A Thread about fashion writing with Emilia Petrarca
A fun chat with the witty'n'wonderful author of Shop Rat (also The Cut's former Senior Fashion writer.)
Have you ever interviewed someone and found yourself trying to impress them instead? Welcome to my meeting with the one and only Emilia Petrarca, a brilliant writer and A Wit to boot. (Goals!)
Emilia makes writing about fashion entertaining, imaginative and, oftentimes, side-splittingly funny. Formerly Senior Fashion writer for The Cut at New York Magazine, Emilia is beloved for her offbeat, voicey pieces which range from venting about her love-hate relationship with The RealReal to meticulously analyzing (and sampling) Anna Wintour’s lunch. In January she went freelance, and in September she launched her newsletter, Shop Rat.
My aim here was to talk about what makes good fashion journalism, but due to a. my New York nostalgia and b. my efforts to make Emilia laugh, it’s more of a meandering tour of the topic with some stops along the way. I hope you enjoy.
As always, don’t forget to catch up on the podcast and subscribe for more Threads of Conversation.
Georgia: Hello! Firstly, I’m a big fan, so I’m very excited to be speaking to you. When you launched your newsletter I was like, “Yes! More Emilia.” I guess that’s a good place to begin actually. So, why did you start ShopRat?
Emilia: I started for two reasons. One, when I was at The Cut, I would do a lot of quick, fun posts that would respond to whatever I was talking about on Slack or in my group chat. In my new freelance life, I just wasn’t writing those sorts of posts anymore.
Two, when I went freelance, I was afraid that I’d be disconnected from the fashion world, and so I made an effort to get out of my apartment and be out and about in New York and going into stores, just to stay connected to what was on the racks and what people were wearing. I wanted a way to commit to that. The point is that every week I have to go out into the world and basically take notes on what I’m seeing and report back.
So far it’s been really fun - I’m trying to keep it casual and not take it too seriously.
Georgia: It sounds like the beginning of dating. I love that you’re in a situationship with your newsletter.
[Emilia laughs politely.]
Georgia: Can you tell me a bit about your earliest fashion memory and how you got your start in fashion writing?
Emilia: My mom used to call me the little girl with a big opinion because I was annoyingly opinionated about very specific things that had to do with my clothing. I refused to wear babydoll dresses, for example, and obviously, most dresses for little girls are babydoll dresses.
My mom worked in journalism, so I grew up around magazines and loved flipping through them. At the time, most magazines for young girls were fashion magazines, so I don’t think I ever really considered any other option; it just made sense for me. I didn’t want my brother’s Sports Illustrated.
Georgia: You’re like, “There are no clothes at all!”
Emilia: Yeah!
Georgia: You’re now a celebrated fashion journalist, and you write so well about clothes. In your opinion, what makes good fashion writing?
Emilia: Emily Sundberg has a newsletter, and she said something in it the other day, which is that good fashion journalism tells you upfront why the subject matters. I think the best fashion criticism takes an inside approach, but also a more macro view. It connects what you’re seeing on the runway to what’s happening in everybody else’s lives. It focuses on what people are actually shopping, what people actually desire, as opposed to what companies tell you to desire.
Georgia: What would you say is your special sauce as a writer?
Emilia: Something I’ve always had that New York Mag really encouraged and helped me identify is curiosity. I always need to know more about something or get an answer. I can’t turn that off and so I think I’m doomed to be writing forever! Also something that New York Mag encouraged was curiosity that morphs into obsessiveness. I’m not just *mildly* curious about something - I need to know EVERYTHING. I need to know what time someone was born and where, and who their past five girlfriends were. I’m hungry for more information about things. In a non-creepy way..!
Georgia: So how much do you really know about Lenny Kravitz? Is the question.
Emilia: Honestly, not enough. Never enough.
Georgia: His TikTok debut was too good. I hope he came up with that himself, even though it was probably someone clever on his team. Anyway. You’re beloved for your sense of humour in your writing. What tickles you most on other people, clothing-wise? Anything you find particularly charming or amusing?
Emilia: I mean, that hair clip that I wrote about. It’s not charming, but it’s going to haunt me, I fear, until the day I die. I see it everywhere. I guess I find it charming that somehow we all end up doing the same thing by accident.
Georgia: It’s so true, I cut my hair recently and then found out that everyone is supposedly getting a f*** ass bob. How did I not even realize that I was so susceptible to the hive mind?
Emilia: I also love when people customise something, like when they customise their Crocs or have a funny phone case. I love when people do little things that make something feel personal and where I know that they did that for them, because it makes them happy.
Georgia: I once interviewed Ryuichi Sakamoto and I had, do you remember the Chanel No.5 iPhone case with the chain?
Emilia: Yes.
Georgia: I put it down to record the interview and he politely pointed at the top and asked if it was the mic. I was like, “No, er, it’s a fragrance-shaped phone case…” I felt like such a silly fashion girl.
When it comes to getting dressed, do you have an outfit methodology?
