Hello,
I'm Karen.
Peruvian by birth, Spanish by choice, Californian in summer. A correspondent on a long, looping life — and the editor of the letters you find on this site.
This site is a slow correspondence — a Saturday letter on luxury fashion, considered travel, and the rituals that hold a beautiful life together.
I started writing here in 2019, the year I returned to Barcelona for the second time. The premise has not changed since: fewer letters, written more carefully, in a register the trade press tends to skip.
What you'll find: a journal of long-form essays, a weekly briefing on fashion news, a film reel of dispatches, and the occasional reader letter I've answered in public. What you won't find: a tour of my routines, an affiliate-bait roundup, a content calendar.
Karen Alexandra — writer, e-commerce lead, and the long Sunday lunch most of my friends are waiting for.
Ihave a job and I have a journal, and most weeks I think the two have begun to write each other. The day job is in luxury fashion e-commerce — strategy, merchandising, the unsexy work of compounding return rates. I lead direct-to-consumer for an independent shoe house, and I consult for a handful of fashion and hospitality brands whose work I'd recommend without the brief.
The other half is this site. I write a Saturday letter for an audience of readers I quietly know by first name; I make small films on YouTube about the rooms, wardrobes, and rituals I want to write about; I post quietly on Instagram about whatever happens to be on the table. The phrase “influencer” gives me a small allergic reaction — though I'll cop to being one, because the alternative is pretending the work is something it isn't.
Off the page, I am a dog mom to a maltipom named Mia, who has views about most things. I'm a triple citizen — Peru, the United States, Spain — which is mostly relevant at customs and very occasionally in conversation. I love coffee, yoga before the day starts, fashion that survives a second look, a long hike, dinners with family and friends that turn into breakfast, and a glass of wine well-poured on a Spanish terraza or chiringuito.
I write from Madrid, for the moment. By the time you read this I may have moved again — but the letters are sent from somewhere with a balcony, and that is the rule.
✱ Hover a number to read the chapter. The dotted line traces the route, in order.
Madrid, Spain
The current chapter. Sun, terrazas, and the kind of working hours the rest of the world won't quite believe.
Coffee
Cortado, double, never to go.
Yoga
Most mornings. Mat by the window.
Travel
Slowly. With a small bag and a real plan.
Fashion
What I'd wear again next year.
Hiking
Sierra de Madrid. Most weekends.
Family & friends
The longest lunches you've ever sat through.
A good wine, well-poured
Spanish terraza or chiringuito, ideally both.
Read along, write back, or simply lurk — all three are welcome.
The Saturday letter arrives once a week. The journal updates most Wednesdays. The rest of the time I'm probably writing it or living it.