Zanini

Quote of the day: Tiina Laakkonen on retail for the post-aspirational class



Tiina The Store by Christopher Sturman

“The aspirational retail world has been taken over by big luxury brands. That’s what they’ve done in East Hampton. But my customer is no longer aspirational. They don’t want logos or any of that stuff. They’re done.”
Tiina Laakkonen, New York Times

Tiina the Store is closing its doors and Tiina Laakkonen spoke to the NYT about the retailer’s eye, billionaire style and her next move. Spoiler: she’s taking a break to “fine tune what the next thing will be”, hinting it could be something much smaller or “something on a department-store level”.

Before ‘quiet luxury’ was a thing, Tiina the Store was a near-mythical destination for logo-free clothes and homewares with a tactile, slightly bohemian quality, akin to the top floor edit of Dover Street Market. Even though I never went there in person, it had a reassuring presence in my in-box with its drops of Arts & Science dresses and Zanini outerwear. Hopefully her hiatus won’t last too long.

Read more here (no pay wall) and shop the Tiina the Store sale here.

WORDS: Disneyrollergirl / Navaz Batliwalla
IMAGE: Tiina the Store by Christopher Sturman for New York Times
NOTE: Most images are digitally enhanced. Some posts use affiliate links and PR samples. Please read my privacy and cookies policy here

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Italian romance from Zanini AW21



Zanini AW21

I’ve never experienced Zanini’s clothes IRL, but you just know they’re the kind of clothes that improve with age. The Zanini AW21 collection illustrates this so well, even when viewed, as I have, through a three-inch Instagram square.

The fabrics are just lush. The slate black double-breasted coat (above) is a linen-and-wool herringbone lined in quilted cotton-linen, giving it slouchy dressing gown vibes in keeping with the at-home comfort mood of the moment. (more…)



Should we stop shopping?



Tiina the Store

Both the New York Times and the FT have written stories unpicking the quandary of whether we should be shopping online while there’s a contagious health pandemic going on.

I’ve been wrestling with the same dilemma. (more…)



Gentlewoman style: the return of Bouchra Jarrar



Bouchra Jarrar spring 2020 Couture Vogue Runway

“I am doing it alone, out of my house, with external collaborators and ateliers. And I am so happy. I had 25 years of working in a big house. I learned a lot. Maybe what I learned most now is I don’t have to function like that. I don’t have to speed up a collection just because an executive tells me to speed up. Now I can be very artisanal. This is the heart of my work, my world. I am putting all my savoir-faire on the line. ”

Another designer on the go-slow train, Bouchra Jarrar is returning to fashion, at her own decelerated pace. The couturier who went to Lanvin RTW for a hot minute is following in the footsteps of other designers like Thakoon Panichgul, producing a very trim collection of signature pieces. (more…)