From the glossy pages of magazines to the Røde mini mic-wielding commentators on TikTok, there’s no shortage of platforms dispatching sartorial updates. However, in a world where short-form content is causing fatigue, it’s the sprawling posts of the best fashion Substacks that are proving to hold the most cultural cache.
What originated as an antidote to traditional publications and an outlet for independent thought and criticism, Substack has become a community-oriented arena in which really anyone and everyone can espouse an opinion.
Serving as a digital newsstand, you’ll find op-eds on topics ranging from what designer holds the popular vote in the latest iteration of creative director musical chairs to tasteful curations of chic items.
But how did a newsletter delivered straight to your inbox become the new height of luxury? Simply put, the best fashion Substacks are the ones that serve to complement the newscycled, not replace it altogether.
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Rather than taking the place of existing legacy media titles, this corner of the internet is a place for creators to dish up handpicked edits on niche topics, wax lyrical about subject matters that aren’t defined by search terms and give access to industry events and runway shows in a way that doesn’t have to appeal to advertisers.
Of course, there are so many ways to stay informed about the state of play. But there is something so charming about taking it all sitting at your laptop in your favourite independently-owned cafe with a morning coffee. (Perhaps with the sounds of Olivia Dean crooning in the background, if the owner has elite music taste.)
The best fashion Substacks are the ones that encourage you to slow your consumption down in more ways than one, beginning with the amount of media you consume and ending with the thoughtful recommendations that the following authors share.
From the wishlists of local insiders to the scathing takedowns penned by those in the know, these are the 13 best fashion Substacks to subscribe to, as selected by a clued-up fashion editor.
The 13 Best Fashion Substacks Worth Subscribing To
1. The Cereal Aisle
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By: Leandra Cohen
Style Notes: Leandra Cohen is a content creator and writer who knows her HTML from her Hermés. As one of the first fashion bloggers to make it big, the Upper East Sider has spent the better part of her adult life online, meaning she knows how to refine style discourse into bite-sized chunks. (Hence the name of her Substack.) While most of her content focuses on helping her readers figure out what to wear or how to style things, it’s Cohen’s ability to take humble wardrobe staples and transform them into an outfit so unbelievably covetable and unique by pairing them with something completely opposing that makes her one of the best creators. Her outfit pictures alone warrant the carpal tunnel you’d be predisposed to scrolling her screenshot-worthy page.
Subscribe to The Cereal Aisle here.
2. Remotely
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By: Lucy Williams
Style Notes: Britain’s Lucy Williams is no stranger to dishing out recommendations. If you scroll through any of the content produced by the influencer and writer, you’ll be bombarded with questions about everything from the dress brands she shops for her annual summer pilgrimage to the Greek islands (Faithfull The Brand) to the exact shade she dyed her blue-stained walls of West London terrace (an archive Farrow & Ball colour called ‘Yonder’.) Remotely is a lavish dumping ground for all these suggestions and more, including her monthly favourite, meditations on interior design and pieces that have caught her eye.
Subscribe to Remotely here.
3. Magasin
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By: Laura Reilly
Style Notes: Laura Rielly is a London-born, New York-based writer and editor with bylines at publications like InStyle. However, with her fashion Substack Magasin, Reilly has distilled the job description of an old-school market editor into one extremely chic platform. The premise is simple—list every launch or sales insight that someone with excellent taste should know and care about. Of course, it does take a person with that exact attribute to curate these news items into one place. Contextualising these tidbits with personal insights, wardrobe diaries from fashion month and simple copy that does exactly what it needs to do—tell readers why that steal, collaboration or soon-to-be grail is worth it.
Subscribe to Magasin here.
4. Cyclical
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By: Mandy Lee (aka @oldloserinbrooklyn)
Style Notes: If you’ve ever come across @oldloserinbrooklyn on social media, you’ll already be familiar with the work of Brooklyn-based creator Mandy Lee. At a time when you really don’t need any credentials to call yourself a trend forecaster—just look at the onslaught of self-published New Year predictions that hit your feeds in the countdown to January 1—Lee sets herself apart by actually combing through fashion data to deliver analysis of what’s actually ‘in’ and ‘out’. Lee’s takes are never cookie-cutter. She won’t recycle or rehash something you’ve already heard on another platform or ‘heat another person’s nachos’, to use internet speak. This year alone, prophecies like Little Edie becoming the new Jane Birkin, the rise in craftcore and the reign of “ugly shoes” have already proven correct, making her crystal ball one worth peaking into.
Subscribe to Cyclical here.
5. Brain Matter
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By: Gabriella Karefa-Johnson
Style Notes: Gabriella Karefa-Johnson is a stylist, fashion editor and Vogue’s former global contributing fashion editor at large. While her work with industry giants has made her one herself, it’s Karefa-Johnson’s Substack that gives us a deeper glimpse into her process. Aptly titled Brain Matter, her posts provide, as she writes, a “front-row seat into the deepest corners of my brain, raw, unfiltered, and, at times, unhinged”. Operating as a one-woman publication, Karefa-Johnson delivered everything from intimate voice memos, PR spin-free show notes, the anatomy of how she puts together looks for her starry clients, the machinations of putting together a magazine and what’s under the glamorous veil of attending the circus that is fashion month.
Subscribe to Brain Matter here.
