Here & There #18
Illustrator/author Jenny Walton demystifies personal style and “fashion math,” and A Tiny Apartment’s Christene Barberich goes forensic on her Dopp kit
We’re thrilled to feature our longtime friend and Yolo contributor Jenny Walton in this week’s post, as she celebrates the recent release of her first book, Jenny Sais Quoi. She gives us a preview of her genius “fashion math” formula (a perfect packing solution), her ideal day in Milan, where she lived for the last 5 years, and how she styles herself with a brilliant mix of high/low and vintage/new. Plus! Our friend Christene Barberich, co-founder of Refinery29 and author of A Tiny Apartment on Substack, shares everything in her Dopp kit and her thoughtfully minimalist skincare and makeup routines.
You Should Meet: Jenny Walton
For those who haven’t yet picked up the book, how would you describe Jenny Sais Quoi? What did you hope to give readers through it?
Jenny Sais Quoi is part visual diary, part essay collection exploring the journey of discovering yourself and your style. It’s really about how style is shaped over time, and about learning to slow down, have more fun, and get more creative. From flea markets with my mother and learning to sew, to encounters with Milanese “sciure,“ solo travels and life in Italy, the book reflects on how clothing becomes a form of storytelling. Essays like “Wardrobe as an Artist’s Palette” and “You Can’t Shop Your Way to Style” challenge the idea of fashion as consumption, instead framing it as a creative, evolving practice rooted in instinct, play, and self-discovery.
You write that style should be “a wonderfully unique mix of the thousands of references you’ve come across in your life, wrapped up into a ball and torn apart by a kitten.” What are some of the references in your own ball of yarn that you keep coming back to?
Well over the past few years, my main inspiration has been Italy—Milan specifically. The book sort of ended up being a love letter to Milan in a way. I learned so much watching le sciure (the word for elegant older Milanese women) and how they dressed. They color-palette their outfits down to the shade of their bassotto (dachshund). They’re so thoughtful and refined. They taught me that to be intentional about your style—to really care about the specifics of how you put something together—is a really beautiful act.
What we’ve always loved about your point of view, both in fashion and travel, is that it blends the really elevated and really unfussy. You’ve been front row at fashion week, and your beagle Charlie has put teeth marks in your Loewe sneakers; you’ve stayed in some of the best hotels in the world, and plenty of what we’d call Costa Menos in Italy. What do you think that mix brings to style and life in general?
I’ve always loved a high/low mix. It’s incredible to be invited to a fashion show or a new hotel opening, and I love dressing up and playing the part for the occasion. But in my day-to-day life, I love dressing casually, too–I have to go to the dog park after all, and spend most of my time by myself either painting or writing. I think you can take a lot of inspiration from luxury, but it doesn’t mean you have to buy it. Last spring, The Row released a fabulous red plaid shirt, but there was no way in hell I was going to pay over a thousand dollars for it. So I took the inspiration and found a handful of fantastic vintage plaid shirts for around twenty bucks a pop on eBay. I told my mom, and she found a great one for me at a thrift store, too. I think people sometimes get turned off by luxury—no one is saying you have to buy it, but the inspiration is free. And style really comes down to having your own point of view. If you don’t have that, you don’t have anything.
Speaking of clothes getting a bit of wear and tear, how do you care for them while traveling, especially when packing so lightly? Do you wash things in the sink, rely on hotel laundry, send things out to local wash & folds?
Laundry detergent sheets! Travel with a few and thank me later. You can wash things in the tub or the sink. Although if I’m in a place long enough, I think it’s very chic to send things out to local wash and folds. Hotel laundry is typically so expensive, so I try to avoid. The most annoying is when they don’t have an iron in the room, in which case I usually just hang whatever I want to wear in the shower with me (works very well for linen).
We loved the story in the book about your trip to the South of France, where you packed everything in a single tote bag! Can you walk us through what made the cut, and how you were thinking about packing for that?
