Ali Smith's ‘Gliff' provides a terrifying glimpse into our possible future
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Both timelines contain aspects of our world, though your perception of today — your political views, your version of facts (an utterly demoralizing phrase to type) — will determine how exaggerated you think the novel's characterization is, how far off you think its future lies. Those in power have begun seizing both property, by surrounding it with a line of red paint, and people, by identifying them as 'unverifiables.' Speaking out at a protest, posting something inappropriate online, loving the wrong person, having the wrong skin color — any of these can get someone tagged as UV and sent to a 'Retraining Center.' Both the kids' mother, who takes over her ailing sister's service industry job at the start of the novel, and Leif, the mother's latest boyfriend, disappear off the page after presumably being caught up in this system.
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Before Leif vanishes, both the family's home and camper van are encircled with red paint, so he sets the kids up with two weeks of canned food in an abandoned railworkers cottage. Rose finds a field of horses behind their squat and befriends — and soon adopts — a gray gelding that she names Gliff. It's a seemingly nonsense word, but Briar later learns that it has a slew of portentous meanings, including 'a short moment' and 'a sudden passing sensation either of pain or of pleasure.' Smith's writing always features an almost palpable love of language, which takes a variety of guises here, including other discussions about the multiple meanings of apposite words like trust, rendering, and sublime, as well as whimsical wordplay throughout the text, like the mother's oft-quoted aphorism that a problem that can't be solved must be 'salved.'
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Toward the end of the earlier narrative, the siblings — and their horse — resettle in an abandoned school that shelters other displaced children and adults, including a former librarian and a renowned philosopher who had 'been made stateless.' Colon, whose father owns the horses, initially tries to gather data on the siblings using the 'educator' that he, like most licit citizens, wears on his wrist. Rose and Briar have no devices and were raised to be skeptical of technology in general, especially the ways it has further fractured society. When Colon asks the siblings how they learn, Briar says, 'We choose to be educated by things bigger than something so small it can be worn on a human wrist.' In the later timeline, technology plays an even more prominent and destabilizing role, with an individual's entire existence dictated by their digital footprint and many children bearing chemical burns caused by their work removing batteries from discarded electronics.
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Like all of Smith's recent novels, though to a lesser degree than in the Seasonal Quartet, 'Gliff' is enriched by references to literature, art, and history, including Edgar Allan Poe, British painter George Stubbs, and the caves at Creswell Crags, which were first occupied by humans tens of thousands of years ago. These older, scholastic touchstones are outweighed by the novel's endless nods to more recent events. Some are specific, including allusions to Israel's demolition of Gaza and Vladimir Putin's presumed role in the death of Alexei Navalny; others are more general, such as deteriorating societal norms, extreme weather events, unaccountable business behemoths, rampant electronic surveillance, deadly painkiller addictions, and the ability of money to buy permission and bypass regulation.
Tying together and, to a large degree, enabling these ills are the increasingly powerful people who are threatened by the mere existence of those who are different, those 'they think aren't anything like them.' The novel was initially published in the UK in October 2024, and while its vision of the future looks even more prescient today, particularly in the United States, hopefully 'Gliff' will remain a cautionary tale and not be revealed as a glimpse into a crystal ball.
GLIFF
By Ali Smith
Pantheon, 288 pages, $28
Cory Oldweiler is a freelance writer.
