$16 Muji Totes and Specifically for Women Vintage 501s
Plus chef shoes, vintage shoes, and Angela Flournoy's larger-size shoes.
I hope you got in your last lazy beach hang, because summer is officially over. (I suspect New Yorkers get a sick thrill out of this transition.) Cons: less reading time. Pros: It’s cool enough outside for complicated layering. —Simone Kitchens, Winnie Yang, Lauren Ro, Erin Schwartz, and Michael Zhao
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* Cute Bobo Choses x Camper hikers and fleece boots. Another pair of kids’ shoes we like: Mugwort Mugwort’s suede mini Paraboots.
* Michael and Lauren stopped by the Shop Rat Summit and saw Printemps culinary director Gregory Gourdet wearing the sold-out All Days from Mise — a longtime Strategist kitchen fave. “They’re the best,” he said. “You can quote me on that.” Meanwhile, at the launch party for the Heath + Herman Miller’s Gathered collection at Ha’s Snack Bar, chef Sadie Mae Burns was wearing a pair of Hopp X Ballet flats behind the bar.
* Speaking of the new Heath + Herman Miller, our favorite piece from the collection is the Studio Mug, a reissue of an original Edith Heath design from the 1940s.
* Paloma Elsesser is holding a closet sale on Sunday in Chinatown at 120 East Broadway (Floor 6).
* Erin just bought a pair of vintage Kata eyeglasses frames (they run smallish, great if normal glasses hang out past your temples), which their local optician had no problem fitting with lenses. Here are others: funky shape, metal half-rim, cat-eye, sporty. The brand also makes great sunglasses.
* “Italy mohair” turns up a lot of great ’60s sweaters (just avoid anything that looks shrunken or felted). Handknit checkers, boxy cable knit, orange vest. Great use of mohair’s colorfastness in these space-dye yarns: chunky turtleneck, cardigan.
* Strategist updates coordinator Najwa Jamal visited the newly opened, two-story Union Square location of consignment chain OPC, where she bought a vintage Benetton sweater ($30) and a canvas wristlet pouch from The Row ($55). There’s a lot more to browse in-store, but online we found a ruffle-sleeved Molly Goddard top, a very fall-feeling plaid Gucci skirt, and men’s wool CDG pants that look like they’d go with everything.
* Charmed by Snow Peak’s wool-blend fleece and its crocheted granny-square print.
* Michael went to Blue in Green in Soho and tried on its new cropped shirt jacket — an exclusive collaboration with Original Madras Trading Co. He generally avoids cropped fits, as a person with a long torso, but this one was well proportioned.
* He also spotted this multi-pocketed $16 Muji canvas tote on a fellow commuter that reminded him of his $250 Makr Work Carryall.
* Stuck in COVID quarantine this weekend (it’s going around!), New York features writer Madeline Leung Coleman passed her time by mining the internet for great shoes. Indigo embellished boots, apple green with perfect leather bow, strappy sandals, flats, and marbled pumps by Tokio Kumagai (“an important Japanese designer making freaky shit in Paris in the ’80s and 90s”) and MNZ-esque Bally sandals.
* Lauren recently got some vintage Levi’s at Front General Store in Dumbo that fit like a dream. They’re labeled 17501, which is apparently a style of 501s made specifically for women, with a higher rise, more tapered leg, and a bigger hip-to-waist ratio. You can find some on Etsy and eBay.
* Be sure to enter our Poulsen lamp giveaway if you haven’t already.
The first thing we noticed about author Angela Flournoy was her shoes. A pair of pointy black mules she wore to an event she co-hosted with Aminatou Sow at Rachel Comey's Brooklyn store this summer. The two chatted about Flournoy’s 2015 debut novel, The Turner House.
Flournoy’s second novel, The Wilderness, comes out on September 16 (order on Bookshop before then and get 15 percent off with code Angela15), and she’ll kick off her book tour with two events in NYC. Here she tells us more about her Air Rift–esque Margielas that come in larger sizes and also how to find good shoes when you have a bigger foot.
“I was a size 10 at 10 years old, and I pretty much remained a size 10 until I was about 23 or 24, and then I was a size 11, and then I had a kid and I went up to a size 12, or a 42/43 E.U. While it was hard to find shoes that fit and looked good when I was younger, a lot of companies expanded their range, and I think the best brands have a lot of good-looking shoes that could be unisex.
These are the shoes I feel most fondness toward:
* I like Margiela Tabi sneakers because the toe box is liberated. I wanted a pair of Air Rifts, but they don’t come as big. I was able to find larger ones on eBay but the seller was in Japan, and after all the fees, they were going to cost as much as the Margiela Tabis on Vestiaire. I am a Vestiaire person; for shoes I’ve had more luck with that than The RealReal because a Euro 42 or 43 makes more sense for my foot than an 11 or 12. For some American brands, an 11/12 is just whatever they feel like. [We found some more resale options.]
* Stuart Weitzman pointed-toe flats, which I have in black patent. For some reason I am an 11.5 in SW, so maybe they run large? I do not wear heels anymore. The most I do is a platform. I live in NYC, I’m not in a car, I’m on a train, I don’t want to fall down the stairs.
* I also am a big fan of Camper, but they’re tricky because they use Spanish sizing and run small, but they’ve been doing so much better in the past five or six years with unisex sizing. My favorite sneakers are the Tossu. I have the black and covet the army green. I also love the way the Kobarah looks, but because it doesn’t have a strap on top of your foot, I can’t keep that shoe on. They have a lot of shoes that do work and are dressy enough. A big concern for me is that there are certain shoes when they get too big, they just don’t look good. My husband also has big feet, size 46 or 47. There were these Bottega shoes he wanted, and the salesperson said that he might be able to get a custom pair but that the creative director has to approve them because not every shoe can go that big. Not every shoe needs to be Shaq size, just like not every novel needs to be 700 pages.
* I discovered a few years ago that Bode has really good men’s shoes since they’re for a dandier man. I’m not even familiar with their women’s shoes. They have ballet flats that go up to 44. The school shoes are in men’s sizes and look good. I can do a sock or no sock with them, make dressier or more casual.
* I wear Sorel platform sandals in the fall with socks (I like Tabio because they have fun patterns without looking like I'm being a "fun socks" person). I also think I'll get these boots for the winter. I find their largest size in women’s is 11, sometimes in snow boots, goes up to 12. You just have to try them on.
* A large-shoe dressy-lady solution I’m interested in is babouches — Moroccan slippers. The pair I was wearing at the Rachel Comey event were from a defunct line in L.A., Babos, which went up to larger sizes. The designer, Ce Ce Chin, was my neighbor. The thing that’s great about them is they have a sneaker sole, so they’re a little more comfortable. Traditional babouches have a leather sole. These are a little more NYC-walking-around friendly while having the classic pointy toe, which I like. A lot of brands have rounded out the toe, but that’s what I feel makes it a babouche. [We found a few used pairs.]
What is a size 7?
CeCe Chin! ❤️