Hello and welcome to Is It Just Me, Or …? A newsletter for curious people where I share my thoughts, opinions and recommendations about all things from pop culture and fashion to books, tv shows, design & more.
Ciao a tutti and welcome back to IIJMO. I hope you’ll forgive the little break I took and have been putting our time apart to good use – meaning have you had your first pistachio gelato wearing your secondhand Gucci sunglasses sitting on some bench in the sun yet? I do hope so. Before we get into this week’s edit, I want to say hi to the new subscribers, and thank each and every one of you for reading this newsletter and supporting my work. You have no idea how much this means to me. Thanks for the sweet messages I receive, it really makes my day and it’s an incredible feeling to see you guys like what I write, share and recommend. Merci – you’re the best and cheers to you!
Now, let’s start this edition with apparently the most important question on everybody’s mind right now: who’s in Milan next week? If you don’t know what I’m talking about, let me fill you in: one of the gatherings in the design industry, Milan Design Week, is taking place from April 15th - 21st featuring its most prominent showcase, Salone del Mobile. The furniture and design fair (called just “Salone” by insiders fyi) started out in 1961 as a platform for industry professionals highlighting Italian furniture, but has since become not just the biggest of its kind in the world, it’s also turned into quite the sensation, especially since influencers have entered the chat. I remember when my parents used to go (they owned a furniture retail company) and it was not that big a deal back then. But with a skyrocketing interest in interior design over the last decade, and the emergence of content creators focussing on all things furniture and design, Salone del Mobile has turned into a proper event.
It’s the seasonal hot ticket, kind of the equivalent of Fashion Week or Art Basel, and everybody with a job in a creative field is going or wants to go. Which is totally fine by me, I’m really happy for y’all. I bet it’s pretty awesome. What made me chuckle on numerous occasions recently however is witnessing how the people going want everyone to know they’re going by posting who’s in Milan next week? in their Instagram Stories.
Every fourth Insta Story I saw in the last seven days featured this nineteen-letter, most probably rhetorical, question. And I’m not saying people shouldn’t have the right to connect, but it’s kinda getting out of hand at this point. Surely, these people aren’t going by themselves? Like, they would have friends or colleagues or peers going too, right? Or is travelling to Salone usually a solo thing, like going on vacation by yourself? Do correct me if I’m wrong here, I’m just doing an Ed Sheeran and thinking out loud. And, hypothetically, if I were to dm you back to your Insta Story that I’m going to be there as well – what happens then? I’m genuinely curious. Will we meet up to go to the fair together? Are we having coffee? A negroni? Is there a secret meeting? Is who’s in Milan next week actually a code for something I’m not getting? Maybe someone who’s actually going can clear things up for us normal mortals.
Anyways, whether or not you’re travelling to Milano, I, as per usual, have collected a bunch of recommendations for you. They’re a bit on the longer side this time, after skipping last week I have the urge to communicate, I hope you won’t mind. Usually a spring cleaning involves getting rid of, not adding, stuff, but let’s see this as my Marie Condo-esque way of sharing some fresh and new input that’s very worth your precious time and hopefully will spark joy. Have fun and feel free to let me know what you think. Maybe by posting who’s reading Is It Just Me, Or …? this week in your stories? Just a thought. xx
Edition #10 – High & Low: John Galliano, Ripley is back, A royal Scoop, a dystopian novel & the ACOTAR hype
I) High & Low: John Galliano
This past week, I was kindly invited by streaming service Mubi to the preview of High & Low: John Galliano – and let me tell you, this film almost altered my brain chemistry. But let’s start at the beginning: High & Low: John Galliano is a documentary by award-winning director Kevin Macdonald about the Gibraltar-born, London-bred designer Juan Carlos Antonio Galliano-Guillén, aka John Galliano, one of the most important designers of our time, who famously fell from grace in 2011 when a video of him making horrible antisemitic statements in a Parisian cafe was made public. The scandal was widely covered in the press, Galliano was (rightly so) fired from his position as head designer of Dior, and was officially charged for his actions. Although he did somewhat recover in recent years (especially since his last Margiela Couture Collection), the name John Galliano always came with an aftertaste. It was a forgiven-but-not-forgotten type of situation, and some (again, rightly so) never forgave him at all.
High & Low: John Galliano takes this incident as its starting point and, with (quite intense) interviews with the designer himself, goes back in time to understand or at least tries to understand how it could have come to this moment at café La Perle in Paris in February of 2011. We get glimpses into Galliano’s childhood and family life (rocky, to say the least), his first steps as a fashion designer (he’s a rebel on and off the runway) and his eventual and seemingly inevitable rise to fame. Galliano, to most, is one-of-a-kind, the genius of his generation. But life handed him lemons, and instead of making lemonade, he squeezed the lemon juice into his vodka soda. Galliano talks us through his mental state at the time, the constant pressure of this brutal job, eventually leading him to find solace at the bottom of a bottle. His alcohol and drug addiction slowly destroyed him.
The uncomfortable (and fascinating) thing about the film is that right when you start to feel sorry for him, the plot changes. Because the documentary is not at all a one-sided story for Galliano to repent, make amends and find forever forgiveness. It doesn’t just depict what it did to him, but also what it did to his victims. Some scenes are incredibly heartbreaking and very hard to watch. One second, you find yourself praising Galliano for his immense talent, his unmatched brilliance, and the next you can’t stand his ignorance and naivety. You deeply feel for him at some point, and despise him a heartbeat later. You’re constantly torn between compassion and condemnation.
