Hello! I hope you’re well. Today, a conventional historical drama about a remarkable German prosecutor, a classic longread about the fashion industry, AOC doing her make-up, and more.

Article: Sweatpants Forever: How The Fashion Industry Collapsed by Irina Aleksander, published by The New York Times Magazine
This is the kind of classic longread about a broken aspirational industry that I would listen to on long walks last year, back before those articles became a rarity. Aleksander explores how the fashion industry (here this refers to the designer-y end of fashion) overextended itself over the last ten or fifteen years, and went from creative hotspot to… Burberry burning clothes to “protect the brand”. Because this is a classic longread in the NYT Magazine, this article is heavy on insider information and Marc Jacobs namedropping, but I’d still recommend it!
If you’re interested in learning more about clothes, there’s a wealth of information out there, but I started with this blog post on why Arket isn’t an ethical brand (despite marketing itself as such) and spiralled from there.

Film: The People vs Fritz Bauer (Der Staat gegen Fritz Bauer), directed by Lars Kraume (2015)
I watched this film on a whim on Netflix several months ago and it turned into one of those rare evenings when you really learn something from a random click on something the algorithm recommends. The People vs Fritz Bauer is about Fritz Bauer, a German state prosecutor and Jewish remigré who prosecuted Nazis in the 50s and 60s. This is a classic historical drama that focuses on Bauer’s role in bringing Adolf Eichmann to justice, and his pivotal role in the German justice system in general – which was as intent on ignoring the Nazi past as the majority of German society. A less successful subplot deals with homophobia in mid-century Germany. 

I thought of this film again because I watched a documentary about Bauer’s work and impact last week (produced by French-German TV channel Arte and available on youtube in French and German). When I was studying history at university, we often talked about the impact of a single person, whether biographies still had value in historiography. Bauer is one of those singular figures who actually did “change history”: the Auschwitz trials were a result of his work, as was the shift to questioning what it meant to make excuses for people for “just having followed orders” – still so relevant today, with police, border agents, judges etc all “following orders”. I’m not a crier, but this documentary, which focuses almost exclusively on Bauer’s work in the justice system, made me cry with rage. It’s a great, informative, sober (and short) film and I couldn’t recommend it more.

Book: The Bell by Iris Murdoch (1958)
I was going to recommend something weighty and Germanic here, but I reckon one is enough per letter. The Bell is one of my favourite books, and one that has left a very lasting impression on me. In typical Murdoch-fashion, several characters who are more or less crude psychoanalytical sketches grapple with their relationships to each other and to – the concept of goodness. In this novel, they’re confined to one place: an abbey during a long, hot summer, where a religious community lives and works together. Murdoch, who was also a philosopher, channeled a lot of her thoughts on religion, goodness and love into this novel. When I re-read it in my early 20s, and subsequently dug out some of Murdoch’s essays on the topic, it quite genuinely taught me some important lessons about relationships (and other things) that I’ve held onto ever since. I’ve grown much more cynical of literature since then, so in a tough week this is a reminder to me and you that sometimes, books can change your life. “Often we do not achieve for others the good that we intend but achieve something, something that goes on from our effort.”

Other: Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's Guide to Her Signature Red Lip | Beauty Secrets | Vogue
When my interests intersect: AOC does her make-up in the classic Get Ready With Me format, says a lot of intelligent stuff about politics and social justice and somehow manages to apply eyeliner *while talking*. Super impressive, super enjoyable to watch.

No learning this week because I'm sad and this email is already dense with information. I've enjoyed listening to this song while glumly staring at the dusky sky. Bye!