Fall From Grace

Hi everyone, happy Wednesday! 

Today’s issue is my 130th! There’s a lot of fresh faces around here, so for those of you who are new, every tenth issue I write about things I don’t like and don’t want, just to play around and have some fun. For my 120th issue I wrote about the coastal grandmother trend, and my 110th was all about the Tumblr aesthetic. Today’s theme is, uh, well, erm… fall. Look, I can’t be totally original and cutting-edge all the time, alright? 

Caught Off Gourd

ENAMELED CAST IRON PUMPKIN COCOTTE - LE CREUSET ($368)

Of course I audibly gasped when I saw the lifestyle imagery of Le Creuset’s pumpkin cocotte, looking the very picture of autumn. It comes in classic orange, creamy white, and Cinderella blue, and it seems like something a fairy or garden elf would use to simmer soup in their tiny toadstool home. I was really, seriously considering it for a moment, but then I managed to pull myself together. Other than the prohibitive price and my lack of storage space, pumpkins are so pegged to such a specific time of year that it would look a bit out of place once we’re no longer in the grip of fall fever (would a hulking pumpkin Dutch oven still be taking pride of place on your stovetop during, say, the first flush of spring?) Alas, I’ll simply have to settle for a slew of mini decorative ones.

Get It Through Your Skull

ANIMAL SKULL COOKIE CUTTERS - NOOR MYRR 3D (FROM $6)

Either I’m a bad baker or something’s wrong with my oven, and for the sake of my ego I’m going with the latter. I follow recipes to a T, and yet my cakes remain dense and stodgy; my breads look pale and anemic, lacking a crisp golden crust; my cookies come out fused together and burnt to boot. I’m really not sure what’s going on, but until I get to the bottom of it, I’m not going to buy these animal skull cookie cutters no matter how much I want to. My morale is so low at this point that I feel like it’s pretty much inevitable that the cookies will come out flat and shapeless, losing all the definition of the eye socket and teeth that make these cutters so fun. But hey, if you’re planning on throwing a Halloween party and you’ve never had a bad bake in your life, then I highly recommend!

Royal Idiot

CAT RUFF COLLAR - SEHNSUCHT CLOTHING ($28)

I desperately want to dress up my roommate’s cat Harry in this ruffled Elizabethan collar for Halloween, but I know he’ll just manage to rip it off within five minutes. Cats in general, I think, take less kindly to getting dressed up than dogs (they have a greater sense of dignity, and being made to wear a silly costume is an affront to it!) But also, different cats have different personalities, as plotted by this cat energy alignment chart. Cats who occupy the aristocracy quadrants could pull off the fancy ruff look, but I’d place Harry in the “bastard Victorian orphan” camp, which means he’d probably be more suited to rocking a newsboy cap and some dirt smudges on his face.  

And now, for some things I do like…

When I was approached to partner with a slate of powerhouse shopping publications, I was a tad starstruck; these newsletters are run by women with TASTE and STYLE and the CREDENTIALS to match, whereas I’m kinda just hanging out and dropping some cool stuff I found while I was, like, scrolling Etsy and eating animal crackers at midnight. Many of the aforementioned new faces are here because of the shout-out chain we’ve got going on this month (hi, hello, so delighted to have you!), but for all my WIWO day ones, I highly recommend checking them out — the below selection cumulatively contains such a treasure trove of wit and knowledge and advice for how to shop, dress, eat, work, and live well.

• 5 Things You Should Buy: Fashion editor and stylist Becky Malinsky has spent decades dressing everyone from celebrities to CEOs, so I implicitly trust anything she says I should buy.

• Girls’ Night In: Entrepreneur Alisha Ramos wants you to use your downtime wisely. Rather than squandering hours scrolling through Twitter (guilty), Ramos’ curated book recs, easy lunch recipes, and soothing Spotify playlists help you slow down and be more present.

• True Style: Personal stylist Lakyn Carlton tackles all your fashion quandaries, like how to find your own style, what kind of shopper you are, and how to break with fast fashion.

• A Thing or Two: Podcast hosts Claire Mazur and Erica Cerulo each relay a thing or two they discovered that week, whether it’s a low-key vintage spot, a skin-saving facial serum, or a fun cooking hack (sticking your tongue out while chopping onions!! I will be doing that for the rest of my life now.)

• Gloria: My birthday is coming up next month, so I’m keenly aware that I’m not gonna be young and hip forever. Thankfully, writer and editor Leslie Price is providing a blueprint for how to navigate midlife with Gloria, and for me at least, it makes aging seem a little less scary and mystifying.

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Tried one of my recs and loved it (or hated it)? Wanna get something cool on my radar? Drop me a line at kittylguo@gmail.com or swing by my Twitter @kitguo!