spruced by marlene

I haven’t spent much time in Switzerland, but I get the feeling from Henriette Kuhrt’s column in NZZ Bellevue that I’d meet many terribly polite people. The ones who post their questions to her column Hat das Stil? certainly seem to be.

For instance, her readers wonder how to best address a hostile colleague in an email, if it’s appropriate to eat the parsley decoration on a dinner plate or how to celebrate one’s 40th birthday when one doesn’t really want to. They have questions concerning fashion (Should redheads wear camel coats?) and beauty (Eyeliner after a certain age – yes or no?), questions about decorum (How do you stage a selfie intervention on a friend?) and questions I didn’t realise needed to be asked – until I read Henriette’s answers. Because she has an answer to everything and her replies are charming, direct and never condescending.

I would’ve also called her column humorous, but then we realised over lunch (and a few glasses of wine) that „humorous“ is the beige all-weather jacket of words – any use makes you automatically 20 years older. Witty? Amusing? Hilarious? We didn’t find the answer. In any case, her column’s a lot of fun to read and I don’t just say that because she interviewed me about my book and I got to pose as a bit of an expert on the subject matter that includes all-weather jackets. I also say that because lunch was further proof that she’s really good at giving advice. Because I now know which restaurant to pick in Munich if you want to impress someone without overwhelming them, where the food is excellent and you get the world’s best (seriously!) caramel bonbons for dessert. At Colette.

And if I may give some tips of my own now:

| It’s not even a question if you can own too many Breton striped shirts. Just added to my collection: This one from & OTHER STORIES, with a threadbare cotton that makes it look worn-in in that good way.

| If you’re looking for a lipstick that you will constantly get asked about: Chilean Sunset from the VICTORIA BECKHAM x ESTÉE LAUDER collection. The best orange red lipstick I will ever find. You had better never discontinue it, Estée, you really better hadn’t.

| My search for a natural deodorant that actually works has led me to FINE. It’s the best one yet.

| LOLA JAMES HARPER don’t just make scented candles with very specific names like The Movie Theater in Lancaster, they’re also a rather wonderful music collective. The play list from their website has been on repeat for days. (Found, as many beautiful things, at Bon Voyage Interieur in Hamburg)

| ZAZI VINTAGE are doing the right thing by producing their collections in a sustainbale and fair way. Their latest: dresses you want to spend all summer in. Bravo!

| More beautiful dresses for summer. And bikinis. And pyjamas. And… I’ll take one of everything, please, THREE GRACES LONDON.

| Could be a sign that I need more sleep, but I also really like the Farniente collection from MUUN.

| These shoes from FLATTERED. In black? In yellow? In blush?

| I did not expect to like a new collection from Wolfang Joop as much as I like LOOKS, especially this dress and this blouse.

| I did not expect to like so little from the ALEXA CHUNG collection. Meh.

| Aaaaahhhhhhhh! ARKET. Vogue has the first looks and impressions.

| You probably want to see how Gwyneth Paltrow has decorated the GOOP offices.

| „There will be certain things you cannot change about yourself, and that is OK.“ This interview with Jessie Randall is just one of the many reasons to read OK Real.

| „He’s so sexy. And he taught me the importance of being silly.“ „Being silly is so important. Silly is the opposite of grief. It’s throwing yourself into a moment without care. You can’t always maintain your status as a dignified person. It gives you blinders. When you always expect the world to fulfill your expectations, it wears you down. It closes you off.“ „So sexy.“ The Met Gala as seen by Humans of New York.

| „I am looking at a picture of Brad in the foetal position at White Sands (socks by Brunello Cucinelli).“  Marina Hyde’s takedown of the GQ cover story on Brad Pitt is as epic as the cover story thought it was. I’m still laughing.

| Big Little Lies is the best thing I’ve seen in a while (thank you for the tip, Steffi). The Big Little Lies soundtrack is the best thing I’ve heard in a while.

| „Does a panic attack count as cardiovascular exercise? Sure!“

| „I remember sitting across Anna [Wintour, editor in chief of Vogue] eating her enormous steak, big and raw, as always. She said to me, just in a throwaway, “You know, Plum, that column could be a book.”“ An Interview with Plum Sykes, whose new novel Party Girls Die In Pearls is on my list of beach reads for the summer.

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