Capsule #21 ft. SYTË

Hello hello!

Happy Halloween Friday 👻…if you still need an outfit, you know what to do! Head over to our Instagram for all your last minute inspo.

In this issue, thanks to our wonderful Rhea, we’ve done the deepest dive on fun tights to spruce up your winter coats and black dresses. We’re also chatting about Kylie Jenner’s new fashion line, which does have mentions of body image that I want to flag before you dive in.

If you need a little R&R this weekend, the adding to queue recs might be just what you’re after. And New York City band SYTË are here to share their Hot & Not.

All love,

Holly

All eyes are on…

Khy, Kylie Jenner’s new clothing brand, announced this week in classic Kardashian fashion (an Insta post with a little lowercase “meet khy.”), followed by a Wall Street Journal magazine cover.

What we know so far:

• The brand will feature different guest designers and concepts throughout the year

• The first collection is a collab with Namilia, an edgy Berlin brand whose products have names like “micro dick spike bag”

• Nothing in the first release costs more than $200, and it’s largely faux leather pieces and nylon and elastane base layers

Got it? Okay. Lots to say! Firstly, who saw this coming? Kylie’s been dropping crumbs for a while now with her adjacency to high fashion - the close relationships with Schiaparelli, Mugler, and Jean Paul Gaultier, becoming the face of Acne, the slightly pared down makeup. But as with any Kardashian stunt, there’s no rebrand without a new product. We should have known…

In recent months, people have commented on Kylie’s subtly evolving appearance, particularly in the context of her proximity to Blackness. Kylie previously wore more fake tan, infamously plumped her lips, and made curviness her signature look. Now, with each new Instagram post, she’s appeared paler, shown freckles, and looked smaller. It isn’t a coincidence that her turn away from racial ambiguity towards whiteness and thinness coincides with the launch of her fashion line: recent coverage of Kylie says that she “channels quiet luxury” and gives “Marilyn Monroe” - two things that are almost exclusively afforded to white women. Meanwhile, high fashion still has a major diversity problem - after this September’s fashion month, 1 Granary questioned why none of the Kering fashion houses have a Black designer at the helm. This week, we also heard about Black models at Melbourne fashion week boycotting the shows, in protest against staff using racial slurs, hairdressers making derogatory comments about their hair, and being underpaid compared to white models. Despite some progressive shifts (like The Cut’s editorial expansion under Lindsay Peoples or the rise of designer Grace Wales Bonner), the landscape has further to go. The problem is bigger than Kylie, but her story illuminates broader patterns.

Khy’s decision to work with guest designers is an interesting one - a model not unlike H&M’s designer collabs as a way of bringing higher end design to the masses. It rebuts any accusations that Kylie isn’t a designer, and is a smart way of avoiding criticism for ripping off smaller brands, giving them credit (and cash) where it’s due. (Although one designer, Betsy Johnson (not that one), has already accused Kylie of taking her ideas.) It also comes at a time when young designers are struggling, unable to showcase collections due to cost.

Your feelings about this whole thing will probably align with how you felt about the nepo baby conversation earlier this year. On that, I think a lot of people landed at if the work is good, who cares? I broadly agree with that sentiment (ly Cooper Hoffman), but understand the increased critique around Kylie, whose following is bigger than the population of the US.

I’m most curious to see whether the Khy line will look and feel any higher end than Zara - the price point is higher, yes, and the design talent is there, but the materials are still that of more affordable high street brands. Though I do think you’ll be able to get a strapless faux leather mini dress from all the major fast fashion brands within the next week or two, which is wild…

A final note - something I’ve enjoyed in this whole rollout is Kylie’s self-described return to her “King Kylie era - who I am at my core”. Controversies aside, we can take this away as a push to invest in doing the things that make us feel true to ourselves and the stuff we enjoyed before we worried about work or money or what other people thought about us. More on that sentiment in the future…

Okay next!

