Paloma Elsesser believes in shopping for the archive of it all, whether it's designer fashion or military vintage. In this episode of 'Talk Shop,' the model invites Harper's BAZAAR to join her for a day of shopping at some of her favorite New York City spots-- Front General Store and Zitomer Pharmacy. Watch as Paloma shares her tips on reconstructing vintage pieces and maintaining "balance and subversion" when styling looks, and reveals the ways in which she practices luxury self care and the beauty splurges that make her lose her mind.
Check out Paloma Elsesser's Harper's Bazaar cover story here: www.harpersbazaar.com/faces-of-now-april-2025
#PalomaElsesser #TalkShop #BAZAAR
Check out Paloma Elsesser's Harper's Bazaar cover story here: www.harpersbazaar.com/faces-of-now-april-2025
#PalomaElsesser #TalkShop #BAZAAR
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00:00Balance and subversion. Balance and subversion. Uptown. Downtown. We have to be able to do it all.
00:12Hi, family. It's Paloma El Cesar, and today I'm taking Harbor Bazaar shopping. Let's go.
00:17All right, so we're here at the Front Street General Outpost. We're at the new upstairs location.
00:32I'm very familiar with the downstairs, which is where I met Eric. My favorite thing about Front
00:38General is that it kind of perfectly marries the two things that I love the most, which are
00:46archived fashion and military vintage. So let's get into it. I'm going to get my sleeves up.
00:55I want to see the archive stuff.
01:03Where is the comb and where is the junior? So pretty much all throughout these racks,
01:09we're going to have the comb de garçon and the junior Watanabe. Particularly right now,
01:13we have this new junior Watanabe crops knitted sweater here. I'm obsessed. What would you consider
01:19like this area? Is this archive? I guess it would be an archive of Celine Phoebe. Everybody has their
01:25own opinion, but yeah, especially now that she has her own brand. I feel like which we'll get into more
01:30of what I like. I separate in my brain and I always say this when I'm shopping is like for the archive of
01:38it all. You know, it's like sometimes things are not meant to be worn consistently, but they're just
01:42important to have in the archive.
01:50Let's go through this blue section and see. Okay. So this is not my size, but I love how junior
01:59reworks a lot of like denim here. It's playing in these very fundamentals like American and Japanese
02:06fabrics. I mean, obviously this is a Japanese fabric and then subverting it into these really cool
02:11layering pieces. I, if anyone's wondering how I fit into all this stuff is because junior is oftentimes
02:19reworked. So what I do is I take it to my iconic Taylor Tao and she freaks it into my size. It's not hard
02:28to add a panel to some denim. And I think it still honors the integrity of the garment while still being
02:35able to wear what I want to wear. Okay. The most expensive piece I've bought. Well, it actually
02:43wasn't an archive piece. It was a vintage Kelly bag where I've never seen anybody else with this bag.
02:51It is a tricolor vintage Kelly bag that has my favorite colors in it, which are army green,
02:56Bordeaux and navy blue. Hello. I had to have it.
03:06So my relationship with pants and like a baggier fit kind of was born out of just necessity and
03:12comfort and a desire to feel like myself. And my pant model for the thickies is just buy bigger,
03:21like find and just nip the waist, like buy a 40 leg. If you want that like big billowy trouser-y
03:29kind of minimalist moment, go to a store like this, go to a Goodwill, go to wherever
03:34and buy that old men's trouser and just nip the waist and there's your look.
03:38How I would style these pants are two ways. I think of either daytime or nighttime. In the nighttime,
03:49these are really easy to pair with like a sexy but not overly done top that feels like a little lifted.
03:56And then in the daytime, quite literally, I would just wear something like this. I'd wear a tiny little
04:03jean jacket pinned just the top three or four, make it a little corset-y with a pair of Chanel flats.
04:11That's what I would do.
04:19This jacket is so cool because when I want to go a little bit more tough, but it would be beautiful
04:24with like a Prada skirt and a little Prada sweater. So there's always this balance and subversion,
04:29people balance and subversion, uptown, downtown. We're balancing all the things. We're able to go
04:34anywhere. We feel ourselves.
04:42Okay, so first try on is this coat that I'm 100% getting because it can be 100 ways. I kind of also
04:48just like it like this. Obviously, I wouldn't wear it with camo shoes, maybe like a black shoe or black
04:54boots or something like that. But it's nice because you can like push up the sleeves, you can open it
04:59up and wear it with whatever. But I personally like it a bit like this also. Yeah.
05:12So I love these pants. They're a bit high. These are men's. So the crotch came down to,
05:19but I quite like it rolled. I think it's completely fine and I like that. So let me put a top on it.
05:29Yes, it has a two face zip. Okay, so this is my favorite because you know, you would never think.
05:38So you go all the way up here, put it all the way to the top and then it's like party time, hot.
05:43Recap students, we learned that it is possible to reconstruct vintage as long as you still honor
05:49the integrity of the garment people. This is very, very important. Balance and subversion.
05:54Subversion. Balance and subversion. Uptown. Downtown. You have to be able to do it all.
06:09We are uptown at the iconic Zidamer Pharmacy. It's one of my favorite places in New York to get
06:19a bunch of stuff. I'll show you everything. Where I normally splurge on beauty is everywhere,
06:25but generally in like experiences. I think things that smell good, lotions, candles, but I also splurge on
06:33skin care because I'm a bit more in my scientific era and the thing about science forward skin care.
06:41So they're very sophisticated formulas and they should not be cheap.
06:45Okay. This is my zone. This is where I thrive. Um, we love Santa Maria Novella. Okay. So this is like
06:59iconic, iconic face spray. This one's the orange blossom. And then there's a rose one. I'm feeling
07:07the rose. I need to re up on the rose. I think that there's something very intimate and special about
07:12luxuriating yourself. I know that people minimize self care as like, it's not just baths and facials,
07:18but I think that there's something very sacred and deeply feminine about just focusing on a moment
07:26for yourself. Oh, I love these little eye masks. Yeah. You had me at deep puffing. A place like Zidamer
07:35is very special and key to New York is because it's a fixture of uptown. And I think that's special.
07:42I think it's important to keep New York, New York.
07:51All right. Here's where the magic happens. Some of my favorite things and where I really like lose my
07:57mind is all of the like accessories. See, that's like brown.
08:02This is nice. I think because it's not my hair, but it's kind of my hair, but it's not really my hair.
08:14Okay. And this one, 55 bucks. I will say Zidamer does not go lightly on the bank account, but it's worth it.
08:23All right. This is the end, y'all. Thank you so much, Harper's Bazaar. It's been very fun.
08:40Thank you. Thank you for coming shopping with me.