Spectator Life

That Allison Bornstein’s family all operate in care is no surprise. True, Bornstein, thirty-five, a stylist and rising social media star based out of New York and Los Angeles, is the odd one out. Her father and brother are doctors, her grandfather is a psychoanalyst and her mother was once a therapist. But the services she offers are not so different from the shrink’s couch. Bornstein has created a dedicated following on TikTok and Instagram for her tips and scripted reels, in which she implores us all to craft self-love around our clothes. To slow down, shop less, and style more. And in the world of stylists and influencers, who make careers out of telling people to consume, consume, consume, Bornstein is quietly radical.

What happens to a fashion brand when the founder leaves? Or, to be more direct, what is Tom Ford without Tom Ford? That was the question hovering over Milan last month as the brand held its first runway show since the famed designer stepped down in April. The man on the marquee wasn't even in attendance; apparently bad weather left him stuck in London (there was a little thunder the day before, so it's plausible, if unconvincing). The House of Ford arrived with an enormous splash in 2006, creating enormous hype through its hyper limited, hyper expensive apparel, which Ford and business partner Domenico de Sole spun into obscenely lucrative accessories and perfume licensing deals.

It was raining on and off, but that was only fitting, as guests waited for the Summer 2024 show of Burberry, a brand that came to prominence in 1879 through its gabardine water-resistant coats. The Highbury Fields show was in a large tent, emblazoned with its signature check, with a green looping runway carpet inside and various celebrities in attendance. As per the fashion usual, the show was running late. At least it wasn’t pouring. Burberry isn’t just the greatest British luxury house; it’s one of the most compelling fashion houses in the world. No brand has such a rich history of contradictory iconography and speaks so directly to the culture of its home nation. Burberry is classy, trashy, flashy, reserved, functional and oh so unnecessary all at once.

Vogue is on a hot streak when it comes to elevating the underqualified ladies of the Biden administration, with Karine Jean-Pierre the latest to receive the magazine's star treatment. The women's fashion mag gave Vice President Kamala Harris the cover just one day before her inauguration in January 2021... a cover which was heavily criticized for its awful lighting and less-than-chic fashion direction. The VP's famously restrained entourage let anyone who'd listen know that they had not approved the image, and cowed the magazine into releasing their preferred shot as a digital edition. First Lady Jill Biden — a "joy multiplier" and "goddess" — nabbed her own cover that July.

Next to the Harvard Club in Boston’s Back Bay stands the old Eliot Hotel, named after Harvard’s most famous and probably most influential president, Charles William Eliot. The hotel was built in 1925 as a genteel way of easing aging Harvard professors into semi-retirement. In 1939 it was purchased by a private family and became one of the city’s finer hotels, with many amenities including a top-of-the-line Uneeda Shine-O-Mat.  Any well-dressed gentleman striding out onto Commonwealth Avenue would be embarrassed to show a scuffed wingtip, and shoeshine boys were not exactly welcome in that part of town. The Shine-O-Mat, installed in about 1947, solved the problem.  The Eliot Hotel had its ups and downs over the years.

I’ve been pregnant for the better part of the last decade; fifty-four months to be precise. I recently started investing in refreshing my non-maternity or postpartum wardrobe. Everything I have from that stage of life is from when I was twenty-seven; and I’m definitely no longer able to pull off the same look from when I was in my twenties and childless. Now I’m a mom of six and inching uncomfortably close to forty.   In my research, I found the aesthetic I was shooting for, from a company called Son de Flor. Every time another conservative homeschool mom appeared in a dress I loved, it was one of theirs.   https://www.instagram.com/reel/CsJDbisgeC6/?igshid=Y2I2MzMwZWM3ZA== I was ready to pull the trigger on their summer sale...

The Soviets had a problem. On March 5, 1940, Stalin had given the order to massacre 14,700 Polish officers, which his vicious secret police NKVD happily did. Job well done; until they lost Poland to the Nazis, who discovered some mass graves in the Katyn forest. Goebbels began using this to paint Britain’s ally as monsters (which, in hindsight, was fair).  This was a disastrous public relations problem! And so, they turned to the press, and those like Ralph Parker of the Times of London, who traveled by caviar-supplied trains to Katyn, bedded Soviet honeypots and came back repeating the Soviet line.

