The last thing I would ever do in Paris is take a boat ride on the Seine (so touristy). But luckily, my young friend Quentin and his French bride, Valentine, are more imaginative. Last week, the night before their wedding, they held a rehearsal dinner for about 100 people aboard Ducasse sur Seine, an electric-powered riverboat that is an Alain Ducasse haute cuisine restaurant. Over crisp white tablecloths and crystal wineglasses, we dined on the chef’s “Starry Night” five-course menu, which included small, delicate servings of melon in a Sauterne granita, sea bream and caviar in aspic, and wine pairings for each dish. (All the food is prepared from scratch in frantic, below-deck kitchens.) As we ate, we glided past the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre, Les Invalides, and, in some dark corners, people dancing under lanterns on the embankment. (ducasse-seine.com) —Alessandra Stanley

The poet Karla Kelsey stretches the concept of a literary biography into her fragmentary swirl of a novel, Transcendental Factory. Ditching chronological order, she retells the life story of the fin de siècle British writer, painter, playwright, and lamp designer, Mina Loy. Drawing fact and daydream together, Kelsey inserts herself into Loy’s story, acting like a bystander during interactions between Loy and Marcel Duchamp or Gertrude Stein. Kelsey researched the author during the cold months, subletting a Victorian home in New Haven. She shows us the artist, a phantom of the avant-garde, in all lights and in the language we all crave. ($20, wintereditions.net) —Andie Blaine

After traveling to Japan as a fine-arts student, Jake Hobson returned to England with his life changed by the country’s exquisite landscaping and superlative gardening tools. Fast-forward to now, and Hobson’s company, Niwaki—made in Japan, headquartered in Dorset—is the U.K.’s go-to for green-thumbed aesthetes. “You don’t need to grow bonsai to enjoy these tools,” he tells me. I visited the brand’s flagship shop, on Marylebone’s Chiltern Street, recently, and I was rather blown away by how perfect everything was, from the tools to the clothing. I left with a new pair of drop-forged, carbon-steel hand pruners for my wife, and I was kicking myself afterward for not getting one of the Niwaki plain white T-shirts—the very nicest I’ve come across in a while. (niwaki.com) —Spike Carter

When a friend not only recommended but insisted I order low-rise purple pants from a random designer in Los Angeles, I mentally prepared to waste my money. How wrong I was. Lightweight but not flimsy, tailored but not stiff, the Tie Pants feel like pajamas and are so shockingly flattering that the sand and chocolate colors are now en route to my house. Designer Brooke Callahan makes just a few pieces—the pants, a straight skirt, a few coordinating tops, and a dress, all handsewn in Echo Park and made of cotton poplin. And all are less than $200. What a treat! ($155, brookecallahan.com) —Ashley Baker

The best part about September is observing the new collections as they arrive in shops, and Alexander McQueen’s leather jackets, denim separates, and offbeat suiting never fail to deliver. This fall, we’re especially enamored with the house’s costume jewelry, which delivers an abundance of glitter and impact. The Carnation earrings, in pale gold and festooned with dripping crystals, are a great place to start, with an oversize shape and outsize attitude that provides a much-needed counterpoint to the season’s more minimal clothing. For extra impact, there’s always the matching pin and ring. ($1,550; alexandermcqueen.com) —Ashley Baker

Lena Dunham and Alissa Bennett will never call you “crazy.” Their podcast, The C-Word, originally released in 2019 behind a paywall on Luminary, is now being re-released on all podcast platforms. Every Thursday, Dunham and Bennett take a deep dive into the life of a woman whom society dismissed by calling her “mad, sad, or just plain bad.” With guests from Lindsay Lohan and Casey Johnson to Mariah Carey and Tania Head, they unpack who these women were and why people called them, well, the c-word. Just as relevant six years later, the podcast explores femininity, art, and identity—never without a sense of humor. (spotify.com) —Lovisa Lohmann