Tessa Thompson on Shopping Vintage, Red Carpet Style & Gatekeeping
The Good Buy
Hosts Lynette Nylander and Leah Chernikoff welcome actress Tessa Thompson to discuss the intersection of fashion, storytelling, and personal
Key takeaways
- Tessa Thompson wears a 1988 Vivienne Westwood skirt suit previously owned by photographer Henny Garfunkel.
- Lynette Nylander highlights Ellen's store on Ludlow as a significant vintage treasure trove in New York.
Main topics
- Vintage shopping and thrifting
- Red carpet fashion philosophy
Notable quotes
I love vintage. I really love imagining the stories of the clothes that you buy.
Conclusion
The episode provides a deep dive into how clothing acts as a vessel fo
Transcript preview
Speaker 3 (0:00) Hi, I'm Lynette Nylander. And I'm Leah Chernikoff. And this is Harper's Bazaars The Goodbye. Where we invite celebrities, designers, models, and tastemakers to talk shop. What they buy, where they got it, and why it mattered. Speaker 3 (0:14) I know exactly what my goodbye of the week is. So a couple of months ago, it actually would have been in February, I went to the Marc Jacobs fashion show, which is always such a delight and so incredible because Marc Jacobs is one of my favorite living designers. And in his show, he's really thoughtful. He leaves you a packet of notes of his inspirations, a press release, photos. It's really beautiful. It's really thoughtful. I keep everyone. And listed in the notes, he shouted out a downtown store on Ludlow called Ellen. And her Instagram handle was Ellen123. Oh, Speaker 1 (0:52) yeah. And you did a story about it. Yes, I Speaker 3 (0:54) finally went down there the other day. I met Ellen. Shouts to Ellen because I said I would mention her on the podcast. She was incredible. And just this little jukebox of a store, it feels like going back in time. And I had to buy something. And I bought these. A lovely vintage. YSL pumps. They're just cute and fun. And I think for the summer with shorts and different things, they'd be great. But, you Speaker 2 (1:15) know, I Speaker 3 (1:16) love the shoes. But more importantly, I was just buying into Ellen, who is just a treasure trove. She's been in, she said, on Lodlo for almost 30 years. And she was talking about all the kind of competition there is and how kind of hard it is to run a business in New York. So very, you know, it's Marc Jacobs approved. It's Lynette Nylander approved. It's the Goodbye approved. If you can get down there, it's great. So what's your goodbye of the week? Speaker 1 (1:40) Well, we both hit the Prada sample sale. I did. You did. We did. You know, I try to be pretty restrained at these things. Bought two things, pair of shoes, which you had already and approved of, but also warned me about. Well, I sold mine. They were so uncomfortable for me. Speaker 3 (1:59) Mrs. Prada, I love you. You are the light of my life. But these shoes were too uncomfortable for me personally. They Speaker 1 (2:05) found a great home with you. Yes, they, listen, I think I pushed it a little too far on for a first wear. I think I should learn a little bit more and maybe just around the block, maybe not a full day commute. I put in the time and the pain and I'm committed. The chartreuse, mules, slides. Mrs. Prada has worn them Speaker 3 (2:25) herself, I believe. Speaker 1 (2:26) Yeah. This is the shoe that I feel like everyone has copied this shoe now and also this color is the reason you're seeing chartreuse everywhere. But I also got this little. Top. It's, I love this color. I love, you know, again, the top quest. Also a summer top. It's really light. It's really summery printed. And I love this color blue. So that was it. Those were my goodbyes. Speaker 3 (2:51) Well, you know, a Prada sample sale is always a goodbye. I think inherently is a goodbye. And Speaker 1 (2:57) a fun fashion spectacle always. Speaker 3 (2:59) And a fun fashion spectacle. And who else loves a fun fashion spectacle? Speaker 1 (3:05) is our next guest. Well, she is kind of a fun fashion spectacle. She is a fun fashion spectacle. Speaker 3 (3:12) This girl knows what she's doing. She knows where she's shopping. She wants all the hints, the hits. She has beautiful red carpet and event style. She has a great street style. She brings an element of fashion to all of her characters. And we're really, really happy to have her on. I was super thrilled when she said yes. We Speaker 1 (3:34) have been trying to make this happen for a very, very long time. Yeah. And we finally got her. Speaker 1 (3:44) Our next Speaker 3 (3:44) guest on the goodbye is a master of the craft, the stage, the screen, the story. She Speaker 1 (3:51) is deeply committed to telling, seeking out and producing inclusive and inventive stories with a body of work dedicated to confident and complicated characters from beloved Indies like Dear White People to the Marvel Universe, to Nia DaCosta's recent interpretation of Ibsen's Hedda. And then there are the stories she brings to life with her own company, Viva Mod. And that Speaker 3 (4:11) storytelling extends to her wardrobe too. The red carpet is always an opportunity to say something, to play, and to take a risk. Speaker 1 (4:18) She does that through an incredibly chic mix of established designers like Chanel, Balenciaga, Valentino, as well as insider favorites like Vaquera and Rachel Scott's Diotima. She is currently making her Broadway debut starring Speaker 3 (4:32) in The Fear of 13 alongside Adrienne Brody. And we can't wait to delve into her New York style observations, where she's been shopping when she's off stage, and how fashion informs and shapes her character both on and off camera. Please welcome to the goodbye, Tessa Thompson. Yay! Speaker 3 (4:50) Thanks so much for having me. We're going to go straight into it. What are you wearing today? Speaker 2 (4:54) I am wearing this little skirt suit from Vivienne Westwood's 1988 Spring Summer Collection. Amazing. It was apparently owned by the photographer Henny Garfunkel, who