writing, I would flush, change the topic, dissent. But obviously some of the encouragement seeped through, lodging itself in the tender spot beyond the armor, and I doubt very much I have gone even one day — even one single day! — of the last few decades of my life without writing, in no small part because of that furtherance. Sometimes, that writing has been in narrow, fractional modalities: fragments of essays jotted on a notepad, turns of phrases captured on my iPhone Notes app, even “oh! I love the way she put that!” awarenesses that later spring up, daisy-like, in my musings. And sometimes, it has been long, heart-wrenching essays that consume me for days and leave me as fossil. All of it — even when there is no pen on paper — is writing, though, which to me is process rather than product. Some of my best writing happens while on mile three of a run or laying awake in the middle of the night: it is the unfurling of words into empty space. And so writing has been a lifeblood. A through-line. The backbone of my professional career, a partial-casting of my identity. And it wouldn’t be that way without the teachers, family members, friends, readers (you!) who have unwritten my longtime experiment with language.
All to say: today I am taking a pause to give praise where it is due, to sit in gratitude with the memory of that teacher’s encouraging stare over my strange seventh-grade essay. And I want to pay it forward. So to anyone who needs to hear it today: keep going. Take the risk. Lean into the encouragement. Let this note today be your own ebenezer.
+I will be doing an entire post on this promotion in a few hours, but Shopbop is running one of its buy-more-save-more events, and it includes this very popular blouse.
+This $35 gingham top! WOW! Instantly reminded me of the Emerson Fry blouse. Perfect tucked into high-waisted flared denim with this bag or beneath joveralls.
+I don’t know how I missed it, but this piece from Target’s designer collab with Sandy Liang is amazing! I would probably pair it with polished navy slides or loafers and a headband.
+These limited-edition floral slides are so incredibly chic, and would go with basically everything here.
+Speaking of fab shoes, these mules are perfect for the holiday party circuit.
+This patterned bulletin board is SO fun, and currently on sale! Kind of love this as a sneaky way to fill up part of an at-home office wall with color/design but save a little money (versus artwork).
I’ve lately been inspired by McGee + Co’s aesthetic — a mix of rustic and refined pieces, mainly in neutrals, in interesting textures. I’m normally drawn to bolder colors and patterns, but — good design is good design! I am loving their new holiday collection (the early bird gets the worm!) and do note that they have a diffusion line with Target with some amazing pieces at great prices (I love this $40 wood-base lamp!). A few pieces from all over the place that are appealing to me in this vein:
I’ve written about this piece a few times recently and also shared some photos of myself wearing this on Instagram, but I am absolutely in love with this cashmere polo sweater from Everlane, which was generously gifted. I have never owned this style of sweater but I love the slight sexiness of the neckline, and the olive green color is amazing in real life. So sophisticated and unexpected! I wore with wide-leg ecru pants similar to these and my green furlanes the other day. Perfect fall sweater for feeling pulled together but comfortable.
You’re Soooo Popular: Le Perfect Pump.
The most popular items on le blog this week:
+My ride-or-die fall pump. I have friends who also own Manolo Blahnik BBs (super similar in shape/style/heel height) and prefer the J. Crew. More comfortable! I own this pair of shoes in so many colors! Great with jeans, the wide-leg pants everyone’s wearing, dresses, etc!
+Micro’s owl costume for Halloween! Ships fast and the quality is great.
+This $35 dress I wore twice last week. So comfortable! Specifically love long dresses like these for hosting people at home while barefoot! It’s cut generously — would work with bump, too, and would be great in the cranberry color for Thanksgiving!
+Hand-painted ornaments! I guess we’re ready to think about Christmas?!
+$20 loafers for boys! This is the kind of deal I love at the moment, when we’re still not doing THAT much social stuff because of COVID. If your child might only wear loafers on two occasions this winter, why splurge on Elephantito?!
+Such a great versatile dress for moving into cooler weather — long-sleeves, terracotta hue. Could be paired with wintry accessories or summer ones. Love a year-round style like this.
