Several of my recent posts have featured trends I’ve been eyeing for the fall — colored denim, chocolate brown, suede, chic bags, etc. Following these trends, I’ve compiled a collection of pieces under $150 that I think are staples for the upcoming chilly weather! Above, wearing a Gap tee, Gap jeans, a Quince sweater.
12. I’ve tried several Quince products over the past year or two and am consistently pleased! Great quality for the price. I love this 100% cotton sweater (seen above).
14. A satin midi skirt is a staple for every season. You’d be surprise how versatile this can be!
15. I love a denim dress for fall because of how creative one can be with shoes — tall boot for colder weather, sandal for pre-fall, still warm-ish days.
This morning, republishing a piece of fiction I initially shared in 2022 that I’ve since edited.
****
It rained the morning of J.D.’s Baptism. The windshield wipers of Skip Halliday’s Volvo station wagon were moving erratically across the fogged glass, clearing nothing in their wake. Skip stared out the window, clenching his jaw, calculating the incalculable: when might there be enough of a break in the downpour to steer his wife and three small children into the vestibule of Holy Trinity Church before the scheduled 10:45 A.M. Baptism?
“Oh Skip,” Lee said, in her breathy way, tilting her head back against the headrest. “It’s just water.” Of all the things to say, not remotely the right one, thought Skip, and he felt something inside coil. He stared at her, blinking, as if to provoke an explanation, and then exhaled loudly. Lee placed her hand on his, and he flinched — a bit too abruptly, he decided, and he then tapped his fist lightly on top of her palm in apology before returning to staring out the near-opaque window.
Charlotte, in the back seat, observed all of this, and wondered what had been so bad about the water comment.
“Then you go out and get soaking wet, Lee,” said Skip finally. Lee turned in her seat to smile at Charlotte, her brown eyes crinkling at the edges.
“You ready to run, love bugs?” she asked, and she patted Thomas on the knee and then squeezed the tip of Charlotte’s Mary Jane. “Unbuckle your seat belts so you’re ready. On your mark –“
“Lee –“
“Get set –”
And Lee flung open the door, and a wall of rain pelted in against the leather of the front seat.
“You’re getting it everywhere –”
“Grab the baby!” she said, and she slammed her door and swung Charlotte’s open. She realized how pathetically she had underestimated the impact of the rain on her white boucle Chanel suit, which was, seconds after stepping into the rain, soaked. She laughed and dropped her shoulders, and trotted around the car and up the stairs with Charlotte and Thomas flanking her. Skip stared after them and then cursed, loudly, before swinging open his own door, retrieving the baby in his carseat, and ducking his head as he jolted through the rain.
Lee was in the vestibule, possibly the only creature improved in beauty by a run through a downpour, her skin radiant, the delicate bones of her face incandescent with the rush, her hair slicked back from her forehead. She was dabbing at her neck with an ineffectual tissue provided by her mother —
“Oh, Lee, you poor things –“
Lee smiled as she brushed her palm over her son’s wet forehead. Skip was swiping at the shoulders of his navy pinstripe suit in exaggerated movements.
“Skip! You got caught in it!” And Skip turned, and smiled courteously, disguising his foul humor with small-talk. His eyes skimmed the vestibule: the Winfields, Lee’s parents, Father Burke, and a slight, earnest-looking girl with brown hair whose name he momentarily forgot. Jennifer? Julie? She approached him:
“Hi, Mr. Halliday.” He looked back blankly. “Oh, Mrs. Halliday asked me to help with the children during the ceremony.” Skip looked down at Thomas, who was clinging to his left pant suit leg as he swung his body around in an arc, dangling his head backward.
“Oh, good, good,” he said, and he peeled Thomas off his leg and pushed him in her direction. “Thanks. F-Frances.” That was it, Frances.
When they stood up at the altar, J.D. in the arms of his godparents, Bud and Milly Winfield, Lee leaned her face against Skip’s chest. He was on a razor-edge between persisting in his righteous rage and letting it go. Earlier that morning, while feeding J.D. a bottle with one hand and riffling through the Sunday paper with the other in the starched white sheets that she had insisted they buy — “Yves Delorme, the best! It’s what all the girls use” — she had cradled the house phone under her chin and told her mother: “Oh, I’m not going back to work. I’m done.” Skip had actually craned his neck out of his walk-in closet and waited until she looked up to make eye contact with her. It was the way she had said it, as though a foregone conclusion, and his hermetic seclusion from whatever mental and emotional gymnastics she had navigated to arrive at that decision, that irked. There had been a time where they had laid on the back patio of the house they’d bought in Georgetown, holding hands as they stared up at the sky, and she had said: “There’s no daylight between us.” And he had believed her. He knew the way she shaved her legs in the shower, always against the same corner of the tub, and that she loved the smell of cigar and hated to drive on the Beltway, and that she could often be found eating saltines absent-mindedly while looking out the window at the neighbor’s backyard, where small birds bathed in the standing water of the morning rain. He carried these intimacies with him as though apotropaic.
“But you didn’t even want me to work in the first place,” she had said that morning, with the sharp though not unkind reasoning that occasionally startled Skip. Lee could be so spacey, so silly — and yet. A law degree from Harvard, a successful career she’d put on pause to raise their brood: he was reminded, on occasion, that just beneath the feline movements of her body, her malingering gait, the slow smile that crept up her face as she digested a comment, was a quick draw.
It was true. Skip hadn’t wanted her to work in the first place, and they didn’t need the money. But it was so like her to glide through life and its decisions with such carelessness, such wide-open opportunity. Oh, today, I’ll practice law; tomorrow, I’ll stay home with babies. Meanwhile, Skip was the one pushing her to meet deadlines (“aren’t the school checks due this week?”) and schedule repairs. How was it that he was perennially putting himself in the role of Norm the Accountant when he would just as much like to be free of such responsibilities? He would watch her place her gin-and-tonic, frosted with chill and dripping with condensation, down on the ornate wood table she had inherited from her parents, and wince at the compulsion to chastise her for not using a coaster. She would jump into the vintage Jaguar her father lent her with her wet bathing suit right on the leather seat. She would shrug at bedtimes, and forget the oven was on, and go to the supermarket for milk and return with three pints of ice cream, and oh God! He had grown to hate the man he was forced to be: tightly-wound, needling about paperwork and due dates, put out by the incessant presence of repair people and their estimates. “Fine, fine,” he’d say, waving his hands, not even capable of the effort it would take to get a second estimate on the HVAC. But was it envy beneath it all, or its neighboring love?
