128/ What I'm Wearing: Weeks 37 - 41 + #ICYMI no. 4
What I've been reading, watching, sharing & wearing.
What I’m Wearing is a series where I share all of the outfits I’ve worn over a given week (or two), along with styling notes, links and related thoughts. If you see an outfit you like on my Instagram, you’ll find it here.
#ICYMI is a mishmash of things I’ve mentioned in my Instagram stories that I expand on and immortalize in my Substack.
Dear readers,
The last month has been more about working on the couch, and less about getting dressed: I had COVID, followed by more dental surgery which left me without a front tooth for a week. Thus, it’s taken me a month to fill a What I’m Wearing newsletter.
But before I get to my outfits, I’ve combined this edition of WIW with #ICYMI because I’ve been sharing a lot of book-related news on Instagram this week that’s also worth noting here. The In Moda Veritas/Bookstack cross-over audience is strong! For those readers persevering through
’s year-long read of War and Peace, I salute you. Perhaps I’ll try again come January.First up, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie announced that her latest novel, Dream Count, will be out on March 4, 2025! Per her publisher:
In Dream Count, Adichie trains her fierce eye on these [four] women in a sparkling, transcendent novel that takes up the very nature of love itself. Is true happiness ever attainable or is it just a fleeting state? And how honest must we be with ourselves in order to love, and to be loved? A trenchant reflection on the choices we make and those made for us, on daughters and mothers, on our interconnected world, Dream Count pulses with emotional urgency and poignant, unflinching observations of the human heart, in language that soars with beauty and power.
My followers weighed in on their favourite Adichie book on Instagram stories:
I also learned that Gabriel García Márquez’s masterpiece, One Hundred Years of Solitude, has been adapted to the small screen and will be coming to Netflix on December 11. Readers, I AM INVESTED. I spent way too many hours reading articles about it, including this beautiful Vanity Fair tribute and story behind how the series came to be made. I also promptly DNF’d the book I was reading and forthwith began my One Hundred Years re-read.
More news: South Korean author Han Kang, author of The Vegetarian (2007) and Human Acts (2014), won the 2024 Nobel Prize in Literature. Being the first Korean writer to win the award, the entire country is elated and buying up her oeuvre: at Korea’s largest bookstore chain, Kyobo,1 Han’s books make up nine of the top 10 bestsellers. It was also one of the first things my dad — who is visiting from Korea after six years away — said to me when I saw him this weekend. If you’ve read any of Han’s books, please share your thoughts in the comments!
Speaking of South Korea, I also shared that the 4,500 km Korea Dulle Trail officially opened last month. *adds to bucket list* The route which follows the perimeter of the entire country has been under development since 2009. Recently, the final portion — the DMZ Peace Trail — was completed, thus closing the loop. My husband and I visited the DMZ in 2011 and it was such an odd, intense, kinda creepy but worthwhile experience:
Speaking of Korean authors, every Friday for the last two months, I’ve been gobbling up a new episode of Pachinko on Apple TV+. Based on the book by Min Jin Lee, I like how the series departs from the book’s structure by presenting the storylines in parallel rather than in chronological order like the source material. Nevertheless, both the book and show are incredible works in their own right and I highly recommend them.
Every Monday, I’ve also been watching Season 4 of My Brilliant Friend on Crave. Unlike Pachinko, the series is basically a scene-for-scene, word-for-word adaption of Elena Ferrante’s quartette. It’s watchable, but also unlike Pachinko, I find the books to be far superior. I read the series last year and I can’t remember the last time a fiction had such a chokehold on me. I thought about those characters everyday for months!
Did you know that The New York Times’ Top 100 Books of the 21st Century named My Brilliant Friend as #1? Book four of the MBF series, The Story Of The Lost Child, was also on the list at #80. Meanwhile, Han’s The Vegetarian was #49, Americanah was #27, and Pachinko was #15.
Okay, onto my outfits!
Shorts
My goodness, it feels like I wore these two outfits ages ago! The changing of the seasons has a way of distorting time. For readers living in warmer climates, at this point I was still doing the Stage 1 of Transition Season Challenge.
Tibi Joggers
As predicted, I’ve worn these joggers almost everyday for the last month, mostly throwing them on for disheveled school runs. Here’s how I wore them on the days I was able to put myself together:
As an alternative to the Calders, Left on Friday’s Field Day Sweatpants also have a pleat at the ankle giving them that barrel leg shape. Someone DM’d me saying they preferred the LOFs because they keep their shape “unlike the Calders.” FWIW, I haven’t washed my Calders yet despite many wears (please don’t judge me), and as of three days ago (see picture with the Escada blazer), they’re worn-in, but the barrel leg is still pronounced. Maybe a reader can speak to this, as well as the thickness of the fabric and inseam length in the comments?
A note about my sneakers: I was envisioning them with a clear red or Bottega green sock, but I was at a local boutique the other day and noticed that they go well with so many colours.
Skirts & Dresses
Yup, still dressing for summer temperatures…
This outfit prompted its own newsletter on how to wear sheer skirts without feeling naked — I came up with seven!
And finally, my outfit last week on what felt like the first true jacket day of the season:
That’s it for this edition of WIW x #ICYMI. Now that my gums aren’t as swollen, my flipper is back in and I can walk around with a full set of teeth again. I expect there will be more regular outfits from here on in.
In case you missed it, yesterday I shared news of the In Moda Veritas Shop Small Giveaway where, for six weeks, I’ll be giving away one gift per week to six lucky paid subscribers. Good luck to all!
Love and gratitude,
Irene
In my early 20s when I HATED going to go Korea because of culture shock/identity crisis, Kyobo (Gwanghwamun branch) was my respite. I would sit there all day and lose myself in books. The other day, when I picked up my copy of One Hundred Years to re-read, I noticed the price sticker :). 17,650 KRW = C$17.50.
Next Post: 129/ The Most Functional & Versatile Boot: 2024 Edition
I was the one who DM'd about the LOF sweatpants vs calders. Fit notes for anyone considering: I tried several sizes of calders (small, small long, and mediums)- smaller size was tight across my butt (yay weightlifting), fit in the waist, but the knees would bag out after a day of wear. Larger size fit better in the butt and didn't bag out as much due to the looser legs however the waist would slowly slide down all day bringing my underwear with it so I was hiking everything up constantly. The LOF are a more traditional sweat material but I find the waist elasticity and room in the butt to be worth the trade off in fabric. I have two sizes- medium in the longer length and large in the shorter length.
I am so here for this crossover!
I feel like I need to congratulate you on the Nobel Prize. I so relate to the excitement.
I am originally from Bulgaria and when last year Georgi Gospodinov won the Internatonal Booker Prize for his book Timeshelter, I think our entire country AND diaspora celebrated like it was a personal accomplishment. The lines at the bookstores were insane and it was the most heartwarming, life-affirming experience.