Every morning on our way to school, mini and I walk by a home decor shop that has boasted Halloween decorations in its windows for the last couple of weeks. I know this because mini insists we stop in front of it every single day. This Tuesday, with no forewarning, and two weeks in advance of Halloween, the skeletons and witches disappeared and Santas and snowmen cropped up in their stead. I was fleetingly irritated by the pre-emptiveness of all of this but — you know what? It’s been a long year and we are all spending a lot of time at home and so I have a strong sense that most of us are going to go all out on the home decorations this year.
Last but not least, I’ve seen Tuckernuck release this top in so many prints and colors, but I really must have this plaid one. Absolutely perfect for the holidays!
P.S. More tartan finds for everyone in the family here.
So many of us lived in SZ Blockprint caftans and Amazon’s famous $30 “nightgown dress” this past summer (Mr. Magpie referred to it as “muumuu season” and he’s not wrong), and several of you asked: “How do I transition the look into fall?” I hear you — those dresses were so easy to wear, breathable, and comfortable! Lucky for us, there are a bunch of fall-ready dresses in a similar vein just waiting to be paired with your favorite pair of suede boots or booties…
I like the idea of any of these dresses with these boots and a chunky knit cardigan like this, this, or this.
And this vibe would be a great option for Thanksgiving — you could dress up by swapping out the boots for suede heels or add additional interest with a textured headband. (More Thanksgiving outfit ideas here and more holiday card family portrait outfit ideas here.)
Finally, I know the retailer is unexpected here, but this top is serving up major Ulla Johnson vibes for $28, and I had to buy it. So chic tucked into black skinnies with my No 6 boots (look for less with these)!
P.S. Many incredible and insightful comments on grief coming in on this post.
Fall is in full swing. I’ve featured so many incredible fall pieces in the past few weeks (there is so much great stuff out right now!) but here are a few peak fall pieces not to miss:
2 // EXAGGERATED COLLAR BLOUSE: LOVE THE IDEA OF PAIRING THOSE SHORTS WITH THIS (LOOK FOR LESS — OR TRY THIS TRICK)
3 // CHUNKY KNIT: OBSESSED WITH THE IDEA OF LAYERING THIS (LOOK FOR LESS WITH THIS OR THIS) OVER A FLOATY FALL DRESS LIKE THIS (GET THE ULLA LOOK FOR LESS WITH THIS)
Though I wish I were, I am not “a Pinterest mom.” I often come up short in the at-home activity area of parenting. Myriam has provided me with dozens of (approachable! doable! practical!) ideas for projects and at-home play that mini loves, most of which call for materials I already have on hand–she is brilliant at recycling common household items and transforming them into tools for play (who knew babies liked putting things into and pulling things out of empty tissue boxes?!) In short, her ideas sustained us through the darkest days of quarantine, and continue to enthusiastically punctuate our weekends at home together. (And I shared many of them in the roundup here.)
Myriam is a genius not only because she provides countless tutorials on how to entertain your children with wholesome (often self-directed, sensory-focused) activities and play, but because she is down-to-earth and reassuring to us parents in the process. She is one of the warmest and most encouraging souls I’ve crossed paths with on the Internet, and if you follow her on Instagram, you will immediately understand why. (And why she has nearly 500,000 followers!) She is deeply empathetic, non-judgmental, and light-hearted in every thing she does, and that ethos has led Mothercould to become (in her words) “a global community of parents and educators connected by their desire to positively affect the development of children.”
Today, I am honored to introduce you to Myriam (or invite you to get to know her better). Myriam was born in Venezuela and raised in Miami, FL. Prior to founding MotherCould, Myriam worked for The Salvation Army homeless shelter of Miami, in the women and children’s division, where she assisted families as they navigated out of homelessness. She now runs her incredible business while raising two precious daughters in Florida. Below, her answers to my Woman of Substance Questionnaire:
Your favorite qualities in a woman. Empathy and loyalty. As a mother and head of household, I find those qualities to be the most meaningful to me. The ability to understand others who are living a different experience is a powerful tool for growth and connection. Fierce loyalty and commitment to family and friends is one of the most attractive qualities in a woman.
Your favorite heroine. There are so many powerful female icons that I look up to, but recently I have been most inspired by the community of women that follow my content and I have the honor of connecting with on a day to day basis. I can’t tell you how much I’ve learned and grown from incredible individuals that inspire me.
Your main fault.I tend to over-analyze, which engenders doubt and unnecessary stress in certain situations.
Your greatest strength. Creativity and the ability to turn ordinary items into useful tools for fun and learning.
Your idea of happiness. True happiness comes from self acceptance and the compilation of small moments of joy.
Your idea of misery. Solitude. I need my family and friends to feel like myself.
