Guest Edits
As the born-and-bred Brit behind A Little Bird, a weekly newsletter offering an insider’s guide to London and beyond, Daisy Allsup has no shortage of ideas, be it where to find the best bomboloni in Notting Hill or how to display the seasonal blooms she picks up at the Columbia Road flower market. Here, the AIR MAIL contributor, who can often be found at the London Library in St James’s Square, shares her favorite finds of the moment, from feel-good fountain pens to the novel she considers “perfect.”
Photo: Louise Long (Allsup)
Pilar Guzmán, the former editor-in-chief of Condé Nast Traveler, and her husband, Chris Mitchell, the former publisher of Vanity Fair, are no strangers to living in style. Together, the New York power couple has transformed six run-down properties into warm, timeless homes, which provided the inspiration for their most recent undertaking: Patina Modern, a step-by-step design guide for creating intimate interiors that only get more beautiful with age. Here, Guzmán and Mitchell share their favorite finds of the moment.
Photo: Andrea Chu (Mitchell and Guzmán)
Many of today’s most selective shoppers invest in Sophie Buhai’s contemporary classics with the confidence that they will still wear her hand-crafted stone collars and gold-vermeil chains in the years—and decades—to come. It should come as no surprise, then, that the carefully chosen objects with which the Los Angeles–based designer, who cites Elsa Peretti and Charlotte Perriand as inspiration, surrounds herself possess a similarly refined, enduring sensibility, be it an antique pillow set or the necklace that makes her feel “put-together with minimal effort,” as shown below
Photo: Max Farago (Buhai)
After meeting as students at the Parsons School of Art and Design, Paolina Leccese and Julian Taffel launched Leorosa in 2019. Today, the Berlin-based duo’s nostalgic, colorful knitwear—newly embellished with smocked collars and exaggerated bows in their latest collaboration with the Lebanese designer Super Yaya—has earned the approval of everyone from the artist George Condo to directors Gia Coppola and Gus Van Sant. Leccese says of their made-in-Milan cashmere and merino cardigans, “They’re classics with a twist”—as are their own daily essentials, seen below.
Photo: Oliver Hadlee Pearch
Athena Calderone—known by her nearly one million Instagram followers as @EyeSwoon—has established herself as one of today’s leading taste-makers, thanks to her simple, sophisticated, and unusually striking aesthetic leanings, which can be seen in everything the interior designer and James Beard award–winning Cook Beautiful author touches, from her wardrobe of timeless-with-a-twist staples and the carefully curated arrangements in her Brooklyn brownstone to her countless collaborations with the likes of Beni Rugs, The Wooden Palate, and, most recently, Crate & Barrel. Here, Calderone shares her must-haves of the moment.
Photo: Adrian Gaut
When Alia Raza launched Régime des Fleurs in 2014, the self-taught perfumer had no intention of giving up her career in film for fragrance. But, as the brand’s ornately bottled, conceptual blends—including one rosy collaboration with Chloë Sevigny—began to leave their mark, she decided to devote her time to dreaming up singular scents, which take their cues from baroque interiors to contemporary art alike. Fast forward to today, and the olfactory lineup can now be found at some of the world’s most discerning boutiques, including The Row and Dover Street Market. Here, Raza reveals the essentials she swears by.
Photo: Bliss Beyer (Raza)
In a short time, the young British developer Gabriel Chipperfield—son of famed architect David Chipperfield—has established himself as one of London’s ones to watch, thanks to a roster of international projects, which include the renovation of Chiltern Street’s treasured newsstand Shreeji, as well as the design and construction of artist Tracey Emin’s Margate painting-and-sculpting studios and his first hotel venture, the nearby, art-filled Fort Road Hotel. Here, Chipperfield, ever the aesthete, lets AIR MAIL in on his top selections of the moment
Photo: Javier Callejas
Isolde Brielmaier is nothing short of an art-world force. A former professor of critical studies in Tisch’s Department of Photography, Imaging and Emerging Media at NYU, the author, curator, and historian’s singular sensibility is on display at such institutions as the New Museum, where she’s served as deputy director since 2021, and the International Center of Photography, where she’s mounted ground-breaking exhibitions, including a solo show for photographer Tyler Mitchell and a collection of five emerging Black artists whose work had never before been seen in a museum. As if that wasn’t enough, she also has her hand in fashion, thanks to a position on the board of the sustainable brand Another Tomorrow—and a whimsical wardrobe brimming with statement-making finds. Here, she reveals her sartorial must-haves and more.
Photo: Mangue Banzima (Brielmaier)
After co-founding Industrie magazine, Erik Torstensson launched Frame in 2012 with a single aim: to create the perfect pair of skinny jeans. Now, as the supermodel-beloved brand celebrates its 10th anniversary (with a first-of-its-kind collaboration with the Ritz Paris, no less), it’s safe to say that Torstensson—who oversees collections, photographs campaigns, and even designs the furniture found in stores—has achieved his vision in spades. And yet, the Swedish farm boy-turned-New York creative powerhouse shows no signs of slowing down: in addition to Frame, he and his partner, Jens Grede, helm 12 companies, touching everything from sales to art direction and public relations. In the rare moments he pauses, he can be found at the English estate he shares with Net-a-Porter founder Natalie Massenet and their four-year-old son. Here, he spotlights the items that fill their home—and more of his must-haves
Photo: Guy Aroch (Torstensson)
Stephanie Nass wanted to be a chef since she was a little girl, called “Chefanie” by friends. She has since transformed her childhood passion and nickname into a business, developing a culinary-driven lifestyle company. Now 31, Nass has spent the last eight years building out a following as a culinary influencer, inspiring with her picture-perfect dinner setups
Photo: Chefanie (Nass)
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