Emilia: I think in my old age I have learned that I like what I like, and I think I’m more of a uniform dresser. I want to be experimenting more and having more fun, but I really just like wearing the same three things. Working in fashion you look around and realise everyone has their own sort of uniform. It also helps me streamline when I’m shopping, because there’s so much that I see that I want, but I can just be like, “That’s not me.” I appreciate it and someone else should wear it, but it’s not for me.
Georgia: That’s a good skill, because for most people - myself included - we think, “But it could be me.”
Emilia: Oh, don’t get me wrong. I did the closet turnover for fall/winter and was like, “Who the f*** did I think I was last fall? Where is she going in these boots? But then you get reintroduced to the person you were last year. I also feel like my [style] core is getting stronger and stronger, as I also keep buying the same thing over and over again.
Georgia: What’s the one thing that you buy the most?
Emilia: Um, I have a problem where I’m like, “I really need gold shoes.” And I think I now have about five pairs of gold shoes, because I forgot that I already bought them.
Georgia: They’re very easy to miss.
Emilia: Yeah, I mean, it’s so silly. It’s like the most base human instinct: “Shiny! I need that.”
Georgia: You had a column for The Cut called ‘Hey Fashion Friend’. What is the one thing that you wish someone had asked you?
Emilia: Somebody asked me recently over DM, “How do you do your laundry?” And I thought, actually, we don’t talk enough about how we care for our clothes. And I am curious now about how other people do their laundry.
Georgia: How do you do your laundry?
Emilia: The answer is that I screw it up every time. I’m constantly destroying my clothes, and I need help.
Georgia: Another gold shoe bites the dust.
Emilia: It’s really bad.
Georgia: Who is your favourite person to follow and on which platform?
Emilia: The first person that comes to mind is Diane von Furstenberg on Instagram. She’s always on some yacht with Oprah and David Geffen. She just lives this insane life and has no filter, and is also really working it in her selfies, giving blue steel. Every time I see a post from her, I just crack up and slow clap.
Georgia: Where do you feel like you learn most about what people are wearing?
Emilia: The subway, for sure. I try to keep my eyes open and not be on my phone.
Georgia: What did you think when you came to the UK? Did you take the tube?
Emilia: I did. Everyone is very clean and I was especially impressed by the men in the UK. They wear clothes that fit them and everything was very neat and put together.
Georgia: I was looking through my camera roll recently, and I have so many photos from the subway when I lived in NYC. I have a photo of two girls wearing the same outfit next to one another, without realising. Then there’s one of two people getting married. I don’t know what it is about the New York subway, but it is its own fashion show.
Emilia: 100%. It’s the best show on earth.
Georgia: Emily on The Subway.
What’s your favourite piece you’ve ever written?
Emilia: The RealReal story is the one that I felt the most passionate about. It felt like I finally got something off my chest, and it felt so good to put something out there and have so many other people respond that they felt the same way - just as obsessed and just as upset. And then the Anna Wintour lunch story was an example of being able to have an idea and take it so far - too far! I just had so much fun with it.
Georgia: Do you think Anna Wintour is aware of that story?
Emilia: I think she’s aware of everything, so I’d never assume that she isn’t, but if she did think about it, it would have been for a total of half a millisecond and then she went on with her life. I don’t think it affected her at all - but it affected me.
Georgia: And is there a piece that you wish you'd never written?
Emilia: Oh god, so many!
Georgia: Who are some other writers that you admire?
Emilia: Being able to work alongside Cathy Horyn was a total dream. I still pinch myself. What a legend. Like everybody else, I also love Rachel Tashjian. I love Matthew Schneier, who’s now killing it as the food critic for New York Mag, and what Laura Reilly’s doing with her newsletter, Magasin. So many good Substack writers: Amy Odell, Emily Kirkpatrick. I love Veronique Hyland - she used to be at The Cut before I was there and wrote the ‘Millenial Pink’ story. Gosh, there are so many people to name, I could be here all day. The people who don’t get enough praise, though, are editors. I would not be the writer I am today without Erik Maza and Izzy Grinspan. And I’ll write any story Katy Schneider and Bonnie Wertheim assign to me!
Georgia: What are you going to wear for Halloween?
Emilia: I’m having a crisis because I love Halloween and it’s my favourite holiday, but I don’t have any ideas this year. The fact that I don’t have an idea that I’m super excited about is really upsetting because this is a personality trait for me. My backup is always just Cher. If I can’t think of anything, I’ll probably just be, like, Cher’s Christmas album or something. She’s my North Star.
Threads of the week
The closest I’m getting to a Halloween costume this year, feat. my f*** ass bob.
Loose Threads
Miuccia + ironing = interesting.
Appreciated The Guardian’s unpacking of the Swiftie era.
Went down a YouTube rabbit hole of teenage vloggers talking about their experiences getting off social media. (No, the irony isn’t lost on me.)
As a pun enthusiast and lapsed francophile, this amused me.
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