A few weeks ago, my husband sent me a link to a Homes & Gardens article and told me the good news: our house is finally trendy. You see, the newest trend making the TikTok round is called “bookshelf wealth” which is everything you probably imagine from that title: maximalism with books.

If you’ve been around for a while, you probably know what my house looks like (and has looked like for more than a decade):

So, you see, my husband wasn’t kidding. Our house is trendy. The first thing I thought about as he was telling me about it was that one time, a few years ago, when someone who saw a picture of our living room called it “old fashioned”. Little did they know!

As I read the article my husband sent me, I felt rage build up inside me. Before I let it all out here, let’s take a moment to appreciate this passage; it resonated with me deeply, and it’s important context for the rest of the discussion.

“Books serve as windows into one’s soul, revealing a person’s identity and interests. They carry the power of evoking specific places and hold memories of where they were read. Some books become inseparable, akin to old lovers with whom you’ve shared countless moments. The physicality of books, in an era dominated by digital media, adds a homely, tangible, and nostalgic element to decorating. They are not just objects; they are vessels of personal history, making them a perennially significant and cherished component in interior design trends.”

The article got my hackles up from its subtitle, and things didn’t improve much from there. This quote, in particular, encapsulates everything I find enraging about it:

“The ‘tyranny’ of minimalism has perhaps led us to put these things away, and this new ‘trend’ has perhaps given us permission to liberate these possessions and proudly showcase them. Critics of the trend have said it encourages overconsumption but my tip is to start with what you’ve got, however modest, and transform your space into a reflection of your unique journey. And if you find you want more books to read you know where to come.”

The critics are goddamn right!!!

Ahem.

I am sad whenever I hear people worry that their clothes are “dated”. I am never not convinced that the concept of “outdatedness” is, above all, capitalist consumerist propaganda designed to make us feel inadequate and in need of stuff to compensate. But I also understand that personal appearance has a social dimension. People are judged on how they present themselves in public, and clothes play a role in that. I understand why people are concerned about living up to certain standards or expectations. (Though I still believe that the average person, including anyone whose opinion has a direct and quantifiable impact on our livelihood, isn’t sufficiently conversant with every fashion micro-trend to form adverse opinions about us based on the fact that we’re wearing last year’s ankle booties. YMMV) So, whether I share it or not, I get the preoccupation with fashion trends. Interior design is a whole other story.

For those of us fortunate enough to have one, a home is the only truly private space, a place where we can exist without fear of judgment, fully and wholly ourselves. The notion that we need “permission” to display things that are meaningful to us is so absurd to me, it leaves me barely coherent. It’s positively Orwellian. It is the curse of social media’s flattening of aesthetic; when everyone and everything looks the same everywhere all the time, anything even slightly different begins to look and feel transgressive — like it needs permission and/or justification.

You don’t need permission to have a minimalist home. You do not need permission to have a a maximalist home. Neither one is good or bad, or better than the other. You shouldn’t feel constrained to make your choice based on what everyone else is doing. They don’t live in your house.

The other thing that enrages me about the “bookshelf wealth” trend at a more general level is something the article does touch on. This isn’t just an aesthetic; it’s a way of living, which then creates an aesthetic. It’s a certain set of values, a mindset. It’s not something you can do and then not do as trends come and go. My book collection — along with every other collection in my house — represents a decades-long labour of love. It’s the story of my and my family’s life; each piece reflects something of us — our hobbies, special moments, travels, family traditions. You can’t buy a life in one fell swoop. You build it, piece by piece.

The article’s suggestion that “now’s the time to take out all those books and things you’ve been hiding in shame” is utter nonsense. Nobody who actually cares about and has collected these things over the years is keeping them in a secret stash somewhere. Why would they? Who does that when they love and value something? This whole angle is a way to pay lip service to the notion of authenticity and intentionality, when in fact all articles like this are doing is promoting consumption, period. Mindless consumption. If you don’t value something unless somebody tells you it’s trendy, buying it is the definition of mindless consumption.

And books? Damn. Books deserve better. Not to mention our trees.

Details: Tahari shirt, Ralph Lauren sweater & skirt, Ports International jacket, Asos boots, Coach bag (all secondhand)

Thoughts: Here it is: THE skirt! Isn’t it amazing? You can ignore my derpy expression, caught in the act of giving my recalcitrant photographer instructions on how to shoot this pretty dope outfit (if I do say so myself). My photographer is almost always recalcitrant. If it’s my son, it’s as a matter of principle because he thinks taking photos of what one is wearing is, to quote, “dumb”. If it’s my husband, it’s because he knows how much it annoys me, and gets a kick out of it. Ah, true love! Whatever would we do without it. Anyway, I loved this outfit and wearing it gave me all the feels. I’m so happy to have the chance to wear this dress, and I can’t wait to style it up again and again.

