Here is the short version of what this is. Secretly Fancy is the thing I have been building, quietly and then less quietly, since 2009. The name came from a joke with college friends. A word we used for anything that was better than it looked, cooler than it let on. It stuck because it was true about a lot of things, including, occasionally, me. This is a newsletter about taste without the gatekeeping. I am serious about style, and I have a loose grip on almost everything else, and I have come to think that is the only honest way to be serious about anything.

I firmly believe shopping is significantly more successful when preceded by a cold Diet Coke, an adult beverage, and a friend with taste. Before we started the expedition, my dear friend (and Aspen local) Stephanie and I camped out at Woody Creek Tavern and spent the better part of an hour doing what I can only describe as tactical shopping strategy. I also housed an entire chicken enchilada order. They are the best that I’ve ever experienced.

I snuck away to Aspen a few weeks ago for the vibes, and the vibes delivered. Aspen is not a mountain town in summer the way you picture a mountain town in summer to be. It’s authentic Wild West energy with a major fashion crowd attached. The town feels genuinely authentic, and it truly has maintained its charm amidst the big, flashy brands that rotate in and out of town. I love the idea of taking a 30-mile bike ride in the morning and ransacking Prada in the afternoon. The dichotomy of it all truly speaks to me. There’s also something to be said for that fresh mountain air and high altitude—it just feels liberating and I haven’t stopped thinking about it since I left.

London was a whirlwind and a feast for the senses. It’s a city that feels supersized for kids. The buildings are bigger, the toy departments are unhinged, the shopping is on steroids, and somehow everyone is extremely put together by 9am. I came home with a full camera roll, a dress my daughter picked out, and a son who now rates every car he enters against an Uber Black. Which, speaking of, the Uber Black sedans in London are the most over-the-top I have ever sat in. My kids treated every ride like a limo on prom night. I am not saying plan your trip around them, but I am saying my children absolutely would.