The children yearn for offline style inspiration
The Tortured Poets Department, Miu Miu Literary Club, and finding inspiration outside of your FYP
Earlier this week, British Vogue’s Julia Hobbs posted to Instagram wearing a burgundy Miu Miu polo and brown-suede mini skirt, carrying books and standing in front of an antique bookcase; ‘honoured to be inducted into the inaugural Miu Miu Literary Club,’ she wrote in the caption. Meanwhile, on Miu Miu’s Instagram, their feed has been taken over by people in preppy-chic outfits, relaxing in the most Miu Miu library known to man.
Miu Miu has always used its brand to amplify other creatives’ voices — particularly women’s, like in their ongoing short film series Women’s Tales. The Miu Miu Literary Club is no different to that; the ‘inaugural’ club took part over two sessions, where talks focused on Italian feminist literature. Julia, in a video for Miu Miu’s YouTube, talked about the top five things she learned at the sessions, whilst on their website, they highlight their desire to discuss ‘the power of writing as a creative medium which, for centuries, has allowed women to express their thoughts, desires and ideologies, asserting their independence.’
I’m not saying these are bad things — every single essay I wrote at uni ended up being a feminist one, but, the parade of Miu Miu outfits and the aesthetically pleasing, Donna Tartt-esque setting felt more like a way to display Miu Miu looks than to amplify women’s voices. But, I thought the idea was cool, so whatever.
And then, The Tortured Poets Department came out.
I actually quite like being alive… so I’m not going to give a review on the album (actually no yes I am — it isn’t my fave Taylor album, Red is, but I don’t hate it). (Side-note: I saw that Swifties on Twitter tried to add a community note on Paste Magazine’s post about their album review, saying that the review was unreliable because it was biased because it was someone’s opinion!! That is what a review is!!!) But. The album has been marketed as the moody sister of Folklore and Evermore that went to the university The Secret History is based in, when it just… isn’t? Like, it isn’t a bad album, but it doesn’t feel like an album with the tagline ‘All’s fair in love and poetry.’
I found it interesting, these two pieces of content by big names sharing the same aesthetic. And it isn’t just them — preppy-chic has been trending for a while now, and arguably ‘office siren’ is a similar style to that. Bryony Claire in her office siren YouTube video suggests that this rise in preppy-chic and office siren has come from companies globally deciding to remove hybrid working and instead, work fully in the office again.
But I also wonder if this comes from everything being online nowadays. Maybe people are feeling nostalgic for a time where their life wasn’t 100% online, and they’re taking inspiration from offline sources. Last week,
talked about how ‘we’re all doing too much’ for her Substack:Lately, it seems like every time I do something, I have to log it in an app. The other night, I went to dinner with a friend, logging and ranking the restaurant on Beli. When I came home, I watched a movie which I then logged and reviewed in Letterboxd. Before bed, I started a new book, which I logged in Goodreads, thus removing it from my Want to Read list and into my Currently Reading list.
I’ve been thinking about this idea ever since, partnered with
‘s post about how fashion and style are becoming boring and synchronistic, because everyone is finding their inspiration from the same pictures from the same apps. Officialmacrose on Instagram and TikTok has a series where she talks about style inspiration from unconventional sources; I can’t find the post now, but a while ago, she made a video showing fishermen, and saying how their thick cable-knit jumpers, horizontal stripes, and work trousers would be seen as a fit on someone younger, but we just don’t identify that kind of person as ‘worthy’ of being a source of style inspiration.Again, I can’t remember where I first saw this, but I keep thinking about how before the internet, your style inspiration wouldn’t be a trending aesthetic, but instead, it would be your best friend’s older sister, or someone you work with, or someone organically in your life. You’d become inspired by the fashion of the people that naturally surround you, rather than someone on your FYP. And I know this sounds so ironic because I’m writing this to post it online — I’m not saying that the internet and trends from it are bad, I’m just saying that it works best when we marry it with organic, offline inspiration, and I wonder if the Miu Miu Literary Club and Taylor’s Tortured Poets are reflections of this.
I had more thoughts about the Secret History-ness of Miu Miu and Taylor (maybe I’ll return to that one day?), but like all things in my life, I start talking about one thing and I find a way to make it about fashion. So, instead, here are some offline (or, at least, non-social media) style inspirations I’ve had over the years:
Me and my uni friends had wildly different go-to colour palettes, patterns, and everything, and yet, over the three years, our wardrobes slowly became the same things in different colours. (Fashion via osmosis?)
One of the girls at my first job had such an effortlessly cool style, which I subconsciously took inspiration from as I tried to figure out what an office-appropriate outfit even is.
This is rogue, but, the outfits on Bratz dolls hit and you can’t tell me otherwise.
Sex and the City. Of course, of course.
And just, out and about. The times where I get a sudden desire to buy a specific item of clothing, it’s normally because I saw someone on the street or a café styling it, and that won me over. Inspiration is everywhere, as corny as that is.
I think the beauty of taking inspiration from lots of sources — like people you know and your personal interests, like favourite shows — means that your style may be influenced by trends, but ultimately, it’s a better reflection of who you are. And isn’t that the whole point of personal style?
(Edit: thank you Angelina for mentioning Emily’s post so I could cite that part properly!💓)
Magical
love this -- my friend emily has a great piece about this on her substack called "better sources of inspiration than pinterest" !!!!!
https://angelcake.substack.com/p/better-sources-of-inspiration-than