It's hard to know how to characterize this specific class of Instagram. These accounts all share a delicious, distinctive visual language and a deft handling of archival material. They're run by a mix of magazines, clothing brands, stylists, and just people. But whatever their origin, they all just make you happy. They can also lead you to artists, designers, and visionaries you never would have encountered otherwise. There's nothing quite like rolling over in bed, checking on one of these feeds, and immediately feeling revived by two thoughts: there's still aesthetic beauty in this world, and I know exactly what to wear today.
1. The Close-Up Artist: @staud.clothing
Staud.clothing is run by a former Reformation alum as a promotional run-up to the launch of her own collection. Her carefully curated Instagram has an aesthetic language that draws from sculpture, design, and fashion. Visuals are cropped and ordered to create thematic color stories, and every single one is beautiful, whether the images are from 1965 or 2015.
2. The Masters Of Kitsch: @watts.on.style
This mad, colorful stream-of-consciousness feed has a little bit of everything: low-brow kitsch, high art, and an ability to exactly capture what makes fashion so fucking funny. Scroll through it for a bold mix of eye-makeup inspiration, high art, and surprising peeks of sensitivity and softness.
3. The Non-Sequitur Expert: @artsxdesign
It's possible you're already one of artsxdesign's 194,000 followers, but just in case you're not: get on that. There's no apparent method to the massively popular account's madness, just consistently impeccable taste. Everything on it is just cool: a vintage Prada underwear ad, a hyperrealist painting of some flowers, a close-up of an eye. On their own, these images don't amount to much. In conversation, they're powerful and affecting.
4. The Girl-Power Collective: @themushpit
It's no surprise the collective behind baby-cult publication Mushpit Magazine has a fire Instagram. With a well of exquisite grunge throwbacks, political sentiments, and their own original editorial images, the Mushpit feed is one you can scroll for days. It doesn't feel like witnessing some lofty curator at work, but rather like backtracking through your girlfriends-only group chat, laughing at old jokes you forgot about.
5. The Unapologetic Nostalgist: @gabriel_held
We've relied before on stylist Gabriel Held's nearly mythical recall of early '00s fashion; and if you want a regular dose of fly girl, Misa Hylton-era snaps of Lil' Kim and the modern day equivalents, he's your man. His Instagram is a delicious trove of shade, gleefully trashy style moments, and perfect memes. Just get up in there and have fun.