worked a lot with John Waters, which was a big selling point for me. I love vintage. I really love imagining the stories of the clothes that you buy. But this was incredible because I got an insight into who owned it. So I thought of all the fabulous places that it might have existed. And then under, I'm wearing this little shirt by Chelsea Mac. And then I'm wearing some little Chloe jellies. We love the Chloe jellies. And tell us about your fun jewelry too. Jewelry too. You were talking about when you get targeted on Instagram. I was targeted by a brand called Elio. Speaker 1 (5:43) Elio. Speaker 2 (5:44) Oh, I know it. Yeah. And I loved these little necklaces. Yeah. Speaker 1 (5:49) It's a beaded necklace summer. It Speaker 2 (5:53) is a beaded necklace summer. I was really tempted to buy this beaded necklace at Chanel recently, but it was, as you can imagine, not a cheap beaded necklace. Speaker 3 (6:03) And Speaker 2 (6:03) I grew up watching the show Three's Company. Yeah. And so I had a moment where I put it on and I was like, do I look like Mrs. Roper? Which is my dream. Yeah, I'm like, that's a Speaker 1 (6:12) good thing. No, it's a Speaker 2 (6:13) great thing. I grew up kind of wanting to be Mrs. Roper. But I thought I'd start small and see if I'm going to actually wear them. But thus far, so good. I like that you even Speaker 3 (6:24) are most storied celebrities are not immune to an Instagram target. I Speaker 1 (6:29) know, we're all human and AI is going to come for us all. It's Speaker 2 (6:33) this weird confluence of feeling like... annoyed by it and also heartened because the truth is I've discovered so many brands. I've discovered closet sales. I found myself in Bushwick yesterday going to two closet sales because Instagram told me about them, which is like... Of who? They were like studio sales. They were people I didn't even know, but then I just met new people and had like an afternoon in Bushwick before I went to the theater, which was nice. I mean, I feel like this is sort of the new normal. And the truth is you can sort of... guide the algorithm where you want it to Speaker 3 (7:07) take you. Yeah. Speaker 2 (7:08) You know? I Speaker 3 (7:09) know. I love that you are, you know, a fellow closet sale freak. Like, love to get... I actually, fun fact, I've seen, I've actually seen Tessa shopping. I think I saw you at a Vaquera sample sale. Yes. First in line. Yeah. And you were rolling deep. You had your things. Stuff. Speaker 2 (7:28) Yeah. I really, it is sort of like athletic, I think, sometimes when you can get to a good shop. There is that kind of fever. Oh, yeah, the Speaker 1 (7:39) mentality of a one-time sale is you're in a different headspace. You are Speaker 2 (7:46) completely. I grew up, you know, going to thrift stores with my parents, A, out of necessity. And so when I first started going to thrift stores, I did not think it was cool. I was like, I wish we could go buy new. stuff, frankly. And then when I started to uncover that there was all this incredible things there that also I'd show up at school and nobody else had what I was wearing. There was something kind of fantastic about it, you know. And Speaker 3 (8:14) I realized that my aesthetic was so sort of shaped Speaker 2 (8:17) by that. So I think inside of these sales, it's also this idea of like, you get there early and you find the thing that in some ways I feel is like. there for you. Speaker 3 (8:27) Yes. So wait, where was this 1988 Westwood? I know, that's what I was like, where did you get it? Drop that. Speaker 2 (8:33) I got it at Desert Vintage, which is not surprising. And I was truly on the fence. And then they told me the story about who. had owned it and I grew up such a massive John Waters fan. Because for me also fashion was this way of, it had so much to do with identity. I was like an early, not just John Waters, before John Waters I was super, a massive Pee Wee Herman fan. And in fact, this is kind of Pee Wee Herman-esque, because he loved his gray suits. But what Pee Wee Herman did for me as a kid was like, I remember there was an episode where he just puts on a pair of high heels just for fun, you know? This idea of just being able to play and not care about gender and just wear what you want to wear and be able to feel a kind of freedom in yourself and in your body with the way that you express yourself with clothes. And so I think those were like the early people that I was looking at and how they were dressing and what they were doing with clothing. And so when I understood that this woman, this amazing photographer who had worked with John Waters, wore this, I was like, yeah, I need that because Speaker 3 (9:35) I Speaker 2 (9:36) also just like spiritually, Speaker 3 (9:37) those are the people I feel connected to. We research all of our guests on the goodbye and like so much of your like conversation and your characters, what they wear is so much a part of like how it seems like you prepare for a character, but it's so important for being on screen. Like I was reading about the costumes for Hedda and how you like. how so much of a part of it, even the color, you talked about that crimson red and how important that was. And you were so sinister in that. It was so crazy because I've met you before and you're so lovely and you completely embodied that character, but it felt like the costuming was so much a part of that. Speaker 2 (10:14) Hugely. Well, especially color. For a long time, actually. It's funny because now it's getting warm. Summer is my least favorite season to dress in. Yeah, same. Speaker 3 (10:24) It's horrible. I have a really, really tough time in summer. Speaker 2 (10:27) And a part of it has to do with color and also just like what to wear. I'm always too hot. You know, even today, this is what I'm wearing on a summer day, which is... Arguably too much clothing so Hedda I don't in my personal wardrobe own a lot of I mean that's why I adore what you're wearing today this purple and these red