A chaotic list of 15 things I’m into this month
From dressing like blousy flowers, to the fashion people I want to look like IMMÉDIATEMENT here are the 15 tips, trends, clothes and people I'm obsessing over in June (and one thing I'm very much not)
Welcome back to The Closet. This week your inbox is in receipt of my latest 15-in-5. A meandering, slightly chaotic-yet-entirely exhaustive rundown of the 15 tips, trends, clothes and ridiculous things I want to buy now but don’t have the money yet to do so, broken into five digestible categories.
There’s a subtle Pride theme to this week’s newsletter, given that Pride month started in earnest on Thursday, but as I think I’ve mentioned before, don’t call it a listicle.
You can call it a gaysticle, if you like.
1 Stylish film you absolutely must watch immediately
Close by Lukas Dhont
Ok, so this entry isn’t strictly style related (good start) but Close absolutely floored me. Written and directed by Belgian auteur Lukas Dohnt, the film tells the story of Remi and Leo, two best friends on the brink of adolescence. Each boy cares for the other deeply, but as the film unfolds it becomes clear that neither is equipped to manage the challenges a new school environment will present to their friendship.
Everything about this film, from the sotto voce narrative flow - Close is the very epitome of the “show don’t tell” storytelling rule - to the brittle soundtrack by Valentin Hadjaj and the Vermeer-level photography of Frank van den Eeden, is utterly, heartbreakingly beautiful.
The clothes tell a story, too. Leo, played by newcomer Eden Dambrine in the vein of a modern day Tadzio - all taciturn looks and otherworldly delicacy - wears a shell jacket in key moments of the film, a garment which is presumably handed down to him by his older brother. Leo even wears the jacket, which is careworn and smudged with dirt, to the most somber event of his young life. Its grubby incongruity both represents and sits in contrast to his pristine innocence.
Close reminded me of one of my own formative, nearly-romantic friendships and as a consequence, I cried a lot. But, in truth, it’s a film which will speak to anyone who’s ever been young and shared breath with someone they care about at a sleepover (watch it and you’ll understand).
So yeah, it’s totally, utterly mesmerising. No notes. I even want a shell jacket now, and I’m not 11 or Flemish.
2 Seasonal flowers to take style notes from
Roses
My Roses are in full bloom right now - including a flourishing off-cut from my late Grandma’s icebergs - so I’m taking inspiration by eyeing up rose-tinted garments at the most deliciously florid brand in town, Dries van Noten. It’s not just the trousers which I love about this look, either; the tonal elasticated corset teamed with the delicately pleated shirt is serving “Hybrid Tea” and I’m absolutely here for it.
Peonies
It’s big, blousy peony season, people - or the tail end of it, at least. In fact, two enormous fuschia-hued blooms have just gone the way of all things in my garden, so I’m commiserating by eyeing up items to buy which will make me look like a peony myself. This Valentino pussy bow blouse should do the trick. Now just to give my hair a high summer bleach job so my head resembles one big peony stamen.
Only joking I’d never get a bleach job.
3 Queer-owned brands j’adore
SMR Days
Founded by husband-duo Adam Shapiro and Gautam Rajani alongside stylist Dan May, SMR Days specialises in a folksy brand of menswear designed to be worn in sunnier climes. Each of the three owners is queer, too, which means you can (and should) buy from them this month - and every month - with pride. Come for the over shirts, leave with another pair of drapey cotton trousers you’ll never wear because ENGLAND IS COLD.
Random Identities
Owned by big queer style icon Stefano Pilati (more on him below), Random Identities is a genderless fashion brand which specialises in minimal pieces cut with theatrical proportions. The top-handle boots being a deliciously outré case-in-point.
SS Daley
Beloved by Ian McKellen and Josh O’Connor, Stephen Stokey Daley’s school boy-inspired aesthetic comes to wearable, playful life in the collections shown on his eponymous runway. You’ll know it for the duck-clad cardis, you’ll love it for poetic summer shirts.