Details: Ralph Lauren sweater, Twik pants, Fossil belt, American Apparel coat, Frye boots, Coach bag (all secondhand)

Thoughts: Another side of my aesthetic: the Historian in grandpa mode. This colour palette — brown with a complementary shade, plus grey as a neutral — is something I keep coming back to. I love using black as a neutral with brown, but there is something about grey as a substitute that I find very appealing. It’s a different vibe, for sure. Sometimes I find myself wondering if I’m wearing too much brown these days (and does it even suit me?) but then I give my head a shake and move on with my day. I’m going to enjoy my Brown Period and not overthink it.

Details: Banana Republic sweater, Mr. Edwards dress, DKNY skirt, Club Monaco belt, Nine West shoes, Rafael Alfandary necklace (all secondhand)

Thoughts: OK, but how good is this shade of purple? I am a little bit obsessed with it, and slowly working my way through all the colour combinations I can think of. Here, I took a hint from the dress pattern, and pulled together a purple/dark red palette. I also decided to extend the vertical line of the outfit by layering my DKNY skirt under the dress; the only part you can see is the sheer panel at the bottom, which doesn’t pull focus away from the rest of the outfit, but helps to change up the silhouette. I love a long column!

Details: Michael Kors top, Tristan jacket, Issey Miyake skirt (all secondhand)

Thoughts: I LOVED this outfit! I’ve had this vintage Tristan jacket in my closet since at least 2012, but haven’t worn it in years because it fell out of style — which is to say, it didn’t suit my style as it evolved over the past decade. But I thought it was too special to part with, so I kept it. Recently, I took it out of the archive closet, feeling the time had come to give it another try. I specifically wanted to wear it with my Issey skirt … and then I had the idea to add the sequin top underneath as a sort of sleeve-extender. Genius! It picks up the sequin work on the jacket, and adds to the texture of the outfit without being too in-your-face-sequins about it. I actually got the top because it matches a long sequin skirt I thrifted a few years ago, and I was planning to wear them together to create a dress, but paired with this jacket, it feels like a match made in heaven too.

Details: Selected Femme sweater (retail, old), Jones NY blazer, Margiela skirt, vintage belt (all secondhand)

Thoughts: A super simple outfit, made interesting with a fun belt. I love metal belts because they function like jewelry, but feel a bit more unexpected that, say, a necklace. Speaking of unexpected, I feel like the velvet lapel on this blazer falls in that ballpark too; plus, it ties together the top and bottom halves of the outfit.

Details: Everlane sweater, Ralph Lauren blazer, Gap belt & jeans (all secondhand)

Thoughts: This was an even simpler outfit, with a much simpler belt too. My version of keeping things casual 🙂

Details: Ralph Lauren turtleneck & skirt, vintage belt, Oak & Fort coat, Office London shoes (all secondhand)

Thoughts: One strong pattern calls for … another? That was my philosophy in putting together the two halves of this outfit, using red as the unifying colour. It’s a bold look and I know it’s not everyone’s cup of tea, but it’s mine and I enjoyed every sip of this one. Look at me, making a funny! Anyway, I am a little bit sad that you can’t see more of my contrasting tights in this photo, because it was a lot of work picking a colour that clashed just the right amount. Not too much, not too little. It’s harder than you’d think!

Last week I promised you an epic eBay story and I am a woman of my words. In my ongoing project of curating my own personal Ralph Lauren capsule, I scored a big win last month and I’m here to tell you all about it. Maybe “epic” is a bit of an overstatement, but this was an exciting purchase for me — the online version of the “start the car” moment — so I hope you’ll forgive my enthusiasm. There is also maybe a moral of sorts to the story, but I’ll leave you to decide that.

I’m not going to try to keep you in suspense about what piece of clothing is the protagonist of this saga. It’s this skirt:

Some of you may remember it; I posted it a few months ago as an example of something I coveted but had decided not to purchase based on a kind of cost-benefit analysis. I had been watching it for months already by that point, having first found it in the course of my search for the floral skirt I posted last week. Both of them are from Ralph Lauren’s Country line, which was only around for a short period of time in the late 80s and early 90s, and was the aesthetic predecessor of the current Double RL line — a mix of English country and Americana. I’ve become a little bit obsessed with Ralph Lauren Country, because it captures a lot of the aesthetics that I currently love, but that’s neither here nor there. Suffice to say that, of all RL lines, it’s one of the rarer ones to find secondhand.

This particular skirt immediately captured my imagination. I love the Pendleton-inspired pattern, and the colours being so vibrant was the cherry on top. I also love this style of wrap skirt a lot; the column silhouette is one of my faves. I was able to find 2 listings for the skirt; one at around $400CAD (yikes) and one at over $800CAD (double yikes). There is also a mini skirt version, available in a greater number of listings at lower prices (around $200), but I didn’t love it because, as a result of the shorter length, much of the pattern — the blue and red part — was lost. For me, the pattern *is* the skirt, so it was a no go.

