Rachel Solomon Thinks Style Should Be Enjoyed, Not Judged

The writer and creative director hopes to make the world of fashion and style warmer.     

Few ‘influencers’ capture my attention the way Rachel Solomon does. She dresses with a vim, pointedness and measured kook that everyone I've shown her content to has appreciated. She also writes the only Substack newsletter I read from start to finish. I met Rachel shortly after following Tibi, the New York-based contemporary label that invented the ‘creative pragmatist’ archetype. And I was instantly stricken by her approachable, no-nonsense communication style. What sealed the deal was when I DM’d her to get her thoughts on a pair of wildy-colored shoes I was about to buy, and she responded, ‘Me? I’m here!’ I knew then she was someone I’d want to know more about. At the time of our chat, Rachel was on her annual summer-long visit to her in-laws in The States' most socially stratified pastures.

Julian: Hey, Mrs. Solomon!

Rachel: You look as glamorous as I imagined.

Julian: Oh, thank you. I appreciate that. How’s New England?

Rachel: New England. It’s a little homogeneous and a little judgy sometimes if you don't conform to the conventional dress culture, especially in these coastal towns and Boston. I remember wearing something to my sister-in-law's barn, and she rides horses. When she introduced me, she said, ‘She's from the city,’ because my clothes are so weird. I have to explain it to you. We're staying at my in-law’s country home, where all the family goes for the summer. And the town is one of those very homogeneous coastal towns, not diverse at all.

Julian: I can imagine. Although, sometimes, when I go somewhere that’s maybe more traditional, it's refreshing because everyone's not trying to make a statement. Do you look forward to any aspect of it at all?

Rachel: The part I look forward to is my family and my friends. It's beautiful to be on the ocean. New England is old money, and Miami (where Solomon lives) is new money. People are trying to show off (in Miami) but in a way that one could attain versus here. In New England, you want to have an old license plate and can apply yourself all you want, but you can't have it. There are country clubs and societies. It’s bananas. It's very different.

Julian: What were your style influences growing up?

Rachel: I remember being at the bus stop in my dad's rain slicker, picking out what I wanted to wear and wanting it to be oversized. Going through his pockets and finding a piece of candy. I loved the long sleeves. I still do. For that reason, I borrowed from my dad. And my mom would take me to this discount store. It's this Boston thing where they would mark them down many times. They’d have great brands there. I remember her saying, ‘You can go in this bin, and you can pick out anything you want to, and you can wear it however you want.’ I’d wear a shirt with lions on it and pants with stripes. She thought that was good for nurturing kids' creativity. I've also always been a writer, and I’ve always liked things with words on them. My mom said I went through a phase where I would only wear shirts with letters on them. I also loved menswear. I went to private school and loved wearing pieces like loafers and LL Bean moccasins, borrowing all my dad’s stuff. We did that a lot. I’d even wear a tough sweatshirt, a Lacoste shirt under it, jeans and loafers to a party. I always shopped in the men's department, buying Brooks Brothers jackets and polo oxfords and cutting the bottom off. Those pieces really spoke.

Julian: What about menswear drew you to it at such an early age? Your dad played a part in it, but do you think there's something else there? I still see it in your style today.

Rachel: For sure. I go through periods where I'm really into it, and I'm in one now. The heritage sensibility catches you. There's also part of me that's kind of scrappy. I can do men's stuff. Whatever you tell me is man's world, I can do that, too. I remember my Bass Weejuns with the tassels, and I was like, they're my super shoes. I need superpowers, you know? As I went through different jobs, I associated a structured blazer or a traditional-ish blazer as things I’d put on to be strong in a meeting. Even on Zoom, when I get with a client, and I'm coming from a workout, if I just put on the blazer, I feel ready to present.

Julian: I resonate with that. My grandfather had such great clothing he passed down to me, like an old Brooks Brothers and Christian Dior button-up. But I’m always trying to jazz them up somehow. I never fully commit to what those garments are supposed to represent. I might have a tweed blazer, but wear a bright yellow or Mickey Mouse tee.   

Rachel: I love how you do that. It's great. Your socks and your bandanas? Yeah.

Julian: You went to law school.

