If Everything Ended Tomorrow
On what two thousand years can bury and still not destroy, what's vanishing from the internet you grew up with, and the handful of things that were true before anyone tried to sell them to you.
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This week, I've been busy trying to trick my brain into doing difficult things1 and to write as if the world had ended yesterday and I were the only one left to remember how it felt. Strange how much sharper the ordinary becomes when you imagine it's already gone. It's another way of asking the oldest question in writing: if this moment could never happen again, what would be worth saving? Which details would survive, and which would vanish because no one thought they mattered until they were gone? I once read a book with the same premise: when you are speaking with someone you love, imagine that it's the last time. Every time I think of things in this way, I remember to appreciate them now, while they (and I) are still here.
Today's letter is an assortment of beautiful distractions, lingering questions, ideas to borrow, and a few that may stay with you.
LAST TIME /at hyperreality
In the End, We Only Regret the Chances We Didn’t Take
On indecision, manifestation for sceptics, creativity as self-invention, and the unsettling possibility that the life you’re living may be the result of choices you never realised you were making.
This week’s letter includes: the tyranny of choice and the fantasy of all the selves we might still become; manifestation stripped of its incense and made dangerous once again; creativity as evidence that we exist; the glamour of letting people misunderstand you; oysters, Frida, Paris menswear, Bond Street, yacht culture and the sandwich as emotional transport; summer objects for a more beautiful life at home; and, somewhere near the end, the brain rewriting itself after a single encounter.
SHOP /summer mood
01 - Forget The Filler Lip-Plumping Line-Smoothing Gloss / 02 - Destin De Balmain Eau de Parfum / 03 - Knitted Linen Cardigan / 04 - Mina Smocked Bodice Mini Dress / 05 - Ballet Flats / 06 - Touch cream-to-powder colour / 07 - Boulder Diamond Drop Earrings
Below, for Paid Subscribers: what happens when search stops behaving like search, when brands start writing through newsletters instead of ads, when long lost texts come back into view, my thoughts on upkeep and beauty rituals, and more.
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