Have you ever spent an entire weekend … shopping? I did exactly that this past weekend. On Saturday, I met up with friends for breakfast and then went to a holiday antiques market hosted at Tanner Fletcher’s very charming studio, where they had lots of just-kitschy-enough gifts and lace-adorned leather gloves. From there, we went uptown to the Extreme Cashmere pop-up and tried on extremely soft scarves in earthy colors. The next stop was the new Toteme store (great glossy red staircase!) followed by Holiday on Madison, which is a pop-up that stocks lots of eclectic and giftable items, like sparkly bug-shaped Rebecca de Ravenel earrings and block-print pajamas. The final stop was Zitomer. Incredibly, multiple stores were handing out free hot chocolate — the best of which was from Oscar de la Renta.
On Sunday, my fiancé and I set up our wedding registry at Bloomingdale’s and spent approximately four hours picking out items from the store’s three floors of home goods. I have to say, I loved it. Not only do they give you a literal scanner and an extremely detailed list of everything you could possibly register for (even after making our Strategist Wedding 100, I’m not sure I would have thought of “loaf pans”), but when you need a break, you can head upstairs to Forty Carrots and get a perfectly ’90s lunch of chicken salad and frozen yogurt. Here, I’m sharing some of what we scanned — plus lots of other things I spotted during my weekend of shopping.
There are tons of plates at Bloomingdale’s and plenty more floating around in my mind after editing the Strategist’s tabletop-week project. We both loved these Royal Copenhagen plates — they could be everyday plates just as much as they would work for holidays. A very helpful sales associate who was showing us around the floor suggested mixing and matching from the line, so we landed on this combination.
This is technically the first thing we registered for, and while I’m usually not into single-purpose cookware, a fish-specific pan absolutely seems worth the cabinet space.
Yes, almost $1,300 is an exorbitant sum for a menorah, but this is truly one of the most elegant items I’ve ever seen in my life… and so I scanned it.
The Tanner and Fletcher holiday sale was full of festive and folksy antiques, including a wood plaque that read “Knock on Wood (Instructions Included).” I bought a bottle opener that has four bells on it, a pretty similar idea to this one.
At Zitomer, I was hunting for a cream-colored cashmere headband but bought this “Cinnabar” velvet headband instead. I didn’t even know the burnt reddish-pink color was called that when I bought it — but I’m into it!
This is one of my favorite things that I saw at Holiday on Madison. I love the deep colors in the block-print pattern and can easily imagine these being a gift for my mom.
Some other stuff on my mind:
After thinking about department stores for the Strategist’s print holiday gift guide and going to see Bergdorf’s holiday windows, I am in a big department-stores-at-the-holidays mood. I read Julie Satow’s excellent book When Women Ran Fifth Avenue over the summer and would like some more reading — or at least looking, which is why this coffee-table book of department stores is so appealing.
My birthday is in January, and I have my eye on this jacket from Sézane as a gift to myself. It reminds me of The Woman in Gold, and also these Sanoë jackets I spotted at Holiday on Madison, but for a quarter of the price.
Another birthday-splurge contender: this betassled Michelle del Rio top, which a friend texted to me about a month ago and I haven’t stopped thinking about since.
The other night I had dinner in Koreatown with my cousin, and before we met I was killing some time at the K-beauty store Kosette Beauty Market. I found this tinted lip balm, which I bought in the “Kaya Fig” shade and have been wearing almost every day since. It’s super-moisturizing — perfect for winter — and I want to go back to try other shades.
Speaking of antiques: these shoes, which are made with antique textiles, actually look like they came out of a John Singer Sargent painting. I spotted the shoes from this brand while scrolling and just love looking at all of them online, especially this pair. The coral baroque slippers are pretty fantastic, 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.
