are you wearing that? by Subrina Heyink

Since I announced tiny Pleasures two years ago through my Substack newsletter, Are you wearing that?, it has evolved alongside my personal and professional metamorphosis. It started as a print magazine in reaction to the growing plagiarism crisis on the Substack platform and a misguided romanticization of the analog age.

I hoped my goodbye newsletter would be accompanied by exciting news about what’s to come. Instead I am writing to let you know I have to stop writing this newsletter to save myself. Although I do not know what the future holds, which is as terrifying to feel as it is to write, I am no longer interested in pursuing novelty, which has only led to monotony in my interior and creative life. I must disrupt the merry-go-round of nostalgia for what this newsletter once was.

I’m known to always know what to do. Even through uncertainty, I’d make a decision and live with it. That Subrina no longer exists. And for eleven excruciating months, I have stood, exposed, in the lonely hallway of the unknown. As I type, I am uncertain if this is what I want to say. The self-assured voice in my head has been replaced with nothing.

When we moved to the states in 2007, my mother had a walk-in closet and she also utilized closet space in every room for her wardrobe. In my memory, there are racks of clothes in plastic dry cleaner bags in what was supposed to be the guest suite, most of which she hadn’t worn in god knows how long. My mother’s wardrobe was filled with well-loved garments as well as clothes with the tags still on them. She had everything she needed but she was always shopping for the next shade of blue shoes.

The follow up to my Dress For Success series will be in your inbox on Thursday. I had to send this quick thought quickly! Have you seen the TikToks of Chinese manufacturers “exposing” the luxury market in response to the tariffs on Chinese goods? If you believe them, I have two bridges to sell you, one in San Francisco and a gorgeous beauty in Lagos, Nigeria. Leave a comment, I’ll send the price and pick up details (pick up and cash only. No deliveries). are you wearing that?

Madewell sponsored this free post! When I get dressed, I consider my mood, what I am doing, the weather, and how I want to feel. I no longer factor in where I am going because I have committed to wearing everything I own, which means that I might wear my Jimmy Choo patent leather boots to work at the cafe because I need a little pick-me-up. I am wearing the aforementioned boots on the first cold rainy day after five consecutive sunny (above 70F) days to feel something as I type this.

I had difficulty finishing the follow-up to my Dress for Success series because I spent too much time gathering research, I struggled to organize my ideas coherently. On top of that, I have been generally overwhelmed with 2025, so much so that I missed the dates for my son’s spring break and sent him on his first solo air travel to visit my friend. We discovered we missed the dates by a month when I received a “Your child was marked absent” text from his school.

When you’ve asked me how to gather inspiration for your wardrobe, I have always given the same generic responses: Pinterest, watch movies, observe good art. But I have always been unsatisfied with this response. After sending the last newsletter on editing your wardrobe I felt a heightened urgency to address the topic. Some of us are more seasoned than others at dressing up, but we all need inspiration. This guide is for everyone regardless of your experience with dressing up.

As promised, below are my answers to the questions you submitted for “Questions that lead to a functional wardrobe.” If you have questions you need answered after reading previous newsletters or anything else, you can submit them here.

I experimented with how I dressed for work for a few months and I noticed the success of my experiment had been built on the previous efforts to rebuild my wardrobe (from scratch) a few years back. You cannot experiment with your wardrobe until you have a good foundation and intimacy with the clothes you currently own. And although you never finish editing your wardrobe, you should have a solid foundation to help you tackle changes and seasons.