Some elements of style

Bad fashion, good antidotes.

Regular readers will have noted my occasional forays into the world of fashion and retail, subjects of enduring (and sometimes perverse) interest for me. I’ve written, for example, about Allbirds sneakers, about the Nordstrom sale catalog’s odd art direction, about the waning days of Saks Fifth Avenue’s San Francisco store, about a color called “washed,” and about what “aesthetic” means.

Lately I’ve been thinking more than usual about such things, what with the change of seasons and the recent weirdness of Paris Fashion Week, which brought us such novelties, or aesthetic misdemeanors, as this:

A frock (?) by Thom Browne, via New York Times, October 10, 2025.

And this:

Maison Margiela model with “stitched” mouth.

In case you missed the facial detail:

“Maison Margiela SS26 models walked the runway wearing metal mouth frames that stretched their lips into a square. This gesture referenced the four white seams, Margiela’s iconic code, and symbolically silenced facial expression.” - Faint magazine

On the workaday end of the disturbingness spectrum, I spotted this photo in last Sunday’s San Francisco Chronicle.

Shoulders too broad, sleeves too long, chest too tight (note the straining buttons). Unfortunately, too many women have never been taught, or have forgotten, how tailored clothing ought to fit; this sad situation is what many women have come to expect from their off-the-rack clothing.

I’m not going to publish this young woman’s name or show her face — she’s a new member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, and you can read more about her at the gift link I’ve provided — but her ill-fitting blazer speaks volumes, none of them positive.¹ (And it’s not a matter of angles; it looks just as bad in the other photos.)

Fortunately, I’ve discovered some resources, here on Substack and in the wider world, that reassure me not all is lost, stylewise. Here’s where I go when I need inspiration, information, and ideas.

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Derek Guy

Publishing as @dieworkwear on Bluesky and Threads, Mr. Guy is a wry and knowledgeable fashion historian and menswear detective. He also writes for Esquire, The Financial Times, and Put This On. He favors the classics — good tailoring, excellent fabrics, harmonious color palettes — and he’s done the research to support his biases. See, for example, this thread comparing four overcoats ranging in price between $269 and $6,185. If nothing else, you’ll come away with a sharper eye for proportion and fit and a fervent appreciation of Fred Astaire’s suits. Men’s fashion only: Guy doesn’t address the miserable state of women’s ready-to-wear — cheap synthetics, shoddy construction — or the tragically low expectations of women customers. Where’s the female counterpart to Derek Guy?

Sunday Style Thoughts

One woman who does pay close attention to womenswear details like fabric content and construction is

Tiia VM

, the Helsinki-based author of Sunday Style Thoughts, which she calls “a newsletter about clothes and style for overthinkers.” Tiia owns a vintage-clothing store, Victor Victoria Vintage, and often writes about her second-hand finds, such as a white cotton skirt from the early 1900s:

The weight and the complexity of the fabric astonished me. The marcella weave of the cotton was incredibly intricate but soft. As I slipped into the skirt that evening, and learned to tie the complicated ribbons in the back, with the gathered fabric forming what almost resembles a bustle, nothing felt out of place (except for some condition issues that the seller had failed to disclose in her listing, but I figured I could live with them). The skirt felt right. I was at ease.

(I had to look up marcella, which I knew as piqué.)

Tiia recently returned to Substack after a six-month hiatus; in her re-entry post she informed her readers that the Finnish word for November is marraskuu, which translates to “death month.” Nordic melancholy and fashion introspection? Please and thank you.

Hannah Louise Poston

I can’t remember how I stumbled upon Hannah Louise Poston’s YouTube channel, but I was intrigued enough by what I saw to stick around, and became a committed viewer after I learned that HLP is a published poet (me too! OK, just one poem, but still) and a tango dancer (me too! OK, not recently). Ignore the clickbait-y titles of her videos and just start watching; I’m guessing that you too will be entranced by her soothing poetry-reading voice, her expressive hand gestures (such beautiful manicures!), and her off-kilter yet somehow practical style counsel, which is informed by her knowledge of art theory. Consider, for example, “two stylish yet comfortable clothing concepts” — dancewear inspired and “lagenlook” — which venture into some delightfully unexpected places. The visuals always include a range of body types and ages. I skip the beauty/cosmetics videos — just not my thing — but your mileage, of course, may vary.

Nick Throws a Fit

Another stumbled-upon discovery, this one on Instagram. Nick Johnson is an amiable and well-informed guide to accessible fashion: mall brands, thrift-store finds, the polo shirt, why clothes have tags. I discovered him when my friend Lauren commented on his post about “the death of Banana Republic” and I chimed in with a reply about my experience as BR’s editorial director during the catalog era. That comment of mine is by far my most successful online post ever: more than 5,400 “likes.” But I’d like Nick’s stuff even without the unexpected acclaim: he’s smart and engaging and fun.

@nickthrowsafit

Nick on Instagram: "Edit: a large amount of catalog photos come…

Articles of Interest

Avery Trufelman is back with a new season of

Articles Of Interest

; her theme this time is “gear,” and what a great topic it turns out to be. From military surplus — I’d had no idea there was so much of it at the end of World War II — to mountaineering equipment (kudos to the stubbornly determined Gerry Cunningham, who met his wife-to-be in a tree and who, after a stint in a mental hospital to treat his PTSD, went on to invent the Gerry pack and other outdoor gear) to John Lennon’s field jacket, the podcast and newsletter are full of surprises and delights. Chapter 1, Chapter 2, Chapter 3, Chapter 4 (bonus Banana Republic content in the last one!).

And in the analog world

I snagged a hardbound copy of Flair magazine’s 1953 annual at an estate sale for $10 — it’s a lot more expensive on eBay — and can’t wait to immerse myself in it. I used to have an almost-complete set of Flair magazines, but they were ruined by mildew, so I’m happy to have this less-permeable artifact. Flair was edited by Fleur Cowles and existed for only 12 issues, but it remains “something of a mythological talisman among writers and designers,” as Rachel Syme put it in a 2022 Eye on Design appreciation of “history’s most beautiful magazine”:

The magazine was remarkably innovative, and not just for 1950; Cowles wanted to make an object that was, above all things, tactile and surprising, like a children’s book for adults. The pages of the magazine had cut-out trap doors, pamphlet inserts, photo spreads with a flip-book full of captions running underneath the central image. The pages did not come in a single stock, but instead Cowles was known to pepper several types of paper throughout a single issue; the reader could flip from heavy cardstock to flimsy, onionskin newsprint to high-gloss fashion pages that felt almost slick to the touch.

My copy of the Flair 1953 annual. That’s a die-cut window in the cover, and gilt-embossed square spirals.

You can see several of the interior spreads at this eBay listing.

1. Bad fashion may be the least of her troubles: See this San Francisco Standard story. Update, November 14: Sunset Supervisor Isabella Alcaraz resigns amid scandals over pet store, finances https://share.google/skQa7wSum0s5X6L5l