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Vox
18-02-2025
- Vox
A hippie memoir that will send you on a trek through Kathmandu
Next Page is a newsletter written by senior correspondent and book critic Constance Grady. She covers books, publishing, gender, celebrity analysis, and theater. To get new editions in your inbox, subscribe here . Any time I travel to a new place for which there is no Rick Steves guidebook, I feel a little cheated. Steves, with his impeccable recommendations, sensible budgeting options, and gently corny prose style, has served as the benevolent fairy godfather on more than one trip for me. So it's a treat to read his new memoir, On the Hippie Trail , and meet a Steves who is much younger and much more unsure — perhaps in need of a fairy godparent of his own. In 1978, Steves was a 23-year-old piano teacher who already had the travel bug. Together with a school friend, he was determined to make his way across the so-called Hippie Trail: from Istanbul to Kathmandu, an overland trek by bus and train through Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, and Nepal. He kept a detailed journal of his experiences, and it's that which forms the basis of the new memoir — a young man's story, with minimal intrusions from the old one. Along the Hippie Trail, Steves got high for the first time. (In Afghanistan in 1978, he reasoned, it was 'as innocent as wine with dinner is in America.' Today, he's an advocate for legalized cannabis.) He rode an elephant in Jaipur and bathed under a waterfall in Nepal. The dreamy travel descriptions are fun, but what's loveliest in this book is to watch Steves slowly open his mind to a world that was bigger and more complicated than he ever expected. 'What did the people think as we waltzed in and out of their lives?' he wonders. Travel is one of the great opportunities to open your mind to the world, but one of the others is reading, which allows you to brush up against the consciousness of another person, touching your mind to theirs. Here are some books to help you do just that. Here are some of the characteristics of the books of Ali Smith, who's been called Scotland's Nobel laureate-in-waiting: sneaky serialization. (Her acclaimed seasonal quartet was linked by a tricky, easy-to-miss series of daisy chain connections.) Linguistic play. (She likes a prose poem integrated into the text and, if she can swing it, a long discussion of etymology.) A set of anti-fascist politics that is not optimistic so much as it is committed to resistance and to the resilient capabilities of art and beauty. (The seasonal quartet contained some of the earliest serious post-Brexit and post-Covid novels.) Smith's new novel, Gliff , contains all of the above, and yet it still feels new and surprising. It's simply not quite what you would expect Gliff takes place in a near-future dystopia, and it tracks two siblings with the fairy-tale names of Rose and Briar. Their bohemian parents have sheltered them from the worst of their authoritarian state, but the state takes its strange and absurd revenge. Sometime in the night, we learn through Briar's child eyes, someone comes to their house and paints a red line all around it, an opaque threat that nonetheless forces them to flee their home. Then the line comes for their camper van. It comes relentlessly, unstoppably, forcing Briar and Rose away from their parents, off the grid, into hiding, and even, eventually, away from each other. Gliff 's title comes from an old Scottish word with many meanings: It can be a short moment, a violent blow, a sudden escape, or a nonsense sound. Its companion novel is due to come out next year and is being advertised as 'a story hidden in the first novel.' It will be titled Glyph . What a treat, what an absolute delight this warm, funny novel is — which is a particular triumph because it is, in some ways, a Me Too novel. A little bit Slings & Arrows , a little bit Dorothy Parker, Mona Acts Out deals with the fraught relationship between esteemed Shakespearian actor Mona Zahid and her old mentor Milton Katz, who has been forced out of the theatrical company he founded after accusations of sexual harassment. Mona, who as she approaches middle age laments that she will soon have to stop playing Ophelia and start playing Gertrude, credits Milton with 'making' her. Yet she's never felt completely comfortable with the way Milton wielded his absolute power at their theater company, a dynamic tracked here with the nuance befitting a book that takes Shakespeare as its subject. Over the course of one disastrous Thanksgiving, Mona gets very high indeed and, little dog in tow, walks out on hosting her in-laws to ramble across Manhattan, trying to get Milton out of her head and also work out the mystery of why her hair currently looks so good. As Mona walks, she occasionally frets over the role she's currently playing: Maria in Twelfth Night , one of Shakesepeare's most sparkling comedies. Mona's playing it dark and cruel, and no one quite understands why: Isn't it supposed to be funny? With Mona Acts Out , Berlinski has pulled off the opposite feat. She's written a sharp analysis of something dark, and