Gift Guide Part 2

This is part two of our holiday gift guide, featuring recommendations from Dirt contributors and the dirtyverse founder community. To read part one, with recommendations from our team, click here. 

First some housekeeping: what’s a gift guide that doesn’t recommend another gift guide? You simply must check out the Holiday Guide from our friends at Snaxshot. We still have two Ava Williams "The Nines" prints. Our friends at Cake Zine are accepting preorders for their next issue, Tough Cookie. 

MONDO MONDO is having a pretty good sale right now. I would like to see one of my mutual friends in this sweater from Fiorucci. If you’re in NYC, you should have holiday cocktails at the Swan Room. I need you to know you can buy your balletcore DIRECT from Capezio. 

How is this for taste? My friend Robin Kaiser-Schatzlein made a zine of highway burnouts in Maine and the only way to get it is to email him: [email protected] –– Daisy Alioto

Alexandra Coburn

Last Christmas my mother gave me one of the most thoughtful gifts of my life: ballet classes. I had stopped ballet as a young teenager after dancing since I was five, but I had always harbored a private girlhood fantasy of returning to the practice. My particular studio is Ballet Academy East, on the Upper East Side. Every Tuesday I arrive at 6 p.m., my leotard underneath my work clothes. I spend an hour and a half with other adult women who have their own history with dance, and then we disperse into the night, returning back to our lives. I enjoy this compartmentalization, this feeling that I have something that is mine, that I share a secret with all of these strangers. My Russian ballet teacher has also given me the perfect mantra, something she shouts as I perform pique turns across the floor: Don't think, just do!

Nicolaia Rips

If somebody purchased either of these for me I'd be suspicious they're reading my diary.  

Grace Byron

Mrs. S by K Patrick: A sultry, sullen antidote to your winter longing. Perhaps my favorite read of the year, this book follows a young butch as she becomes entangled with the headmistress of the school she works at. Featuring some of the best writing on dildos, binding, and fucking in the church. 

Ana Kinsella

This year I left London after 12 years there. There's plenty I miss about living there, but nothing so much as drinking a negroni standing up at the bar in St. John, Smithfield. This year I'll attempt to recreate the sensation at home with a bottle of Fergroni, St. John's bottled house blend negroni. And I'll need something to drink it from – I love LSA's superfine low tumblers, which will work for basically anything cold served in my house

Avery Trufelman

These socks are about the most ethical thing you could ever fathom. This colorful cotton was bred by plant geneticist Sally Fox and they – miraculously – use absolutely zero dye. They're just grown naturally colorful. Cotton used to be many different colors before we bred them all white, and Sally is just getting back to nature's naturally colorful self :)

Jameson Rich

Pearl-Snap Shirt: Since locating a five-dollar Zara Men’s denim button-down in the men’s pile at my local thrift store, I have fallen for this rare class of shirt found mostly in the Southwest of our past. The titular buttons are here replaced with opaline rounds that snap together instead of holing. I recently collected three more at an East Texas vintage shop that strictly disallowed masks. One is a union-made light-wash denim Carharrt whose collar is marker-inscribed, in a Seinfeldian twist, to a “Plemmons”. The snaps originate from an era of slower fashion when working life required both efficiency and durability, which were not yet seen as opposites. (Exiting the destructive fast fashion life cycle might involve stealing a skosh of blue-collar valor.) I recommend buying them for your partner of any gender. In intimate moments, the snaps’ quick cleaving turns efficiency erotic –– and makes one feel like a pop star. 

Molly O’Brien

A Crosley Forte radio. I bought one for myself this year, and it is perfect. In New York I would play WQXR (classical) while doing Sunday chores; now in Los Angeles, I'm fond of K-EARTH ('70s, '80s and '90s) for times when I don't want to overanalyze what I'm listening to. The Crosley Forte has a Bluetooth receiver in addition to the AM/FM tuner. And you can pop batteries in it and take it to go. Give the gift of an uncomplicated music listening experience — as a bonus, your giftee will always know what sales the local car dealerships are running. 

Erin Somers

If you want to charm someone, buy her Werner's Nomenclature of Colors. Originally published in 1814, it's the taxonomy Darwin used to classify animals aboard the HMS Beagle. It's slim, containing 13 palettes and 110 swatches, and has a ribbon bookmark. Never again will she struggle to distinguish between Berlin Blue and Verditter Blue or King's Yellow and Saffron Yellow. Inexpensive yet special.

Drew Millard

Look I'm gonna be honest here, this is a fairly complicated, expensive gift I'm recommending here, so you'd better really love the person you're getting it for, or, barring that, want to give it to me despite not knowing me. If you want to give the golfer in your life something less expensive this Christmas, just get them some random shit from Metalwood Studio and/or my hipster golf book.

But if you dare, here's what you do. First, you go to 2ndswing.com, which is a website that sells used golf stuff. Then, you type "Scotty Cameron'' in the search bar, because Scotty Cameron is the brand that makes putters that are aesthetically appealing even if you don't give a shit about golf. Sort your results from oldest to newest, and then buy a putter that has a cool-looking silhouette that also costs less than $400. It's fine if it's all beat-up and crappy looking, because this is only step one of this gift. 

Step two of this gift is that once the putter arrives, you go to the "Custom Shop" section of the official Scotty Cameron website. Type in the model of the putter you just bought, pull up the customization form, and click literally all the boxes, especially the one that says "restoration." Have 'em paint it crazy colors. See if you can get them to stamp something super badass like "420" or "MUSIC BLOGGER" onto it. Whatever. This will cost way more than the actual putter, but that's also what will make this the perfect gift. 

Colleen Kelsey 

I’m drawn to grand gestures that get a laugh when opened: a 16 oz pail of the best mustard, however many tins of anchovies or bars of their favorite chocolate for the year (so, 23), a case of luxury water (preferably Badoit or Vichy Catalan), an iykyk flat whisk for the Nigella Lawson-obsessed.

For a stocking stuffer: custom Bic lighters (unhinged is better here) featuring your favorite photo of them, a photo of their pet, or something else they love. Pair with the Hôtel Costes house candle or, for a smoker, a carton of their preferred brand. This should be beautifully wrapped. Ordering British editions from Foyles in London feels elegant and thoughtful (they get the better Deborah Levy covers). 

I collect old matchbook covers from New York places like The Stork Club and La Côte Basque, but this eBay store has tons from all over for the price of $3.99 plus minimal shipping, and you can narrow down geographically via search. I like to source ones from places you spent time with your giftee: one year Forlini’s was a big hit. Have them framed with a mat in a complimentary color.

For the woman in your life with rarified taste: an Elsa Peretti candle snuffer, a 1988 Alaïa leather bolero, a chignon pin for every day of the week, Serge Lutens lipstick (they really have the best reds), a wear-forever Sophie Buhai glass necklace, a copy of Duras' The Malady of Death, Santa Maria Novella Sandalo soap (also a great host gift for holiday parties), a massage at the Shibui Spa. A really grand gesture is furniture: go big with a Coromandel screen or a rare Pierre Chareau sofa. I would love to see either in my apartment under a Lexus-commercial red bow.

 But sometimes the best (and most economical) gift comes from spontaneity: one day I stopped by the outdoor stalls at The Strand and found a first edition of Prozac Nation for a Wurtzel-obsessed friend (cost: $5; their reaction: priceless).

Zoe McDonald

Smalls Spells is the manifestation of Rachel Howe, an LA-based artist, healer, and astrologer. Her illustrations are at once simple, profound, and seemingly imbued with spiritual knowing. I’ve used the Small Spells Astrology Calendar for several years. It’s filled with colorful, clean-lined drawings that may pierce a certain feeling or moment so well that you’d consider getting them tattooed on your body. (Howe does that too.) The astrology bit is not too intrusive, with a focus on full and new moons, retrogrades, and planetary movements — with room to write in birthdays or appointments. I also fully believe it comes with a bit of magic: Last year, thinking I had missed the window of availability, I almost went without a Small Spells calendar. But around Christmas I received a package in the mail. It was the 2023 iteration of the calendar, ordered for me by a friend who knew I loved Small Spells but had no way of knowing I needed another calendar. What sort of magic must have occurred for her to know I needed that calendar-sized void filled? As I called that same friend for her birthday in August, I noticed an illustration of a woman who looked very similar to her, smelling a rose, amid the group of drawings that decorated the August page. So buy a calendar for friend; they might just find you in the art. Howe’s tarot deck and books are also great gifts. I frequently return to her healing & self-help guide when I feel like I need a grounding meditation in what it means to be my best self. 

Severin Matusek

Power is a funny thing. Who wants it, who’s got it and what do people do with it? We created Megalomaniacs to find out. Featuring 58 of the world’s favorite high achievers, you can finally play Sam Altman against Sam Bankman-Fried, Kim against Kanye and Kim Jong-un vs Elon to see who’s more powerful, visionary or delusional.

We analysed over 300 million data points to compare how the good people of the internet perceive these personalities. In what is probably the most affordable way to play with billionaires, the goal of Megalomaniacs is to initiate conversations around wealth, power, and modesty – besides collecting as many cards as possible and crushing your opponents, of course.

