31 Comments

White (childless cat lady) woman here (who votes in Wisconsin! 💪🏼) thanking you for this letter. We need to do better.

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I just want to say that I thoroughly love your Substack reads. Fashion recommendations are spot on, and your mix of other comments are interesting laced with a good dose of humour. Thanks for sharing!

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Oh this means so much to me! Thank you. Sometimes I wonder if my writing/commentary is too personal so I appreciate this b

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thanks for the mix of fashion & social commentary. As a Canadian watching, OMG, where has critical thinking gone. For so many watching from outside the US, we don't even understand that the choice isn't clear. Please get out & vote.

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Thank you for highlighting the women (specifically white women) voting issue! I think it is so important to talk about it out loud. For so long it's been a "hush hush we don't talk about politics" vibe but look where that got us. Time to call each other in and vote for candidates who actually care about women (and many many other important topics like climate, LGBTQIA, abortion, inclusion, etc.) PS I love all the leopard content too :) I have the Jamie Haller loafers in oxblood and I wish I could afford the leopard print ones - they are freaking beautiful!

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My late mother-in-law sported long blond curls and a leopard-forward wardrobe until the end of her 94-year-long life.

Sadly for me, my husband does not want to see another leopard print ANYTHING because he had decades of seeing leopard print EVERYTHING and he’s seen enough, period.

Thanks for calling out the complicity & treachery of white women.

For the brave ww ready to face their (maybe accidental) racism, watch the movie “Deconstructing Karen” and read “White Women: Everything You Already Know About Your Own Racism And How To Do Better”

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Love a leopard print!!! Never too much. Also a neutral print perfect to mix & match with other prints. And also, I’m speechless about the 1996 Bill Clinton stat. Speechless.

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It’s more of a factor of how conservative the country is than women in particular. According to Pew 56% of white voters (both genders) are Republican. Bill Clinton is the only candidate in my lifetime who appeared moderate enough that he could win broadly across the population. Now whether women in red states should be more focused on their reproductive rights is another matter….perhaps they are finally waking up.

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Thank you for this! Went down a rabbit hole myself 😅 Same survey does have split by gender: 53% of white women are Republican and 43% are Democrat. And the trend was interesting to me: “The balance of partisanship among White women voters has tilted toward the GOP in recent years, but it was more divided in 2017 and 2018.” I wonder (and this is truly a question & curiosity to better understand) if there’s a component of women not being educated / knowledgeable on what they are voting for and the implications of it, back to the reproductive rights issue. It also very well could be driven by their beliefs, which is of course fine and good enough reason.

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To quote Shannon Watts on white women voting against their own interests, it's: "a complex phenomenon influenced by privilege, systemic racism and sexism, religious affiliations and, of course, the patriarchy."

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These leopard coats are so good. How will I choose?!

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And now I want a lot of leopard. You always have the best edits. Always!

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Love your letter, as always! I think you accidentally linked the excellent article about Joanne's wardrobe in NWT twice instead of linking the Hey Gang sweatshirt (which I found any maybe need!) And yes yes yes about voting!

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Oh no! That's what I get for writing this newsletter late at night. https://theheygang.com/products/the-sweatshirt-p-e-grey-1 Sweatshirt for those who want it.

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Thank you for putting our need to vote in here. A good reminder to me to do the same. “Yes, I’m a wonderful combination of high maintenance and unskilled in the sewing department; what a joy!” Also it me. Jamie Haller loafers, damn it. I am going downnnnn.

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Not gonna lie; it's always weirdly terrifying, as I get so much hate when I write about it on social. But also hugely important.

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As a fellow leopard loyalist, I am looking at what to buy now that it is plentifully available. Previously I had been looking on second hand sites for a leopard coat, but these new ones have me drooling 🤤 .

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I strong agree on vintage/second hand and actually looked there first for bag recs but didn't find much.

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OK question for anyone that can answer. I love the Jamie Haller loafers - I have three. I slept on the leopard preorder and now all that's left is a half size smaller than my regular. The regular leather is stretchy enough I feel like you could size down....do you think that's doable in the calf hair? Any thoughts?

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I find my leopards are running bigger/more relaxed than my leather pair, personally.

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Thank you for highlighting the voting issue! I don’t understand why it’s not top of mind for everyone in general. Fashion is fabulous but I often wonder how much that distracts us from the real issues and the real power women could have.

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I have been a fan of yours since the beginning days of WWW, and have thoroughly enjoyed reading your Substack - it’s like talking with a friend. Today was different.

“Spoiler alert: It’s not great” in regard to the largest voting bloc in the country.

“It’s not great” because it’s not the outcome you want for YOUR candidate/political party??

It is great that you are encouraging women to vote. Please be aware that you have readers from both sides of the political aisle. American women can have the same interest in fashion while having differing political views.

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I believe I can encourage people to vote, and also be clear about where I stand on the matter. I'm not neutral here; this is a personal newsletter, and I want to be straightforward about what I care about, especially because I feel like I did it in a way that was respectful. For the record, I come from a military family and a conservative background, I have lots of people in my life who vote differently than I do. I say all of this to them too, because that's how I talk to my friends.

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Thank you for not ignoring the elephant in the room, the election and issues surrounding it. Absolutely shocked about where our country is right now. I love your column so much, the fashion is always spot on and love your entertainment recommendations even your food recommendations (I live in LA) are spot on!!!! your love for the new Netflix series got me to watch and I’m loving it!!!!!!

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I wish I could enjoy watching "Nobody Wants This" but I found it very antisemitic. The portrayal of Jewish women as "not fun" was stinging. While its nice to get representation this is not the kind of representation that helps--instead it further cements stereotypes. I highly recommend reading these articles: https://www.vulture.com/article/nobody-wants-this-is-a-little-antisemitic.html & https://time.com/7023404/nobody-wants-this-netflix-jewish-women/

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