Although he has been a harsh critic in the past, Cockburn would like to thank fashion icon and hair-game legend Kamala Harris for teaching him the key to achieving the perfect silk press. While Cockburn must admit he wasn’t familiar with the hairstyling technique, he doesn’t know how he lived without it for so long. To quote People magazine, it had him screaming “queen.”    The vice president shared her beauty secrets on an episode of Keke Palmer’s podcast Baby, This Is Keke Palmer on Tuesday. The two women spent most of the interview tackling America’s maternal healthcare crisis before turning to fun girl-talk which included Harris’s hair care routine.

Amid the dusk light, there’s hushed, excited chatter. And then drums, lights, and orchestral tones. It’s 10:18 p.m. in Paris, and Pharrell Williams is debuting his first collection as creative director at Louis Vuitton, Spring-Summer 2024. Never mind that it is three quarters of an hour late — fashionably late — nobody cares. This is the biggest fashion event of the year, and we can wait. We’ve been waiting a year and a half already. This is a big deal. Lous Vuitton’s creative director is the biggest role in menswear, formerly held by the beloved, brilliant Virgil Abloh, who passed away from cancer in November 2021.

Have you noticed that everyone is forever doing his or her own thing these days? Walk down any city street: this person is buried in their phone, that person is wearing headphones and the person over there is smoking some once-illicit substance. Uniformity is out; individuality is in. This applies doubly — triply? — to styles and standards of dress. Once upon a time, a majority of the public agreed on one way to dress for work, another way to dress for a religious service or wedding, yet another way to dress for a dinner party. Suits were de rigueur for men in most professions, and, no matter the occasion, women wore gloves, hats, and stockings — not as a marker of social standing, because women from all classes did so, but as an acknowledgment of femininity.

Over the last four years, one of the biggest trends in watch collecting has been the rise of the “independents” — the independent watchmakers with eponymous brands like Philippe Dufour, F.P. Journe, Roger Smith, as well as the new kids on the block like Rexhep and Xhevdet Rexhepi and my friends Petermann Bédat. These independent watchmakers typically have years of experience working for other watch companies such as Patek Philippe, Audemars Piguet and A. Lange & Söhne before starting their own brands.

When the film version of To Kill a Mockingbird came out in 1962, America was captivated. In part it was because of the moral force of Harper Lee’s story about a lawyer who does what today’s Twitter progressives will not: think twice about whether a mere accusation is enough to convict a supposedly shitty man. But it was also because, to put it plainly, the hero Atticus Finch was played by Gregory Peck in a loosely fitting but perfectly tailored gray three-piece suit. And, well, Peck looked hot.   George Santos is not hot, but he is an icon. In the last year or so he has hit the headlines for his perfectly curated preppy fashion that make him look like an oversized prep school kid. The Washington Post described his look as "bland but utterly unforgettable.

Monday night marks the fashion calendar’s most overrated, overcovered event: the Met Gala. Each year it’s the same. The outfits are underwhelming (unless they’re worn Rihanna). The publicity stunts are boring. Its political outbursts are predictable and hypocritical. Most disappointing, the theme of this ultimate costume party is either uninteresting, completely ignored or both. But Monday promises something different, or at least above average. Its theme is “Karl Lagerfeld: A Line of Beauty,” in tribute to the late fashion design icon, who revived Chanel and made it one of the greatest houses, and businesses, in Paris. An exhibition examining the work of Lagerfeld will run at the Met from May 5 to June 16.

Open Bryna Pomp’s wardrobe and you’ll find a uniform of near identical navy blue and black dresses. Yet squirreled away in dozens of boxes in her closet-cum-office are more than 500 pieces of contemporary jewelry: the bolder the better.  For the last thirteen years, Pomp has curated MAD About Jewelry, the Museum of Arts and Design’s popular annual pop-up that sees makers from across the globe travel to the Manhattan institution to show and sell their wares. In the process, she has built her own vast collection, ranging from brooches to earrings to necklaces.