+The devotional I’m working through. A caveat: I find this book uneven. Sometimes the messages grab me and other times I feel a little put-off or over-strained (?). Maybe this is the purpose and the resistance will ultimately prove instructive. What I do like about it is that it pushes me to spend time in thought every day. A good habit-forming tool.
Are you watching “Only Murders in the Building” on Hulu? This show was filmed down the street from us in Manhattan, and I walked by the apartment building in which it is set (“the Arconia” in the show; “The Belnord” in real life) daily when taking mini to school via the 1 Train, so I will admit that some of the show’s luster stems from “I know that place!” sentiments. But it is also richly allusive and self-aware in provocative and meaningful ways. I specifically appreciate the show’s consciousness of generational gaps: “Should I call or text her?” asks Steve Martin’s character, referring to Selena Gomez’s much younger character; Martin Short’s character pauses and replies: “Calling seems to make them angry.” (Haha!) Jokes like these are cunningly strategic in that half of the cast feels very “old-guard Hollywood” and this humor bridges the gap while also commenting thoughtfully on medium versus matter. The entire show is deftly metafictional in this way: it is full of winks at the processes of funding, casting, and producing performances; there are celebrities playing themselves (Sting!) and other ones not (Nathan Lane!); and by and large, the show interrogates the design of different “texts” and how the mode predicates, or conditions, the audience’s consumption. For example, we are obviously watching a television show and one of the leads is a celebrated actor, but the characters are designing a podcast and we are also shown excerpts of play productions, bits of text narrative from The Hardy Boys, musical interludes by bassoon and accordion and even Sting on his guitar. There are moments where the characters in fact directly comment on the conditions of performance, i.e., the bassoonist notes that she plays in the courtyard so she can better hear her own pitch, and Martin Short’s character visualizes the process of “casting” a villain for the podcast. Then there are text messages, hand-written notes, audio files, video files! In short, the show is a pastiche of texts, and we are always made aware of the competing desires, expectations, and inputs that support the production and reception of each. We are only four episodes in but there is so much to unpack about communication, medium, performance, truth, art, and money.
Strongly recommend this show!
What else are you watching?
Post-Scripts: Exaggerated Collars + Pencil Cups.
+These linen pillow covers are on sale in select colors at such a fabulous price — like $23! Great for adding depth/texture/contrast on a couch!
+A girlfriend of mine just bought this blouse and looks adorable in it! If you’re into the exaggerated collar, this floral blouse is under $100.
+The rattan pencil cup you never knew you always needed. I also love these Birdie Hall brush pots or julep cups for this purpose. I actually use julep cups for everything from bud vases (so chic with winter berries in them for the holidays!) to tooth brush holders in my house!
+Some of these seashell ornaments are on sale for under $2! I love! Would be so cute to do a tree like this for a coastal house.
+OO yes to this just-launched cropped jacket. More jackets in this vein here!
+Bellabliss is running a buy more, save more promotion. Great time to buy for family portraits, Thanksgiving, and/or Christmas at a discount…or just invest in great knitwear! I especially love:
THIS FOR BABY (WOULD WORK AT A DRESSY COLD-WEATHER GATHERING — HILL HAD ONE OF THESE IN NAVY THAT WAS PERFECT FOR AT-HOME CHRISTMAS COCKTAILS WITH FAMILY!)
My tabletop post earlier this week prompted me to think more intensively about what I might wear for Thanksgiving this year, now not *so* far off! Some pieces I love…
THIS 3-PACK OF INEXPENSIVE GLOVES IN GREAT COLORS IS A MUST-BUY — HAD THESE LAST YEAR AND SO GREAT BECAUSE THEY AREN’T TOO EXPENSIVE WHEN THEY GET LOST!
A couple of beauty products I’m currently lusting after…
CHANTECAILLE FAUX CILS LONGEST LASH MASCARA. I know. $73 for mascara. But several beauty bloggers consistently recommend this product as the be-all, end-all ultimate mascara. I’m desperate to try!
LAURA MERCIER MATTE EYE SHADOW IN MORNING DEW. This is not a new product — have worn this color for years and years. It’s such a great basic that looks natural but adds a little brightness to the lid. My favorite everyday eye shadow, and I’m due for a restock.