So I waited. For months, I kept a running search for this skirt, hoping one of the listings would come down in price. No luck.

And then, one day, my luck changed. A new listing popped up and it was less than half the price of the next cheapest option. I was, like, whoa! This is it. Having thought a lot about this skirt for a long time, I had a good sense of 2 important things. One, the general market value of the skirt. This listing was a comparative steal. Two, a definite idea of how much I would be comfortable spending on the skirt. The listing met that threshold. So, even though it was the most expensive piece of clothing I’ve purchased in the last 2 years, I bought it without hesitation. I’m glad it took months to find this listing because I needed that time to clarify in my own mind how I felt about the skirt and what it meant to me. And that was an important lesson to me, vis-a-vis my Ralph Lauren capsule project. I am not going to rush my future acquisitions. I am going to do a lot of research and a lot of reflection before I commit to a piece. It’s not clothes shopping as usual.

I ended up paying $230CAD, shipping, taxes, and customs included. Did I mention that the listing was from Japan? That brings me to another interesting part of this story. This wasn’t the first time I’ve purchased something from Japan on eBay. Years ago, I sourced a few of my high end designer bags from Japan, which has a huge and well-regulated secondhand market. Always do your research, of course, but reputable Japanese resellers offer some of the best deals, IMO, on used designer bags. At least, that was certainly true a decade ago, and while I’m not in that designer bag game anymore, I’ve no reason to think anything has changed. In my experience, the ratings used by Japanese resellers to describe their bags reflect a much higher standard than is common in North America; the bags I bought were described as being in good but not excellent condition (so, like, B+ not A) and, honestly, they looked much better than I expected when I got them – here, they would have been described as “excelled used condition”. The price reflected the condition as stated by the seller, so it was more attractive than comparable U.S. listings. All of that to say: I’ve had good experiences buying from Japan via eBay.

Except. The day after I purchased the skirt, I received the floral one which had shipped a few weeks prior from the U.S. It was delivered via USPS and Canada Post and, for the first time in recent history (or maybe ever), I had to pay customs on it. And it was not a minimal amount either: $30 on a skirt that cost around $100CAD after conversion. CBSA uses different rules for calculating customs on used clothing, and while I haven’t been able to figure them out, I have the feeling that there is a certain threshold under which they don’t charge anything. I had bought 2 other vintage skirts on eBay (from the U.S.) in the last 6 months and neither of them had customs charged on them. I think two things might have been in play here. One, the seller of the floral skirt didn’t indicate on the customs form that it was a used item. This, in my opinion, is really poor form for an experienced seller. Two, the price was slightly higher than the other 2 skirts; only about $30-40CAD but perhaps enough to go over the customs threshold. I don’t know … but I wasn’t pleased with that surprise.

And it got me really worried about my Japanese purchase — which had cost even more and was being shipped via FedEx. I’ve heard horror stories about brokerage fees on top of customs, so I resigned myself to getting another bill, amount TBD. I know this sounds like a recipe for disaster, but the rest of the story is the opposite: one happy surprise after another. Despite coming from a much greater distance, the skirt arrived within less than half the time it took my other skirt to be delivered from the U.S. (The cost for shipping I was charged on eBay was the same.) And, despite all of my trepidations, my bill was only … $19CAD, total. How does that make sense? I have no idea, but I’m not complaining.

The last happy surprise was waiting for me when I started to inspect the skirt:

A union label! I couldn’t believe my eyes. I knew the skirt was vintage — though it is in such amazing condition that it’s hard to believe it’s more than 30 years old — but I had no idea it was old enough to have been made by union employees in the US. I did some research, and this particular style of label was used up until 1995, which lines up with the chronology of the Country brand.

I had taken a calculated risk with the size; unusually, the listing didn’t include measurements and I did the thing you should never do, and bought the skirt without asking for measurements. I am familiar with RL vintage sizing, though. This skirt is one size smaller than my usual size in vintage RL skirts, but I was irrationally optimistic it would work. It kinda did and didn’t. Not surprisingly, the waist was snug. Uncomfortably snug. The hips fit fine, thank God. I want to wear the heck out of this skirt so snug wouldn’t do. Luckily, there was a feasible and easy fix: I was able to move the button and inner hook and eye closure, and give myself an extra 3 inches of breathing room. The fit of the skirt wasn’t negatively impacted, though the pattern alignment did change. I can live with that.

And there you have it. Another fabulous addition to the capsule.

I have a few ideas in mind for my next intentional purchase, but I need to do a lot more research first. And I need to stay off eBay for a bit 🙂