Open up any social media and type in the word “prep.” I just did it: to my horror, I was met by a soft-voiced, big-lipped TikTokker dressing herself in bright, monogrammed clothes and topping the look off with a Tommy Hilfiger bucket hat and matching socks. I then called my friend Peter York, co-author of The Official Sloane Ranger Handbook, otherwise known as Britain’s answer to The Official Preppy Handbook and the Ten Commandments for an entire generation of preppy dressers in the United Kingdom.  “Prep is minimal,” he reassured me. “That’s the whole point, preppy clothes are a staple in everybody’s wardrobe.” But, as York told me, the younger generations’ take on this timeless trend “doesn’t sound remotely like what prep actually is.

When I was eighteen, my ex-boyfriend sent naked photos of me to all my friends and family after a particularly bad argument. Inconsolable and embarrassed, I looked to my mother to see if she could help, or if she never wanted to speak to me again. She said something that I will never forget. “Don’t worry love, if I had tits like yours, I'd put them on my Christmas cards.” After that day, I no longer thought of breasts as inconsequential hanging sacks of fat. Now I just adore them — and not only my own. I have become somewhat of a breast connoisseur, and I get a good look at a pair whenever I can. So you can imagine my delight when Sydney Sweeney entered the public eye. I haven’t seen a rack that good in a while.

The Office of Congressional Ethics referred Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to the House Ethics Committee Thursday to investigate “impermissible gifts associated with her attendance at the Met Gala in 2021.” This is no surprise for Cockburn — any committed socialist should be causing trouble and smashing the system from within! Ocasio-Cortez caused a stir when she appeared at the gala in a dress saying “Tax the Rich”. For months, AOC’s campaign was receiving emails from providers seeking remuneration for clothing, lodging, transport and hair styling, among other services given to the congresswoman. After repeated attempts to get a response from the congresswoman’s staffer, one email said “This invoice is still outstanding and EXTREMELY overdue.

These shoes aren’t real. They’re not NFTs or AI-generated. They’re actual shoes. They look like Nikes but, for the most part, they weren’t made by Nike. They’re the work of Hvnd Studio, a small team of Korean cobblers who work in a legally-dubious cottage industry, recreating the original, 1985 Jordan 1 with top-quality leather and classic techniques. They’re fakes. They’re beautiful. And they cost $1,250. If Nike is the sneaker brand, then the 1985 Jordan 1 is the sneaker. It’s a classic of twentieth-century product and a pop-culture icon, tied to the mythos of Michael Jordan. These days, an unworn original pair with its box can sell for more than $20,000. Adding to the allure is the shoe’s messy path to cultural reverence.

Progressives have long sought ways to get us out of our cars. In recent months, a little-reported trend has emerged in furtherance of this goal: the elimination of parking minimums for new housing developments. A host of cities has done this, either citywide or in select districts, among them Anchorage, San Jose, Raleigh, Minneapolis, Nashville, and Sacramento. California’s Gavin Newsom recently became the first governor to sign legislation prohibiting parking minimums statewide for projects within a half mile of a major transit stop. Liberal policymakers contend that parking minimums are bad for the climate and make housing needlessly expensive by forcing everyone, including those who don’t own cars, to pay for parking.

For Christmas this year, Santa Claus brought me the most splendid Maine Mountain Parka from L.L. Bean, rife with thoughtful details and flawless construction from hood to hem. Standing in the living room, I admired the weather-proof cuffs and pulled the oversized zipper with rubber grip pull cord (a must when wearing gloves). I fastened the button-front storm placket — such a satisfyingly haughty act, akin, I’d imagine, to how one of Napoleon’s cavalrymen might have felt strapping on his saber. I flipped the adjustable snorkel hood with its removable faux-fur ruff onto my head and burrowed my hands into the deep snap pockets. I then plopped down on the couch and gazed smugly out the window at the bomb cyclone raging outside.

