Capsule #86 ft. Adele Zeynep Walton

Hello hello,

Happy Friday and Happy Valentine’s Day 🌹🌹🌹. Hope this issue helps you lean into the soft part of yourself. I’m sending a lot of love to you.

This weeks newsletter is about New York Fashion Week, and I think even if you aren’t a huge fashion head (it’s okay!), there will be some stuff you find interesting. It’s about clothes, yes, but it’s also about the economy and youth culture and how brands get ahead in today’s world.

As ever, there are a bunch of recs for your weekend, the top Capsule news from the week, and a Hot & Not from Adele Zeynep Walton.

All love,

Holly x

NYFW unpacked…

There were a few contrasting vibes at play at New York Fashion Week this season. The corporate office dressing is popping up again, like we saw at the menswear shows. A few designers continue to be inspired by younger consumers, both in their styling and in the creation of Gen Z-friendly products. And my favourite part of the Fall collections: some excellent jackets. I always say if I had the money for designer I’d get an amazing jacket. There were a few that affirmed that feeling! Okay for the NYFW rundown…

📎📈 👔 Corpcore but make it fashion 👔📈📎

Over the past few months, I’ve seen the following things heralded as recession indicators: Lady Gaga’s return to her pop roots, Pete Davidson’s tattoo removal, models in bikinis advertising burgers at the Super Bowl, baggy jeans, David Beckham’s Ali Express commercial, tradwifery, running clubs, and a new single from The Cataracs & Dev. A lot of this is just funny, of course, but at the same time, Amazon and other corporates have mandated five days a week in the office, Trump has done the same for federal workers, and both the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times are reporting on dressing for the office.

Men’s fashion week featured lots of corporate-adjacent looks, and at the Fall 2025 shows in New York this week, we saw a fixation on dressing for the office, yes, but with a little extra pizzazz. Like, if I have to go to the office, at least let me have fun with my outfit. For Ashlyn, that meant exploring the formal-but-not-a-shirt category, which reminded me of those “what I wear to the office” videos designed to prove you can look appropriate without following the traditional codes. Think turtlenecks, peplums, and slightly exaggerated silhouettes.

At Jane Wade, the office as a reference point was taken more literally, with a 90s/00s greyscale colour palette, buttoned shirts, and pinstriped tailoring. But the collection was far from bland, fusing classic styles with contemporary, deconstructed silhouettes, and accessorising with office props. Models walked the runway with clutching canned drinks, very anything from the vendy?, emotional support water bottles, and clipboards. Between this collection and Severance, the office has a new allure.

And at Sandy Liang, a finance bro fleece. Her latest collection was inspired by girlhood again, but with a focus on growing up, using clothes to document the time capsules of growing up. The fleece is functional, for the working girl on the move, and pays homage to Liang’s roots: her first collection featured fleeces inspired by her grandmother, ones she confesses to have hated as a child. There’s something about growing up and realising the stuff you resisted might actually be good, and the fleece is a perfect token for that.

🫧🎀🧸 Inspired by youth 🧸🎀🫧

Speaking of being inspired by youthfulness, a bunch of designers presented collections that had what I can only describe as a “Gen Z skew”. By that I mean, more chaos in the styling (we know that zoomers have a distaste for more polished millennial sensibilities in favour of something a bit messier), mismatched combinations that reflect a part-thrifted wardrobe, and playful, kitschy accessories and embellishments.

This was abundantly clear in the Sandy Liang collection, which featured references to Toys R Us, Polly Pocket, and adolescent stationery. In her first show since having a baby, Liang was inspired by looking back, bringing old joys to the fore during a time of reflection. I have a feeling I’ll keep saying this throughout the year, but I couldn’t help but realise that one of the Pinterest Predicts trends for this year was “Dolled Up”, aesthetics inspired by doll houses, cute stuff, and all things miniature, and then a few weeks later we literally see doll accessories on the runway… This collection also felt inspired by Prada and the youthful to Miu Miu, with styling that brings freshness while also looking up to older women.

