When you don't care about quiet luxury but love The Row
At first glance my outfits don’t typically scream “Row customer”. At all. I only wear ivory when my child is with a sitter, love a graphic tee, own a mildly insane amount of leopard print, and used to run a vintage clothing business. While I appreciate a well curated quiet luxury look (mostly on other people), I also love a loud statement piece. I stalk The Real Real for Supreme, Acne Studios, Margiela and limited edition Louis Vuitton bags. While I aim to one day purchase Row knits and other RTW pieces, I am a toddler mom. A very pregnant one, at that. It doesn’t feel practical (or within my budget) just yet (see the $5,000-9000 coats on their site). If one was to have to define me as either a maximalist or a minimalist, I have the feeling most with go with the former, not the latter (though I’d probably consider myself a midmalist- a la
).There is, undoubtedly, an intimidation factor to The Row. All of my purchases have been made online. I don’t feel fully at ease going into their stores- partly because their L.A. outpost is nowhere near my house and also because I’m sure I don’t fit the super chic vibe most of their customers have (I’d probably feel pressured to tone it down in terms of my outfit). I’ve also heard there are rules at the store and even knowing that makes me anxious.
While their Spring 2025 collection (they’ve had two collections since but this was the one that really resonated with me) featured flannel and denim, it also held looks so gorgeously streamlined I can only picture them being worn by women who speak French and live in cool brownstones and mingle with artists and were doing the whole slicked back hair thing before Hailey Bieber graduated high school. The kind of women who are featured in VOGUE but probably too busy being fabulous to read it regularly.
All this being said… their clothing has a unique wearability. It’s beautifully separate from the loud, heavily logo’ed pieces of so many design houses but their designs are far and above the fray of other logo-less brands. There is major staying power. My pieces don’t get shoved to the back of my closet, put in a reconsider pile, or make me think “was I high when I bought this?!” (I miss CBD gummies). I find the bags and shoes I’ve purchased to blend seamlessly with the rest of my wardrobe- the statement pieces, the basics and everything in between. I texted my good friend
while writing this and she summed it up perfectly - ‘It’s a great brand for when there’s something that you know will sort of connect the dots with a lot of pieces and you just wanna get it and be done and now it will do the trick beautifully’. EXACTLY.So, what exactly do I own from them? Well, my biggest buy was the 15.75 India bag (pictured below, suede version here). Also my favorite. I love the shape, I love that it’s a little different from their "Margaux” bag, and that it holds a LOT- including my laptop. My only wish is that it had feet on the bottom for a little protection.
I have purchased the zipper boots, turquoise satin sandals, flip flops, the Banana bag, Astra bowling bag, and….most recently the brown shoulder bag (similar here) of my dreams for which I created a saved search on TRR.
I still look at some of their pieces and wonder about the price and customer-though I’m certain there’s some cool girl in Brooklyn who could pull off this funky cashmere hat.
My love and adoration for The Row has been a lesson to me that even if you’re not a “quiet luxury” girl (sorry!! I know we’re all sick of that term), there’s still major value in carefully considered investments.
& for when you crave the vibe…
BTW….
Just ordered this striped knit.
Recently discovered that FarFetch has some great secondhand designer bags- currently coveting this beauty.
Shopbop hearts are up to date here. It’s been unusually chilly in L.A. this week, I have this (under $200) coat is in my cart.
XO, Liz
my 2025 open to buy
friends- we are safely home after evacuating. A lot of the same organizations for wildfire victims are getting promoted on here, which is great, but I also encourage you to donate to family GoFundMe’s (I went off …
I don’t know if you follow Allison Bornstein but I think her breakdown of the Olsen twins actual style recently is so interesting. The fact that while they create quiet luxury, minimalist clothing they don’t actually dress that way. They dress more like you with a mixture of luxury, vintage, and funky items. It makes me see that their clothes are meant to be, like you say, used to connect the dots of an outfit not necessarily worn head to toe.
I actually think you’re COOLER than the typical The Row girlie (which sometimes is where I land/aspire to land)! I keep going back to intuition and following our guts as to what feels good to us and I love that you’ve taken from the brand what feels good to you and left the rest behind. Perfection, really!