Time to chat about tights. We’ll keep it brief: it’s cold, and coats aren’t the only way to heat up. It’s hosiery season, and it’s time to have fun with it. Inspired by this exceptional ombre pair on Pamela Anderson (which you can cop on Etsy), we’ve done a deep dive into all the exciting ways you can wear tights beyond the classic black.

1. Block colour

As seen on Anya Taylor Joy, Kendall Jenner, Anne Hathaway, Edie Liberty Rose, Emma Corrin, and so many others this year. They make an otherwise sensible outfit a bit louder, and allow you to get really serious about your commitment to monochrome looks.

Get the look: Calzedonia has a great range of colours, as does Snag.

2. Patterns, fishnets and lace

Spotted on the runway at Vivienne Westwood AW23, and on pretty much every celeb dressed by Gucci, this is about adding texture and dimension to your look. Wearing patterned tights is an affordable way to spice up an old dress or skirt, breathing new life into your trusty LBD.

Get the look: Calzedonia and Free People are your best bet.

3. Tartan

A little bit quirkier, these caught our eye on the runway at Chopova Lowena. Tartan appears in a lot of their collections, inspired by Chopova’s Bulgarian heritage and Lowena’s British roots, but the tartan tights really sing.

Get the look: Etsy is the place.

4. Sparkles

This year might be when we finally pull the trigger on some sparkly tights. Will they last? Unlikely. Do they make sense outside of a few weeks of the year? Not massively. Will they give you a boost on that Christmas night out you’re not sure about? Absolutely.

Get the look: Urban Outfitters for fishnets with gems, Calzedonia for sheer shimmer.

And finally…

Sending love and light to this girl on TikTok who shared a very relatable video about what it feels like to have a commute, work 9-5, get home after 7, have to cook dinner, do laundry, have some semblance of a social life, date, see your family, have hobbies, get good at yoga, eat well, read books, and whatever else you desire. As you’d imagine she’s receiving a lot of “wow Gen Z finally realised they have to WORK!” type of comments, but to her I say: I see you, I feel you, it’s well within your rights to talk about this stuff and feel shitty. It’s equally fine if you wake up tomorrow and feel fine.

@ken.green34

Poor poor little entitled snowflake 😂🤣😂🤣😂😂 This generation of snowflakes is completely doomed. They can't even hold a 9-5 job without havi... See more

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

SYTË is a New York City-based duo composed of Nita Kaja (singer) and Drin Tashi (producer/engineer). The name SYTË means “eyes” in Albanian, and pays homage to the pair’s heritage: Nita spent her summer breaks in Kosovo, connecting to her roots and falling in love with the music scene. With a full live band, SYTË has played main stage festival slots at Sunny Hill Festival, Pop-Kultur, and Manifesta Biennale, and club slots at Elsewhere Zone 1, The Sultan Room, Pianos, and Our Wicked Lady.

📺 Watching: Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour film. If you’re on the fence I implore you to go… What a fun night… A top tip would be to go to the toilet if you need at the start of the Red era, miss ‘I Knew You Were Trouble’, and return for our 10 minute number.

📖 Reading: Body Work: The Radical Power of Personal Narrative by Melissa Febos. It’s about helping you be more honest with yourself and your experiences in writing, and the history behind our nervousness to do that. Big recommend!

🎧 Listening to: It’s Halloween party time so of course the Troye Sivan album is queued… But if you’re feeling a little more at home, line up the broodying 60s singer Karen Dalton. The vibe is curled up in bed, rain on window, ballad on.

Nugget is sure that big belts are going to be seen more and more. The bigger the better tbh… When paired with the right fit, it's an accessory that makes an everyday look memorable. A chunky belt worn over a dress gives you a waist-hugging look, or when worn over the top of a long shirt and baggy jeans it makes jeans and a shirt feel more than just that. A belt is versatile, you probably already own one, and it's time to get it out again…

If you’d like to adopt Nugget or one of his 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, please forward on 🥺

See you next week 💋