Rachel: As a lawyer, you would have thought that was great for my style, but I was so rebellious when I was a lawyer. I was bucking out of that career. I wore short skirts. This partner told me, ‘You might want to rethink your hemlines, Ally McBeal.’ I don't know if you ever saw that show, but it was this old legal show where she had really short hemlines. The suit was uniform with law firms, and I was trying not to wear it. I remember I had this used Ralph Lauren dress; it was like a pinstripe vest with a silky back going all the way to the ground. That was very cool. It was the thing that allowed me to buck the trend. Rebelling with my clothes was just how I was, even before I realized I was rebelling from that career. At the law firm on a casual day in the 90s, they announced that they would have a casual day, which was horror. I was wearing this Ralph Lauren bandana skirt tied on the side. And I was the only person who did casual, like nice.

Julian: Did you ever get pushback from clients?

Rachel: I only practiced for three years. But now I love suits. Pantsuits that are more mannish looking, the better.

Julian: What are some of your frustrations with womenswear? If you have any.

Rachel: The sizing is a problem. We all have very different bodies, and it's very hard to get sizing right. In womenswear, someone judges us and tells us how to look. It feels reductive sometimes. There is a judgment that's coming all the time in womenswear among influencers, prescribing what to wear and judging one another about whether it's good or bad. We need to work on that.

Another thing is how websites are designed not to promote cross-shopping across all the brands and all the sexes. Especially with online retailing. They're set up like men and women to this day, and that's so antiquated, right? Anyone should be able to wear whatever they want. There was this shop that I used to go to all the time that went out of business in Boston. One day, they put the men's and the women's together instead of separating them on floors. I saw all these things that I hadn't seen before.

Julian: It’s funny: I have a friend who immediately points me to the men's section of a store when we go shopping. I don't think the same judgment is placed on women when it comes to borrowing from other categories. You can wear a pantsuit, and no one really thinks twice about it.

Rachel: That's true. It's very old-fashioned.

Julian: What do you think about quiet luxury?

Rachel: Quiet luxury, to me, is tapping that thing of New England. One more way to judge one another. And it's worse because it's unattainable. It goes back to what I was saying about Miami. There will be people there who will spend their last, every paycheck buying an outfit with Louis Vuitton logos all over it. And who am I to say that's in bad taste because that (quiet luxury), for me, is just a privilege reserved for people who can afford to buy expensive things and have them (logos) not be showing. That is a unique level of privilege.

Julian: It’s not anything new. I also think that for people who buy into logos, there is an element of demonstrating their social status, but also aesthetic preference. I love the Louis Vuitton monogram and the more subtle Epi leather stuff. But I don't wear very many prints, so if I’m wearing something monogrammed, it adds visual contrast.

Rachel: Totally. A logo can be a texture and a print. Even quiet luxury takes me back to when someone would ask where you got whatever, and those people didn't want to tell you. I don't like that. I also think it's different from minimalism because minimalism can have an art about it. Some minimalists play with shapes and have sculptural pieces. Phoebe Philo. When I look at Gwyneth Paltrow, that's tradition, and ‘I know that this is 12-ply’ whatever. The Loro Piana of it all. It’s this idea of hiding in plain sight.

Julian: Old money has a problematic history. Although I can engage with certain aspects of the aesthetic, desiring or celebrating it doesn’t sit well with me.

Rachel: That is the underlying thing, right? You can't be a part of the old boys' network if you were enslaved. You won’t be as deeply networked if that's what you were doing then. There are also people chasing what can make them more rarefied. When you saw the prep be more adopted in street culture, it was like, how can I now run away further? Like, people are knowing what I'm doing, and people are doing it. People use fashion to separate and group themselves constantly. That bothers me. Quiet luxury is one more way people are slicing the cake.

Julian: It’s also interesting because many designers do not come from affluent backgrounds. What they make can often be very personally aspirational. I mean, Ralph Lauren is from the Bronx. But that’s why I love brands doing more interesting and ‘democratic things’ for people to engage with.

Rachel: There's not enough widespread recognition for brands outside of the mainstream. When you say brands are in that universe, all I think about is the design district in Miami. That’s a tiny universe.

Julian: What’s your favorite accessory you own?