Yes! So my main goal was that I wanted to be able to fly into Marseille and then travel throughout the south without a loud rolly suitcase announcing my arrival, or a large duffel killing my shoulder. I wanted to take only public transport (2 euro buses, trains, etc). So I brought one tote—it’s this great old straw Prada bag they gave me as the shopping bag when I bought a skirt in Porto Cervo (because only in Porto Cervo would they give you a tote you can resell for 1K as the shopping bag). I put another tote inside for unexpected purchases and committed to one look, a long white skirt (so you know the tide pen came in handy there) and a lightweight silk-blend cardigan. I used a chic vintage Hermes ‘Fleurs de Fuchsia’ silk scarf (the 90 size is best as it’s larger) as a scarf/pool cover-up to combat any chilly nights and just a few delicates to get me through the week. This of course can only really be done in the spring or early fall in most places (April, May and September are my favorite months to travel). Traveling in the winter is such a pain—better to just stay in California, which is my plan this year.
In our office we often reference your brilliant “fashion math” Substack, so we were thrilled to see this graphic made it into the book. Is that a framework you always use when packing for a trip?
Thank you! This was actually based on an old magazine spread I found from the 1950s. I thought it was so clever because you realize, as you get older, that you really don’t need that many clothes, and that actually having too many options just weighs you down. It’s like that thing at Costco or the grocery, where they realized if they presented you with 8 ketchups, you might become overwhelmed and not buy anything at all—whereas two ketchups? Sold! People are so over having decision fatigue, and I get it. The more you can simplify but still have fun, the better.
You write so fondly of the sciure—the resourceful, well connected Milanese woman who can fix anything, or at least knows the best cobbler in town who can. Do you travel with any similarly practical tools: a sewing kit, stain remover, or rolodex of trusted repair addresses in every city (is there an app for that!)?
Well, I always stock up on Tide pens when I’m in America (oddly, this is the one thing that’s more expensive in Italy than the US). And yes, I always have a sewing kit. If my mother found out I went to Parsons for Fashion Design and didn’t fix my own missing button, she’d kill me. Still, when I go home and ask her to fix something on her sewing machine for me, she says, “I sent you to college for this!!” She’s an amazing quilter. That’s how I started making my own clothes and got into fashion in the first place, because we had a machine and all this fabric in the house.
Your book feels as much about creativity as it does about clothing—about developing taste in the real world, off of algorithms. What are the last three people/places/things in the real world that have really inspired you lately?
I’ve just come back from Venice for the Biennale, and I have to say I thought of Yolanda when I wandered into the Spanish Pavilion. The artist, Oriol Vilanova, had collected thousands of postcards from flea markets and covered the entire pavilion with them. It felt like this magical display of what we preserve and how we communicate with the ones we love. It also felt like a great excuse to keep obsessively collecting things, so that was fun.
After spending years in Milan, what would you say is your perfect day in this city you love?
A perfect day starts when I take the dogs to their two favorite bars in the morning, where they get all their favorite treats from the loving baristas as I slowly come back to life with the aid of a few macchiati. After we go to the dog park, the big one with the tall ginkgo and pine trees I love, and I talk to some of the locals, or just listen to the parrots and blackbirds overhead. We head home, and I paint or write. In the afternoon we take a long walk into the center, stopping to admire all the little moments along the way. Maybe I pop into a shop and get a chic little hair accessory or something. I meet up with friends for aperitivo (always Campari, never Aperol), and we enjoy a nice evening outside and head to some trattoria for dinner.
A few favorite vintage shops in the places you’ve called home over the years…
NYC - Stella Dallas in Williamsburg, Bonnie Slotnick used cookbooks in the East Village. Desert in the LES always has something I swoon over.
Milan - L’Arabesque, Shop the Story, Cavalli e Nastri, and Pennisi Gioielleria for the best antique jewels.
CA - Relic Vintage in SF is my go to! Decades down the street is so fun too.
Do you have a travel uniform? (And if so, what is it?)
