Long Live

Traveling has always been about the outfits for me. Not the outfits I’m wearing, which I usually keep quite simple for maximum shopping real estate on the way back, but about studying the way locals dress living their everyday lives. I wrote a letter about what I spied in Paris two years ago (linked below) and I still think about the basketball shorts the barista was wearing when I’m getting dressed. Long Live is a reader-supported publication.

If there’s one category I believe should NEVER be purchased brand new, it’s belts. Why? There are TOO many great ones on the secondhand market for way too good of a price. Don’t believe me? Let me prove it to you with this curated list of dozens of belts with the potential to make you a proper belt person, all for under $50. They’re all leather, too.

This letter is brought to you by Helix. Here are the two universal truths of getting a good night’s sleep: You can’t sleep well in bad pajamas. And you can’t sleep well on a bad mattress. As a lifelong vintage shopper, it was only in my adult life in New York that I started collecting vintage pajamas. It’s a shortcut to butter-soft fabric and silhouettes that evade trends. Stretchy materials have their place, but I’ve always been partial to sleeping in cotton or silk.

Writing these letters feels like being in my zone of genius. Reading your comments, getting your extremely practical recs in return—well it’s just the best. Today’s letter is seasonal! These recommendations are loosely inspired by summer in the city from a self-professed winter girl… A train without AC can and WILL find you. Be prepared with a mini fan that also mists you and won’t take up valuable purse space. This is like an umbrella.

While you’re melting on a subway ride home from the Rockaways, I’ll be blissfully losing myself in an extremely buttered popcorn at a Saturday afternoon—sweater wrapped around my shoulders for when the AC inevitably gets to be too strong. See you at the movies! (can you believe this basket is J.Crew? Certain movies just FEEL like summer, and the same goes for certain items in my closet. In honor of this feeling, I asked a bunch of cool friends to recommend summer-esque movies.

The premise of today’s letter couldn’t be simpler: secondhand jewelry allows you to spend LESS money something worth MORE. My engagement ring + wedding band! Not under $500 lol but my daily drivers. The ring is from Ceremony and the band was made by Spur from family stones.

Welcome to the latest franchise from Long Live, Lived Experiment. First-person recountings via essay of trying something (anything!) for thirty days. There are 47,000 things to watch on Netflix and I can’t decide on any of them. Long Live is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Streaming platforms are caverns of hidden gems, wheels churning out prestige content in every imaginable iteration while we sleep.

Bet you thought this month would be slow, an easy settling into summer. Well, maybe for you. But on Long Live, we’re going to be embarking on a group project: forming the habit of posting on social in a way that feels good/generates results.

Just a girl. Standing in front of a boy. Asking to borrow his button down shirt. Notting Hill is perfect rom com. We can debate this in the comments, but on a recent flight back from Italy, I decided to indulge in the classic. What struck me, besides its timeless appeal, was the OUTFITS! Come on! This is 90s style executed with brilliance. Let’s draw some inspiration for ourselves. An All Black Outfit It sounds so simple. It always does.

The difference between looking cheap and looking expensive has nothing to do with your credit card statement. I’ve seen $10 thrifted blazers styled better than $2,000 Khaite ones. And I’ve watched people make vintage Levi’s look more polished than brand-new designer denim. Here’s a styling trick: be an Olsen twin So without much fanfare, here’s a bunch of styling tricks to make everything in your closet look more intentional, more expensive, more you. Most cost nothing.