The Digest: Singles Parties, Electrolytes + Sauna Blankets

Everything you should know about this week.

Welcome back to The Digest from Late Filing. In case you missed it, I now send out this brand-new roundup email, which covers shopping, culture, going out and talking points, every Wednesday. Then on Friday, I’ll be posting a more in-depth feature, such as an interview, a report, an essay, a guide or a longer shopping edit.

Today’s Digest covers: a face mask that undoes a week of bad habits; a pair of sexy-but-office-appropriate shoes (on sale); a WSJ podcast interview with Industry’s creators; a dishy marriage memoir; a Virginia Woolf-inspired ballet at the ROH; another New York scammer story; and the practicalities of hosting a singles party.

FYI there’s no paywall on The Digest until 4 February (Vol. 4), but if you fancy discounted access to Late Filing for the year – including next week’s paywalled Friday feature – then I’ve extended the annual subscription offer (£40 instead of £50) to the end of January. Also, the more friends you forward to, the more months you get free.

As always, I’d love to hear your thoughts on everything in the comments or over email (latefiling@substack.com).

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The Edit

Nine things worth shopping this week

1. This draped Aje top, which I featured in a going-out clothes roundup in September, is now 40% off on Net-A-Porter. £84 (originally £140)

2. Rain Wood is an outdoorsy yet sophisticated, one-of-one scent from Perfumer H, the chicest brand in perfume. (If you’re ever in Marylebone, you should drop by their gorgeous Chiltern Street store.) £140 for 50ml or £590 for the fancy 100ml hand-blown bottle

3. I first clocked these Paul Smith shoes at their shop in Mayfair last year and instantly wanted them. Now they’re 50% off – although they’re only available in sizes 5 and 6, so act fast. £188 (originally £375)

4. I’ve been burning this wintery Ffern candle, which smells like an alpine spa, since mid-December. £89

5. I’ve cycled through a bunch of hydration powders and currently I’m into this one from ARTAH, which is high in vitamin C and magnesium and low in sodium. £32 for 250g (10% off with this link)

6. I’ve been using this U Beauty resurfacing mask every week or two when my skin is completely sapped of glow and every time I’m shocked by how good it is. (Warning: this is not for sensitive skin.) £178

7. I have no reason to buy this Simkhai mini dress, but it’s hanging out in my Harvey Nichols basket anyway. £785

8. Colds, stress, patchy sleep – I’m convinced there’s nothing that having the Higher Dose sauna blanket wouldn’t solve. £694.49 (10% off with this link)

9. More Rejina Pyo for you. The Camilla shirt is pretty on its own (I love the sheen, the texture and the ginormous collar) but looks even better with the matching skirt. £275

P.S. This section contains affiliate links which means if you end up making a purchase I may earn some commission – at absolutely no cost to you.

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Going Out

Places and experiences worth checking out

Credit: Nipotina

• I stopped by the new Dr David Jack clinic at Liberty yesterday. That you can now get Botoxed and micro-needled in one of London’s oldest department stores feels indicative, to me, of shifting trends in luxury spending. (The Net-a-Porter office, where I used to work, in Westfield’s The Village, was once surrounded by ‘premium’ brands, which have since been replaced by a health and wellness hub.) Dr Jack is an interiors lover and this little nook off the Fragrance Lounge is just as thoughtfully decorated as his larger clinics. However, it’s the Korean Glass Skin Facial (which includes vigorous massage and hydromicrodermabrasion) that I go back for.

• One of the best meals I ate last year was at Nipotina in Mayfair, a grown-up but laidback Italian restaurant that feels a world away from the flashy establishments round the corner on Berkeley Square. The dinner was in collaboration with Nina Parker, and so it was hard to know who exactly to credit for the exceptional dishes. I returned this week for a new sharing menu, part of a collaboration with Saatchi Yates, which was lighter on showstoppers but still very tasty, and at £68pp for four courses, really quite reasonable. They also do fabulous negronis with earl grey and thyme, and they’ve officially turned me on to panna cotta.

• After raving about Dover Street Counter in last week’s Digest (the Sunday Times’ restaurant critic also loved it), one of my most glamorous friends, Alia, pointed me to Martino’s in Chelsea. It’s from the same owner, Martin Kuczmarski, who I remember as one of the friendlier bosses at Soho House during the brief stint I worked there, and who now presides over a handful of the buzziest, sexiest restaurants in the city. I’m very into his taste so far.