She read these thoughts as though materialized in a cartoon thought bubble above his head, and she nestled her cheek against his chest, and reached up to cradle his chin in her hand. His body relaxed against hers. And it was done.
“Do you reject Satan and all his empty promises?” Father Burke’s reedy voice returned him to the moment, and he looked over at his son, and he succumbed to the pleasant warmth of realizing that all of these good people — and they were, truly, good and well-turned-out people, the kind who cared enough to write thank you notes for dinner parties (“thanks much for the lovely send-off, we cannot wait to return the favor when we return from Italy in August — until then, ciao!”) and would inquire quietly and knowingly about his ailing aunt — were gathered in this cold Church on a Saturday morning to celebrate his boy in this age-old tradition. He felt, as he marched through the renewal of the Baptismal promises, his wife radiant and now-forgiven at his side, as though something had been restored to him, as though some line gone slack was now pulled taut.
They filed back into a pew, and his six-month-old son was deposited in his arms.
Frances, observing all of this, had registered the tenor of their strained rapport from the minute she had seen Lee appear in the vestibule, a vision in white. She had once, while baby-sitting their children, observed a similar tenseness stain the afternoon air, and then watched as Skip had stood, perhaps intentionally, she reasoned, behind the swinging door that separated the kitchen from the dining room, drinking a glass of milk, when Lee had fanned into the room, bumping into him. Skip had pantomimed the impact, spilling his milk in great performance all over the counter, though Lee was a hundred pounds dripping wet and could not possibly have achieved such force.
“Lee!” he had near-shouted. “For God’s sake!”
“Oh!” said Lee, “I’m so sorry, Skippy.” And then she had laughed, and Skip had stormed out of the room. Frances, having four siblings herself, understood the implied, though bristled at the juvenility of his tack. There were other, more meaningful forms of retribution, and Frances felt Skip had misplayed his hand.
But what she couldn’t understand was how anyone could find fault with Lee Halliday.
Lee Halliday was always late but never in a hurry. She moved with the ease of the privileged, having never found herself in a mess too big she couldn’t extricate herself with a phoned-in favor or the winning apologetic tilt of her beautiful face. Frances had once watched her stop her car in the driveway while backing out of it, then climb out, then actually take the key from the ignition before leaning herself against the car door to speak with her neighbor, Doug Winfield, even though it was 10:42 a.m. and Frances knew she had been asked to look after the children for her 10:30 a.m. doctor’s appointment.
“…those damned aphids…” she had made out through the plantation shutters, and Frances had nearly lifted her hand to her mouth in shock. Lee was running 15 minutes late to an appointment and she was talking about aphids with the interest one might have pegged to an illness in Doug’s family?
But that was Lee’s way. “How are we feeling today, honey?” she had asked Frances, her head cocked, her eyebrows furrowed in concern, after Frances had gone home with a fever the day prior. Such pathos in the phrasing. And the way she looked at you — as if there was no one else in the room and nothing more important than what you were just about to say — could convert a doubting Thomas.
Lee was also plainly, unignorably beautiful. It was not the patrician beauty of her mother and sisters; Lee’s was delicate, doe-like, unanswerable. “The kind of face that launches a thousand ships,” she had once overheard a family friend call it. Frances had laid in bed that night and imagined important men in dark suits slamming their fists in courtrooms in her defense, or the well-heeled gentlemen at the country club chastising untoward gawkers as she’d pass by, obliviously flashing too much leg in her brief tennis skirt. The ships comment arrived well after Frances had drawn the same conclusion herself, which was itself long after Lee’s reputation had proceeded her: “Well, that Lee Halliday — she is just a bombshell,” was what Frances’ mother, Edie Bartlett, had said. “She’s svelte and angular and — she’s…!.” And she threw her hands up and let her mouth go slack, as though words were too trammeled a tackle box to capture it. Edie was kind to other women in this way. She would stop strangers on the street to compliment their hair, their shoes, their nail polish color. Edie had learned long ago that women gained nothing from jealousy. In other words, it was possible that Edie had undersold Lee to Frances. Frances had been stunned into stammering when she’d first knocked on the door of Lee’s home.
“I’m – I’m Frances, the – I’m the sitter? My mom is Edie Bartlett?”
Lee took nightly dips in Doug Winfield’s pool. The habit often irked Frances, who would be waiting in the kitchen, vaguely tidying up, depositing cups in the sink, wiping down counters, with J.D. happily nestled in the rocker and the children coloring at the breakfast room table, in advance of her promised 5 p.m. clock-out time, and Lee would glide down the steps at 4:53 p.m. in her black one-piece, her waist winnowed to nothing, her limbs long and tan, and fumble around in the junk drawer for the key.
“Hi honey,” she’d say to Frances. “I’m going for a swim.” And Frances would smile encouragingly, like a dummy, and watch as Lee Halliday would cross the street of her Spring Valley neighborhood in bare feet, wearing nothing but a black bathing suit and a white towel around her neck, and disappear behind the white picket gate that led to the Winfields’ backyard.
“Do you swim?” asked Lee one night, wiping the pads of her feet against the doormat, beads of chlorinated water still-dotting her shoulders.
“I mean, I can swim. I don’t, like, compete, though,” fumbled Frances. Why was everything so elegantly trim with Lee, and so clunky with Frances?
“Come for a swim tomorrow,” she had said. Frances didn’t understand who would look after the children, or if this was part of her job, but she chose, for once, the tidier path and just nodded.
The next night, Lee called down the stairs after changing into her swimsuit — this time fire engine red — “Skippy? Franny and I are running next door for a swim. We’ll be back in ten.”
“Mmmhmm,” he returned. Frances worried for a minute about J.D., who was laying in his crib. Would Skip know to…? She interrupted her own thought: he was their Dad; he had to know these things. She instead changed quickly into her own bathing suit, a stretched out pink Speedo, and tied a small towel around her waist, sliding her feet into pink platform flip-flops. They crossed the street together, and Frances, though uncomfortable in her own body, had to admit that she felt like somebody standing next to Lee, whose shoulders were thrown back, whose long legs stretched strong and bronzed.
