Clogs and prairie's return (it's better this time)

Plus essay reading and ways to make oneself useful right now.

It’s 59 degrees outside, which means it’s happening. It’s time to start dressing in layers, like we’re going out to gather produce for a cornucopia or something. In light of that, here are some notes on good clogs, the ideal boot-and-skirt combo, the return of a style I once vehemently discarded (it’s different now, trust me), essay reading and Harry Potter. I’ve also included a handful of ways to help in Gaza and Lebanon.

1. I’ll start with the light stuff: I’m really into my Danskos right now. These are the exact ones I have, in the chocolate brown. They give you about 1.5 inches of added height, they’re durable, I don’t worry about scuffing them, and they are the only clog I can find that doesn’t require me to spend all of the cash I’m ~trying~ to save (although these Uniqlo ones are also nice). Don’t get me wrong, I’m still obsessed with the Tory chocolate suede T-Straps, but sometimes a girl needs to stand a little bit taller and feel less precious about her footwear. I recently wore these with mismatched socks and was into it.

2. Another fashion-related note: prairie dressing’s return. I know, I know. I denounced prairie dressing with passion, and I still feel ill about the frilly, flower-coded vertical of this style. A wave of nausea sets in when I pass any one of the floral-explosion storefronts of [redacted], the brand that claimed this aesthetic and then single-handedly ruined it for the rest of us. But there’s a second wave coming, a different wave, the redeeming moment that prairie/western dressing deserves. It’s durable, it’s for work at home, on the range. Have you seen stills of Sienna Miller in Kevin Costner’s Horizon? Have you bought a drop-waist apron-style skirt from Everyone’s Mother? Do you fancy a life working on your garden in a pair of proper Gardana clogs? Then this aesthetic is for you. Welcome back, prairie dressing. You’re so much stronger and better this time.

3. Related to prairie’s return, which needs a new name, I’m thinking about boots and skirts. I recently bought these MNZ boots on sale (it looks like they’re not anymore, but these are!), which I’ll be wearing with skirts all winter (like this and this).

4. I recently asked IG for everyone’s favorite essay, because the experience of being moved by an article doesn’t happen enough. It happened to me with this one, The Crane Wife by CJ Hauser, and now I crave that reading experience. Lots of people responded with their own favorites — I saved them to a highlight in case you want to see them all. Below are just a few of the essays people shared, but keep sending them my way and I’ll add them to the list. If you’re interested in joining an essay reading club, let me know :)

   → The Way We Live Now by Colson Whitehead, NYT

   → The Art of Dying by Peter Schjeldahl, The New Yorker

   → On Keeping A Notebook by Joan Didion

5. I’m watching the Harry Potter series right now. I had seen a few of them years ago, but never in my life did I think I’d catch myself lurking around in Harry Potter reddit threads. I am IN there. I am asking how The Dark Lord lost his nose. I am wondering what would Dumbledore do. Are you not?

6. Here are just a few ways to help in Gaza and Lebanon Right now. Some more: Gaza Sunbirds is an organization dedicated to providing hot meals to Gaza by sourcing food from remaining farms, warehouses, and supermarkets and distributing them in areas where traditional aid organizations are no longer able to reach. Nation Station is a community kitchen doing donation drives across Lebanon. And SEAL has an emergency relief fundraiser active for Lebanon right now, too. You can donate directly, here.