What's in Store, Volume 5, EL SOURCE

Welcome to shopping (and more) like you've never shopped before.

At some point, most of us here have expressed some kind of shopping disappointment. Online shopping feels anonymous and overwhelming. A brand-based store doesn’t often reflect the way we really dress, deploying a mix of brands and prices — and also, at least for me, always with secondhand mixed in. Many of you ask for help secondhand shopping; it can feel overwhelming. (Guidance: here + here.) On top of that, even the most “elevated” in store shopping experience can feel intimidating and pressuring. And time consuming and exhausting versus a treat.

It’s what brought me to Saks Fifth Avenue Club, which addresses many of the problems. Private shopping, across brands/floors, where someone lovely helps you. And it’s a great time saving measure; if you love fashion but also work, you can go with a mission from “the perfect pair of jeans” to “an entire spring wardrobe” to “evolve my style” and arrive to a pretty room full of pre-pulled pieces and an expert to walk you through it, which can be a long term relationship.

Alexa and I at El Source

Alexa is a friend and a stylist I work with and first met in the Saks Fifth Avenue Club with the mutual friend who introduced us. I was instantly drawn to her cool, mannish vs. bodycon style (so unusual in MIA) and personality for days. She has an insane understanding of every aspect of fashion and style from brands (mainstream and more obscure) to fabrics and how they drape, to sourcing hard-to-find pieces and so much more. Plus she always tells you the truth. I was so amazed when, after meeting me just once, I arrived to an appointment in a room filled with things that appealed to me, pushed me, excited me and just … worked. There’s a saying I stole from a friend of a friend: “It’s either a hit or it’s shit.” Alexa knows the hits. I thought we were just getting started!

It’s why when she announced a second act, called EL SOURCE (good name, right?) I couldn’t wait to go see what it was about.