She watched as Lee dove in a perfect arc into the pool, cutting a clean line through the water, and then emerged at the other end, transitioning into a seasoned freestyle. Frances’ movements lacked finesse, but she strained to rotate her arms and propel her legs with as much intention as she could muster. Lee, however, did not seem concerned with Frances. In fact, she seemed oblivious to Frances’ ungainly windmilling. Instead, she slipped through the blue with purpose, her movements barely registering as ripples on the surface. After a few turns, Lee pulled herself up the silver ladder on the far end of the pool, her hair slicked back, and tilted her head this way and that. A light rain began to dot the flagstone terrace around the pool.
“You ready, honey?”
As they left the backyard, Lee tapped three times on the sliding glass door leading into the Winfield home and Frances saw the outline of an old man sitting at a kitchen table eating a bowl of cereal with newspapers spread out around him. Doug. He looked up over his glasses and smiled, put his hand to his lips, and then tapped his hand to his heart. Lee did the same, raising her shoulders as if in embrace.
“Sweet old man,” sighed Lee. Frances emitted a strange half-laugh in acknowledgement and then winced before offering a sheepish compensatory smile — none of which Lee seemed to register, or perhaps, Frances reasoned, all of which Lee had batted away with the kind of social largesse Frances one day hoped to possess. It’s nothing, Lee might have said. It’s just water. Frances felt for the first time in a long time a clandestine hope for her own future, one in which she was capable of confident arcs and triple taps on the neighbor’s window.
As they crossed the street, Skip glanced out the window of the second floor landing of his home and caught sight of his wife, her slender arm around the sitter, and leaned against the window frame to watch. Lee held up her hand in a loose gesture of gratitude to a car that had slowed to a stop to accommodate their ambling jaywalk through the drizzling August evening. Frances was clutching her towel around her body, her shoulders sloped downward, and the look of awe on her face as she listened to Lee pained Skip. They were making their way up the red brick path to the front door now, their conversation suddenly legible.
“Oh Franny, you are gorgeous,” Lee was saying, tugging the teen to herself. “Those eyes of yours are going to be trouble.” Skip felt a shiver of pride rush through him. He had not previously thought about the sitter as anything but a sitter, but he saw now, against the obvious silhouette of the girl’s insecurity, the kindness of his wife.
He looked over the banister, and Lee, now in the foyer, tilted her head up towards him. Pearls of rain and pool water ornamented her cheekbones, her clavicle. He felt a mantle of frustration slip off his back. He let go of the tweezer-like grasp he’d maintained all day long over the situation that morning: the children, not yet dressed or fully fed, lazing in front of the television at 8:21 despite the fact that they were due for dental cleanings at 8:30. He had gritted his teeth as he hastily flung his tie around his neck in the door frame. He only knew about the appointment because Dr. Mattis had mentioned it the night prior in the clubhouse after the driving range, and he begrudged the acquisition of this information. Now this, too, had become his responsibility.
But as he looked down at his wife, he saw the girl who had knelt over him in the alley between Copley and Healey Halls at Georgetown University all those years ago. He had suffered a concussion from a lacrosse play the night prior, and was violently sick, and though he couldn’t blame the other students for scurrying by — likely presuming his retching the result of debauchery — he also resented them, and then there she was, her face angelic, her palms cool on his arm and then the back of his neck. She hadn’t said much, just stayed with him, the light pressure of her hand on his back reassuring, and then, after he had explained the situation, only an empathetic tsk, as though dissipating the severity of the situation. Then: “Shh, we’ll get this sorted out.” And of all the things to say, it was precisely the right one. She had escorted him slowly and without registering any disgust to the hospital, and sat with him in the waiting room, and then he couldn’t remember her ever leaving his side since.
As he looked down at her, he was struck by the way in which love seemed to operate according to laws of conservation. It was as if his wife’s tender ministrations to the girl had returned some displaced affection to him, and now here he was, standing at the top of the steps, mouthing down to his wife so the girl wouldn’t hear him:
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+All of the sudden, I can’t stop thinking about short-sleeved knits, and specifically this Khaite cardigan. Get the look for less with this Doen and even less with this Anthro. Ideal use case: pairing with a slip skirt (Quince’s is really good and only $59 — I own! — but I also know people absolutely love the ones from Vince). Finish with a delicious suede tall boot. YES.
+Equally loving the idea of a short sleeved knit tee to tuck into high waisted trousers — especially love this in the oxblood color; look for less with this.
+The tee shirts I won’t stop yapping about from SoldOutNYC are on sale for LDW in select colors. The gray and navy will be your wardrobe workhorses. These are my favorite tees! Perfect level of polish but thin enough to tuck.
+The main thing on my mind with all of these LDW sales — these intaglios from Caitlin Wilson Design. I have been contemplating a set for our formal living room and the discount is tempting me…
+Ordered both of my children these quilted corduroy jackets in different colors. I feel like I’m always looking for something a little nicer than their run-around parkas and such for Church and other more formal events. JEN-20 gets you 20% off.
+Eager to try this dark spot serum from new-to-me beauty line Eadem. I noticed this summer that my skin is really prone to hyperpigmentation, and that I have to really slather on sunscreen and wear a hat. I think it’s because of the Vitamin C (and other skincare ingredients), which are making me more sensitive to sun. I’ve been using Remedy’s formula for the last few weeks and I do think it’s working, albeit gradually. I’ve specifically noticed a change above my eyebrows. Curious to see how Eadem’s formula compares.
+Been spotting this newer accessory brand, Dehanche, around lately, and this belt from their line in particular. The Madewell style I’ve shared a few times is a good look for less!
+I know some of us aren’t emotionally prepared to talk about fall’s festivities, but these glasses are so cute and will absolutely sell out. Imagine serving up a seasonal sangria or bourbon cocktail in them for a Halloween gathering!
+If your children love graphic novels as much as mine do (obsessed), you might try this Super Pancake series. I bought a few and my daughter read them all in one sitting on our couch.
