Welcome to the T List, a newsletter from the editors of T Magazine. Each week, we share things we're eating, wearing, listening to or coveting now. Sign up here to find us in your inbox every Wednesday. And you can always reach us at tlist@nytimes.com. |
The Jewelry Designer Matthew 'Mateo' Harris's Beauty Routine |
 | | Left: Matthew "Mateo" Harris. Right, clockwise from top left: Matiere Premiere Falcon Leather, about $200, matiere-premiere.com; Paula's Choice 10% Azelaic Acid Booster, $38, paulaschoice.com; Obagi Professional-C Serum 10%, $92, obagi.com; V.Sun Sun Cream, about $15, v-sun.de; SkinCeuticals Hydrating B5 Gel, $86, skinceuticals.com; SK-II Facial Treatment Mask, $95 for six-count box, sk-ii.com; Chapstick Classic Cherry Lip Balm, $1.49, walgreens.com; and Aesop Geranium Leaf Hydrating Body Treatment, $35, aesop.com.Left: Gregory Vaughan. Right: courtesy of the brands |
|
I start my mornings by splashing freezing cold water on my face and then washing it with Obaji Nu-Derm Gentle Cleanser. I've been using this brand for years — a friend of mine who works at a spa introduced me to it — and swear by it. I also use the brand's Professional-C serum, which has truly restored my skin. It's magic. I use sunscreen by V.Sun in SPF 50. Sunscreen is something my mother, who lives in Jamaica, taught me to always wear, even in the winter. I used to wonder why because I'm so Black, but she is 70 and looks amazing. After I go outside during the day, I wash my face again, this time with Cetaphil Gentle Skin Cleanser, since I don't want to use up my expensive face wash. After the Cetaphil, I follow with Skinceuticals Hydrating B5 and Obaji's facial moisturizer. Sometimes, I also throw in Paula's Choice's azelaic acid booster, which brightens my skin and shrinks my pores. At night, I use Skinceuticals discoloration serum. I have pigmentation problems, so I live by this product. As for my lips, I have bought a million and one lip balms, but just give me that original Chapstick in cherry. I travel often, so for the plane I always bring an SK-II Facial Treatment Mask. On my body, I also use a geranium oil by Aesop, which smells divine. I wish I'd known about Face Gym earlier. I've been trying to do more facial exercises at home, especially mewing (using tongue movements to reshape your jawline). I watch these YouTube videos of guys who have been mewing since high school, and their faces are so chiseled and their jawlines so strong. Another recent discovery for me is Matiere Premiere, which has a sexy, mysterious fragrance called Falcon Leather. Every time I wear it, people stop me on the street to ask me about it. |
This interview has been edited and condensed. |
A Stylish Retreat on the Jersey Shore |
 | | Left: the dining room at the James. Right: a Deluxe Queen room.William Laird |
|
George DiStefano spent his childhood summers at his grandparents' beach house on the Jersey Shore. Now 29, he's looking to facilitate equally idyllic days for guests of the James, a 17-unit hotel he's opened in Bradley Beach, N.J., just a block from the water. A construction manager by day, DiStefano first toured the Victorian-era building in May 2021 and immediately fell in love with it. By the fall, he'd teamed up with the 31-year-old interior designer Sebastian Zuchowicki to help create a warm and textured space. Vintage silver-plated pitchers and creamer jugs are used for the daily breakfast service (strawberry muffins, raspberry crumb cake, and — a local delicacy — decadent pork rolls) in the dining room, one lime-washed wall of which is hung with an oversize abstract painting by the contemporary British artist Joe Henry Baker. Each guest room is unique, though a number of them feature custom Turkish rugs and work by the Australian artist Pamela Tang, whom DiStefano and Zuchowicki discovered on Instagram. The hotel's linens were sewn closer to home — by seamstresses in nearby Asbury Park. When the pair couldn't find certain pieces they had in mind, DiStefano simply made use of the on-site wood shop and produced, among other things, a series of minimal bedside lamp stands. And he paved parts of the grounds with gravel because, he says, the sound of it crunching underfoot reminds him of summers gone by. Rooms from $300, thejamesbradleybeach.com. |
Playful Glassware From Turkey |
 | | Some of Suna K's vibrant blown-glass creations are constructed to hold flowers or delicacies.Ekin Özbiçer |
|
By Julia Berick T Contributor |
The glass studio Suna K lets a hypothetical be its guide: What if Ettore Sottsass, the 20th-century Italian architect, industrial designer and founder of the Memphis Group, had visited Anatolia? The result is a series of modern, playful and one-of-a-kind glass sculptures, handblown by Aslı Altay, Can Altay and Mert Üngör. Anatolia, now part of modern Turkey, was a cradle of glasswork, and the studio's designs are influenced by the wealth of artifacts from the many civilizations that have made the region home. Üngör began working with glass in 2012 at Sabancı University in Tuzla and continued as a masters student in visual arts at Texas A&M University in 2014. He opened his own hot studio after he returned to Turkey. The Altays, who are married, joined Üngör for a residency in 2019 and have been working with him ever since. Now all based out of Istanbul, the trio make pieces that consist of a series of bulbous forms stacked on top of one another like plates or cups stored haphazardly in a cupboard, and that are both totemic and creature-like — some even have feet. This is fitting, since the word "suna" is Turkish for altar and also refers to a species of the duck family. It can also be a woman's name. "We imagine her as someone with strong ties to myriad histories and geographies," explain Can and Aslı. sunak.glass |
 | | The Dirty Chai Espresso Martini on Indochine's new brunch menu updates the cocktail's model-approved '80s recipe.Blaire Spicer at Indochine |
|
By Arden Fanning Andrews T Contributor |
In the late '80s, a model asked Dick Bradsell, then a bartender at Fred's Club in London, for a drink that would wake her up and then mess her up. He'd never heard of such a thing but improvised, shaking vodka, syrup, Kahlúa and fresh espresso, and using what he called three lucky coffee beans as a garnish. Thus, the espresso martini was born. Over 30 years later, the drink seems to be making a comeback. A dirty chai-flavored version appears on Indochine's just-launched brunch menu, and is already proving to be a popular order. "It is the drink for the fashion and art crowd," says CT Hedden, the downtown Manhattan restaurant's manager. No wonder the curator, author and associate director of Pace Gallery Kimberly Drew found herself craving one at an event celebrating the recipients of the Dior Photography and Visual Arts Award for Young Talents that was held in Arles, France, in July. "It's perfect for when you're enchanted by the conversation but exhausted from your jet lag," she says. (Or for when even much shorter journeys outside the home are depleting.) In New York, she likes to order the drink off menu from Frenchette in TriBeCa. A bit north, in the West Village, Don Angie recently debuted its take, which is called the Italian Coffee Situation and contains biscotti-infused vodka and star anise. Unsurprisingly, the espresso martini is a longstanding staple at Sant Ambroeus, which takes its coffee shops as seriously as its restaurants. Starting at the end of this month, you'll also find espresso martinis at the U.S. Open, where the Grey Goose suite will serve them with a pinch of salt, and with a few beans for good measure. |
An Omakase on the Coast of Oaxaca |
 | | A fresh-catch sushi dish prepared by the chef Keisuke Harada and his team for Kakurega Omakase's 10-course tasting menu.Karla Lisker |
|
By Michaela Trimble T Contributor |
Nestled on the jungle side of Punta Pájaros, a sleepy road that runs parallel to Oaxaca, Mexico's, Pacific coastline, Kakurega Omakase is the first restaurant of its kind in the area, which lies a nearly 30-minute car ride northwest of Puerto Escondido. It was opened by the Mexico City-based hotel developer Grupo Habita as a means for travelers to taste the bounty of local seafood, and as part of a secluded world the brand has constructed in the area. The restaurant is just a short walk from the brand's Hotel Escondido, a bohemian beachside retreat, and set beneath an open-air, thatched-roof palapa built in the same style as the hotel's bungalow suites. Designed by the architect Alberto Kalach and his firm, TAX Architects, and the artist Bosco Sodi (who runs the nearby nonprofit arts center Casa Wabi), the structure was made from brick, concrete and pinewood charred according to the Japanese weatherproofing technique known as shou sugi ban. Guests first enter the restaurant by way of a sandy path that snakes through a garden of fragrant copal, guayacán and areca trees. Each night, the chef Keisuke Harada and his team offer three sittings, each for only 12 guests. The accompanying 10 courses change daily and are always seasonal — dishes range from rib-eye tataki to sailfish carpaccio — but are always best enjoyed with Japanese whiskey, beer or sake. Reservations: kakuregaomakase@hotelescondido.com. |
A Trio of Artists Who Took '80s New York by Storm |
 | | A Polaroid that Tseng Kwong Chi (right) took of himself and Muna Tseng at the Mudd Club in Manhattan in 1980.© Muna Tseng Dance Projects, Inc. |
|
A new book, "Keith Haring, Muna Tseng and Tseng Kwong Chi: Boundless Minds & Moving Bodies in 80s New York" (2022), looks at the trio during a particularly dynamic time for them and for the city's art scene as a whole. Muna Tseng, a dancer, and Tseng Kwong Chi, a photographer, were siblings and roommates who landed in New York after having first emigrated from Hong Kong to Canada. Kwong Chi and Haring met in 1979 (Haring was drawn to Kwong Chi's high-waisted white corduroys) and Kwong Chi went on to take many pictures of Haring's work, including his chalk subway drawings. In 1984, the men published many of these pictures in the book "Art in Transit." A couple of years earlier, Haring and Muna collaborated when he made a set and visual score for her performance piece "Epoch Songs." Kwong Chi also found success with his "East Meets West" series, which came about after he wore a Mao suit purchased at a Montreal thrift store, to a family dinner at Windows on the World, the restaurant in the North Tower of the World Trade Center, and then began to take self-portraits while wearing it and mirrored sunglasses in front of American monuments and at other locations. It's one of the seminal bodies of works from a decade that would tragically prove to be Kwong Chi's and Haring's last — both men died from complications from AIDS in 1990 — and that is captured in the book through photographs, essays and a poignant interview with Muna. "He said to me: 'My work is important, I have not had enough time, so you're going to take care of it," she says of her brother. Click here to see more images of the trio, and follow us on Instagram. |
Correction: Last week's newsletter misstated the base price for jeans in Ulla Johnson's new collection. It is $425, not $495. |
| And if you read one thing on tmagazine.com this week, make it: | | |
|