she's made it a pure pleasure to read. What a strange phenomenon the Disney Channel of the 2000s was: all those squeaky clean sitcoms about sweet kids with big dreams; all that ever-lurking paranoia that one of the sweet kids would pull a Britney any minute now. If you're a millennial, odds are that you spent some time with Disney Channel as your babysitter. It fed mainstream pop culture one giant pop star after another — and then, somehow, it seemed to fade away, consigned to irrelevance as abruptly and inexplicably as it became, somehow, central in its heyday. Or maybe not so inexplicably. Ashley Spencer's Disney High is a smart, rigorously reported piece of both cultural and corporate history on how a combination of luck and prescience shot the Disney Channel into the zeitgeist over the course of the 2000s, and how corporate inertia let it fall again. Few would call the work Disney built over that decade great art, but it was a hugely formative influence on the childhood and adolescence of a generation. In Disney High , Spencer shows us how it got there. Have you been following all this uproar over book blurbs? I wrote about it here. Happy Valentine's Day! LitHub has some advice from novelists on the art of the sex scene. At Harper's, climate journalist Justin Nobel tells the story of pulling his book from Simon & Schuster after the publisher was bought by a private equity firm with investments in oil and gas. Novelist Lincoln Michel makes the case that books will outlast AI. At the Paris Review, Jamieson Webster celebrates the word-drunk language play of Good Night Moon writer Margaret Wise Brown. See More:
Boston Globe
29-01-2025
- Boston Globe
Ali Smith's ‘Gliff' provides a terrifying glimpse into our possible future
Related : Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Enter Email Sign Up Both timelines contain aspects of our world, though your perception of today — your political views, your version of facts (an utterly demoralizing phrase to type) — will determine how exaggerated you think the novel's characterization is, how far off you think its future lies. Those in power have begun seizing both property, by surrounding it with a line of red paint, and people, by identifying them as 'unverifiables.' Speaking out at a protest, posting something inappropriate online, loving the wrong person, having the wrong skin color — any of these can get someone tagged as UV and sent to a 'Retraining Center.' Both the kids' mother, who takes over her ailing sister's service industry job at the start of the novel, and Leif, the mother's latest boyfriend, disappear off the page after presumably being caught up in this system. Advertisement Before Leif vanishes, both the family's home and camper van are encircled with red paint, so he sets the kids up with two weeks of canned food in an abandoned railworkers cottage. Rose finds a field of horses behind their squat and befriends — and soon adopts — a gray gelding that she names Gliff. It's a seemingly nonsense word, but Briar later learns that it has a slew of portentous meanings, including 'a short moment' and 'a sudden passing sensation either of pain or of pleasure.' Smith's writing always features an almost palpable love of language, which takes a variety of guises here, including other discussions about the multiple meanings of apposite words like trust, rendering, and sublime, as well as whimsical wordplay throughout the text, like the mother's oft-quoted aphorism that a problem that can't be solved must be 'salved.' Advertisement Toward the end of the earlier narrative, the siblings — and their horse — resettle in an abandoned school that shelters other displaced children and adults, including a former librarian and a renowned philosopher who had 'been made stateless.' Colon, whose father owns the horses, initially tries to gather data on the siblings using the 'educator' that he, like most licit citizens, wears on his wrist. Rose and Briar have no devices and were raised to be skeptical of technology in general, especially the ways it has further fractured society. When Colon asks the siblings how they learn, Briar says, 'We choose to be educated by things bigger than something so small it can be worn on a human wrist.' In the later timeline, technology plays an even more prominent and destabilizing role, with an individual's entire existence dictated by their digital footprint and many children bearing chemical burns caused by their work removing batteries from discarded electronics. Related : Advertisement Like all of Smith's recent novels, though to a lesser degree than in the Seasonal Quartet, 'Gliff' is enriched by references to literature, art, and history, including Edgar Allan Poe, British painter George Stubbs, and the caves at Creswell Crags, which were first occupied by humans tens of thousands of years ago. These older, scholastic touchstones are outweighed by the novel's endless nods to more recent events. Some are specific, including allusions to Israel's demolition of Gaza and Vladimir Putin's presumed role in the death of Alexei Navalny; others are more general, such as deteriorating societal norms, extreme weather events, unaccountable business behemoths, rampant electronic surveillance, deadly painkiller addictions, and the ability of money to buy permission and bypass regulation. Tying together and, to a large degree, enabling these ills are the increasingly powerful people who are threatened by the mere existence of those who are different, those 'they think aren't anything like them.' The novel was initially published in the UK in October 2024, and while its vision of the future looks even more prescient today, particularly in the United States, hopefully 'Gliff' will remain a cautionary tale and not be revealed as a glimpse into a crystal ball. GLIFF By Ali Smith Pantheon, 288 pages, $28 Cory Oldweiler is a freelance writer. Advertisement
