The Strategist Haul: What the Editors Bought in October

I bought a Stutterheim Stockholm raincoat four years ago and have just never really gotten on with it. I love how it looks but loathe how it feels — and I got increasingly fed up with staying dry to my knees and soaked from my shins down. So I caved and bought this waterproof trench from Alexa Chung’s Barbour collection. It’s ankle-length, and the hood is detachable. I bought it in chocolate brown. Do I look a little like Inspector Gadget while wearing it? Maybe. But I’m into it.

I am on a (vaguely serious) hunt for a black sweater to replace an old H&M one that was never that nice to begin with and now looks terrible because I’ve worn it a ton. It was cropped to just the right length on my short torso and quite loose, which meant I could wear it with really anything. And the weight was great for all temperatures. I was constantly tossing it in my bag to throw over something if I got cold. I wanted to find something like it, but nicer (though still not too expensive, ideally), so I got this Banana Republic sweater while it was on sale for $28 earlier this month, and I told myself if it wasn’t exactly what I was looking for, I wouldn’t keep it because I have too many sweaters already. Well, it’s a bit longer than I’d like, and while I like its looseness, its length means it’s not quite as versatile, to me, as my old sweater was. But it is extremely soft, as its title says, and after putting it on once, I knew I wouldn’t be able to return it, especially at that price. It’s not the sweater, but it’s a good sweater, and I’ve worn it many times already.

My apartment has a washer and dryer, but they are stashed in a little closet built to the exact specifications of the machines, meaning there’s no place to keep laundry detergent and other cleaning supplies. The front-load dryer is stacked over the washer, so for the past two years, I’ve been storing all my laundry supplies on top of it. The problem was that I could barely reach them, and they frequently fell off if the dryer wobbled too much. In a bout of reorganizing, I bought this hanging basket from the Container Store. It is meant for an iron and ironing board, but instead, I used it to store all my laundry supplies and hang my drying rack, which I had previously tucked between the washer and the wall of the closet.

I bought a few different polishes from Mooncat, but my favorite so far is this multi-chrome lacquer that changes colors depending on the angle you look from. I can’t stop looking down at my hands and just watching my nails shift in different lighting.

This month was dedicated to some (very light!) winter clothes shopping. Gap has been having a great sale for a few weeks now, and I snagged this cotton knit sweater in a light blue (that color is no longer available, but there are some other nice ones). It is oversize, as promised, drapes nicely, and is thick but not too hot. I have already worn it several times.

I’m also in the process of a little sock refresh and bought this two-pack of ribbed pairs, which are the undisputed best length of a quarter-crew (despite the fact that the name says “ankle”). I went with the beige-and-brown combo and find them very cozy.

If you saw me in real life or in a Zoom meeting this past month, I was probably wearing this shirt, which I bought as soon as it became available and have taken off only for washing. It’s a heavier-weight jersey and feels almost like a piqué knit; I like the extra bit of structure it has. The cornflower-and-burgundy stripe I got is now sold out, but there’s still a blue-and-white-striped version.

I moved into my new apartment back in May, and it’s been a slow process of getting it together. My latest purchase was two of these Zara lamps for my bedside. I had my eye on them for a while but was hesitant to spend a total of $300 on them. When a pair popped up on Facebook Marketplace for $175, I jumped on it. It was a bit impulsive, considering I still don’t have essentials like barstools or nightstands to even sit them on, but I couldn’t let this deal pass.

This Gap jacket has been saved on my Pinterest for about a month now, but it sold out pretty quickly. I was poking around for alternatives when I was served an ad for the Gap Factory version. The hairs on this one are a bit shorter and there’s no elasticized hem, but I thought it still might give me the look I was going for. It just arrived, and I think it looks even more similar to the Frame jacket and this one from A.L.C. than even the OG Gap jacket. And for just $48 (I bought it during the Friends and Family sale), I think I’ll take it to a tailor and get my own elastic waist put in.