No, not really, since I’m always experimenting with new things. It usually just comes down to practicality, so I’ll typically wear whatever is my heaviest shoe so I have more space in my bag. Another rule is layers, always. So I typically do a pant so I can be comfortable and a tee of some sort with a sweater over it (why are the planes always either freezing or burning up?). A good scarf or pashmina is very important, so you can roll it up and use it as an extra pillow or blanket if needed. And the largest size purse I can get away with, legally. I do like dressing up and wearing a skirt or something if I’m taking a shorter flight, but long-haul it’s definitely a pant situation.
What’s the one accessory or piece of outerwear that does the most work on a trip?
A lightweight navy rain/car coat! It’s a game-changer, works with everything, and this is what I travel with throughout the spring and fall (mine is an old Prada with a removable white collar). There are many good vintage Prada and Jil Sander versions of this idea. Typically, they’re very well priced on The Real Real. I also have a very chic bamboo handle umbrella from Church’s.
Most useful thing in your carry-on that isn’t clothing?
I carry an old Hermès scarf box filled with art supplies ( a little gouache set, paint brushes, glue stick, etc.). I’m very inspired when I travel, so I love having a way to document that.
Parting words for someone who wants to travel, dress, and live with a little more je ne sais quoi?
Take chances and stay curious. Don’t be afraid to travel alone—solo trips are often the ones that stay with you the longest. Immerse yourself in new cultures, have fun with what you wear, and don’t overthink any of it. A little spontaneity, confidence, and openness go much further than a perfectly packed suitcase. Most importantly, be present enough to enjoy the small moments along the way—they’re usually what make a life feel beautifully lived.
Dopp Kitt Diaries: Christene Barberich author of A Tiny Apartment
I am a tiny zip bag hoarder, and I keep a million of them stuffed inside each other in my closet like Russian dolls. I love to make little travel art kits out of them for my daughter, with tiny notebooks and colored pencils (they come in handy for long car rides or dinner at a restaurant). But the two I’ve been using lately for my beauty/skincare things on the go is this oversized striped zip pouch from IKEA (they always have at least two new prints of mini zip bags for $5 and they are indispensable for skincare and LIFE). I have another smaller one by Bags In Progress (my favorite everyday woman-owned crossbody company). I like that the larger one is roomy and flexible and very unprecious and the smaller BIP one keeps all the smaller bits organized so everything doesn’t get swallowed up into a black hole. (I’m not a fan of the structured, hard case kits as they sometimes feel awkward in a backpack or soft duffel.
What’s In My Dopp Kit
It’s always changing based on what I’m enjoying using and what smells the best (the smell of products is really important to me, particularly when I travel). Right now I’m VERY into...(I also just did a story about taking care of my skin and basic everyday routine at 57 on my newsletter A Tiny Apartment, which was fun to summarize for our community and share tips, too):
Ursa Major individual cooling wipes...I have these on hand in my purse and dopp kit always.
Mother Science Molecular Hero Serum and Ursa Major Forest Water Hyaluronic Serum are both great as moisturizers/hydrators/overall skin waker-uppers!
Tower 28’s Sunny Days tinted moisturizer - It’s so light and glowy and fun to put on with a skin brush from Jones Road (or any foundation brush, really).
Ilia’s Skin Blur concealer is AMAZING on the go as an overall foundation replacement as well as under-eye fatigue erasers.
I can’t leave the house w/out some color on my lips, and Ilia’s Lip Sketch and Balmy tinted lip treatment is THE BEST combo for varying the depth of coverage throughout the day (balm for day and lip sketch on top for night/parties).
My hair is long and try not to brush it too much (particularly when I travel) so the waves stay smooth, so I use a skin/body brush to smooth out along my part-line and also on my actual body, which is a nice routine on the road before the shower, in place of bringing an exfoliating stuff.
Lots of things from Versed, too, including this INCREDIBLE brightening eye gel (I use it a few times a day, it feels so good), stick blush, gentle retinol at night, and their brow color is wonderful too.
What a delightful read and deeply refreshing perspective on a real life, well-lived from Jenny. Brava!