I’m off to LA, so naturally I am immersing myself in California classics. I’ve just finished Eve Babitz Slow Days, Fast Company, which inspired me to book a table at Musso & Frank and my soundtrack is an endless loop of Ultraviolence and NFR.
Down on the West Coast, they got their icons, their silver starlets, their Queens of Saigons — and Joan Didion’s packing list.
Like clockwork, the iconic White Album packing list has re-entered the zeitgeist, this time courtesy of a note by
. The list pops up every so often — as seen in this Into The Gloss piece and this AnOther article from nine years ago.Joan is trending. Exhibit A: why we all want to be Joan Didion by , Exhibit B: A month long focus on Joan by a reading life, and Exhibit C: A Three Part Series on The White Album by And let’s not forget Kendall Jenner’s micro bikini beach read and Marc’s January reading hour, both featuring The Year of Magical Thinking.
Everybody wants to be America’s next thought daughter. A bi-coastal elite dripping in intellectual glamour whose prose is smooth, upheld through clever restraint. I am guilty of wanting to be her, of hoping a plane from New York to LA, renting a bungalow and writing my big brain ideas down on a Chateau notepad. We are not unique in this dream to live the life of an enigma.
In many ways, we’re all doing our best Didion impression. Blogging our societal musings, hauling around laptops instead of typewriters, curating roundups and digital collages like a postmodern ode to Joan’s list.
Maybe one day, our sunglasses will fetch $27,000 at auction, but until then, I’ve crafted this modern-day packing list fit for any chic-lit darling and future Jurgen Teller muse.
Taking notes and lighting smokes.
Substack and a night cap.
A hotel bed and a ballpoint pen.
Stay toasted, xx.
Told my mom I was featured in this post!! 🤭Thank you so much, I feel very honored!! I loved it. Your writing style is SO GOOD. 🥹✨
This is so cool