4 Fashion people who are obscenely well dressed
Miuccia Prada
I mean, the woman’s signature garment is a grey cashmere crew neck school jumper, and yet somehow she’s always the chicest person in the room. Sphinxlike, lethal with an accessory and the most prolific master of colour since William Eggleston, Miuccia Prada is to clothes what butter is to food - she just makes everything better.
Stefano Pilati
I’ve said it once, and I’ll say it again, Stefano Pilati is the best dressed man in the world. The former creative director of Yves Saint Laurent (as it was then known) and Ermenegildo Zegna Couture (as it was then known) is the current creative director of his own label Random Identities and no one knows how to layer fabric and play with proportion better than him. Who else can make harem pants, hussar jackets and stripper boots work all at once? No one, that’s who!
Simon Holloway
The new creative director of British heritage brand Dunhill knows how to put on clothes properly. Which is lucky, I suppose. With previous at Agnona and Purdy, Holloway’s is a wardrobe of understatement and whispered elegance. Sure, everything he wears looks like it would cost the same as a new kitchen, but he carries it lightly, does Holloway. The designer will be unveiling his first collection for Dunhill later this month and I’m very excited for it. More soon.
Michael Roberts
The late journalist and long-time fashion director of Vanity Fair was one of the greats - not only by way of his professional life, but his sartorial life, too. Proof? Roberts is the only person on the planet ever to make a flat cap look good. Ever.
+ Tonne Goodman
Quick honourable mention for Tonne Goodman, who is perpetually effortless and loves a white jean as much as I do…the WASP queen!
5 items burning a hole in my shopping basket right now
THE woven Gucci Mules
Hideously expensive, yes (when did it become OK for a pair of designer quasi-flip-flops to cost the same as a quite nice used car?), but I won’t stop wearing them till late October so…
THE Dunhill Tote
I turn 36 this year. 36 is the same age Princess Diana was when she died. I could see her carrying a bag like this to the gym with some Oshkosh B'gosh gym gear - a look I’m eager to emulate - so…
THE Wales Bonner zebra shufflers
Everyone knows that zebra print is the new leopard print, so…
THE utterly c*nty mule-sandals
It’s always been my dream to dress like the bastard love child of Hagrid and little orphan Annie, so….
THE never-going-to-happen Rolex
It’s impossible to buy the candy pink Rolex perpetual - aka the chicest watch ever made - new, and second hand they come in at the price of a castle on Sheppy (bored of the cost comparisons yet? Get used to it!) so...I’ll probably have to give up on this one.
+ 1 thing I’m really not feeling
The rise in Homophobia
Forgive me for getting political for a second, but it’s Pride month, and I’m feeling proud. What I am categorically not feeling, however, is the rise in homophobia which has started circling the globe like a virulent strain of intollerantitis - I’m looking at you Laurence Fox.
I figured out that I was gay when I was around 13. It was scary and isolating, no question - I often worried that I would become lonely when I got old, and I knew instinctively that things might somehow be harder for me than they were for my straight friends - but I never feared for my life. Not at any point. And that, in this increasingly divided age, is something I’m ever more grateful for, and increasingly determined not to take for granted.
Around the world right now, members of the LGBTQIA2S+ community are having their rights diminished, challenged or taken away completely. In the United States at least 417 anti-LGBTQIA2S+ bills have been introduced in state legislatures since the start of 2023. 417! In five months! In the UK, homophobic hate crimes rose by 41% in 2022 - according to Home Office statistics - with transphobic hate crimes jumping by 51%. In Brunei, Iran, Mauritania, Saudi Arabia and Yemen being gay remains punishable by death.
Uganda has been in the news most recently, as a new law signed on May 26th by President Yoweri Museveni provides for the death penalty for some same-sex acts.
So this Pride month - and beyond, please - let’s support each other more, and embrace difference with compassion and curiosity rather than fear and intolerance. I appreciate I’m almost certainly preaching to the choir here, but hey ho, here’s a link to a charity which funds safe houses for persecuted LGBTQIA2S+ people in Uganda if you fancy putting your money where my mouth is. Happy pride!