MAY 7, 2026

INSIDE: Anti-Trend Wardrobes, Choosing Fashion, and Joyful Collabs.

A LITTLE SOMETHING EXTRA:

Sleep just got a luxe-level upgrade. Beautyrest is kicking off Memorial Day celebrations early with its sale up to $1,000 off on favorites like the BR Black and BR Black Hybrid mattresses (AKA your invitation to sink into deeper rest before summer hits). Your chance to claim ends June 2.*

From bold heroines to bloating hacks, we’re chatting about the narrative—on love, food, and everything in between.

• Chick lit’ is getting a long-overdue reappraisal.

• Meg Stalter’s latest role is as bold as it is funny.

• Your routine might be the key to less bloating.

• Dating is starting to feel like a group project.

• Mindful eating is about more than just nutrition.

The Anti-Trend Wardrobe

The trend cycle hasn’t just sped up, it’s started to feel like noise. What’s “in” changes so quickly that getting dressed can feel reactive instead of personal. The anti-trend wardrobe pushes back by focusing on consistency over constant newness.

It’s not about ignoring fashion, it’s about filtering it. Instead of chasing every shift, people are choosing pieces that actually reflect their style and re-wearing them often. Think go-to outfits you can rely on, or staples you style differently across seasons. The result is a wardrobe that feels more grounded, easier to get dressed from, and less tied to whatever’s trending that week.

There’s also a confidence to it. When you’re not dressing for the timeline, your outfits start to feel more like you and less like a moment you’re trying to keep up with. It removes that low-level pressure to constantly refresh your closet and replaces it with something a lot more sustainable.

Try this: Before buying something new, ask yourself if you’d wear it next year and if it works with at least three things you already own. If not, leave it.

Are you keeping up with trends or doing your own thing?

Color us inspired. From technicolor handbags to rhinestone everything, Susan Korn has built Susan Alexandra on one simple (but powerful) idea: Joy is something you can choose. What started in her bedroom as a small jewelry line has grown into a full-on universe of playful self-expression—where getting dressed isn’t just about style, it’s about shifting your mindset.

Whether she’s reaching for sequins to turn her day around, savoring her morning coffee ritual, or dreaming up a full-circle partnership, Susan’s approach is rooted in the magic of the little things.

As she launches her latest collab with McDonald's, The Newsette caught up with Susan to talk about how fashion can transform your mood, what makes a partnership truly click, and why the smallest details might just be the most meaningful.

Tapping into your knack for bringing joy… What role does fashion play in shaping how we feel, not just how we look?

I think it's such a huge part of shifting one's mood and bringing some joy to your life is just choosing how to dress. I find that when I'm feeling low, I always kind of look at my closet. I'm like, okay, either I'm gonna lean into this mood and wear black, or I'm gonna try to shift my mood and wear bright yellow or sequins. So I think that how we dress and what we put on our body has such a huge effect on our brain.

You’ve said you believe in the magic of small things. What’s one tiny detail in your daily life that consistently sparks joy?

The best part of my day sometimes is coffee in the morning. It's what makes me happy. I get excited at night when I'm going to bed, I'm like, “Oh, I get to wake up and have coffee in the morning.” So, the little things like that can be so transformative. 

How do you decide what feels authentically Susan Alexandra as you expand and what made you excited to partner with McDonalds? 

I think it's usually a gut check. You have to always ask yourself with any design, anything you do, is the “why?” And this one was such a fun collaboration, because the product was so creative, and they let me do whatever I wanted to do. And that's really rare in a collaboration. You usually have a lot of constraints and parameters. So there was the creative exploration, and then also, I have a relationship with McDonald's. I grew up going. That was my special treat. And it's really cool to get to work with McDonald's. I wouldn't believe it if you had told me when I was like, 10-years-old, that this will be you  one day. The Happy Meal you're eating could shape your life. You know, it’s full circle!

How did you approach the collaboration? What were your goals for it and what is your favorite part? 

It was really fun because they brought us the drinks and they showed us what they're unveiling. Just the colors alone gave me a lot of runway. My brain went a million miles an hour, and I was like: There's so much we can do here. And that’s the best, best, best part of a collaboration or any design. Exploration is sketching something, seeing it through the sampling process, tweaking it and making it come to life. It's the most incredible feeling in the world. It's what I'd imagine what giving birth is like. But the fact that we got to do six designs was really, really awesome.