Duck Fat vol. 75

Happy MKA Day to all the other millennial woman who just can't quit 'em

If a bunch of second-hand dresses is just not where your heart is at rn and you’re in NYC on Sunday, might I suggest this special one-night benefit performance of Fandango for Butterflies (and Coyotes) with the original cast? Ticket sales go to the fantastic organization Make The Road NY. They do incredible organizing & community work to support the immigrant & working class communities that make NY the best goddamn place to live in the world!¹

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Hellooooo, child.² Seeing as I am once again posting on a NATIONAL HOLIDAY for the second year in a row, I’m thinking we celebrate with some sick resale finds? As a celebration of everything The Row stands against, and exactly what this photo represents, today’s big rec is for “easy pants” that are actually lazy af!

Way too lazy to redo the links here so uhh… just scroll down a bit.

5 second-hand recs:

A. Jane Laug handmade silk top (that Raquel Welch & Rose McGowan wore!!), S, $68; B. Kilometre Paris cotton gauze pants, O/S, $128; C. Carven F/W19 runway coat, L, $249.50; D. Jane Laug handmade silk skirt, S, $44; E. Satin-trim wool blazer, IT36, $60; F. Viscose fringe-sleeve dress, IT48, $25; Carven blazer, FR42, $42.75; H. Tibi silk open-back dress, US10/$130 & US0/$99.99.

1. Cotton gauze pants³ (bubblegum pink/S-M/$25.99; seafoam green/L-XL/$34.99; mediterranian blue/XXL/$27.95; Knicks orange/L-XL/$19.95; Barney purple/XS/$32.89; baby chick yellow/S-M/$33.61; cream-on-top/XXL/$29.99 or S/$35; kiwi green/L-XL/$30; moody eggplant/S-M/$45; primary red/L/$30): This is my response to whatever this week’s viral $900 dry-clean-only ‘easy pant’ is. God forbid an “easy” pant be easily washable! It’s just a bonus that they’re from one of the funniest brand names I’ve ever come across - I will fully be saying, “Oh my gauze!” all summer. And if you want linen, I love the greens on these Bryn Walker pants (S/43.65; M/$51.95; XL/$50.97 & similar in XL/$60)! Also if you, like I, have been convinced to try out the balloon pant trend by Irene Kim (김애린)’s incredible looks,⁴ I really love these printed Kenzo ones (S/$48), and I am very much planning on making a lowball offer on these fabulous Kilometre Paris pair (OS/$128) if none of you beat me to it first! So maybe give ebay a shot next time you want a colorful pull-on pant and back away slowly from the $300 scrubs, cute as they may be.⁵

2. Handmade silk skirt, S, $44: Speaking of dry clean only, let’s look at some insane silk pieces that may not be “easy,” but are easy to love!⁶ I have fallen truly-madly-deeply <333 for the delicate ‘bruised apple’ colors,⁷ thiiick silk, and gorgeous seam detailing. DOES anyone have information about this brand that is surprisingly hard to research online?⁸ All I have so far is that it was sold at Barney’s, everything is handmade, Rose McGowan favored it for a while, & a top shows up in Raquel Welch’s estate sale of all places. I need MORE! Anyhow, here is literally every piece I could find still available⁹ should you also want to go down the rabbit hole: hand-printed cashmere cardigan (L/$69.99); red version of the Raquel Welch top (S/$68);¹⁰ insaaaayun beaded halterneck that is likely “oxidized gold-filled chain”¹¹ (S/$198); clean black tank for all your [insert whatever the newest iteration of CBK-mania is] looks (S/$80); and of course the perfect Bruised Apple™ pink pleated top (L/$70).

3. Carven F/W19 coat, L, $249.50: I know it’s hotter than satan’s taint for most of us rn, but I have to include this ripped from the runway Carven wool coat from Serge Ruffieux’s debut collection that haunts me. Matthieu Blazy who?! This is outside of my normal rec price range but I have not been able to escape the allure of the new Chanel acid freak prints and alas, that’s really out of my budget. Also down for this hardcore weirdo 80% wool/20% polyamide leopard coat with what I’m choosing to believe is Bigfoot reading¹² on the back (FR38/$63), this 100% polyester but insanely cool blurred photo-print satin car coat (FR44/$168), and this very fun and super-wearable 96% cotton shrunken tuxedo blazer (FR42/$42.75) that reminds me of a fabulous second-hand look someone posted in the amazing Musings On Style chat this week.¹³

4. Tibi open-back silk dress (US10/$130 & US0/$99.99): OK, speaking of the extended Tibi-verse, here’s a few natural-material Tibi dresses that caught my eye this week,¹⁴ for those of us who cannot handle the heat in nylon no matter how great the design. Also love this moody cotton-silk dress that reminds me of the gorgeous Merlette dresses Danielle styles so well (XS/$99.99).

