From Willy Chavarria’s América to Fashion in San Francisco

Your top 10 most-read pieces of the year, plus where Market Appointment goes from here.

Hi it’s me in my favorite Diotima beaded tank.

The other day, I was on the phone with a prospective mentor when she brought up the name of my newsletter. “Could you focus it more?” she wondered.

I blurted out a quick explanation. What do you mean? It’s a newsletter and event series covering fashion history, business and consumer culture.

She then recommended I narrow down the scope so that I can become known for one thing initially. It’s easier to branch out once people know you’re an expert at something, she said. She wasn’t wrong but I felt myself resisting. Why should I box myself in? What’s wrong with having many interests within one discipline?

Her advice struck a chord. It took me months (and an extensive word cloud) to come up with the name Market Appointment and transparently, I’m still not sure I landed on the right one as I’m afraid it doesn’t quite capture the breadth of the topics I cover. Maybe the issue isn’t the scope but that the name doesn’t immediately convey it.

Market appointments are private industry events during which buyers, sales reps and designers come together to discover collections and engage in transactions that influence the products consumers will see in stores and online. I wanted to convey that this Substack is an open invitation, a trade show of sorts where we (consumers and industry insiders) can come together to explore fashion from different cities, meet the people behind culture-shifting brands, examine the media we consume and also interrogate current events and culture more broadly.

I realize the insider-y nature of the name narrows the scope to shopping but I’m also interested in the culture surrounding shopping (the belief systems and psychological frameworks that drive our actions), the role businesses play in shaping the way we interact with fashion and history’s influence in the course of events.

I realize I hadn’t made this explicit to you readers but I can tell you that no topic is off-topic as it pertains to fashion as an industry, system of labor, creative practice and cultural force.

As such, here’s a preview of what’s coming:

• Is there any morality to duping?

• Polyester isn’t good but it’s not entirely bad either

• The psychology of collecting Margiela Tabis

• The politics of wearing clothes: a review of the States of Undress series

• Black dandies are all around us

• What does it mean to dress for the subway? The considerations of subway style

Market Appointment started as an experiment. As an aspiring journalist who has informally been studying fashion history for the better part of the past three years, I was looking for a platform to dive into my findings and curiosities. I have been moved by the reception my Substack has received so far. From being recommended by top writers I admire early on to gaining close to 2,000 subscribers in nine months, I do not take your attention for granted. In fact, moving into 2025, I want to better apply myself to servicing you. I am so thankful for my paid subscribers who make this work possible so I want to make sure there are never months when I go MIA unless it’s announced prior.

My goal is to upgrade to writing two posts a week and pilot a few paid subscriber-only events. I will introduce a “News of the Week”- style column where I’m reporting and breaking down the biggest happenings in the industry, bring back my “Must-Read” section at the end of every newsletter, as well as a “Discovery” section that will highlight new designers, brands and products I’m obsessed with from all over the globe. Last but not least, I will also introduce a monthly “Book or Documentary Report” so you’re better acquainted with what’s on my bookshelf and in my watch list, plus I will get more personal by interrogating my personal style. This is in addition to the cultural programming I plan to exclusively promote in this newsletter (look out for a Substack reading party, a movie night and a designer pop-up within the first quarter of 2025).

This new version will be produced in collaboration with you so I’d love if you could participate in the polls below or reply to this email with anything you’d like to share.

As always, if you’ve learned something or found value in anything I’ve written or any of the five Market Appointment Live events or book parties I’ve hosted this year, please upgrade to a paid subscription.

In the meantime, here are your 10 most-read articles of the year:

1. Who Are Today’s Fashion Authorities?

When I think about who today’s fashion media authorities are, the editors at Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar or Women’s Wear Daily no longer come to mind. This would be different decades ago when these publications published hard-hitting writing and journalism that didn’t pander to the power brokers’ whims. John Fairchild, the man credited with making WWD a success, was famous for his biting criticism of the industry. He used to assign letter grades to designer collections and did not mince words when they didn’t meet his standards. “On the whole, I think the fashion press’s power—and WWD’s in particular—is greatly overrated,” he wrote in his 1989 memoir, “Chic Savages.”

