Open tabs, August edition
The best reads across fashion, interior design, and culture
Important note: I can’t stop thinking about the deteriorating crisis in Gaza. Cup of Jo rounded up a list of ways to help — I’ve donated to World Central Kitchen, and if you have the resources, I hope you will join me in finding a way to support and urge our reps to deliver humanitarian aid asap.
I meant to send this post over the weekend, but after months of what I would call “body slumber” I finally felt a burst of frenetic energy to go do things. Exhibits and a rooftop visit at the Met, drinks with a friend, a walk to McNally Jackson, working on my writing from a chic hotel lobby. Some of it was a dud.1 But after my surgery, I’m feeling myself come alive again. I might write more about stuff to do here in the city as it relates to fashion, interior design, and culture.
ICYMI
July was a busy month for Loose Buttons:
Ribbon as a metaphor for social mobility in Jane Austen’s works
The interior design of Lois Lane’s apartment
A unified theory of Carrie Bradshaw’s breakup outfits
I have a couple posts brewing in the next week or two, but for now here’s some interesting reads I’ve had open:
Fashion
I am half-Filipina but growing up in the US, I didn’t grow up with access to a lot of my mother’s cultural practices. I am so grateful Vogue Philippines exists — here, Patis Tesoro’s imagining of modern filipiniana | Vogue Philippines
Ralph Lauren’s latest collection is a tribute to Oak Bluffs, a Black enclave on Martha’s Vineyard. Classic coastal with HBCU roots, the line was designed by Morehouse and Spelman alumni. See the collection here – love the patchwork jacket and Spelman Polo Bear sweater | The Cut
Adapting natural resources to continue the Kankurang tradition, a spirit costume in Gambia | World of Interiors
This video has me convinced I should start using my fabric scraps to make couture clothes for dolls | Rajiv Surendra, YouTube
Clueless at 30 - the timeless appeal of its 90s fashion | Whatever Nevermind
Interior Design
The Bubble House is for sale - I love those windows but I’d imagine they’re hard to design around | Kate Watson-Smyth
Hanging art in cool ways at home. Framing is $$, so it’s refreshing to see some frameless inspiration | Blackbird Spyplane
How IKEA became an incubator for graphic designers | House & Garden
Culture
I’ll never think of the Dawson’s Creek intro the same again | Fayola Penelope, tiktok
Abbi and Ilana’s Good Hang interview had me laughing and crying. Friendship! | Good Hang with Amy Poehler
On making ugly things on purpose | Beautiful Losers
Bone-deep wisdom | Open Culture
On carrying and nourishing creative urges | See You
In dark times, what is the artist’s role? | Jessica Nordell
What I’m reading offline
Passage to India, by E.M. Forster. I’ve been in a reading slump all year, and this is the book that’s getting me back to reading. I’ve written before about my fascination with the Bloomsbury Group, of which Forster was a member. I’ll get hooked on his beautiful prose about an Italian landscape or a trip abroad gone wrong. And then Forster pulls me in even further with his criticisms of his fellow countrymen’s prejudices,2 and musings on dystopian tech.3 A Room with a View is my favorite — it inspired my trip to Florence, Italy a few years ago. I’m finally checking out Passage to India — set in the 1920s, it’s about an Indian doctor’s attempts at being friendly with British colonizers, to terrible results.
What I’m watching offline
Concurrently: The Gilded Age, And Just Like That, Sex and the City, Girls, and Too Much. I’ve really adored the soundtrack, aesthetics, and fevered rom-com energy in Too Much. I also have some spinning thoughts about the current season of The Gilded Age but I want to revisit Edith Wharton and Henry James first.
Bye for now – but feel free to share in the comments what’s resonating with you, or your own open tabs.
Among my quibbles: the Met’s Sargent and Superfine exhibits were so overcrowded, it was difficult to connect with the art. And while I’m uncertain if it counts as hostile architecture, the lack of seating/ability to comfortably linger on the rooftop is definitely an unpleasant design, and I hope this is addressed in the upcoming renovations.
A Room with a View, Where Angels Fear to Tread. I should probably read Howards End, right?
I kept saying during my read of The Machine Stops that I could not believe it was written in 1909. It’s about how people can’t live on the surface of the Earth, so they all live in pods and all of their needs are met by an omnipotent Machine that’s treated as a body of worship. People communicate through video conferencing (!), but there’s no original ideas, travel, or anything that passes for a healthy culture. Needless to say, wild and oddly prescient.
I'm going to try and see the Sargent and Super Fine exhibits with my cousin in a couple of weeks, but the first and last time I went to the Met the whole overcrowding experience made it so unpleasant ugh.