By: Jen Shoop
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Home details have been on my mind as we are finishing up the design of some well-loved spaces in our house. Below, some pieces that I love, from antique-inspired chairs (at a good price) to great organizational gear.
01. Our living room design project is still underway but we are anticipating the receipt of most of the big pieces of furniture we had upholstered by the end of this month. I cannot wait and will then share some snaps. One piece we’re still figuring out with my interior designer is a dramatic mirror for above the console. I’ve always loved the whimsical ones from Fleur, and I think we’ve agreed on this one in the cooking apple green color. I noticed Ballard has a Fleur-like style available for a fraction of the price, too.
02. Rattan trays for corraling stuff — remotes, wallets and keys, napkins, batteries! I’m always looking for ways to contain the sprawl of our belongings.
03. This storage bin is perfectly chic — doesn’t need to be hidden away.
04. The best solution for organizing your shoes. When I lived in NYC, I swore by under-bed storage, and these are perfect.
05. One key to a well-designed entertaining space: somewhere for guests to put their drinks within arm’s reach. These cute end tables are ideal for that — and $115! Love the color options. I also ordered one of these Oomph tini tables for our living room — I’d been eyeing forever!
05. This countertop spray makes it smell like Jo Malone has cleaned your bathroom herself.
06. Speaking of counter top sprays: I typically use the above only for light traffic areas like guest bathrooms, wiping edge of bath tub, etc. But Branch Basics sent me one of their starter kits for more routine cleaning and I have to say, I’m really impressed. No strong scent but very effective. I’ve been especially liking the kitchen counter top spray — it really dissolves grease and stuck-on jam smears easily, but doesn’t smell at all, and leaves no residue. This might be one of those “RWI” situations – I feel like I’d heard about them for so long and thought it’d be too good to be true. If you haven’t heard about them, you buy one concentrate and then fill their spray bottles to the indicated spot with water and mix. It’s a clever, low-waste solution, and the stuff actually works.
07. Love the look of this striped armchair as a statement in a living room. It looks antique!
08. As we approach fall, I would be remiss not to mention my favorite bed blanket. We use these in our primary and guest bedrooms. The perfect weight — so soft and I love the texture they add. You can get the look-for-less with this.
First, two PSAs: 1) Shopbop’s 20% off promotion ends today. It’s full of such great staples for the season ahead. All my picks here. Can I encourage you to step outside your comfort zone and try these ecru barrel jeans?! Mine arrived (ordered on the exclamatory recommendation of a Magpie reader) and they are FABULOUS. You can see me in mine here. 2) Veronica Beard is offering an extra 25% off all its sale items! My top picks here. Several of them have already sold out — but this striped henley is a must!
Q: New work tote, must fit giant laptop, brown leather.
A: Can I convince you to go seude, fabric de la saison?! I’m obsessing over Veronica Beard’s fall suede handbag offerings, especially this roomy tote (video demonstrates that a big laptop will fit). Sezane’s Gabin bag is a chic, logo-free look for less. Upgrade pick: this Bottega (swoon) or this Metier (seen above) If you’re committed to leather, I have always thought this classic Tods bag is timeless and will last a lifetime. Vibe for less: this Demellier, this Little Liffner.
Q: Napa in the fall.
A: You are going to have such a great time! We loved (!) visiting that area last fall. I’d pair jeans (trending barrel fits or classic straight legs) with fun blouses like this or this, great flats, and interesting top layers (chunky knits, quilted shackets, cropped blazers) for day (layers are key – can be quite warm at noon and chilly in the morning and evening) and Doen fall floral dresses like this, with a suede heel or sandal and a heavier-weight cashmere cardigan (on sale here!), for night. A bag like this will take you from day to night perfectly. Also, literally anything Jenni Kayne.
If you’re a visual shopper, I did three collages: one for dinner (seen below), one for wine-tasting, one for fancy lunch at a Thomas Keller spot.
A: Caveat: some of these are wool blends — check materials before purchasing!
I promise not to make Sezane’s fall collection my entire personality, but it was so good — wool coats included. I love this one in the unexpected green (also available in neutrals). If I were to invest, I’d go MaxMara. One of these years I’m going to pull the trigger! They are timeless and exquisite. I also think the Toteme signature wool/cashmere coat is fabulous, and I can’t stop thinking about this scarf-collar style from SEA.
If you are a taller Magpie, I’d rec this Loulou Studio. So slouchy-cool, and on sale! The proportions mean it will be very generous with chunky knits beneath (sometimes a problem with slimmer/trimmer silhouettes). But would totally swallow a petite.
Q: Work dinner, first time meeting the very chic (mostly gen-z) team IRL. Help!
A: Eek! That must feel so high-stakes! My principle advice is to wear something that feels like the most empowered version of you, and that you won’t be constantly second-guessing / adjusting while wearing. For me, if the dinner is on the more casual side, that would be a great pair of jeans, a cropped blazer, a polished tee, a heel or polished flat (<<this $60 pair is a go-to; it elevates and looks great with everything), and a grown-up hand bag like this. An outfit like this feels laidback but grown up.
Q: A dark olive green dress for a fall wedding.
A: I’m all about the slip dress for the season ahead. Adore this one and this one. I love the idea of layering with this short sleeved, embellished cardigan. (Look for less with this!) If you don’t love bare shoulders, try this Ulla (easy to dress up with an evening heel and bag). If you’re open to a pattern, this Zimmermann is gorgeous. And La Ligne’s Elodie is intriguing!
Q: 40th birthday outfits. I’m copying and doing Keswick/Charlottesville.
A: Happy birthday! You are going to have the best time! It’s such a special, and relaxing, place to ring in the big 4-0. I love that it has a little bit of everything — high end dining, lounge spaces, heated pool, fabulous spa, hiking and wine tasting not far afield, and of course Charlottesville itself!
Charlottesville is pretty laid back — something like this or this with a suede flat sandal feels right for early fall down there, but I’d still dress up for the big night! I love this with a suede pump, this (!!!!! my top pick) with gold jewelry, this, this.
Completely different from what I’m usually drawn to, but I can’t stop thinking about this fabulous Vince dress.
Q: Coat/jacket to pair with patterned dresses to help take them to fall.
Q: Niche but laundry detergent? Something OK for kids with sensitive skin.
