May Outfits III, featuring Subrina Heyink
12 spring looks from the "are you wearing that?" author, wardrobe stylist, and former vintage seller.
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This month,
is sharing her May outfits with us. This is a full-circle moment, as Subrina was the reason I first joined this platform in 2021. At that time, she was one of, if not the, first to write about fashion on Substack with her invaluable, absolutely worth the subscription newsletter, Are You Wearing That?In addition to writing, the former vintage seller (Subrina Heyink Vintage) is a wardrobe and bridal stylist, which you can learn more about here. Reading Subrina’s writing for the past few years has reshaped my own relationship with my clothes—her point of view is refreshing in a sea of rampant overconsumption and relies on the notion that we do not need more clothes, but rather to develop a better relationship with the pieces we already have. Her newsletter is where I learn about which designers to search for when hunting for vintage items, and how to properly care for and store them.
I asked Subrina for six outfits, and she sent twelve—everyone say, “thank you, Subrina!” Here’s what she’s worn recently and plans to wear this month.
OUTFIT 1
Tank Air ‘peek’ tank
Tory Burch crepe jersey skirt (no longer available)
Ralph Lauren turquoise sandals: Are you a size 8? Subrina’s pair is $7 on Poshmark. I also love this green snakeskin pair (size 9).
Attersee ‘brea’ bag in tapestry: This colorway is no longer available, but find versions in velvet, satin, and cotton here.
Where I wore it: I’m currently wearing this same outfit today, with my vintage Gucci slip-on shoes (see outfits 3 and 4) and my Dragon Diffusion woven bag, to work at a café.
OUTFIT 2
Gil Rodriquez ‘corazon’ halter
Madewell ‘Dean’ easy straight jean
Vintage Manolo Blahnik mules
Unbranded vintage bag
Where I’ll wear it: This is an outfit I’d wear to a cute dinner and plan to wear it in the next week or so. The bag is very, very old vintage that has seen better days. It’s one of the oldest things in my closet. I’ve had it for 9 years!
OUTFIT 3
Vintage Donna Karan knit
Los Angeles Apparel garment dyed capri leggings
Vintage Gucci velvet mules: A size 5.5 is on Poshmark.
Where I’ll wear it: This outfit is for this Saturday morning, when it will be slightly cold but not cold enough for closed-toed shoes. I have purchased these shoes three times! I first bought them in 2016 and wore them to death until 2019. Then, I repurchased them in 2019, and the heel broke. I found them a third time after lamenting about missing them in my newsletter in 2022. An angel sent me a link for them; they were only $50!
OUTFIT 4
Nu Swim organic cotton ‘combo’ tee
Athleta ‘drift’ bermuda shorts
Vintage Prada spazzolato tote: Available here, and find a similar silhouette here.
Where I’ll wear it: I LOVE these shorts. I’ve worn them at least once a week. I’ll probably wear this sometime next week while I wait for my son while he’s at Kung Fu. I have to leave my house every day!
OUTFIT 5
Leset pointelle slim fit tee
Wood Wood jeans (no longer available)
Vintage Prada snakeskin driving sneakers: I found a pair on eBay for $1,000… maybe someone could negotiate the price down.
Dragon Diffusion ‘Grace’ small woven leather basket bag: Subrina says, “This is the best shape, in my opinion, because it holds more weight than the others! I can fit my iPad with a keyboard, a full-sized notebook, a full makeup bag, a pocket-sized thesaurus, my jasmine face mist from May Lindstrom, the lavender hand sanitizer from Trader Joes, sunglasses, whatever book I’m reading, my phone charge, earphones, wallet, keys and whatever crap I collect that day. One of my friends (who is a farmer) always exclaims at how much I fit into this bag every time she sees me when we go out for cocktails after work while our children are at the skate park and Kung Fu( which is at least three times a month). Hopefully, she’ll get used to it by next year.”
Vintage Gucci sunglasses
Where I’ll wear it: I am wearing this to the park for a playdate with my son’s schoolmates. I saw these Prada sneakers on eBay for $150 and immediately knew I wanted them because I have a hard time wearing sneakers in general. I had difficulty incorporating them into my wardrobe when they arrived because sneakers are uncharted territory. I went ten years without owning a single pair of sneakers until 2022. I wore a variation of this outfit bowling with my son and his friends two weeks ago and panicked about how I chose to wear them, but I committed to it because the only way to figure out how to wear something is to wear it once — even if poorly. Well, I didn’t hate the outfit after I left the house! This is my second outfit with them, which I will wear the next time I have to chauffeur three 8-10-year-old boys.
OUTFIT 6
Unbranded button down via eBay
Outdoor Voices ‘court skort’
Dragon Diffusion ‘Grace’ small woven leather basket bag
Simon Miller ‘beep’ thongs: Subrina’s are an older colorway from 2020, but find current iterations here.
Where I’ll wear it: I almost didn’t include an outfit with a button down shirt because it’d be too predictable, but then this outfit compilation wouldn’t be honest if I didn’t include one, because button down shirts are my look. I paid less than $20 for this one eBay. It has a beautiful pink and blue stripe similar to the one by Emily Dawn Long. I wore this outfit to walk around town and have a beer at the local bar while I waited for my son at Kung Fu.
