Well, f**k, if there’s been a year you and your loved ones deserve a nice holiday gift it’s 2020. Celebrate that you are alive, celebrate that Trump lost the election, celebrate all the things you still have and should be grateful for. We’ve turned the planet over (virtually) to offer you some ideas, so without further ado, our ten suggestions below.
Ann Demeulemeester Serax Dé Dinnerware
Hellooooo! How can you not want to throw out whatever cheap Ikea crap you have in your cupboard in favor of this utter gorgeousness? Each Dé plate is hand-painted, and considering the work that went into them, they are frighteningly inexpensive for those of you who are used to paying $200 for a pair of socks. (Available in New York at ABC Carpet & Home and in Los Angeles at the newly opened Dries Van Noten flagship).
Aesop Gift Kits
This one has all the markings of a Give Good Gift tradition – another round of gift kits from Aesop. This year’s theme is ‘Sensory Chronicles,’ celebrating the power of imagination, which is what we need most when we are stuck home in a pandemic. Each kit contains a forgotten work of literature available to download as an eBook or audio file. The featured stories can be accessed via a QRcode on the sleeve of each kit.
Cire Trudon Souk Candles
One tradition following another, the Cire Trudon holiday editions just get better and better by the year, so we don’t see a reason to stop. Just check out those stunning hand-blown vessels. We are partial to Gabriel and Ernesto scents, but we doubt you can go wrong with any.
P.J. Harvey – DRY – Remastered Vinyl
Polly Jean has been on a tear this year, releasing remasters of one after another of her greatest, – plus demos for superfans- on 180gm vinyl. Take your pick, but for our money her debut, Dry, remains at the top. It’s just killer, raw, unabashed female energy. A hero to all.
Stone Island: Storia
Shameless plug for the first major title edited by our intrepid editor-in-chief, it’s also the first attempt to tell the story of Stone Island, the brand that is so hard to define and so culturally relevant over its almost 40-year history, and one that makes us want to say fuck fashion, long live design. The book is sold out almost everywhere – Stone Island has a cult following – but you can probably pick one up at your local store or through creative googling.
The Life and Times of Malcolm McLaren
One of the essays in the Stone Island book was written by the English author Paul Gorman, a keen observer of British culture. This year he also happened to release a biography of the notorious Malcolm McLaren, the (mis)manager of the Sex Pistols and the maker of Vivienne Westwood. It’s an absolute riot of a book and at 750-pages is as comprehensive as anything on the incomprehensible McLaren can be.
Perfumer H – Charcoal Perfume
When Lyn Harris left her successful Miller Harris label, she went small on footprint in order to go big on vision. The result is one of the most interesting perfume brands out there, the one you need to know about in order to know about. We dig, and we think so will you. We put our money on the Charcoal scent, but there are plenty to choose from. If you want to go all the way up the indulgence chain, you can get a handblown bottle and an engraved box.
Taylor’s of Old Bond Street Shaving Kit
Like we said in our London travel guide, forget all the hipster crap you use for shaving. No one does gentlemen’s grooming like they do in London – they’ve been doing if for hundreds of years. Taylor’s is a favorite, but you don’t have to travel to London to get it if you know how to use a search engine.
Whisky
There is a recurring lament amongst our audience about what to get “for a (wo)man who has everything.” That’s, of course, because you are all people of such discerning taste and accomplished lives. The answer has always been easy – get something consumable. Like a good bottle of whisky. Oban 14 is a favorite, but there are a great many whiskies out there, and winter is the season for the stuff.
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