Retail Therapy 060: Reading Parties at Saltburn
Plus Dry January, Grocery Store Husband™, and more.
Listen to Retail Therapy on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTube (see above), and anywhere else podcasts are found.
Well, due to Barrett’s bachelor party this past weekend in Colorado, I said during this week’s episode (recorded on Tuesday) that this Listener Digest may arrive a litttttle late.
And I was right. Don’t judge me, we had a blast. But let’s dive in.
So that’s why there are so many paparazzi photos of Paul Mescal wearing running gear.
We’re not currently sure who the patron saint of Retail Therapy is, but it falls somewhere between Jacob Elordi and Paul Mescal. Needless to say, our heads turn when information about them drops on the timeline.
And this nearly snapped my neck on Christmas Eve.
This quickly blew up for two reasons: (1) It’s hilarious if he actually does this and (2) There’s no way he actually does this, right? …right?
When movies hit just on vibes alone.
While the movies of the year were determined at this past weekends Golden Globes, The Movie of the Holidays was surely Saltburn. At the time of this episode’s recording, I had only seen the first half of the film despite yearning to finish it — mainly because of this tweet:
If someone says, “Raise your hands if you took Skins and Bloc Party waaaaay too seriously in 2006,” I’d have both of my hands shooting into the sky.
Whether it was the soundtrack, the time in history, or just the vibes alone… you’ll probably be seeing no shortage of Saltburn references for the rest of Retail Therapy’s 2024.
Some questions! From the listeners!
We always like to massage in some listener questions, and that’s most definitely something we’re going to do more of this year.
This week’s were pretty straightforward: our thoughts on “low-end luxury” products and our (somewhat divided?) thoughts on Dry January. While our discourse weaved through Abercrombie and alcohol vs. cigarettes, I think we both left the discussion in a better place (ie. daydreaming about what the unders of our eyes would look like if we don’t drink for a month and scrolling The Gap for the first time since like 2003).
“Don’t call it a book club!”
Everyone knows you look cooler if you’ve got a Penguin Classic hanging out of your back pocket a la Jacob Elordi in the airport, but the jury’s a little more split when it comes to the reading parties reported by The New York Times. Here’s an excerpt:
The idea for Reading Rhythms emerged when four friends in their 20s — Ben Bradbury, Charlotte Jackson, John Lifrieri and Tom Worcester — discovered a shared sense of alarm over the deterioration of their book consumption. The causes were what you’d expect: annihilated attention spans, too much socializing, the treacherous enchantments of the iPhone.
Bradbury and Worcester, who are roommates, hosted the first event on their rooftop. A playlist was compiled, 10 friends showed up with books, everyone read for a bit and talked about what they’d read, and then … went home. It was, Bradbury later recalled, “quite special.” No, really!
Will the next Retail Therapy event be a book-reading party at Nordstrom? Perhaps.
Articles of Interest
On the latter part of this week’s episode, we dove into various topics including (but not limited to) the Fairy Grunge aesthetic, the husband (and apparently famous model!) who went viral on TikTok for just… going to the grocery store, and cigarette umbrellas (as seen below).
Of course, we closed things out with our wishlists and imminent cops.
For 2024, we’ve hit the reset button on our wishlists and made them a bit more digestible for the year ahead. To access the complete version of our 2022 and 2023 wishlists, look no further than our final Listener Digest of 2022 and our final Listener Digest of 2023.
Will’s Wishlist (2023)
NEW: Seeking recommendations for dining tables, media consoles, and rugs!
Barrett’s Wishlist (2023)
NEW: Margaret Howell MHL Cotton Wool Fireman Trousers ($495 Retail / $371.25 Sale) — Link
Listen to Retail Therapy on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTube (see above), and anywhere else podcasts are found.
Saltburn could be watched with no volume the images are THAT beautiful
I'm here for all things Saltburn in 2024. Emerald wrote a movie for all of us that are reveling in the return of indie sleaze and I'm glad we're having a moment.