misosouper, a shopping blog

Isn’t that right, Hillary?

So unabashedly swank: if you were ever to serve brunch to stuffy future in-laws or your elegant boss, this mid-century toast rack salvaged from the London Ritz would be your table’s coup de grace.

In another lifetime, I interviewed for what promised to be an outwardly glamorous but probably plodding and dull position at the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum in New York. I didn’t get the job, but my affection for the place remains: its location in the wisteria-draped Andrew Carnegie mansion is second only to its walled garden, which serves wine at tables buffeted from the Museum Mile fray.

And oh, the stuff! Cooper-Hewitt’s rooms brim with showpieces that would make Apartment Therapists weep. Its gift-shop approximation of the classic Arco Floor Lamp–cheap, witty, battery-powered–was like me on that interview: totally out of my league, but aspirational nonetheless.

A tiny print of a flaming skull, letterpressed Elizabethan style.

For a time, I was into these skinny jeans that, while making my legs look fantastically long, were $150+. Since I try to avoid trendy *and* spendy, I found an alternative: J Crew’s Matchstick jean, which comes in lots of colors (don’t forget to check out the cords), retains its shape throughout the day, and rings in at a cool $88.