SPIRITS

Waterloo Gin The three-gin lineup feels less like a product range than a portrait of place. Named for Austin’s original title, the distillery grounds its work in the character of the Texas Hill Country—limestone-filtered water, restraint in extraction, and a clear respect for ingredients. The Prickly Pear & Rose Gin is the most lyrical, balancing hibiscus and soft florals with a gentle desert sweetness that remains crisp rather than cloying. The Barrel-Aged Gin, rested two years in first-use, medium-char American oak, leans into warm spice and vanilla while keeping its botanical frame intact, making it an easy sipper. No. 9 Gin, the anchor, channels a New American sensibility, with lavender, grapefruit, and pecan delivering a tonic-friendly expression that tastes grounded and unmistakably local. Sustainable sourcing and low-waste practices quietly reinforce a philosophy that values craft as much as landscape. https://www.waterloogin.com/

VINYL

CHET BAKER She Was Too Good To Me (Music on Vinyl) After nearly two decades away from the spotlight, Chet Baker returned with She Was Too Good To Me, a comeback that feels less like a reinvention than a quiet reclaiming of identity. Released in 1974, the album nods lovingly to early-’50s bop while absorbing the mood of its moment. Bob James’s electric piano nudges the sound toward ’70s sophistication, while Ron Carter and Jack DeJohnette supply a supple, modern pulse. Paul Desmond’s alto and Hubert Laws’s flute add cool, floating textures, all shaped by Don Sebesky’s elegant arrangements. Still, the heart of the record lies in Baker’s balladry—fragile, intimate, and unmistakably his own—especially on the aching title track and “My Future Just Passed.” The gatefold artwork, revealing itself as a subtle profile, mirrors the album’s understated intelligence. This limited transparent-vinyl edition, capped at 2,000 numbered copies and accompanied by liner notes from Doug Ramsey, is proof that Baker’s voice, bruised but undiminished, could still stop time. https://www.musiconvinyl.com/

ELLA FITZGERALD LIVE IN HELSINKI 1963-1965 Sapphire Edition (The Lost Recordings) By the early 1960s, Ella Fitzgerald had quietly shifted her center of gravity to Europe, finding in Scandinavia a freedom and warmth that eluded her back home. Guided in part by Norman Granz, and buoyed by a renewed sense of personal happiness, Fitzgerald sounded unusually relaxed and luminous during her Helsinki appearances in 1963 and 1965. These newly unearthed concert tapes—released by The Lost Recordings after painstaking archival work—capture her at a peak of ease and command. Her phrasing is playful, her timing elastic, her voice radiantly present. Pressed on 180-gram clear vinyl across three LPs and limited to just 500 copies, the mastering places Fitzgerald startlingly close—less a historical document than a living-room performance. It’s a reminder that when Ella was happy, she didn’t just sing, she glowed. https://thelostrecordings.store/en

BOOKS

Le Bristol Paris: An Ode to the French Art de Vivre by Laure Verchère (Flammarion) From its discreet elegance and serene courtyard to its Michelin-starred dining and impeccably tailored interiors, this century-old palace exudes the essence of Parisian refinement. Once a haven for flâneurs of the Roaring Twenties and now a sanctuary for global tastemakers, it balances old-world grandeur with an unassuming warmth that sets it apart from flashier contemporaries. The pages—silver-edged and richly illustrated—invite readers not just to admire the architecture and décor, but to savor a cultivated lifestyle steeped in art, service, and a quiet, enduring splendor. https://www.rizzoliusa.com/

Azzedine Alaïa’s Dior Collection by Laurence Benaim Et al. (Rizzoli) Alaïa’s lifelong devotion to fashion history finds its most revealing expression in this intimate study of his Dior holdings. Drawing from a vast personal archive assembled over decades, the book examines what captivated Alaïa most: the architectural rigor of construction, the sensual intelligence of fabric and color, and the evocative poetry embedded in Dior’s names. Rich photography, archival imagery, and design documents illuminate a dialogue across generations, positioning Alaïa not only as a couturier, but as one of Dior’s most perceptive readers and inheritors of form, discipline, and imagination. https://www.rizzoliusa.com/

Dior Lady Art: The Lady Dior Reinvented by 99 Artists by Hervé Mikaeloff Et al. (Rizzoli) This lavish volume treats the Lady Dior not merely as an accessory but as a platform for artistic reinvention. Inviting leading contemporary artists to reinterpret the iconic handbag, the book documents a series of limited editions that blur the line between couture object and sculptural artwork. From provocations both playful and profound, each contribution reflects a dialogue between Dior’s storied craftsmanship and individual artistic vision. Richly illustrated and unapologetically grand, the collection showcases how a symbol of elegance (introduced in 1995 and forever linked to Lady Diana) continues to evolve through bold, cross-disciplinary collaboration. https://www.rizzoliusa.com/

Niedermair, Dior drawing / photography by Brigitte Niedermair (Rizzoli) This imposing second volume situates Niedermair’s work for Dior within the discipline of image-making itself. Alongside finished photographs, Niedermair presents the drawings, collages, and sketches that structure her compositions, exposing a method rooted as much in art history as in fashion. References range from Renaissance painting to contemporary visual culture, while couture, ready-to-wear, accessories, and jewelry are reinterpreted through her exacting lens. The result reads less like a fashion book than a study of process—measured, rigorous, and deeply attuned to form. https://www.rizzoliusa.com/

