Capsule #46 ft. Eliza Goodpasture

Hello hello,

Hope things are well in your lives!

Quick Q for my curiosity — how interested are you in Taylor Swift lore? Digging into her lyrics and whatnot and mapping out potential narratives? Let me know which of these best fits your position:

Thanks!

In today’s issue, we’re looking at tennis fashion (with outfit inspo) and its cultural history, what birthdays feel like, plus lots of news from the Capsule universe - it’s been a busy week!

If you can’t see all the images or the email gets cut off, click ‘read online’ in the top corner.

Sending love,

Holly x

The same thing happens every spring…

The days get longer, the sun comes out, and suddenly those tennis courts in your local park are looking more appealing. You search for lessons. How cute would it be, you text a loved one, if we played doubles. Maybe I’ll get the little skirt.

These days we might call it tennis core, and brands are all over it. But tennis-inspired looks are timeless, and there are countless old photographs of tennis players and fashion icons donning whites over the years.

Sportswear and athletic-adjacent brands tap into the aesthetic around this time of year. A 2020s example that sticks in my brain is the Adidas Originals ‘tennis luxe’ collection from 2021, launched with influencers like Lissy Roddy, probably because we were in lockdown and it felt like freedom. Also the Miu Miu Tennis Club from 2022.

And so many of our contemporary icons have had a go, too. Is it a trend if it’s this timeless?

This year the tennis vibes are super revved up, thanks to Challengers and Zendaya’s press tour looks. Styled by Law Roach, Zendaya’s fits are a high fashion take on the trend, which is trickling down into a more accessible tennis aesthetic on Pinterest boards and the high street. Some hard proof: searches for ‘tennis outfits’ are up 75% on Pinterest over the past three months, with specific interest in tennis skirt outfits (+50%) and v neck sweaters (+90%).

And because Taylor Swift’s impact is felt everywhere, the skirt she wore to play Pickleball in her ‘Fortnight Challenge’ clip has gone viral - “popflex skirt” was the top trending skirt in Google searches last week. We get it, we’re dressing for racket sports.

So we’ve got the cultural stuff down. Here’s how one might incorporate tennis inspo into some looks this spring/summer. Court-inspired for sure, but not full Serena Williams cosplay.

Links: Polo top (JW Anderson for Uniqlo), skirt (Sergio Tacchini), Mary Janes (Toast), socks (Monsoon), bag (Anthropologie), sunglasses (Messy Weekend), earrings (& Other Stories)

Links: Skirt (Fred Perry), cropped vest (Lucy & Yak), jacket (Lacoste), socks (Glassworks), loafers (Cos), bag (Anthropologie)

Links: Tennis dress (Vuori), jumper (vintage Wilson), bag (Baggu), trainers (Nike), sunglasses (Messy Weekend)

Moving on!

Two quotes about about birthdays for us to bookmark as a reminder to ourselves that it’s totally normal to feel bad on that day. First, from Ms Swift again:

And next from Amelia Dimoldenberg, who told British Vogue:

If these two find birthdays hard sometimes, it’s okay for us to lowkey dread whatever plans we try to scramble together. But friends’ bdays? Those are the best.

Also worth noting from this week…

Billie Eilish did a really good interview with Rolling Stone. Most of the headlines you’ll see are around her talking about her sexuality, which is refreshing and has been super well-received - especially after she was outed on a red carpet last year. But let’s also look at the rollout for her next record, Hit Me Hard and Soft. No singles will be released ahead of time, we’ll just get the album in its entirety on May 17th. Billie shares her thoughts:

Some songs certainly make more sense within the entire body of work, and you don’t want to turn people away if they aren’t keen on a single (apparently ‘Lunch’, the second song on the album, is a new sound with some risqué lyrics). But there’s more to it than that. Billie’s brother and collaborator, Finneas, says presenting the album as a completed work is an act against the TikTokification of music - where “we’re not even at song anymore. We’re at the line from the second verse that blew up on TikTok.” Finneas’s comments wont stop TikTok soundbites of the new album - especially ones with lyrics about relationships with girls - BUT they do give us permission to breathe away from the algorithm for a bit. If the biggest pop star in the world is rallying against it (at 22, no less), we can take our foot off the gas of trying to keep up all the time too.

And finally…

More news from the Capsule universe that may interest you:

• Vivienne Westwood’s insane personal wardrobe is being auctioned

• The Black Dog, formerly just a random pub in London and now also the topic of a new Taylor Swift song, is becoming something of a pilgrimage site. Not that Matty Healy would know…

• The latest Mango designer collab is here, this time with Victoria Beckham. Obsessed with the silk shorts. Great timing for them after that vid from her 50th…

• Racing jackets are still a thing, as shown by Irina Shayk on the cover of Vogue Italia 

• Cultured magazine released their ‘Cult 100’ list (think TIME 100 but less about saving the world?), featuring Myha'la Herrold, Gwyneth Paltrow, Ocean Vuong, Teyana Taylor, and Bowen Yang

• In big-influencers-with-drinks-companies news, Emma Chamberlain’s coffee brand has collaborated with Kendall Jenner’s 818 to make… an espresso martini with tequila. Good luck out there x

• Alex Cooper’s wedding is in Vogue, and her looks are so good

• And Dev Patel is up for doing a romcom

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

Eliza is an art historian, editor, and freelance writer. She studies friendship, collaboration, and artists who are women and has written for the Guardian, FT, Art Review, Frieze, and elsewhere. She is currently a commissioning editor at Art UK.

📺 Watching: Challengers in the cinema. And the Yaya Bey tiny desk (the fit is great, the earrings even better, and stay for her monologue before the final song).

📖 Reading: This Challengers interview for the New York Times (paywall lifted) with Zendaya, Josh O’Connor, Mike Faist, and their director Luca Guadagnino.

🎧 Listening to: The new St. Vincent album, ‘Motion’, a new song from Take Van, and ‘saving flowers’, a new song from salute and Rina Sawayama.

Buddy knows that tennis skirts are the obvious way to tap into tennis core, but he also wants you to consider the humble visor. Face shielded from the sun. Scalp still able to breathe. And you just look… competent. Time to have a go?

If you’d like to adopt Buddy 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 💋