The Pleasure Lists Q&A: Ruby Redstone

Pleasures, Curated by fashion historian Ruby Redstone

We’re back with another installment of

The Pleasure Lists

: Pleasures, Curated.

I hope you enjoy reading these as much as I enjoy getting to know members of the Pleasure Lists community and what makes their Pleasures tick.

Pleasures, Curated by

Ruby Redstone

of

OLD FASHIONED

Ruby Redstone is a fashion historian and contemporary fashion writer. She writes the newsletter Old Fashioned, and her work has been featured in Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar, and New York Magazine. She holds an MA in Fashion History from the Courtauld Institute of Art.

Social: @rubyredstone

Location: New York

Pleasures

1. Crisp Pajamas

I don’t particularly like pajamas for sleeping, but I love them for any other occasion–lounging, strolling, a formal dinner…It’s the easiest way to feel rebellious whilst still looking sharp. The key to this sharpess is, however, that the pajamas must be crisp. Crispness also creates the greatest harmony between pajama and body, preventing the fabric from clinging to your nude form beneath (horrifying). For best results, savour your pajamas fresh from their packaging, iron them (you feel like a chump but it’s worth it), or do as my husband did for me before a special vacation recently: send them to the dry cleaner to be pressed.

2. Knowledge, especially when it makes you feel superior to other people

A guilty pleasure, if you will, but a powerful tool for learning nonetheless.

3. Shopping

Shopping gets a bad rap in today’s culture, which is understandable given its associations with late stage capitalism. But is there anything more enjoyable than browsing for and spending on a little something? It needn’t even be clothes that you’re shopping for, though I do love them. In fact, I think the most pleasurable form of shopping is a search for little treats and tchotchkes because it’s low risk/high reward. I even love a casual trip to the grocery store! A new dress and lunch at a department store is, however, one of the most divine permutations of the shopping experience.

4. Walking Alone

One of my greatest passions is Looking at Stuff (a pleasure in and of itself), and strolling around is an excellent way to indulge in this hobby. I live in New York and thus walk everywhere, but I am almost always walking with my two small children (who move slowly and with great effort) or my husband (who moves very fast). I love them all so very much, but they have taught me to really appreciate the moments I have to be a flâneuse all by my lonesome, stopping for beverages as I please.

5. A Popcorn Tin

I complained for years that no one was sending me a popcorn tin as a holiday gift, but none of my acquaintances took the bait. I finally realised that I could use my own hard-earned money to procure a popcorn tin, and life has become all the richer. Garrett Popcorn does the best one (I’ve tested). There is nothing quite as indulgent on a grey winter Sunday as putting on a movie, dipping a silver spoon into a striped bucket of popcorn so large that you could wrap your arms around it, and serving yourself a delightful trifecta of buttered, cheese, and caramel popcorn. It’s an appetiser, a main course, and a dessert–and a reminder that you owe yourself the best presents.