What I Put On Today

An anecdotal substack about getting dressed.

Dear Reader,

I’m witnessing a seismic shift in shopping behavior, backed by our own data at Dorsey, and it feels consistent with my own shopping habits. I discover products I love almost exclusively on people. There is a large group of professionals who thought that “influencer” marketing is coming to an end. On the contrary, we’ve been in beta. Why? Advertising dollars go where the eyes are. And the eyes are on people.

Not long ago we referred to people sharing products on instagram as “influencers” but this was never the correct term. We should be referring to influencers as “advertisers” and now, especially as it relates to Substack (and blogs), people are publishers.

People as “influencers” was the start. People as publishers is the end game. It’s a subtle change in a monumental update to how brands of all sizes reach customers.

Why is this a good thing? Whether you realize it or not, you want advertising put in front of you by other consumers, not brands or companies. Why? It makes the advertising you look at on a daily basis relevant to you because it’s done in context you get to pick and choose (you decide who you follow). Seeing products in the context of how we would use something in our own lives is effective. And fun.

The marketing race is on. In the end, Instagram has not acted quickly enough to make itself a shopping app (I’d argue it was derailed by reels). As a founder (who has lead growth marketing teams for well over a decade), I can tell you that the tools are still somewhat useless. How is it that after years on this app we’re reduced to only a swipe up feature in stories? Instagram is one of the most important advertising platforms in the world. Why can’t I tap to buy the things I’m actually interested in purchasing?

Enter Lemon8.

Lemon8 feels like a mix between instagram, pinterest, and Canva. If this app does what I think it might do, game over. At a minimum, you want to own your name (and your companies name) on it.

You can find me on Lemon8 under the username MeganStrachan and Dorsey under the username Dorsey.

In no particular order, here’s what I put on this week. Questions on anything at all? Please comment here and I’ll ping you right back.

I’ll be attempting to write this column once a week going forward but may hit some snags as I build and lead the business of Dorsey. Thank you for hanging in there with me. Over the next few weeks I’ll add more links to each newsletter (to make it easier to find the things I share that you might want to try, too).

Where: Sunset Tower for a 9 PM dinner with Ariel Kaye (founder Parachute Home), Janessa Leone (founder of Janessa Leone), Alex Taylor (founder of Perelel Health) and Jacey Duprie (founder of Wyeth)

Wearing: It’s too late in the season to buy leather pants and you don’t need these right now, this an old black sweatshirt from Entire World 2020 (circa when we were sanitizing our packages and leaving them on our doorsteps for 24 hours - a personal low for me), and I just found these Manolo's (it was a bit cold so I wear these with hosiery socks, they give the same look as tights without being tights)

On my wrist: The Dorsey 4-Prong Kate tennis bracelet in lab-grown diamond (customized with a lab grown emerald on the clasp, coming soon), my Dorsey D.M.J. ring inspired by my grandmother’s wedding ring (I too, wear mine as a wedding band, as will my cousin Paige, who is getting married in Dorsey’s garden in 4 weeks)

The clutch: A Judith Leiber bag I found at TheRealReal, broke the strap on the way out the door, and promptly made into a clutch.

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Where: A dressing room in Los Angeles with terrible lighting (but a fairly stylish chair)

Trying on: THIS BLAZER in size 34 and 36 (both sizes worked well but I went with size 36 for a little more room) *I bought it and have worn it so often the past two weeks that I don’t have much else to say on it - I like that it wraps, which is fairly unusual for me, as feel it gives it a more casual look (those are old Levi’s or I’d link them here as well)

Wearing: Said blazer to lunch at The Polo Bar with Grace Atwood and Mally Goldman

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Where: Dinner with my husband at Bavel in downtown Los Angeles

Wearing: The Dorsey Moss Riviere in lab grown white sapphire (16 inches)

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Where: Headed to a meeting in Hollywood from Dorsey HQ

Wearing: J. Crew x Marie Marot shirt, my Totem black coat, old Levi’s and my 14K Dorsey ID engraved with my daughters name “Viv” (even though she recently told me she goes by Vivi) *I made this necklace for myself last year for Mother’s Day

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Lastly, a few new things are en route to me right now. Mainly, sandals for summer. In the name of being a minimalist who wears the same shoes year after year I recently ordered these and these (the first t-strap sandals I’ve bought in a decade). Out of the 2,340 pairs of sandals I looked at on the internet this week these are the ones I’ll be wearing this summer.

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Looking forward to reading all of your thoughts. I’m headed to get a matcha and the WSJ.

All my very best,

Meg Strachan

Founder | CEO | Creative Director @DorseyOfficial

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