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There is an app on my phone called “Smoke Free” that is programed to send intermittent messages of encouragement to my lock screen. It features a rolling counter with the exact number of hours I have added to my life since deciding to quit nicotine—so far 19 hours, which I will most likely spend at work!—and I have, in the space of four days, received a “certificate” for my valiant efforts. There are lots of cheerful green emojis on there, but their souls are black: content with living in bleak abstinence.
That is, of course, just what happens in the New Year. People attempt to emancipate themselves from cheap dopamine hits–alcohol, TikTok, toxic relationships–and commit themselves to a life of asceticism. I could see this monastic spirit emanating from Elle Fanning as she made her first public appearance of 2024 yesterday afternoon: the sternness of that double-breasted car coat, the prudence of those leather loafers, and the sobriety of wearing head-to-toe black with sunglasses.
It helps that Fanning should be dressed in full-look The Row, too, because this is a brand whose perceived taste level runs in direct correlation with its understated and minimalist design. If the maximalist Versace is a giltwood suite of chaise lounges scattered around the edge of a Miami pool, The Row is a wicker stool hand-whittled by a group of nuns in some northern European convent. Elle Fanning, then, is merely embodying the season. So perhaps it is her that most deserves a certificate.
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