The New York Happy Meal
The New York Happy Meal
and Yayoi Kusama x LV, Thom Browne vs Adidas and LED Light Masks
Clockwise from Top.
The New York Happy Meal
New York Mag goes in search of “The New York Happy Meal,” a conception we love and have been unconsciously doing for a very long time:
Café Loup was many things to many people. For me, it was where I discovered that winning combination of martinis and French fries: the New York Happy Meal. The martinis at Loup were beastly things. Served however you liked, often by the silver-haired bartender, Dien Huynh, who had been working there since the early ’90s, they were poured to the brim so the top of the cocktail glass had a baby bump. He’d then give you the rest of the shaker as though you had ordered an innocent milkshake — fuck a sidecar. I had never seen such blunt cirrhotic excess before, and I haven’t since. The fries were not just nourishment; they were necessary. The food at Loup was forgettable, but not the fries: hot, salty, satisfying.
We have our own version1 of this: a martini for me, chardonnay for Raquel, a dozen oysters, and a heaping pile of French fries. We are blessed with many, many good options for this in NYC. It is basically the perfect meal, and surprising that more restaurants do not market this.
Thom Browne beats adidas
Thom Browne switched from three stripes to four stripes back in 2007, and still got sued. It seems a little silly for adidas to claim the extra stripe is going to throw off consumers. I don’t think someone who is going to buy $50 adidas stretch pants is going to get confused and buy a $750 Thom Browne version.
Within a matter of hours of the close of the trial that had been underway before the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York since last week, the jury found that despite adidas’s arguments to the contrary, Thom Browne did not engage in trademark infringement or dilution by offering up apparel and footwear bearing a four-stripe motif.
Thom Browne famously has an extremely restrictive uniform policy. I frequently see their employees decked out in full Thom Browne kits walking around the garment district. And I’ve heard they created athletic wear so employees could wear their TB at the gym.
Louis Vuitton x Yayoi Is Back
It’s the 10th anniversary of the original collaboration that Marc Jacobs launched, and while it was less commercial than this one, it has aged well.2 The new collection is less about the artist, and is designed to SELL. It has had a splashy roll out on line, along with large installations around the world.
For the second time, Louis Vuitton has invited the preeminent Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama to a new creative encounter, reawakening, evolving and expanding on the pioneering initial exchange.
It’s just not that exciting, and is really designed to appeal to the most people possible, and the bags look Bozo the Clown-ish. The best part is the luggage, which turned out well: Women’s + Men’s versions.
More info on Yayoi Kusama and this massive release on this week’s podcast!
LED Light Masks
Raquel and I joke about when we are going to finally get botox. (We don’t have a date yet but it’s rapidly approaching.) But if there is one beauty tool we have been intrigued about, it’s the LED light mask.
There’s nothing quite like a parade of people in glowing stormtrooper masks to make you feel like maybe you’re not doing enough for your skin. I’m talking, of course, about all the TikTok-beloved LED masks that claim to treat acne, smooth wrinkles, plump skin, fade hyperpigmentation — and the list goes on.
There is a lot of data that says light therapy works,3 but do at-home light masks actually do the job? The key is to look for models that have done clinical trials, and are FDA-approved (i.e., will not scald your face). Unlike, say this golden one from MZ Skin that does not seem to be either FDA-approved or clinically tested.
For Hire.
I’m helping recruit for an associate planning role at Peter Millar.
We’re hiring an associate buyer for my team at Christian Louboutin.
If anyone is interested please let me know!
Links.
Saks Fifth Avenue is bidding to put a casino on top of its iconic midtown flagship.
Rent The Runway is selling used inventory on Amazon.
Prince Harry says he was bred to offer spare organs to his brother William.
Banks are now trying to compete with the Expedia’s of the world.
Hunting traps you can see from space.
Honeybees are getting a vaccine.
Matty Matheson at the Golden Globes.
<3
Chris & Raquel
To quibble with the headline, a Happy Meal typically has a protein! Our seafood version of this is probably even closer to the McDonald’s menu staple.
Red light for collagen production, blue light wards of bacteria/acne.