I got you something
All the European souvenirs and recon I could squeeze into my carry-on, and thoughts on gifting the infinite
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— Erin & Jonah
‘Corde Nation: We have been on the move… Dragging our aluminum cases over your Parisian cobblestones and down hundreds of tiny stairs etched into thine Cycladic hillsides. Yes, this summer we summered properly; we held the mail at Spyplane HQ and spent 3 weeks traveling through Copenhagen, Paris, and Athens.
We’ve already rounded up some of our favorite shops, restaurants and museums in Copenhagen. We’ve answered the question Why did we go to Paris Fashion Week? And, earlier this week, we shared some of the best things we saw in Paris.
But I (Erin) saved some tasty recon especially for ‘Corde Nation. Today we’ve got:
My favorite souvenirs and the small designers I found on the ground who you should have on your radar — a line you should know from each city — including handmade jewelry and Nordic knitwear
What I saw at the slappingest stores in those cities, and what I copped
The best licorice in Denmark and a mesmerizing art video from Paris
A visit to the ultimate vintage plug in Paris !
Let’s get to it —
As I’ve mentioned before, Jonah and I are A.C.A.B. (Against Checking Any Bags) when we travel. Some people find this perplexing, but you don’t become the #1 anti-consumerist dope-clothes style & culture newsletter by checking multiple baggiolos stuffed with new purchases! Nor can you get there by buying a(n undoubtedly garbage) suitcase on your travels in order to lug home a bunch of things you bought along the way. It’s called a productive constraint baby. We like to restrict our luggage space so we can free our minds from ACQUISITIVE LUST and focus on the abbondanza of things to see, eat and do. (Relatedly, I wrote about the power of “just looking” after a trip to NYC earlier this year.)
Often those things to see, eat and do yield some of my favorite souvenirs which happen to be free and flat-pack…
I’m talking about the kinds of paper ephemera I have collected during my travels — ticket stubs, maps, brochures, business cards, etc. — and continue to cart more home every time I go away. I accumulated all of the above on our recent trip, and managed to fit it in my carry-on… along with the 5 pairs of shoes I brought and the very select purchases I made along the way. (Because this A.C.A.B. travel s**t benefits from Tetris-like spatial skills.) Looking through these papers helps me access just as many (more?) memories as any t-shirt.
And while I didn’t buy any t-shirts (I’m good) I did pick up some great finds in all 3 cities which I’m sharing below. First stop:
🕯️COPENHAGEN🕯️
It was rainy and colder than expected in Copenhagen and I planned to buy nothing. But then I went into what I deem to be the best, most Concorde-ian store in Copenhagen, and saw some beautiful, thin organic-wool layering pieces. They had an appealing ‘90s aesthetic with the slim fit and raw exposed seams and I was shivering so I copped one and put it on posthaste. (Plus, at ~$160 it was about 1/3 of the price of most of the fine cashmere and wool sweaters I’ve been seeing.)