Currently at the top of your shopping lust list. The upcoming iPhone. Everything I do on Mothercould is done on my iPhone so I cant wait for the next upgrade.
Desert island beauty product. Mascara. Makes me look and feel alive!
Last thing you bought. New face creams. Trying to up my beauty regime game.
I feel most empowered wearing…Athletic wear. It’s become my go-to uniform of choice and there is no way to beat the comfort will running around with the kids.
Favorite Magpie post.Slow burn toys. The focus on open-ended toys that spark imagination resonates with me and fits the content that I like to see and share.
P.P.P.S. There’s still time to make Halloween 2020 special. Some Magpie favorites still deliverable by Halloween are this mini waffle maker (creates pumpkin or skull shaped waffles — mini is obsessed with these!) and Halloween pajamas (now marked down to 40% off).
By: Jen Shoop
*Image above of these flats, one of the most popular items on my blog for weeks on end — now marked down to $75.
Everything (!) is (!) 25% (!) off (!) at (!) Anthropologie (!). The promotion is automatically applied at checkout, but there are some seriously amazing scores on products that rarely show discounts, including:
Happy shopping! So many of these items would make excellent gifts for a loved one…!
P.S. Madewell is also running a promotion today — 20% or 30% off orders over $200. A great time to snag a fun coat, like this on-trend shacket, or pair of boots, like these clog style ones (similar to my No. 6 ones but less expensive!)
By: Jen Shoop
*Image above of the ultra-chic Victoria K.L. and her precious girls, whose enchanting style in no small part inspired by obsession with houndstooth this season. She managed to snag a pair of ultra-coveted and sold-out-the-world-over Chanel combat boots (and that Chanel houndsooth bag — OMG), but I’ve shared some similar finds below.
A lot of you are in the market for boots and everyday footwear for the fall and winter season. This post is a roundup of all my favorites across all categories…happy shopping for happy feet!
I have to be honest that a few pairs of combat boots have turned my head this year, though I’m usually more in the ladylike footwear camp. My picks below are what I would term “combat-lite”:
THESE SCHUTZES (THE EDGIEST OF THE GROUP, BUT I LIKE THE SLIM PROFILE AND THE TIE AROUND THE BACK — IMAGINE PAIRING WITH BLACK TIGHTS AND A TWEED DRESS)
It started with Le Monde Beryl’s velvet mules — I’ve had my eye on these for months now. I also like this pair in the rust velvet from Margaux (perfect fall color) and these ($79!) in the cherry red are pretty much the perfect holiday shoe.
I just bought Hill these adorable knit gloves in the ecru / foggy blue color combination to pair with his navy Patagonia fleece and had to share because they are on sale for $12 this weekend and you can ship them free with code FAMILY! (Also love the floral knit pair for a little girl!). Love that they come with the string to prevent mitten loss. This is the kind of no-brainer purchase I make while walking briskly back from my run in Central Park. I think Hanna Andersson’s quality is exceptional!
Also! The Patagonia beanies I’ve been eyeing are on sale for $23 here!
And, unrelated — just look at these fun chinoiserie pumpkins! I have one large and one small in my cart even though they wouldn’t arrive in time for this Halloween…but perfect for next year alongside some white pumpkins?! So fun.
One of my favorite ways to add interest to my winter wardrobe last season was by layering a pair of black Gucci logo tights under the dresses I’d worn the season prior. These tights are now very difficult to get a hold of, but SSENSE still has a few pairs in the ivory colorway, which I just snagged to pair with some of my favorite LBDs and skirts this fall and winter. I usually like to pair them with a conservative-looking dress like this to balance out their volume.
P.S. If you like the idea of a patterned tight but aren’t into the logos, these bow print ones are darling!
+A great eye primer that I honestly use more often as the only thing on my eyelid. Evens things out and looks natural!
+You need this headband (on super sale). Pair with basically anything in your closet (ivory, denim, brown, black, maroon, olive) for the perfect fall accessory.
+Cute tie-waist cords. I like how they’re styled on the site with chic sneaks (love these in the tie-dye print, on sale for $130!).
Weekend Musings: Emily in Paris, Storm King Art Center, and the Architecture of Cultural Difference.
