035: The Power of Sherri & Transitional Style

WELCOME BACK FRIENDS 🌱

Happy Spring! It seems, at least on the East Coast, to be quite a chilly season. We’re going to test out a novel approach on Instagram with a shopping vertical highlighting ‘One Item One Day’ — consider it a light way to engage with our Shopping Guides, but on social media. Follow the journey here.

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DISPATCH 035 —

This week, we touch down on luxurious skincare services in New York, laud a power-player retail merchant in Oakland, and take in James Baldwin inspired text-based paintings in Hong Kong. Plus: an update on inclusive haircare and a special moment for a legendary dress. But first, wardrobe planning for transitional times…

SPRING / SUMMER 2024 TREND REPORT

Now that the spring season has started and the weather is officially in transition, we’re rounding up another much-requested trend report for dressing well in these in-between days. Take a look!

CLASSICS REIMAGINED

We love this shirt dress option from Wales Bonner with a tuxedo-inspired pique bib, bringing the tiny details of formalwear into informal dressing. Consider elements of suiting, like a satin cummerbund or a pleated trouser, paired with a more sportif and relaxed silhouette. To elevate to the next level, these deep brown sunglasses from Kimeze with an elongated square cat eye just ever so delicately toe the line of winter-meets-spring.

Next up: a twist on classic wide-leg denim with an waterless gradient effect from BOTTER — the dark and the light wash mean you really don’t have to choose between seasons. Lastly, may we recommend the trench, but updated: this lightweight ivory-toned trench by Diotima has gold lame detailing, embroidered cutouts, and large side pockets that are equal parts functional and fabulous.

LAYERS FOR DAYS

Albeit a bit controversial, sheer is in. As a kind of under-appreciated wardrobe strategy, the penchant makes for a delicious layering tool that harkens back to the heydays of C&C California and James Perse. But today, you can do so in an array of sophisticated fabrications that give the cozy needed for cooler temperatures, but the breathability best suited for warmer climes.

This sheer turtleneck from Aisling Camps, made up of translucent nylon yarn in this gorgeous neutral tone, is the perfect topper to your everyday tee. It also comes in dress form. Nia Thomas throws a hat in the ring with another soft cotton breathable micro-short, but paired with this matching open-weave shirt in earthy brown means you might just color coordinate your way into a warmer day.

THE POWER OF SHERRI

Long-standing concept store aficionados will know the names — Dover Street Market, Ikram, The Webster, Kirna Zabete, Collette, 10 Corso Como, Jeffrey, and many more which have come and gone or still remain in quiet dosages. Very few can surpass the track record of launching emerging designers onto a wider platform than Sherri McMullen of her self-titled store nestled in Oakland.

Launched in 2007 after her career rising the ranks as an executive buyer, McMullen stepped out on her own to bring a vibrant, artistic, and purpose-driven fashion assortment to an often under-looked corner of northern California and its surrounding areas. Over fifteen years in the making, McMullen has achieved some pretty impressive milestones, most notably being one of the early merchants for independent diaspora brands gaining prominence on a national, if not global scale.

With a unique knack for buying deep into emerging designers, McMullen ensures her coterie of high-flying clientele (including jewelry designer Lauren Harwell Godfrey and beauty entrepreneur Ayesha Curry amongst others) can score best dressed accolades wearing cutting-edge brands before they’ve even gained mainstream appeal. Lest we forget, she was one of the first to bring Nigerian brands, including Maki Oh and Lisa Folawiyo, to the US market in the early 2010s. Take a look at her track record below.

CHRISTOPHER JOHN ROGERS (2020 CFDA Winner, 2021 LVMH Prize Finalist)

We’ve written about Christopher John Rogers’ milieu of “accessible glamour,” including his uber successful collaboration with Target in 2021, and can attest that Rogers has seen considerable peaks to peaks since launching in 2016 — although the covetable creative director position at a major luxury brand may presently elude him. McMullen was an early buyer of the brand and critically invested in dozens of SKUs over the years, helping to convey a fuller story of the brand beyond the hero pieces.

DIOTIMA (2023 CFDA Winner, 2023 LVMH Prize Finalist)

McMullen recently brought together Rachel Scott of Diotima for a private trunk show and dinner with fifty top clients and special guests to celebrate her inspiring journey as a fashion designer since launching her brand in 2021. In Scott’s words, “the way Sherri supports independent, emerging brands is unlike any other; she doesn’t take it on consignment, she buys it. When she invests, she invests and if it wasn’t for her investment in me, I wouldn’t be here today.” Pretty powerful words to encapsulate the approach McMullen has taken in maintaining her relationships with ascending talent for over a decade.

Picking winners in this business (prone to fast flames and copy cat mentalities) is no easy feat and McMullen is one to beat with a glowing winning strategy.

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ON OUR RADAR

Visual artist Bunmi Agusto was seen sporting that legendary agbada dress by Lagos Space Programme for the opening of her solo exhibition ‘Lands of the Living’ at DADA Gallery. Open through April 7. (Link)

For those longtime CJR squirrels (and our subscribers), Christopher John Rogers is offering 30% off of their ‘pre-fall’ Collection 011 in limited quantities. (Link)

While we didn’t initially mention in our missive on the State of Inclusive Beauty, shout out to Soft Rows for a feature in Beauty Independent on how their soon-to-debut prestige textured haircare brand is testing on all curly textures, including tightly coiled textures as part of its formulation development. (Link)

On that note, we’re curious about an up-and-coming luxury skincare service Dorian Skin Studio — while still early days, esthetician-trained newcomer Sydney Utendahl is slowly building a clientele, focusing on a range of facials. April appointment slots are now open. (Link)

In Hong Kong for Art Basel? Glenn Ligon will debut new text-based paintings for his first solo exhibition in Greater China. Taking inspiration from James Baldwin’s seminal essay ‘Stranger in the Village’ (1953), these conceptual artworks contend with oeuvre-defining themes of identity politics. Open now through May 11 at Hauser & Wirth. (Link)

Tolu Coker and Tongoro are both headed to Net-A-Porter while Ourside makes history at Bergdorf Goodman. (Inbox)