Capsule #43 ft. Roxy Dunn

Hello hello,

Happy April to you all 🌻 

This week we’re going hard on the concept of spring again. That means a look at the aesthetics of gardening, new-style perfume ads, and an Elena Ferrante excerpt that’ll help guide your summer planning.

There are also some great profiles and music criticism for you to read this weekend.

Pleased to report that debut novelist Roxy Dunn is here to share her Hot and Not! Not quite as big as releasing her book into the world this week, but certainly up there…

Enjoy your weekends!

Holly x

Forgive me…

It’s springtime, and the aesthetics of gardening have been cropping up across some influential people and brands. Think utility vests, colourful gloves, and baggy shorts… Dare we call it gardening core?

Exhibit A: This photoshoot of Emma Chamberlain for Lancôme, shot in Grasse, a town just north of Cannes in France, which happens to be the perfume capital. I loved this shoot because it’s so different to regular fragrance ads and the usual Lady Godiva of it all. And what’s more luxury than having time to tend to a garden? In a linen shirt with rolled up sleeves, no less!

Exhibit B: Pamela Anderson in an editorial shoot for High Snobiety. Every image here is wonderful, but a muddy-faced Pammy in her utility vest and thick socks sells us such a specific type of freedom: stripped back, comfort first, getting away from screens. Add in the fact we know Ms A isn’t wearing makeup at the moment, and you’ve got that gorgeous sensation of returning to ones roots, like those makeup-free holiday moments, actually feeling the benefit of spending time outside. Feels worthy of a uniform…

Exhibit C: These extremely fun upcycled J Crew shorts from designer Nicole McLaughlin. Carabinas found quaking…

Feeling somewhat inspired? Me too. Loose-fitting, comfy, practical clothing made to support your outdoor endeavours is exactly what I want the next few months to look like. Here is an idea how we might bring it together outside of big fashion editorials.

Links: Top (Cider), vest (Etsy), bandana (TOAST), shorts (Dickies), socks (Free People), clogs (Birkenstock), necklace (Etsy).

While we’re longing for a legitimate spring…

Some words to remind us what summer feels like when done properly. In Elena Ferrante’s novel My Brilliant Friend, our protagonist, Elena, spends a summer on the island of Ischia. It’s a stark contrast to her regular life in Naples, which is filled with the anxiety of being perceived by those closest to her, and spiralling thoughts about what type of girl she’s supposed to be. On Ischia, Elena is free. Here we see why:

Is there a better feeling than being on holiday and sleeping well and naturally waking up early??? Feeling like the world is big and the days are long and full of opportunity, even if you only spend it lounging around and looking at nice views and eating good food. It’s always in the little things. Have you made any fair-weather plans yet? If not, let this be your reminder about why it all matters. It’s nice sometimes to think of life as continual rediscovering the simple things that bring you joy.

Next up!

Another trend I’ve seen and enjoyed recently has been the use of unexpected, “normal” figures in advertising for luxury products or just broadly chic brands (remember the kids spelling bee for SSENSE?). The latest example comes from Ffern, a seasonal perfume subscription business. As we mentioned with Emma C for Lancôme earlier, for their spring campaign, they scrapped the golden-toned, Bond Girl playbook and recruited some sweet older men from West Yorkshire. They are part of a community choir (🥺) and live across Yorkshire’s “Rhubarb Triangle” (Wakefield, Morley, and Rothwell), making them astute critics of the new rhubarb-based scent.

And to finish off…

A selection of news from the Capsule universe to keep you in the loop:

• Kirsten Dunst did a refreshing interview with GQ, in which she talks about her resistance to film industry execs encouraging her to change her looks. If you’re keen for a follow up, this profile on her actor husband Jesse Plemons is also great

• The iHeartRadio Music awards were this week. Things worth knowing about include Beyoncé’s acceptance speech for her innovator award, and Katy Perry’s look which feels part Kim K part Charli XCX

• Anya Taylor-Joy shared pics from her secret 2022 wedding with Malcolm McRae. She looks insane, but really you should swipe to the wedding cakes, which are modelled on anatomically-correct hearts

• A bunch of musicians, including Billie Eilish and Nicki Minaj, have signed an open letter to tech firms to demand protection for human creativity against AI

• ICYMI: Shakira and Lucien Laviscount gave us the hardest hard launch of their relationship. In other Shakira news, the singer admitted she cringes at all the lo-le-lo-le-lo-les in her old music 😪

• Dev Patel did a Reddit AMA to promote his new movie, Monkey Man, and his responses are just so nice and worth reading

• Anne Hathaway and Cillian Murphy are the new faces of Versace 

• And news broke that Muji may be going into administration in the UK. Thank you to Brandon Taylor for this 0.38 Muji pen support group newsletter

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

Roxy has spent the past decade working as an actor and writer for theatre and television. Her debut novel, As Young as This is out now with Fig Tree, Penguin.

📺 Watching: This video of Maggie Rogers covering ‘Greedy’ by Tate McRae for the Radio 1 Live Lounge, Kristen Stewart day drinking with Seth Myers, and Anatomy of a Fall, which is now on Prime Video.

📖 Reading: Some great music criticism. This excellent review of the new Beyoncé album from the New Yorker’s Doreen St. Félix. It’s worth reading even if you aren’t a self-confessed member of the Beyhive, it’s just so well written. And this newsletter from Kyle Raymond Fitzpatrick, which defends Camila Cabello’s Charli XCX-esque rebrand and argues that her new era tells us much more about what’s indie and what’s mainstream now.

🎧 Listening to: Cowboy Carter, naturally, the two new Charli XCX singles, and this episode of Emma Chamberlain’s podcast which is surprisingly refreshing on the topic of PCOS. Not something I expected!

In light of the aforementioned gardening core, Rocky thinks we’ll see the foliage interest go beyond fashion and into real gardens. If you don’t have your own to tend to, community gardens are an enriching way to spend a summer afternoon, and are free. Good to Grow is a UK-based platform to help you find community gardens in your area, and the ACGA is a similar thing in the US.

If you’d like to adopt Rocky 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 💋