Emily Leibert 

When it comes to gift-giving, I typically gravitate towards small, delicate items that feel like little treasures. Perhaps your offerings might be upstaged by the bottomless budgets of your in-laws—the sort that get your partner the pastel blue SMEG espresso machine you’ve always wanted—but items like these handmade terracotta, ceramic, and Beatrice stoneware espresso cups are too precious to be overshadowed. I’ve also found a number of showstopper vintage homegoods, from this green Italian malachite alabaster catchall to these 1960’s tapered cocktail glasses, from the East Village-based Rosemary Home, though I can’t promise you won’t be tempted to snag a diamanté lipstick-style lighter for yourself. And, while you wait for the Eden’s Harvest frost rosette pearl choker to restock, grab these moonstone and quartz bow earrings for the budding coquette in your life. 

The SKIMS nipple bra for the Kardashian Kolloquium fan (whether you categorize this as a gag gift or an earnest one is entirely up to you), an Angelyne poster for your glam-trash partner in crime, and a copy of Archive by Sofia Coppola for the femme in your life who began calling herself a “cinephile” out of the blue. For the reluctant sports fan, the We Are The Wild Collective x McLaren Racing moto jacket, and for the trashiest girl you know (non-derogatory), the Instinct Brand Chipkini. 

For your sibling with a superior olfactory sense, Kerosene’s Blackmail, with decadent notes of plum, vanilla, sandalwood, oud, and musk that linger hours after its dry down period. For the non-committal lover you met on Hinge, Imaginary Authors’ Cozy Reads sample set, with eight scents evocative of firewood, autumnal yearning, and snow flurries. Naked: On Sex, Work, and Other Burlesques by Fancy Feast for the sexually curious and the abundantly literate, Rouge by Mona Awad for the fledgling beauty cynic, and the 992-page My Name Is Barbra by Barbra Streisand for the theater kid-turned-writer-depressive sort. 

The cheap-ish: A personalized Real Housewives of Beverly Hills cameo for the reality television evangelist. For the amateur archivist, a $19 “Good News About Sex” Milton Glaser print. A custom air-brush baby tee from EchoLife Airbrush for the Venice boardwalk romanticizer. Canisters of Mini Flamin’ Hot Cheetos for everyone’s stockings.  

The not-so-cheap: The Isabella Boylston silk angel sleeve robe from Fleur du Mal, a Mia Vesper glass layering choker, a hand-embroidered glass beaded micro purse from Rachel Ellenbogen, and Labucq’s Norman Maryjanes.  

Alexandra Marvar

Kyrgies Handmade wool felt slippers with leather soles ($109, currently on sale for $99) Last summer in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, I met some of the women who founded and run the felting company that produces these classic, comfortable, wear-every-day slippers, which are individually hand-crafted of wool sourced straight from Kyrgyz shepherds. If you know someone who works from home and loves a wholesome supply chain story, here you go. Consider the classic natural gray low-back slip-on with leather soles (so the wearer can run outside to check the mail without changing their footwear or soaking their socks). They’re homely on their own but somehow look dignified on everyone. I gifted these to at least six different people last year — clients and family — but they hold up very well, so this year I have no one left to buy them for. 

Sinnsally Official Store, Amazon Prime Silicone garlic roller ($4.99) Few things are more satisfying than the perfect single-purpose kitchen tool. IMO this is it. When you place a lone clove of garlic in this tube and roll it under your palm on a countertop for just a few seconds, out emerges, like pure magic, a bare, clean clove plus all the layers junky skin you just saved yourself several minutes of ire trying to cut and peel off of it. Food prep meets party trick as a stocking stuffer.

APOPO Adopt a landmine-sniffing rat ($9/month) The African giant pouched rat, with its exceptionally acute sense of smell, is smart enough to be trained to sniff out threats, including tuberculosis and landmines. Award-winning charity APOPO is doing just that, speeding up landmine and disease detection in Africa, Azerbaijan and Cambodia, and saving lives with these cute little bbs. “Adopt” one at $108 a year. Or buy two rats a candlelit dinner of corn and bananas for $32. Could be great for an entitled little kid you’re obligated to shop for, an ex you’re still friends with, or a quirky, smart friend who sold their start-up or married up and doesn’t really need anything.

Saje Natural Wellness Peppermint Halo oil roll-on ($32) This extremely minty, soothing, cooling, 100-percent natural peppermint oil blend roller — samples of which were dispensed at this year’s TED conference — would make a creative, thoughtful, gift for the person on your list who is regularly stricken by throbbing headaches (icy sensation when applied to temples, neck and behind ears quickly makes you forget you’re in pain) or who is planning to spend any time sweating in the blazing hot sun (again, icy feels).  

Saint Javelin “Kremlin on Fire” Gift Wrap ($34) If there’s no one on your list who’d be quite the right fit for this goodwill-fueled, design co-op’s Ukrainian military attire-inspired Defender Collection polar quarter-zip fleece (“cut and sewn 125 miles from the front line” of Russia’s war in Ukraine), or their limited edition Christmas ornaments made from war parts, you can still wrap your gifts in this provocative, festive paper.