RETINOL EYE STICK. I wrote about this recently, but drawn to this product for ease of application (just slick it right on!) and the notion of retinol on the undereye area!
Related to beauty: I’ve written about this in the past, but White Elephant Designs makes gorgeous personalized leather cosmetics cases that were just restocked. I love these because you can buy the pouches separately or as a set of two. Great holiday gift, as would be this ultra-chic lipstick case along with a favorite tube of lipstick!
And also — has anyone tried these heavily-hyped, highly-expensive LED masks? I am so highly dubious but several trust-worthy bloggers have raved. I think it’s too pricey for me to take the risk but so curious. Have you tried? Have you tried any other gadgets like this?
P.P.S. Sometimes self-improvement is more about “chiseling away what isn’t” versus building something new.
P.P.P.S. A reminder not to worry about things too far down the road.
By: Jen Shoop
WOW — some of the new arrivals at H&M are insanely chic!
+This $40 quilted coat is a dead-ringer for Ganni. Love the collar! Love the length! This would even be cute thrown on over a pair of fall-colored aligns, chic sneaks, and tote bag for drop-off.
+This wool blend coat is SO chic — love the built-in scarf situation to throw over your shoulder. TDF! Pair with these shades in oatmeal.
+For a chic at-home date-night…knit tank, matching sweater, and joggers paired with statement slippers like these or these or these.
+More Ganni vibes, for $50! Tuck into on-trend denim and finish with suede kitten heels and statement bag.
+Absolutely LOVE this minimalist chic canvas tote! Could be Celine, could be H&M.
+This Horror Vacui-inspired mini with tall suede boots and crossbody. This is also major Horror Vacui vibes but a bit more of a statement. Is she wearing a nightgown? Is she a Victorian ghost? We can’t be sure. I feel I’d need to pair this with Hermes Orans and a headband to ground it a bit, but I give major props to the chic pea who goes for it. Also would be a good maternity dress for everyday lounging at home!
And, not H&M, but a few other finds that majorly channel higher-end designers:
+This Mango (and the maxi variation) is a dead-ringer for SEA.
We compiled all Magpie recipes into beautiful cards for your kitchen! Get the recipe card collection in your inbox here.
Mr. Magpie and I often revisit the slightly macabre query: “What would be your last meal?” His answer remains the same, year after year: blue crabs and cold beer, enjoyed outside with family and friends. Mine has evolved over time but it is nearly always pasta. My current choice would be Amatriciana. This is the page our well-loved, tomato-splattered, dog-eared copy of Sauces and Shapes opens to on its own, so frequent has Mr. Magpie made it since we first discovered it a few years ago. He has annotations in the margins and the page is itself wrinkled with pasta water and grease. Let these tactile indicators of its beloved positioning in Mr. Magpie’s incredibly diverse and ambitious monthly meal planning speak for themselves. This past week alone, he has prepared 3-day-brined pork chops served with Garden & Gun’s outrageously delicious, peanut-streusel-dotted sweet potato casserole (yes, you need the sorghum syrup, but you can find it on Amazon) and steamed, buttered green beans; homemade sheet pan pizza startlingly similar to Prince Street’s finest using Kenji Lopez’s recipe; Zuni-style roast chicken with our favorite Boulud carrots and roasted small potatoes, slightly smashed and garnished with salsa verde; chicken salad (from aforementioned roast chicken leftovers) accessorized with tarragon and the tenderest butter lettuce from our garden; and the most satisfying Italian Wedding Soup with fregola, escarole, and lamb meatballs. Suffice to say, Mr. Magpie is an absolute genius in the kitchen and I eat like a queen. He insists on varying the protein (I’m sure we’re due for seafood next), cuisine, style, and we rarely repeat — with the exception of a handful of pastas that he makes over and over and over, at my urgent request.
