Golden Globe Suits and Good Diners

Diamond Concierge Service #008

I loved how chaotic the Golden Globes felt this year. But, I’ve got to say, celebrity stylists have too much power and they need to be stopped. I see some people, like Kieran Culkin, and I get the feeling he actually knows how to dress himself and he knows what he feels comfortable in. Lenny Kravitz showed up looking like…Lenny Kravitz. That always works. I appreciated Jeremy Allen White reminding everybody he’s a Calvin Klein model, and most of the guys who showed up in tuxedos looked fine. But pretty much anything else seemed to offend me in a way that, frankly, I’m uncomfortable with. Barry Keoghan was the biggest offender. I appreciated he had a little Musso & Frank thing going on, but the two different shades of red make it look like he robbed two different people of their outfits on his way to the awards. I felt like he was going to try to sell me ecstasy or something. As I noted on Instagram, I think he looks like K.D. Lang after a long bender, except K.D. Lang looks cooler.

I just don’t get a lot of people trying to be fashionable. I appreciate how Timothée Chalamet’s red carpet look was “Goth Boca Nana,” but I just wish the guy would wear a regular tux once in a while. I feel weird thinking this because it’s for sure more about me and not so much them. They say as you get older you become a little (or a lot…) more conservative, and I think you hear that and your brain always flashes to “politically conservative,” but I’m starting to understand it could also mean you just wish things were a certain way. And I wish people got dressed more and dressed up less. But that’s not how things work now, and I should probably move on.

Orlando Bloom looking like an adult.

I fell behind a little on the Diamond Concierge Service e-mails at the end of the year, but I’m back, baby! Starting in February, these are going to be paid subscribers only. Mostly because there will be things like special offers and all that. Also, the “announcement” is coming soon (i.e. me getting my shit together), but the Diamond Book Club is officially starting in March. The first title is non-fiction and it’s a book from Japan. That’s all I’m saying for now. No, it’s not Haruki Murakami. If you want to get in on these things, I’m now doing a lower price for a yearly subscription. I appreciate everybody who helped get the first six months of The Melt off the ground by paying full price and taking me up on offers, and hopefully you’ll keep paying that. But if you want to spend a little less, here’s a chance.

Reading Material

In case you didn’t see it plastered across social media, the Safdie bros have parted ways. I think that’s probably for the best. They seem to both be doing interesting things on their own.

Read: Benny Safdie interview at Variety by Ethan Shanfeld

Pete Wells makes a great point that old restaurants can be great, but they’re especially wonderful to visit in January. Keens or McSorley’s on a cold evening? Sign me up.

Read: “New Year, Very Old Restaurants” by Pete Wells at the New York Times

Speaking of older places are better, Helen Rosner visited the new version of Old John’s on the Upper West Side, and I like this take: “Happily, relievingly, none of the changes make it feel at all modern. Diners, as a rule, are time machines; whether through the formica sheen of the nineteen-forties, the chromium optimism of the fifties, or the pastel geometries of the eighties, a diner traffics in nostalgia for past decades and past selves. The only era a diner should never reference is now.”

Read: “The Best Diners are Still Just Diners” by Helen Rosner at The New Yorker

Stuff to look at

I love what Bram’s Fruit does. So when the new collection went up on IG, I instantly hit up Bram himself to thank him for giving me a much-needed dose of vitamins C and D with the great looks but also was curious to hear about the inspiration since I always find what he does so interesting. “The ‘Apple of my eye’ collection came together with my dad in mind. My all-time superhero and role model.” The entire collection drops on January 9th.