the molehill's viv chen on escaping microtrend hell and our founder's strategy for flu season survival + more
monthly recs #44
Each month, we ask a writer to share what’s on their minds and in their open tabs for our monthly recommendations. This November’s guest curator is fashion writer, founder of
. Viv has recently written about the fashion on HBO’s Industry, Fashion Week envy, race in the J. Crew catalog, and more.I’ve been thinking a lot about boomers lately, and intergenerational relationships. This came about because I interviewed a gay leatherman boomer named Rick for my recent post on Frye boot frenzy. As a young millennial (1994) who is pretty online by nature of my job, there was so much humor and self-reflection that came from communicating with Rick, who believes social media is a “huge waste of time” and did not know Frye boots were having a “trend moment.” He could not comprehend why anyone would pay more than $100 for vintage Frye boots, because “old boots are old boots.”
He was not saying that with any sort of condescension either. I genuinely believe he feels like Instagram is a waste of time. And honestly, it kind of is. We all know this. But somehow for us zillennials, social media feels like an inescapable part of life that you cannot opt out of.
I share this because our short exchange left a deep and lasting impression on me. Maybe my hot take is that boomers are a good influence, and their voices are missing from contemporary fashion discourse. Talking to older people about their relationship to clothes is a welcome escape from microtrend hell.
’s
1. Ear Cuffs: I do not have pierced ears. Ear jewelry has come a long way in the past 10 years in terms of more expansive and inventive designs. I’m in my ear cuff era trying out different looks and will write a roundup on my favorites for my newsletter soon.
2. Enya: With the new Charli XCX-Caroline Polachek track, I was reminded of how much I love Caroline’s echolocation yodel thing. And it occurred to me…she is the Gen Z answer to Enya. So I’ve been playing a lot of Orinoco Flow these days.
3. Tailoring: Find a local tailor and let them help you achieve a perfect fit. I know I know…it’s such a hassle…but I find it such a game-changer for bottoms like jeans and skirts. I have two vintage Prada skirts that were too long (somewhere between a weird miniskirt vs. pencil skirt) and I have short legs, so getting them hemmed to a proper mini means I wear those pieces a lot more.
4. Why We Swim by Bonnie Tsui: a book about the cultural history of swimming and our primal connection to water.
5. Pachinko (the TV Show): Season 2 just came out. I thought Season 1 was beautifully done and cried at some point over every episode. It’s an intergenerational story about a Korean family living under Japanese occupation. Also the BEST dance + music intro of any TV show. I never skip.
paid subscribers can scroll down for more recs from viv, including the perfume that smells like a San Francisco bakery on a fall day, a perfect cinnamon roll recipe, and the trick to finding $150 mint-condition Lemaire shoes.
more from us
6. It’s election day in the U.S. — you can find your polling place here. Remember that the presidential race isn’t the only thing on the ballot and be sure to read up on other races and ballot questions before you head to the polls. For New Yorkers, here’s an explainer on Prop 1 from NYC for Abortion Rights and one on Props 2 through 6 from No Power Grab NYC.
also rounded up reasons and resources to vote here. If you need something to read in line, Verso’s Socialist Strategy and Electoral Politics eBook is free to download.7. This weekend we’re hosting a closet sale at Seven Wonders Collective on the Lower East Side. Shop the closets of passersby including stylist Shayna Arnold,
’s , Susan Alexandra's designer Susan Korn, Maryam Nassir Zadeh’s head of design Jenn Park, passerby founder Clémence Polès, passerby managing editor Meghan Racklin, and designer and researcher Mindy Seu. The sale runs from 10:30 am to 6 pm on Saturday and Sunday (the first hour on Saturday is exclusively for paid subscribers). RSVP here and click below to find out more about sizing and what’s for sale.
And if you want to make a Lower East Side day out of it, stop by Café Forgot (our closet sale shoppers get 10% off) and the MNZ sample sale at its store (11 am to 7 pm). Then catch a movie at the Angelika — we’re co-hosting a free screening on Sunday afternoon of Andrea Arnold’s Bird (stay tuned for details) — or head to Metrograph (our closet sale shoppers get 40% off membership).
8. If you’re hosting Thanksgiving dinner, here’s our tableware wishlist: these Incausa plates or Shino Takeda’s ceramics for a more colorful option; these fun pepper mills; these linens from Baserange; gorgeous Murano glassware; and FRAMA makes our favorite cutlery (as Clémence told the Strategist) and pb club members get 20% off. And if you need a dish to add to your menu or to bring with you, consider this roasted delicata squash with miso-harissa dressing or Deb Perelman’s cranberry pie with pecan crumble. Or, for the option with the best effort-to-appreciation ratio, make whiskey punch. For more recipe ideas, take a look at our passerby recipes series, featuring recipes from
, , and more.
9. And for those anticipating a contentious family dinner, here are some books to help get your arguments straight: Overshoot by Andreas Malm and Wim Carton, Ten Myths About Israel by Ilan Pappe, The Unspoken Alliance by Sasha Polakow-Suransky, A Short History of Trans Misogyny by Jules Gill-Peterson, and Abortion and Women’s Choice by Rosalind Petchesky. If your family drama is less about political division but nonetheless intense, try Family Lexicon by Natalia Ginsburg to immerse yourself completely in someone else’s family instead.
10. We’re starting to plan our holiday party outfits. We’re considering a sculptural black dress from Bad Binch (and keeping an eye out to see if there are any Black Friday sales). If you don’t want to wait for this month’s sales, consider some feather-trimmed options from The Real Real (here’s an Armani, Prada, and Valentino), or, from Maimoun, this chic sequined dress or something from Super Yaya or Julia Heuer (pb club members get 15% off). Or stop by Café Forgot after our closet sale and get this velvet mini-dress (if you buy something at our closet sale, you’ll get 10% off).
paid subscribers receive access to our Discord — a community of like-minded readers ready to recommend a hotel in Marseille and a restaurant in Buenos Aires, help you pick a wedding dress, debate the new Shelia Heti, or find an apartment. join our private discord server through our passerby club membership here.
#fashion “Just purchased these after trying them on at Le Bon Marché and finding them unbelievably comfortable. Feels like a glove.”
#maps “The Visionary Art Museum in Baltimore is amazing, & Normals is a great used bookstore. Ekiben is also good for lunch, they have a few different locations around the city”
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After years of getting knocked down by these seasonal shifts (that have become weirder and weirder over the years), I've found some things that actually work to either prevent getting sick or speed up recovery. It seems like everyone around me is currently fighting the same thing I recovered from recently, and so I thought I would share my personal wellness/recovery protocol:
 | A guest post by
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