Amatriciana is one of those. (Orecchiette with broccoli rabe and spicy sausage, penne with puttanesca sauce, and linguine and clams come in close behind.). The way Oretta Zanini de Vita describes this dish in her cookbook is perfect: “It seems incredible for such an easy, humble sauce, but this is one of the dishes self-appointed purists (read: fanatics) will fight over to the death, or at least death by boredom. You have to use spaghetti or bucatini, they say–nor is it that simple, since there are spaghetti-only and bucatini-only factions. No cheese but pecorino is permitted. And woe betide you if you use pancetta in place of guanciale.” Later: “Like many rustic, simple sauces that have found immortality on trattoria menus throughout Italy, this dish is only as good as its ingredients…The result is a red sauce studded with bits of lightly fried pork, but you don’t want it too red. The pasta and guanciale should be coated with a thin mantle of sauce, not hidden. Don’t let the gloppy, oversauced trattoria version be your model. The cheese is sharp and salty, but again, don’t use too much.” There are many paragraphs circling in on these details and the provenance of the dish and why you must only use pecorino romano in this dish, and the way Oretta runs through all of these details — the finnicky commitment to tradition, the ideal serving style, makes my mouth water.
On an experiential level, a big plate of bucatini dressed in Amatriciana sauce is the ultimate comfort food. It is delightfully salty and the bucatini affords such an incredible mouthfeel — chewy and satisfying. There is nothing like a big forkful of slightly porky, slightly tomato-centric bucatini, offset by the tang and salt of the cheese. It is deeply satisfying. If you don’t consider what you’re doing, you’re bound to eat an entire plate and still want a few extra bites right out of the serving dish. A plate of this pasta would be the centerpiece of my final meal, but I’d probably also bribe Mr. Magpie into making sauteed broccoli rabe dressed with chili, garlic, and anchovy to serve alongside it, which is in my mind the perfect bitter foil to the fatty condimento (and rabe is my favorite vegetable), and I’d eat it all at the coffee table of our living room, sitting on the floor next to him, with an easy-to-drink red wine like Montepulciano d’Abruzzo, drunk out of a juice glass — the way I like it.
*Note that photo at top is NOT accurate to the recipe, i.e., it shows parm and may in fact be carbonara or something, but still…evocative!
Anyhow, below, our beloved Amatriciana recipe, with Mr. Magpie’s annotations:
Amatriciana a la Oretta, a la Mr. Magpie
This sauce is used on flour and water shapes [i.e., not egg pasta] — spaghetti or bucatini, of course, but rigatoni, cassarecce, or some of the handmade flour-and-water shapes, such as strozzapreti/pici do nicely too. [Ed. note: do yourself a favor and invest in some really good dried pasta for this dish. It makes a world of difference. The sauce clings to the pasta much better, and you can just taste the quality. Eataly carries a lot of our favorite brands and ships anywhere. While you’re there, pick up some great olive oil — we’ve tried most of the styles Eataly carries, and all are delicious; I think “experts” believe EVOO from Liguria in Italy is the best, and here is one such bottle — and San Marzano canned tomatoes. Mr. Magpie places a few huge orders for these staples each year, either from Eataly or Gustiamo. These high-quality pantry staples really make a difference in this simple recipe in particular!Meanwhile, the guanciale makes this dish! It is worth seeking out.If you are in NYC, you can find guanciale at Dickson’s in Chelsea Market, at Eataly in Flatiron, and occasionally at Hudson and Charles on the Upper West Side, conveniently a few doors down from Barney Greengrass, and therefore worth a trip on its own (stock up on guanciale for dinner and then lox and bagels for the next morning). If you are in the D.C. area, we have been getting our guanciale from Organic Butcher in McLean, which in fact delivers to Bethesda. I would venture to guess that Butcher & Larder in Chicago would carry it, too — Gepperths and Paulina were also favorite butchers of ours when we lived there, but they seem more entrenched in the classic German butcher tradition, so not sure they’d carry it.]
