Hi - or if you are going out tonight “trick or treat!” I’ll be driving my kids to wherever they want to meet their friends but then they will beg me to disappear as soon as they arrive. Then I’ll search for my friends and walk around with them hoping my kids don’t see me. Later this week I’ll also be the parent who helps my kids look for their missing Halloween candy knowing that I have already eaten it. 🤫
For today’s send we are playing catch-up. As soon as I hit publish at 2 or 3 am and finally go to bed inevitably something else pops up. A new bit of news that would have fit perfectly in the report, or a collab hitting on a Friday when I do a Thursday round-up, or my notes are just so long I miss an item I’ve been meaning to publish. Oops. It happens to the best of us. So let’s use this “holiday” weekend to clean the slate before we head into November and officially start retail Q4. Also, the NYC Marathon is the day after Halloween. Oh my! Good luck to all the runners and I can’t wait to see the signs cheering them on.
In this send: How much money does The RealReal make on shipping? It is a realreal profit. Plus: jelly rain boots, Valesque, spaghetti bags, Susan Alexandra x Anthropologie, Oy Vey, the nail kit that makes a smart holiday gift, Harry Styles t-shirt, Messy versus mes°, The Effortless Pant™, and where do you stand in the candy corn debate?
Open to Buy
Open To Buy Shoppies — the new handbag I bought and lots of new deliveries
Field Notes — Nike x Our Legacy and welcome to The Call-Out Era
Earnings But Make it Fun! — Aritzia and The RealReal — what you need to know as a consumer
What Premium Subscribers Read This Week — Let’s catch up
Open To Buy Shoppies
Comme Si’s new tuxedo shirt arrived and would look great with silk pants for holiday.
Have you noticed how Ancient Greek Sandals Iro jelly shoe pivoted to rain boots for fall? Smart. Check out the rain boots and the slip-ons.
The price of designer pants keeps creeping up, but these do look comfortable. I feel like this style could be the winter cozy version of taffeta pants.
Collab alert for the holidays, Susan Alexandra x Anthropologie. My personal favorite from the collection might be the Oy Vey pillow.
If you are in San Francisco Sunday, Estella Vintage will be at Pickwick Vintage. You will need a ticket. This is the year to invest in a special coat and you always need one in San Francisco — year round!
Celisse just launched a new Holiday Trio of nail polishes for the festive season and I added it to Private Label’s Holiday 2026 Beauty Tracker. I’ve also added their Bare Set (nail file, buffer, cuticle oil) to my Everyday Upgrades Holiday Gift Guide.
These are great black patent ballet flats. And if I know anything it is a black patent flat.
I own three different hand lotions from Soft Services. I love them. I’ve kept the Theraplush Xtra Milk on my desk, but now the brand launched Deskside Lumelo hand lotion, made for daytime. Do I need a fourth? And I guess we are talking about the items I keep buying more of because…
Handbags to collect like candy: I kept thinking that the Valesque Spaghetti Bag in red would be very fun. Never mind that I already own it (and wear it daily) in black and navy. So when Emily Holt, owner of Hero Shop at Marin Country Mart, texted me the image of her latest delivery from the brand I bought it immediately. I also have the large tote in navy and use it as my work bag. It holds a laptop and more.
I asked Emily how the brand has been doing and she told me that she sold the entire fall order minus one bag within two weeks of it arriving in late July. The delivery that is in stores now is part of the resort/holiday buy and they placed it in June before the first delivery even arrived in stores. They will likely sell out of this order just as fast. You’ve been warned. (Berry Stein I blame you, in a good way, for my addiction.)
A few other finds: TRR has a black Valesque tote for $285 in very good condition. It lists the original retail as $450, but it actually retailed for $330.
Black velvet Spaghetti from Valesque
The blue and lime Spaghetti are also fun. The lime is exclusive to Net-a-porter.
Currently I have 37 scarves in the Good — Better — Best Triangle Scarf guide. Every brand has them this year. I bet in the next two weeks this recap will have 50 different versions in it.
Can we think of striped sweaters without thinking of the Gap? or Liana Satenstein? Here’s a new multi-color thin stripe cardigan from Alex Mill. Mickey Drexler was the Gap’s CEO in 1999 when the Happy Stripe sweater was at the Gap…just saying. Alex Mill’s fair isle cardigan and sweaters are worth a peek too.
I love a High Sport Holiday along with everyone else. I saw the Holiday collection at Hero Shop’s Trunk Show with High Sport and Alissa Zachary last week. Yes I love the pants and sweaters. But can I direct your attention to this fabulous slinky skirt?
Be like Harry Styles and order this t-shirt.