Equally interesting: the film shows how the most powerful people in the fashion industry worked really freaking hard to bring him back, supported him and tried to restore his image because the vicious man in the video “is just not him”. It’s a classic case of “if they want to, they can” that’s all too familiar. In the end, the director leaves it to the audience to make up their own mind about this ingenious yet highly controversial character. As for the doc itself, I can’t recommend it enough. Plus: Mubi offers a free 7-day trial.
II) Ripley is back
Netflix has released the adaptation of the 90s movie classic The Talented Mr. Ripley – and it’s insanely good. The series, called Ripley, is largely based on the original film with Matt Damon (Tom Ripley), Jude Law (Dickie Greenleaf) and Gwyneth Paltrow (Marge Sherwood), BUT it’s much darker, more eerie and actually quite nerve-wrecking. I don’t want to give away too much, but I also need to say a few things. First, Andrew Scott as Tom Ripley is incredible! Until now, he was always The Hot Priest for me (if you know you know), but he’s so captivating and believable in this role, his stare alone scared me at times. Brilliantly cast. Secondly, they switched up the character of Marge (played amazingly by Dakota Fanning) to make her less of a simple-minded, naive, blonde bimbo. Love! And also a lot more realistic. Third, in this version, Dickie Greenleaf (played by Johnny Flynn who you might now from Lovesick) almost seems like a secondary character. Sometimes you can’t even see his face properly. It’s interesting since the beauty and attraction of Jude Law as Dickie was such a big part of his role in my opinion. Last but not least: the story actually deviates from the original midway through, which really kept me on my toes. Oh – did I mention that it’s in black and white? Give it a go, and let me know how you liked it.
III) A royal scoop
I, a self-proclaimed scoop lover, obviously watched Scoop as soon as it came out on Netflix. The movie tells the real story of how the infamous and disastrous BBC interview with Prince Andrew came to be, the one where he tries to explain his connection (or supposed lack thereof) to Jeffrey Epstein, Ghislaine Maxwell, and denies his general involvement. The film recreates the moment he single-handedly dug his own grave on national television. While the movie slightly under-delivers as it sometimes lacks in intensity and urgency, it’s the interview scene that’s the star of the show. The most interesting thing about this particular part is how different the two parties involved (team BBC and team Andrew) perceive Prince Andrew’s answers. Plot twist: Andrew thought it was going really well and did not, for a second, understand the gravity of his incredulous, nonsense answers. Make sure to also watch the original interview if you don’t know it already, you probably won’t believe your ears.
IV) Red Rising by Pierce Brown
This is one of those books that you need to give a few pages/chapters before starting to really appreciate it, but once you do, you’ll be rewarded. Considering it’s not a very talked about or well-known book in Germany (which might also be due to the fact that it came out in 2014), I was surprised to see it had great ratings on Goodreads, and it’s a New York Times bestseller, which is enough for me to give it a go. Red Rising is a dystopian science-fiction novel (think Hunger Games meets Divergent, but more violent) where society is divided into colours depending on rank. It’s set in the future, as the Reds (the miners and lowest class) have left Earth behind and gone to Mars to make it fit for the rest of the population to live on. Darrow, our main character, is a Red, working day and night and following the rules because he believes in the system, although it has not been nice to his kind. That is until he finds out that they’ve been betrayed all along by the Golds (the highest class), and his quest for the truth and justice for his people sends him on an intense, thrilling and ruthless journey to destroy the system.
This book may feel like a lot sometimes, but I loved it for its incessant tension, the psychological games and great character building. It’s a multi-part saga series, there’s six books in total, divided into two parts. Part one includes Red Rising, Golden Son and Morning Star.
V) A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J Maas
If you’re at all into books of any kind, you’ll know about the massive hype and wild success of this series by author Sarah J Maas that started with A Court of Thorns and Roses, ACOTAR in short. This adult romantasy saga has become a global phenomenon, making it a worldwide bestselling series and catapulting Sarah J Maas to literary stardom. Readers really worship her, and will almost fight you for it like Taylor Swift’s Swifties or Beyoncé’s Beehive. Naturally, I had to see for myself what the craze is all about. I read the first book in the series (find a summary of it here) – and my honest opinion is that it is okay (please don’t come for me, thank you). I liked it, didn’t love it, and certainly did not lose my freaking head over it like so many others. Will I still read the rest of the books? Bien évidemment, mes amis.
What I find a lot more interesting is the gigantic success around ACOTAR, the marketing techniques, the author herself and how all of it changed and shaped the business. Remember when everybody said the youth aren’t reading anymore and books are dead? Yeah, right. The publishing industry calls Maas the “reigning queen of romantasy”, claiming she’s changed the genre and highly influences what will be on bookshelves. And granted, when I step into one of the big bookstores these days, 90% of what I see are fantasy fairy stories laced with spicy romance. It’s an interesting trend, especially from sociological perspective, but opening that can of worms would take me an entire newsletter alone. Maas has released two other series in her time, which are equally successful. She’s sold 38 million books worldwide – which in’t even close to JK Rolling’s 600 million and Stephenie Meyer’s 100 million, but still. There’s talks of the ACOTAR series being made into a tv show or movie, and Sarah J Maas was recently spotted meeting with the Margot Robbie (who co-owns the production company Lucky Chap). Exciting times ahead, my fellow fairies. If you’ve read any of her books or are planning to, shoot me a dm and we can exchange notes!
Bonus: speaking of lemons
Thank you for being here! I hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I did writing it. À très bientôt!
The next edition of Is It Just Me, Or …? will be in your inbox on April 21st.