WCME: The It-Girling of Emma Chamberlain
Plus: how to care for your pilled sweaters.
Hello everyone, the Met Gala is almost here. I’m most looking forward to Emma Chamberlain’s unabashed red carpet coverage as Vogue’s special correspondent.
What I like about the red carpet, besides the clothes, is the spectacle of the personalities. Maybe it’s because models don’t smile anymore on the catwalk, and that a little emotion is what makes a look shine through.
But before getting to our edit of the day, I wanted to talk about a subject that is close to the heart: caring for our clothes. Working my day job, I’ve come across many issues related to wear and tear. I can safely say I’ve seen it all—from the most capricious red wine stains on a brand new Celine marinière, to a coat that caught on fire, to a leather bag my client went inside the Ocean with (!), to pilling on sweaters. The horror stories I could tell you are endless. Find me a campfire.
The marienière was an absolute nightmare—my client had spilled what looked like a full glass of Malbec on the summery staple, and the pullover was sadly unsavable. But timeworn issues such as pilling do have a friendly solution. Clothes that show signs of wear are undeniably charming—they’re a sign of a life well-lived, and that’s a powerful message to keep around. Consider it grooming for your favorite garments.
So, how to remove those pesky little fur balls that form on the surface of your beloved Ralph Lauren sweater? I always recommend a fabric shaver. These are best used no more than once of twice per year, which is the safe amount coats and cold-weather jackets should be sent in for dry-cleaning.
What’s important to remember is that fabric shavers are not a fix-all solution to bring your clothes back to life. They should be handled carefully and at the surface of the fabric. The New York Times has a good guide on getting the job done, which I use to relay after-sale care to clients.
The effect it gives is a really well-worn sweater that looks great with a crisp new shirt. If you prefer to keep it less starchy, linen pairs really well here, too. Sézane has this handsome stripe that looks well on both men, and women. Let’s get to it.
WCME: Emma Chamberlain, in uniform
An It-Girl used to be a Balenciaga construct—a girl about town with a motorcycle bag in tow. The effect of such a woman never really went away. In modern culture, the It-Girl is all about dressing up and living up to the moment, or rather, representing the moment.
Vogue Business wrote about the conundrum, “the ‘It-girl’ is more than a person; she is an aesthetic, a cultural moment, a business distilled into human form. She embodies the zeitgeist of her era, serving as a lens through which her generation perceives and defines itself while always standing apart from it”.
In this year’s Met Gala, while the theme is Superfine: Tailoring Black Style, it will be most interesting to see how the women will interpret the theme, whose dress-code is Tailored for You. It made me think of an editorial Vogue did in 1992. As the power shoulder waned, the decade was taking a minimal tilt.
The new way of looking at the revolution that had just occurred in the corporate boardroom, was distilled as a uniform. The Met Gala is not just but a red carpet event anymore, it’s a night when the news breaks. In 2022, on the night of the Met Gala, a document leaked revealing that the famous 1973 precedent of Roe v. Wade which legalized abortion could be overturned.
The internet went nuts. Amidst a media frenzy about the latest Chanel was another layer of frenzy about the waning state of women’s rights in the United States. These days anything can happen on the red carpet. Except that what happens on the red carpet, rarely stays on the red carpet.
Emma Chamberlain embodies that sense of panicky caffeinated urgency that acts as a catalyst to getting shit done at scale. She taps into the world of internet parasocial relationships.
I’ll be watching what she’s reporting for Vogue. As the first Homme themed Met Gala, it will be a riot to watch what goes on and up the famous steps of 5th Avenue and 86th Street.
TTYT.
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