2. Everyone Has a Gift Guide

As media companies continue to trade their authority for advertising dollars, we’re gravitating towards individual creators and Substackers whose styles and tastes we appreciate. The thinking being that if someone dresses well, they must also be living well. This has turned writing gift guides into an exercise in signaling status by way of the things someone owns (and think others should too) or aspire to own.

3. From a Concept Store to an Economic Movement: How Kai Avant-deLeon Changed Bed-Stuy

Sincerely, Tommy is one of those stores you wish you had in your neighborhood. Not only is the space tastefully (and intentionally) designed—boasting pieces you won’t find in department stores—it’s also home to community events and initiatives that improve the local quality of life.

4. Willy Chavarria’s América

Since launching his namesake label in 2015, Chavarria has successfully expanded the narrow scope of high fashion with his unique preppy-meets-streetwear take on menswear and intentional storytelling. “I’m glorifying my own people,” he told Latin media brand Remezcla in 2018. “Showing us in a light that is intelligent, sophisticated, and thoughtful. It’s not just clothes.”

In an industry governed by the Eurocentric gaze, Chavarria has leaned into his “otherness” to reclaim history, constructing powerful narratives (and exciting sartorial ideas) that rarely unfold during fashion month. Along the way, his designs have made other marginalized communities feel seen, too.

5. "Hawk Tuah" Girl Makes The Cut, So What Is in Vogue Today?

Rolling Stone’s 1,500-word feature on the “Hawk Tuah” girl perfectly exemplifies what is wrong with media today:

1. Clickbait at all costs (“the National Hero We Need”)

2. The overreliance on viral content (“Since a video of Welch uttering the now immortal sound “hawk tuah” (pronounced hôk too-ä) became part of the national consciousness last month…”)

3. The making and/or glorification of nobodies (“While she may not sing or write songs, the “Hawk Tuah Girl,” as she’s come to be known, exudes the charm and magnetism of a Gen Z Dolly Parton.”)

4. The algorithmization of content (why are we primarily sourcing stories from the internet instead of, you know, real life?)

6. Is NYC Experiencing a Fashion Retail Renaissance?

Fashion people love to proselytize about the death of retail in New York. Chalk it up to the very public decline of department stores and the egregious rent hikes. But if they zoom in, they will see the future in the collective of multi-brand concept stores and vintage shops that are challenging the current buying system. Although they are of varying sizes, what these stores have in common is a forward-thinking, non-conformist attitude that gives them the rare ability to make even the most jaded shopper excited about buying clothes. You can actually say that NYC is experiencing a fashion retail renaissance.

7. What People Are Wearing in Bushwick

8. A Chat With Elizabeth Way, Curator of Africa's Fashion Diaspora at FIT

Rosa Parks is known for a lot of amazing things but a lot of people don’t also know that she was a dressmaker…Dressmaking was some of the most highly skilled and highly paid work that women could get at that time (going back into the 19th and 18th centuries). So it was a very acceptable job for women but there was a lot of room for empowerment as well.

9. Fashion in San Francisco?

Ironically, fashion became part of the city’s identity in its effort to rebuild itself as a worthy stop on the U.S. map. The legacy of importing international designers to local boutiques is still alive at McMullen, Heidi Says, Betty Lin, Designer Consigner, and the myriad of shops I didn’t get to see during my 48-hour visit. While the garments are most often worn in rarefied spaces, the history betrays the current attitude that favors normcore neutrality. Fashion has been vital to the rebirth of San Francisco. It’s time the city stopped suppressing it.

10. Why Fashion Keeps Selling Us '90s Nostalgia

Nineties-era Vogue maintained a veneer of progressiveness, but it had a major blind spot: non-white people’s influence on fashion were largely missing from its glossy editorials (let alone covers). This transpired most clearly in the fifth episode “Hip-Hop Takes Fashion,” where viewers could perceive the lack of commitment to inclusivity.

Thank you for reading! I wish you all a wonderful Christmas break.

Until next time,

Shelcy