HEART SHOES AT COSTCO
Logging On - June 3rd
Logging On is a weekly sprint through the timeline — Raeland Mendoza filters the noise into his takes on fashion, media, music, and whatever is moving the needle.
Expect the weekly titular column, sharp personal essays, guest features with industry friends, and enough taste to hold you over until the next big algorithm shift.
Apologies on getting this weeks’ dispatch out a bit later than expected. Your boy was in [REDACTED]’s first collection fitting till the late evening, so I didn’t have much gas in the tank after looking at Sashiko fabric swatches all night.
In other news - the rumours are indeed true. I can confirm with a personal account, the heart shoes are indeed at Costco (see proof below). Right next to some Roger Federer On’s to boot. Some important questions I asked myself while eating a double chunk chocolate cookie:
What does this mean for the state of Fashion? Is this the true recession indicator? How does Rei feel about this? Why is this SO funny?
Who knows about the other questions, but I did land on two conclusions: CDG Play at Costco feels inherently like a meme because 1) it sums up this current moment so well (re: economic instability, conspicuous consumerism, pro-dupe / post-tariff sentiment), and 2) no niche grail is ever 100% safe from becoming adopted en masse by the mobs of Asian moms at Costco on a Sunday.
THIS WEEK ON THE TIMELINE
LINKS/READS
Certified Snobs Sinking Ships, Blackbird Spyplane
”Things are cursed. Swag, grace and dignity are under assault. The answer, though, isn’t to lionize and fetishize old, crumbling seats of power.”
Subway Takes: Normalize NOT Being Obsessed With Dogs
I’ve always thought humanizing animals was noted weird behaviour.
FASHION
LEO GAMBOA ON THE ART OF THE FASHION COLLABORATION
Fresh off the heels of the Levi’s x Sacai collab, sneaker vet and head of collaborations at Levi’s, Leo Gamboa gives his insights on the dying art of the brand collaboration.
The photo of him eating pizza on top of his vintage Mercedes while wearing an Edmonton Oilers is also definitely going on the personal moodboard.
BONUS VIBE: My latest Final_Final_Final dispatch also speaks on a similar ideas.
JONATHAN ANDERSON’S DIOR TAKEOVER
You’ve already likely heard, buy Jonathan Anderson’s full takeover at Dior is an unprecedented move for the acclaimed designer and brand. Though he’s far from the only designer/design director working on these collections, as someone who’s had a taste of working on 4 collections a year at scale - the thought of leading 18 collections genuinely makes my feel stress and/or terror.
BONUS: I did like this optimistic take, in that maybe this will actually slow down fashions unrelenting pace?
MUSIC
GABY IBARRA, TINY DESK CONCERT
Laced with references to Filipino mythology, solidarity, and the struggles of her self-titled “1.5 Generation” immigrant story, Gaby Ibarra’s performance on NPR this week sent a shockwave from the Bay to Tacloban. I wasn’t familiar with her work before this, but those opening lines of Bakunawa felt like a rally cry from Lapu-Lapu himself.
FEATURE: WORK LEAKS PHOTO DUMP
Considering last week’s feature on linen’s and the fact I was fitting garms for 6+ hours last night, this weeks feature will just be a no context photo dump of random things me and the team(s) are working on.
*Obligatory big things coming soon*
Amongst other things, Raeland is a Creative Director and Designer in Vancouver.
Explore his work at TOMORROW WORKS.
to me, CDG Play at Costco isn't a recession indicator so much as a generational signifier. millennials are old now, and so it's only fair that staples of our mood boards will be kinda cooked and available en masse. it's not all that different from how Acne is everywhere, or how Norse Projects is sold in department stores!