Issue 005 | January 25, 2026

The private room at the back of the house. The velvet banquette. The second bottle, a 1996 Krug Clos du Mesnil, because we're not leaving yet.

You know those conversations. Late enough that the posture softens, honest enough that someone finally says the thing everyone's been thinking. The dinner party's over and only the interesting people are left. The room is warm. Someone pours another glass. Someone says something true.

That's what this is. Smart women, good wine, sharp talk. Still elevated, still us, but looser. A little unfiltered. A little bit mischievous. Every Saturday evening in your inbox.

Tonight's pour: A blanc de blancs, very cold. We're feeling sharp.

The site has changed. New design. Cleaner architecture. And something we've been building quietly: we now publish across four provinces. Money. Time & Ritual. Dress. Design. Each province is a territory of life that affluent women navigate but rarely see covered with rigor. Shallow takes, trend cycles, content designed to be scrolled past. We're not interested. This will never be a blog. We don't skim. We don't simplify for clicks. We go deep, or we stay quiet. Depth over volume. We will always respect you, your time, and your intelligence. More provinces are coming.

Founding Subscriber rates are still available. $199/year, locked permanently, yours for as long as you stay. This tier exists for the women who found us first and believed before there was much to see. It won't exist once we close it. If you've been waiting for a sign, consider this one.

Coming soon: We're expanding into media. More on that when we're ready to say more.

The Taste You Marry

Nobody tells you that the person you choose comes with an aesthetic. Their mother's dining chairs. The art they bought in their twenties that somehow survived every move. Opinions about lighting, about rugs, about whether the television belongs on the wall. You fall in love with someone and inherit an entire visual worldview you never auditioned.

At first it seems manageable. You'll figure it out. Your taste will become the shared taste, because yours is better. You don't say that last part out loud, but you both know.

Then you renovate. Buy a house. Try to agree on a sofa. Suddenly the negotiation that was always underneath the surface becomes the only conversation happening in the tile showroom.

The design fight is never about the design. It's about who this home belongs to. Whose history gets to stay. Whether your partner feels like a resident or a guest in their own life. The women I know who've navigated this well stopped trying to win and started trying to understand. What does that ugly chair actually represent? What need is underneath the preference?

The best rooms aren't the ones where someone's taste dominated. They're the ones where two people figured out how to live together without either of them disappearing.

We wrote about this properly. Read it here.

TASTE

CURRENTLY: The Row's spring collection is out, and it's quieter than quiet. Soft shoulders, elongated silhouettes, colors that don't announce themselves. Not minimalism as trend but minimalism as discipline.

BETWEEN US: Mary-Kate and Ashley have been doing this for fifteen years now. They never explain, never chase, never discount. Every fashion brand claims to be about "timeless pieces for the modern woman." The Row actually means it. The prices are brutal, but nothing they've ever made has dated. That's the trade.

The label that whispers is usually the one worth hearing.

CULTURE

CURRENTLY: The conversation around Robbie Arnett's debut novel Bright Young Women continues. His wife is Elizabeth Olsen. The book is very good. Somehow this annoys people.

BETWEEN US: We've reached the point where proximity to fame is treated as disqualifying, as if talent becomes suspicious when it exists near celebrity. Arnett wrote a genuinely propulsive novel about the Bundy murders that centers the women instead of the monster. Whether his wife is famous should be irrelevant. It isn't, but it should be.

A good book is a good book. Read it or don't. Your grudge is not a review.

LIFE

CURRENTLY: January is almost over. The resolutions have mostly collapsed. The gym is emptying, the dry month is becoming the dry-ish month, and the ambitious morning routines have quietly reverted.

BETWEEN US: This is not failure. This is the distance between intention and life. The women who actually change things don't rely on January momentum. They build systems that survive February, making the default behavior the one they want so discipline becomes unnecessary. The goal isn't trying harder. It's needing less willpower in the first place.

The habit that requires daily motivation is the habit that won't last.

What we're listening to this week: Sade's Lovers Rock, the whole album, no shuffle. It came out in 2000 and hasn't aged a day. Neither has she.

The question we're sitting with: What would you do differently if you knew no one was watching?

Intrusive thought: The 1996 Krug Clos du Mesnil we keep mentioning? It's real. $450 a bottle if you can find it. We're not saying you should. We're saying we understand if you do.

For those of you enduring this winter weather alongside me: stay warm, stay safe, stay inside if you can.

What's on your mind this week? I read every reply.

Forward this to one friend who gets it. You know who she is. The Reading Room

Until next Saturday.

—Adrienne

The fine print: Modern Monclaire accepts no advertising, affiliate revenue, or sponsored content. What appears here has earned its place and passed our standard, because this only works if you trust us.

When we create something worth owning, it will have its own home. Separate, transparent, unmistakable. That's the rule.