In Their Cart: 17 Essential Fashion Buys, According to Lauren Santo Domingo
The street style looks at New York Fashion Week are already setting the bar high for the spring/summer 2024 season. Minimalism has found its footing with directional twists. New silhouettes are taking hold. Flat shoes are dominating in every possible iteration. What can we expect to see more of on the best dressed style set as fashion month continues? Moda Operandi Chief Brand Officer Lauren Santo Domingo, a street style veteran, is weighing in with her essential fashion-month buys.
"This season, I feel like living on the edge," Santo Domingo tells Who What Wear. "Phoebe Philo convinced me that it is okay to wear navy and black (yes, at one point that was considered reckless), but somehow, I still held on to my belief that one could not mix metals or leathers. This season, I plan to wear black shoes with a brown belt and silver and gold stacked bangles." The rules continue to be rewritten! Santo Domingo's short list of exact shopping finds includes everything from the insider piece to order from the men's section at J.Crew to must-buy early-fall items to the best edit of flat shoes on the market. Expect to see these pieces on the street style scene in Milan and Paris soon.
"I've been running from my New England roots for quite some time, but I've recently been heavily influenced by the @lostjcrew Instagram account. I feel like these giant men's khakis are my birthright. I wear them in a men's size 28."
"Rabanne's fall 2023 collection's surrealist pieces are sure to be future collector's items."
"Khaite has created many a perfect wide-leg trouser, season after season. These in a khaki-esque shade are ideal for when I want to wear something a touch more 'uptown' than the J.Crew men's pair."
"When you're dressed up—for cocktails or black tie—and you're feeling too serious, I always add a silly bag. I especially like the ones that have dangly things like this."
"If you only splurge on one thing, make it a classic white button-down. When styled back to fast-fashion pieces, your entire outfit will look far more expensive. The fabric quality (read: lack of sheerness) and oversize-yet-still-feminine cut are key."
"While I'm mostly leaning into classics for my fall wardrobe, the market editor in me can't resist a touch of trend. Enter Khaite's shearling handbag."
"We exclusively launched my facialist Iván Pol's Secret Sauce on Moda in January. An instant best seller, this is the best product to give my skin a bit of light during fashion week. I like mixing it with my tinted moisturizer for extra glow."
"Like the '90s Ralph Lauren Nordic knitwear I dreamed of in my teens, but made far cooler in an oversize silhouette by Cate Holstein. I'll wear mine with mesh flats."
"I'm treating chocolate brown like my new neutral this year, pairing it with black and navy with reckless abandon."
"From Gen Z on TikTok to moms at school pickup, everyone is embracing vintage, although it's been rebranded as #archivalfashion."
"At some point, one has to stop looking for the perfect new pair of jeans and just admit that vintage 501s are the best. Alex will find you the perfect pair. Also, you can tailor jeans. Who knew?!"
"I can't say with certainty I'm going to embrace this trend, but it's on my radar, and I may have to give it a try."
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Kristen Nichols is the Associate Director, Special Projects at Who What Wear with over a decade of experience in fashion, editorial, and publishing. She oversees luxury content and wedding features, and covers fashion within the luxury market, runway reporting, shopping features, trends, and interviews with leading industry experts. She also contributes to podcast recordings, social media, and branded content initiatives. Kristen has worked with brands including Prada, Chanel, MyTheresa, and Luisa Via Roma, and rising designers such as Refine and Tove, and her style has been featured in publications including Vogue.com, Vogue France, WWD, and the CFDA. Before Who What Wear, Kristen began her career at Rodarte, where she worked on assistant styling, photo shoots, and runway shows, and at Allure, where she moved into print and digital editorial. She graduated from the University of Southern California, where she studied art history and business, and currently lives in New York.