Staff Picks: All the Stuff Our Editors Fell in Love With This Week

Leather duffels, lumbar pillows, smart headsets. Let's review.

By The Editors
September 7, 2018 9:00 am

Welcome to InsideHook’s Staff Picks, a compendium of all the stuff our editors have been digging on recently.

The Baya Lumbar Pillow by Citizenry
I’m a huge proponent of white linens, provided my girlfriend keeps her meddling and very shed-happy doberman off of them. They lend a great sense of balance to any bedroom, whether it’s cluttered and colorful or stark and minimal. But a nice punch of color can keep them from feeling overly kempt, and this hand-woven wool lumbar pillow from Oaxaca achieves precisely that. — Walker Loetscher, Editor in Chief

Tecovas Large Weekender Duffle
Austin-based Tecovas has already managed to make approachable Western boots for the non-ranch hands among us. And unsurprisingly, their veg-tanned leather struts just as well in weekender form, with a bag that Indiana Jones would have little trouble stuffing full of jungle relics on his way to the museum. Overpackers do apply: you’ll be filling it with two pairs of shoes and up to six outfits. This duffle is hand-made, half the traditional retail price for a bag of this quality and smells as good as the photo looks. Much like our drinks, we like it in bourbon. Tanner Garrity, Associate Editor

Bonnie Raitt Nick of Time 25th Anniversary LP
Pure nostalgia pick, I’ll fess up. I can picture the cassette tape in the console of our Chevy growing up. Incidentally, I can see now that it was probably also the inspiration for my mom’s fabulous perm. The album is actually almost 30 by now, but no matter. And it is so … 1988 (when it was recorded). Crucially 1988. But in some of the best ways. The effervescent keys (sue me), wild streak lyrics and her crazy good voice … and this was before “Something to Talk About”! So yes. Bonnie Raitt’s Nick of Time. I have no regrets. Track picks: “Cry on My Shoulder,” “Have a Heart,” “The Road’s My Middle Name.” — Athena Wisotsky, Senior Editor

Mr P. Ribbed Wool-Blend Sweater
If there’s one item of clothing I definitely, indubitably, 100-and-10-percent do not need more of, it’s sweaters. My wool-devoted dresser drawers are begging me to stop. But I saw one red leaf on my hike last weekend, and next thing ya know I’m perusing Mr Porter for my fall fix and setting sights on this burly camel blend. It’s from their in-house Mr P. label (which we’ve been known to gush about now and then), and holy moly just look at that chevron and fisherman stitching. Is it hot in here or is it just this sweater? — Alex Lauer, Senior Editor

Sennheiser AMBEO Smart Headset
Last week we saw a great little horror short (see below) shot entirely on an iPhone and recorded with this headset, which works fine as simply active noise-canceling buds but also uses microphones in each earpiece to capture 3D sound while you’re recording. Meaning, all the crappy concert videos you post on social media (and by “you” I mean “I”) will at least sound amazing. — Kirk Miller, Nation Editor/Managing Editor

THE BEST THING WE DRANK THIS WEEK

Potato vodka tends to be pleasant and less astringent, and this Richmond-based distillery has certainly perfected the smoothness. Surprisingly sippable on its own, Cirrus also makes for a good Moscow Mule — and a great dirty martini.

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