Ref in Residence continues this summer. First, Courtney Grow traveled with friends to celebrate her limited summer collection, followed by a trip featuring influencer friends including Diana-May, styled! by sara walker, COCO SCHIFFER, Olivia’s Shopping Diary , and Clem Lopez. I continue to admire Reformation’s approach to brand trips. There’s a level of trust and genuine relationship-building with the creators they invite because they aren’t accompanied by a large brand team managing every moment of the experience. Instead of a packed itinerary, it feels organic. Friends on vacation in Italy, dressed in the latest Ref summer staples, enjoying their trip while naturally creating content along the way.
Parker Thatch and Big Night launched a limited-edition collaboration on an Everywhere Tote designed for summer farmers market runs and beach weekends. To celebrate, they hosted a launch party with their communities at Big Night. I loved the interview with Joyce Lee and Katherine Lewin on mom friend.
Marine Layer invited influencers to Formentera, a Spanish island, for a few days with the brand dressed in the brand’s summer collection. The campaign first came to life through social content shot on the island before evolving into an actual brand trip. Similar to Reformation, the itinerary feels relaxed and the content feels more authentic, with friends and siblings traveling together, from the Sisto siblings to friends like Courtney, Melanie Masarin and Amrit Tietz. The creators and friends of the brand are consistently posting on their channels with the brand reposting to their stories. The Plunge was gifted on this trip too (seen last week on Veronica Beard’s summer reading list!).
J.Crew produced a beautiful summer camp campaign and then brought it to life with an actual summer camp experience for creators, all dressed head-to-toe in J.Crew for the trip. Guests attended Camp J.Crew complete with rowing competitions, s’mores by the fire, boat rides, lakeside meals, and afternoon swims. It made me nostalgic for summers spent at the lake. Beautifully done.
Then, to reach a broader audience, the brand followed up with another large-scale influencer campaign, this time centered around the Reverie Dress in Marigold Block Print.
Hill House and Roller Rabbit launched their collaboration this week and hosted their communities at Fellini Coffee to celebrate. When I first saw the partnership, I was admittedly a little confused since the brands feel closely aligned, from their audiences to their signature prints, but the response in the comments made it clear customers were excited about the overlap. The brands seeded product ahead of launch, and Roller Rabbit featured members of its community wearing the collection as it dropped. .You can shop the collaboration on both brand’s sites.
jamie at lazy jamie and THE LOVE LIST hosted a lunch at The Grill to celebrate Lazy Jamie’s new Ladies Who Lunch Serving Set. The perfect hostess gift, wedding registry addition, or treat-yourself purchase to elevate a wfh lunch.
Rhode hosted its first summer pop-up in Newport, Rhode Island this weekend. Judging by the comments about the lines, to no surprise, people were willing to wait for hours for a chance to shop the new Summer Collection and pick up one of the limited-edition sweatshirts. To maximize the moment, Rhode also hosted an influencer dinner, taking over a seafood shack and completely rebranding it. As always, they never miss the details. Their next pop-up will be in Dallas next week.
Hadley Greene collaborated with LA-based brand CAMPBELL&KRAMER on a limited-edition silk collection available in four colorways. To celebrate, Hadley hosted friends in Los Angeles, all dressed in pieces from the collection, showcasing different ways to style it.
Other Things I Saw This Week: Love this content series for beauty partners from Atiya Walcott, From the Saie Office was genius for being Knicks first beauty sponsor this year!!!, Philips Beauty hosted influencers in Amsterdam and Paris on a brand trip, Casey Lewis mentioned this week that Airbnb is piloting ‘creator experiences’ as an opportunity for creators to connect with their communities IRL, and BOF and LTK co-hosted a private dinner in London with some of LTK’s top brand partners.
Things I’ve Been Influenced By: I finally ordered Ballerina Farm’s protein powder. I’m not sure if it’s because I just finished reading Yesteryear or because I saw Emily Cody recommend it…
Also! I was invited by the team at Spotless for a consultation this week. It's an acne clinic that takes both appointments and walk-ins, and I immediately thought about a few weeks before my wedding when I got a huge (most likely stress-related) pimple on my chin and spent the morning calling multiple places trying to get in for a pimple shot. Spotless offers them and can usually get you in the same day, Also heard they are opening a second location downtown soon.
I was also confused at first by the HHH x RR collab since they both do print pjs. It wasn’t like one brand brought print and the other product (pjs) but what I liked and what felt original was the overlap of the prints together. Really well done.
Clare, I’d love your take on this one. Marine Layer’s trip is styled to feel like a casual European weekend with siblings and friends, and it’s really beautifully done. But from what I can tell, several of the influencers invited hadn’t worn or posted about the brand before the trip. I’ve been gifted by ML myself and posted them genuinely, so I keep wondering: when a brand builds the “friends and siblings” vibe around reach rather than people with real history with the label, at what point does “authentic” just mean well-produced? Is this just the standard now?