What I Wore Most in 2024
A correspondence from your favorite pop star’s favorite diner.
HELL’S KITCHEN — Here, at The Flame Diner, sitting in the very booth where Lorde wrote much of Melodrama, I am reflecting. (Ok, I’m speculating about which booth it was.)
I am reflecting on this year: a year of growth, a year of grief, and a year of wearing my ballet flats until they turned to dust. I feel a swirling tornado of change looming around every corner, but some precious things stay protected from the winds — like the pendant around my neck and the shade of red that coats my nails.
The Flame sits out of the wind’s path, too. It’s a decidedly average New York City diner (this is a compliment; the average New York City diner is pretty magical) with solid pancakes and the specific liminality you can only feel in spaces open 24 hours a day.
Today, in the throes of the holiday season, Poinsettias and Christmas lights are beacons of cheer. Carols play softly through the speakers, background music to the hum of patron chatter and the clink of utensils and ceramic. Through window panes speckled with snowflake decals, New Yorkers wield umbrellas and hike up their hoods under a dull December drizzle.
But still, the booth seat creaks under me, the coffee flows freely, and intermittent radio commercials are a reminder that you exist in a pre-Spotify world when you come to the Flame. The customers change endlessly, a 24/7 rotating cast of regulars, tourists, and pop stars, but everything else stays the same.
There’s comfort in the familiar and nothing is more comfortable and more familiar than the pilling wool sweater you reach for on a chilly morning. These are the items I wore most in 2024, a reflection on where I find comfort and what I’m wearing when comfort finds me.
This (long) letter is divided into five categories: Tops, Bottoms, Shoes, Accessories, and Beauty. You can navigate between them in the link bar to the left if you’re reading on a laptop. Onward!
*Note: This letter uses some affiliate links, so I may receive a commission from any purchases you make using my link. Feel no obligation, of course.
Tops, sweaters, coats + a bra
I refuse to gatekeep the world’s best bra, the Negative Underwear Whipped Non-wire Bra. I own six different colors. The comfort of a bralette meets the support of a bra in the softest fabric of all time. If you take only one recommendation from me ever, let it be this one.
When I mentioned a pilling wool sweater you reach for on chilly mornings, I was talking about my TOAST Raglan Cardigan. (I am majorly putting off de-pilling my sweaters this season, but you’re probably better than me.) I have this one in a Prada-esque slimy chartreuse that I waxed poetic about here.
I think this vintage collared blouse was once a children’s uniform (it has monogrammed initials on the back of the collar), which brings me so much joy. My sweet friend Eira grabbed this at the thrift and threw it at me — “This is SO Mac! You have to try it on!” Thankful for friends who get it.
A few options: This long-sleeve top has embroidered cake on the collar; this one is a very similar shape to mine but in 80s aqua; this one has a beach-themed embroidered collar; and this one is more of a standard button-down, but the embroidered “E” is so special. (Eira, wink wink, this would look great on you.) *Post-publish addition: This babydoll top from My Mum Made It is too cute not to come back and include.
My other most worn top was this green tie-dye tee from Realisation Par. I love the boat neck, I love the sleeve length, and I love the slight crop. It’s no longer available in any color (how could they do this to me!) but this cowboy long-sleeve that I also own is on sale for $45.
I get a compliment on this LL Bean houndstooth coat almost every time I wear it out. Here’s one in dusty blue; one with tan leather accents; one in a darker blue/grey; one in a dark grey/brown; and one in dark green and black.
I’ve already said enough about my most worn jacket of the year. There are 19 secondhand options linked in this piece.
Pants, shorts, and skorts
The black Wilfred Free Ascendent Pants are perfect. I never shop at Aritzia, but a few years ago, I stumbled in and somehow walked out having bought these. They were an impulse purchase too (gasp!), which makes it all the more a miracle that I wear them so often. Here are a few I found for a good deal secondhand: in black, in cream, in black again, and in khaki.
These Still Here Everyday Jeans in Classic Blue were my birthday gift to myself this year. I’m typically a vintage denim gal, but when I tried these on, it felt like they had been tailored to my body.
My go-to in sticky summer weather is a Nike tennis skort I got for under $15 on eBay. I love the playfulness and flirt of wearing a skort so short that the shorts peep out a bit as you move. Sue me!
It’s a fun alternative to athletic shorts, which I also reach for constantly in the summer. They’re priced incredibly well, here are some secondhand options I like: an exact style match to mine but in purple and white; lavender and neon green; my favorite shade of blue; black and white with tearaway buttons (!!!); plum and red.
