We Have Found This Summer’s Mary-Kate Olsen Tevas
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This roundup of things we liked this week originally appeared in the May 8, 2025 edition of theSecret Strategistnewsletter, a weekly email where we share the stuff our staff — plus a rotating cast of writers, design-world people, and various others with very good taste — would otherwise keep to themselves. If you want to get our picks straight to your inbox each week, sign uphere.
Every summer an awkward-chic sandal rises; we’ve found this year’s. Plus a Tangerine sidewalk sale and Takata Nursery founder Taryne Messer on the dignity of plant stands. —Simone Kitchens, Lauren Ro, and Erin Schwartz
This Week’s List
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* Just discovered8.6.4 nylon bags. They’re Montbell-level lightweight with an Hervé Chapelier color range. Liking thetwo-way toteand the massiveweekender.
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* Calling these all-blackKeenstheMary-Kate Tevasof summer 2025. We like the billowy skirt styling over at Paris’sRendez-Vous. Also: Keen makes akids’ Jasper.
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* Simone saw a friend wearing jeans from this designed-in-London, made-in-Paraguay line called Dala and now she wants some, specifically this501-ish style; this baggy,asymmetric-seam one; and thesesuperlong shorts.
* Erin visitedForecast, an arty, GORP-y store and gallery in Greenpoint. Almost too many beautiful things to list:windbreaker shirts,perforated silver ringsdisplayed on a lightbox,butter-yellow drapey tanks, some incredibleCaro Chia, thisGauntlett Cheng tank, theseWestern Acoustics speakerswith a donut-shaped wooden horn.
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* Over in East Williamsburg,Tangerineis throwing its biannual sidewalk sale on May 10, 12 to 5 p.m. (616 Lorimer). And great L.A. line Jeana Sohn is closing up shop and selling everything off — not a ton left, but there are still nicely pricedcashmere sweaters,ribbed ballet tops, and this embroidered French cotton (could be a wedding dress)dress.
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* Found some Ettore Sottsass Bacterio laminate onFacebook Marketplace. It’s an iconic pattern, as seenhereandhere, and hard to find anywhere these days. (Abet Laminati still makes it, but the order minimum is 20 sheets.)
Check These Out Too
We first learned aboutTakata Nurserylast winter, when we saw a picture ofMichael Bargo’s cool Christmas tree. And have since mentioned it a few times here on Secret Strat:Brock Forsblom’s indoor garden inTwas planted by them, they’ve been the backdrop forCadislighting. But we wanted to know more, so we called up founder Taryne Messer, who operates out of her own rooftop greenhouse in Ridgewood.
“My grandmother and my mom were both gardeners but it didn’t resonate with me when I was younger, not until I spent a summer working on a peony farm in Alaska, then later worked as a farm hand at the Saipua flower farm in Esperance, New York. I startedTakata Nurseryin 2020, my greenhouse is on the roof upstairs from our apartment. Right now, it’s word of mouth. The plan is to eventually expand to a studio space downstairs for appointment-only visits.
I’m currently trying to start a bunch of geraniums; it takes so much time for these guys to get to that sculptural quality that people are very fond of. I’m sourcing from all the same places that everyone in the New York flower market is — nurseries out in Long Island — but I love when I come across something that’s just super old, it doesn’t really matter what it is. I love seeing what time does to the plant; the spirit it takes on and then just accentuating those lines ‘when it’s ready’ by pruning a few limbs away. Often the older a plant becomes the more character it develops.
Alsoplant stands: There’s added dignity to placing a plant on a podium of sorts. I use my boyfriend’s leftover jobsite materials — terracotta breeze blocks, wood, stone, peg board. Any way you can elevate a plant onto its own separate plane, the more visible those lines become to admire.”
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The Strategistis designed to surface useful, expert recommendations for things to buy across the vast e-commerce landscape. Every product is independently selected by our team of editors, whom you can read abouthere. We update links when possible, but note that deals can expire and all prices are subject to change.
