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Welcome to InsideCart, your sneak peek into what we, the discerning and ultra-picky editors of InsideHook, are adding to our own shopping carts each month. Consider it your monthly insight into all things cutting-edge (or charmingly vintage) from your favorite cohort of taste-making product freaks. This month: the luggage our travel editor swears by, British knitwear inspired by Bond and a biography of famed photographer playboy Peter Beard.
Evan Bleier — Senior Editor
Known for being The City That Never Sleeps, New York City is sleeping on the majestic meaty goodness of steak tips for some reason. That’s not the case in Nashville, where Porter Road peddles packages of marbled, dry-aged beef pieces together from trimmings from the ethical butcher shop’s ribeye, New York strip, sirloin and picanha cuts. Perfect for marinating and grilling for use in a sub or on top of a salad, these melt-in-your-mouth tips can also be enjoyed solo or tossed into a stew.
Lindsay Rogers — Associate Travel Editor
This month, I’m headed out on a week+ trip to Australia — more specifically, the Northern Territory, which, at least in my case, involves two connecting flights and a total of 29 hours in the air. I should be checking a bag, but based on the very real likelihood that it will not make it to my final destination, I’m not. Luckily, I was recently on the receiving end of one of Roam’s large (and expandable) carry-ons, featuring an all new front pocket. Not only is it crazy spacious for a carry-on (the fact that I’m taking it on a nine-day trip to the Australian Outback should tell you everything you need to know) and equipped with a dedicated spot for my laptop, I got to design it from scratch (a thing you can also do).
Kirk Miller — Senior Lifestyle Editor
Obstenisibly for active people, True Classic’s 89% polyester/11% spandex shorts might have been designed for weekend pickleball players, but I’ve found a better purpose — lazy summer day shorts that actually look good if you suddenly feel the need to go out in 95-105 degree weather. These are loose (but not too loose), stretchy, airy and they’ll block 97% of UV rays. And while some editors here push for the shortest of shorts lengths, this True Classic pair falls comfortably and modestly above the knee with a 7.5-inch inseam.
Jordan Bowman — Senior Editor, The Goods
I’ve always been polo shirt adverse. The classic pique top typically leaves me somewhat unimpressed, and while I understand the polo has a slot in the upper echelon of influential menswear garments, I’ve never really sought one out. This all changed a few weeks ago when I happened to be watching Casino Royale — the first James Bond flick to feature Daniel Craig as England’s most dashing super-spy — and became enamored with the taut polo Craig sports for much of the film. Some internet sleuthing led me straight to the Sunspel Riveria Polo (tailored specifically for Daniel Craig’s Bond), a modern, slim-cut polo (especially in the arms) that fits like a glove and looks just right for MI6’s finest. Paired with some double-pleated trousers, it’s a perfect match for the “chilling on my yacht by the French Riveria” vibe I’m going for this summer.
Amanda Gabriele — Senior Editor
I’m a light sleeper, so absolute darkness and silence is necessary. Until I can order a custom king-sized sleeping coffin, Westone earplugs and the MZOO Sleep Eye Mask will have to do. My mother-in-law bought me my first one years ago, and I just ordered my third because I wear them to death. They are soft, cushy and have deep enough divots so your eyelashes don’t brush up against the fabric. I recommend having two on hand at all times so when one needs to be washed and air-dried, you can still sleep in peace.
Elisabeth Chambray — Director of Commerce and Partnerships
Moon Juice’s products, while not cheap, are the easiest way to take your skincare routine to the next level (especially if you’re just using a cleanser and moisturizer). I use it every time I cleanse — before I moisturize, obviously — and am glowier than ever.
Logan Mahan — Commerce Editor
When I die I will be buried in these mules. They are the shoes I have worn nearly every day for probably the past two years and are (without sounding contrived) the perfect day-to-night heel. I wear them to work. I wear them to the bar. I wear them to weddings. I wear them to brunch and when I’m just running errands around the city. They are unbelievably comfortable but still super stylish, and the small block heel gives me a nice little lift without destroying my feet. But because I chose to go the cream-colored knit upper route, they’ve become embarrassingly dirty. And because I’m way too lazy to clean them myself, I just bought a brand-new pair a couple of weeks ago. So, if you’re looking to gift the lady in your life something nice yet useful, I can’t recommend these shoes enough.
Tanner Garrity — Senior Editor
I took this thing on a two-week trip to Japan earlier this summer, and it took home MVP honors as easily the best bag I’ve ever owned. It has features typical of a hiking backpack — lots of compartments, two 32-ounce water bottle side pockets and an abrasion-resistant exterior — except Away made it, so it’s really nice to look at, too. As magical as Tokyo is, it wasn’t the easiest trip to pull off. (The adventure included a 12-hour layover in Calgary and multiple days of 30,000 steps or more.) This backpack was a reliable companion through it all. One of my favorite features? It slots on to the trolly handle for when your back could use a break.
Paolo Sandoval — Commerce Editor
If you’ve spent anywhere near the amount of time on menswear Pinterest that I have (that’s all of you, right? Right?), you’ve surely seen dashing photos of famed wildlife photographer and playboy Peter Beard, most likely strutting barefoot in a beat canvas blazer and what look to be Patagonia Baggies, or maybe corralling giraffe in an OCBD and woven Kikoi. It’s a captivating personal style unlike any other, and, as author Christopher Wallace so deftly articulates in Twentieth-Century Man: The Wild Life of Peter Beard, a fitting parallel to the photographer’s almost-mythical misadventures. Given my Beard fascination, I picked up a copy of the biography as a weekend read, only to finish it after one feverish night: it’s a unique and poignant study —also, at just 300-odd pages, a surprisingly quick read — on the last bastion of an oft-forgot and bygone era rooted by colonial safari and untapped African landscape. Color me impressed.
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