Our new series kicked off last week – here it is if you missed it.
Phoebe Bridgers’ broken-in jeans
Some people may be shook about Phoebe Bridgers dating (??) Bo Burnham but one reader has more important things on her mind: Phoebe’s airport jeans.
As a reader called Jennifer wrote in her email, jeans are hard. I agree in every sense of the word: jeans are often too stiff, too structured, too rigid. They are hard. And hard to shop for.
Phoebe does have the answer but it’s not an easy answer because her trick to getting the perfect, soft, buttery, broken-in jean is outsourcing it: she has someone else break them in. Not in a celebrity way (imagine that job!) but through hand-me-downs from her bandmate Harrison. He is doing the lord’s work. She told Who What Wear her preference is the Levi’s 501, but I don’t know if that’s the style she’s wearing in these photos. The fit and raw hem look more like the high-rise ribcage by Levi’s. But again, it will be years before they wear down like this. Sometimes the very best stuff we wear isn’t bought, it’s earned.
But most of us don’t have a Harrison to do the work for us. Buying new, paper-thin denim requires finding the right blend of cotton and elastane but just know, in your heart, that there is no substitute for beating the hell out of them.
An alternative solution is to buy previously loved jeans. They don’t have to be 30 years old but they need to be worn and washed, a lot.
Onto another piece of denim from a surprising source. A reader wrote in about a Duggar (never thought I’d see the day) inquiring about the denim jumpsuit Jinger Duggar Vuolo wore in PEOPLE Magazine. Shortly after the email, Jinger posted about the jumpsuit (it’s from a store called Honey Habits and not available online ). No brand tagged. A little sleuthing had me thinking it’s this SLVRLAKE piece, but the darting on the front is a little different from her photo so I kept looking: Good American (more on this below), Mavi, Rivet Utility (celebrities go gaga for this line because the founder is friends with Jessica Seinfeld and Gwyneth Paltrow) all make versions of this jumpsuit.
The twist here is that the reader went deep on her own and found this Good American x Zara on a reseller site. It is an exact match. How did a Zara piece end up in a boutique like this? Maybe they have a reseller section? And why wouldn’t an influencer-driven brand like Good American repost the free publicity from PEOPLE? It’s a fashion mystery.
The closest that is currently available is this version from Good American (the waist is slightly different).
Magpie Murders
A reader wrote in looking for the jacket and the skirt worn by Lesley Manville’s character in Magpie Murders, a show I haven’t watched yet but really want to. The rundown is this: the jacket is Armani (costume designer Annie Hardinge talked about it in Town & Country) and the skirt is Stella McCartney (unfortunately sold out). Other brands in rotation on the show include Anthropologie, Ted Baker, DVF, Temperley London and Whistles.

A few quick hits:
I knew the second I saw this Ariana Grande reel that her sweater would be a hit: it’s Mums Handmade.
Earlier this week, Lainey posted about Gigi Hadid on vacation with her daughter and the patchwork shorts caught my eye and were easy to find – Isabel Marant on sale.
Yesterday I posted this Reese Witherspoon video and the sweater she’s wearing here is by Kule, a brand that really specializes in stripes. (I find the sizing on the smaller side.) Reese’s stripes look green but right now the black/white is in stock. It’s cashmere (pricey) and further to my point yesterday in Celebrity Social Media, no one is doing chores in cashmere, not even rich people.