Look. We all have needs. Whether that’s getting 8 hours of sleep, incorporating more intimacy in your relationship, or remembering to take a Lactaid before you drink a milkshake knowing damn well you’re lactose intolerant, even the most easy-going people will at the least feel some internal dissonance if their needs aren’t being met. If you’ve made it past the tenth grade, or have taken an entry-level Psychology/Sociology/Home Ec class, you are likely familiar with Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. You know, that five-tiered, multicolored triangle that we use to explain the necessary steps to success and/or to try to justify why a twenty-something year old man is emotionally unavailable. The steps are as follows (I’m kinda going somewhere with this, I promise):
Physiological Needs: food, water, warmth, rest (Annie’s White Cheddar Shells with lots of black pepper)
Safety Needs: security, shelter, safety (a surprisingly affordable downtown apartment with high ceilings and no external windows whatsoever)
Belongingness and Love Needs: intimate relationships, friends (it’s a work in progress, okay?)
Esteem Needs: prestige and a feeling of accomplishment (finishing a difficult, pretentious book like Infinite Jest after dredging through it for seven months… and getting to drop the fact you did it into conversation for the rest of your life)
Self Actualization: achieving one’s full potential (this is where I get to the point)
To self-actualize is to have come into enough stability and confidence in your external world that you are able to fully fall into yourself. I see it less as reaching your final destination and more as finally making it out of the woods onto the path. It’s a personal Mecca signified by confidence, contentment, some measure of whatever success means to you, and what I can only assume is an extra-brilliant, glowy aura.
According to Maslow, I pretty much have all of my boxes ticked, so it seems high time to reach my pinnacle of Self-Actualization. And for me, Self-Actualization looks like Saks Potts.
What is Saks Potts you ask? In short, it’s a Copenhagen-based luxury outerwear label founded in 2014 by very cool, silken-haired friends Cathrine Saks and Barbara Potts. The brand is best known for their signature candy-colored puff sleeve coats (CON: they use real fur) which Im going to describe as elevated 70s pimp jackets with a Limited Too influence. They’ve been worn by Beyoncé, Rihanna, Lady Gaga, and countless Scandinavian influencers trying to make a statement in 30 degree weather.
Saks Potts, however, is much farther reaching than just pastel, questionably-sourced fuzzy jackets. It’s tiny bikinis, transparent lace pencil skirts, zebra print, funky boots, leather lace up trousers, oversized trench-coats à la the Matrix, and sparkly latex co-ords in neon tones that would make Zenon: Girl of the 21st Century say “Zetus Lapteus!”
Saks Potts’ pieces look Barbie clothes you’d find in the bottom of your toy chest if she had been shacking up with Biker Ken. They look like they got pulled from the Zoolander costume department, while somehow maintaining that cool, Scandinavian minimalism. They’re the best possible y2k Depop finds, all encompassed in one label. They’re fashion-forward, futuristic, and very, very fun.
So what does this have to do with my own, personal Self Actualization (especially when i live in all-black)? It’s simple, really: I long for a life, at least in my 20s-mid 30s, that falls in line with the Saks Potts universe. Not for the celebrity factor, but for the freedom. For the grown-up childishness of it all. It’s all very sexy and rebellious, but it’s also very campy and a little bit silly (which is a trait I pride myself in). More-so than any other label I can think of, Saks Potts clothing is like playing dress-up for young women who like to visit the occasional modern art museum, fast food restaurant, county fair…
To me (based off my hopeful imagination and the Instagram accounts of Saks Potts and their affiliates), being a Saks Potts girl comes with a handful of irresistible lifestyle accessories as well: A perfectly sparse apartment with a view of a not-so-romantic neighborhood in a very romantic city. A job at a publishing house, art gallery, or nonprofit that is incredibly interesting but not the center of your even-more-interesting life. Dates with authors, aspiring chefs, drummers, bartenders, and Kennedys (two or three times removed). Tiny tattoos of things like scorpions or bats coupled with Carrie Bradshaw abs. Candlelit dinner parties with red wine and good cheese and lopsided homemade cakes topped with edible flowers. Interesting slip dresses and belts hanging off a crowded clothing rack in your bedroom corner. Nights at dive bars and warehouse raves, followed by lox bagels and green juice for breakfast the next day. Candlesticks and tarot cards on the table next to a funky little pipe carved out of crystal. Nostalgia-inducing tram commutes with fresh cut roses on my lap. That sort of thing.
So, in philosophical terms (think Plato’s Realm of the Forms) the “Ideal” Saks Potts wearer is confident, smart, spontaneous, fun, well-traveled, and effortlessly chic. She is comfortable in any social setting, but is most at-home in the company of good friends, laughing loud at a sidewalk cafe with empty margarita glasses crowding the table. She can dress like a grown-ass woman one day and a very on-trend eight year old the next (sparkles, sparkles, sparkles). She is never gaudy or overdone, unless of course she wants to be, and above all else, she never tries too hard. The world comes to her and she welcomes it with open arms, asking it if it wants some sour candy or a cigarette or to dance with her to some Italian disco.
If a Saks Potts girl is all this, and is also (according to their branding) a tall, fun-loving, Scandinavian-looking woman with some alternative tastes, I like to think I already have a good head start. Granted, I might be all wrong about what this young fashion label out of Copenhagen represents. Maybe they’re just very, very good at marketing. Perhaps I’m just projecting my own desires and goals onto the back of a Saks Potts garment tag, but at least I know what I want, and damn it, I’m going to get it. Some of those lace-up leather pants, too.
Self-actualization looks like Saks Potts for me, but whatever it looks like for you, whether it’s Gucci or Prada or Patagonia (never MAGA), I want you to know that it’s yours for the taking. The world is your oyster, so put some lemon and a little cocktail sauce on it and slurp it up. Here’s to filling up those pyramids, friends. Go make Maslow proud.