TT Vol. 56

Noemi, SS22 Men’s & CryptoPunks

Jun 27, 2021

Clockwise from Top.

Welcome Noemi!

We took a few weeks off to welcome our new daughter Noemi to our home. Both her and Raquel are doing great, and we’re thrilled to have her with us. True to spirit, we bought a custom LL Bean Boat and Tote for her diaper bag, and I surprised Raquel with an ID bracelet from Tiffany with Noemi’s name engraved.

We hope to keep the writing and merchandise flowing while learning the ropes as new parents!

CryptoPunks

Not sure how I came across these, but I have been entranced by these adorable CryptoPunks. There are 10,000 digital characters created that you can buy and sell like baseball cards. The most expensive sale was for 7804 which sold for $7.5M in March 2021.

The CryptoPunks were created by a group of software developers in 2017, and each one was generated via an algorithm. They are one of the early examples of digital art called NFT’s, with each CryptoPunk occupying a unique digital cryptocurrency address.

We expect the digital art market to continue to expand quickly: CryptoPunks feel like a pop art project, but what what will be the equivalent of the Mona Lisa?

SS22 Menswear Shows

We’re still behind on our SS22 Menswear shows, with a lot of designers showing in Paris last week. While Kim Jones’ Dior collection scored headlines for (yet another) Travis Scott collaboration, we really enjoyed the casual ambience from Hermès and the sets from the Prada show.

We are in to this ombre cardigan look from Hermès:

And the beautiful Sardinian coast from Prada:

Raquel was in to the Prada hats and square outsole sandals:

We also loved this street style shot from Milan. Raquel’s planned retirement look for SS2049:

And finally, Louis Vuitton revealed a Nike Air Force 1 project.

The Return of Dining Out

This week, I finally made it back to Balthazar, one of our favorite restaurants and a icon on the Soho restaurant scene since 1997. With summer in full swing in NYC, it feels like we’ve turned the corner on COVID.

Balthazar spent most of lockdown boarded up, and we were concerned it might not survive the pandemic. It’s a special place for Raquel and I - we used to have breakfast there every Friday, and would do a holiday dinner date every year with a tiered seafood platter (“Le Grande” in Balthazar patois).

Being able to sit outdoors is a welcome addition to the experience. The people watching on Spring Street on a sunny Friday afternoon is just as good as that inside the restaurant.

Resale News

The used/vintage/pre-owned market continues to heat up. The big news this week was Etsy buying Depop for $1.6 billion. It makes a lot of sense: Etsy has a more DIY aesthetic, and is much less of a destination for apparel or fashion. We’ve had furniture made by artists we’ve found there, but don’t think we have ever purchased any used clothes. Depop fills that void, and gives Etsy access to Gen Z.

Not to be left out Yoox is launching its own Depop competitor called Hi_GuyZ! (yes that is really the name). The branding is really going for it:

It looks to be more of a way to re-merchandise existing inventory and market it to younger customers. Yoox’s affiliates Mr. Porter and Net-A-Porter have plenty of inventory sitting around, and this looks like a creative outlet to sell some of it.