February 19, 2025

Photo-Illustration: The Strategist; Photos Getty Images

It’s been seven years since we first wrote about status hand soap. At the time, our now lead editor Lauren Levy identified it as Aesop. But what’s Aesop’s successor? Bella Druckman set out to track it down. Her search began with a mention of a particular soap on Bowen Yang’s podcast in 2024, and continued through 33 interviews with stylish people. As Druckman reported the story out, a clear winner emerged — New York deputy editor Alexis Swerdloff had heard about it in a group chat with an interior-designer friend, Strategist writer Erin Schwartz had spotted it in the wild, and Druckman’s editor, Hilary Reid, had glimpsed it through Bergdorf Goodman’s holiday windows. The status soap smells like tomatoes and costs $85.

Also on the site: Jordan McMahon wrote about the case that turns his Apple Watch into an iPod, Ambar Pardilla gathered all the best new stuff this week including a White Lotus collection at CB2, and Emma Wartzman gave us a peek inside her Strategist brain, which, lately, hasn’t stopped thinking about this small, striped tray, these $12 Target towels, and what type of popcorn to serve at her upcoming Oscars party. 

SALE

TESTING NOTES

We asked writer Erin Schwartz for a dispatch from the world of curtain testing: 

On West Elm’s Linen Curtains: “I am very skeptical of West Elm’s quality for its furniture and, honestly, a lot of its textiles, but I'm testing its linen curtains and they're great.” This shouldn’t be too surprising as Lauren Ro also ranks its linen bedding highly.

A New Use for Our Best in Class Curtains: “I had a leftover IKEA Lenda cotton canvas curtain and wanted to make a large painting. I realized I could just stretch it over a canvas — and it did really well!”

The canvas in situ. Credit: Erin Schwartz