Also on cute stuff, Coach is still putting the Gen Z consumer first. The bag charms are alive and well, there are bunny slippers which are technically fit for the outdoors (Ugg collab when?), plus dresses over jeans, fun sunglasses, and little neck pouches. This is a brand making goods for an aspirational wish list, but also showing you how to show up if you can’t afford it.

And at Anna Sui and Thom Browne, that youthful skew comes through in the combinations and styling. They both featured ‘more is more’ layering, like building an outfit from vintage finds and a good rummage through your mother’s wardrobe, and the collections were narrative without taking themselves too seriously.

The approach is smart for the times — searches for designer clothing on eBay are up year on year, with longstanding American staples like Coach and Marc Jacobs doing super well on the platforms, alongside contemporary stars like LaQuan Smith (+170%) and Kim Shui (+150%), who have seen triple-digit sales price growth globally in the past four years. Tuning into the taste of younger consumers feels like one of few viable business tactics at the moment.

🧥😩 Just some really good jackets 😩🧥

A lot goes into a collection, especially the ones built around a more abstract concept. And then sometimes there are just some really good clothes that make you feel happy to be alive and out in the world. Big jackets at the Fall shows are just that. Here are some of the best from New York this season, a city focused on keeping warm and staying cool… 😎 

👀 A few other bits worth seeing 👀

The best a woman has ever looked? Greta Lee at Calvin Klein.

Looking cute at shows: Myha’la and Armando Rivera at Thom Browne, PinkPantheress at Coach, Ella Emhoff at Eckhaus Latta.

One thing designers fixated on? Grey suits. Is that a recession indicator?

Off-duty Kendall Jenner in a baker boy cap.

And Thom Browne’s tradition of giving his partner flowers at the end of his show. Happy Valentine’s Day 🥲

And finally…

News from the Capsule universe you may have missed this week:

• The Super Bowl half time show was very fashion… Here are all the details and references in the clothes

• Sabrina Carpenter is on the cover of Vogue looking very Madonna, who at the time looked very Marilyn

• Can you guess who Reformation have hired as their boyfriend?

• Kering brands are experiencing major decline (Gucci, Saint Laurent), with only Bottega Veneta growing. And Bottega is about to lose Matthieu Blazy to Chanel and Gucci needs a new CD…

• Solange looking insane for Harper’s Bazaar

• And again for Document Journal

• Lorde left more new music breadcrumbs

• Selena Gomez has returned to music this partner in crime

• Amelia Dimz got an Elle cover

• And Shakira’s tour looks a lot like…Beyoncé’s Renaissance shows 🫣

This week, Adele Zeynep Walton popped into Capsule to share what’s 🔥hot🔥 and what’s not 🙅‍♀️ …

Adele is a journalist reporting on social media and big tech, and an online safety campaigner. Her book Logging Off: The Human Cost of Our Digital World is available to pre-order now wherever you buy your books.

📺 Watching: Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy in the cinema. Plus this video of Bilal Hassani (a French singer) already perfectly executing the choreo to ‘Abracadabra’ in the club, followed by this old video from a Lady Gaga show where a fan knows all the moves to ‘Scheiße’. And a Valentine’s treat: another lovely Lucy Dacus music video, and for those of us tapped into the lore, the line dancing is a reference to this video. 🥲

📖 Reading: This Bookforum article about contemporary divorce narratives, The White Pube sharing their recs with God Save The Scene, and of course the Gabrielle V-Day Loveline.

🎧 Listening to: choke enough, Oklou’s debut album. Plus ‘9-5’, the new Biig Piig song, and ‘High Fashion’, the next Addison Rae single.

Lottie is bringing you the insights you expected to day: “celine flared jeans” and “kendrick lamar jeans” are the top trending apparel searches over the past week. Keep your eyes out for the boys following suit in the coming months…

If you’d like to adopt Lottie or one of her friends, click here to learn more.

Thanks for reading! I’d love to hear how you’re finding Capsule - let me know here. And if you have a friend who might like it, do refer them! 🥺

See you next week 💋

In some of the products we recommend, we may earn a small affiliate commission. We only ever recommend things we genuinely like and would buy, and this small revenue driver goes directly towards keeping Capsule going. Thank you for the support. 🫶