087: NADIA TUMA-WELDON
lives in single ingredient clothing.
I’m writing this week’s newsletter on a flight to LA. An unexpected but not unwelcome trip in the middle of New York Fashion Week. When work calls… Honestly, it’s too cold to go to fashion shows anyway.
This time of year is, historically, when I feel my ugliest. Skin: pale and dry. Hair: limp and lifeless. Body: obscured by layers of wool and spandex (not to mention the lapse in maintenance that comes with hibernation). New Years resolutions aside, January always feels too early to attempt reinvention - I feel like a toddler waking up from a long nap, too fragile. February feels like a more appropriate time to right the ship. Health, wealth, happiness, right? But where to begin?
In the health category, there’s no shortage of answers, especially for women. We all know the wellness landscape is vast, contradictory, and, at times, dystopian. Discovering Nadia, the subject of this week’s newsletter, felt like finding a port in the storm.
I found Nadia Tuma-Weldon, and her Substack, Nouri Paris, through another one of my favorite newsletters, Health Gossip. An American living in Paris, she’s developed a compelling philosophy as she’s entered her 40s - one centered on the idea of single-ingredient living. Not just in food, but across everything: clothes, beauty, daily rituals. Also, Nadia has inspired me to lift weights!
Her perspective is so centered and intentional, it feels very aligned with the spirit of Habiter. Of course I wanted to find out more. I asked Nadia what she’s been living in lately.
Describe your personal style. What are you living in right now and why?
I have an overarching guiding principle that helps me in all parts of my life, which I call a Single Ingredient Life. I’ve decided I feel my best when I eat single ingredient whole foods, use single ingredient beauty products and wear single ingredient materials. It helps filter and focus everything, so I choose to wear natural materials like cotton, wool, silk, leather, fur, cashmere, linen. Some people say natural materials have better frequencies, and there might be some truth to that, but in any case, I’m on a mission to make single ingredient style chic and desirable!
I love a uniform and I love owning very very little. It gives me a lot of pleasure to consider all my clothes my favorite clothes, and that I could close my eyes, pick randomly from my little pile and feel great walking out the door.
In the colder months, I live in vintage Levi’s 501s in different washes and lengths, baby cotton tees from Mate the Label, Flore Flore and RLT, and shrunken sweatshirts also from Mate. I wear mostly blue, grey, pink, cream, sea foam, and chocolate brown - colors that make me feel natural and feminine. I’m either in a sneaker or a good loafer with a little sock. Because I dress so simply I jazz up my looks with vintage fur coats and great jewelry.
NADIA’S MOST WORN
Fitted cotton long sleeve tops from Flore Flore and RLT and baby tees from Mate the Label
How often do you shop?
Not much at all. I really love to have a few pieces that I wear over and over again. I’ve really embraced that, especially living in France. People here are true outfit repeaters (that myth of French people is actually true! They literally wear the same thing every day), and I’m inspired by my colleagues and friends who have signature things they wear over and over again.
The Single Ingredient philosophy also gives me perspective: so much of what is on the market is made with synthetics, which is an automatic “no” for me, so it eliminates about 90% of what’s on offer. I buy based on ingredient labels not marketing or price. It definitely has changed the way I view shopping and consumption.
Both of these dynamics have sort of dialed down the noise of constantly wanting to buy things.
Where do you shop the most?
What makes me excited is finding pieces that are unique, have a story, are beautifully made. There is a fabulous vintage store in my neighborhood called Le Vintage de Julie. The owner - Julie - is a genius who sources the most incredible pieces. I will visit her shop once a month max because her curation is so tempting. Over time, I’ve found such treasures from the most insane vintage Levis 501s to a Tom Ford-era Saint Laurent leather corset to vintage fur coats to a Loro Piana cashmere jacket to the softest band t-shirts.
I was also recently in Los Angeles and the only store I wanted to visit was RLT. I went a little bananas there because it’s not every day I get to shop vintage in LA, so I stocked up on 501s and their own line of cotton tees and wool sweaters to add to my rotation.
Vintage fur coats
Shrunken sweatshirts from Mate the Label
Brown Gucci loafers or brown Miu Miu boat shoes
Best buy of the last year?
The aforementioned vintage dealer/ treasure whisperer Julie recently called me to say that a pair of extremely rare “Big E” Levi’s in my size had arrived at the store. There was no hesitation, they are the most insane pair of denim I’ve ever owned, and a real archive piece!
What are you currently searching for?
Honestly, nothing! I write about this a lot in my newsletter, but I find more satisfaction in being well fed, lifting weights, working hard, doing yoga, walking around Paris, being creative and connecting with amazing humans, than thinking about hunting for more clothing. I have found that the more I create/ write, and the stronger I feel in my body, the less I feel the need to shop. I guess you could call it “lifestyle GLP-1.”
What’s your go-to bodega/coffee/grocery-run outfit?
I love a good sweatpant and fur coat combo. I feel a fur coat can dress anything up, so even in Paris I throw on sweats (shock! horror!) with either a sneaker or a loafer, a vintage fur and head to le marche and the butcher and the cheesemonger and the fruit vendor. I like the Great sweatpants because they have great colors and are 100% cotton.
Adidas Spezials and Golden Goose sneakers
Pistachio green Loro Piana Bale bag and Brown Hermes Picotin
Does your style change when you go to work?
Not at all, I’m basically in the same clothes all the time. I work in a creative agency, so even for client meetings, it’s super casual. I’m usually in vintage denim + a shrunken sweater or sweatshirt or t-shirt + a comfortable shoe + a fur coat. I’m always running around Paris, running around the office, running to client meetings, running! So I like to be comfortable and pulled together, but never too “done.”
What’s your go-to for a night out?
It’s not very different, but I do have “dressy jeans” in case I want to take it up a notch. I own a couple pairs of Khaite denim which are tailored and hug the body fabulously, so I consider them dress pants. I might swap loafers for boots: I have a great pair of patent leather Celine boots with a block heel, or heeled snakeskin boots from a local brand called Rivecour. I’ll add a necklace: I have two old ones I wear on repeat that transform a t-shirt or bodysuit, one from Charlotte Chesnais and one from Aurelie Bidermann (no longer available). Maybe I’ll bring out a little Chanel black flap bag, and that feels appropriate for most occasions.
What clothing item or accessory do you always travel with?
My noise-canceling Bose headphones are like an additional appendage to my body. They are either on my ears or around my neck at all times. I also have a Fellow cup of bone broth not far from me on any given day.
Do you change your accessories or wear the same ones?
I wear the same ones every day: my wedding rings, bracelets and diamond studs never come off - all from Cartier and bought slowly over many, many years. I wear a signet ring my husband and I designed together when we got married (we created our own family crest). I love a men’s watch, and own a couple: a Cartier Tank Americaine and an IWC Mark 18 that I stole from my husband. When I need a little something extra, I wear a chain necklace from Charlotte Chesnais or Aurelie Bidermann which makes a sweatshirt look a little less like a sweatshirt.
😍 this crossover!