Dior by Yuriko Takagi by Yuriko Takagi Et al. (Rizzoli) A hauntingly beautiful journey through Dior’s haute couture, this volume captures the house’s spirit as reimagined by Yuriko Takagi’s poetic lens. With dreamlike layers of shadow, nature, and architectural motifs, Takagi’s images evoke a surreal, ephemeral world—where fashion dissolves into light, memory, and atmosphere. Her photographs don’t simply document couture; they transform it into visual poetry, elevating the garments into myth. This is Dior seen not through spectacle but soul—elegant, elusive, and utterly enchanting. A rare fusion of vision and reverence. https://www.rizzoliusa.com/

Mahabharata: Designs of Dharma by Sanjay Patel (Mandala Publishing) Sanjay Patel reimagines the Mahabharata with a storyteller’s discipline and an animator’s instinct for movement and emotion. Distilling one of the world’s longest epics into a single, approachable volume, he pairs narrative clarity with more than 400 pages of illustrations rendered in his instantly recognizable style. The artwork carries wit, drama, and symbolism in equal measure, allowing readers to enter the story visually as much as textually. Designed to welcome newcomers without simplifying the epic’s moral depth, this is both an accessible retelling and a striking, immersive art book. https://insighteditions.com/

Maki Opus by Maki and Associates (Thames & Hudson) This expansive retrospective offers the clearest window yet into Fumihiko Maki’s disciplined, quietly radical approach to modernism. Compiled with his studio’s close involvement, the volume surveys fifty projects from 1960 onward, pairing lucid essays with an extraordinary archive of drawings, plans, and previously unseen photographs. The selection reflects Maki’s own sense of legacy: buildings that trace shifts in material culture, construction technology, and his dialogue with cities beyond Japan. With more than 650 illustrations, it’s both a visual trove and a thoughtful reassessment of an architect whose “simplicity” has inspired generations. https://www.thamesandhudsonusa.com/

Exposure – Contemporary Photographers by Amber Creswell Bell (Thames & Hudson) A survey of photographic possibility, this vivid collection spotlights forty contemporary artists whose work spans the lush, the raw, and the surreal. Whether capturing delicate stillness or orchestrating elaborate tableaux, each photographer opens a portal into worlds both intimate and wild. With subjects ranging from identity to the environment, their images transcend the frame to stir, unsettle, or console. Creswell Bell’s curation privileges not just aesthetic range but emotional resonance—offering a glimpse into how we shape and are shaped by the images we expose to the light. https://www.thamesandhudsonusa.com/

The Monocle Book of Designers on Sofas by Monocle (Thames & Hudson) This slyly charming collection treats the sofa as both stage and confessional. Fifty designers are photographed at home or in their studios—often alongside pets, partners, or the quiet clutter of daily life—then interviewed with disarming candor about work, taste, ambition, and doubt. The furniture becomes a starting point rather than the point itself, opening onto broader reflections about how designers live and think. A foldout surveying a century of iconic sofas adds historical context, while the rich color photography keeps the mood relaxed, curious, and quietly revealing. 200 color illustrations. https://www.thamesandhudsonusa.com/

Worldly Afterlives: Tracing Family Trails Between India and Empire by Julia Stephens (Princeton) Stephens reconstructs the afterlife of empire through the paper trails and personal remnants left behind by Indian migrants who sustained British rule across the globe. Drawing on archives scattered from the Indian Ocean to the Americas—alongside family collections, interviews, and digital records—she follows how lives were catalogued, displaced, and remembered. The book foregrounds women, mixed-heritage families, and subaltern workers whose stories unsettle nationalist and patriarchal histories of migration. At once social history and methodological intervention, it offers a quietly powerful meditation on how imperial governance continues to shape memory and belonging. https://press.princeton.edu/

Worlds of Islam: A Global History by James McDougall (Basic Books) James McDougall offers a wide-ranging history that treats Islam not as a static tradition but as a faith shaped by movement, adaptation, and debate. From its early emergence in Arabia to its global presence in the digital age, the book traces how Muslims navigated empire, colonialism, nationalism, and modern politics across continents. McDougall balances grand historical arcs with sharp attention to local variation, showing monarchs, reformers, revolutionaries, and activists responding differently to shared pressures. The result is a clear-eyed, deeply contextual account of how a global Muslim world was made, and continually remade. https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/imprint/basic-books/

Michelangelo and Titian: A Tale of Rivalry and Genius by William E. Wallace (Princeton) Wallace reframes the relationship between Michelangelo and Titian as a sustained, quietly combustible exchange rather than a one-sided contest. Beginning with their first encounter in Venice and culminating decades later in Rome, the book traces how each artist measured himself against the other’s achievements in color, form, and ambition. Moving through papal courts and elite patronage networks, Wallace brings Renaissance rivalries, gossip, and alliances vividly to life. His account shows how admiration and competition coexisted, revealing a reciprocal creative tension that pushed both masters toward enduring greatness. https://press.princeton.edu/