This week, while politics has resembled something akin to The Real Housewives franchise, I’ve been far more concerned about the horror show that is their outfits. Politicians' dress isn’t just a personal statement; it’s an ideological one. Look at Ron DeSantis. As the Florida governor was sworn in for his second term this week, he donned a crisp blue suit and slicked-back hair, complimenting the dresses of his daughters Madison and Mamie. His four-year-old son, Mason, looked immaculate in a matching suit. Some say shoving a blazer on a child this young is vulgar. I disagree. Mrs. DeSantis’s mint-green cape dress was chic. The whole family’s sartorial elegance oozed American conservatism.

Had Benjamin Franklin stuck around another two centuries, he would have added “Holidays Promise Travel Hell” headlines to his list of life’s certainties, though the Hellfire Club’s most famous member would no doubt take umbrage at the implication. The featured players in America’s security theater, as well as its taxpayer-bailed-out airlines, rival only deadbeat dads in their inability to prepare for annual celebrations. There’s a reason transportation secretary and closet-2024 presidential contender Pete Buttigieg flies private these days, even as he reassures frustrated flyers about the abundant supply of useless meal vouchers and travel credits on offer from America’s most incompetent industry.

Much ink has been spilled over the clothes in Netflix’s fifth season of The Crown, which debuted last week. The award-winning show about Britain’s royal family has reached the scandalous “Diana Affair,” in which every outfit of Ms. Spencer's is seen as a rapier against the formal codes of the Firm. Her looks are meticulously replicated by costume designer Amy Roberts (or as much as possible given the slimmer, taller frame of Elizabeth Debicki, who plays Diana). Despite their spousal difficulties, a talent Diana and Charles shared was dressing. His attention to playfully using fundamentals (color, cut, textile quality) lends to a personal style that is both timeless and surprisingly contemporary.

Cockburn has had some stellar Halloween costumes over the years… but the world is no longer what was. Thanks to political correctness, social media and your HR department, an outfit that’s viewed to be in poor taste could now result in your cancellation and dismissal. Maybe you’re looking to make a change at work — if so, here are some Halloween costumes that will help you unleash your inner Justin Trudeau and leave your employer no option… Candace Owens and Kanye ‘Ye’ West The real power couple of the latter half of 2022! This one is guaranteed to get you canceled. Ye’s appalling “White Lives Matter” T-shirts are a bit pricey — fortunately there is a knock-off version. Candace-style wig available here.

Cockburn misses the old Kanye, straight from the ’Go Kanye. The rapper, producer, designer and… (what’s the opposite of a mental health advocate?) plumbed new depths this week with his appearance at Paris Fashion Week. West showed up to the launch of his new sneaker line alongside friend and fellow former liberal Candace Owens. Both wore shirts adorned with the slogan “White Lives Matter.” https://twitter.com/RealCandaceO/status/1577000138131656704 “White Lives Matter,” of course, was a common retort to the “Black Lives Matter” maxim that emerged in 2013 after George Zimmerman’s acquittal for the shooting of Trayvon Martin.

Rejoice, flight attendants! British airline Virgin Atlantic announced last week that they are switching to a gender-neutral uniform policy. Previously, female flight crew members donned the airline's iconic bright red skirt suit, while male crew wore burgundy three-piece suits. Now they may choose which uniform best matches their gender identity and pop on an accompanying pin informing customers of their chosen pronouns. The YouTube video announcing the new policy features several "non-binary" crew members who express pleasure at the change. Curiously, Virgin Atlantic opted to disable comments on the video and hide the number of dislikes.

Maroon 5 frontman Adam Levine was accused last week of engaging in an extramarital affair and sending inappropriate messages to multiple other women. This was probably not a surprise to anyone who watched the Super Bowl LIII halftime show; Levine's taste in tattoos tells you pretty much everything you need to know. Even being a Victoria's Secret model, like his wife Behati Prinsloo, cannot save you from the depravity of a man who got "California" permanently inked across his torso. The first allegation against Levine came from Sumner Stroh, an Instagram model (yes, that's a real profession now). Stroh shared screenshots of messages in which Levine drools over how "hot" she is and cops to meeting her in person.