I sat down to write about the Netflix show “Emily in Paris” (not for you, mom and dad) and the outrage it has incited among Parisians — some of it, frankly, sniffy and some of it rightful, as caricatures and oversimplifications abound in the show. In fact, were it not for Emily’s bright consciousness around gender politics, parts of the show might feel as though they could have been penned in the 1990s. But what I instead found myself wanting to write about is the way architecture can often reflect, or reify, or construct culture (and our manifold interpretations of it). And not for any particular scene or situation in the show — just, the whole of it. For example, the classic Haussman-style buildings (example seen in photo at top) spotted in the show, with their sandstone facades, continuous balconies, enormous windows, and mansard roofs have always felt distinctly French to me: their emphasis on immaculate style and decoration, their invitation for spectatorship (lived out through broad windows and balconies from which to watch pedestrians below), their intimidating height and breadth. They are beautiful to look at, but they always make me feel as though I’m being looked down upon: their windows like discerning eyes, their slanted roofs somehow like a frown. This, of course, is all personal projection. (Can you tell I felt like an outsider among the French?) Or is it? I recall a French professor (in Lyon) lecturing as though it were fact that “the French are obsessed with shutters and doors, hedges, and inward-facing courtyards,” and that these architectural and stylistic details were a direct reflection of the French’s proclivity toward privacy. “In America, everything hangs out,” he said, dismissively. “Tout en plein air.” (“Everything out in the open.”) I never forgot the point he was making — or the attitude with which he delivered it.
I chased an adjacent nest of thoughts the other day while visiting Storm King Art Center, an outdoor art gallery in the Hudson Valley whose very design leaves you thinking about the lines between the manmade and the natural, and some of those lines read very distinct (large red structures jutting out of the earth) and others blurrier (the exquisite maintenance of the grounds, mowed and groomed with precision, as though by a dextrous barber, the set of copper relief artworks molded onto unassuming trees and rocks, meant to be “discovered” (with no curatorial signage to aid!) by visitors traipsing through the wooded area on the northside of the campus). In any case, I left wondering about the way in which these creations can both reflect and diverge (sometimes at the same time) from what is “natural” or “true.” Nowhere was this clearer than in Maya Lin’s wavefields on the grounds (note: Lin designed the controversial Vietnam Veteran’s Memorial in D.C.), which are more less a series of undulating hills. Lin made the pattern, but the materials she used were earth and grass and nothing more. I had read about the installation a few years ago, and the sole thing I remember from that reading was that some of the design borrowed from the Native American practice of burying their dead above ground versus beneath it, and the conversation led to some introspection about the way we enshrine our cultural and spiritual beliefs in the structures we build.
No profound end point here, just some field notes that might jangle with something on your mind today. Comments, as always, encouraged!
P.S. I did very much like “Emily in Paris.” It is cheesy and the clothes are garish (I don’t care if Patricia Field did them — the berets! ahhh) but the plot is fun and some of the writing is exceptionally clever.
+I had been looking for the perfect piggy bank for Hill and I am totally swooning over this sweet bunny in blue or this polished elephant! Too sweet. Either would make a precious and unexpected baby gift.
+I am constantly struggling to keep on top of mini’s prolific artistry — she is always painting, drawing, creating cards, etc. I am pretty good at restricting the number of masterpieces we keep for the long haul, but there are always a few piles around our apartment because I cannot bring myself to immediately chuck her art as soon as it’s complete (especially under her watchful eye — she has more than once fished her own work out of the garbage). I just ordered this tray to keep on top of her dresser as a purgatory.
+I just bought my Lego-loving godson one of these Advent calendars. I know it’s not religious but the concept was just too cute. I think he’ll get a kick out of it.
More answers to your burning October 2020 shopping questions (first installment here), and so many of them around practical pieces for every day wear this fall, from flats to sweaters and comfortable work-from-home knits. (Love the unfussy look above on Didem for weekday uniform — she’s wearing this Zara tee and Toteme jeans). There were so many submissions this go around, I’ve had to split this post into thirds and will answer the final questions early next week!
Q: I’m wondering if you will recommend a planner? I need a week on each page and very detailed.
A: I have liked the ones from Day Designer in the past — especially the hard cover styles because I like to keep receipts/invitations between the pages and it’s easier to write on. More recently, I have been using this undated weekly pad — I find it’s a super simple and unfussy way to keep on top of my to-dos. But for 2021, I am thinking about one of these customizable agendas from Papier. So gorgeous!
Q: For newborn photos, I’d like a wrap dress — preferably not jersey or at least not super clingy (c-section lump — in a color that goes with baby pink but isn’t baby pink – so a darker pink, purple, burgundy maybe even navy?(My son and husband are wearing navy.)
A: Would you consider a print? How darling would this pink polka dot wrap dress be with a pink-swaddled baby girl in your arms? Alternately, this is a little on the trendier/louder side, but this boho print wrap dress is incredibly chic and would look great with navy-clad men and a pink-clad baby. Also adore this navy broderie anglaise style (here is a knee-length variation) if you want something solid, or this in the solid maroon color, which has such fun sleeves — I love the way it looks paired with tall boots as shown in the picture.
If you change your mind and want to coordinate with your daughter in pale pink, this is so elegant.