Buzz Feed
29-12-2024
- Buzz Feed
If You Want The Comfort Of Loungewear, But Still Want To Feel Fashionable, You Can't Go Wrong With These 27 Pieces
We hope you love our recommendations! Some may have been sent as samples, but all were independently selected by our editors. Just FYI, BuzzFeed and its publishing partners may collect a share of sales and/or other compensation from the links on this page. It's the season for all things comfy — these pieces will help you do it in ~style~. Unless otherwise specified, all sizes in this post are listed in women's. 1. A pair of viral flared leggings, which are *super* identical to the beloved Aerie ones! They're made of buttery soft material and have a crossover waistband to accentuate your figure. Talk about an elegant upgrade to your on-the-go Sunday ensemble. 😍 Check them out on TikTok. Promising review: "Click buy now. Just do it. You are gonna want these in black and maybe every other color too. After wearing them a few times, I am hooked and very confident when I say that YOU WANT THESE! Even if you are on the fence and not overly impressed as soon as you open the package, just put them on. Walk around for a little bit, maybe walk past your significant other (or a full-length mirror), and hear the praise! Then, you will understand!! These are confidence-boosting and booty essentials! I need more!" — Briar Get them from Amazon for $18.98+ (available in sizes XS—XXL, four inseam styles, and 23 colors). 2. A lightweight jumpsuit because it's got an elastic waist, keyhole back, and elegant off-the-shoulder design. It's perfect for your next brunch date, and you can also use it as an effortlessly put-together airport look! Oh, and it has over 35,000 5-star ratings. 👀 Amazon It's machine washable. Prime members: You can try before you buy! Promising review: "I was really hesitant about buying this but I LOVE it!! I got my regular size and it fit amazing! It is super stretchy and loose so it can cover all areas. I like pulling it up a little bit and having the top area loose. It doesn't slide off the shoulder but if you want it to, it could. I love everything about this item! It is cute, comfy, great fitting, and a staple for my summer!" — AC Get it from Amazon for $26.56+ (available in sizes S–3XL and 35 colors/patterns). 3. A slim fit long-sleeve shirt — it's stretchy, versatile, and a super classic basic that you'll appreciate having in your wardrobe. Whether you're a "clean girl" trend lover, or simply want something both comfortable *and* clean-cut that you can throw on, this'll be your go-to top. Promising review: "I'm absolutely delighted with this long-sleeve top! The fit is impeccable, snug enough to flatter the silhouette but not restrictive, making it perfect for layering or wearing on its own. The material is soft and offers just the right amount of stretch. It's become a staple piece in my wardrobe because of its versatility — it pairs beautifully with high-waisted jeans, skirts, and even office wear for a touch of modernity. After several washes, it maintains its shape and vibrant color. It's rare to find such a quality top at this price point. This top has exceeded my expectations and has been a fantastic addition to my collection." — Alaina Yvonne Get it from Amazon for $14.99+ (available in sizes XXS–XXL and in 20 colors). 4. A long-sleeve bodycon jumpsuit, which you can think of as a stylish onesie! You'll be able to wear and style no matter what season it is. It's super cute on its own or paired with a vest or jacket. The best part? It's an outfit all on its own, meaning you don't have to think of pants or a shirt to style it with. 😉 Promising reviews: "I absolutely love this bodysuit! I discovered this brand from my coworker who was wearing this bodysuit in a different color. It looked so good on her I knew I had to give them a try. For reference, I'm a 32DDD with a 23' waist so finding items that fit my body nicely is next to impossible; but THIS?! It was literally perfect — full coverage + support, and not sheer at all! I'm buying this in so many colors, the quality is SO good. I love this more than my Skims!" — Zoe T "I am obsessed with ribbed anything. I love wearing these ribbed jumpsuits especially when I'm feeling bloated. The material is quality and the jumpsuit is versatile for all seasons. Since my first purchase from this shop, I've purchased 4+ ribbed jumpers and I freakin' love them all!" — Crystal *The Champagne Bubbly* Get it from Amazon for $29.99 (available in sizes S–XXL and in 13 colors). 