Leta Powell, William Powell, and All That Lies Between
There is only one place I could have started this week’s issue: Leta Powell Drake.
13 seconds into this clip and Leta had obviously secured her place in the Bossy Dames Canon— we deem her the Patron Saint of Nosy Questions, Boldly Delivered. Amazingly, she is almost more charming in this interview she did with Vulture after the above clip went viral. IF YOU KNOW LETA, LET(A) US KNOW— if ever a woman were destined to be a guest editor of this newsletter, it is she.
Dame Down with Book of the Month!
Your Dames, lifelong bookworms both, are delighted to say we’re being sponsored by Book of the Month. You may already be familiar with the name — Book of the Month has been around for decades, after all — but you may not know about how well they’ve adapted to our contemporary, super-enthusiastic online book culture.
As reading recommendation mavens, we’re particularly fond of how Book of the Month focuses on promoting new and emerging authors as they help readers discover their next favorite book. They curate a list of five must-read books each month so you can spend less time researching and more time reading. Bliss!
Intrigued? You can get your first hardcover book for just $9.99 with code BOSSY! Book of the Month Club’s November picks include a twisty thriller, a fresh YA take on Romeo& Juliet, a sprightly romance, and two engrossingfamily dramas. Dame Margaret’s pick from among the five this month? Memorial by Bryan Washington, thanks to Jasmine Guillory’s rave review — it was so exciting to see among the books available one I had just heard such wonderful things about.
Dame Margaret’s Gifts Worth Giving for a Year We Resent Experiencing
As a Taurus, I have spent the last eight months conducting a rigorous investigation on the degree to which I can use material goods to numb pain, provoke small delight, and create a sense of occasion within what could other an unrelenting parade of gnawing misery punctuated only by alternating bouts of searing fury and despondent anxiety. Results: they have been mixed! I certainly have a lot more secondhand cashmere sweaters than I did at this point last year, but I would light every last one of them on fire and forswear cashmere fore’er if it meant I could hug people exactly as often and exactly as long as I’d like. My skincare routine has never been more sophisticated and I’d throw every last serum away if it meant I could see a stupid blockbuster with a sold-out opening night crowd. My pajama game? It has been STEPPED UP! But I would sleep in SACKCLOTH for the REST of my LIFE if I could start going to concerts again…. honestly any time in the next eight months! Those trades are not available to us, though! So I must limit myself to the question of material goods however insufficient they may be. And my natural starting point?
A Good Cause for Great Merch
Inspired by the excellent Leave Philly Alone campaign, wherein $10 of every shirt purchased goes to the small business or non-profit of your choice, I thought a round-up of quality merch from the bookstores, concert venues, coffee shops, and movie theatres we’re all missing so much might be a great place to start. Via my Boston-area faves, you can celebrate the Many Faces of Tilda Swinton, litigate cats v. dogs by way of adorable t-shirts, pay tribute to Art Deco Marques of Note, and commemorate subway cars that are literally older than yrs trly. From your faves throughout the country: a gorgeously cozy community cookbook store sweatshirt, a pro-romance tote bag sufficiently good that it makes acquiring another tote bag seem like a reasonable choice,an outlandishly on-point t-shirt for this year of screaming inside your heart, an extremely cute t-shirt celebrating an excellent member of the family corvidae, an ideal tee for the Luchador, Librarian, or Luchador/Librarian in your life, a truly adorable sweatshirt that adds yet more meaning to the acronym ACAB, a sweatshirt bearing a message that should be at the forefront of all our minds, a tote bag by Chris Ware or an assortment of goods emblazoned with a John Klassen illustration, a dazzling array of concert posters, a straight-talking mug that provides direct support to out-of-work booksellers, shirts to honor both Zora Neale and Virginia, a reminder that — in addition to being a great podcast!! — You’re Wrong About has some of the greatest merch in the world, and a tee shirt so true of Me Your Dame that it’s actually kind of astonishing that I don’t own it yet.
Inside Upgrades
So obviously because of who I am as a person, I have two pieces of extremely lovely and glamorous sleepwear to recommend to you. BUT. Before I get to the glamour, let me address the nuts and bolts.
