For the love of wool
a visit to Dover Street Market
Good morning!
Hope everyone’s spooky season is in full swing. Are you wearing devil horns to work this month or are you boring? Happy Scorpio season to those who celebrate. It’s been almost a year (eleven months) since I decided to change my name, and I’m one new ID card, two payrolls, and a bunch of spam emails away from officially only being called Carson. And I’m very proud of myself for that! Transitions are categorically uncomfortable and I’m pretty excited to be done with the paperwork part of it. Fingers crossed, by the new year we can let babygirl rest in peace, because I, as Carson, am ready to take over the world, okay!!
And without further ado, I want to tell you about a recent trip I made to the center of the universe, the big apple, the city so nice they named it twice: New York, New York!
While visiting my mom in DC, we did as we do and sat around scheming about my future career as a fashion designer. One thing led to another, and before I could say “now’s not the right time,” I was headed to Manhattan for a six hour day trip on the Amtrak, baby.
I had a few spots to hit but I’m only going to tell you about one:
Dover Street Market
I did hear about this place in a combination of TikTok and Google mappings, don’t at me please. It was exactly what I was looking for (damn you algorithm for giving me what I want!!).
As we entered a Lexington Ave building that kind of looks like an old-school bank from the outside, my friend Ben and I were clueless. We were hit with conceptual fashion right as we walked into the modern interior space, taking in the large Kewpie statue, the unwearable art (see pin dress above), and the empty cafe area. Once we got our first floor bearings, we made our way into the semi-crowded elevator. Someone asked,
“Which floor?”
I paused and said, “Two?”
Without missing a beat, a light-eyed cool girl replied, “Start at the top and work your way down.”
“Okay, yeah that….thanks!” We proceeded to floor 7.
I hadn’t seen my friend Ben in over two years (love you Ben), so as we downloaded everything the other had been through in our time apart, we wandered, pleasantly un-rushed through the colorful rooms, touching as many textiles as possible along the way. I’ll share a few things that caught my eye.
This Prada mullet top! Business in the front, party in the back, my guy! I’m always saying I need more mullet tops. The shirting is 100% wool, so no jacket even required! Also the triangle Prada label is such simple and genius branding, like damn.
Vivienne Westwood plaids. Truly an icon. One day I will wear this whole suit and have so much fun doing it, thank you very much!!
Pretty early on in our visit, we overhear someone loudly say “…LGBTQ friendly family...”
Ben leans in and whispers to me, “Okay, at me next time!”
The tone was set. Friendly and shy people but smiles all around. I have to say that this was the first time I felt confident in an established fashion space. <3 Helps to have a friend, but also previously I think I projected a sort of defensive insecurity because I wasn’t sure how to present myself - either I leaned too far into a femininity that I thought would help me fit in but just made me feel exposed, or I would reject the whole establishment as too posh for my aggressive yet laidback tastes. Alas, I have now found masculinity to be a very intuitive set of tools to present myself with, and in turn I’m much more at ease. So even in my work-stained t-shirt and dirty air force ones, it was a nice surprise to meet other shoppers’ and the staff’s eyes with curiosity and enthusiasm.
By the 3rd floor, we ourselves were talking loudly and irresponsibly about our personal beefs and family without a care for who was listening. Some guy shopping alongside us was wearing an old school leather aviator hat/hood with ear flaps. The outfit was honestly fun as hell paired with his pedal pushers and fitted striped tee. And you know that guy was not gonna be startled by anything Ben or I said out loud.
I’m loving contrast and detail stitching at this moment in time. (Please comment the name of this brand if you know, I want to revisit these Cowboy meets Batman pants)
I had never heard of Chopova Lowena before this visit and what a lovely discovery for my personhood! Love love love this from SS23 - what is it giving, it’s giving Southwest?
Admittedly, I didn’t do much research about the Dover Street Market company before the trip, so while walking through I kept wondering why there was so much Comme des Garçons at this very fancy, very small mall. Turns out it is owned and was started by Rei Kawakubo, the founder of Comme des Garçons, so it only makes sense.
Back in the land of LA, I was able to visit the Dover Street location in the Arts District. Definitely a different vibe from New York (I recognized someone immediately as I walked in). I probably shouldn’t have worn my favorite lazy Sunday dog-walking outfit with a backpack, once again rendering me underdressed. But the Miu Miu rep indulged me and I now have a sunglasses wishlist, lots more ideas, and a point to return to.
Thank you so much for reading!
Have a lovely day, and until next time,
Carson <3
Nicely done.
...so very nice and fun to read this dear... I'm a bit jelly. I visited a fancy-schmance second hand store in Bangkok but there weren't any bargains. They had a WWII officer's flight jacket that was gorgeous, but they wanted $200 for it... It was in a high-design strip mall that felt horse-barnish with lots of glass and heavy lumber, sliding entryways, and the whole thing was elevated maybe 4 feet like a loading dock... yeah, warehouses... second hand shops, one after another... Anyway Carson, my Lovely Spawn, You are such a good writer! Keep it up... Crack open your Chucky Schwab account and have a look. Put some moolah in the investment side and buy something like a share of Starbucks... or Marriott... If you own even one share of Marriott, you get big discounts, etc, when you stay there... And leave you dough in there... I bought the schwab US large cap etf (SCHG) (oh, etf is exchange traded fund) with apple, microsoft, google, telsa, etc, in the fund... Two days after I bought it, the shares split four ways. I had purchased two shares. Now I have eight... and they are 27 dollars a share...funds tend to do well. They are professionally managed. Schwab has funds, Vanguard has funds, Blackrock has funds... Stick some money away every month. 20 years from now you'll be rich AF and you can blow off this shizzola and get a ranch in Montana or a nice co-op in Manhattan. Youtube paid me 110$ for 4 months of work and gifts from appreciative fans. I spent it on groceries and bottles of water. Hugs and kisses dear... Keep on Truckin' !!! Pop.