‘Superfine’ Brings Radiant Black Style to the Met
It’s probably too much to show up at one of these Costume Institute shows looking…
This Beef Patty Holds Many Secrets
By Yewande Komolafe Yewande Komolafe has been a recipe developer, columnist and video host for The New York Times since 2018. Published April 20, 2026 Updated April 20, 2026 When the Barbadian chef Paul Carmichael was reluctant to share a recipe with me, I could relate. I’m also hesitant to share ideas, to brag about…
Linen, Cashmere and Other Fabrics That Revolutionized Fashion
How to Be Cultured Menu Fashion According to the Japanese fashion designer Satoshi Kondo, the creative director of Issey Miyake: 1. Washi Paper “We introduced an original textile made with washi yarn in our spring 2024 collection that we created by cutting strips of washi and spinning them into thread,” says Kondo, 41. “I was…
Barry Keoghan on His Favorite Performances, Films, Foods and More
How to Be Cultured Menu 1. Greatest onscreen performance? “Marlon Brando in ‘On the Waterfront’ (1954). He’s so calm, and he speaks the way he’d speak in real life, kind of mumbling. Paul Newman, too, in ‘Cool Hand Luke’ (1967). These men were almost father figures for me. I observed them in the absence of…
The Most Essential White Button-Down Shirts
How to Be Cultured Menu Fashion 1. A J. Press men’s tuxedo shirt Nominated by the New York-based designer Nili Lotan, 69. “Tuxedo shirting is rooted in midcentury American men’s wear, and softer and more understated [than the classic white shirt, which dates to at least the early medieval period and has been endlessly tweaked…
The Garments That Altered the History of Clothing
How to Be Cultured Menu Fashion 1. The satin dress in John Singer Sargent’s ‘Madame X’ painting (1884) © The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Image source: Art Resource, N.Y. “It was designed by the sitter, Madame Pierre Gautreau [the Louisiana-born Virginie Amélie Avegno], an American Parisian socialite married to a French banker,” says the British Turkish fashion designer…
How the Suit Was Remade, From Dandies to Armani
How to Be Cultured Menu Fashion 1. The Dandy An 1886 illustration of the Regency-era dandy Beau Brummell. Pictorial Press Ltd./Alamy The suit as we know it came from King Charles II’s 1666 declaration to nobility of the English court that he’d teach them to be fashionable, starting with a vest. (A long coat, a…
Jeffrey Wright on His Favorite Performances, Films, Foods and More
How to Be Cultured Menu 1. Novel that explains the world? “ ‘We’ (1924) by Yevgeny Zamyatin, one of the first to be censored in the Soviet Union. It’s a portrait of the ways technology serves as a tool of autocratic control, a precursor to George Orwell’s ‘Nineteen Eighty-Four’ (1949) and a stunning read.” 2. Relatable…
Greta Lee on Her Favorite Performances, Films, Foods and More
How to Be Cultured Menu 1. Poem everyone should memorize? “Pablo Neruda’s ‘Ode to the Onion’ (1954). I find his adoration of simple objects appealing. It springs to mind when I’m cooking.” 2. Recipe everyone should know? “Italian ceci, or chickpeas. They should be roasted or fried, so they’re crispy, and garnished with nothing but…
7 Key Works of Avant-Garde Theater
How to Be Cultured Menu Theater What defines avant-garde theater is as nebulous as its origin story, but most scholars point to 19th-century France, when a growing restlessness for social reform led to more provocative types of artistic expression. The term, as applied to the arts, came from the French philosopher Claude Henri de Saint-Simon,…
A Glossary of Fashion Terms to Know
How to Be Cultured Menu Fashion Agrafe “The French word for ‘staple.’ In fashion it refers to a small hook-and-eye fastening. A classic couture detail to close something so perfectly that you don’t see any fastenings.” Appliqué, Intarsia and Jacquard A knit swimsuit with butterfly intarsia from Azzedine Alaïa’s fall 1991 show. Guy Marineau/Condé Nast…