As an adult, you know in your bones that the best gift you can receive is a really wonderful version of something you use every day that’s just a little more expensive than something you’d buy for yourself ought to be. Like, my Christmas gift to myself is going to be replacing all my old surge protectors with nice fancy new ones recommended by The Wirecutter and folks? I’m so excited about it. IN A SIMILAR VEIN, unless everyone in your life already loves the pillow they sleep with every night, they need a better pillow and I think it should be a Rejuvenite Talay pillow. These are the perfect balance between the firm, non-deflating support of a memory foam pillow and the light, yielding bounce of a traditional feather or polyfill. I have slept on one for ten years and finally bought a second and it’s just… if it were practically feasible, I would bring it with me everytime I traveled, that’s how much I love it. I am a side-sleeper and I rely on the “high profile” model — if you or your gift recipient is a stomach sleeper, they might want the “low profile” model. They are not cheap. But they are so, so good.
What am I going to request to go along with them? Silk pillow cases. With haircuts growing less frequent, being gentle with the hair we already have is even more important and doesn’t this seem like a lovely way to do it? Perfect pairing: a silk pillow case and Briogeo’s Detox + Restore Kit, which gives you full-size tubs of the Black-owned brand’s exquisite exfoliating shampoo and deep conditioning mask (normally around $40 each) for just $49.
And then — would it be a Margaret-penned gift guide if it did not include some glamorous sleepwear? No, indeed, it would not. In March, when I got my beloved new job, I finally bought the One Hundred Stars robe I’d been dreaming of for literal years, since first seeing beloved #Damespal Rosie Fletcher in hers. And truly: this robe is even nicer than I’d hoped, so silky but not so translucent that I cannot wear it out to the curb to fetch my mail, easily washable on low in a delicates bag, and just beyond dreamy to wear. Can I justify purchasing a second? Certainly not! Have I decided exactly which one I would, were a justification to present itself? Absolutely, and without question. And right now, if you buy three gowns from their Kew Gardens collaboration, you can get them for £175 rather than the £225 they would normally cost.
If I did not have my eye on another piece of very glamorous sleepwear, I would probably have purchased a second robe for myself (and coordinating ones for two lucky friends) at least a week ago. But I’m torn, because PrintFresh pajamas found me on Instagram and I am FULL OF LONGING for their entire line of whimsically print, ethically made pajamas. I have not yet purchased these, so I cannot guarantee their quality. I can only say the reviews sound good and the looks! The looks!!! They are something for which to die.
Distance Blows But Stationery Rules
Cher Horowitz: The kind of woman who’d appreciate monogrammed correspondence cards.
Being far away from your friends: it is garbage and I am BEYOND OVER IT. But. As someone addicted to well-designed cards, multi-colored pens, and stationery of all stripes I’m not… like... FURIOUS that distance makes the mail grow fonder. In that vein, a trio of suggestions:
First, if you have a giftee in mind who’s similarly delighted by both stationery and mail, a subscription to The East Bay Booksellers Stationery Club seems, to me, like a no-brainer. Three shipments of super high-quality, thoughtfully chosen notebooks, greeting cards, and pens? Only the most fun thing in the world????? These subscriptions will only be available until December 1st, so act fast if you want to snag one.
If you want to get into the real nitty-gritty of great stationery, though, JetPens is your place.Their 2020 gift guide will suggest to you categories of pen, notebook, washi tape, and assorted paraphernalia with which you’d never even considered becoming obsessed but now cannot understand how you’ve survived without. In addition, watching their introductory, explanatory, and comparative videos is the closest I come to meditating. If you love a lefty, boy do they have great suggestions for you.
And finally, please take a minute to browse Red Cap Cards, a company that pairs up with illustrators and designers to make especially adorable greeting and note cards, all available both as individual cards and (my preference) boxed sets. Sympathy sardines! Celebratory lingerie! Praiseworthy pencils! Matched wordplay! There are just so many good options — I have barely even scratched the surface.
COULD I RECOMMEND 67 MORE THINGS? Certainly yes. Which is why there will be an OVERFLOW EMAIL with a handful more suggestions going out to our paying subscribers on Sunday. But for today? This is genuinely as much text as Substack will allow me. So I hope you found at least one of the above suggestions enchantingly apt.
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