This roundup of things we liked this week originally appeared in the August 10, 2023, edition of the Secret Strategist newsletter, a weekly email where we share the stuff our staff — plus a rotating cast of writers, design-world people, and various others with very good taste — would otherwise keep to themselves. If you want to get our picks straight to your inbox each week, sign up here.
We spotted three Freitags in the wild this week, confirmation that trends are alive and well. Further confirmation: the sheer number of black Havaianas we’ve seen around the city of late. Everyone is click-clacking around, even on the subway.
This Week’s List
* One of our editors was at Kim Hastreiter’s apartment for breakfast the other day: “Every little thing in her home is obviously the most wonderful version of whatever it is,” she says, “including her Dansk flatware.” “It’s the same flatware I grew up eating off of,” Hastreiter wrote to us when we inquired further. “My mother used it. As did I as soon as I got my first apartment. It’s the perfect cutlery. When my mom died, I took hers (from the ’60s) and added to mine (from the ’80s). They’re designed by Jens Quistgaard, and the style is called Variation V.” There are a ton of them available on eBay and Etsy.
* Another one of our editors saw a Freitag on its own bar seat at the Odeon, and it looked so good! Its owner was in a very cute outfit, with tinted glasses and a nice scrunchie. Days later, we spotted one on a (male) friend of designer Onea Engel-Bradley in red. And days after that, and moments before pressing send on this newsletter, we spotted a third one on Chris Black’s Instagram! (Slung over the shoulder of a nicely dressed guy who was also wearing Adidas track pants with a blue stripe.) They’re weirdly not inexpensive on Poshmark — guess they’ve held their value!
* And speaking of Onea Engel-Bradley, we also spotted her in some great studded clogs. We asked where she got them: “Needles x Troentorp collab, from Nepenthes,” she said. These are cool too.
* Megan Folsom, founder of Mega Mega Projects, turned us on to these polka-dot kids’ pajamas from Mabo. “We have them in three colors, and they’re supersoft,” she told us. We like how hefty the polka dots are.
* Related: A pair of these shrunken mesh lacrosse shorts are on their way to one of our editor’s almost-1-year-old.
* Our art director has a long-abiding obsession with Josef Frank fabric, which he first heard about from our design editor, Wendy Goodman. Asked to elaborate: “Um, I love Josef Frank. His patterns are like a woodland meadow on acid — lots of big butterflies, cartoon cranes, and flowers with brainlike veins in pamplemousse and mint. It’s insanely expensive at about $275 a yard, instantly recognizable, and a little goes a long way. Start with a lampshade or pillow. And work your way up to a reupholstered couch.”
* We like these skater shoes from Swedish company Last Resort AB for regular life.
* Pia Baroncini posted about these frilly, vintage-looking cloth napkins that she got on Amazon and says she uses them as placemats and … curtains? That she’s stitched together? Either way, seems like if you wash them three times, it’ll look like you picked them up at an estate sale, not Amazon.
* Three things we want from this cool Danish brand we stumbled upon called Caro Editions: corduroys, khaki dress with bow, and little tank with bow. This Italian brand TL180 is very nice too …!
The Strategist is designed to surface useful, expert recommendations for things to buy across the vast e-commerce landscape. Every product is independently selected by our team of editors, whom you can read about here. We update links when possible, but note that deals can expire and all prices are subject to change.