I ordered a lot of long-sleeved tees this month in the hopes of finding another favorite. This is the winner. It’s loose, but not too loose. It’s cheapish without feeling cheapish. It can be layered or left on its own. I’ll probably buy one in every color by next month.

I was hunting for a pair of comfortable-ish, low-ish, affordable-ish heels to wear to a couple of weddings in November, and that search took me straight to the & Other Stories at the Oculus (which tends to be quieter and better stocked than its other stores in the city, I’ve found!). There was a patent pair that I had in mind, but when I saw these, which are made of an almost grosgrain-like material, I was sold. I broke them in by wearing them to the opera recently, and so far, they’re indeed pretty comfortable. The true test will be the dance floor.

It’s finally getting colder, which also means my skin is getting drier, so I decided to try CosRX’s Snail Mucin. I feel about seven years late to the party — since Rio first wrote about this stuff in her 2017 skin-care doc — but it’s still consistently a Strat reader favorite, so I’m excited to see if I love it as much as everyone else seems to.

My husband discovered this board book at the toddler-friendly Airbnb we stayed in for a friend’s wedding last month. And after giggling at the ’70s-esque illustrations with him, I decided to buy a copy for us and one for a friend who is expecting. The story follows Ned as he is flung between fortunate and unfortunate events. “Fortunately, a friend loaned Ned an airplane. Unfortunately, the motor exploded,” is just the beginning of his journey. The fortunate pages are illustrated in full color, and the unfortunate ones are in black-and-white.

Over the past few years, I’ve become a nice-pajamas person. Once I tried one pair of Bed Head PJs, it was only a week before I bought another set. The cotton is crisp and cool (a necessity for my especially toasty, radiator-heated bedroom) and yet still feels cozy because of the substantial weight of the fabric. Plus, the prints are super cute.

I took the plunge and limewashed my bedroom. After much research, I went with Color Atelier paint because I’d heard from a pro painter it was easy to work with for DIYers and had the best color selection and great coverage. I’d read a lot of scary-sounding DIY stories, mostly about how limewash is impossibly hard and the result might be a hot mess and, if so, very difficult to fix. Not my experience at all. It’s labor intensive (must be applied with a thick brush by hand), but it’s not something that requires specific skills per se. My tips: Cut in the edges first, the cloud application technique is a must, and leave a couple of days for the project. The velvety-looking walls are so worth it.

I bought my first pair of B Sides (the Plein style in black) nearly five years ago (when they were going for under $150), and they’re the jeans I wear the most. They’re a relaxed, straight-fit style with a wider leg and high rise and are made with heavyweight denim. This month, I sprung for another pair, the Slim Lasso, a barrel-leg jean (the brand calls it a “kinked leg”) that might supplant my Pleins as the heroes of my wardrobe. They’re made of a “classic weight” denim in a nice blue wash and are constructed with panels on the outer sides that give the pants their structured look. They’re probably the best-fitting jeans I own. (For reference, I’m five-foot-two and have a short torso and wide hips.) Compared to the Plein, the Slim Lassos sit lower on the waist with a more relaxed hip and just hug me everywhere. And they’re the perfect length. (The Pleins, which are more fitted in the hips, give me a big waist gap. I sized down with the Lassos.) B Sides’ jeans have gotten more expensive over the years, but they’re extremely well made — in the U.S., to boot — and will last forever. (Sizing is limited on the B Sides website, so check other retailers like Shopbop, where I bought mine.)

Gap’s 40 percent off Friends and Family sale endured for nine whole days and was enough time for me to visit the store twice (which is more times than I can say I’ve been in there since I was in high school). Though I’ve been wearing most of the items I purchased on repeat, I’m particularly excited about these baggy cargo pants, which look just as good with a tucked-in collared shirt as they do with a hoodie.

I became intrigued by East Fork’s Everyday Bowl after reading about it in our guide to bowls, so I took its recent Seconds Sale as an excuse to get myself the bowl and support the brand whose Asheville studio was badly affected by Hurricane Helene. The bowl just arrived this week, and I’m already impressed by its shape, which is the perfect balance between wide and stout.