If you one of the few people not on holiday like everyone else on Instagram right now, I have some suggestions for things to do and see this month.

Deux Moi has pretty much ruined restaurants in New York so make a reservation at Sartiano’s before she posts about it on Instagram. The new restaurant from Scott Sartiano of Bond Hospitality is located where Mercer Kitchen was in the Mercer Hotel. I’m not sure the city needs another “modern Italian fine dining experience” but here we are.

The Golden Swan has taken over the old Spotted Pig location on West 11th Street and is the new darling of the West Village. I am intrigued by their missive, “Discover classic New York cuisine in this iconic townhouse reimagined to bring elegance and nostalgia back to life in the far West Village of NYC.” The restaurant by Matthew Abramcyk has a casual room, The Wallace Room, on the first floor and The Dining Room, on the second floor with an extended menu of elevated classics from Michelin starred chef Doug Brixton.

The National Portrait Gallery in London has just reopened to much fanfare after a three year renovation. The Gallery is home to the most extensive collection of portraits in the world from the 8th-century to the present day which includes paintings, drawings, sculptures, and photographs. I don’t think I’ve ever been to the National Portrait Gallery so I look forward to visiting on my next trip to London.

Next door at The National Gallery in London there is a new exhibition, After Impressionism: Inventing Modern Art, that runs through 13 August 2023, that I can’t wait to see.

“Explore a period of great upheaval when artists broke with established tradition and laid the foundations for the art of the 20th and the 21st centuries.

The decades between 1880 and the outbreak of the First World War in 1914 were a complex, vibrant period of artistic questioning, searching, risk-taking and innovation.

The exhibition celebrates the achievements of three giants of the era: Paul Cézanne, Vincent van Gogh and Paul Gauguin and follows the influences they had on younger generations of French artists, on their peers and on wider circles of artists across Europe in Barcelona, Berlin, Brussels and Vienna.

With nearly a hundred works by artists ranging from Klimt and Munch, Matisse and Picasso to Mondrian and Kandinsky complemented by a selection of sculpture by artists including Rodin and Camille Claudel, the exhibition follows the creation of a new, modern art, free of convention, taking in Expressionism, Cubism and Abstraction”.

Via The National Gallery

I’m long overdue for a visit to The Metropolitan Museum of Art and hope I can find a non-rainy day this week to check out the Roof Garden Commission from Lauren Halsey. The “installation is designed to be inhabited by The Met’s visitors, who will be able to explore its connections to sources as varied as ancient Egyptian symbolism, 1960s utopian architecture, and contemporary visual expressions like tagging that reflect the ways in which people aspire to make public places their own”.

I don’t love going to the movie theater in NYC because other people act like they are in their living room and not in a public place. But I might have to brave the cinema to see Past Lives. The film, which is getting rave reviews, is about “Nora and Hae Sung, two deeply connected childhood friends, who are wrest apart after Nora’s family emigrates from South Korea. Decades later, they are reunited for one fateful week as they confront destiny, love and the choices that make a life”.

I was at the premier for The French Dispatch at the New York Film Festival in 2021 when director Wes Anderson and the cast of Asteroid City appeared via video remotely from their dessert filming location in Spain. Now Asteroid City is finally in theaters and getting some mixed reviews for the story of world-changing events that “spectacularly disrupt the itinerary of a Junior Stargazer/Space Cadet convention in an American desert town circa 1955” filled with his usual star-studded cast. I think I’ll wait to watch this one until it’s available to stream.

If you are looking for something a little less twee, there is Scarlet, who was “raised by her father in rural France, and grows up to become a lonely woman who dreams of greater possibilities. Reckoning with her future, she soon gets swept away by a rakish young pilot who literally falls from the sky”. It’s currently playing at the IFC Center and Film at Lincoln Center.

During the Rendez-vous with French Cinema film festival at Film at Lincoln Center, I saw Revoir Paris which has been giving the English title Paris Memories for US screenings. It stars Virginie Efira, as a translator who after surviving a mass shooting in a Paris restaurant is haunted and unable to resume life as usual. She’s one of the most talented actresses working in France right now and it’s worth seeing just for her alone. Also starring is Benoît Magimel who has had some unfortunate plastic surgery or fillers recently but don’t let that turn you off. It’s also playing at the IFC Center and Film at Lincoln Center.

Season two of The Bear is available to binge on Hulu now. The show gives me a bit of anxiety but it’s still better than most of what’s on tv or streaming right now so I’ll take it.

I’m still mad at everyone who posted The Guest like it was the best book ever written. Spoiler alert, it was not and that ending makes me want to ask for my money back. Next up on my stack of unread books is Foster Dade Explores the Cosmos which is a coming of age novel billed as Prep meets The Secret History.

I needed another tote bag like I needed a hole in the head but the heart wants what the heart wants. The want in this case was this Toteme leather-trimmed canvas tote bag that will change my life in a way that the other tote bags only wish they had. I already used it for my recent trip to Sag Harbor and it’s the perfect size to sit on top of a carry on bag and looks chic while doing so. I love it.

I was in the market for a Baroque pearl necklace but didn’t want to spend a ton of money which is why I was happy I found this Baroque Pearl Statement Necklace. I love how the “gold” pearl gives it an updated modern look. It’s available in different lengths so I measured another necklace I own to figure out that 20 inches would be the best length to wear under collared shirts and dresses. The vendor was very responsive and it arrived incredibly fast. I highly recommend.

I loathe retinol but everyone says it’s the key to wrinkle free skin so I am giving it another try. I had a gift card so I it was the perfect time to try the Augustinus Bader Retinol Serum. It’s supposed to be more gentle than traditional retinols and so far, I don’t have any redness or terrible flaking. I use the regular Serum in the morning and the Retinol Serum at night and follow both with the Rich Cream.

I am buying whatever Westman Atelier is selling so I ordered the new Liquid Super Loaded Sheet Illuminator as soon as it was available online this week. I love the Chanel Le Blanc Rosy Light Drops so it will be interesting to see how this products compares. I will report back after it arrives.

Happy Summer!

XOXO,

HC