Carly is again with the third installment of Carly’s Lower. You’ll be able to learn her final one right here. Carly is The Stripe’s Artistic Tasks Supervisor. She has such nice style that I needed to provide her a month-to-month column to inform us what’s up. Within the spirit of January, I requested her to place collectively a bit “12 months in assessment” together with her finest purchases, watches, meals, and extra. Get pleasure from!
In the event you had informed me initially of 2025 that that is how the 12 months would unfold, I really wouldn’t have believed you. It was a 12 months of very excessive highs and a few objectively low lows, and I’m greater than prepared to shut this chapter and begin recent. That mentioned, a lot of this 12 months was spent deeply targeted on myself and the folks I like, which led to some actually nice moments of seeing, doing, and easily being. I shopped greater than I care to confess. I spent an alarming period of time on the Terrace Theater, doubtless greater than I spent at dwelling. I ate exceptionally nicely, to the purpose that I wish to assume Anthony Bourdain would have authorized. All of it felt shiny and shiny in that fleeting, pinch-me sort of method, and I needed to share the easiest of it with you.
Carly’s Lower, Vol.5
Shopped //
This 12 months was a store till you drop 12 months. Luckily for my closet and sadly for my pockets. I do know I harp on it continually, as do most individuals who orbit the worlds Grace and I reside in, however I actually have put an emphasis on high quality over amount. I’m endlessly grateful to even have the luxurious of pondering that method. Exterior of the straightforward thrill of the hunt, I spend a lot time sourcing and sifting by way of secondhand finds to trace down the precise funding items I would like. Or, in lots of instances, the items find yourself discovering me.
Sarcastically sufficient, this picture of me after a Dealer Joe’s run within the metropolis completely captured my two favourite acquisitions of 2025. The primary is a classic buttery yellow mohair coat from vendor Lucia Zolea, and the second is my coveted ponyhair boots from The Row that I scooped up at Consignment Brooklyn. They’re gadgets I do know I’ll have eternally and may solely be described, as Grace says, as goes with nothing, works with the whole lot. The humorous half is that each items can actually solely be worn within the winter, which implies I both want to maneuver someplace colder or get severe about bettering my heat climate wardrobe.
Whereas I can’t hyperlink the precise items, I did a bit digging and located these unbelievable ankle boots from Aeyde that give the same impact and this brushed wool coat that brings the identical stage of curiosity, simply with out the pop of shade.
Watched //
It’s embarrassing to confess (and actually surprising to everybody concerned), however I solely watched Delight & Prejudice for the very first time this 12 months. The saving grace? I acquired to see it throughout its Twentieth-anniversary screening on the world’s finest theater with the world’s finest mates. It’s a type of films that reels you in deeper each single minute. I preserve wishing I might hit some cosmic rewind button simply to really feel that first watch over again—however for now, I’m simply thrilled it’s formally joined my roster of favourite movies. Cliché… I do know.
Naturally, this sparked what my mates and I instantly declared “Interval Piece Summer time.” We made our method by way of Anna Karenina, Sense and Sensibility, Emma. and some others just like the devoted Austen-adjacent students we’re. And to wrap all of it up, we went to see Jane Austen Wrecked My Life, which felt like the proper curtain name to a summer time that completely swept me off my ft. Actually, we should always all really feel endlessly grateful for Jane Austen’s legacy—and for Terrace Theater’s unwavering provide of Dr. Brown’s sodas.
Noticed //
There’s all the time a clear 50/50 cut up in response once I inform folks I’m secretly a theater geek. I grew up in a city off the ultimate cease of the Metro-North line, one of many trains that rattles into town each hour, and I spent most of my childhood burning by way of Playbills like they have been required summer time studying. Trying again, I’m endlessly grateful I acquired to expertise Broadway in abundance. It’s magical, it’s mystical, it’s actually incomparable.
Living proof: method again when Hamilton was simply beginning to snowball (pre-Tonys, pre-world domination), my mother and I had the chance to snag tickets to see the unique forged for underneath 100 bucks every. My response? “BORING!” I wasn’t a lot of a gambler, however nothing a couple of three-hour musical on the Founding Fathers sounded interesting on the time.
Then the Hamilton pro-shot hit Disney+, and my finest buddy and I streamed it roughly a million occasions. I swore to myself I might do no matter it took to see it in particular person with a minimum of one authentic Broadway forged member, simply to redeem my previous mistake. And, as destiny would have it, for the present’s tenth anniversary, Leslie Odom Jr. introduced he’d be stepping again into the position of Aaron Burr for 9 weeks. And goddamnit… I used to be completely keen to watch for it.
Saved //
How was I supposed to decide on only one picture as my prime saved of the 12 months? It feels practically inconceivable, like selecting a favourite baby or pet. Pinterest has all the time been a relentless supply of inspiration for me, however this 12 months it turned extra of a visible diary. One thing that shifted with me because the seasons modified, my type and pursuits advanced, and my doomscrolling on different platforms lastly began to taper.
Whereas I’m working tirelessly (or possibly not fairly) to convey down my display time, I nonetheless discover myself sinking into the depths of the app every time I have to recharge, which feels hilariously contradictory to the entire level of much less cellphone use. However curating these collages has pushed me to hunt out newness and take note of what my visible cravings really say about me. Inspiration actually is in every single place, and we’re fortunate to have it proper at our fingertips every time we want a spark.
Ate //
Briscola Trattoria is a type of New York eating places I merely can’t image with out candlelight flickering and mushy snowflakes drifting previous the window. For a handful of causes, I’d think about it my finest meal of 2025. The meals was enchanting. The drinks have been impossibly sippable. The corporate was the very best I’ll ever have.
For what turned our final women’ journey to town for fairly a while, my finest buddy Anna and I cozied up within the 4 heat corners of our different finest buddy Pippa’s Crown Heights house. With out even which means to, we spent a lot of the journey inside catching up and cackling like we all the time do. (In our protection, it was freezing.)
One among our few outings was the brief stroll to Briscola for dinner, which unfolded into countless bowls of heat pasta and even hotter laughter. I’ve had a laundry listing of unbelievable bites this 12 months, however the firm is what nudged this one straight to the very prime.
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