Photography Casey Zhang
Set Design Jessie Cundiff
by Durga Chew-Bose
An excuse to leave the house. Anything. Call your mother; walk and talk. Return your library books. Resole your ballet flats. Try the cobbler everyone goes to. Buy a magazine; a big, awkward one that doesn’t in any of your bags. Buy a measuring tape; a mini retractable one in pink or light blue. It will serve you in a group setting and charm the whole table. An excuse to leave the house — or rather, under cover of an excuse… to help you reach ten thousand steps. Maybe seven, likely six. To bask in a few minutes of vitamin D. Don’t even comb your hair but maybe consider curling your lashes. An excuse to leave the house. Listen to that podcast, specifically the episode between two artists you admire. Enjoy their different speech patterns, how they make it known that the life of an artist must be just that: lived-in. They will insist that young artists go outside. You’ll grin. That’s exactly where you are. Find a bench. Stay there for longer than is comfortable. Grow restless. That feeling will prove useful.
CHANEL Bouton de Camélia ring in 18K white gold & diamonds; CHANEL Bouton de Camélia earrings in 18K white gold & diamonds.
Throwing on evening jewels to step out for morning coffee can really give Tuesday more of a shape, no?
From left: CHANEL Première Édition Originale watch in steel coated yellow gold and black leather & black-lacquered dial; CHANEL Première Iconic Chain Double Row watch in steel coated yellow gold and black leather & black-lacquered dial.
A false errand, like needing lemons, a new pen, or any kind of stationary, is a sweet way to shrink your city into a neighborhood. Needing a new pen is never urgent, like the most minor to-do on your list, and yet — if you let it — needing a new pen can become the most urgent way to procrastinate. It’s an open secret but… everyone you admire most is a professional procrastinator. It’s an open secret but… the art of self-persuasion and procrastination are actually what keep stationary stores alive. Because true romantics love to leave their homes for a pen. True romantics collect packs of Post-it Notes they hardly end up using in colors they’ve “never seen before.” True romantics prefer to buy themselves notebooks, and wince when others do it for them. True romantics will leave their home for a pen and return with a roll of stamps (intended for postcards they’ll forget to mail), a tin pencil case (for cigarettes), a day planner (that won’t last past February).
An excuse to leave the house. Buy a fat sandwich before noon. Buy the lowers yourself; camellias of course, because, as a rule, the more decorative the bloom, the better return on lost time. Speaking of Time: take the train to Grand Central. Find yourself on the main concourse. Arch your neck and locate the Leo, King of the Zodiac. What is it about commuters beneath studded constellations that suggests Christmas in July? Spot the clock. Spy on two lovers. Invent stories about their rendez-vous. Notice a woman wearing a large brooch and consider how rare it is to see a woman wearing a large brooch. This one, shaped like a feather, maybe an heirloom of some kind, catches your eye and brie!y convinces you to become someone who wears hats.
An excuse to leave the house. Throwing on evening jewels to step out for morning coffee can really give Tuesday more of a shape, no? Sometimes, wearing a watch — the nice one shaped like Place Vendôme — has little to do with checking the time (your instinct, to be sure, is to reach for your phone!), and everything to do with wearing… a grey sweatshirt. A nice watch (extra pleasurable if it makes your wrist feel small) can give a grey sweatshirt more shape, too. A nice watch — more bracelet than watch — suggests that time is on your side. That time is of no consequence. After all, what chance do we stand against kismet?
CHANEL Eternal N°5 Asymetrical Transformable earrings in 18K beige gold & diamonds.
From left: CHANEL COCO necklace in 18K beige gold; CHANEL Coco Crush small rings in 18K beige gold & diamonds; CHANEL Coco Crush large ring in 18K beige gold.
CHANEL Première Galon watch in yellow gold and diamonds with black-laquered dial & yellow gold bangle set with diamonds.
CHANEL Bouton de Camélia supple choker in 18K white gold & diamonds. This Image: Set Design by Nat Turnbull
CHANEL Plume de Chanel earrings in 18K white gold & diamonds.
CHANEL J12 BLEU watch caliber 12.2, 33MM in matte blue highly resistant ceramic & steel with diamond indicators.
CHANEL COCO necklace with quilted motif in 18K beige gold & diamonds; CHANEL Coco Crush bracelets with quilted motif in 18K beige gold, 18K beige gold & diamonds, 18K yellow gold, 18K yellow gold & diamonds, 18K white gold and 18K white gold & diamonds.
A nice watch — more bracelet than watch — suggests that time is on your side. That time is of no consequence.
CHANEL Première Galon watch in yellow gold and diamonds with black-laquered dial & yellow gold bangle set with diamonds.
Production Cadence
December 2025