Issue 12 - The People Vs. Michael Kors
Plus, a crowdsourced list of good bathing suit brands.
I have a Michael Kors suede tote that is by far my most complimented bag. My mom gave it to me, and she got it sometime between 2010-2015 (I know this because someone asked about this specific bag’s release date on Reddit). Here it is in a really nice blue.
Nic (who I mention in almost every issue) posted a Tiktok a little while ago showing him finding this exact bag for $20 on eBay—the same color too. We both get complimented on it often, but we also noticed that:
Not too long ago, Michael Kors was very hot. My aunt, a subscriber (hi!), worked at the brand in merchandising between 2000 and 2010, when it was launching in Canada. For this story I’ll call her aunt C—she let me ask her what the hell happened.
The downfall began when “they decided to shift their marketing strategy,” she said. “It was a luxury brand before, and they wanted to provide luxury items but for the medium priced marketplace. It was high fashion for the every day person—the idea was that you didn’t need to be loaded to get a designer handbag. You’d see an ad with a $325 bag being carried by a beautiful model walking off a jet.”
They also over-expanded, kind of like Blockbuster. “They saturated the market, that was the problem,” she said. They kept opening stores and making more and more stuff; they went big into bags, wallets, shoes, and then watches. “The watches were massive,” she said.
Once everyone had a piece of Michael Kors, the clientele shifted. “They opened up warehouses because they couldn’t get rid of their product, and they had outlets too so people started waiting to get everything from the outlets. We even produced a secondary line for the outlets because they were so popular.” The accessibility of it all alienated the beau monde; the cool kiss of death.
The reason why MK remains uncool is the same reason Tory Burch and Coach are cool again: design. The Michael Kors of today (which yes, produces nice things) isn’t offering anything you can’t find elsewhere, whereas Tory and Coach have reinvented themselves by creating things we need like the pierced shoe and the Brooklyn Bag.
So I guess let’s appreciate what we have left: incredible bags from MK’s heyday in the early 2000s and 2010s. They’re well made, cute, inexpensive, and there’s a lot of them to buy. Here’s a few I found:
Some thoughts:
I went to Amyl and The Sniffers and I need the boots Amy Taylor was wearing. She wore them on Jimmy Fallon the night before too, she wears them often—does anyone know what these are? Comment below if you do, I beg.
I either loathe or love John Fluevog shoes. There is no in between. These are so good, and these are so bad. I just found out he’s Canadian.
Another thing I just found out: Online Ceramics filed for bankruptcy, according to their subreddit (and this literal legal document).
Shop 86 is without a doubt the best vintage store in Greenpoint, and one of the best in Brooklyn. Look at this neon fur someone needs, and this Diesel skirt I got.
How my torso’s been looking lately:
Looking high and low: good bathing suits
I’m not the best person to ask; swimwear is the part of my wardrobe that gets the least of my attention. I buy a suit last minute before a trip and keep it until the waistband goes or the metal hooks rust. But being in a bathing suit is the closest you’ll come to being naked in public (for most of us) so it’s worth the effort to find a good one.
Last summer I got a really nice bikini; I went with a one from Haight that I bought during the SSENSE ssale (here it is in case anyone is in the market). Here’s a list of more good bathing suit brands that I crowdsourced from dozens of people—please share this list far and wide.
Agua by agua bendita ($$$)
Benoa swim (sustainably + ethically made)
City Beach (Australian, affordable)
Cupshe (a lot of people’s fave)
Hunza G (also a lot of people’s fave)
Haight (my favorite)
Lido ($$)
Minnow Bathers (handmade in Canada)
Noelani the Label (sustainable)
Seea (for water sports)
Stone Fox Swim (also sustainable)
TJ Swim (for the girls)
Vuori (the fabric dries faster?)
Youswim (“the world’s most comfortable swimsuit”)
Thanks to all who contributed ❤️🔥
Super interesting!!
Loved my Haight suit for years, but today I put it on for the first time this season and all of the elastic in the straps cracked. The saddest sound. Wore Hunza G instead