9 Things That Delighted Us Last Week: The Perfect White Tee and the Best White Dinner Plate

Updates coordinator Najwa Jamal was delighted to discover that Gap’s tops and tanks are particularlygreat at the moment — and she’s not the only one. Other Strategist staffers have dropped links to Gap tops they’ve been eyeing in recent weeks. Chief among them is this deep V-neck tank, which Jamal says looks very similar to a Flore Flore one she’d been considering (that costs three times as much). This one has “just as deep a V-neck, a thick border on the neckline and armholes, and a hip-length bodice,” she says. And because it’s made of a cotton-modal fabric, it’s stretchier.

Sleep writer Amelia Jerden unearthed another very good, very affordable top this week when she spoke to actress and podcaster Jamie Lynn Sigler about her favorite things. Sigler shared that her go-to white T-shirt is this cropped crewneck from Amazon’s The Drop line. “For a basic, good white T-shirt you wear with jeans, that you can tuck into a pair of trousers, that you can pack in a suitcase and wear many different ways, this is the best one I’ve found,” Sigler says. “I think it’s cut really nice and slim. It’s not boxy. The neck is great. It falls perfectly in the arms. I’ve gotten maybe ten of them now. To me it’s just the best white tee.”

A few years ago, while organizing Tabletop Week, Emma Wartzman learned that Crate & Barrel makes many expert cooks’ and hosts’ favorite dinner plates. So she called in every single one of the 18 white plates Crate & Barrel has to offer to find the best ones. The Marin is her favorite coupe-style plate, which isn’t quite a bowl-plate but isn’t as flat as a standard plate. It has a seamless finish and is “ever-so-slightly organically shaped and glazed,” as opposed to most of the others on her list that are distinctly uniform.

Recently, brow artist Kristie Streicher asked her friend, who’s a hygienist, if he’d whitened his teeth. He hadn’t — he was just using this toothpaste, which he told Streicher visibly brightens teeth in two weeks. Streicher ordered a tube on the spot, and within three weeks of using the pink paste, she says she saw a difference, too. It’s replaced her Sensodyne and hasn’t irritated her sensitive teeth at all.

As part of our month-long Mall Month coverage, writer Kitty Guo, a “prolific” teen and tween Aerie shopper, rounded up her favorite pieces from the brand’s underrated activewear line. “They’re geared toward people who want to look cute and trendy while going about their low-impact workouts and everyday lives, which suits me to a T,” she says. Among her favorites are these cool-toned leopard-print leggings, which are one of the brand’s best-sellers. They have a “high-waisted fit with a wide crossover waistband that smooths you out and holds you in,” she says, and although the fabric is thin, it’s not see-through.“I’ve never felt nervous about bending over or going into a deep squat.”

We’ve been fans of Eileen Fisher’s linen pieces long before her brand started gaining traction as an alternative for The Row. But the brand’s crush silk is just as good, says senior writer Dominique Pariso. “I started my crushed-silk collection with a bright-pink tiered dress and a marine-blue bateau long sleeve,” she says. “Since adding these pieces to my wardrobe, I’ve worn them everywhere, from fancy dinners and birthday parties, where they are routinely mistaken for Pleats Please for about half the price. And, unlike Pleats Please, they are not made from any synthetics, just 100 percent pure silk.”

Two of the Strategist’s favorite luggage brands, July and Away, launched new suitcase designs this week: single-compartment (i.e., non-clamshell) bags with flat lids that make packing and unpacking a lot easier. Resident travel expert Kat Gillespie tested both of them and was really impressed with Away’s. “The single-compartment design is a huge improvement on Away’s standard clamshell trunk, which I’ve always found a bit unwieldy to both pack and wheel around,” she says. “You could fit three weeks of outfits into the medium Topside trunk, and it would be useful for packing bulkier items that don’t fit into a clamshell compartment.”

Contributor Sal Vaglica generally avoids checking a bag and has found other ways to maximize the volume of his carry-on, like using compression packing cubes. But even those have their limits. Enter Sandmarc’s Compressing Packing Cube, a durable nylon vacuum cube that “fits nicely in standard 45-liter carry-on bags allowed on domestic flights,” Vaglica says. “I tend to stick the Sandmarc in my carry-on first, fill it, then vacuum it, which ensures I’m not fussing with the bag’s length or width after. It only takes about a minute or so to turn a pile of clothing into a brick.”

“Of everything on this list, this mask is the thing I require the most,” the musician told deals writer Martha Tuber while sharing his favorite things. His manager gifted it to him a few years ago, and his sleep while touring on the road has been utterly transformed since. “The amount of extra hours of sleep it’s provided me, collectively, has probably added up to months at this point, which is such a beautiful thing in my life,” he says. “It’s silk, and it’s got these beads so there’s weight in it. But also psychologically, when it’s on my face, it does something that calms me down and allows my body to shut down in a way it needs to to get really good REM sleep.”