Erin Schwartz

1 week ago | nymag.com | Simone Kitchens |Lauren Ro |Erin Schwartz

Photo: Retailer This roundup of things we liked this week originally appeared in the May 8, 2025 edition of the Secret Strategist newsletter, a weekly email where we share the stuff our staff — plus a rotating cast of writers, design-world people, and various others with very good taste — would otherwise keep to themselves. If you want to get our picks straight to your inbox each week, sign up here. Every summer an awkward-chic sandal rises; we’ve found this year’s.

1 week ago | nymag.com | Erin Schwartz

Photo-Illustration: The Strategist; Photos: Retailers Mother’s Day is coming up (it falls on May 11 this year), and while a lot of great gifts are last-minute — flowers, a fancy food item, or an experiential gift like a trip to a museum or a spa day — it’s always nice to have something ready to go without the rush. I’ve rounded up 57 ideas from the Strategist archives (and my own list of memorable gifts) for all kinds of moms, from gardeners and beauty nerds to movie buffs.

2 weeks ago | nymag.com | Simone Kitchens |Lauren Ro |Erin Schwartz

Photo: Naomi McPherson This roundup of things we liked this week originally appeared in the May 1, 2025 edition of the Secret Strategist newsletter, a weekly email where we share the stuff our staff — plus a rotating cast of writers, design-world people, and various others with very good taste — would otherwise keep to themselves. If you want to get our picks straight to your inbox each week, sign up here.

2 weeks ago | nymag.com | Erin Schwartz

Photo: Author Despite what the home-organization industrial complex might have you think, it’s normal if many things in your home look the way they do through randomness and inertia. You move a plant to dust and it stays in its new spot for months; you leave a book on a shelf and a cluster of small objects accumulate around it. There’s nothing inherently good or bad about these little domestic elephant paths — I find them comforting, a sign that I’m not treating my home like a museum.

3 weeks ago | nymag.com | Erin Schwartz

Photo-Illustration: The Strategist; Photo: Rodrigo Arangua/AFP/Getty Images If you’ve ordered something from another country sometime in the last ten years that was worth less than $800, you’ve benefited from the de minimis exemption. The policy, which comes from a Latin phrase meaning “the least,” exempts low-value shipments from the duties and taxes you’d otherwise pay for importing goods into the United States.