Is yr wardrobe missing some topspin??

Great pieces with nocturnal shine and silky fringe, plus artisanal hand-knits

Welcome to Concorde, a bimonthly edition of the sletter where Erin takes the lead. You could call it a women’s vertical, but the insights, intel and “cute swag information” transcend gender.

The full Concorde archive lives here.

I was in stop-and-start traffic this week on the cursed Bay Area highway known as 880 — a deeply unpleasant death chute where no one sane ever wants to be driving — when one of my favorite public-radio segments FLUTTERED CALMINGLY onto the car speakers: BirdNote. Have you heard this s**t? It always puts me in a good mood. Each installment is short — too short, if you ask me, at a mere two minutes — devoted to the fascinating calls of different birds and pertinent ornithological intel.

The BirdNote I caught the other day was about goldfinches¹, whose frenetic song the narrator described as ending in a “sharp, buzzy note”. This is how I like to dress! If my outfit doesn’t have that surprising LILT — a “topspin”-type element that makes it feel slightly off-kilter, such as a weird handmade fabric earring, a brightly colored sock, a seasonally inappropriate coat — then I don’t feel fully myself.

In today’s Concorde we’ve got a bunch of on-trend BUZZY BIRDSONG pieces I collected just for you, clairvoyant recon magpie-style. Why clairvoyant? Because at first I was simply basing this sletter on the intuitive principle of “cool s**t I f**k with right now,” but then halfway through writing it, I saw several of my ideas birdcalling back at me from the SS24 runways. Sometimes you’re just on the same wavelength as Raf and Miuccia, what can I say 🐦🧠😉 !!

O yes, today’s about myriad ways to add just the right goldfinch note to your fit, including:

• Mad cool and rockable fringed pieces that will put an infectious wiggle in your walk

• Banger leather-alternative jawns cut from wild technical, artisanal and even biodegradable materials that will add a seductive SHIMMER to your whole gestalt

• Hand-knit sweaters on some wearable objets d’art s**t

BTW —

If you haven’t enjoyed it yet, check out the new B.L.I.S.S. List — our recon-rich guide to BBSP-approved socks, tees, deoderants, hot sauces, scents, dental floss (not kidding haha) and a ton more Beautiful Life-Improving Spyplane Staples.

LET’S GET TO IT —

---

When it comes to Mach 3+ outfit assembling, there are all kinds of little cheats, hacks, turbo boosters and secret weapons that — once you’ve identified them — you can deploy in your own unique ways, the result being “glorious individual style.” Sometimes these take the shape of techniques — e.g., the Cuff Stack, which is where you build your outfit from the layered-cuffs out.

Other times it’s about identifying some super-powered accessory or bit of trimming. Case in point, here and now in late 2023: