The T List: What to know about, wear and smell this week

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SEPTEMBER 25, 2019

Welcome to the T List, a newsletter from the editors of T Magazine. Each week, we're sharing five things we are eating, wearing, listening to or coveting now. We hope you'll join us for the ride. (Sign up here, if you haven't already, and you can reach us at tlist@nytimes.com.)

Visit This

A French Designer's Vision for Venice

Karel Balas

By Monica Khemsurov

t contributing editor

In 2016, I visited Venice for the first time: It was a two-day jaunt that contained countless highlights, like the stunning architecture of the city's palazzos and a side trip to the Modern architect Carlo Scarpa's iconic Brion Cemetery near Treviso. As of this month, I'm officially plotting my return, thanks to the recent opening of the Il Palazzo Experimental hotel in Venice's Dorsoduro neighborhood. The in-demand French designer Dorothée Meilichzon revamped what was once a Renaissance palace with pastel color-blocked walls, terrazzo floors and plenty of curvy furniture that mirrors the building's Gothic arches. The hotel is also home to an outpost of Paris's famed Experimental Cocktail Club, with Scarpa-inspired interiors by the up-and-coming Milan-based interior designer Cristina Celestino; the bar abuts a back garden where guests can relax with a negroni before heading off to see the city's sights on the property's private pontoon — although I'm not anticipating the need to stray too far. Palazzoexperimental.com

Know About This

Jell-O, Out of the Mold

Joseph Maida's "#jelly #jello #fruity #fruto #green #thingsarequeer" (2014), from the artist's "Things 'R' Queer" series.Joseph Maida, "#jelly #jello #fruity #fruto #green #thingsarequeer," 2014

By Emma Orlow

t contributor

Powdered gelatin first became a craze among Victorian-era New York City housewives, but it wasn't until the 1920s that Jell-O was advertised to women as an affordable diet trick — and by the 1970s, it was marketed as a quick treat for independent women who were too busy to cook. It's fitting, then, that several queer and female artists are now revisiting Jell-O as both subject matter and material, creating work that challenges society's fixations on traditionally feminine realms and behaviors. There's the Brooklyn conceptual duo Josie Keefe and Phyllis Ma (known together as Lazy Mom), who create surrealist animations and videos of gelatin molds filled with ingredients like beef ravioli and carrots. The New York-based photographer Joseph Maida also questions who and what belongs in the kitchen in his 2014 "Things 'R' Queer," a series of gelatin, meringue and plastic tableaus. Finally, consider the Vancouver sculptor Sharona Franklin, who assembles layers of kaleidoscopic gelatin infused with medicinal herbs as part of her Instagram project @paid.technologies to underscore the limitations of "wellness culture." Read more at tmagazine.com.

Wear This

A Semi-Ancient Jewelry Trend

Clockwise from bottom left: Oscar de la Renta; Dubini; Bottega Veneta.Courtesy of the brands

By Angela Koh

Thought to be minted as early as the fourth century B.C., or so I learned at some point in school, Roman coins have long been turned into fine jewelry. For fall 2019, a handful of designers turned ancient currency into wearable trinkets. Bottega Veneta showed coins as chunky statement rings, while Oscar de la Renta used them in brooches, chandelier earrings and barrettes. Versace also had a full range of jewelry inspired by coins, like this chain pendant necklace. But the newish pieces created by the London-based designer Benedetta Dubini are in a class of their own, like her Ariarathes IX choker made from an authentic coin that dates back to 101-87 B.C. set on an amethyst disc. For those who aren't sure they want to spend all of their American coins, I'd recommend pieces from Ben-Amun, founded by the Egyptian-born, New York-based costume jewelry designer Isaac Manevitz, like this necklace or these button earrings.

Buy This

The Oven That Texts You When Your Food Is Done

Courtesy of June Oven

By Tom Delavan

I moved to New York 30 years ago, but with so many different options for food, it's never really been worth it for me to learn how to cook. Admittedly, there have been some low moments: Until a few weeks ago, if I was bored with Seamless and didn't want to leave my apartment, dinner was more or less me standing in my kitchen spooning peanut butter from the jar. When I decided, at long last, to research ovens to possibly upgrade my kitchen, I came across the June smart oven, which seems almost too good to be true. I'll throw in a salmon fillet and some asparagus with olive oil, salt and pepper, for example, and using an internal camera, the oven knows what it is and cooks it to perfection. It texts you when it's done, so you don't have to hang out close by. My meals are now restaurant quality, and will be even more appealing once hibernation season hits. Plus, the oven looks great on my counter — with its rounded aluminum finish, it's as if Apple has gotten into kitchenware. $699, juneoven.com.

Smell This

A New Scent From a Fragrance Mainstay

Courtesy of Frederic Malle

By Thessaly La Force

The other night, I wore a new perfume to the book party for the Susan Sontag biography. Soon, I found myself flanked by two writers, each leaning down to delicately smell my wrists. I was wearing Rose & Cuir, the newest addition in Frédéric Malle's Editions de Parfums. Rose & Cuir was created by the acclaimed French nose Jean-Claude Ellena. (Ellena, as other perfume obsessives know, also created Un Jardin sur le Nil for Hermès — another favorite of mine.) When I first tried on Rose & Cuir, I could only smell roses. But after a few hours, I loved how notes of cassis and geranium bourbon emerged, along with a gentle earthy scent that reminded me of leather, or cuir, mixed with a touch of vetiver — lending the perfume an altogether tougher element than other floral perfumes. It feels intelligent but warm. I've worn it with a bright red lip and a floral-print dress but also more simply, with bluejeans and a blazer, which speaks to its more youthful sensibility. $67, fredericmalle.com.

From T's Instagram

At Home With the Man Devoted to Radical Italian Design

Scott J. Ross

#THouseTour: The creative director Dennis Freedman shows off an astounding collection of Italian radical design in his East Hampton, N.Y., home. Watch it here, and follow us on Instagram.

And if you read one thing on tmagazine.com this week, make it: