6 Things To Shop, Read, Try, Buy, Stock, and See for March 2024

Including the perfect sundress, your next must-read novel, the fashion show everyone's talking about and more (Gap x Jungle! Portman's sunglasses! And a moment to gloat about green.

Hi there, dear readers, and welcome back to my favorite side project. Today’s story really left it all on the dance floor, so I’m not going to waste your time or mine with a long intro.

As always, if there’s an item you’re shopping for or you need help sorting through the zillions of options out there, please don’t hesitate to drop me a comment and I will add it to my to-do list. (And why am I prompting you to comment? Because while I love DMs and always try to answer you there, my inbox is messy, and comments here are much easier for me to find when I’m working on new things. Also, I love comments; they make me feel seen.)

SHOP: AQUA x Liat Baruch Button Front Midi Dress ($128)

So you know how Sofia Richie Grainge’s personal style has been top of mind for basically the whole internet for the last couple of years? Yeah, me too. Well, the primary architect of said style evolution is Richie-Grange’s longtime friend and stylist, Liat Baruch, who told me/us all about it on the Who What Wear Podcast last year. So when I got a text recently from Liat, telling me about her new collaboration with AQUA for Bloomingdale’s, I’m not going to lie: I was thrilled.

Turns out, my hunch was right! The collection is incredible, and I mean that with every fiber of my being. My favorite piece (so far) is this must-buy dress, which legit fits me like it was custom. It would be a steal at thrice the price. It’s lined, which makes it more luxe, the gold buttons feel vintage and Schiaparelli-esque at the same time, and the fit is just it. Even better: Most button-front dresses have working buttons, which is nice in theory, but they tend to pull, which doesn't look so chic. I love that this dress actually has an invisible side zipper, so the buttons just look perfect, no matter how you sit or eat. 

I also have the Cashmere Cardigan ($148) in red, which is truly to die for, and a number of other pieces in my cart right now, including the Ilria Ankle Tie Strappy Thong Sandals ($138) in dark brown leather and the Tweed Cropped Jacket ($128).

This dress deserves an Italian holiday, or at least an afternoon ice cream. Worn with some very old Chloe shoes (more on that later).

READ: Good Material by Dolly Alderton

Earlier this year, I bought British writer Dolly Alderton’s New York Times bestselling memoir Everything I Know About Love, and it was instant love. Not like, not lust, but full-blown love from the first page. (By the end, I was overcome with both relief and wistfulness that I’m no longer in my dramatic twenties.) So naturally, when Alderton’s brilliant second novel, Good Material, hit my radar, I bought it immediately, and I very much recommend that you get it too. 

Alderton’s writing is compared to loads of my literary and film favorites, and with good reason. The NYT calls her “Nora Ephron, with a British twist” and her work is often mentioned in the same breath as Helen Fielding (Bridget Jones), Nick Hornby (High Fidelity), and Richard Curtis (who wrote Four Weddings and a Funeral and Notting HillI), and honestly I don’t think a single comparison is overblown. 

While I will always have a primary soft spot for EIKAL, the new novel—which details a breakup from a messy 35-year-old man’s point of view, is funny, intimate, grounded, and thoughtfully heartbreaking from time to time, and thankfully avoids the genre’s typical gender assumptions. A delight from start to finish, I truly think this one is worth your time and money. 

TRY: Caddis Mabuhay Tinted Glasses ($140)

In high school, I used to buy no-magnification glasses from the drugstore, and my favorite pair was a simple black Wayfarer style with light blue lenses. Then in the early aughts, I had a pair of aviators with champagne lenses that were technically sunglasses, but mostly just vibe. So needless to say, I’m in a long-term on-and-off situationship with colored lenses.

Recently, piqued by a 1972 photo of Gloria Steinem that follows me around the internet, I decided to revisit these frames. While I love an aviator in general—my dad was a Topgun instructor, so we perpetually had military-issue versions of these frames all over the house when I was growing up—I do think they can be hard to get right. If the lower part of the lens is too big, it can make your whole face look droopy, and if the frames are too small you look like a fascist dork. 

But where to begin? I’d been researching the topic (lazily) for a few weeks, when I went to dinner with one of my best friends (hi Katie!), and she sat down in the most incredible pair of pale pink aviators from the brand Caddis. 

They come in four colors—light rose, light blue, light green, or light gray—and can be made with zero magnification (on the site, choose “readers” then “polished gold” for frame color, “medium” for frame size if you have a big face like me, and the “0.00” for lens power if you don’t want any juice), some lens magnification, or your exact prescription, if you want. They’re so fun, and I’m thrilled.

A broad and her rose-colored glasses.

BUY: Doen Idalia Bra ($128)

I regret to inform you that in addition to making my favorite new frock—the floral calico Noisette, which is made from a 1984 Liberty print—my staple brand for daytime dresses also made the best bra I’ve tried on in years. Don’t get me wrong: I still like my favorite Skims bra and my go-to bralette that I first wrote about in one of my favorite newsletters: 5 Wardrobe Essentials for Fluctuating Bodies, but this one is just…special. 

Technically it’s a balconette (my favorite style), but I would consider it a high-rise balconette, rather than a classic iteration of the shape. The stretch lace is delicate, but still gives you shape, the band is a really good elasticity, and I found the fit to be true to size. It’s the perfect daily driver if you’re the sort of person who hates wearing bras. 

STOCK: La Ligne Striped Meredith Tee ($115)

I did not intend on discovering and purchasing the world’s greatest black-and-white striped t-shirt, adding it to my collection of a handful of other, previously thought to be best-in-class black-and-white striped t-shirts, but alas, here we are.

It started with jeans, actually.

Like so many of us, I was besotted with a look that Vogue editor-turned-fashion founder Meredith Melling wore to the S/S 2012 shows in October 2011. The jeans, which my friend Travis Paul Martin (one of the best and most beloved fashion PRs out there) recently revealed were Marc by Marc Jacobs. Melling herself recently gave even more context to how that strikingly simple look came to be, and then announced that her company—La Ligne, which is incredible, and if you want to hear the backstory, surprise surprise, I’ve interviewed her for Second Life—made their own take on that beloved denim style.

And yeah, I bought them! While very cool, the jeans were not for me, BUT the random t-shirt I purchased at the same time? Oh yeah, it’s excellent.

The shirt is perfect: Fitted, but not tight, substantial, but still lightweight, and it makes me feel like a zillion bucks. I got a small, which I like, but I will probably buy a medium too, because it’s just that good and sometimes you need more or less fit, you know? 

Long story long: It’s really the perfect striped t-shirt, if you’re in the market for one. (And who’s not?)

SEE: Chloe’s Fall/Winter 2024 Show

It’s rare that the fashion industry all simultaneously falls in love, but we had one of these moments earlier this week with the Chloe show, featuring the debut collection from the brand’s new Creative Director Chemena Kamali. 

I first fell in love with Chloe in the Phoebe Philo era (2001-2006), who became the creative director when her predecessor, Stella McCartney (1997-2001) left the brand to start her eponymous line. Under Philo’s guidance, the brand launched bags and shoes, which was my entry point to Chloe, and I still have many of the styles I purchased in that era. (For my money, Chloe has always made some of the highest quality leather goods, and the shoes in particular are comfortable and incredibly durable, which is why I still wear styles I’ve owned for over 15 years.) 

Kamali’s appointment to the role is quite exciting, as she has a long history with and love for Chloe, having worked under Philo at the brand when she started her career, and then for another three years as the design director under Clare Waight Keller, starting in 2013. Equally thrilling are her reference points; Kamali has referenced another Chloe era quite frequently in interviews, specifically citing Karl Lagerfeld’s much-beloved work for the brand in the ‘70s as a reference point. 

So what made my heart go zing? Capes! Over-the-knee boots pair with diaphanous dresses! Seventies sex appeal that feels very female gaze! A new flounce-forward take on the boho chic era! And lots of really interesting bags, including the oversized hobo that including the oversized hobo that everyone is talking about. No wonder Sienna Miller looked smitten as she sat in the front row. 

chloe

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QUICK NOTES: A few additional thoughts for this weekend.

Gap’s New Linen Campaign

Are we all old enough to remember the Gap’s khakis swing commercials from the late ‘90s? Wildly beloved, they were considered some of the brand’s best work, and I have all kinds of sentimental feelings about them. So I was thrilled to see that the Gap has iterated on this touchstone with their new work with the Linen Moves campaign, featuring one of my favorite songs from last year, Jungle’s “Back on 74”. Even better: The campaign borrows from the band’s viral video, and features the incredible choreography of Shay Latukolan, plus two of my favorite dancers, Will West and Mette Linturi, plus the incredible Tyla. 

In addition to the campaign, I love the way the Gap incorporated the dancers and their movement in the lookbook, which feels really fresh and exciting to me, as as shopper. (Also I think Gap has gotten a lot right in their recent campaigns. The casting is always incredibly spot on.) Speaking of shopping, sure I like the campaign, but did it work? Well I just bought a pair of the brand’s 365 High-Rise Linen Trousers and a Linen Boyfriend Shirt, so yeah. 

gap

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Natalie Portman in Dior’s DiorSignature B51 Sunglasses

As someone who almost exclusively wears Ray-Ban Oversized Wayfarers, I don’t feel feral about very many designer sunglasses, but Ms. Portman changed that for me last week when she wore a pair of (not new, but new to me) Dior cat-eye sunglasses. The two-tone shades—specifically the DiorSignature B51 Cat-Eye Sunglasses in Blond Havana—are annoyingly good. 

natalieportman

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Told You So: Olive Green’s Having A Moment!

I know I drone on about my love of olive green to an annoying degree, but I’m feeling really vindicated right now. First, I noticed pops of the color at Gucci’s F/W 24 show, where it looked particularly amazing styled with one of my other favorite hues, chartreuse. 

Then, I saw that French Vogue gave the color a shoutout too, and then I read

Sarah’s Retail Diary

, which did a more comprehensive take on the trend, from the current S/S 24 collections that spotlight the shade, to how it’s turning up during the F/W 24 show season. I especially loved the link to @databutmakeitfashion, which says searches for this color are up 19% right now. 

In the immediate, I’m taking this as permission to commit to some of the new J.Crew pieces I’m currently considering—seems like Olympia Gayot, the brand’s Creative Director, and I are on the same page—and I’m awfully close to investing in a bag. Khaite makes a good one, as does Metier,  J.W. Anderson, Loewe, Elleme, and Reformation (I didn’t see the suede one on the brand’s site, but I think it’s cooler than the leather).

Really chic, especially for the price point.

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Okay friends, that’s it for now. If you want to follow me on @hillarykerr, I’d love it. And if you have anything to say or ask (preferably nothing terribly mean), please drop me a note either via DM or in the comments below.

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