I stole green Tracksmith running shorts from my boyfriend’s dresser and wore them in every season. The mesh is so comfortable, and I’m personally a big fan of built-in undies in athletic shorts. These on Poshmark are a purple version of my exact pair, and this is their staple split short (I love a split short) in a jersey material.
Shoes
Both soles of my secondhand GH Bass tassel loafers in Wine fell off this year. The right fell off on the first leg of a 13-hour travel day, and I had to hobble around three airports on two continents with my shoe flapping every step. I went to a cobbler down the street from my hotel in Nice and paid €5 to get them fixed up. My hero. The left sole followed suit a few months later, but my local cobbler wasn’t quite as generous with the price. Break your shoes in France, kids!
These black Mary Jane flats from Naturalizer took me everywhere. This company is kind of orthopedic-shoe-adjacent, and I’m extremely sensitive to blisters, so you can trust me when I say they’re the comfiest flats of all time. They saw dozens of 10+ mile city days this year.
I also wore my pair of square-toed silver Mary Janes into the ground, but they were purchased years ago from a now-defunct (and frankly kind of sketchy, in retrospect) Etsy seller. These Vagabond ones are extremely similar (and much better!).
The Salomon XT-Expanse sneakers in Iron/Bracken/Black made me excited to wear sneakers again. I felt very uninspired by sporty shoes this year, specifically street sneakers, and these brought some life back into me. They were an essential part of finding Prada in the dentist’s office as well. (And they’re insanely comfortable.)
Beauty
Clinique Black Honey Almost Lipstick is my ride-or-die baby girl. A plush swipe of berry is my lip kryptonite (lyptonite?), and this is the crème de la crème of berries. I keep at least one tube in my purse at all times.
Will I ever switch to a different nail shade? Maybe next year. OPI’s Big Apple Red is just the best red. You’ll seldom find me in another polish, save for the few weeks out of the year I’m angstily wearing Wicked or Licorice by Essie.
I did branch out a bit in the world of blush and gave the Saie Dew Blush in Baby a try. Love! Very very dewy, verging on oily even, so I’d recommend more to my fellow dry-skin friends.
I would pour Maison Margiela Replica Jazz Club into my laundry soap if I had the budget. Warm, spicy, sexy, and aptly named, this was my most worn fragrance for another year running. (Maybe my boyfriend’s too, it’s unisex.)
Accessories
I rarely take off this blue & Other Stories Recycled Cashmere Beanie in the winter. I often consider blue a neutral, a line of thought I justify given its proximity to denim, so I’ll throw this one on almost any outfit. (Also really love the lime and bubblegum colorways!)
My burgundy suede vintage Coach purse is worth its weight in gold for how often I sling it over my shoulder before leaving the house. Mine is from eBay, and here are a few more I found: this one is an exact style match to mine in a gorgeous red; another exact style match but in a smooth brown leather; this bright green suede; this deep reddish purple suede.
I think I wash my Smartwool Hike Classic Crew Socks more than anything else in my closet. They’re warm without being too bulky, and I think the heathered material adds a fun peekaboo texture to a layered cold-weather outfit.
Definitively, my most worn item of the year, quantified in number of hours worn (more than 4,000) and aggregate comfort provided (incalculable), is a little gold pendant my boyfriend had engraved with doodles he drew of us. He wears my face, and I wear his.
I find myself always reaching for it: tapping it, sliding it across the chain, and pressing it between the pads of my forefinger and thumb, feeling the heat it absorbed from sitting against my chest. A little piece of home hanging from my neck, no matter what else I’m wearing.
Thank you for reading! (Or skimming just for the photos, no judgment here.) I love looking back on my closet MVPs — and isn’t it just so thrilling that future MVPs are still out there waiting to be found? Here’s to thoughtful closet curation and pushing the boundaries of our personal style in 2025.
What did you wear most in 2024? What’s your favorite berry lip product? Did you speak to any cobblers in broken French this year? I need to know!
Just found your Substack and already highly obsessed with your writing. What size are you wearing in the LL Bean jacket?
Have you tried the Black Honey gloss? It is so so good, very pigmented. Looks better than the Almost Lipstick on me for some reason.
My favourite thing I bought this year are the Aeyde Isa combat boots. I wanted them for like three years and finally did it. They have a taller shaft than most, which makes them a bit edgier IMO, and they’re soooo comfy. (Also I bought the last pair on Ssense before they jacked up the price by like $200 😬)