Despite the terrifyingly delightful November weather I’ve experienced so far this year, I do know that it will get cold soon. The sort of endlessly tiring East Coast cold that gets into your bones and makes your teeth hurt. I prepare sartorially as best I can by stocking up on clothing to insulate my body and enliven my spirits: a brightly colored scarf, a weatherproofed boot, and a soft Angora mitten.

But once I’m at home, the prospects are grim: bleach-stained sweatpants from college, a hand-me-down moth-eaten sweater, threadbare long johns, mismatched fuzzy socks that trail gummy fibers across the carpet. While it may technically be sustainable to wear the same ratty, ill-fitting sweats year after year on those dreary winter days inside, this bedraggled get-up can be as depressing as the sun setting before 5 pm. Instead of cocooning in rags until springtime, I’m considering investing in some luxurious, sustainably made loungewear this winter.

Luckily for me, this week’s newsletter contains a phenomenal essay by Laura Rocha-Rueda on the merits of cozy-chic as well as a discount code for the sustainable fashion site Cherry Knots!

HALOSCOPE contributor Laura Rocha-Rueda makes the case for cozy-chic:

Fashion for Homebodies

by Laura Rocha-Rueda

With the sun setting earlier, an impulse within me enticed me to cozy-fi the shit out of my space in the best Pinterest-inspired fashion. In my boyfriend’s stylish but small Brooklyn studio apartment (where I’m staying temporarily — there’s not enough room for all of my shoes!) we embraced cheesy fall decor that we will keep well into the holiday season. Candles shaped like cute ghosts and spellbooks, garlands of fake autumn foliage, orange string lights, and mini pumpkins make me feel giddy inside, like a little kid with adult money that leaned into her silliest desires.  

In New York, leaving the apartment is always an excuse to dress up, whether to go to the grocery store, to the post office, or to Kiki’s for dinner. But there’s something truly magical about finding the exact balance between staying cozy and feeling like the most stylish version of yourself. There’s a real beauty in collecting the softest textures you can find to build your wardrobe for the colder months. Homebody style is perhaps the most genuine opportunity to dress for yourself. 

For years, I was obsessed with collecting “Brunch Pants”: pants stylish enough to dress up but flowy and stretchy, allowing room to eat a lot — like, to attend a brunch. I even found a perfect pair: silky in texture, with an arabesque pattern in royal green and blue and with tiny beading along the pocket trims in round golden beads. I had them for years and wore them for everything until they died the dignified death of overworn clothing. My obsession with Brunch Pants led me to understand how to best collect items for a successful homebody wardrobe: soft, warm, off the body are the main features I look out for. 

When I’m spending a lot of time at home —during the winter, for example, or whenever I visit my parents, where I tend to revert into an antisocial goblin. I want to feel three things: warm, loose, and chic. The chic part seems contradictory if you are imagining that I’m putting on a ton of makeup and I’m ready to hop into a pair of giant heels at a moment’s notice. But what is true chicness, if not slathering on delicious skincare products and sitting by the window to daydream, holding a steaming cup of tea?

Fashion at home can also be daring and outrageous. Underwear becomes a full outfit. Unexpected combinations are created from the liberation of the fear of garments not matching. Some of my most creative style revelations have come from days when I didn’t leave the house. I experiment with outfit combos and call it test running. Sometimes I have an idea of how certain clothes will look put together in my head, but trying them on is key! Few things in this life are as frustrating as having an idea of what to wear from an event, trying it on (for the first time) the day of, and the outfit is completely wrong for reasons impossible to visualize. And what better time to wear outfits that may not work out, or that I don’t feel totally confident in at first, than at home?  

We’ve seen trends come, stay, and go around the Homebody ideal: lounge sets, nap dresses, athleisure, high fashion pajama sets, sweatpants cut in exactly the right way to look fabulous in a fit check. But when you search for your homebody style, remember this: the trendiest pieces are not made for your bedroom, they are made for other people’s screens. 

The ideal homebody wardrobe is made up of eclectic pieces that can be dressed up or down and that you’d easily feel great in if you had to run out the door, but that secretly you crave to remain for your eyes only. Delicious, mouth-watering cozy attire.

Fashion for Homebodies

Cherry Knots is a digital destination for sustainable fashion. We’ve scoured their inventory of beautiful knits and luxurious sweats to style homebody fits inspired by some of our favorite loungewear moments in film.

And here’s an exclusive deal for Star Mail subscribers: for 15% off your entire order until 12/01, use the code "STARMAIL" at checkout.

La Cérémonie (1995) dir. Claude Chabrol

What is La Cérémonie if not a movie about looking really good while watching TV? Isabelle Huppert and Sandrine Bonnaire wear some seriously chic sweaters as they bond by the boob-tube. Either homicidal maniac could totally rock this cute cardigan from nu-in:

The Slumber Party Massacre (1982) dir. Amy Holden Jones

Does anything say “harrowing night in with the girls” like a pair of bedazzled booty shorts? I thought not! These microshorts from Bit by Angie certainly fit the bill:

Bridget Jones’ Diary (2001) dir. Sharon Maguire

This jaunty polkadot set from CAMPBELL&KRAMER could have helped pull Bridget out of her broken-hearted slump:

It Happened One Night (1934) dir. Frank Capra

Claudette Colbert wearing Clark Gable’s silk pajamas was at once sultry and adorable, inspiring decades of screen sirens appearing in men’s sleepwear. I think she’d also enjoy pushing the envelope with Pre-Code co-ed motel sharing in this cute but sexy two piece matching set from My Mum Made It:

Nicole Rudolph has a great video on the history of pajamas and loungewear:

Flashback to how trendy fancy silk pjs were in 2016:

And, lastly, this super cute JSTOR article on the ffolklore of pajama parties: