Archive for October, 2016

Monday links

• Happy Halloween, everybody! It’s my absolutely least favorite day to be out on the streets of New York, but I do like the idea of curling up with this list of 31 spooky books. (EW)
• And here are ten Halloween sitcom episodes, for your streaming pleasure. (Vulture)
• Also: A state-by-state ranking of the most popular scary movies. (Time)
• This brief history of witches in America is entertaining. (Mental Floss)
• And finally: here’s the story of how once, in the 70s, Joni Mitchell wore blackface to a Hollywood Halloween party. (BBC)

 

 

Wardrobe classic: the camel coat

I love the look of a camel coat. So elegant—borderline preppy, in a good way—and colors and patterns pop off of it so beautifully. Here we have Jenna Lyons doing the fashion person trick  of not putting her arms through the armholes—I’ll never understand the point of this, yet they all do it—but looking pretty fantastic nevertheless.

Here’s a menswearish coat quite like the one Jenna is wearing that I like very much.

Just a super-classic trench, perfect for dressing up or down.

From Everlane: a cocoon coat with nice, clean, casual lines.

A well-priced and dressed-down choice for the weekend.

And just for kicks: this super-sharp blazer (and here’s your cheaper option).

Friday links

• I bring you Akiko Wada, the Aretha Franklin of Japan. (Dangerous Minds)
• The 10 best SNL sketches about Hillary Clinton. (Vulture)
• This profile of Patton Oswalt, who lost his wife quite unexpectedly earlier this year, is quite moving on the topic of grief. (NY Times)
• And this deodorant ad: also quite moving. (Pajiba)
• Meet the robot gynecologist. (Cosmo)

Five resources for inexpensive art

20×200 is probably my favorite of all the cheap art purveyors out there, and not just because the woman who runs it is a friend of mine and a really awesome person, although there’s certainly that: I also think they provide a strong, broad and quite accessible (but not dumbed-down) selection, and I am forever finding new things to want. I’ve long-coveted a piece from Jane Mount’s Ideal Bookshelf series, and her latest—the Feminist Bookshelf —is pretty stellar.

I’m pretty certain I linked briefly to Swissted about a zillion years ago: graphic designer Mike Joyce combines his twin loves of Swiss Modernism and punk rock to create updated concert posters for everyone from Bowie to the Clash to Bikini Kill. And they’re just so good. Right now I very much want this one for the Velvet Underground.

At Tappan Collective, you can buy actual one-off art (not especially cheap), as well as photographs and limited edition prints, like this digital painting by Marleigh Culver.

Eye Buy Art releases just two new images by emerging artists every two weeks; I’m pretty crazy for this recent photograph by Anastasia Cazabon.

Photographer Sharon Montrose takes wonderful portraits of animals and sells them on her site, Animal Printshop—I’m a sucker for the baby animal pictures, like the one of this zebra.

Thursday links

• Every episode of the new season of Jessica Jones—a show I do not watch, but about which I hear good things—will be directed by women. (The Frisky)
• According to a recent study, the more you lie, the less guilty you feel about lying—which explains why some people are such experts at it. (The Science of Us)
• The first American ever, Paul Beatty, has won the Man Booker prize for his book, The Sellout. (Slate)
• Mad Men creator Matthew Weiner has just signed a very big deal for a new show with Amazon. (A.V. Club)
• This slideshow of Michelle Obama’s most memorable gowns is just a complete pleasure. (Go Fug Yourself)

 

Top 5 of the week

I like skirts, I do; I very much like how they look on others, but I don’t wear them nearly as much as I’d like myself, because I’m endlessly picky when in comes to the acquisition of them. I like skirts simple, straightforward, and totally unfussy—as clean-lined as I’d expect a good pair of pants to be. But pretty. And with a little—but just a little— something interesting going on. Like this asymmetrical satin number, which would look so great with a cashmere sweater and tights. (I know some might argue that a satin skirt is the very embodiment of fussy, but I think the trick would be to dress it down and treat it like it were any other material. Very glam.)

Sort of a sophisticated version of a schoolgirl skirt.

This jersey skirt just looks like the soul of comfort.

I wear the hell out of my J. Crew denim skirt, but it’s on the short side: I like the midi length here.

A leather pencil skirt that isn’t skin-tight: a revelation.