13 Things That Delighted Us Last Week: From Carnelian Beads to Striped Coats

It’s no secret that we love stripes — whether they’re on our favorite fluffy robes, the cardigan owned by multiple staffers, or the beach towels we pack for Labor Day weekend. And so it seemed only right to round up all of the very best, expertly tested, cool-person-recommended striped items that have appeared on our site. Among the array of striped tees, throw pillows, and table linens that we’ve vetted over the years, we were delighted to rediscover the striped wool coat on one writer’s wish list and this cheerful bath mat.

Following a recent move, Robby Hoffman says that her home has become somewhat of a mail room. With many packages to open, she impulse-bought this French pocket knife in a checkout line one day. “It’s small. It’s not that dangerous. It really does the trick,” Hoffman told us. “It opens things way better than me savagely trying to rip through a package with the help of my keys.”

Until recently, carnelian reminded our resident jewelry collector, writer Ambar Pardilla, of archaeological excavations and ancient pieces at the Met. But lately, she’s noticed that the stone is having somewhat of a moment, appearing everywhere from Leandra Medine Cohen’s carnelian tassel necklace to a strand of beads at Alex Mill’s Madison Avenue store. So Pardilla scoured her favorite jewelers’ sites for the most appealing pieces, including this bracelet made of “18-karat gold-plated rondelles” that are “ditalini-like carnelian beads.”

Not only is a napkin ring a nice addition to a setting of plates, bowls, and glasses, as Pardilla points out, it’s “what someone sees before an appetizer, after all.” To find some that certainly “aren’t like your mother’s napkin rings,” she took to the internet and turned up these tasseled ones from Jonathan Adler. “You don’t often see a passementerie trimming like this unless on a window curtain at Versailles,” she adds.

In the year since Strategist contributor Mya Gelber declared Old Navy’s EveryWear crop T-shirt the very best white tee, she’s developed a new appreciation for thicker tees with a heftier 100 percent cotton feel — “I do not want to stress about sheerness or feel limited to wearing only a nude bra,” she says — and ones that ring it at just over $50. With that in mind, it was time to update her list. She crowned a new favorite: Le Bon Shoppe’s Little Boy Tee. “The tee is slightly cropped with sleeves that fit just right … it feels both structured and soft,” she reports. “It has become my go-to whenever I want to feel comfortable but still look polished.”

Four years ago, Gelber stocked up on the “most perfect 100 percent cotton ribbed tanks” during Entireworld’s final sale — but now, those have been relegated to her sleep-shirt pile. And thus a new hunt began, this time for a tank with “a loose fit, a high-ish neck, and that ideal ’90s length that hits just at the top of your hips.” After trying on a variety of tops that were either too expensive, too sheer, too long, or too short, she landed on this option from Almina Concept that was just right. “The boat neckline is so flattering and elevates the look from just a tank top to an intentional look without trying,” Gelber says.

Over the past few months, Strategist senior writer Michael Zhao has been interviewing experts and testing over a dozen pairs of pants to find the very best chinos. This week, he shared the results of all that research — and a brand new Best in Class champion: J.Crew’s classic chino pant. “They have a gently tapered cut — inspired by WWII military uniforms — that’s as comfortable as it is flattering,” he writes. Plus, “They’re sewn from a reassuringly dense, 100 percent cotton cloth that makes the pants feel more expensive than they are.”

It was Chloë Sevigny’s Ecco campaign that influenced actress Sarah Ramos to buy these lace-up sneakers in black — and now she counts the shoes among the items she can’t live without. (Ramos later spotted a paparazzi photo of Zendaya hiking in them, too, which further affirmed her shopping instincts.)

If you’ve been thinking about buying Birkenstock Bostons for the fall, you might consider the newly launched, grippier version that made this week’s installment of Don’t Dillydally. The sole is “designed to take on bumpy trails and wet leaves or slick, uneven sidewalks with ease,” reports senior writer Liza Corsillo.

Sure, the parents on the Strategist team are stocking up on sneakers, coats, and backpacks for this year’s back-to-school shopping season, but they’ve indulged in a few buzzy items, too. While senior editor Julia Edelstein’s boys want squishy keychains called SqueezyMates, senior editor Jen Trolio’s girls have been into the new Crocs and Touchland hand-sanitizer keychains that you can decorate with Jibbitz. “A lot of kids have those little holders from Bath & Body Works, and now I feel like the Touchland Crocs case is the new thing,” says Trolio.

Fall may be around the corner, but Strategist sleep writer Amelia Jerden is reflecting on the products that she relied on all summer. She solidified her sunscreen lineup — Vacation lotion for her body and Supergoop glow oil for hydration — and found a spray that seems to be protecting her hair from chlorine in the pool. “I think it has been helping; my hair has felt much softer after each dip when I’ve used the spray,” she says.

Should you be the last to settle down during a movie night at our senior writer Emma Wartzman’s apartment, you won’t find yourself relegated to a stiff ottoman or thin floor pillow. Rather, she reserves a chunk of valuable floor space for this West Elm floor cushion that is big enough to fit her while sitting cross-legged. “It has become affectionately known among all our friends as ‘the dog bed’ — not only not the loser seat, but a favorite among everyone,” she adds.