A: I would give Honest’s baby detergent a try. I’ve been really impressed with everything I’ve tried from their line — they are gentle, but they work (they don’t just feel like water?). And MIL swears by Persil, which is hypoallergenic, dye and perfume-free.
Q: Long sleeve dress for family photos – brown and blue.
Q: I’m looking for a bag for Italy in September. Ideally something crossbody for daytime and a top handle/clutch option for evening. I would rather not take two bags. Something not too small but could fit in my travel tote. I’m planning a color palette of black and ivory with pops of red. Thank you!
Q: Looking for outfits for my daughters (3 year old and 9 mos old) for family photos in October. I will be wearing the Cara Cara Lolita dress in Blue bogota scarf. Haven’t chosen husband’s outfit yet although he will be easy. Any thoughts? Thank you!
A: Love the dress! So chic! I’d put your girls in this and this with navy cardigans. The patterns are of sufficiently different scales — it will work and be interesting! Husband can wear the boring solids – hehe.
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Rugby polos, boat shoes, stripes! All the most handsome fall pieces for your little guys below.
Quick note that I’ve been having really good luck with J. Crew factory lately — classic pieces at solid price points. (Above: hoodie and henley, boat shoes, and sweater, all from J. Crew Factory.). And J. Crew just launched a great sale ahead of the holiday weekend, and I snagged these jeans (colored denim for our wee men!!) and this barn coat for him while discounted.
03. Rugby shirts for fall are everywhere!! — this Ralph Lauren polo is so cute.
04. Amazon raincoat for $31 — I bought these for both my kids and can’t rave enough about them. Such good quality for the price! Remind me of Petit Bateau (which we’ve also had in the past!)
One of my girlfriends threw her husband a surprise birthday party two weekends ago. In the lead up, she asked myself and a few other friends, gathered for wine and pizza in my living room: “Any advice? What should I know?”
I said: “Make a toast.”
There are so few opportunities to publicly praise our loved ones, and the toast gives meaningful shape to a celebration. I could say this with conviction because two of my great life regrets are not toasting my brother at his wedding and not toasting my husband at his fortieth birthday. It’s not for lack of words. In the case of my husband’s fortieth, I had the entire spiel written out on a small piece of paper, in the hyper-neat-size-8-point handwriting I use for things that matter, that I carried around in my sweaty palm all evening — but I chickened out, and, ever my deliverance, Mr. Magpie stood and said a few words of gratitude instead. No, it’s never been the words. It’s the inevitability of the tears, and not the charming Rachel McAdams kind. When I am crying on a dais, I am spluttering, I am choked. The words won’t come out, or they do, in a senseless rush. Alternately, I must rehearse the speech so frequently that I beat the emotion out of them, and then who wants to be toasted in words stiff as wood?
My brave friend, though, persisted and succeeded, and it was lovely. I watched as her husband shifted feet in endearing discomfort — he couldn’t wait to get out of the limelight, and yet his eyes shone with happiness. It feels good to be seen. Doubly so via the hefted praise of your spouse. You think, Oh really? You still see me as I was at twenty, and not mediated by the repetitive, and unglamorous, and occasionally stressful march of the quotidian? You think about the befores. You think about the core of things: the moment you first touched hands, those nights eating dinner on top of moving boxes, the situations in which you have felt it is you and him against the furious world, the first time you overheard him say “My wife and I…” and thought with an irrepressible thrill of the specific and hallowed way in which you belonged to one another. Funny how dust never collects here.
I hope one day I find reprisal venues for my absent toasts. In the meantime, I hope you will profit from my negligence by toasting your loved ones at the next possible opportunity. It can be simple and short (oftentimes, the best), but make it specific.
One of the best things I’ve read this year is a letter that someone wrote to the author Joseph Fasano:
“Mr. Fasano,
My Dad has never written anything “creative” in his life. My Mom (who was a librarian) passed away recently, so I gave him a copy of your poetry prompts, and he wrote this for her:
I miss your smell of honey
I miss your voice like good rivers.
I miss your hands like all the books
I never got to open
But I know that living means opening
And I want to live. I want to open
And you, love, I want you to be there
in every story
Go, be in every story”
To me, the precision of the line “your voice like good rivers” could make for a third, perhaps even half, of a perfect toast. Short, unshowy, and redolent with reverent love.
A prompt for you today: if you could praise your significant other (or a loved one on your heart today) in one phrase, what would you say?
Post Scripts.
I eventually adapted my planned toast for Mr. Magpie into this musing. One of the fringe benefits of writing for a living is finding a million opportunities to say what I mean to the people I love. (C.f., “Dear Dad, you were right.”) But in case it wasn’t clear, Landon, you still make me feel like a heart on stilts.
+This boot, in the chocolate brown suede. Under $200 perfection.
+Dorsey just restocked its perfect Lucien leverback earring for delivery in late September. I reach for these constantly. They are sophisticated, interesting, and very lightweight. These sell out every time. $210 but look like a million bucks. IMO, one of the best ways to invest in your daily wardrobe!
+Love this jacket — inspired by Toteme, but not a dupe. (Compare with Toteme.). Look for less: this Moon River ($120)!
+Aureum is offering 25% off at the moment. A perfect time to invest in the perfect fall belt. (I own this!)
+Don’t miss the Kule sale, ending soon! I’d focus on their iconic modern long striped tees (match with shorts for an easy daytime end of summer look) and dreamy striped knits. Also, Mr. Magpie has one of these striped rugbys (also marked down!) and looks so handsome in his.
+My favorite notebooks — I only use these for hand-drafting and note-taking. I love that you can choose between gridded/lined/blank (I’m a gridded girl), ink never seeps through the back of the page, and the covers feel artful.
+Magpie reader favorite Hotel Lobby just launched hand soaps and diffusers today! They generously sent me a set and can I tell you something weird? I splurge on fancy hand soaps everywhere else in my house (or at least really good quality but reasonably priced hand soap, e.g., in high traffic areas like kitchen), but use only cheap unscented wash in our primary bathroom that I buy in enormous quart sized bags. This is very unlike Mr. Magpie and myself. We both proactively invest in the most-frequented parts of our lives — best coffee, best bedding and mattress we can find, best sound systems (we almost always have music playing), best computers, best ingredients. But I skimp on the soap. It’s on your hands for such a brief time! We wash so frequently! I decided, though, to upgrade our primary bath soap with the Hotel Lobby one in the signature scent and it has been such an immediate micro-joy. WOW! Every time I wash my hands at my sink, I am transported, and feel spoiled, and luxurious.
