The Gas Station #33

I tried cold plunging, my thoughts on hot literary debut 'Lost Lambs', and how to talk to your kids about aesthetic tweakments

It’s finally the last week of January. I cracked and had some wine - but at least I’m honest about my failings! Still, pretty pleased with a dry three-and-a-half weeks.

Style

• I’ve been planning a trip to the Charvet store when I go to Paris next week because, well, I feel like it might be time. A Charvet shirt is something I’ve wanted forever and I smiled when I read in Vogue that the photographer Angela Hill had compared the experience of buying a Charvet shirt as “craving a particular toy as a child and finally getting it after an agonisingly long wait”. All this is to say that the NYT piece ‘The Cult Of Charvet’ appeared at just the right time for me. Six Charvet aficionados open up about the enduring appeal of the unrivalled shirts.

• Want to wear Birks to your wedding? You can now, care of Danielle Frankel.

Discuss

• I rarely get nostalgic for early noughties pop culture (I reserve that for the mid nineties and the late noughties/indie sleaze era). I didn’t read Britney’s memoir and I don’t get misty-eyed when I pass someone in Juicy Couture. Still, I will definitely be watching Reality Check: Inside America’s Next Top Model, the three-part Netflix series about the complicated legacy of the Tyra Banks-hosted show, when it comes out next month. The internet asked, the streamer delivered.

• Five things to shop this week:

  

  Clockwise from top left: Nour Hammour shearling hat, Toteme jeans, Staud ankle boots, If Only If nightgown, Arket shirt

  1. Nour Hammour shearling hat. I’ve spied a couple of women in these in east London. Very Julie Christie in Doctor Zhivago.

  2. Toteme jeans. Call them straight leg, call them cigarette - these classic jeans are winning out as the top denim style for 2026. These Toteme ones are perfect.

  3. Staud black ankle boots. I just bought these and they are fantastic ankle boot for straight jeans. The pointed rectangular toe makes them look very elegant and the blade heel means they’re comfortable for walking. Also ideal for baggier trousers and denim.

  4. If Only If nightgown. Released for Valentine’s Day, wear it to bed or put some heels on and head out for a ‘Zoe Kravitz in Saint Laurent after the Globes’ look.

  5. Arket shirt. Come spring, you’ll find me in jeans and shirts. Love the curved hem on this brown and white one so you won’t have to tuck it in.

  Culture

• Last weekend I devoured Madeline Cash’s much-anticipated debut novel Lost Lambs. I hadn’t read much about it other than an interview Cash gave to New York magazine in which the 29-year-old author said she was originally peddling it as “The Corrections meets Eyes Wide Shut” (double yes from me). There is definitely Franzen-esque material here - a family on the brink, filled with oddball characters, each with more shocking secrets than the next. The parents Bud and Catherine have recently decided to open their marriage (well, Catherine did), beautiful 17-year-old eldest daughter Abigail is dating a former soldier nicknamed War Crimes Wes, middle child Louise has an online romantic connection with a terrorist, and the precocious pre-pubescent Harper might be an actual genius, albeit one who keeps getting suspended from the Catholic girls’ school the daughters all attend. They live in an unnamed American coastal town filled with punny stores such as Anne Frank’s Dairy and a British pub called Olive or Twist and are involved with the local church, Our Lady of Suffering. But casting a shadow over this dull yet quirky slice of suburbia is Alabaster Harbor™️, a company that oversees all the shipping containers that pass through the port, and is where Bud works.

  

  The book starts out as a straightforward family saga then morphs into a crime caper as conspiracy theories, nefarious tech billionaires and private investigators all come into play. I absolutely adored it; it’s brilliantly clever and so, SO funny. I was howling when the ignored middle child Louise enters an Inner Beauty Pageant (I won’t spoil what she chooses as her ‘talent’ but I’m laughing just thinking about it). I loved spending my weekend with this cast of weirdos; I have huge affection for each and every one of them. It’s released in the UK on 5th February (it came out in the US earlier this month) and, for me, it most definitely lived up to the hype.

• The film I’m most excited about to emerge from Sundance is definitely The Invite which A24 has just bought. Olivia Wilde’s directorial follow-up to Don’t Worry Darling (whoopsie) is a comedy about a couples night gone wrong. Wilde and Seth Rogen are unhappily married and invite their upstairs neighbours, Penélope Cruz and Ed Norton, over for dinner - and maybe more. Co-written by Rashida Jones and with music by Dev Hynes, early reviews have likened it to peak Woody Allen. Can’t wait.

• What I watched this week: I finally got around to seeing Train Dreams, which is up for the Best Picture Oscar and streaming on Netflix. Based on the novella by Denis Johnson, and set at the beginning of the twentieth century, it’s the story of labourer Robert Grainier, and the film follows him through his unexceptional life: falling in love, having a child, working on the railroads. My husband called it “Malick-light” but I thought it was really beautiful and moving. I will add that it completely bummed me out. I’m also up to speed on the new series of The Night Manager which is no way near as good as the original but still a fun watch. Sadly none of the new characters can really match Tom Hollander’s Corky.

