Is this thing on?
Not another writer starting a Substack
I’m sitting writing this on my son’s six month birthday. The house is eerily still — he’s with his grandparents while I work, which I’ve been doing a couple of days a week since he was six weeks old. The joy of being a freelancer is having a flexible diary, but the downside is that you’re afraid to take time off for fear of losing work opportunities or clients. An opportunity came knocking a couple of weeks after he was born and I couldn’t turn it down.
These work days, which pre-mat leave felt hectic and stress-filled, now feel like a reprieve from a full day of entertaining/keeping alive a tiny baby. I get things knocked off the to-do list that have been ping pong-ing around my brain. I can doomscroll without fear of my son looking up at me for reaction and being greeted with a blank face (the Still Face experiment video echoes in my brain at all times!).
One thing that’s been on the to-do list for a while has been getting this Substack off the ground. And by a while, I mean months, potentially even years. I’ve been putting it off for many reasons — busyness, primarily, but also, does writing about things like clothes and internet culture feel frivolous in the face of what’s going on in the world at the moment? Well, yes. But I also think we’re all indulging in a level of cognitive dissonnance at the moment, listening to podcasts and shopping fast fashion and buying coconut mango matchas while simultaneously scrolling through updates about Gaza and Ukraine and rising fascism in America.
But I do think that the two don’t have to be mutually exclusive. We can live our oft-privileged lives here in the West, enjoying the spoils that come with it, while being invested in world events, campaigning, donating, staying informed. Everything is inherently political, even style.
So, I’m getting this thing started. Off the Cuff will be my little corner of the internet to share life updates, style and culture musings and generally getting creative. Because that’s something I’ve been missing while being on mat leave. Ironically, having more time off has given my previously burnt-out brain time to conjure up lots of new ideas, but I don’t have the free time to indulge them. Yet! So without further ado, here’s what I’ve been loving this week…
Sebb’s
I was able to head along to Sebb’s in Glasgow with a good friend (hi Mogz, if you’re reading this!) at long last and thought it was great. Unpretentious, which is quite a large order when it comes to small plates spots (Is the rule ‘the smaller the dish, the wanky-ier the service’?). Sebb’s’ service was very much un-wanky. The team were full of great chat, the dishes were delicious. Of course, we ended up overordering. However, I subscribe to the rule that I’m getting dessert no matter how full I am, so we indulged in some grilled peaches with coconut and tahini, which were as delightfully summery as they sound.
Tom Ford Soleil Blanc
Talking about things that are delighfully summery, I picked up some Tom Ford Soleil Blanc the other day (a tester, I’m on mat leave money, guys). I like to have a signature scent for summer and for winter (my current winter rotation is Aesop - Rozu and Byredo - Bal D’Afrique), so was craving something that captures that holiday in a bottle type vibe. This is very much that. Notes include bergamot, cardamom oil, pistachio accord and coconut. It all sounds very delicious, doesn’t it? The 50ml parfum is not cheap at £220, but I think it’s something I might treat myself to at duty-free come September when we’re heading off to Portugal.
Lush Highlands Spa Treatment
Before getting down to scran town at Sebb’s last week, I headed into Lush on Buchanan Street as I’d very kindly been invited to try out their Highlands Spa Treatment. I was in dire need of a massage. My baby, who was born at 10 pounds and who has been continuing on that trajectory since, has been destroying my back, arms and shoulders. So it seemed like kismet that a 60-minute hot stone massage was on the cards. My therapist (the lovely Cat), told me a bit about the experience before we begun, weaving in some signature Lush theatrics by asking me to select a tumble stone enscribed with a pagan symbol that was going to guide me on my Highlands journey. I was ‘drawn to’ a swirly symbol that ended up being ‘The Wave’ — apt for someone who needs to be by the sea at all costs.
Into the treatment room and the massage begins. Cat explained the treatment is designed to feel like walking up a mountain, coming down the other side and then enjoying a refreshing cold plunge. Traditional Gaelic folk music and atmospheric weather sounds play throughout (much more relaxing than it sounds), while Cat guides health-giving hot stones over my back, shoulders and arms. The movements are purposeful, beginning heavy, as if struggling up the mountain, with lighter movements at the other end, signalling making your way down the other side. A face massage with cooling quartz symbolises the cold plunge at the edge of the mountain, rounding off the adventure. It was just what the doctor ordered.
Looking ahead
I don’t know if it comes from working in magazines with leadtimes that often mean you’re working on Christmas issues in July, but I always seem to mentally be at least one season ahead. Which means I’m currently considering my autumn moodboard.
Toast have some very covetable pieces coming up for AW25 through both women’s and homeware. The brand says this latest collection ‘celebrates the spirit of curiosity, contemplation, and a lifetime of learning. With an acknowledgement of what has gone before, they explore notions of the classics and those who laid the foundations’.
“It was a quote by Georgia O’Keeffe that inspired the concept,” says creative director, Laura Shippey. “She said, ‘Interest is the most important thing in life; happiness is temporary, but interest is continuous.’”
Visual interest is always something worth pursuing, I reckon.
I think that’s about it for my week one dispatches. I’d very much love if you could like/comment/share/give me any feedback that will help this feel like I’m not shouting into the wind, à la ‘old man shouts at cloud’.
Big, big love,
Adrianne xo