5. A tiered dress because its delightfully unrestricted design will make it your fave sunny weather dress. Just look at how effortlessly cute it is! Plus, it comes in *many* gorgeous colors. Promising reviews:"I was worried at first that the dress would feel/look/be cheap even though the price was higher than some other dresses I was looking at, but I had been looking and looking for a dress like this so I took the plunge. It is a beautiful dress! Super soft and comfy, hangs nice cause the fabric has a nice weight to it, and the color was lovely and subtle. Very versatile. Wear something over, something under, wear it by itself. The only thing I might have to do is add a button hole to the strap so it will sit a little higher on me. I like that it was loose but I didn't like my bra showing in the back." — Laura "Very comfortable and cool (great in hot weather), cute enough to dress up for wine tastings, and it has pockets large enough to hold your phone, keys, snacks (shrimp? You do you). A stranger even complimented me on it, so 10/10 all around." — Mira Get it from Amazon for $39.94+ (available in sizes XXS–5X and in 18 colors). 6. An ultra-comfy Aerie Getaway Quarter Snap Sweatshirt made with lightweight fleece material (the inside is brushed for *maximum* coziness!). It's also collared with functional snap buttons and an adorable waffle texture. It keeps ya warm *and* allows you to show off some of those dainty, beloved necklaces. Plus, it comes in many cute colors! Aerie Promising review:"I bought five of these after I bought one for myself! The others will be Christmas gifts! So comfy! Definitely roomy, so though I usually wear a medium, I bought a small and it is still quite roomy. My daughter and my granddaughter like them very oversized and each bought a medium as well as a small! Can you all tell we love them?!" — mlk77 Get it from Aerie for $64.95 (available in sizes XXS–XXL and in 12 colors). 7. Or a reviewer-beloved Aerie Getaway Waffle Sweatshirt designed with dreamy soft cotton material. 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Promising review: "I absolutely love the fit and feel of these pants! They are so comfortable and if I'm just lounging around the house I still feel put together since they're so stylish!" — Breanna LeMmon Get it from Amazon for $25.15+ (available in sizes XXS–5X and in nine colors). 9. A lightweight, stretchy tank top bodysuit you can wear under your clothing as shapewear or pair with jeans to achieve an outfit that has countless ways to accessorize. 😍 It's seamless, breathable, and will hug your body *just* right. Promising review:"I can confidently say this bodysuit has been a game-changer in my wardrobe. This bodysuit combines comfort, support, and a seamless design to create remarkable shape wear. The versatility of this bodysuit is noteworthy. Whether I'm dressing up for a special occasion or looking for extra support in my everyday attire, this bodysuit seamlessly fits into my wardrobe. It's become a go-to choice for achieving a polished and refined look without sacrificing comfort." — Hannah Get it from Amazon for $35.99+ (available in sizes XXL—5XL and in 11 colors). 10. An iconic Skims square-neck maxi dress because it'll surprise you with how beautifully it hugs your body. With its lightweight, breathable fabric and elegant square-neck design, you'll be feeling *gorgeous* whether you're strutting the city streets or laying back and munching on your favorite snack (while looking like one 😉). Nordstrom Promising review: "I am obsessed with this dress. The dress feels like you barely have anything on, it is soooo soft and cozy!!! I'm a very small person overall, and Skims' xss size is one of the only brands that has a sizing that actually fits me! It is a little long on me, but I'm 4'9 so I totally expected it lol, the fitting overall is perfect. 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A satin pajama set because feeling cute shouldn't stop at your sleepwear — and satin always manages to give an outfit a little extra ~elegance~. Reviewers also love using these to match with their bridesmaids or for a regular girls' night! Add in a glass of wine, and the look is complete. 😍 Promising review:"I got this set in royal blue. It fits true to size. They are beautiful, so comfy, and wash well. They are not even wrinkled out of the dryer. They are a little cooler than I expected. I thought they might make me too hot while sleeping but they don't! These are really perfect PJ's in my opinion." — JBS Get it from Amazon for $35.99 (available in sizes S—XXL and in 32 colors). 13. The Gym People's pullover fleece sweatshirt you'll probably end up living in after you feel how delightfully soft it is. With fleece-lined fabric and kangaroo pockets, this will be your new designated sweater for reading, lounging, errand runs — or just about anything! Promising review: "This sweatshirt looks just like lululemon, I love the oversized look. The quality of material is amazing. It is thick and soft and very comfortable. I also really like the gold zipper, it helps give it a higher quality look. Will definitely be buying more in other colors." — K. Becker Get it from Amazon $30.99+ (available in sizes XS—XL and in 12 colors). 