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Fall is about to start shipping to Earl IRL—I’ve asked a lot of our vendors to hold off on shipping until I’m back from my summer break, at the end of the month. (Side note, I go on break August 12, and won’t be back until September 1. If you’d like an appointment with me, come in this week, or Monday or Tuesday next week. Morgan will be in the store, so we won’t be closed that whole time, I just will not personally be there!) That said, I feel like in many ways we’re really about to hit our stride in terms of the brands we’re getting in store, and also the things we’re getting in store.
I talked about this with Bettina and Albert from Rocha, unfortunately my audio got cut out of the recording… but the thing we talked about was when we both opened we took on brands and items we thought we “should” have, or things that “would sell,” because they either sold well for someone else, or seemed like the kind of thing people want. Sometimes those buys hit, sometimes they didn’t. Mainly they didn’t, and the things that did hit, for me, were the weird things that I specifically love and covet and can’t get enough of. The Ashishes, the Zankovs, and then less weird but still wonderful Kallmeyer, Rohe, Madesome, Arma, High Sport, etc etc etc. Fall is shaping up to be really excellent. We’re bringing on Conner Ives, along with Kartik Research, Yana Matkivski, Olivia Cashmore, and ready-to-wear from Indress. We’re creeping up on a year, and I think the edit is only getting sharper and sharper.
The first thing to deliver from fall was our Herbert Levine buy, and oh my god, it kills. These are easily the most beautiful shoes I’ve ever seen—each pair is lined with unbelievably soft suede, they feel like baby mouse ears, and every style is cuntier than the last.
It was difficult to make my edit for the store with these—buying them is a major investment. Shoes also take up a ton of space in the store because, obviously, they’re stored in boxes. And I need to buy multiple sizes for each pair, so that’s just more and more and more money and space. On paper, it seems like a questionable choice to even have them. And yet….I love them. And I love Trevor, the brand’s designer. And aside from meeting people all day and playing with clothes, the best part of what I do is getting to meet someone kind who’s making something wonderful (I have a personal attachment or connection to every single brand I have in my store) and then helping other people discover this wonderful, special thing. I get to make discoveries and then really do something with them! What a blessing!
So anyway, the store is full of shoes, and they thrill me, but I did have a strategy when I was putting together the edit, otherwise it would have been impossible. I was thinking - this buy (more than any other buy) should represent a complete shoe wardrobe. All the bases should be covered with some wildcards thrown in. There’s an unstructured take on the classic loafer, an elegant lady flat, a sensible kitten heel mule, a great flat black boot, a perfect riding boot, a sexy heel, and a bitchy pointy toe boot. Then there are some wild-cards, the things that make your wardrobe extra-special: a pair of riding boots in leopard calf hair, a wine-colored kitten heel mule, a pointy knee-high boot that’s dark brown on one side and cream on the other. A few surprises to round out the basics.
I think the philosophy for the rest of the store is heading in the inverse of that: surprises with a few basics to round them out, and I just love that direction. There’s been a lot written about and talked about when it comes to retail lately, and I’m just so happy people are getting out to shop in person again. I’m happy I get to create my own thing and share it with people.
SO! This is a little look at the shoe edit. The photos are blurry because I didn’t wipe off my front-facing camera, but this is the reality of Earl IRL. It’s me and my assistant, our hands on everything, very sweet and tender and gentle and sometimes there are crumbs on the floor.
COME SEE US!
Your friend,
Laurel (earl@earlirl.com)
So here for everything you're building Laurel! Such a huge inspiration x
Crumbs on the floor 🙋♀️ exquisite round up!