The Sunday Digest 032
Let's all cry to some Phoebe Bridgers.
Welcome to The Sunday Digest — a free Sunday newsletter featuring long (and some short) reads, original columns, things I’ve saved over the last week, relaxing playlists, episodes releases, exclusive product drops, and more. Yes, you can reply to this email. I’d love to hear from you. Or, if podcasts are more your speed on Sundays, we’ve got that too.
Sunday Read: It's Time to Admit That Seattle Is a Style Capital
by Andrew Matson for Esquire
Spoiler Alert: I’ve never been to Seattle. Is it atop my rankings of cities in the contiguous United States that I most want to visit? Yes. Is there a reason I haven’t visited there yet? Well, also yes, because my wife once vetoed that idea in favor of going to Napa. I’m not in the business of complaining about going to Napa, though, so maybe we should just end this sentence and move on.
If you’re a listener of Retail Therapy, you probably know where our allegiances lie when it comes to most things style at this point. And while we haven’t blatantly discussed gorpcore (“a style focused around wearing utilitarian, functional, outdoors-inspired gear”) at length during any episodes, the brands we’ve discussed most definitely fall into that category.
Here’s an excerpt from this week’s Sunday Read:
While outdoor gear as fashion may be relatively recent, gorp has been part of Seattle’s culture and history going back 125 years. The drizzly climate and mountainous geography require waterproof jackets and sturdy shoes. And the city claims an extraordinary amount of gorp-y brands that outfit everyday explorers, like Filson (est. 1897), Eddie Bauer (1920), REI (1937), Jansport, Brooks, Crescent Downworks (supplier of the down jackets in the Stranger Things season 4 finale), Cascade Designs, K2, Outdoor Research, Kavu, and Feathered Friends, to name just a few.
Anti-fashion is grunge and gorp’s common thread, according to men’s style expert Jian DeLeon, men’s fashion and editorial director at Nordstrom, which is headquartered in—you guessed it—Seattle. Grunge and gorp are both about “not caring about your clothes, in a certain sense,” DeLeon explains. (He also dutifully mentions that Nordstrom carries Filson and Outdoor Research).
“With outdoor gear it’s not about, ‘I’m wearing the best jacket so it looks the best,’” he says. “It’s about, ‘It performs the best under the conditions I need it to.’ It’s about wearing Gore-Tex because you’re going to hike, and it could be raining. It’s about the functionality of the clothes. With grunge too, it was about not looking so materialistic. That thrift store aesthetic was very anti-fashion. In that sense, so is gorp.”
Read it in full here.
New Episode › London, Tuscany, and The Amalfi Coast
Salgal herself joins the program this week to talk a recent trip through London, Florence, Tuscany, and The Amalfi Coast. From the itinerary to the food to our best and worst moments from the jaunt, enjoy this week's brief trip to Italy.
Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and anywhere else podcasts are found.
Things I Saved This Week
The Sunday Haiku: Just Add An English Muffin
Do you want them poached?
Maybe some hollandaise sauce?
Ah, Eggs Benedict.
They’re Back › New York in the Fall Scented Candle
In what was probably my favorite candle launch I’ve done with Vellabox, New York in the Fall has officially returned — but in a new (and larger) container.
The scent? Citrus, Cedar, Pine, Spiced fruit, Floral Melange, Musk, Cardamom, and Palo Santo.
Don’t you just love New York in the fall?
Relaxing Playlist: Conversations with Friends Official Soundtrack
If a Phoebe Bridgers song doesn’t bring you to tears on a Sunday afternoon, do you even have Sunday Scaries?
Feels good to be back. See you next week.
— Will