The July Specials
10 things
Each month I send out a list of the month’s Specials, or 10 links to things I’ve been collecting for you. As a reminder, upgrading your subscription gives you access to all À La Carte newsletters (including my themed shopping round ups, essays, and mood boards,) the full archive of newsletters, and my love and devotion, because your support means a lot! If you’d like to become a paid sub, click here to do so.
This month’s Specials include a great framing hack that costs practically nothing, an extra-long baguette, and a book that a friend gave me that made me say, “I can’t wait to share this on À La Carte.”
A quick hot tip: if you’re reading this via email, I wanted to mention that the Substack app is a total game changer and worth downloading! I read all of the newsletters I subscribe to in the app (I can’t stand a cluttered inbox) and I love using the features you just can’t access via email, like Substack Notes and Chat. Notes is sort of like Twitter, but like, if Twitter was a place where everyone is kind and helpful and encouraging. Chat is basically a message board for each newsletter where people ask each other questions, share links, and make announcements. It’s really communal and makes reading newsletters so much richer; I spend so much time there, I think I’ve cut my Instagram scrolling in half. Just a gentle suggestion in case you’re Substack curious!
This month’s Specials:
My friend Sarah surprised me with my very own copy of The Official Preppy Handbook by Lisa Birnbach (1980) this weekend. It’s mentioned in one of my favorite podcast series, Articles of Interest’s “American Ivy”, but until now I hadn’t seen it in person. It’s a satirical reference guide to life as a prep, ranging in topics from “The Status Quo Institutions” (piano lessons, ballet lessons, French lessons, “The Horse Phase”) to “The Politics of Monogramming” to “The Virtues of Pink and Green”. It’s very clever, purposely cringe, and worth hunting down a copy if you can. Secondhand copies typically go for $60-$80 (I found a couple on Etsy here and here), but Sarah found my copy at a library sale for ONE DOLLAR. You can read more about the book, its irony, and its cultural impact in this 2019 article in the New York Times.
My favorite exchange maybe ever, via a Q+A with Joan Didion in Interview shortly before she passed:
I hosted my largest Pasta Girlfriend event yet—150 people!—at the Silver Lake Pool and Inn a few weeks ago. I had the best, best time meeting so many of you all while we watched the sun set and ate pasta on the pool deck—a total dream. One of my favorite little details was the postcard stand we made for the “market,” a little area where people could grab free “souvenirs” to take home.
Photo by Abby Cox. A souvenir for the rest of you: This is the playlist I made for the event! I’ve been listening to it nonstop ever since.
This stopped me dead in my internet tracks: Back in April, Schiaparelli creative director Daniel Roseberry collaborated with artist F Taylor Colantonio on a collection of bronze furniture that is AB-SO-LUTE-LY STUN-NING. The collection includes a daybed and set of chairs, both cast in Italy using a lost wax technique, then upholstered with custom silk embroidery with gilded leather appliqué. The chairs each have an integrated light fixture that sits atop the seat, which is a reference to a line from Keats’ “Ode to a Nightingale”: “…the moon, the queen of the sky, is sitting on her throne surrounded by her stars.” The daybed features Schiaparelli’s unofficial mascots: two wooden mannequins named Pascal and Pascaline, which Elsa Schiaparelli once had married in a small wedding ceremony. More photos here.
I popped by Marianna Fierro’s Sip and Sketch event at Capri Club that same weekend and left with a surprise party favor: One of the guests was secretly sketching guests on the patio! It wasn’t until days later that a drawing of me talking to my pal Ariella and her husband Adam popped up on my Instagram feed. How special is this?! The artist, Sarah Kersting, is a wonderful illustrator; check out the rest of her work here.
Apparently Italy is paying people up to $32,000 to move to Tuscany and buy a home in one of 76 small towns. You have to commit to living there for 10 years and it has to be your permanent home, but still…
A perfect photo:
In case you are unfamiliar with how open access imagery works, this TikTok explains how you can freely use a lot of the imagery from The Met archive (and the collections of many more museums and institutions) in your home, your projects, and anywhere and however else you’d like!
An easy but impactful framing hack (because great framing is just so expensive!): Cover cheap Ikea frames and mats in fabric. Drew Michael Scott shows us how in this video:
I think this bag might be one-of-a-kind, but if someone tracks one down for me I’ll be forever grateful.
That’s it for this week! See you back here soon.
x
Ali
In case you missed it:
Absolutely going to try the fabric-wrapped frames. Brilliant!
Italy is calling my name. Checking out this tiktok!