  

  Train Dreams (just about made me forgive Felicity Jones for Oh. What. Fun.)

  Life

• This week I was invited to a Contrast Therapy class at Virgin Active in Mayfair, during which you alternate between a sauna and a cold plunge - currently all the rage (it was in Harper Bazaar’s 10 wellness trends that will shape 2026). It’s meant to give you a powerful circulation boost, help muscles recover, ease inflammation and flush out built-up tension. I’d heard people talk about the euphoria they felt afterwards so I was game to try it out. It was… intense. I was struggling with the first sauna which, after ten minutes had passed, felt like someone had covered my head in hot wax and it was beginning to set. I couldn’t wait to get into that icy water. I was in the cold plunge all of 0.35 seconds before I wanted to get out of that too. I managed the full two minutes by focusing on my breathing which was in a similar rhythm as to when I gave birth.

  Emerging from the cold water I felt all light headed and grabbed hold of the handrail, pulling myself together by thinking how embarrassing it would be to faint in a cold plunge. My bright pink legs were icy and hot at the same time, like frozen sausages that had been put on a barbecue. Then it was back into the sauna again which was actually quite nice second time around. I had a warm shower, felt revitalised, then stepped out into a freezing Oxford Street wondering where the euphoria I’d heard so much about was. If cold plunges are your thing then you’re a braver person than me. (It would be remiss not to note that there are risks associated with cold plunging and you should read up before you, well, take the plunge).

• The Norwegian tourist board must be grateful to Joachim Trier for his Oslo-set movies that casts the capital city as a dreamy, arty Euro idyll. I’ve spent time in the north of Norway, in the small fishing town of Svolvær, but I’ve never been to Oslo and would love to go. Sentimental Value’s Renate Reinsve told the FT all about her favourite spots in the city. It’s only two hours on a plane from London!

• The Bafta nominations are out and among the usual suspects (One Battle, Sinners, Hamnet etc) I noticed that something called This Is Endometriosis was up for British Short Film. I’m furious for the women affected by the disease that it remains so misunderstood and underfunded. I looked up the short and discovered you can watch the whole thing on YouTube. Narrated by Georgie Wileman, it’s a beautiful and honest 20 minute film about the painful truth of living with endometriosis. Sharing here.

Beauty

• If you elect to do surgery and aesthetic tweaks, how do you handle telling your kids about it? Especially if you don’t want it to affect their self-esteem. I’ve genuinely often wondered this and I appreciate Sara Tan’s honesty in the piece ‘I Want a New Face, But My Kids Have My Old One’. As she writes: “I believe that feeling good about ourselves makes us better mothers—but what happens when feeling better means changing the very features our children recognise as theirs?”

• Smoking is obviously having a comeback but, according to Allure, even beauty brands want in on its revived glamour. In a bit of a roundabout way, at least. m.ph launched Lip Ciggies, marketed as “hard to quit”, Glossier’s holiday collection included a Zippo lighter, and cigarette-inspired lipstick cases are going viral on TikTok Shop.

• Devastated to hear that skincare and fragrance brand Malin+Goetz has filed for administration in the UK (I was a big fan of its body washes and candles). The company has currently paused online sales but I will be keeping an eye out for any clearances.

Motherhood

• When I was trying to get pregnant I did a few things: took folic acid, did acupuncture, quit my party cig habit, started eating eggs for breakfast (you’re supposed to up your protein but you probably don’t need me to tell you that there are far more effective ways to increase your protein intake then eggs), and was drinking so much water that I was peeing every 20 minutes while awake (OK maybe exaggerating but I’ll never forget a doctor telling me that my uterus should be well-hydrated). ‘The Rise of Trimester Zero’ in The Cut reports on the growing part of the internet that suggests women should be getting themselves ready for pregnancy months in advance to give their child the best chance in life. This includes everything from eating liver to getting rid of nail polish to forgoing iced drinks. There are also numerous books coming out on the subject, including one telling women who want to become mothers soon not to touch receipts and avoid rush hour traffic. But is there any merit to their claims? As with most of these things: no, not really. It seems to be just another way for people to profit off anxious women.

• I’m fascinated with different era’s parenting trends. The last decade or so has seen the rise of gentle parenting but now parents are adopting Fafo (fuck around and find out) parenting, which is when, instead of explaining every little decision and emotion with your child, you let them go ahead and dive off the sofa/not wear a coat outside/go hungry if they reject the meal you’ve made for them. Emine Saner writes in The Guardian: “Advocates of Fafo say it teaches their child independence and the consequences of their actions, even if those consequences are uncomfortable or, at the extreme end, harsh. Critics say it relies too heavily on fear and humiliation, and that while children might comply as a result, it damages trust.”

• I’ll end with two pop culture bits about women in their forties. Claire Danes was totally charming on Good Hang this week talking about getting accidentally pregnant at 44, calling the experience “humbling”. And Robyn, 46, has a new song “Sexistential” which is all about horny single motherhood and going on Raya while doing IVF. Love that women in this decade are talking openly about this sort of stuff.

Hope you’re having a good week,

Gillian