+In case you’re wondering, I decant Grove hand soap into our kitchen soap dispensers. It’s good quality but not $$$, and we like that it comes in recyclable aluminum cans. We use these pump bottles at the kids’ bathroom sinks (has a decent carry to its scent, which is handy when I’m trying to discern whether my kids actually washed their hands…) and my three favorite hand soaps for guest / powder bathrooms are Ouai, Aesop (a bougie beloved for a reason), and Molton Brown Rhubarb and Rose (probably one of my top five favorite scents).
+Hunter Bell’s new fall collection is also incredible. Love this knit dress (suitable for work or play) and this houndstooth top coat.
+Cute, inexpensive euro shams. Great for a guest bedroom.
+Spanx released its popular AirWeight collection in a great cornflower blue color – how cute is this hoodie with these leggings? (Code SHOOPXSPANX for 10% off.)
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Shopbop is offering 20% off incredible fall staples worth contemplating for your incoming seasonal wardrobe (sale runs today through 8/29). The pieces I would recommend most fervently:
02. Jeans! You know you’re going to buy them in a few weeks — use this promo as an occasion to treat you future self. Colored denim (especially browns), barrel jeans, and wide leg are trending for fall (more thoughts on trending denim here, and how I style colored jeans here). My top picks from this promo are Agolde’s Dame jeans (wide legs), Citizen’s Lyras in the porcini color (colored), and Mother’s Half Pipes (barrel).
03. This BA&SH cropped blazer. She’s everything (the gold knot buttons!) and you’ll wear her for years and years to come. So good with denim, over a dress, paired with a skirt. If you’re not into the blazer vibe, consider this navy cardigan from Alex Mill. I own her and get a ton of wear out of her. Similar polish but less structured.
04. A suede bucket bag (also in navy) — trending shape and suede fabric. Already under $200, but this drives the price down to a palatable $142. But I’d also be remiss not to share that my beloved Elleme bag is included in the sale! Truly one of my favorite purchases this fall. Feels trendy but different, and works with a cocktail dress as easily as it does jeans and a sweater.
05. Elevated base layers — I love Kule’s Venice top (perfect color to go with everything, and has a slightly stretchier handfeel than their Modern Longs) and the Leset Kelly (runs very snug – consider sizing up) for tucking into fuller skirts, high-waist trousers, etc. Polished. I call her my Rachel Green top.
06. Fall boots and everyday flats. LR footwear is supremely comfortable, right out of the box. These have the trendy intrecciato weave, and the color is versatile. On the boot front, I am loving a tall boot for fall, especially in suede — these Stauds are in my cart. (If you prefer to avoid suede for commuting / weather reasons, try these Reformations.) If you can’t get on board with tall boots (yet — they’re just making their way back into the fashion limelight), these Reformations are chic.
Placing these pieces in conversation with one another…
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I have been loving the sophisticated, tailored pieces from Veronica Beard, La Ligne, Toteme, etc, but you don’t need to spend a fortune to get the look. Below, sharing a few splurge/save options. Many of the higher end pieces are by Veronica Beard because I swear it’s exactly what I want to wear all the time, but I know the price point has a sting.
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I have never felt lonely in this vocation. I think, as an introvert, and a bookish one, I am pre-conditioned to not only tolerate but enjoy — crave — long, quiet stretches tinkering with words in my studio. To quote C.S. Lewis: “I am a product of long corridors, empty sunlit rooms, upstairs indoor silences, attics explored in solitude, distant noises of gurgling cisterns and pipes, and the noise of wind under the tiles. Also, of endless books.” I have been toying this week with the idea of absconding to a remote location by myself for a few days to write roundly. I have been shaping a fictional project and it has consumed so much of my energy and time this past month that I am shell-like when I emerge to care for my children, and take meals, and clumsily interact with neighbors. I am the ostrich with her head in the sand during the day, disoriented and drained after. The half-formed characters, the flagging arc of the story, follow me everywhere. Even last night, forcing myself to disconnect for the evening, I watched the first episode of Vince Vaughn’s “Bad Monkey,” and could think only of how good the show’s writing was, and stooped to investigate its seams, its techniques. A shame, in a sense, because the show has a winning charm to it, an ease with its banter. This is a show that has fun with itself — and there I was, measuring tape in hand. I hear a small alarm ringing. This is how it felt when I was in graduate school, and trained to read in a certain loveless way. Pleasure gave way to a clinician’s steely-eyed study.
But what to do? Continue to write; answer the siren call; permit my mind to wander to its inexorable ends.
To return, though: I have never felt lonely in writing. I feel most like myself when I’m engrossed in it. But I used to feel lonely in the running of the business end of it. How to find a web developer to implement the small changes I needed to make? What was a good deal; what was a rip off? Do I need a dedicated server? Brand partnerships — how to build them, how to ask for a fair fee? Thankfully, a few women in this industry have been generous with me, and made introductions, and weighed in with kindness: Grace Atwood, Stephanie Covington, Mackenzie Horan, Nan Philip, to give credit where credit is due. Also the entire team at Shopbop, who have been encouraging me in their own way since I was first setting out, all the way back in 2011, if you can believe it. I still remember the glee and shock of a $200 bonus they extended my way, out of the blue, when I was just a janky site using thick blue font on an off-the-shelf WordPress theme.
Nowadays, though, I don’t feel lonely in the business side of things. I have curated a small team of experts that help me with the things I know nothing about, or perhaps am uninterested in knowing anything about. One of them, Daniela Quintero from my branding firm (Arcal Studio), occasionally sends me notes on how to fix things to make them look better. I love her for her preening care. She wrote me this week: “Congratulations on everything with MAGPIE—I love everything you post and share! My only recommendation for the newsletters would be to make the logo header a bit smaller hehe.” The joy this note brought me cannot be overstated. To feel as though I am part of a team rowing in the same direction — to be held, and looked after! What a gift. I sat with that email and thought: “this is a turning point.” To what I don’t know? But I am pausing to remark on the feeling.
