Subscriber request: What should I buy? And what should I not buy?

Sounds pretty straightforward, right?

One of the things I really like to do for my dear paid subscribers is answer all of your questions! I know $80/year is not nothing, and I feel like this is a way to provide something of genuine value to you.

But some questions are tougher than others!

I do end up answering all of them. But some I seem to noodle forever. This was one of those. Simply asked, simple on it’s surface but WOAH - where do I start? How do I tackle it in a way that’s truly informative and not a bunch of generalisms, yet applies to all of you? And in a way that’s practical — I’m a great consumer but no one wants to read a book on it.

I looked through all my hero pieces, the ones I turn to over and over, and I also (painfully) considered the 15 items I just boxed up for the Real Real. I also took over the conversation at the bar consulted a focus group of my stylish friends.

So here’s where I landed. (And the coolest part may be that I had a designer create some crib sheets that you can screenshot for easy access. An idea from our dear

Allison Bornstein

). They’re at the bottom of this post if you want the TL;DR. Anyway, off we go…