The December Issue: A Word of Thanks

+ 10 things bringing the editrix joy this holiday season

This December, Luxe Libris has no feature interview—frankly, this month was too hectic to get anything together. I’ve got a few wonderful subjects lined up for the new year who I’m so excited to introduce you to, but please do send along names of friends or colleagues you think might enjoy a chat.

Thank you for subscribing and reading. When I started this newsletter in March, I never dreamed that there would be anywhere close to 500 people interested in reading a newsletter like this. I want to especially thank Quinn, Christine, Tamar, Elda, Jesse, Molly, and the stylish antiquarian booksellers at the New York Book Fair for talking with me this year about how they get dressed. (If you missed any of those issues, you can find them here.)

The Christmas will be quiet for me—my husband is immunocompromised and we need to stay put to keep him safe from another winter of surging Covid-19 cases. Coming out of a similarly quiet winter in 2021, starting Luxe Libris was a way for me to bring more beauty and possibility into my life without having to leave home. To end the year, I thought I’d share a list of ten things making my quiet Christmas a little more joyful and beautiful, and that may be of interest to our little community that revels in the intersection of fashion, dress, cultural heritage, and history:

1. Articles of Interest Season 3: American Ivy created by Avery Trufelman. This podcast has sustained me on blustery walks and long lines at the post office this month. In this season, Trufelman traces the staying power of ivy/preppy clothes through the founding of Brooks Brothers, to the Civil Rights movement, Japanese fashion houses, and the ascension of street wear. (There is also a companion newsletter.) Thanks to friend and LL reader Rachel for recommending!

2. Rachel Tashjian in her many forms: as Harper’s Bazaar Fashion News Director (her analysis of the costumes on The Crown kept me watching), as Instagram sensation (replete with fit pics), and as madcap editrix of her exuberant and exclusive newsletter Opulent Tips. Here’s her latest for Harper’s on the delicate art of blanket dressing.

3. Diana Vreeland’s Memos. Speaking of iconic editors, I often turn to the world of Diana Vreeland this time of year. I think it has to do with Vreeland’s love of red, of all things Russian, of jingle bells (no, really, she wore a bracelet of jingle bells at Vogue for months, originating the gird-your-loins-against-the-quickly-approaching-magazine editor trope). Memos: The Vogue Years is a collection of Vreeland’s typescript memos edited by her grandson Alexander, and a window into her zany methods, e.g. “SUBJECT: JANUARY 1 – PREDICTIONS. The entire January book is predictions. These are written in a very haphazard way but will perhaps help you in the way we are thinking. . . Lizard, snakeskin, reptile. . .Ponchos in everything from cashmere, jersey, to bright furs, precious furs, brocade, chartreuse – fringed, lots and lots of fringe. . .Mauve, violet, this tonality. . .Makeup with a KICK. . .Red stockings on so many things. . .Red boots with so many things. . .The bias dress will come on in a big way. . .Viver shoes showing the most pointed flat and narrow toes like the tongue of a viper. . .Braided belts and HUGE tassels. . .Yellow is the word for makeup. . .Longer suede and cashmere gloves. The languor of the wrist must be brought out. We must not only use the little stubby gloves!” (The documentary Diana Vreeland: The Eye has to Travel is also a treat.)

4. The Greedy Peasant. Continuing the madcap theme, my friend Jess recently turned me on to the Greedy Peasant, a “Queer Medieval Fever Dream” from the brain of costume designer and illustrator Tyler Gunter whose videos ask the question, “what if a gay medieval peasant time-traveled to present-day New York?” Gunter’s gentle vocal lilt and enthusiasm for tassels are the perfect timeline cleanse. I recommend starting here, here, or here. (I think the Greedy Peasant is technically a TikToker, but as an old millennial, I watch on Instagram.)

5. The Period Films of Merchant and Ivory. This winter I’ve set myself the task of watching all of Merchant and Ivory’s literary adaptations. Not all, but many are sumptuously period set-decorated and costumed adaptations of novels by Henry James and E.M. Forrester. John Bright and Jenny Beavan’s costumes for the Edwardian films are stunning (they rightly won the oscar for Room with a View) and the dazzling English countryside backdrops help massage pangs of wanderlust.This autumn I had the pleasure of meeting the very charming and kind film critic John Pym who was present on the sets of many Merchant and Ivory films, and am pairing his wonderful book with my little private film festival.

6. The Chiffon Trenches. In 2022, we lost one of the great fashion critics of our time, André Leon Talley. I read Talley’s memoir The Chiffon Trenches in the lockdown winter of 2020 and it fundamentally changed my understanding and appreciation of fashion. This newsletter, and so much of the joy I now find in getting dressed, is indebted to Talley. If you find yourself in need of a little glamour during the dreary months ahead, pick up his memoir or listen to him narrate the audiobook version. The documentary about his life, The Gospel According to André, is also superb.

7. Tár. The only new film I saw in 2022 that I haven’t been able to stop thinking about was Todd Field’s Tár starring Cate Blanchett. There’s a lot of good criticism debating its merits, but the film has also launched a trove of articles on the film’s smart costuming by Bina Daigeler. I loved learning that Field had a weekly standing dinner with Daigeler and that Daigeler influenced Field to include a scene early in the film of Lydia Tár being fitted for a suit at Egon Brandstetter’s Berlin atelier. This is also a great interview with Daigeler, this is a good bit of fun analysis, and here is a cheeky guide to dressing like Tár.

8. Suiting and bespoke clothing. Like Lydia Tár, I recently had a bespoke suit made-to-measure at the wonderful Boston-based 9Tailors. The experience— which included being extensively measured; selecting the fabric, lining, cut, and buttons; and dropping in for four rounds of alterations—was deeply empowering and surprisingly body-positive. It felt astonishing to have so much say over what my garments would ultimately look like and how they would fit, something most people, especially women, are just not accustomed to in the 21st-century. The process has encouraged me to seek out other ways to find clothing made to fit and flatter my body in the new year. While getting a suit made is a big investment, there are a number of companies that will make garments made-to-order. Some of my favorites are OffOn Clothing and Revelle (recommended to me by LL’s October babe Molly Brown) though eShakti has cornered the market on this for years.

9. A quick round up of year-end favorites. Favorite LL-related read in 2022: Patch Work: A Life Among Clothes by Victoria and Albert Fashion Curator Claire Wilcox. Favorite runway show: Valentino’s 2022 fall ready-to-wear ode to pink. Favorite fashion documentary: Unzipped (1995) about Isaac Mizrahi’s comeback 1994 fall collection (recommended by Brian Cassidy and Rebecca Romney at the NYABF where they were selling an original Mizrahi design from the ‘94 collection). Favorite exhibition: Kimono Style at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

10. ForPEACE. If you watched Zelensky address congress on Wednesday, you heard him describe the dire situation in the small Eastern Ukrainian town of Bakhmut. Just a week before his address, my friend Britta was in Bakhmut delivering baby food, tourniquets, sleeping bags, and medicine. Britta continues this critical work through the holiday season, while many of us are curled up safe at home with hot chocolate and loved ones. You can make her job a little easier and the lives of Ukrainians a little better this winter by donating to her organization, ForPEACE which provides hyperlocalized targeted aid to Ukrainians in need.

Thanks for reading, and see you in the new year ❤️