5. Fringe-sleeve dress, IT48, $25: The perfect dress to drag a dead sailor home from the club, baby! JK but I do love this as an evolution from the allover fringe-piano shawl-throw a tassel on it year we’ve had, and I think this walks the line of fun without falling into the 2010s Vanessa Hudgens At Coachella camp.¹⁵ More options from Genny¹⁶ I like: 100% silk tie-strap dress for the non-tradwife version of a flouncy napdress (IT44/$110); sick Studio 54 vibes on this beaded silk halter dress (IT42/$55); personally eyeing this super-simple silk sheath with great seam detailing to pair with a giant sunhat and even bigger sunglasses (S/$28); cutie patterned viscose/linen dress with gorgeous buttons for all you family BBQ need (IT42/$38.50). And if you’ll allow me to get Hella Unseasonable up in here, there are incredible cool-weather finds to be had: two SHOWstopper satin-trim wool blazers (IT36/$60 & IT38/$21); red 100% wool blazer-coat with a fabulous button (IT44/$52.50); looove the buttons on this wool collarless coat that would be in my cart if the arms/shoulders were just a smidge bigger (IT38/$106.25); they first hit it big for their pleated skirts so ofc I have to include one (S/$59.50); 100% virgin wool collared coat (M/$146); and then because buying a true winter coat in the middle of summer is one of my favorite moves, lovely alpaca-wool camel coat (US8/$158).

3 unshoppables:

6. You know I’m all weak-knees over maximalist costume design, so of course I loved this In Proximity interview with Shirley Kurata, costume designer for Everything Everywhere All At Once¹⁷ and the recently released I Love Boosters. Love any costume designer that shouts out thrifting in interviews, that’s how you know they’re a real one. She is also an insaaanely good dresser in her regular-degular life, which is on full display in this sick interview in her ridiculously fun home. Ugh, she is so fucking cool!!

7. Need we reiterate that I was a loser in high school¹⁸ and will therefore love Jesse Eisenberg forever?¹⁹ So obviously I love this deep & dirty dive on his entry to fame in Vulture.

8. Cannot wait to watch Questlove’s new Earth, Wind, & Fire doc!²⁰ God, can we just get HBO to fund Questlove forever with whatever the hell ungodly amount they’ve been paying Sam Levinson to make Sydney Sweeney “boob around boobily - but this time you’re really sobbing!” already?

1 substack rec:

9. Goddamn, too many good pieces this week, but the one I keep finding myself mulling over at random points days later is this piece about the overcrowded arts funding scene in Montreal.²¹ And as a two-fer for Pride, this piece is making me so mad I skipped seeing Mother Mary in theaters…who will console me???

1 DuckFit™:

Cannot believe we don’t have a “dude in a barrel” emoji yet…

10. Love to be exceedingly late to a trend because I just don’t like buying things new lol whoops! If you’re in the chat, you already know these jeans are (The Sisterhood of the Traveling) pants that should not fit me based on my friend’s impressive stature²² and my vast and bountiful booty - and yet! These are also the first²³ pair of barrel/horseshoe/whatever-you-want-to-call-them that actually look “shaped” despite said Fantastic Ass, so kudos to Citizens of Humanity for respecting the assets. Anyway, I am going to be in DC this weekend so if you have vintage/thrift recs, drop your rec in the comments/chat pls!!

1. I think we can all admit there are MANY best places to live in the world for many versions of living, but right now???? NYC is having a generational winning streak both politically & athletically, so I’m saying this shit OUT LOUD. LOUDLY. AND OFTEN.

2. Just know that regardless of whatever I write in these intros, this is how I open every newsletter in my head. “They have a lot of blood, Miriam!” changed my brain in a tangible way. No rAgrets!

3. FYI sizing is in-house to the brand so I did my best, but a lot of the listings are just going on vibes as far as I can tell (why would a 2 be a 2X guys?), so get measurements.

4. It was this EXACT post that tipped me over the edge!! The grey sweatshirt with the Tibi pants??? SO perfect.

5. At least those ones are machine-washable ig.

6. Listen, these are the inelegant transitions that guarantee a human, not an LLM, wrote this shit. So in a way it’s actually a marker of quality. Handmade awkward phrasing to discuss handmade silks, baby!