For the condimento:
4 oz guanciale, cut into thin strips
2-3 tablespoons EVOO
1 small onion, chopped
1 whole 14 oz can whole peeled tomatoes
1-2 small pieces dried chile
salt [we use only Diamond Kosher salt]
To make the dish:
1 pound pasta
70 grams grated pecorino
Instructions:
Put the guanciale and oil in a saucepan. Turn the heat to medium and heat gently so the guanciale renders some fat and starts to brown. Taste a piece to assess how salty it is. Then, when it jut begins to crisp, add the chopped onion and saute gently until transparent. Add the tomatoes and chile, then taste for salt (how much you need will depend on the gunaciale). Finish cooking the sauce, covered, over low heat. You’ll know it’s done when the liquid has thickened somewhat and the fat shows on the surface, about 20 minutes.
Bring 5 quarts of water to a boil in an 8 quart pot over high heat. Add 3 tablespoons kosher salt, then add the pasta and cook, stirring occasionally, until al dente.
Drain the pasta, reserving some of the starchy pasta water in a Pyrex measuring cup. Place pasta back in cooking pot off the heat. Coat with a little pasta water and cheese, adding cheese in increments of about 1/3 cup, tossing constantly with tongs. You want to see the cheese and water start to cling to the bucatini to create a kind of cheesy saucey coating. Then add sauce to the pasta pot and continue tossing constantly with tongs, adding additional cheese/pasta water as needed to create perfectly coated strands.
Serve immediately on plates (not bowls), grating additional pecorino on top.
+Beauty guru Courtney Grow swears by this pommade for the perfect slicked-back bun. I trust her implicitly. This reminds me that I have on a few occasions in the past few weeks let my hair air dry overnight and then curled it into loose, beachy waves using a 1″ barrel iron. I let my hair cool for a few secs, run my fingers through it, and then set with my favorite texturing spray, also by Ouai. It yields the perfect “cool girl” waves IMO.
+When I do wear my hair slicked back in a low bun, for some reason I always want to wear gold hoops (?) and have been sporting these inexpensive ones, whose quality impresses me!
+This utilitarian-chic radio and bluetooth player is marked down to almost 70% off. I might buy it as a stocking stuffer for Mr. Magpie for when he’s gardening / grilling in the area below our deck and the music doesn’t quite reach him!
+Lake Pajamas just restocked its maternity collection and I immediately sent pairs to two friends who delivered recently! Such a luxe and lovely gift for a new mama. So often the gifts are (understandably) all about baby — nice to spoil mama too.
+These mini Kankens are perfect for little ones when traveling. Micro has one and I keep his books, toys, stuffed animals, etc in it so it’s easy for him to find his stuff! They come in such great colors, too.
+Adore these placemats from such an unlikely source!
+Another cute fall blouse for a little one at a great price, paired with a cord jumper at a great price. More darling (affordable) finds along these lines here.
+Drawn to these “layering pants” in ponte. Sort of like a notch above leggings, designed to fit into boots and under sweaters, like this fisherman style shown on the site.
+A perfect fair isle sweater to pair with denim like this.
+I don’t know how else to say it — these coupes are sexy?
+I love the look of these under-$100 black waterproof suede boots — like, if you need to look pulled together but also trudge through Chicago snow on your way to work?
+Love the color of these cord overalls for a baby.
+These dramatic coats from Saks Potts have been all the rage the last few years. You can get the look for less with this, or aim somewhere in the middle with a Shrimps coat, which is definitely on my lust list…!
By: Jen Shoop
Whether you’re planning ahead for Thanksgiving (ooh, I really need to get on this, as we are hosting both sets of parents and my sister and her children this year!) or just wanting to update your fall dinnertime game, some chic pieces for your tablescape:
I have been making a lot of my summer wardrobe stretch into fall through the addition of a couple of key accessories. My two favorite outfits at the moment, during this period where it might be 50 in the morning and 80 in the afternoon, are this exact India Amory shirtdress or this exact Mille dress paired with these suede driving flats and a fitted navy cardigan (often tied around my shoulders when things warm up). The suede and cableknit totally transform the look for summer to autumn. I have even been wearing my white dresses like this and this with these autumnal accents!
PUFF-SLEEVED STYLE (ULLA-INSPIRED — SEE O.G. HERE!)
I’ve shared a lot of fab dresses that bridge the transition from summer to fall here and here, but a few standout dresses I love in addition to the two at the top of this post…