14. A pair of breathable linen pants if you and jeans are simply not on the best of terms. These comfy pants are designed with a drawstring elastic waistband that can be worn both high-rise or mid-rise, meaning they'll pair *perfectly* with all your crop tops and sweaters. Klassy Network Psst — these are final sale! And BTW, the black color runs slightly smaller, so if you're in between sizes we recommend you size up. Klassy Network is an Asian-American woman-owned small business based in Orlando, FL that sells stylish blouses, swimwear, eyewear, and their TikTok viral Brami top (aka a top that provides amazing support and doesn't require a bra underneath!). Promising review:"The perfect linen pants that aren't see-through! I ended up getting the black one, thinking they'd be thin like most linen pants, but she is thick and double-lined, which makes it great for the light cream-colored linen. Absolutely impressed!" — Sara V. Get it from Klassy Network $58 (available in sizes S–3XL and in two colors). 15. A TikTok-beloved Hanes sweatshirt with an oversized fit for that extraaa comfy feel, which has earned it over 132,000 5-star ratings. Plus, you might be surprised at the endless ways there are to style this little beauty! Layer it with a coat or a collared shirt underneath, wear it to the gym, and tuck it into your sports bra for a cropped look, or wear it baggy for a more sporty look! Promising reviews: " I've had this sweatshirt for about three years now and it still looks exactly like it did when I bought it. And I wear this sweatshirt a lot, like two days out of every week, and none of the stitching has caused me problems and it's still almost in perfect condition. I loved this sweatshirt enough to buy it in navy blue and deep red. It's soft and thick, but not too thick. It keeps me warm in the winter but if I wanted to wear it during the summer, I wouldn't sweat my butt off, either. It's truly an amazing sweatshirt, and compared to other brands and sweatshirts I own, this one takes the cake big time. Overall, I definitely recommend this! Get it, get it, get it!!!" — five star "Cheap and comfy. The material is light, making it versatile for different seasons." — Mohsin Rizvi Get it from Amazon for $11.70+ (available in men's sizes S–5XL and in 30 colors). 16. A ridiculously cozy fleece knitted pajama set that I could see myself cozying up in with an English breakfast tea in hand. It's the kind of set you wake up in, spend a lazy Sunday in, and then, oops — it's 6 p.m., and you're in the same clothes. Oh, well. Blame it on the early sunset. 🤷♀️ Amazon, Promising review:"I've been looking for the 'perfect Sunday lounge set' my must-haves were simple: comfy and could be worn all day without looking like I'm in pajamas! Well, I was beyond impressed by this set! It's soft, lightweight yet warm, and available in so many colors. I already ordered another set as a gift! I'm obsessed!" — Nichole Considine Get it from Amazon for $52.99 (available in sizes XS–XXL and in 14 colors). 17. Or an oh-so-soft fleece loungewear set with a cardigan to make it a lil' more ~extra~. Reviewers say it feels a lot like Skims! You can wear this while you're hard at work on your your to fall asleep because of how cozy you are. Promising review:"No joke, these are pretty much exactly the same as my Skims lounge set for half the price. The pants graze the tops of my feet even when I wear them high-waisted at my belly button, so I think they're plenty long. The robe is like wearing a blanket, but still looks put together. Anyway, I'm back here to buy a second color because I loved them so much!" — Jenna Get the three-piece set from Amazon for $54.99 (available in women's sizes S–XL and in 31 colors). 18. A pair of faux leather leggings that add a bit of edge to just about any outfit. They come with *all* the buttery soft goodness and compression you want at about half the price of those more expensive ones you've been eyeing. 👀 Promising review: "I love these pants. They fit snug but very comfortable, and they don't slide down. 10 stars!!!" — Nadiyah Bath Get it from Amazon for $73.99 (available in sizes XS–4XL and four colors). 19. A splurge-worthy Lululemon oversized half-zip sweater made with a breathable, cotton-blend fleece fabric that works beautifully as a post-workout layer. Let's be honest, stepping outside after a sweat sesh without something to protect you from the chilly breeze is not the vibe. And get this — it's got a kangaroo pocket with a hidden phone sleeve *and* the elastic zipper pull doubles as an emergency hair tie. 😉 Lululemon Promising review: "Love this half zip. The one I got is such a fun shade of pink. It fits true to size, with a little bit of a roomier sleeve than I expected. That makes it nice, though, as it leaves space to wear something underneath if you like, and it does not feel constricting. The neck can be worn folded down or standing up. The length is to the waist. It is so cute and well-made! I probably will buy another color, as this is definitely a versatile piece of clothing that can be worn for exercise or casually out for the day." — Beth Get it from Lululemon for $118 (available in sizes XS—XXL and in seven colors). 