Mid-week Quickie #7
Mid-week Quickie #7
Taylor Swift's Eras mania reaches New Heights, a very impressive affordable Australian skincare brand (all products under $30) and the best celebrity profile I've read in maybe forever?!
Hi friends!
What a week for Taylor Swift it’s been. The way my entire social media algorithm was “Karma is a guy on the Chiefs, coming straight home to me,” the run and hug+kiss post-show, and many other Buenos Aires show moments for at least 48 hours, we’re so blessed to have her and I NEED Eras tickets.
Even my little sister got tickets last week! The same sister who has been almost allergic to Taylor Swift after I’ve spent years trying to convert her - all it took was a trip to see the Eras movie and she was sold.
Do you sleep well in a new bed/new space right away? Anytime I travel for work, the first night is always bad. There’s something about it being a different bed, different sounds, different temperatures that throws me. Also I’m super picky with pillows. I bring this up because I’m currently in bed on a staycation with Bondi Sands skincare at Oxford House in Paddington, Sydney. I’ve stayed here before so maybe I’ll have more luck tonight. The rooms are cute (and small but that’s not a bad thing!) and the beds are very comfortable. The location is also very convenient. I love the Palace Cinema next door and I can’t go past Berkelouw Books without stopping in to peruse/buy books.
Speaking of Bondi Sands skincare - this is such a great, affordable range of products. Nothing is over $30, it’s all fragrance free, great for confused beginners/those looking to simplify their routine, they look cute and just do their job. Here are my top picks.
This week, Angus and I booked a trip to Japan. We’re going for two and a half weeks for Easter next year. It’ll be spring which means it’s cherry blossom season. And guys, let me just say, never give up on your dreams because mine is finally coming true - we’ll be going to the Japan Grand Prix while we’re there! I still can’t believe it but I have many months to mentally prepare. Angus has been to Japan a few times to ski but I’ve never been before. If you have any tips/must dos/sees/hotels or accom recs please DM me or leave a comment. We’ll be visiting Tokyo, Kyoto and Osaka.
Formula 1 is very much on my mind this week (when isn’t it tbh) as it’s the Las Vegas Grand Prix. It’ll be quite the spectacle - they’re literally racing down the Vegas Strip. If you find yourself without plans on Sunday afternoon - tune in. The race is at 5pm (Sydney time), a rare appropriate race time for us in Australia. I usually have to stay up late or wake up horrendously early (I woke up last week at 3.45am to watch the Sao Paulo GP. That was ROUGH).
Another reason to tune in:
Today I read one of my favourite celebrity profiles to date this week. It was an interview with Tom Ford by GQ. Tom is a genius. His tenure at Gucci (1994-2004) is still so relevant to this day - just look at the most recent Gucci SS24 show - he’s all over it.
He’s also directed two movies Nocturnal Animals and my favourite, A Single Man. At 62, he’s left fashion and his beauty empire behind (with a billion or two in the bank) to focus entirely on making films for the rest of his career. In the interview he talks about the death of his husband, his life in Palm Beach, his past with drugs and alcohol (he’s now 14 years sober), and how he built his wildly successful business. Read some of the candid and hilarious anecdotes from the interview below. Or read the full profile here.
On moving to New York to study at NYU and Studio 54
And a young man called Ian Falconer would come up to me every day in art history wearing a little Fair Isle sweater with blond hair. And I just thought, poor thing. He has no friends. He’s glomming on to me. I had no idea he was gay. I had no idea he was trying to pick me up. So he was at the door to my dorm room and he said, “Do you want to go to Studio?” So I put on my blue blazer. He said, we've gotta go by a friend's house. So we go and the two of them kissed on the mouth as they greeted. It was all guys and they all seemed to have Lacoste shirts [with the collars] turned up. So I thought, Okay, these guys are gay. Well, I've always kind of been curious about this. And I just belted back the vodkas. Then Andy came by. We got in a couple of those great Cadillac limousines and went to Studio. When you passed through those doors, you couldn't even believe it. There was a long hallway and it was mirrored and painted gold. It smelled like coke. Everyone was doing drugs completely openly. By the end of the night, I was giving Ian Falconer a blowjob in the cab on the way back to his house on Eighth Street and Fifth Avenue, which he shared with Patrick McMullan. I remember waking up the next morning in Ian's loft bed. Thinking, What the fuck did I do? And I remember saying to him—you've seen it in movies—“This was great, but, you know, I'm not gay.”
On making Gucci a huge success
It’s easy. You have to keep a thread of yourself in it. People used to say, “How do you make everything so sexy? And why do you make everything so sexy?” I don’t start out saying we need to make a sexy dress. I look at a dress and I say, “I can’t see her waist. I want to see that. I can’t see her ass. I want to see—where are her tits?” When I was cutting the underwear for Tom Ford men's, I put every pair on. And if you cut the thighs tight, but you leave a little extra fabric in the middle, you have a bigger dick. And, I'm sorry, when you're walking around in your underwear, you want to look like you're well-endowed, even if you're not. I mean, no matter who you are, you want a bigger dick. Probably people with dicks like this [holds hands about a foot apart], want a bigger dick. The point is, there's a through line through everything I do. If I'm cutting a men's pair of pants, their ass has to look good. And you have to look taller, in better shape, your waist has to look good.
On his career post-Fashion
There are several reasons I sold my company. I felt, after 35 years, I had said everything I could say with fashion. It’s important to know when to get off the stage. I loved making the two films that I made. That was the most fun I’ve ever had in my entire life. I’m 62. Hopefully, I’ll remain somewhat together until 82. So I wanna spend the next 20 years of my life making films. And the clock is ticking. And so it was time to say goodbye to fashion. Fashion is a younger man’s game. It is the world of people from 30 to maybe 50. I'm 62. I'm living in your world. It doesn't mean that I don't have something to contribute. I do think certain professions get better as they get older. I think writers sometimes have a perspective that comes with age. Architects, for some reason, really get good the older they become. Designers rarely change the world of fashion at 62. I did it at 35, maybe until 45. Then I shifted into the moment when you become a household name and you make a lot of money.
Another profile from GQ I read was with Australian actor, Euphoria star and 6ft 5 man Jacob Elordi.
Read it here and enjoy the photoshoot. I’m simply DYING to watch Saltburn by Emerald Fennell (she also made Promising Young Woman, worked on brilliant TV show Killing Eve and fun fact she played Camilla in season 3 + 4 of The Crown. I wasn’t keen on seeing Jacob’s other film, Priscilla but I’m a sucker for director (and icon) Sofia Coppola so yeah, I’ll likely go and see it.
To finish, here’s a few cute home gift ideas:
In The Roundhouse - these green scalloped plates. So cute. We have them in white and love them. And they’ve just made a version with a red edge. Matching napkin and placement set here.
I think this is my quickest quickie yet. Thanks for reading!
More Smooth Brain Thoughts soon,
Ali xx