Anyhow, the slow and careful assemblage of a team over the past many years is why I have been reluctant to network at this time of my life. Well, that and COVID, and having kids, and discovering that my free time is no longer my own. But I used to put myself out there a lot more, proactively meeting fellow creatives to learn about their work, to talk shop, and now I wonder if the void those activities used to fill has already been satisfied. And then last month, Heather Bien emailed me and asked me to join a creatives lunch with a few D.C.-area entrepreneurs, and I said yes. And I am so glad I did. The energy this group of women brought to the table! I witnessed a rarified vortex of creativity and passion in a window table at La Bonne Vache (former home to Booeymonger from my high school days; RIP). The questions they asked, the learnings they shared, the way each listened and plumbed her own experience for insight. You must visit with Chesley McCarty (real estate/photography), Heather Bien (home restoration/writing), and Jacqueline Bond (of Bond and Grace — an independent imprint that publishes classic novels that have been transformed into works of art, complete with illustrations by fine artists and head notes by literary scholars). I find each of these businesses fascinating because they are art-forward, and intersectional. Businesses that contain multitudes. And the women that run them, multiples of those multitudes.
After I left the table, I walked to my car on O Street, and I thought about all the versions of myself that have been born in Georgetown. I run into a different Jen at every cross-street. And I met another one that afternoon: the one who can sit at a table with successful entrepreneurs and communicate the wilderness of running a creative business, too. Perhaps not elegantly. (As always, I found many interesting things to say after I left the table, and rehashed my table-mates’ inquiries on the drive home.) But there was a marked shock, and joy, in discovering that I had insights that were relevant, and a ready draw of careful opinions shaped by experience. This is 40, I guess? Where you are still learning (always) but also capable of calling on actual lived experience to shape a conversation?
There are times in your life where you know things are changing. You can’t put your finger on what it means, or where you are headed, but you notice signals. People consistently coming to you for specific advice; a pattern of interactions you’d never had before; an uptick in productivity; consistent requests from your boss; the need for new (more powerful) technical gear; certain narrow clarities. I feel that way right now, as if I’m in creative metamorphosis. I am writing my way, as always, through it. Here is the gossamer nymph thread; here is the chrysalid pen. Time will tell when my frenetic cellular movements will give way to new legs, eyes, wings.
*****
Sunday shopping poetry:
I’ve thoroughly tested this blow dry spray and it is top-tier. I started with the travel size and upgraded to full size this week. A must for a sleek blowout — discovered via Julia Amory. // Knitwear brand Kilte has launched a fabulous sale — the Maura in ivory is a forever-piece, and their washable cashmere sets are great for travel // Cult favorite bodycare brand Necessaire is offering 20% off sitewide today through 9/2 — I know many of you swear by their unscented body lotion and eucalyptus body wash // You need this fleece popover — I wear her constantly in 50-60 degree weather (incoming!). Perfect casual top layer with a touch more polish than a crewneck. // A Magpie reader insisted that these barrel-style jeans are IT, and I ordered them, and she was correct. I am obsessed with them – the photos on site don’t do them justice. Get ready to see them all the time. // Jewelry brand Soru is offering 20% off — gorgeous statement earrings for a bride, and I spotted these on my friend Chrissy and she looked fabulous // I do not need a new blush, but I ordered this in the color “spicy marg” per the beautiful Katie’s rec // Caro Chamber’s book is #2 on the NYT best-seller’s list — can we help make it #1?! // Chic alternative to a Samba in on-trend brown suede. // Elemis’s friends and family sale (25% off) ends today — these resurfacing pads are excellent (facial in wipe form) and I just ordered this cleanser to try. // Sezane’s fall collection launches this morning!
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+HELEN FRANKENTHALER: I have been learning about the American abstract expressionist Helen Frankenthaler (1928-2011) this week. I came across some of her quotes about art via Instagram and was pulled in, but now I’m transfixed by her story, her process, her art. I must go see her best-known piece, Mountains and Sea (seen below) — it’s here at the National Gallery in DC! Planning a day date with Mr. Magpie around it. Two of my favorite quotes from her: “I’d rather risk an ugly surprise than rely on things I know I can do” and “There are no rules. That is how art is born, how breakthroughs happen. Go against the rules or ignore the rules. This is what invention is about.” It reminds me of Anne Lamott’s “don’t look at your feet; just dance,” and the general adage, when it comes to creativity, not to seek permission.
+JFK JR / CBK: Their style remains fresh. These old photos are in conversation with my thoughts last week about feeling like I’ve been undergoing a major evolution in style. I don’t know if it’s turning 40, or the ambient retail shift away from grandmillennial and ruffles?
+COURAGE BAGELS (at top and below!): My mouth is watering just looking at these everything bagels. I sent this photo to Mr. Magpie and he replied: “Just booked us tickets to LA.” If there are any Angeleno Magpies, thoughts?! Worth the hype? D.C. is sadly lacking in good bagels. Even Bread Furst’s version is middling, and I’m not a big fan of Call Your Mother.
+REMEMBER WHEN YOU DREAMED OF WHAT YOU NOW HAVE?: I loved this reflection Ina Garten shared on Instagram: “In doing research for my upcoming memoir, I discovered a letter that Jeffrey wrote to me in high school. He said, “I want to take you to Paris. In the beginning, we won’t be able to afford much so maybe we’ll go camping. Hopefully, the next time, we will have enough money to stay in a hotel and maybe someday we’ll even be able to rent an apartment.” We actually did go to Paris in 1971 on a four-month camping trip. If someone had told me then that 50 years later I’d come back with the Today Show to report on food at the Paris Olympics, I would have thought they were crazy!” Related: this sweet and whimsical carousel of illustrations from Sunlight After Dark, which concludes: “I still have a lot of dreams to chase, but today I’m just enjoying the view.”