7. Have been obsessed with this kind of color palette since Holly Waddington used it to describe the Poor Things costuming. She actually calls it “rotten apple,” but whatever, vibes.

8. To the point that there is ONE single current item on ebay???

9. And if you’re a full footnote freak like me, here’s sold listings bcs who doesn’t like to look at pretty things: gorgeous copper top that went for $20 somehow, minty skirt with great close-up detail shots of the seam detailing, this skirt looks like it would have coordinated with the cardigan so well, dress with the same beaded halter neck as one of the tanks up top (and another great inside seam shot for the fellow freaques)!

10. THE AURA on this! Am normally not into these early-2000s chunky bejewled necklines but, you know, Raquel, Raquel, Raquel…she’s doing something to me.

11. And if that’s confusing, I guess you’re not a full Footnote Freaque! Here, I’ll make it easy for you. What a magnanimous cheertator I am. Sidenote do we think Jaime Pressly is going to hunt me down for using her image too much instead of [checks notes]…paying for her OnlyFans?

12. Drop your interpretation in the comments so we can debate!

13. If you’re not in that chat, you are missing OUT on Zoë ’s incredible second-hand finds FYI! Plus she’s got incredible hair and is truly the sweetest, what are you waiting for? Her and Asta are double-handedly (lol) converting me into a Tibi fan, despite my preference for natural fabrics and Tibi’s favoring technical/sporty materials to handle their complex structures. For whatever reason, I dipped into the Tibi style-classes early on in the pandemic and it just didn’t do anything for me, but their substacks both showcase the versatility of each piece which I really appreciate. My closet probably doesn’t need a single thing right now (if I stopped buying clothing/shoes/accessories today and my body didn’t fluctuate in size, I’d probably last for years before repeating an exact outfit…embarrassing to admit considering how I keep acquiring items!! But also…my body does change ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ ), so things need to really earn their keep to be added in at this point.

14. …while hunting for this 0%-natural-fabric but gorgeous Tibi dress, thanks to a tipoff from Zoë ofc.

15. Natural fabric girlies beware, as this is mostly viscose but does have 18% polyamide (presumably the netting on the sleeves, meaning the actual body of the dress should still be breathable for hot weather imo. Please see prior footnotes for my viscose feelings), which I know can be a dealbreaker. If that’s the case, try this 100% silk body/100% viscose sleeve top instead (S/$25)! And for the true vintage girls, this one is advertised as wool but is listed as acrylic in the description but it IS gorgeous so I have to include ($185/S-36” chest). For what it’s worth, I messaged the seller and she said she thought it was wool body/acrylic fringe.

16. Gianni Versace designed for them in the 70s & early 80s (Claude Montana designed for them as well, and Christian LaCroix did accessories for them for a bit in the 80s) so there are some ‘piece of history’ looks that go for a lot more, but they are also, of course, sickening. But this means you′ll find listings with those prices for modern make pieces with Versace slapped in the description, despite the fact (that to my understanding) the family has nothing to do with the new iteration of the line, so make sure to check the labels and see if you like the piece regardless of the name. Lot of great materials and wearable designs in the non-Gianni items though, and great prices to boot! And if you want to specifically look for the Gianni items, you can try searching for Byblos and Complice to narrow it down a bit, but again, you’ll miss some deals. OK, hopefully this helps explain the wild range of prices you might see if you’re doing your own ebay hunt ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

17. Impossible to pick a favorite Jobu Tupaki look from EEAAO but the Elvis is top of mine for me.

18. Thank GOD.

19. Adventureland really did a number on this bountiful bisexual ass.

20. And not just because I miss watching Demi Adejuyigbe come up with weirdo shit every September. Personal fave is 2018, at least partially because Allee Willis shows up in the comments. He’s still doing funny shit though, so I’ll live!

21. Shoutout to a certified Real One™ Angela Jones for pointing out I had not…linked this. In my defense, I did a lot of editing on a train for this one so let’s just say it was because of spotty wifi (and not my lack of attention).

22. I.e. adamantly “NOT 6’, I swear!” Her legs are basically the length of my body, so I have my doubts. One time we went out dancing and and I was instantly transported to the club scene from The Sweetest Thing. Side note but do we think they put Cameron Diaz in a hole to film that, or had Christina Applegate stand on a crate? Gotta be the crate, right?

23. Other than one pair of $500 B-Sides Lasso jeans…alright, girl. I work for a nonprofit, so we’re not doing that ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Why are all my beloveds $500? Why is this the landmark price for making my ass look good???