6. Smooth Brain
By: Ali Whittle
Style Notes: To read Ali Whittle’s content is like feeling the sun’s warmth—uplifting, mood-boosting and just oh so encouraging. Whittle, a former magazine journalist living in Sydney’s leafy inner city, is no stranger to the industry, yet is never elitist or exclusive in the way she talks about style. On that note, Whittle’s documentation of fashion is one of the most endearing on the platform. From chronicling the pieces she wears on repeat to slyly sharing the real-life outfits of chic women she spots across European capitals, there’s a languid, soothing mellow quality to the content Whittle puts out that’s just so inviting. This is one you’ll really want to sink your teeth into over an afternoon sweet treat.
Subscribe to Smooth Brain here.
7. The Allison Bornstein Newsletter
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By: Allison Bornstein
Style Notes: Allison Bornstein is the stuff of modern style myth. Carving out a niche for herself during the days of the pandemic when we were all glued to our phones, Bornstein established herself in the mainstream through her regular TikTok content. Through the safety net of a green screen, she’d translated the oft-illusory concept of personal style and shopping with consideration into digestible videos. Inventing new style rules like the “three worth method”, a theory that posits whittling your pieces down to three adjectives will help you build a cohesive and long-lasting wardrobe, Bornstein swiftly set herself as this generation’s Rachel Zoe. Her way of seeing clothing as vessels that can help us craft personas is truly refreshing, but her musings are always grounded with practical advice that even the most novice fashion lover can understand. Come for her guidance, stay for her inspirational mood boards.
Subscribe to The Allison Bornstein Newsletter here.
8. Add To Wishlist
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By: Otegha Uwagba
Style Notes: Otegha Uwagba knows what women want to talk about. From her best-selling essay collection blending memoir and cultural commentary, We Need to Talk About Money, to her guide to modern life, Little Black Book: A Toolkit For Working Women, the multi-hyphenate has her finger on the pulse in more ways than one. Even modelling in the campaign for Paris Georgia’s collaboration with Joe Sweeney, when Uwagba lends her voice to something, it’s not often that it goes unheard. Such is her fashion Substack, Add To Wishlist. From the new Loewe heels she’s picking up for half their RRP to her rankings of the best ballet flats (Le Monde Beryl comes in first, if you’re wondering), consider this a safe space for spendthrifts.
Subscribe to Add To Wishlist here.
9. Oh Mon Dieu
By: Courtney Grow
Style Notes: To know content creator Courtney Grow is to know her penchant for documenting her outfits and travels, often in the most casual terms. Her ensembles are a cacophony of colours and prints, ranging from fuchsia pink Tory Burch sets emblazoned with mirror discs to oversized and realistic rosettes stuck to crinkled Hunza G swimsuits. Her fashion Substack, Oh Mon Dieu, is a more formal place for these finds to reside.
Subscribe to Oh Mon Dieu here.
10. Back Row
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By: Amy Odell
Style Notes: Amy Odell is a journalist and author who first cut her teeth at heritage titles in the early 2000s—arguably the final decade before digital and social media irrevocably changed the landscape forever. Having worked at the front lines of the industry, Odell is now sharing her quick-witted and intelligent commentary from the “Back Row”, a place she describes as fiercely independent and anti-establishment. Like her razor-sharp and objective biographies on Anna Wintour and Gwyneth Paltrow, Odell lifts the curtains on worlds that have been previously gatekept, with a little help from confessions from top-tier sources, too.
Subscribe to Back Row here.
11. In The Details
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By: Molly Blutstein (aka @accidentalinfluencer)
Style Notes: While her Instagram handle @accidentalinfluencer might suggest there’s no rhyme or reason to Molly Blutstein’s following, her fashion Substack will prove otherwise. Each post is a charming look into the small things that spark joy for Blutstein—a curved wooden staircase bannister that perfectly matches the brown of her suede jacket, needlepoint pillowcases that rival a vintage dress in both age and charm, bathroom vanities that complement her new Miu Miu steal. Blutstein is a little bit like Alexa Chung in the way she marries art history and interior design with fashion, with her recommendations just as covetable, too.
Subscribe to In The Details here.
12. Discoursted
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By: Louis Pisano
Style Notes: Fashion writer, commentator and activist Louis Pisano is no stranger to controversy, but mainly because they tend to court it themselves. Their substack Discoursted is a recap of the “fashion news you missed, the internet discourse you can’t escape, and the politics woven into both”, meaning you can expect deep dives into the marketing tactics utilised by luxury brands to secure coverage, hot takes on the performative nature of being an influencer in this day and age and the price of speaking out.
Subscribe to Discoursted here.
13. Chic Things
By: The Millennial Decorator
Style Notes: If your saved folder had its own dedicated account, it would be The Millennial Decorator. Run by Los Angeles-based creator Julia Rabinowitsch, this fashion Substack is in the business of being chic. While her Instagram account is a place for sharing impeccable flat lays or still lifes of her vintage shoe and jewellery collections, her posts offer a deeper look into her camera roll. Here you’ll find everything from the underwear store in Barcelona selling the finest pointelle cottons to the Florence pharmacy peddling Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy-inspired tortoiseshell hair clips.
Subscribe to Chic Things here.
Why Trust Us
At Who What Wear UK, fashion is our speciality. Our editors have years of industry experience, from reporting on seasonal fashion trends seen at international fashion weeks to working with some of the most recognisable names in fashion. Every item we recommend is carefully selected based on current trends, quality and real-world wearability.
We regularly try on pieces ourselves—everything from best-selling jeans to designer shoes—and speak to external experts and fashion insiders, staying closely connected to what our readers are searching for. Our advice is grounded in expertise, and each and every buy we feature has to meet our exceptional taste standards—so you can feel confident in every recommendation.