Rachel: It might be a bag my husband gave me. It’s a Chanel La Pausa that looks like a life raft. He gave it to me when we were moving to Miami. It was his way of saying, ‘We're doing it.’ It’s dramatic. It's meaningful. It’s a great memory. And it's such a poppy piece. To me, it invites conversation. You walk down the street, and people say things to you.

Julian: That resonates. I used to have a monogram Gucci mini bag with the Horsebit. I loved it. I really, really liked that it was a mini. There was a dynamic happening that people would respond well to when I wore it. I enjoyed that. But I felt so showy. Sometimes, people engaged me in a way that was based on the brand. I didn't like that.

Rachel: I once had a Chanel flap bag and it’s the one that I never used. It was so ‘Hello, I'm here with my Chanel bag.’ The other is so emotional; it's fun and poppy and doesn't take itself too seriously. And it's much easier for me to use than the flap.

Julian: I don't see them styled in interesting ways. Last year, there was a lady in Copenhagen who was riding her bike wearing a pair of New Balance shoes, a chore jacket, and a Chanel flap. That was the first time that I'd seen it, and I thought it looked good. Instead of carrying the bag with a sheath dress and heels or something more done up, it was casual, relaxed, and cool.

Rachel: You're right. It’s more creative; the perfect way to wear it.

Julian: Any others?

Rachel: I didn't take that many things from Miami for New England. I do have an amazing old Celine scarf that I'm hanging onto. It’s a dark navy blue with a triangle shape and fringe coming down.

Julian: Nice!

Rachel: Yeah, it’s an amazing piece. I'll wear it on a cold night in Maine or Miami. Then I have my earcuffs by Hannah Yoo. They sit beautifully. She's a very thoughtful designer and likes the ergonomics of it all. She used to be with Tibi and then she started her own company. I have an old shoe that she designed before she left the brand. They’re orange-y red. The front of it has a folded cloth, and the back, instead of being round, looks like someone chewed on it.

Julian: Oh, that’s so neat.

Rachel: It’s so cool. I didn't discover Tibi like right away, but I heard about that shoe and went back to watch all the style episodes. I found that shoe on eBay, and I bid so high for it because someone was bidding for it, too. No regrets.

Julian: Do you believe neutrals are the necessary ‘foundations’ of a wardrobe?

Rachel: No, although I'm way down the line as far as building a wardrobe, so it’s easy for me to say. But if I were advising a 19-year-old, then yes, start with a neutral pantsuit because you could do so many things with it: wear it with sneakers, a graphic tee, a turtleneck. Or wear it as separates. For me, I’m someone who tends to under-index or over-index things. Either I'm buying too many wild prints and flights of fancy, or I feel the need to calm down and buy black pants and white shorts. I'm constantly going back and forth. But I don't think black is the easiest to pair because it's hard to pair with bright colors, right? So, if you are leaning into bright colors, and that's what you love, I would buy a chocolate brown. And when it comes to crisp white shirts, I can't keep them clean. That’s just really not a good purchase for me.

Julian: Now that you mention it, I bought some bright socks a few weeks ago, and I can’t wear them with my favorite loafers because they’re black. I tried it, and it felt like I was going to a Halloween party or something. But with my brown or burgundy loafers, they look much better. Navy also works, but I couldn't wear it for the longest. I still have issues with it. It reminds me of my school uniforms and corporate. Eventually, I realized that if it’s a deep enough navy in the right fabric. I might even need it since I like bright colors. I do find it interesting, though, that a bold red constitutes a ‘basic’ for some people. It’s weird to me because I wouldn’t want to become known as ‘the guy in the red whatever,’ but I guess it isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

Rachel: Maybe that's not a bad thing. Some of those colors are really easy to pair. It's just a question of whether you’ll get sick of them. Gray is a color that I like, and I don't get sick of it. It's neutral. It goes with all the brights.  

Julian: Now I want to go shopping.

Rachel: Well, with you, it’s research.

Julian: Yeah, that’s how I justify it to myself. Who are you?

Rachel: I think I'm a person who's trying to be good. You know the squeeze song ‘I want to be good. Is that not enough?’ That’s what I am. I'm trying to be good, more aware, and surround myself with less judgmental people. I still love all the things that I love, including style. But I love them without judgment and with more empathy. So, I am a work in progress. I hope to be a warm and plain voice in the world of fashion and style. That would be a huge success for me.

Julian: I love that. Thank you.