Capsule #38 ft. Calypso Barnum-Bobb

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Hello hello,

First up, a warm welcome to the new subscribers who came to us from The Know this week 🤗. The Know is the media company I co-founded before Capsule (which you may recognise from Instagram). So happy to have lots of you here! 

To recap what you can expect in this newsletter: 

• Open tabs - four things in the fashion/culture space worth engaging with 

• Adding to queue - what to read, watch, and listen to this weekend 

• Special guest - a cool person shares what’s Hot and Not for them right now 

• Culture clairvoyant - a special oracle predicts a future trend… 

The whole thing is designed with busy people in mind: you enjoy fashion and pop culture, but don’t want to spend so much time on your phone trying to keep up. That’s where Capsule comes in - I scroll for you, bring you the interesting bits, and point to broader trends. None of this stuff exists in a vacuum, so we come to topics with an understanding of how it feels to live and work today, and what our priorities really are as people just trying to get by.

I hope you enjoy it. Let me know what you think…

Holly x

P.S. you can always hit reply to this email and I’ll get back to you!

Paris Fashion Week convos…

Last Paris Fashion Week, one of the biggest stories came out of The Row show, but had nothing to do with the clothes. It was about Pamela Anderson’s decision not to wear makeup for the event. This PFW, and again at The Row (Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen’s luxury brand), we’re talking about another issue only tacitly connected to the fashion itself. Guests were banned from snapping shots on their phones, and were instead offered beautiful Japanese notebooks and pencils to jot down their thoughts and feelings. One outlet could still operate as usual - Style Not Com, a text-based Instagram page.

Some Instagram commenters felt the decision was elitist - not everyone has access to these shows and fashion is for other people to enjoy, too. That’s totally understandable, of course. But we aren’t short of fashion content, especially not during fashion months. It was a breath of fresh air to not be rushing to social media to inhale another round of footage; even from my desk in London it felt like a slice of luxury to wait for official photos. That is, of course, how we used the internet in the early days. I’m not suggesting we revert but I like proof points like this to show that slowing down can work too.

Another brand tapping into this ethos is Courrèges, who presented a ‘breathing’ floor in the middle of their runway, encouraging onlookers to stop, slow down, and breathe. It’s a little Calm app, yes, but an instruction most of us welcome. We move too quickly! And we appreciate fashion (and basically anything else) more when we’re rested. 

@i_d

A stretch fabric mound in the centre of the Carreau du Temple rose and fell to the sound of heavy breathing 💗 #courreges #tiktokfashion #p... See more

While we’re on fashion week… 

Most of the looks we see coming down the runway can be pretty hard to recreate. Most of us can’t access luxury stuff, and we may or may not want to take part in the fast fashion dupes when they arrive. That leaves us with sustainable or mid-tier brands, vintage stuff, and our own wardrobes. And there’s a lot of fun in that! Quickly, here are three looks from the Chloé show I think would be particularly fun, and more accessible, to play with in your rotation. 

I wanted to come here to talk more about makeup, an aspect of fashion week from which we could squeeze a bit more. We love to gaze at the super creative, avant-garde styles that we don’t often see, but there are also little details that we could weave into our own looks, pulling us slightly out of the comfort zone but not so far that you feel silly. 

Today I bring you Eckhaus Latta, an American brand that shows at New York Fashion Week. Their styling is consistently quite understated, but I loved this red eyeliner look. I’ve also seen blue versions popping up on my Pinterest a fair bit, which you might be more pulled to depending on the colours you like. Zoom in if you’re on mobile!

Next up!

Like so many other people, I’ve been re-evaluating my relationship with alcohol for a while. It started with trying to fix a sleep problem, and graduated into an awareness that it made most other parts of my life feel worse, or smaller, except for a few moments, which usually happened on holiday or when there was little else to worry about. That being said, I like the ritual of a special drink, and while I’m planning to keep a healthy cash flow into Lucky Saint, I’m looking for more options. I loved stumbling across this article paying homage to the Shirley Temple, a retro mocktail (ginger ale and grenadine with a squeeze of lemon or lime topped with maraschino cherries) that predates me but feels so apt for the moment. Of the drink, Rax King says: 

I think some of my resistance to quitting alcohol completely comes not just from its relaxing qualities, but from the fear of being branded as boring. Who would want to be the person curtailing the fun of a wider group, or turning down the vehicle that may or may not make memories that we’ll laugh at for years to come? It sounds crap doesn’t it. But that’s where faith in a good alternative really comes in. I’ve convinced myself that alcohol free beer makes me feel good, so it does. We just need to keep setting new beliefs.

And finally…

A few things that happened this week in the Capsule universe to fill you in:

• Rihanna arrived in India with an insane amount of luggage (it’s her stage tbf) to perform at the wedding of the richest man’s son. Not masses to say here other than adding fuel to our optimistic fire that she could be pulled out of retirement for Glasto (let us dream)

• Nicola Peltz Beckham wore Victoria Beckham’s racer jacket from 2001. I had to do a double take because I thought it was Bella Hadid, but also the racer is here to stay 

• Speaking of Bella Hadid, she’s no longer the face of Charlotte Tilbury, probably because her own brand is coming, but some people think it’s linked to her support for Palestine

• Taking a leaf out of the Skims playbook, Monica Lewinsky is the new face of Reformation. It’s also partnership with Vote.Org to encourage young voter registration which is cool, and some TikTokers are learning about Lewinsky for the first time, to which they say: “pretty iconic”

• While we’re on US politics, Olivia Rodrigo announced her new reproductive rights initiative, Fund 4 Good, which she’ll support through her tour

• And finally, The Guardian launched a newsletter dedicated to Taylor Swift called ‘Swift Notes’. It’s not just T Swift lore, but rather a look at music/sport/the environment/politics/just about anything topical through the lens of the star. I’ve signed up! 

I’ve been thinking about adding a section for quick bits of news like this (bookmarks?), is that something you would want? Or not fussed?

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This week, Calypso Barnum-Bobb popped into Capsule to share what’s 🔥hot🔥 and what’s not 🙅‍♀️ …

Calypso is a certified self-discovery coach, speaker, host of the Self Centred With Calypso podcast and co-founder of LGBTQIA+ friendly retreat company, people like us retreats. She helps heart-led humans do big things, working with both personal and corporate clients (including Apple, Nike and Glastonbury Festival) to help unleash their full potential and create lives they love. The waitlist for her September Portugal retreat is now open!

📺 Watching: Dune: Part One and Dune: Part Two – honestly missed it the first time around, then read that Florence Pugh said the second one is the best film she’s ever seen. Granted she is appearing in that movie and it’s probably trying to break some record, but I believed her, so I’m diving in. Join me!

📖 Reading: This piece from woo where 5 creators (of which I’m one😇) share advice for young journalists entering a difficult media landscape. And this GQ article by Sam Diss on the rise of the mega-stacked superhero body. Culture at GQ has been ran by former Capsule guest Daisy Jones for the past few months and it’s been great.

🎧 Listening to: Madi Diaz, who you’ll enjoy if you hang out in the Kacey Musgraves/Waxahatchee/Noah Cyrus extended universe, and ‘Von dutch’ the new Charli XCX single, which should be played as soon as you finish working today.

As a fashionable king, Felix (named after Jacob Elordi’s character in Saltburn) has obviously noticed the uptick in people swapping their chunky loafers for… even chunkier loafers. We’re talking mega platform. Prada successfully got us all hooked on the loafer, now Gucci are taking it to the next level. Are you up for it?

If you’d like to adopt Felix 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 💋