LE CATCH

I spent the weekend in Nashville, which turned out to be exactly enough time to remember that sometimes a trip only needs one agenda item: dress up differently than you do at home (see immediately below)! I leaned fully into the local wardrobe: chic Partlow cowboy boots that clicked at Skinny Dennis, fancy fringe that insisted on movement, a western belt worn a little too low, and the kind of linen dress that works equally well with iced coffee and a late dinner reservation. (P.S. It’s the one my sister borrowed that everyone’s still DM’ing me about!) Also in my carry-on: the vibrant Rosie Assoulin, above (these Comme Si newbies are also fantastic!), this leather halter top (last pic), a pair boot-friendly black jeans, an Ulla Johnson peplum denim jacket, day to night Dries beads, and the comfiest cargoes for the flight home. Thanks for the trip, y’all!

$49, h&m

Let them think it’s Etro. Alemais. Hermes.

1. H&M print shirt
2. Sporty & Rich shorts
3. Le Specs sunglasses
4. Oseree swimsuit
5. Black Suede Studio jelly flip flops

There are outfits that ask very little of you and somehow still manage to over-perform—emotionally, geographically, and meteorologically. This was one of them. Yesterday kicked off in scorching downtown Los Angeles for Heidi Merrick’s Spring/Summer presentation (the slinky under $300 party dresses, the exquisitely-tailored blazers that truly go with everything, even bikinis!). From there, straight to my son’s volleyball game at school, then on to a charity shopping event in Brentwood, which is where the outfit, after criss-crossing town, really proved itself: oversized scarf-trimmed white shirt, slim green cropped trousers (the moire fabric is everything), my trusty white lace-ups, and just enough jewelry to catch the light. These are exactly the pieces I wear on repeat when life insists on giving me three different days inside one afternoon; they’re also the pieces worth buying again and again! New and on tap for today (and) beyond: this, this unexpected glint and these just-launched well-fitting jeans (almost sold out—quick!). Happy Weekend!

Spring break, in theory, suggests a destination. Mine appears to be more of a multi-stop odyssey: mostly staycation, with jaunts to Nashville, Austin, and New York (don’t ask!). Which means packing not for weather, exactly, but for mood swings—geographic, familial, work, and otherwise. Hence this medley of inspo for the next peripatetic two weeks: the Reformation one-piece, above, the fringed Zara top, below, and Zara leather skirt, the H&M scarf blouse, tie-neck jacket, crochet tank and skirt, the cut-out black Sezane dress, Cos’s leather brogues and denim midi skirt, Reformation’s lace mini, belted red and striped halter-neck suits, and polka dot bikini, Modern Citizen’s $88 draped t-shirt, and, why not more lace and fringe from Apiece Apart.

Forget rogue heat wave. At this point it’s endless summer: not a surprise, not a fluke, just the now-familiar 80-degree air that makes my everyday feel vaguely vacation-adjacent, which remains unhelpful given the mounting workload. After weeks of weather like this, it’s starting to feel less like an anomaly and more like a reasonable argument for an official wardrobe shift. Now in rotation—and in the queue for the hot weeks ahead: the (on-sale) Tibi ribbon skirt, above, a perfect chartreuse t-shirt, this amazing Contessa Mills tunic (over white jeans, boy shorts, linen pants, etc), these Dries Van Noten sandals, this lace Mango camisole, this H&M fish-buckle belt, these linen bermuda shorts from Reformation, this Monica Vinader charm necklace (everything is 20% off right now—think graduation!), and (in my fever dreams) this chainmail Rabanne mini.

simon miller

Before the jacarandas, before the marine layer, before the spring equinox: raffia.

