Sloane Crosley

Sloane Crosley's been called a 21st Century Dorothy Parker, and for good reason: her successful first book, I Was Told There'd Be Cake, is a collection of essays about her own life written with hilarity, wit, and remarkable charm. We're proud to call her one of our tastemakers. Read on for Sloane's 10 favorite things.

Lykke Li's Youth Novels

Tue, 28 Oct 2008 01:40:47 GMT

"Probably the most awesome, sweetest thing to come out of Stockholm since gummy fish. But don’t let the general adorableness fool you, her songs will infiltrate your brain with their soul and charm. But you’ll be happy to have them stuck there. I am wretched at keeping up with new music but any girl who can sing through a megaphone and sound this sophisticated gets full points from me."

Multi-coloured Sugared Teddy Bears

Tue, 28 Oct 2008 01:46:57 GMT

"They’re kind of innocent and sadistic at the same time, since you can watch as the teddy bears melt away in your tea – kind of like a civilized version of Mr. Bill from Saturday Night Live."

Castle Starr Dresses

Tue, 28 Oct 2008 01:54:20 GMT

"I normally associate “structural clothing” with stick figures, but Castle Starr is different. I love their dresses – they’re all extremely unique and when you look at them on the hanger, you kind of think wow – look at this dress with all these strange textures and layers and patterns! What nice wallpaper it would make! But the dresses are extremely well made…kind of what you imagine Anthropolige would be like if they came out with an extremely high-end line that was more Vienna and less Vermont in vibe."

A Subscription to the Believer

Tue, 28 Oct 2008 03:15:05 GMT

"If you need some help taking your monthly dose of hyper-precious intellectual indie culture, McSweeney’s “spin off,” The Believer should be your subscription of choice. Even if some pieces can be hit or miss, it’s an incredibly thoughtful and informative look at our culture and has a little bit of everything – longer pieces with heroes of mine, reviews of new books, interviews, music and film criticism, themed issues. And the writing is consistently excellent. As is, as strange as this sounds, the design of the magazine. Between the two, I find myself reading the whole thing more often than not."

The Housingworks Bookstore

Tue, 28 Oct 2008 03:23:52 GMT

"A beautiful bookstore in SoHo that has a distinctly magical feel to it. Maybe it’s just the winding staircases? Maybe any winding staircase indicates something special? But it’s a great space – inside, in the neighborhood, and it’s place as a kind of darling of the book publishing world. If you want to kill an afternoon this winter, this is the place to do it. Plus it’s a nonprofit and all proceeds go towards helping homeless men, women, and children living with HIV and AIDS."

Theory Icon Project

Tue, 28 Oct 2008 03:28:33 GMT

"Theory has a history of teaming up with individuals and institutions, but unlike places like Kenneth Cole or the Gap, their projects tend to hit closer to home for me. Not that I don’t want to see breast cancer eradicated and clean water for all, but the issues they focus on tend to hit literally closer to home, like The Fund For Public Schools. I’m a public school kid and my mom teaches in the public schools, but even if I wasn’t, I just think this one’s really important – but the program only runs until the end of this month and then it’s onto some other worthwhile cause."

Amy Cutler's Paintings

Tue, 28 Oct 2008 03:30:33 GMT

"I first fell in love with Amy Cutler’s work at The Leslie Tonkonow gallery a few years ago. I know she does sculpture as well but it’s her beautifully detailed drawing of women/fairytale scenes set against massive amounts of white space that are my favorite. The one called “Waders” was my desktop image for ages. And if she’s not showing there, there’s usually something else hanging on the walls of that gallery that I’d kill (or, well, at least kick somebody behind the knees) to have in my home."

Red Vines

Tue, 28 Oct 2008 03:31:33 GMT

"The candy to end all others. Classic licorice. Plus, should you want to bite off the ends and turn them into candy straws for your movie soda, these have a far more ideal hallow space-to-candy ratio than Twizzlers."

Chantecaille Lip Gloss

Tue, 28 Oct 2008 03:58:37 GMT

"I don’t know what I do to fancy lip glosses but the fancier they are, the more readily they explode in my bag, leaking goo onto my cell phone. But for some reason the Chantecaille lip gloss doesn’t drool on my house keys and it comes in a series of non-garish, non-sparkly colors that look normal, feel really good, and aren’t so sticky they cause me to eat my own hair when the wind blows."

We Pity the Kitties

Thu, 13 Nov 2008 04:10:30 GMT

"They’re these organic chicken treats that look like Astronaut Ice-Cream and are made by a dog treat company called Three Dog Bakery. So you can see where the name comes from. And it’s true, there are not many specialty items made for cats. Feline discrimination and all. But my cat Mabel loves these things and the box kind of makes me laugh every time I look at it."

Gift Genius: Tastemaker 10