Hello and welcome to back-to-school week at American Style. Starting on Monday and ending Friday, you’ll be hearing from a different college student each day about life across America, live from their first week back on campus.
In keeping with the season, I thought the dusky renewal of the August–September slide was a fitting moment to introduce something new: the American Style Special Counsel. This newsletter, like the government of the United States, is helmed by just one person (me), full of opinions and things to say, but stronger when advised by a fabulous cabinet.
Luckily, I know a lot of people with great taste and valuable ideas.
Letters from the Special Counsel will include recommendations and intel from people who I know know what’s up (and from me, the President of this newsletter). They won’t just be links to buy stuff – they’ll also feature delicious commentary, deep state cultural intelligence and generational wisdom (plus links to buy stuff sometimes, because we have got to come together to raise the swag GDP of this nation).
This one is free for all, but from here they’ll be paywalled unless I decide otherwise…
I wanted the inaugural Counsel letter to keep it real, so I called on a variety of stylish and interesting women – from the founder of Tank Air to editors at Interview and The Paris Review to an Oxford undergrad and my friend’s cool little cousin. They are Claire Robertson-Macleod, Taylore Scarabelli, Tish Weinstock, Rayne Fisher-Quann, Rachel Tashjian, Olivia Kan-Sperling, Lydia McKimm and high school junior Carys.
Below, they share a memory of back-to-school style (the most critical shopping and dressing season of the year), plus what’s on their fall wishlist.
Taylore Scarabelli, senior editor at Interview and writer of Meaningless Fashion (I am a paying subscriber)
When I was growing up in Canada there was a really fab proto-fast fashion store called Le Chateau that always carried all the trends, sexy stuff (it was the early-aughts). During my very first edgy goth girl poser era, around 11 or 12, my mom took me back-to-school shopping there. I got these incredible low rise camouflage-print pants with a flare big enough to cover a pair of Osiris skate shoes twice over. You know when you wear long jeans and the hem soaks up the rain? Well I grew up in Vancouver, so every day I would trudge through puddles and sit in class in these giant soaking wet flares (I was into style over function at a young age). I was also rly into black eyeliner and spikey bracelets and arm socks from this incredible punk store downtown called CHEAP THRILLS (RIP). This was my EMILY THE STRANGE era. If you don’t know her, look it up… [editorial note: last week’s American Style girls were wearing Emily The Strange!]
Fall wishlist: I'm not ready for fall (controversial opinion: I prefer summer fashion) but I'm in my twee era and I've been buying a lot of really girlie Marc Jacobs dresses that I can wear with the tall Chloe riding boots I bought last winter (super pumpkin spice season). I'm definitely on the hunt for new jackets, but the only really outrageous thing on my wishlist is this very expensive and very ugly Chanel cuff I found on posh. A really cool teenager I follow has one so now I want one even though it doesn't really go with my look. It's that easy to influence me.
Tish Weinstock, contributing editor at British Vogue and writer of my favorite blog
On the first day of secondary school I remember feeling like I’d nailed my outfit. Like I'd managed to sum up my entire personality in this precise sartorial combination: a pair of flared jeans with fringed cowgirl detailing down the sides and an almost cropped turquoise off the shoulder top which made my tan(!) pop. I think it had a flower on it and it said aloha. I may have made the aloha bit up. I would have felt nervous about wanting people to like me, but also excited to be leaving my childhood behind.
Fall wishlist: I want a periwinkle velvet opera coat to replace the one I lost, which I’m devastated about.
Carys, high school junior (cool and knows how to sail)
I remember what I wore to my first day of my sophomore year. It wasn't the sunniest or warmest day so I wore black-washed jeans and a white short sleeve top. The wind was blowing and my hair kept getting in my lipgloss. All I can remember from the first few months of sophomore year is iced chai lattes and hoodies and sweatpants.
Fall wishlist: A ribbed henley with buttons – I’ve wanted one for a while and plan to wear jeans with it and lots of gold jewellery. I love the quarter button-down part of the shirt and it gives me fall vibes.
Olivia Kan-Sperling, writer (of the Little Pink Book on everyone’s lips) and assistant editor at The Paris Review
Every September of my childhood my mom took me to either Target or TJ Maxx, where I was allowed to pick out a back-to-school outfit. One year I wanted a graphic tee with "Everything That Boys Can Do, Girls Can Do Better" written in rhinestones. My mom said no—it was mean.
Fall wishlist: A black cardigan.
Rachel Tashjian, fashion critic at The Washington Post; the most opulent women in newsletters
My grandmother was obsessed with doing the obvious thing in the most ridiculous way. She once took me to Abercrombie & Fitch — where all the really hot popular kids were shopping — and insisted I get these neon orange cargo pants with a slight kick to them (very Ghesquiere Balenciaga, in retrospect) and a big chunky orange turtleneck. An absolutely turbo, insane outfit — but from the jock and cheerleader department. So cool. I wore it on the first day of ninth grade even though it was way too hot outside.
Fall wishlist: I really need a new hat, because I always really need a new hat, and I need a leather bomber by Phoebe Philo YESTERDAY.
[When I asked Rachel if she had a specific hat in mind she said:] Rodney from Esenshel (my favorite American milliner) hasn't dropped his fall line yet, but it's going to be something like the Yoko Cuff in a felted wool.