1. Frankie Shop polo sweater, $170, mytheresa.com
2. Simon Miller raffia skirt, $395, simonmiller.com
3. Oliver Peoples sunglasses, $555, shopbop.com
4. Blue Lagoon Lip Balm, $25, bluelagoon.com
5. Monica Vinader solitaire diamond initial, $119, monicavinader.com
6. Gucci BORROWED bag, vivrelle.com (USE THE CODE MARLIEN)
7. Stuart Weitzman flats

They said this Mercury retrograde was going to be a doozie. Succinctly: communication snarls, travel hiccups, technology mutiny, old chaos resurfacing, crossed wires, things vanishing when you were certain you left them exactly where they belonged. How’s it all working out for me? My car was stolen from my driveway on Sunday. With my son’s brand-new prom suit inside, no less, and my favorite tennis rackets, which somehow feels doubly offensive. Why do I feel like this is my fault though? Why do I also continue to entertain the absurd possibility that the robbers will feel remorse, circle back under cover of darkness, and quietly return everything, suit pressed, rackets intact? Meanwhile, the dryer has stopped drying, the television remote has developed a deranged personality and now raises the volume to ear-shattering levels whenever no one is touching it, and my sister’s flight to Miami has been cancelled not once but twice. All that being said, one thing worked this week. I scored the dress I featured yesterday today for 25% off because Nordstrom is having a sale TODAY, and there are few pleasures more stabilizing than seeing something you already justified become suddenly, gloriously discounted. A small retail miracle (plus go-to jeans, pretty bras, above, so many chic Clare V bags, spring fringe, and excellent loafers for $73!). Also—and I do not use the word miraculous lightly—the MAKE Beauty concealer I recently bought, which my twin sister was coincidentally also instructed to buy by a makeup artist on set (always a sign, I think), is doing something unprecedented to my dark spots and general evidence of time passing. It is softening, blurring, forgiving in ways that feel borderline supernatural. Aging: briefly negotiated. Skin: unexpectedly thriving. And honestly, in a week where the remote is possessed and my car is somewhere living another life, that is something to be grateful for.

There is a particular kind of big-night-out energy that arrives with three 17-year-old girls standing in your closet, asking, almost in chorus, “What are we wearing tonight?” My niece—here for spring break from her East Coast boarding school—brought two friends to what she calls my lending library before dinner at Elephante on Saturday night, and I very happily dressed all three of them in my clothes. The evening followed several days of see-and-be-seen carb-loading across Los Angeles, which I wrote about in my latest Substack here—along with the joy of watching my wardrobe head out the door on the next generation. Which is to say: if part of my closet is now on temporary assignment to the next generation, replenishing supplies begins to feel less indulgent than civic duty. Let’s start a potential re-stock with the asymmetrical Sandro, above, the Topshop mini, below, this (on-sale) Simkhai, Altuzarra, and this Cami slip dress.

My niece arrived for spring break in a gust of East Coast velocity: dropped her suitcase in the foyer, clicked it open, pulled out her vintage-looking jeans, and before I could ask whether she wanted something to eat, she was already halfway out the door to see an underground band somewhere downtown. Seventeen, apparently, is knowing exactly where the night is before the adults have found the dinner forks. This morning, the boarding-school layers began to peel away and out emerged a fully different girl: beach hair, rad flip flops (above), borrowed sunglasses, earrings, below, that look like mine, and a running dispatch on Silver Lake beauty anthropology. “All the eastside girls have micro bangs,” she reported, with the authority of a visiting correspondent, already deciding whether she is brave enough. Now she’s off again, this time to a film festival at her former high school, which apparently requires a red-carpet moment. Somehow this has spiraled into me standing in front of my own closet wondering whether I too need a warm-weather dress with a point of view along with this fringed mini on sale, below, this and this!). Ah, the life stage where your niece’s plans send you shopping for yourself feels unexpectedly correct! Happy Friday!

1. Mango top, $99, mango.com
2. Mango trousers, $139, mango.com
3. Bauble Bar 18K sterling silver earring set, $168, baublebar.com
4. Celine bag, TO BORROW (use the code MARLIEN)
5. Naimah Lip Ring
6. Vyrao Wonder Candle
7. Ancient Greek Sandals