I feel like BCBG

Young love and steal-your-parents-liquor clothes

Welcome back to the State of the Union, a column as casual and elegant as a pair of Gloria Vanderbilt jeans in the ‘70s. I feel like we haven’t talked in a while, so I’m here to talk about BCBG and steal-your-parents-liquor clothes, young love, American Style at Dior and Celine and the freaky stuff I’m doing on TikTok Shop.

This week, the State of the Union is —

Pro: the beginning of something, shot of espresso with whipped cream out of the can, getting your teeth cleaned

Anti: hot parking lots, letting mystery hurt you

Last weekend I saw something beautiful and transcendent: young love, new things showing up in old places, the sustenance of summer. I wrote a little about it:

I was at a lakehouse on the Fourth of July, smoking a cigarette as the sun went down. Very slowly, like it has nowhere to be.

I’m tired from laying in the sun all day and drinking spiked seltzers. On the dock in front of me are about ten people I met for the first time earlier. They’re in the water or dangling their feet off the dock. Everyone seems pretty drunk and 2000s rock is playing out of a waterproof camping speaker.

I feel like I’m watching a movie, because everyone is young and good looking and the sun is setting on top of them.

This one couple has been getting closer throughout the night. He’s the nicest guy here, he’s got the sweet, easy old school southern charm that there is no replacement for. The girl showed up later so I didn’t catch her name, but she’s really tiny in a white bikini. They’re sitting on the edge of the dock, leaning in, his hands flutter around her back and it all builds up to a quick kiss on the forehead. I think they’re not quite dating yet but really like each other.

Later they pose on the edge of the dock for photos taken on her digital camera. He picks her up for the last few shots and she flares an arm and leg out like one of Fosse’s dancers. He makes like he’s going to throw her in the lake afterwards but of course he doesn’t.

This moment slows down time for me, watching young love take its first steps. It’s like a bunny’s heartbeat. It always feels special and sweet to look back on, encoded in amber even with your worst ex.

I am also taken by the somewhat trendy digital camera. I didn’t expect to see it here. This lake is sort of nowhere and most everyone on the dock grew up in the small town around it with one road that goes on forever. I can imagine the photos, light bouncing off their cheeks and teeth, the sunset behind them deep in ultraviolet purple and orange.

Fashion week was big for American Style. Jonathan Anderson put big fat skater shoes and cargo shorts on the runway for his debut at Dior.

Jonathan Anderson is in touch with his own mind and the mind of the people. When I look at this collection, I see stuff I’ve already seen on cool people I know under 25. Libertines jackets, great swathes of olive khaki.

He took it and made it fresh to death, instead of motley or Depop-y. The colors make me wanna eat it.

Something similar is afoot at Celine where Michael Rider showed his first collection. ‘80s prep yeaaa, but there is something really MGMT going on here. My favorite look is this suit worn with long hair and a skinny black headband across the forehead. Psychedelic first job out of boarding school to liberal arts college pipeline.

My friend Olive Parker wears headbands very low, slouching down the forehead. A few years ago she was always wearing one of several that looked like Grecian laurels. Take me to Wesleyan!

Other show highlights and notes:

• The multicolor stacked enamel Celine bracelets look like festival wristbands… I like that

• A simple layered tight t-shirt is sexyyy

• Bag charms are still eating up the runway. Last season at Chloe with those decked out Paddingtons, Tory Burch’s weird little rabbit feet at the MoMA, probably many other examples. I guess it makes sense if they’re selling these keychains and bag charms as accessible bits of luxury. A token for the broke

This week I thought of not an outfit but a brand…

I learned the term BCBG, short for ‘bon chic, bon genre’ from Sarah Mower’s write-up of the Celine show for Vogue. I knew the letters BCBG from being a tween in the Gossip Girl years when the brand BCBG Max Azria was hot (at least for tweens). Not once did I consider who or what BCBG, or Max Azria for that matter, might be.

Bon chic, bon genre translates to good style, good class. BCBG were like the French version of ‘80s preps and Sloane Rangers in the US and UK respectively (the word ‘preppy’ is so not catchy compared to its European brothers and sisters).

When I googled the term, a bunch of resale listings for BCBG Max Azria clothes popped up. I was taken back to the years of my late childhood, when Miley Cyrus in extensions was the sexiest person alive (to me) and girls were killing each other in vests and ruffled skirts on TV (Pretty Little Liars).

Classic teen shot on Pretty Little Liars

Spencer Hastings on Pretty Little Liars and Jenny Humphrey on Gossip Girl

The actual BCBG style seems to be classic trenchcoat prep, but Max Azria’s version of it was the kind of thing from a teen drama that involves cocktail parties. Floaty, stretchy dresses with hardware. Magpie steal your parents’ liquor clothes. ADDICTIVE!

Fall 2008/Spring 2008

Madness at Fall 2007/Spring 2008

Fall 2006

I think there was some level of propaganda around being a teenage girl with an edge in the late 2000s, influenced in varying degrees by the scene and emo subcultures that offset goth in the aughts.

Screenshots I took of Miley Cyrus in The Last Song a few years ago

I’m thinking of Miley Cyrus as moody teenage vegetarian Ronnie in The Last Song, her first big role after Hannah Montana (where she met her forever on-and-off-again paramour Liam Hemsworth). Or Selena Gomez calling her (underrated) band Selena Gomez & The Scene as an “ironic jab” at people calling her “wannabe scene.”

Selena Gomez & The Scene

Miley and Liam on the set of The Last Song

BCBG was cheaper and more accessible than most designer names, making it good for girls swiping their parents’ cards. Miley Cyrus even partnered with Max Azria to design her fashion line at Walmart in 2009. The clothes were really good. The tromp l’oeil microphone shirt looks like something PinkPantheress would wear now.

I believe Max Azria developed a bit of a Michael Kors reputation through BCBG and his various mass market endeavours. It seems like he definitely lost his way, but his romantic grunge thing worked (the young girls on Depop are already at work fitting it into indie sleaze). I did find some Reddit threads from online resellers (6 years ago tbf) commiserating that their BCBG stuff won’t sell. I’m gonna change that!

There’s a specific grey that comes to mind for this period in teen girl culture. Cool, but gun-metal. When those BCBG listings popped up and this grey flooded my screen, I thought I NEED THAT! Then I saw the dress I wore to my eighth grade dance… possibly Max Azria’s worst work? Here’s some of what I liked (A lot of it is really bad and lost, but these are good, something to slip into before drinking a vodka cran — most are 50% off on Thredup with a code listed on their site, WELCOME):

$24.99, XS

$42.99, M I love the bubbly shape of this type of jacket, very whimsimod

$25.49, S

$20.99, XS (it’s silk yay)

$38.99, 0 Little J capelet

$28.49, L

$45.99, L

Honorable mention: this little number (“most insane top ever with embellishments, extremely flattering silhouette, mugler vibes”) listed at $135 on Depop which is ridiculous, but I wanted to show you how the girls are starting to do it lol

Before we move on to what’s in my bag, here’s a cute Outfits That Made You Think submission from Style Star Breanna!! You can DM/email me cool outfits you see anytime for the next State of the Union ;-)

Recently I’ve been indulging in a little harmless fun before bed. I take a few melatonin gummies and then end up buying random stuff on TikTok Shop. Some of my best recent purchases have come this way. I bought this Chinese breath spray that looks like K-pop merch and is called KISS ARTIFACT. Apparently it’s probiotic, but honestly I like it because it’s ridiculous, fun for a bag and the spray itself has sparkles in it for some reason. It tastes like lesser Listerine.