+SALES TO SHOP: (1) Don’t miss Alice Walk’s sale on their dreamy gauze shorts and pants (both run TTS), as well as (2) Julia Amory’s sale on Coatue shorts and coordinating tops (perfect daytime outfit for a LDW trip!) and caftans (this one will transition well into fall / could work with suede boots or mules). Reformation also marked down a ton of its wedding-guest-ready pieces — love this simple but sexy linen number. On the beauty front, (3) Elemis is offering 25% off some of their best products — can’t wait to try this cleanser and this pro-collagen moisturizer; I already have and love their resurfacing pads — and (4) UBeauty is offering all of us (not just first time buyers) 20% off sitewide with code JENSHOOP — usually, they only offer this promo to first time customers, but it’s currently available to all! I know so many of you were curious about the lip plasma!
+MY SON’S BIG BOY BED!: We let him squish into his toddler bed for as long as possible, but as a newly minted five year old heading into Kindergarten, it was time. We bought him this PBK bed (full size, brushed fog — currently on sale!), a Saatva youth mattress, this duvet, these pillow inserts (the best inexpensive sleeping pillow), this bed blanket (look for less for our Boll and Branch ones), and a few fun sheet sets, including these and these. These cute maritime sheets were sold out in the full size, but I have my eye on them, too.
A few weeks ago, a friend told me that she keeps a note on her iPhone titled:
“Good things are always happening to me.”
In it, she’ll track windfalls and micro-victories.
What a beautiful way to anchor, and attract, the positive.
I started my own this week —
Some of these are shorthand — “story time” being a weekly session where my mom reads books over FaceTime to all her grandkids, and which I’ve occasionally forgotten in the flow of our busy weekends, and “the J.P. line” references a section from a fictional work I’ve been working on intensively.
But most of these are simple goodnesses that more often than not slip by unannounced.
Every few weeks, Mr. Magpie makes an extra large batch of morning coffee. This happens when he’s at the bottom of our bag of Sey coffee beans, and there is a surfeit amount to use up before opening the next one. On those mornings, he’ll call out: “Bonus coffee!”
It’s not extra coffee, it’s not “enough for a second cup.” It’s a bonus, and it’s worth celebrating. What he’s really saying is “I’ve found some treasure this morning,” and “good things are always happening to us.”
Every time he says this, I think of the closing line from a William Stafford poem: “But some bonuses, like morning, like right now, like noon, like evening.”
What would it be like to consider the everyday things that go well, or that simply go as planned, life’s gratuities? The universe giving you at tip. “Life can be hard, honey — sit and enjoy this perfect melon.”
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+Alice Walk just launched a rare sale — you must contemplate their triple gauze shorts or pants. I’ve lived in these this summer! The shorts are great as a pool / beach cover-up, and I love the pants for that sliver of time between day and night, when you aren’t ready for pajamas but don’t want to be in jeans. Divinely comfortable and very chic, especially when paired with a striped tank like this.
+Doen’s Fall Chapter I is here! (Launched yesterday.) This is a slam dunk for fall family photos, but I’m absolutely drooling and dying over this lace maxi. Wow. I think I’m going to buy it, but keep going back and forth on color — I mean, the burgundy is more practical — but can you even with that ivory?! I have this vision of myself wearing it to dinner at Lake Como in Italy…I also love their pointelle basics, like this, which I’d like in all four colors pls!
+A Magpie reader left a comment encouraging me to check out Talbots’ fall collection, and I’m blown away. A lot of the shapes/styles remind me of Veronica Beard, but at more approachable price points. Consider these leopard shoes, a dead ringer in shape for VB’s Cecile ballet pump. Also loving this crisp denim shirt dress and (drumroll) this cropped suede jacket. It’s still pricey but wowza. (Compare to VB’s Andrea jacket, it’s 3x less expensive.)
+But, a moment for VB’s sale section. I need a new striped sweater like I need a hole in my head, but OMG, this was $119 and I had to have it, and I just know I’ll get a ton of wear out of this thinner knit, for tucking into skirts, trousers, jeans, etc.
+Lake Pajamas’ best-selling kimono set in fog stripe is back. This has sold out multiple times. I love the kimono sets so much — they’re the same swingy, stretchy material as the Relax Sets I also love, but a bit more flattering on if I’m honest! Love the stripe! (To differentiate, I’d wear the kimono set around houseguests in the morning, but probably not the relax set!)
+Honest sent me a bundle of their beauty products recently, and I just pulled out this lash primer / mascara wand. Wow! I am super impressed. I still think that the Tower28 is my favorite formula, but the Honest excels at separating and defining lashes, and despite it’s marketing as “ultra bold,” I find it more natural in finish. I also really like the way my lashes feel afterward (not stiff). I test a lot of beauty products and a lot of times I’ll try them for a few days and then put them in my overflow drawers to pull out when I’m in a pinch / traveling / out / etc. But this one has remained in my top drawer. A welcome alternate. I am so thrilled to be finding these excellent and less-expensive mascaras, as I am never without mascara on during the day. It’s my desert island product.
+Only one size left, but this $118 dress from SEA (originally $425) would be a perfect fall family photo option. Sleeves, good colors, easy to mix and match with others patterns, a great shape.
+Minnow released some adorable patterns and pieces in its bags and accessories line. I absolutely love this travel pouch. It’s the perfect size for all my essentials (lipstick, bandaids, pens, hair claws, etc) – I transfer it from bag to bag.
+Speaking of pouches, Pehr reached out to me after I shared their perfect bins and pouches to offer us 20% off with code JEN-20. This gingham park jacket is beyond adorable for your little one this fall. I updated my promo code page with this, too!
+Substack fashion darling Jamie Haller just released their first ready-to-wear collection. They’re known for their “IYKYK” footwear, like their gorgeous, lived-in loafers, and I was excited to see what they’d release in the way of clothing. I keep ogling at their $$$ sweatshirts. Why do the expensive garments always have the best fit and silhouette?! Gap has a really good basic sweatshirt in solid colors — gray, navy, etc. — that I’d recommend if you’re in the market but not looking to spend as much. I have this in navy and wear it a lot. Not as cropped as the Haller, but a really good fit.
+I’m going to see Kacey Musgraves perform in a few weeks (!!!) and everything from Alix of Bohemia’s latest collection is pitch-perfect music concert outfitting (but especially for Spacey Kacey). I keep thinking about this wild and cool jacket, and this “arrow dress” (follow your arrow!). These are investments but so unique and small-batch and the details are beyond. Alix has offered us 10% off with code JEN-10. If you haven’t tried her divinely soft blockprint blouses, this is your sign!
