5 (S)SENSES with MacKinley Jade

It's a 5(S)SENSES marathon week and we're not stopping. Today, fashion writer MacKinley jade takes the baton

Meet 5 (S)SENSES.

Yes, the extra S is because I have a never-ending SSENSE wishlist I’ll never buy. Don’t we all?

A series that started with me yelling into the void about how I’m engaging with my 5 senses—whether that be through a niche perfume, fashion, nature, art books, weird music, or a new cookie recipe.

Because…

1. Our senses are our language with the world around us, and the more we can engage with them in the ways that are accessible to us, the deeper our experience with the world can be.

2. The deeper our experience with the world can be, and the more offline we are, the more engaged we are with ourselves, our lives, our experiences.

3. …Resulting in the development of your taste and personal style, creativity, curiosity, not hating your life, & a general sense of anti-brain rot/doom scroll culture.

Our 5 (S)ENSES feature kickoff continues with Substack’s own MacKinley Jade—of fashion-focused publication Yeehawt. MacKinley’s mind is responsible for some of my favorite fashion and culture pieces I’ve read, like RIP to Taylor Swift The Fashion Darling, How To Shop for Your Weird Girlfriend, and of course, Get In, We’re Brooch-Maxxing.

I absolutely adored this read. MacKinley’s descriptions of sense are so tactile and experiential—they pull you right into her world. I know you’re going to adore MacKinley’s musings too. Let’s dive in!

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Hi!

Hi! I’m MacKinley (or Mac!), a fashion writer and researcher. I write the newsletter Yeehawt at the intersection of chic and ugly. I’m an eBay enthusiast, a Prada apologist, and a resident of New York City. When I’m not sending a letter or taking one thousand photos of my cat, you can find me posting outfits and camera roll outtakes on IG.

5 (S)SENSES, according to MacKinley

Sight

A new copy of L’etiquette is a treasure chest of styling inspiration. I stuffed the latest Femme issue into my bag on a flight back from Paris last month and have been referencing it constantly. As much as I love Pinterest (which I do, a whole lot), a digital inspo board will never match the joie de vivre of a tactile source.

I can always count on L’etiquette to recommend a new brand or style a piece in a way I’d never considered, and I love seeing the heavy American influences at play in French fashion.

Emma note: Print media forever <3 I love L’etiquette.

Some of my favorite looks from the issue:

Smell

One whiff of Glossier You is a time machine back to summer 2019. I found an old bottle in my closet earlier this month so it’s recently resurfaced in my rotation. Now its pink peppery and musky notes are steeped in nostalgia, which has made the perfume all the more complex and interesting. A rediscovery — of a fragrance and of a younger me. It’s also the perfect scent to wear to the DMV.

I Feel Glossier in This DMV

Touch

Summer is by far the filthiest season — it’s sticky, blistered, and coated in a film of SPF. But that’s what’s so fun about it, right? There’s a real elementary school recess texture to summer.

The grown-up in me enjoys the process of cleaning up that mess in equal measure. I’d like to bottle up the feeling of a post-swim shower: water hitting skin after being in the sun a little too long; deep conditioning the chemical dryness out of chlorinated hair; wet waves soaking through the shoulders of a cotton t-shirt; tucking into crisp white sheets with the fan on high. It’s best characterized as a religious ritual.

and the scrape of comb teeth on your scalp? divine

Taste

My ideal summer foods are cold and acidic. Outshine lime popsicles stay stocked in the freezer, and dinners generally revolve around cold noodles, veg, and tofu drenched in some sort of soy-ginger-garlic-sesame-lime-peanut butter-vinegar-maple-miso-scallion-chili concoction. Cucumber salad on the side occasionally, measuring with my heart always.

looking forward to eating my weight in stone fruit too

Sound

My first apartment in New York was across the street from a dive bar, and on warm weekend evenings, they’d hire musicians to play jazz with all the doors open. I’d sit on my bed with my feet dangling through the window onto the fire escape and let the music drift over me as the sky deepened. Even before I had plans of moving out, I’d think to myself, I’m really going to miss this one day.

The apartment I now live in with my partner is on the same block as a restaurant that hires a jazz band to play on Sundays. It fills our living room with a soothing city soundtrack, just like at my last place, only now I have someone to point it out to. Every time I notice the music I pinch myself just a little.

And so I’ll leave you with this, my perpetual song of the summer:

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A digital hug and lots of summer fruits to MacKinley for this 5 (S)SENSES takeover. Next time I’m in NY, trust that you’ll hear about our inevitably legendary linkup/shopping trip.

Connect with MacKinley on Substack and Instagram!

What’s exciting your 5 (S)SENSES this month? Let us know (I’m a nosy queen).

Talk to you soon.

<3, Emma

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