OUTFIT 7
Intissimi ultralight cashmere boat neck top
Vintage Diesel jeans
Maryam Nassir Zadeh Talia thong wedges (no longer available)
Attersee ‘brea’ bag in tapestry (no longer available)
Where I’ll wear it: Next week, there is a local art show I’ll be popping into in the evening, and it’ll be a little chilly after 7:30, so the cashmere knit will keep me warm. I always feel “fashiony” in these jeans, so I didn’t wear them often until after dressing them down like this.
OUTFIT 8
Vintage Donna Karan dress
Vintage evening bag
Vintage Manolo Blahnik strappy sandals: I found a few pairs similar in style; sizes 36.5 in brown leather, 40 dark pink snakeskin, and these black leather strappy sandals with brown stitching (38).
Where I’ll wear it: I will wear this outfit to one of the many dinner dates I plan with friends every month. This Donna Karan dress marked the beginning of my wardrobe overhaul. I longed to wear this style in my mid-20s but found no similar contemporary options until I rewatched SATC in my late 20s. I didn’t know the right keywords to search for! I purchased it in early 2021 (at the ripe age of 28, which felt like the right time) — it has undergone multiple alterations. I wore it with my fur coat and strappy sandals on NYE by using my elastic hair tie method to shorten it. I spent half the time worrying it’d come undone, but it never did! I recently asked my tailor to shorten it because the almost knee length never felt right on me. She also fitted it around my bust, waist, and hips because it looked much better! The bag is one of the oldest things I own—I bought it on eBay in 2016. And after looking for these vintage Manolo Blahnik strappy sandals in my size for over two years, I recently acquired a pair. Although they are uncomfortable, I want to wear them every day.
OUTFIT 9
Brandy Melville t-shirt I haphazardly cut shorter because I couldn’t wait 4 weeks to get it back from my tailor
Vintage leather belt
Wood Wood jeans (no longer available)
Los Angeles Apparel jelly flats
Where I wore it: To pick up dinner a few weeks ago.
OUTFIT 10
Zara tee from my son’s closet
Belle the Label ‘godet’ skirt (no longer available)
Martinano leather wrap sandals: A 9.5 is available on The RealReal
Where I’ll wear it: This was my second time wearing this skirt because it took two years to alter it to what I wanted. The marks you see on the side of the skirt are ink marks :( I hope to get them out when I have time to deal with the stain. I wore this to the nursery and to buy fabric for curtains for my home. I bravely wore it to garden for a few hours and didn’t stain it! UNTIL that evening, a black pen in my woven bag made those unsightly marks on my waist. The tee I took from my 10-year-old’s closet because he has outgrown it. I didn’t plan to wear so many of my son’s clothes, but lately, I’ve borrowed and kept his briefs, shorts, and many tees, and I don’t care that my shoulders are in the sleeves. I have a short torso and have to shorten every tee professionally I buy—the ones from his closet fit perfectly.
OUTFIT 11
Vintage Celine suede trench
Gil Rodriguez tube top
Vintage Calvin Klein linen trousers via TRR
Martinano leather wrap sandals
Madewell handwoven leather tote
Where I wore it: Another outfit I’ve worn different variations of recently because the weather in NorCal fluctuates drastically from day to night. I took a chance on these Calvin Klein trousers because I loved the button details and color; they were bigger in the waist than I wanted, so I tailored them and have been wearing them A LOT. In February, I wore a variation of this look to work out of the cafe I frequent in town, with a lace top and different shoes. In 2023, I moved to a small town with less than 20,000 people and the average age is 45. I had just overhauled my closet months before and felt at a loss for how to dress in a town where most people wear jeans and a t-shirt to the fancy bar in town. I saved my nicer clothes for evening outings in the past because I didn’t want to stand out, so I wore only 30% of my wardrobe. After the first six months, I was frustrated with how I looked. Last autumn, I challenged myself to wear ALL of my clothes regardless of the occasion, which has acquainted me with clothes I once felt intimidated by. Since beginning this experiment, I have felt better throughout my day and can accept spontaneous invites anywhere because I always like what I wear. There are only a few things I haven’t worn more than once.
OUTFIT 12
Zara tee from my son’s closet
Vintage fur coat
Vintage Levi 501s
Banana Republic strappy sandal
Where I’ll wear it: I’m taking my friend out for her birthday this Saturday evening, and I plan to wear this since it’ll be 52F. My favorite things to wear are a coat and sandals. I spent most of this fall and winter in that combination because it didn’t get very cold where I lived, but it was cold enough, depending on the elevation, to wear this fur coat to death. The jeans are a newly acquired pair of Levi 501s. The last 501 that fit me this well was stolen at a hotel in Maryland in 2023. I have searched for a replacement since then. This one arrived two days ago, and I screamed when it fit like the last one. Finally, the Banana Republic strappy sandal is another shoe I have replaced multiple times. I bought the first pair at a thrift store in 2020, and the heel broke on a date last May. I bought another pair and wore them before reinforcing the straps (rookie move), and OF COURSE, they broke on the first wear. I lost the right shoe that broke, so I have the left shoe sitting somewhere at home, like Cinderella. I found this third pair for $12 on Poshmark because I am god’s chosen — they were brand new! 🎉
Thank you to Subrina for this embarrassment of riches! I’ll be back soon.
p.s. I may earn a small commission if you make a purchase through one of the links in this newsletter.
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legend. thank you as always. x
An icon! 💙