The Gas Station #11

A brand described as "Martha Stewart meets The Row", a new Birkin biography, and what you need to know by 36

Hi everyone,

Writing to you today from my garden - heaven! If you’re in the UK then I hope you’re enjoying this run of incredible weather which will probably expire in a week, not to be seen again until July, as is the way with this country. Here is my weekly round-up.

Style

I read with interest this piece about Donni, which The Cut describes as “the cool-mom pants” and “Martha Stewart meets The Row”. I hadn’t heard of the LA brand before but when they wrote that “on social media…Donni has become ubiquitous among a certain farmers’-market-frequenting, Pilates-doing type” (OK now it’s personal), I decided to check them out. I did some investigating and while it will cost you $75 to ship Donni from the US (!) you can buy them at stockists such as Free People, Revolve and End. 20 in the UK. I’m rather partial to these Rib Kick Flare Pants (a more affordable version of the High Sports’ kick pants). The boxers are also good.

Donni Rib Kick Flare Pants trousers

Super interesting piece about the backlash against soaring luxury prices and how brands should navigate the growing discourse about how much their products are actually worth, after some Chinese manufacturers took to TikTok claiming to produce bags for big-name luxury brands and got a little too honest about how the sausage was made (the videos were promptly removed). Related: Louis Vuitton quietly bumped up the prices of its handbags four percent this week.

Honestly I rarely read interviews with designers but this one with Grace Wales Bonner is so fascinating. FYI a date for your diary: her latest Adidas collab drops on 28 May.

Aside from butter yellow, powder pink is fast becoming the other shade for spring, according to Vogue. I have my eye on this perfect transitional spring top.

Guest In Residence powder pink top

Culture

Every year my friend Larry is amusingly withering about the discourse and politics surrounding who is inducted to The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, saying things like, “Lads, it’s a convention centre in Cleveland, let’s all calm down”. While I tend to agree with him, I was very pleased to see the announcement yesterday that singer-songwriter Warren Zevon would be inducted, more than 20 years after his death. It’s only rather recently that I’ve gotten into Zevon, a sort of literary balladeer of outlaws and rogues, and I hope his induction introduces more people to his incredible music. His son told Billboard: “In the same way you’ll hear Philip Seymour Hoffman called an actor’s actor, to musicians (Zevon) is a musician’s musician”. Zevon’s final interview on David Letterman in 2002, when he knew he had not long to live, is devastatingly witty and wise. His famous line from it, “Enjoy every sandwich”, has become a sort of statement of remembrance among fans. A true icon of cool.

A flurry of projects were announced this week that I’m excited about so a quick recap: Dominic Sessa will play a young Anthony Bourdain in A24’s Tony, which will take place in 1976 when a young Bourdain has a life-changing experience working and living in Provincetown. Ayo Edebiri and Will Sharpe join forces for an Apple TV romcom series, Prodigies, about two former child prodigies in a relationship. And, soz, but Lena Dunham and Carly Rae Jepsen are bringing a musical adaptation of 10 Things I Hate About You to Broadway, a film that remains my favourite ‘90s teen flick. I hope they keep Kat’s hilariously giant copy of The Bell Jar for the stage.

Adore the cover for this upcoming biography It Girl: The Life and Legacy of Jane Birkin by Marisa Meltzer. Billed as the first extensive biography of the actress, singer, and style icon, it’s out in October.

Despite his chaotic love life, inexplicable love of Dunkin’, and his dedication to making smoking not look glamorous, I always find myself rooting for Ben Affleck. His visit to the Criterion Closet, where he becomes the enthusiastic and emotional film nerd that he truly is, reminds me why I do.

A new indie press called Conduit Books is launching and it will be “focusing initially on male authors”. Discuss!

Beauty

The power of influencers: after Alix Earle shouted out a modest discontinued Pantene shampoo in a TikTok that went viral in December, the mass-market hair brand has inevitably just announced a collab with Earle dropping on Wednesday. Her video ignited a discussion about the benefits of prestige hair care versus drugstore shampoos (I love a shampoo from Boots, personally; Aveeno is a current favourite).

Beauty myth debunked of the week: cold ice rollers can reduce puffiness… but only for a short time. Once your body temperature goes back to normal, so will the puffiness in your face.

I’m seeing a lot of articles about facial dysmorphia around this year, it’s definitely a buzz term. This ELLE article follows one writer’s journey of self-acceptance.

Life

In a new study scientists have pinpointed the exact age when our bodies start feeling the negative effects of drinking, smoking and not exercising: 36. “However, it is never too late to change to healthier habits. Adopting healthier habits in midlife also has benefits for older age.”

A good piece on how social media has fuelled the “proteinifaction” of snacks, obviously pegged to the announcement of Khloe Kardashian’s ridiculous Khloud Protein Popcorn.

Makes me want to reach for the Doritos

Calling all east London oenophiles: a new wine bar called Blinds is opening on Hackney Road, which will also be serving up a range of pies, cheese and charcuterie plates, burrata with olive oil, pâté en croûte, sardines in oil, saucisson, and a selection of pickles. Don’t be put off that one of the men behind it called it “a groovy new wine bar” or, indeed, by their lacklustre Instagram presence.

Motherhood

A great one for the older mothers! I wish I’d had this article, “Is This Perimenopause or Postpartum?”, to read after I gave birth at 39; it’s really something that isn’t discussed much. When my period returned after I stopped breastfeeding at 40, my cycle was so different that I asked myself that very question. Required reading for new mothers 40+. (Important to note that I wasn’t perimenopausal, and that your period often changes after having a baby).

Shouting at your kids can alter their brain.

Pray for the writer at The Times who bravely shared that she - shock horror - had the odd daytime wine with other new mums on maternity leave. Comments are outraged (Mostly left by people called things like Dicky Hammond).

See you on Friday,

Gillian