Lydia McKimm, Oxford student (great Instagram)
Sometimes I joke my biggest childhood trauma is the fact that my mum straight up refused to buy me these pimped-out little girl shoes called Lelli Kellys. Ask any British millennial/Gen Z girl/woman about Lelli Kellys and I’ll bet she either had them or is still bitter she didn't. The classic pair were pink and bedazzled with sequin rainbows and butterflies. They came with this lip-gloss phone and were my introduction to consumer desire.
Come September I tried to get my mum to compromise on a more understated pair from the “Back to School” line. I remember these patent Mary Janes with a bow, single Swarovski crystal and strap embossed with Lelli Kelly. They were called some girls’ name like “Lulu” or “Jennifer”. In the end we went to Clarks and I got the same pair of similar yet sauceless, kind of orthopaedic looking Mary Janes as the year before. They offered the best support to my growing feet, my mum said. (There are memes about the British experience of going to Clarks to buy new school shoes and JD sports for trainers.)
Fall wishlist: Back-to-school season brings back memories of simpler times when desire was a cool-patterned notebook or some of those scented pencils or rubbers. The childhood lust for the little things and the logic that: if you’re required to have an item, you might as well have a cool version of it, is something I love to hold onto. My Autumn Wishlist is filled with cool versions of boring stuff I need for going back to uni, like fun editions of the books I have to read from AbeBooks.com.
The thing I’m most excited to buy is a new wash bag, specifically a 2010s nostalgia-style one from Catseye London [editorial note: wash bag = British for toiletries bag]. This is obviously an essential purchase since I need to transport my cosmetics to a new city. And then around with me once I get there and need makeup and moisturiser for my tired and hollowed out eyes from studying, my red and dry skin from the incoming cold.
I came across the brand Catseye London while searching for the kind of wash bag/pencil case I used to own as a child. But it’s probably my susceptibility to trends and the 2010s fetish du jour that drew me to the aesthetic. They’re giving post-consumer, stock image irony in a hilarious and adorable way. I’ve got my eye on one that’s covered in Tumblr images of Paris (Eiffel Tower, macaroons…). Similar Catseye bags on eBay: red lips, ladies bathing
The other day I happened across a makeup case of similar vibe in a charity shop. I bought it because it coordinated nicely with my summer read of Sophie Kemp’s Paradise Logic.
Rayne Fisher-Quann, writer of Internet Princess and currently, her book
I was always SO excited for the first day of school and that was rly the one time a year my parents would take me out for a big shop. I think I sometimes got like a $75 or $100 budget and I would blow it all at Forever 21. Forever 21 put out this like randomly very 70s-academia inspired back-to-school line in 2017 or 2018, lots of striped knit polo shirts and suede pinafores and deep blues and reds and mustards, and I remember just feeling a genuinely euphoric excitement about how I looked in the clothes. I also got a navy blue American Apparel tennis skirt secondhand on depop because AA closed when I was 15, which I was miserable about — I remember my very first time in an AA store was their bankruptcy sale. And I got a big faux leopard print coat, also on depop. I really think that was the year that I felt really excited about “My Style” for the first time. I had a bob and wire-rimmed glasses and BLACK FENTY CREEPERS which I just remembered in real time as I typed that.
Fall wishlist: This fall I’m really excited about Jil Sander. I just bought this 2009 Raf Simons for Jil Sander coat on TRR and am really optimistic about it even though TRR can obv be a gamble. For a more replicable purchase… I rly like this ear cuff I found on Etsy, I just bought a second one in a different colour. And on my wish list is the Tory Burch pierced mules!!!
Claire Robertson-Macleod, founder of Tank Air (I wear their clothes all the time)
In Hong Kong we had to wear school uniform, so I accessorized with big earrings — I had a pair of bronze chandelier earrings that I bought from The Lanes (a shopping alley/street) and I mixed black and metallic blue eyeliner together and lined my waterline lol I remember feeling so fab.
Fall wishlist: One thing I want to buy this fall is this body butter by Osea — I just got their body oil and it is amazing. I’m used to humid weather and being in LA I’m like a raisin all the time. So all I need and want for fall is the thickest body butter I can find that smells nice and actually keeps me moisturized for the whole day and I think that’s the Osea one unless someone convinces me otherwise.
And now for my (Biz, President of this newsletter) back-to-school memory…
The summer before my freshman year of high school I developed an infatuation with the appearance of Eleanor Calder, the girlfriend of One Direction member Louis Tomlinson. I wasn’t a Directioner (I regret this to this day), but to me she was the definition of casual girlfriend-elegance.
I ordered clothes from ASOS that I thought would help me achieve this look… and landed on a white blouse that possibly tied in the front and somehow a pair of coral flared trousers. There may have been a skinny belt inspired by this amazing number:
Fall wishlist:
My shopping facilities have been wholly dedicated to interiors for the second half of summer, and I am just now coming back to matters of the body. I want a pair of striped socks from William Crabtree & Sons, a tailor in Marylebone, London. I purchased a pair for someone in pink and blue in the past, they’re the most ridiculous thick and stripey rugby socks, most suitable for sliding around your apartment (maybe in navy/sky this time). I also want an iPad with a magic pencil and the MTA lost-and-found to tell me if they’ve recovered my special pouch.
As a Canadian growing up in Calgary I totally remember “le chateau “— the edgy fast fashion label - it was the best for special events and dances.
But that’s not where I did my back to school shopping. For me it was a trip to the ESPRIT store in oakridge mall. ESPRIT was everything!!!!!! This is circa 1986 !!
I was just awakened like a sleeper cell at the mention of creepers 🫡