The Aesthetics of Familiarity
Q1, Printemps, Ruby Woo and Steak Frites at The Odeon
The final hours of Q1 2025 are upon us, three months that I'm sure can be summed up in some beautiful, damning metaphor by a woman who drinks matcha out of a Ginori mug and has a standing reservation at The Polo Bar, but this is my newsletter and the only words to describe the last 90 days are 'Weird As Fuck'.
Anyway, Printemps opened up the street from my office, and I'm taking it as an omen that good things are en route. As a kid growing up in Connecticut, I was obsessed with department stores (I know we're not supposed to call them that but I just did!), from going to Nordstrom with my friends lusting over every color Juicy Couture jumpsuit, to coming into the city with my mom running from Grand Central to the first floor of Saks bursting with glamorous women handing out samples of MAC Ruby Woo.
I started this year with the idea that I wanted everything to be NEW—according to my January 1 Morning Pages you weren't supposed to recognize me by now. Instead, I feel like I've reversed course, now more obsessed than ever with things that feel familiar—shopping in person, long conversations with old friends, and steak frites at The Odeon. There's a gradual awakening that comes with getting older, one that makes you crave a certain connection to layers of your past selves. It makes you appreciate those divine introductions—a person, a restaurant, or a pair of jeans that makes you feel like you've never known a life without them—even more. Am I having a quarter-ish life crisis? It's entirely possible.
But, here we are, the second chunk of 2025 before us, coming out of a chapter in the world where I think it has been impossible not to ask ourselves, 'What can I do, with the tools I have, to make make things better?'
I wish you love, luck, maybe an Alaïa Teckel or whatever you're manifesting over the next 3 months. Let's get this bread!
Love those long convos and frites 🤍🤍
I've always wanted to love MAC Ruby Woo. I love it when I see it on other people, but in a cruel twist, it's almost a little on the coral/orange side for me, so while I have a tube I never wear it. WOMP. BUT...my many tubes of MAC Twig are the stuff of legend.