• Late last year, Swedish brand Our Legacy quietly opened one of the coolest, most innovative shops in London, which I visited earlier this week. It’s part of their Workshop sub-brand, which reinvents deadstock fabrics and pieces from past collections – something I’m dying to see more of in fashion. Also, it’s located in Smith’s Court in Soho, which is home to a bunch of independent stores and which I had no clue existed.

• Good news for people in the City: Psycle is opening a new location in London Bridge on 2 February – although it’s started taking bookings now. This studio is the first one to offer Megaformer classes as well as Strength Ride, which uses higher resistance and heavier weights.

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Cultural Radar

What to watch, read, listen to and look at in a museum

Credit: Royal Opera House

• I’ve often been left unimpressed by exhibitions at the Design Museum but as an unapologetic Wes Anderson lover, I thought I’d drop by his career retrospective, which opens up his meticulously kept archives and walks you through his filmography. It started out a little underwhelming to be honest – I always wish the museum could be a little more inventive with its exhibition design, not least for a show devoted to one of film’s greatest world-builders. But towards the latter portions, particularly those for his stop-motion films and The Grand Budapest Hotel onwards, it really does become quite magical. It’s as much a showcase of Anderson’s unmatched attention to detail as it is a tribute to the talents of his lesser-known collaborators. And the gift shop is a treasure trove.

• Kudos to the publicist of author Belle Burden (granddaughter of Capote swan Babe Paley), who landed her client some incredible press coverage for Strangers, a memoir about the implosion of her 20-year marriage and seemingly gilded life. I’ve never added a book to my Amazon basket so fast (it’s due to ship in a couple weeks) because I am a sucker for exactly this sort of tale.

• I’m an unashamed fan of Audible for biographies and memoirs, and I finally got round to listening to Marisa Meltzer’s It Girl about Jane Birkin. It Girl paints an intimate portrait of a woman who’s been endlessly mythologised and moodboarded but was secretly riddled with insecurities. It also pulls back the curtain on two of her most defining, most complicated relationships: that with Serge Gainsbourg (somehow even more loathsome than you thought) and with the house of Hermès. Marisa, who I love, did lots of press for the book around its release, but I especially enjoyed this Back Row podcast episode.

• The last time I went to see the ballet at the Royal Opera House, I said to myself: ‘I really must do this more often.’ That was nearly four years ago, and I haven’t been since. Their Virginia Woolf-inspired production, choreographed by the legendary Wayne McGregor, is tempting me back. It’s easy to forget how lucky we are to have all these cultural riches on our doorstep.

• Cultured’s tour around the art collection of creative director Gabriella Khalil led me to the joyous portraiture of Ghanaian painter Cornelius Annor. If you like Amaoko Boafo, you’ll be a fan.

• There’s a high likelihood that I’ll mention Industry at least once in every Digest. (I need an Industry group chat.) Below is some bonus material for the fellow obsessives:

  • Creators of the show Mickey Down and Konrad Kay appeared on WSJ’s Take on the Week. They always give a good interview.

  • The FT’s Isabel Berwick (one of my favourite reporters on all things work) has been running an ‘FT on Industry’ series on Instagram where she chats to experts about scenes from past seasons and they dissect how true-to-life they are.

  • Myha’la returned to the bawdy Throwing Fits podcast. She’s done a few interviews to promote this season, but these guys get way more candour out of their guests than the traditional, buttoned-up outlets.

• I reinstated my Now TV subscription just to watch Heated Rivalry – and honestly I’m not sure I have anything to add beyond the millions of takes that have already been shared, but I did enjoy this Atlantic piece about how the show understands sex scenes as a vehicle for storytelling. (I immediately thought of Normal People.) Now I’m halfway through Rachel Sennott’s I Love LA. For the record, I thought Bottoms was painfully bad, and there was every possibility that this very tapped-in, chronically online satire of LA influencer culture would be completely heavy-handed and cringeworthy (e.g. Too Much). However, I’m finding it hilarious. Leighton Meester and Odessa A’zion in particular are very, very good.