Q: Shoes to wear with a brown leather skirt.
A: Chic! If it’s pleated leather like this, I would pair with a pointed toe flat like this (#goalz), this, or this. If it’s short, I would wear with brown suede tall boots like these.
Q: Christmas outfits for my 3.5 year old and 6 month old boys.
A: Cute! Love that you’re planning ahead. If you’re into plaid/tartan, there are some adorable ideas here, but here are a few specific pairings:
IF YOU LIKE STILL DRESS YOUR OLDER ONE IN JON JONS, THESE FOR BOTH
Q: A cream colored off-the-shoulder sweater for engagement photos.
A: This one is elegant with the pearl detail! This one ($69!) is also interesting/architectural.
Q: Long-sleeved dresses I can wear while teaching.
A: So much love and gratitude for you and all the teachers making it happen every day. A few dresses I like that have long sleeves, allow for movement, and manage to be both comfortable and chic:
A: I actually went down this rabbit hole not long ago and I ended up loving the prints and varieties at Ballard Design, especially in the modern drum shape. Reasonably priced, too!
Q: Mirrored dresser.
A: I love mirrored furniture! We have mirrored bedside tables very similar to these in our master that reflect light and make the space brighter and bigger. I love the clean lines on this mirrored dresser (on sale!) and this is elegant, too, though I might replace the drawer pulls with something else.
Q: A cute belt bag that is reasonably priced and doesn’t look like an athletic fanny pack.
Q: Cute neutral mules! Preferably pointed toe and under $350.
A: My immediate thought was Nicholas Kirkwood’s Beya mule, which are crazy chic but above your price range unless you are willing to go bold with splashy orange! (Let your shoes do the talking! I have bent boldly colored/patterned shoes into my everyday wardrobe countless times…)
A: I shared some initial thoughts here, but the short story is that I think you can make a huge impact through holiday greenery in your home tied with enormous striped grosgrain or velvet bows (note that the ribbon colors I picked are not necessarily traditionally associated with Christmas, but if you tie it around mini boxwood wreaths hung over the backs of chairs or in windows, you will achieve a smashing and classy Christmas look. A few other holiday greenery pieces you might consider for the center of your dining room table, your mantel, your sideboard, etc:
MINI ROSEMARY PLANTS — BUY IN BOTH SIZES AND PLACE ALONGSIDE ONE ANOTHER TO PLACE ON A FOYER TABLE/CONSOLE, WRAPPING THE BASE WITH A RIBBON
Q: A long camel coat at various price points please.
A: I love a long camel coat. Obsessed with this, this, and this for a traditional/timeless look.
Q: My 30th birthday celebration — it’ll be outside in early November — the theme is plaid and fur.
A: Happy birthday! This is so fun. How timely, too — I shared a bunch of darling plaid pieces for women earlier today. But mainly — is this not the most fabulous thing you’ve ever seen? I first saw it on fashion plate (and founder of Hill House Home) Nellie Diamond last year and I was dead.
On the fur side, a few fun accessories to consider…
A: I have only been using Busy Bees Kids’ face masks with mini because we love them, but they are pricey. I have heard really good things about Gap’s face masks for the entire family — I like these solid-colored ones, and they are reasonably priced.
Q: A chic winter outfit (coat, mittens/gloves, etc) to pair with my new No. 6 clog boots.
Q: I’m 5 feet tall, but want an almost duster-like winter coat with a little structure (not a wrap style), preferably in tan. I’m fine with anything up to $1,000.
Mango has a lot of great cozy knits designed to be layered out right now — including this dress (almost a nightgown!), this knit jumpsuit, and these joggers (spotted on Katie Holmes!)
*Image above via Ralph Lauren, my sartorial touchstone. When in doubt, go to RL for inspiration.
**A quick headnote that CPC Kids is back on Zulily — and they have a few darling tartan longalls left as well as these duck embroidered longalls (perfect for Thanksgiving) and Christmas print ones, both of which Hill owns! Note that though other pieces of CPC Kids I have purchased in the past run small, these longalls run big. I would size down if you want for current season.
Do you send a family portrait out with your holiday cards? We have never done this ourselves though I have talked on and off about wanting to do it. I had big plans to make it happen this year but with COVID, it just fell right out of my priorities. Next year…! I know I will one day kick myself for missing the opportunity to document our life as a family in this way. I must make it happen!
Anyway — I often receive questions about what to wear for family portraits, and what I am daydreaming of right now is a Ralph Lauren-inspired tartan look for the family. (And I love the idea of having your little one tote a Steiff puppy for the portrait — my parents-in-law gave mini a vintage Steiff airedale stuffed animal when she was born, and it’s one of our family’s treasured possessions.) Below, some amazing tartan finds for the entire family:
