What the co-founder of Refinery29 actually bought

NYT Bestseller Christene Barberich shows us her receipts

Everyone loves waxing nostalgic about the innocence of early Y2K—the pre-IG era when websites felt like zines with budgets, interns wore American Apparel beanies unironically, and your morning commute soundtrack was probably Room on Fire by The Strokes. The internet still had charm! Headlines weren’t optimized for clickbait, although they might’ve been flirtatious nevertheless. Maybe even daring (à la How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days? 27 Dresses?? 13 Going on 30???). This was a golden era for digital publishing, and few names shine brighter from that sepia-tinged period than Christene Barberich.

As the co-founder and longtime Editor-in-Chief of Refinery29 (!!!!), Christene helped define the voice of an entire generation of internet-native women who were curious and culture-obsessed, visually fluent internet girls before “internet girl” was a micro-identity with a Pinterest board. She made fashion feel accessible, taste possible. In other words, she democratized fashion. Big statement, we know…but well-earned. Your Selleb Sisters have been obsessed with Refinery 29 for a while (Claire got featured during NY Fashion Week 2022).

christenebarberich

A post shared by @christenebarberich

Christene Barberich

is still storytelling! She’s a NYT best-selling author of the book Style Stalking and now writes a Substack

A Tiny Apt.

that feels like rummaging through the most charming drawer in a friend’s impossibly well-edited apartment: part design journal, part thrift gospel, part open-hearted memoir. There are practical tips (yes, you can find amazing lighting secondhand) and poetic digressions (life, told through four New York apartments). It’s deeply personal and wildly inspiring, a written moodboard for living with style, soul, and substance, even if your square footage is scant. Think: Nancy Meyers travels to the Hudson Valley with Joan Didion.

🧾 Find Selleb in the App Store 🧾

Which brings us to our Selleb Spotlight this week…A perfectly Christene curation of objects that are both insanely specific yet somehow universally covetable. You might pick up some vintage fashion inspo or home decor ideas along the way! Behind the paywall, she shares the stories (and receipts) behind a few of her favorite recent finds—a rare look into the visual diary of someone who helped shape the way we all see the world…And with that: