Downtime With: Harling Ross Anton

Note: Alisha is currently on maternity leave until the summer. In the meantime, Downtime is edited by Elise Hu. Our full weekly posts during this time are exclusively for paid subscribers. Upgrade here for full access and get 20% off your subscription. Thank you for your support!

It is with great excitement and some trepidation that I, Elise, step into Alisha’s shoes to edit Downtime as she takes parental leave. One of the privileges of stepping into this role (temporarily, don’t fear) is spending time with such an engaged community, and connecting with the fascinating folks we feature. Like Harling.

Harling Ross Anton is a writer, consultant, and mom of two living in New York City. She authors the Gumshoe newsletter on Substack and previously penned the Fashion Friend column for New York Magazine. You might already be familiar with her work from her time writing for the cult fashion media site, Man Repeller. Not only does Harling have excellent taste, but she’s also interested in how we can each draw out our own taste, style, and sensibilities. (Hint: It means slowing down a bit.)

Below, Harling takes us through a day in her life, offers her tried-and-true tips for shopping preloved clothing (for grownups and kids — including a hidden gem consignment spot!!), and shares some of her favorite book recommendations and sources for staying inspired.

Harling’s 3 Good Things

1. Paying obsessive attention to fabric content: Prioritizing natural materials like cotton, silk, wool, and linen has had the biggest impact on the longevity of my wardrobe. Not only is it more pleasurable, but they also hold up better over time.

2. Keeping a salt hutch next to the stove: So much easier to season food when it’s right there, ready to be pinched! This is the one I have.

3. The cotton underwear from Subset: Trust me.

Downtime With: Harling Ross Anton

Talk to us about where you’re from and what you do?

I grew up in New York City and still live there now. I write the newsletter Gumshoe on Substack, where I attempt to unravel the mysteries of personal taste and how to shop smarter (i.e. not necessarily more).

How did you end up in the work that you do now?

I started writing about style in college, on a personal blog that no one read except my mom and a handful of friends. Around the same time, I was pitching essays to the (now-shuttered) cult fashion website Man Repeller. A few of them ended up getting published, which eventually opened the door to a job there. I started as their social media editor and over the course of my five-year tenure was promoted to fashion editor and later brand director.

I left in the summer of 2020 to pursue freelancing. I learned a lot, but it was also a stressful time — my income was erratic, and I realized I’m not particularly well-suited to client services as an anxious people-pleaser type. I didn’t feel like I truly hit my stride as a self-employed person until 2023, when I started my Substack newsletter, Gumshoe.

I started it to fill a gap in mainstream fashion content: writing about style as it actually manifests in real life, not just hypothetically or in an image on a screen. I share outfits I genuinely wear — the ones that survive subway rides, childcare, and full workdays — and focus on the workhorses in my closet that earn their keep over time. I primarily link to clothing made from natural fibers and write a lot about how to shop less by paying closer attention to what we already own: what we use the most, how we use it, and why. I’ve found that this kind of “data” is often the most useful tool for making better decisions about what to buy — or when not to buy anything at all.