So many nuggets of wisdom, profound indeed! I was once told that true genius is being able to hold two conflicting thoughts together at once, you bring us here in this piece for sure.
Oh boy wait til you watch all (nearly) 5 hours of the director’s cut of Until the End of the World 😳 great soundtrack and clothes but also predicts addiction to smart phones and social media.
I mean…. Clothes are dumb for sure, and so is chasing a ball around a field for multimillions of dollars and so is everything. So long as we recall we are monkeys monkeying around with other monkeys for fun and connection I think we are good.
I just finished reading Nasim Taleb’s ‘Skin In The Game’ and he writes about the Lindy Effect — anything nonperishable that has been in existence for a long period of time will continue to exist in the future, a kind of temporal robustness. Setsuko seems like someone who would agree with the Lindy Effect.
This is why we subscribe. Great piece. As soon as you got into the film script, I thought, this sounds like an Adam Curtis doc. Was pleased to see it referenced later. Dear BBSP community, if you haven't seen any of Adam Curtis's work, find it and prepare to have your mind served to you on a platter.
My two fav days of the week (aside from weekends haha) are Tuesdays and Thursdays cause its "sletter time"! Fantastic write up and thank you as always. Love...
This is inspiring and grounding! I spent probably 2+ years admiring the brands Stoffa & Factor's, but it felt too intensely priced for me to go for it on a whim. Then for the occasion of my wedding, I got some custom fits put together, with fittings done IRL. Waiting and admiring made the journey more satisfying as I spent plenty of time along the way being a voyeur before going in.
I think you guys would enjoy the book Trading Up by Michael Silverstein and Neil Fiske. It was written in 2003, so it’s slightly outdated, but it gives an insider look into how luxury goods are created and marketed.
And so ends BBL Drizzy's two-week reign as the thing most often on endless loop in my head, replaced by brand new chart entrant 'drip on these swagless goofies with a closet full of slappers'
I really appreciate this very thoughtful piece, as an old dame who's coming more and more into my own slapper-ness in my 60th year and increasingly valuing personal STYLE over "fashion" (particularly as "fashion" doesn't care or want we olds to partake of their offerings).
This distinction was very challenging at first - after I found that I'd become invisible when I entered my 50s - but that superpower of invisibility is now so very freeing and empowering, as I can rock whatever fun and funky 'fits finger my fancy and not give any fu*ks. There have been times where in reading Blackbird Spyplane, I've wondered if I'm too old and not the right "demographic" to be subscribing to it . . . but articles like this one re-enforce my wise decision to ride on the Spyplane.
Thank you. I love thinking and talking about clothes and fashion but don't have anyone in my life who enjoys these things as a topic of conversation. I appreciate your thinking and writing so much!
The other “article” I read today (it was a four piece slideshow story on IG) was about Gucci’s abysmal show yesterday and how their parent company is flailing miserably - balenciaga Gucci and one other brand who can remember- and it made me think about John Galliano’s recent triumph. His one show that took them years to put together that made people look up and feel inspired and connected. That is the vibe that got me into clothes in the first place. True self expression that doesn’t bow to the constant clicking of the camera.
PS
The kimono with the mini skirt is a great look too. Those movie sisters should collab. Would buy.
PPS. Was discussing recently how design is flattened by constant exposure. What exactly grows out of these ashes of ideas I can’t say. Finding virgin ground is hard but vital to our personal moment in cultural history not being a total bust. Or will this moment be remembered as the time when our choices seemed myriad but in fact were “already made for us by the people in this room.”
So many nuggets of wisdom, profound indeed! I was once told that true genius is being able to hold two conflicting thoughts together at once, you bring us here in this piece for sure.
Oh boy wait til you watch all (nearly) 5 hours of the director’s cut of Until the End of the World 😳 great soundtrack and clothes but also predicts addiction to smart phones and social media.
I mean…. Clothes are dumb for sure, and so is chasing a ball around a field for multimillions of dollars and so is everything. So long as we recall we are monkeys monkeying around with other monkeys for fun and connection I think we are good.
I just finished reading Nasim Taleb’s ‘Skin In The Game’ and he writes about the Lindy Effect — anything nonperishable that has been in existence for a long period of time will continue to exist in the future, a kind of temporal robustness. Setsuko seems like someone who would agree with the Lindy Effect.
This is why we subscribe. Great piece. As soon as you got into the film script, I thought, this sounds like an Adam Curtis doc. Was pleased to see it referenced later. Dear BBSP community, if you haven't seen any of Adam Curtis's work, find it and prepare to have your mind served to you on a platter.
One of the best posts yet, can/should be referenced in the Spyplane “best of” links for new readers. 🫡
My two fav days of the week (aside from weekends haha) are Tuesdays and Thursdays cause its "sletter time"! Fantastic write up and thank you as always. Love...
It’s sletterday baby
much adoabout nothing. try reading the biography of stephen tennant. https://www.nytimes.com/1991/02/03/books/the-man-who-stayed-in-bed.html
This is inspiring and grounding! I spent probably 2+ years admiring the brands Stoffa & Factor's, but it felt too intensely priced for me to go for it on a whim. Then for the occasion of my wedding, I got some custom fits put together, with fittings done IRL. Waiting and admiring made the journey more satisfying as I spent plenty of time along the way being a voyeur before going in.
I think you guys would enjoy the book Trading Up by Michael Silverstein and Neil Fiske. It was written in 2003, so it’s slightly outdated, but it gives an insider look into how luxury goods are created and marketed.
And so ends BBL Drizzy's two-week reign as the thing most often on endless loop in my head, replaced by brand new chart entrant 'drip on these swagless goofies with a closet full of slappers'
Ahahaha
Wow. Fantastic piece. My favorite yet. Well done.
I really appreciate this very thoughtful piece, as an old dame who's coming more and more into my own slapper-ness in my 60th year and increasingly valuing personal STYLE over "fashion" (particularly as "fashion" doesn't care or want we olds to partake of their offerings).
This distinction was very challenging at first - after I found that I'd become invisible when I entered my 50s - but that superpower of invisibility is now so very freeing and empowering, as I can rock whatever fun and funky 'fits finger my fancy and not give any fu*ks. There have been times where in reading Blackbird Spyplane, I've wondered if I'm too old and not the right "demographic" to be subscribing to it . . . but articles like this one re-enforce my wise decision to ride on the Spyplane.
Thank you.
🙏🏻
Thank you. I love thinking and talking about clothes and fashion but don't have anyone in my life who enjoys these things as a topic of conversation. I appreciate your thinking and writing so much!
The other “article” I read today (it was a four piece slideshow story on IG) was about Gucci’s abysmal show yesterday and how their parent company is flailing miserably - balenciaga Gucci and one other brand who can remember- and it made me think about John Galliano’s recent triumph. His one show that took them years to put together that made people look up and feel inspired and connected. That is the vibe that got me into clothes in the first place. True self expression that doesn’t bow to the constant clicking of the camera.
PS
The kimono with the mini skirt is a great look too. Those movie sisters should collab. Would buy.
PPS. Was discussing recently how design is flattened by constant exposure. What exactly grows out of these ashes of ideas I can’t say. Finding virgin ground is hard but vital to our personal moment in cultural history not being a total bust. Or will this moment be remembered as the time when our choices seemed myriad but in fact were “already made for us by the people in this room.”
Love a good Ozu-induced existential reexamining