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Talking Points

Everything else that caught my attention

Credit: Bottega Veneta / Juergen Teller

• I’ve noticed it and you probably have too: a sense of unease and dissatisfaction among fellow 20- and 30-somethings in London. Now the Times has quoted official figures that show the number of under 35s who left the UK last year was the highest ever on record. Since Covid, a handful of people I know have flocked to Dubai and New York (if they can get the visa) for career opportunities; others have gone to Australia and Canada for the ‘quality of life’. It’s no surprise, really: the high rents and stagnant salaries in London can be so punishing to anyone who’s not making a killing in finance – young creatives in particular. I’ve found it’s usually the latter who make a city fun to be in.

• Vanity Fair covered the story of yet another alleged New Yorker scammer, Bryant Simmons. Rather than being titillated by the juicy details, I was merely reminded of how thin the line is between graft and grift nowadays. (The quote below from Simmons, who maintains his innocence, sums it up.) Everyone I know has a ‘scammer’ story: a colleague who took liberties with company expenses and freebies or an ex-business partner who didn’t return their money. Last week, a friend referred to her former boss as an ‘Anna Delvey’; a Google search will tell you they’re a brilliant self-made millionaire. Obviously, many of Simmons’ alleged actions go beyond basic ethics, but to me they also just reek of sheer desperation to make it in an industry that often prizes what you wear and who you know over talent and hard work, and in a broader system where being a ruthless ‘winner’ is so much more acceptable than being a principled ‘loser’. So long as success feels like a zero-sum game, I don’t see the scammer tales going away any time soon.

  “Every New Yorker is running some kind of scam,” Simmons says, describing a world in which influencers and other members of the glitterati project lives of effortless luxury online that don’t quite align with reality. The clothes, the rooms, the access—the optics suggest abundance, but behind the screen is a far more precarious existence: living paycheck to paycheck, reselling gifted items after the photo is posted, hustling to keep the illusion intact.

• The new Bottega Veneta campaign shot by Juergen Teller (above) has given me the urge to go back to Venice. Specifically, I want to stay at the Venice Venice and finally visit the Peggy Guggenheim Collection. I’m convinced February would be the perfect time.

• Registered nutritional therapist and friend of the newsletter Eleanor Hoath has launched a new platform called The Well Edit. If you enjoyed her expert travel routine, I know she has plenty more to offer.

• I have a lot of thoughts about singles parties. Understandably, everyone is fed up with apps, and in-person dating events have been popping up since Covid. Last year, British Vogue reported on Olive’s List, a series of ‘curated evenings for the uncoupled’ by Olive Uniacke, and journalist Olivia Petter set up Red Lips. (Megan Wallace wrote a great piece that mentioned both of them here.) Then last week, Emily Sundberg teased the idea of a Feed Me singles party, presumably in New York. I’m personally in favour of anything that gets us all meeting in person, but from the experience of hosting a singles party a couple years ago, here are the challenges – along with some personal gripes:

  • Really good parties – the sort that merit asking people to leave the house – cost money. You at least need a deposit for the venue. Obviously if you’re willing to stump up your own cash, this isn’t an issue. If not, do you charge for tickets? I’m of the view that there needs to be a bit of curation to ensure guests will click and, you know, actually fancy each other. And if you’re ‘handpicking’ people, then you can’t really charge.

  • If you’re not covering the cost and not charging for tickets, that means someone else has to sponsor. In my experience, brands love the concept, but they also have tight budgets that come with KPIs and expectations for ‘content’ and ‘reach’. Getting them involved can become a bit of a nightmare and suck all the sexiness out of it.

  • The state of straight dating is particularly dire, but organising a party for ‘straights only’ feels exclusionary and dull. However, my gay and lesbian friends would tell me they wanted their own thing, not a mixed event. Olivia Petter’s Red Lips has just announced a WLW edition in response to demand. For numbers’ sake (you want guests to feel like they have ‘options’, but still have the party feel relatively intimate), I think that’s probably the way to go.

  • It can be very hard to track down eligible, single straight men who are confident enough to show up to these sorts of events, but the spots for women go instantly. For our party, I evened things out last-minute by messaging a tonne of guys on Raya. (I wince thinking about it now.) They do exist and they have friends – but it was a job to find them.

  • Dinners don’t work. I feel like this is obvious, but I still see the occasional ‘singles supper’. What if the only person you fancy is sat at the other end of the table?