I first came upon Lauren Mechling and @thecloglife in Rome last spring. My daughter Paloma and I were checking emails while waiting for our spaghetti alle vongole. I got an email sharing the New York Magazine feature, What's The Next Status Clog by Margaret Rhodes, naming our Beklina ribbed clog as just that, and introducing me to Lauren's world. It was a very happy moment :)
Over the last year I was lucky enough to receive an advance copy of her new book that comes out today! How Could She, which I highly recommend. It's about 3 woman, set in NYC, their relationships, and is on Vogue's 10 New Books To Read This Summer.
Angelina: Where did you grow up?
Lauren: I grew up in Brooklyn Heights, a neighborhood that has not changed one bit.
What was your very first job ever?
In high school I got a job as a waitress at Lucky Strike, a restaurant in Soho. 90s celebrities like Geraldo Rivera and Todd Oldham used to come in.
What do you collect?
I collect Canadian candy bars. My mother and I bring home bags of Smarties and Coffee Crisp and Crispy Crunch whenever we go up north to visit family. They are delicious, so my collection never gets very big.
What is your most surprising talent?
I have strangely good hand-eye coordination (for a non-sports-playing bookworm). If you throw a ball at me without any warning, I will catch it. Probably.
How do you personally define clogs? On @thecloglife you have a wider range that what I would not normally think of as a clog; but I'm feeling it. i.e. crocs
Planet clog is a happy place where women roam free and and smart and chic. Lumpen textile arts and books by Rachel Cusk and grapefruits are all clog. Stilettos and Slack and meal delivery kits are not.
Rachel, Sunny and Geraldine are making a Beklina purchase. What's in their carts?
I love, love this question!
Geraldine, the character everybody seems to see the most of herself in, is a dreamer. There is a loveliness to her, and also a modesty. I see her in your Baserange Fauna Skirt.
Rachel, the magazine editor slash young adult novelist, has better taste than she has clothes. Plus, she's still dealing with the baby weight. So she treats herself to the Jennie Jieun Lee ceramic mug and she fills it with coffee during her early morning #amwriting sessions.
And then there's Sunny, the it-girl watercolor artist. She is one of those women who makes life look so effortless. She also has a way of making everyone who comes into contact with her feel simultaneously lucky and full of self-loathing. She is swanning around in the Beklina hand knit story top, in an ethereal cream.
For more on Lauren, go here, or follow her on instagram here.
See all the Beklina clogs here.