I fear we really, truly have lost the f***ing plot!!

back to regular newsletter scheduling tomorrow ~ but till then <3

I fear we really, truly have lost the f***ing plot!! I read this tweet last week and then proceeded to spend the weekend obsessing over the idea of the lost art of living. Allow me to dive into a rant 😉

I’m starting to believe that we live in a near-constant state of performance,  rather than just… living. We buy the outfit, book the flights, and travel to the European locations and when we get there, it’s not about REALLY being there, it’s about how we're being seen there (yikes).

More directly related to fashion (staying in my lane~~), we no longer buy outfits for the actual physical experience of wearing them. We don’t buy them for how we’ll feel: confident, beautiful, silly, comfortable. We buy things for the moment we imagine can be captured in them (ie fashion TikToks in the old town) and in doing so, we’re not moving through the world anymore, we’re staging ourselves in front of it.

And when you really pause and think about it…what’s your definition of the perfect Euro Summer moment? I see myself sitting at a table with my best friends in Sicily after swimming at the beach, wearing some funky see-through cover-up that definitely doesn't look flattering from all angles, very buzzed on Aperol, laughing my ass off.

What I DON’T picture (though it’s oddly closer to reality at times) is taking the time to pull out my phone, stand up, interrupt the moment, stage a shot, make sure my outfit looks flattering, and then lock into the screen to see how I look. I’d probably criticize my appearance (inevitably), decide if it looks how I want the moment to look, and then share it with people I haven’t spoken to in years via the interweb. And THEN, while sitting back at the table, wait for notifications. Wait for someone in the ether to tell me I look like I’m enjoying life and looking great. As if that feeling couldn’t just….. exist….. on its own, without outside validation.

I don’t know about you, but I’d rather take the first version. I’d rather be in an outfit I love, feeling confident, silly, beautiful, unfiltered. Fully present in my experience, rather than something for the internet.

Fully acknowledging that at ZERO right now we are pushing a European Summer collection (you should shop it 😉). This tweet and the Substack I’m writing feel like my attempt at justifying what feels different. I want the women who buy from ZERO to be too busy living. Too busy laughing with their friends. Too busy feeling wonderful in the clothing they’re wearing.

The most feared woman is the one who doesn’t need outside validation (to the author of this quote, I'm sorry I don't remember your name but love your quote xx), and who doesn’t think to capture a moment for others because she is living it. After all, each moment just adds up to our life. 

And yes, because I feel like everything needs a disclaimer, I obviously understand taking a photo and feeling hot. I attempt to do it too. My argument is against disrupting a moment or a memory just to curate your life for strangers.

So with that, here’s to a summer of dressing well ( whatever that looks like for YOU and probably an outfit from ZERO right???? ), feeling silly, and enjoying exactly where you are.

<3