We might now pay bills online and make use of Amazon Prime’s one-day drop-offs, but the post office remains our nation’s backbone delivery service. The mail carriers who consistently slide grandma’s birthday cards into our mailboxes also serve as a lifeline to many who receive medications and Social Security checks, and they will be essential workers couriering mail-in ballots for the upcoming election. 

There’s never been a better time than now to put your pen to paper and write a handwritten note, to address that dog-eared postcard you forgot to send, and to buy stamps from the good old USPS, because the much relied-upon government agency is seemingly under attack from the President himself. 

And, let’s be honest, there’s something so intimate about receiving a handwritten letter. Perhaps it’s the permanence of the ink, words that can’t be erased by the backspace key, or the physical note itself, but a letter is a richer keepsake than a fleeting text. While technology provides us with the means to connect with anyone anywhere at any time, words on a screen fail to accurately replicate the thoughtfulness of an IRL note. 

Like a well crafted letter, a good design can carry the mark—or in the case of Mary Katrantzou’s spring 2013 collection—stamp of its creator’s hand. Some sartorial messaging, like that on Ashish’s sequined tops, exhibited in the Camp show, or Christian Dior’s strong-worded sweater, serve as PSAs. Designers’ “handwriting” can be adapted to their themes or audiences. For a collection dedicated to mothers, Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana made a print using children’s penmanship; in contrast Nabil Nayal’s Elizabethan-inspired show, presented at the British Library, featured a print that replicated Henry VII’s impeccable calligraphy. At Valentino back in 2015, Maria Grazia Chiuri and Pierpaolo Piccioli used thread as if it were ink, stitching Shakespeare quotes and lines from Dante’s Inferno into a series of dreamy couture gowns. 

Show your support of the USPS: Send a letter. Here, some inspiration from the Vogue Runway archive.

Yannis Vlamos / Indigitalimages.com
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Valentino, spring 2015 couture 

Yannis Vlamos / Indigitalimages.com
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Dolce & Gabbana, fall 2015 ready-to-wear

Marcio Madeira
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Prada, spring 2004 ready-to-wear

Yannis Vlamos / Indigitalimages.com
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Dior Men, spring 2015 menswear

Courtesy of Nabil Naya
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Nabil Nayal, spring 2019 ready-to-wear

Yannis Vlamos / Indigital.tv
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Christian Dior, fall 2018 ready-to-wear

Kim WestonArnold / Indigital.tv
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Vetements, spring 2019 ready-to-wear

Kim Weston Arnold / Indigital.tv
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Ashish, fall 2017 ready-to-wear

Luca Tombolini / Indigital.tv
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Oscar de la Renta, spring 2018 ready-to-wear

Courtesy of Burberry
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Burberry, resort 2020 

Alessandro Viero / Gorunway.com
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Viktor & Rolf, spring 2019 couture

Marcus Tondo / GoRunway.com
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Mary Katrantzou, spring 2013 ready-to-wear

Luca Tombolini /Indigital.tv
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Prabal Gurung, spring 2017 ready-to-wear

Yannis Vlamos / Indigitalimages.com
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Gucci, spring 2016 ready-to-wear

Kim Weston Arnold / Indigitalimages.com
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Veronique Branquinho, fall 2015 ready-to-wear

Yannis Vlamos / Indigitalimages.com
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Christian Dior, spring 2014 ready-to-wear

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Louis Vuitton, spring 2014 ready-to-wear

BY ELISEÉ BROWCHUK August 22, 2020