20. A pair of palazzo pants that'll have you looking so chic and elegant that people would never guess you're wearing your fave pair of fleece leggings underneath (shhh, it'll be our little secret🤫). Promising review:"I'm so impressed by these! The quality is amazing. I love the material. Not sheer at all and super comfortable. I purchased to wear for work, but would be super cute dressed up with heels and a bodysuit for a night out. I'll be ordering in more colors as they are already a staple in my work wardrobe! Highly recommend." — Skylar Get it from Amazon for $25.53+ (available in standard sizes XS–2X, short sizes XS–XXL, and 31 styles). 21. A TikTok-famous Skims sleep set made with the brand's signature, stretchy modal rib to bring relaxed comfort to your nighttime routine. They're so buttery-soft, you'll be wearing it from morning next morning. Nordstrom See how this TikTok user wore their Skims sleep set during their lazy Sunday. Promising review: "FINALLY, finally, finally. At long last I have found the perfect pajamas. The weight is perfect, the ribbing is luxurious, they're incredibly soft and have held up so well in the wash. And they're high rise and long!! I never thought I would say this but, thank you, Kim K." — laurencoffee Get it from Nordstrom for $120 (available in sizes XXS–4X and in five colors). 22. Or a satin pajama set with shorts that'll quite literally have you feeling ~cool~. They're perfect sweaty sleepers, and they're oh-so-cute! Promising review:"I recently purchased these pajamas, and I'm absolutely delighted with my choice. These pajamas not only look elegant but also feel incredibly luxurious against the skin. The satin fabric is smooth and comfortable, making it perfect for a restful night's sleep or lounging in style. The fit is just right, and the attention to detail in the design is commendable. Overall, this set is a wonderful addition to my sleepwear collection, and I highly recommend them for anyone looking to combine comfort and sophistication." — Rissss Get it from Amazon for $14.99 (available in sizes XS–XXL and in four colors). 23. And while we're on the topic of satin, a silky satin robe — it might just make you feel like the rich, single auntie who travels for a living as soon as you throw it on first thing in the morning. Promising review:"Beautiful, elegant, soft, durable, perfect for getting out of the shower and throwing it on. It has a little trouble staying all the way closed, but overall it's a great purchase. No loose threads, no rips or tears." — greigh Get it from Amazon for $9.99+ (available in sizes S–XXL and in 31 colors). 24. Or!! A luxuriously soft kimono-style robe with two side pockets and a sash tie closure. Lounging on the couch has never looked so elegant. 😍 Promising review:"Feels super elegant! I saw this robe on several Instagram influencers and knew I had to get one. It's made of a lightweight material with stretch so there's room for give. The best part is it looks like a wrap dress, so I can wear it on early morning Zoom calls or to grab the mail without feeling like I'm in my bathrobe. I bought two colors and love both!" — Tiffany Get it from Amazon for $33.99 (available in sizes S–XXL and in 40 colors). 25. Some chic knit pull-on pants that are honestly giving ✨old money✨. The best part? You'll feel like you're wearing pajamas — all while looking like a million bucks. Anthropologie Promising review:"Must have. I got this pant in small because l wanted a beautiful fit. It has a slight fair to it that give a a chic look." — Miss bee Get it from Anthropologie for $95 (available in sizes XS—XL and in two colors). 26. A chunky soft knit cardigan because it isn't winter without this classic staple. Throw it on over your leggings and T-shirt for a basic lounge fit, or wear it with your fave pair of jeans and a simple top! (And to all my fellow Swifties, you know what song to cue.) Promising review:"Just as expected. If you want a baggier and oversized look I would recommend going up a size. I got a medium and it is just the right amount of oversize for me. The quality is nice as well, love my new black cardigan! It's a great staple piece." — Alexis A. Get it from Amazon for $42.99 (available in sizes S–3XL and in 29 colors). 27. A Turkish wrap dress that just exudes elegance without even trying. It features a waist tie to accentuate your silhouette and is made of lightweight fabric (because warmer days will be here before ya know it!). BRB, gonna go throw this on and pretend I'm living in an Italian summer. Odd Bird Promising review: "This dress is a dream. The fabric is so quality I crave it. It is light and airy. It gets softer each time I wear it. It is a little delicate and has snagged a few times but I work the snags back in. I get compliments every time I wear it out but mostly I wear it at home. It feels like NOT WORKING. Thank you Odd Bird for giving me my off-duty uniform." — Andrea Get it from Odd Bird for $170 (available in sizes XS–XL and in four colors).
