A Thread about the Threads of Conversation book club
Plus a mish-mash of thoughts on fashion week and other happenings
In this life, I have two passions: words and clothes. In an attempt to combine the two, I’ve decided to start a Threads of Conversation book club. If Dua Lipa and Kaia Gerber can have one, then so can I.
The format will be pretty loose to start: every month or so I’ll pick a book that’s related to fashion or style, and offer a time frame in which to read it. We’ll conclude with some kind of discussion, analysis, or a conversation with the author. If you want to follow along, I’d love you to join in the comments and share your thoughts on the book.
My first pick is Nathalie Olah’s Bad Taste, all about that juicy topic which we’ve been smacking our lips over for a while. It feels like we’re all talking about taste; everyone wants to either have it or reject it, cultivate it or ignore it. We’re all trying to figure out what we’re tasting, why we’re tasting it and whether we like the taste of it at all. (Just look at last year’s discourse around quiet luxury, for example.)
It feels like a good time to sink our teeth into the subject, which Olah explores through the lens of homes, fashion, beauty, food and leisure. Whilst I know we shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, I also couldn’t resist its deliciously mob wife-y leopard print jacket (can a book be a precursor to a TikTok trend?)
You can purchase the book here (or better still, order it through your favourite independent bookshop). I’ll be discussing it in this newsletter on Sunday April 7th, so see you in the comments then.
Loose Threads
And now, a few thoughts on Fashion Week and beyond.
Is fashion our new religion?
I’m half-joking, but one thing I’ve noticed in London particularly is how many fashion events take place in churches. This season at LFW we saw Simone Rocha, Dilara Findikoglu and Jawara Alleyne host their AW24 shows in churches. The Welsh Chapel in Soho is also a popular fashion venue - I’ve been to both a Bottega Veneta and a Mugler party there in recent years.
With over 40,000 of them dotted around the UK, churches double as community spaces which host everything from Alcoholics Anonymous meetings to election ballots, concerts, exhibitions, farmer’s markets and, of course, fashion shows.
I asked my friend Marie Lueder about the appeal of these spaces (she held a performance event, Monomyth, for her brand in a Stoke Newington church back in December). “They’ve got really good acoustics, they’re beautiful buildings, and they’re often not too expensive to hire,” She told me. “The way that sounds and performances can be held in churches is interesting, because they used to be the place where performances and theatre were held in medieval times, so they’re kind of made for that. The shape of them is also good for a runway.”
“The idea of community is also present - to reflect on how church created a kind of community or group of people, and how they wanted to transform or translate a new way of thinking or idea of gathering or belonging somewhere.”
Family is trending
My thoughts on this theme started when I saw Elle UK’s recent story, where they profiled designers Bianca Sauncers, Nensi Dojaka, Saul Nash, Dimitra Petsa and Charlie Casely-Hayford about their respective families - both biological and chosen.
Then London legend Marques’Almeida returned to the fashion week fold, casting models from their early shows, a few of whom walked alongside their own toddlers. The designers’ own daughters also walked the show.
I’ve also been keeping tabs this new magazine, Family Style, whose first issue comes out tomorrow. I don’t know much about it, but the driving force seems to be the interwoven themes of family and food (the latter is something I’ve touched on before.)
Then there was all the buzz about Phoebe Philo’s daughter Maya Wigram closing the Burberry show. It seems our obsession with nepo babies isn’t over, it’s merely evolved into its quiet luxury iteration.
Nepo babies aside (because I don’t actually think that point is related, it’s just fun to talk about), I wonder if this focus on family reflects a kind of craving for intimacy, and a longing for relationships that nourish us, free from the transactional burden that’s placed on so many of our human connections these days. In an age where loneliness is rife, clout is everything and social media platforms profit from our relationships, the concept of family represents something pure and ancestral. A human touch against the backdrop of frantic commerce and cold AI-powered futures, and a support network that goes deeper than likes and follows.
Hands are the ultimate tease!
Everyone’s going wild for the Jacquemus Nike teaser, featuring a banana-ready swoosh bag and the hand/ nails of US sprinter Sha'Carri Richardson.
It reminded me of Pleasing’s fragrance teaser from last year, which featured Harry Styles’ hand (and similarly distinctive tattoos) reaching into shot and gently prodding the fragrance bottles to make them rock.
This is such a nerdy thing to say, but I’ve always been fascinated by the emotive power of hands, ever since I learned about Michelangelo’s ‘David’ sculpture in high school. Apparently Michelangelo carved his hands to be larger than natural proportions, as a way of conveying the tension and heightened emotions David felt before his battle with Goliath.
In the Pleasing example, Harry’s hands are a sensual, titillating glimpse of the star, designed to make us giggle and blush. In the Jacquemus/ Nike link-up, Sha’Carri’s hand grips the bag’s handle tightly, the same way she’d grip the ribbon of an Olympic medal, triumphant after a race. The bag becomes a trophy, and we’re all in the running. The race to win it is on.
Speaking of Sha'Carri Richardson, this is a really great short documentary about her, released back in 2022. It was directed by London-based filmmaker Bafic, and executive produced by Virgil Abloh under his Architecture Films banner.
Threads of the Week
I keep forgetting to take outfit pics, mostly because I’m sort of living out of a suitcase at the moment, and my usual selfie mirror is back home in London. In lieu of a full fit pic, here’s a t-shirt that lives rent free in my head. Yes, I’m an art history nerd.
Start your own Thread
Add your thoughts in the comments, and let me know which Threads of Conversation you want to hear about next!