TIS THE SEASON; A GIFT GUIDE FOR YOUR BEST FRIEND
This year has definitely been a difficult year. The hideous political landscape in the UK and abroad, the terrifying and rapid effects of global warming, that “cash me outside” girl’s record deal. We could all use a little kindness. No-one more so than your best friend. Spare a thought for the girl who posts unflattering selfies of herself on her own Snapchat because if you squint and tilt your head and stare at the screen until it blurs, you look just like Jourdan Dunn.
Never, in this time of girl gangs, open discussions about misogyny and the patriarchy has female friendship been so important and cherished. So, treat the baddest bitch you know this Christmas to thank her for having your back and letting you have hers too.
If you’re short on inspiration, here are some gift ideas from female owned businesses and artists. And don’t sleep on LAPP. Get her, (or treat yourself) to the “Dump Trump” t-shirt and be the change you want to see in the world.
LOW KEY BROKE $ – £5-20
I love you, but I’m eating reduced Tesco sandwiches for dinner four nights a week.
Yeah, yeah, no-one watches it, but we somehow know all about their lives. Plus, this is how most of us feel in the morning. Let her know she’s not alone.
2. LAPP Pop Socket (White on Pink)– £6.00
This is one of those ridiculously useful inventions you didn’t even know you needed until you have one. Use it to take selfies, wrap headphones and its a wrist saver if you plan on talking at her for two hours about how you’re definitely quitting your job tomorrow and listing in great detail all the reasons why yet again.
3. Photo Collage- Around- £7.00
You will need:
A clip frame (these ones from Wilko are £3.50 but you can get them in Poundland)
A bunch of pictures.
Instructions:
- Print them all as 5×5 prints (on Photobox, using one of their fifty million daily discount codes or your printer)
- Stick them on the other side of the frame insert.
Voila! Insta-art. You can even space them out and write captions underneath each one, for maximum wow factor.
4. Mollum Vellum small cash purse-£10.80
So she remembers you love her every time she gets out her Oyster card and that she should love herself even when she’s about to go into overdraft buying seven pairs of Primark shoes.
5. Ouai x Off White Pill Box– £12.00
For your Hypebeast bestie you’ve spent many Thursdays comforting because work got in the way of being the first one on the Supreme site at 11am. Combine her love of bag storage and street wear with this Jen Atkin collab. Also, got a man in your life? Is he still complaining about those Off White Nikes? First of all, I’m so sorry, secondly, cheer him up this pill case. It’s £12, you can pretend you got it on Grailed, everyone is happy.
5. Girls on Tops ‘Ava Duvernay’ tee– £15.00
“Girls on Tops” have been making t-shirts celebrating influential women in film such as Pam Grier and Annette Bening (Greta Gerwig recently met hers on ‘Lady Bird’ star Tracy Letts). They also fund screenings of movies made by female directors. Get her this “Ava Duvernay” shirt, so one icon can flex on another, ready for next year’s Disney adaptation of “A Wrinkle in Time”.
6. Glossier Moisturizing Moon Mask- £18
We all aspire to be Glossier girls. Emily Weiss has tapped into the natural beauty, “no make-up” make-up, “oh my God I don’t do ANYTHING special I just get up and GO” part of our brains that thinks we can splash on some cold water, smear on a little vaseline and fend off street photographers. This mask is insanely moisturising and will give your skin a boost even in the dead of (terrifyingly cold) winter. The Mega Greens Galaxy mask is a must in summer when your skin needs a deep clean from all the sunscreen, sweat and eau de city fumes. She deserves to glow all year round.
7. A Good book- Price varies
If she loves to read/beats herself up for not reading more. The past five years have been the return of the female anti-hero (Ladies is pimps too, go on brush your shoulders off) in both fiction and non-fiction. Think Amy Elliott Dunne from ‘Gone Girl’. These are the best books by female authors that actually managed to distract me from how viscerally egregious tube travel actually is.
A Little Life – Hanya Yanagihara
How To Murder Your Life; A Memoir- Cat Marnell
Here Comes The Sun-Nicole Dennis Benn
Rabbit; The Autobiography of Ms Pat- Patricia Williams
13 Ways of Looking at a Fat Girl- Mona Awad
Source: Pinterest
8. Funko Pop vinyl figure -£10-15
While she’s working on coursework, paying bills or freelancing (otherwise known as ‘dying of exposure’), buy her one of these so she always has someone inspiring to look at (I toyed with the idea of suggesting you give her a framed photo signed ‘all the best’ but). Funko Pops range from anime characters to real life singers, you’ll definitely find something to suit the criteria.
JUST GOT PAID $$ – £20-60
Plus you spent two hours waiting with me in the Apple Store and backed me up when I said my phone screen just cracked on its own
- Bitter Lace Beauty ‘Afterglow’ Highlighter Pan– $22 (Not including shipping)
This highlighter is a DREAM. Its smells amazing and looks like a rainbow in a pot. It’s so pretty, I want to wear it all the time and as someone who is too lazy to use make-up on even a regular basis, this is a sizeable compliment. Huge festival look with braids, nude lipliner and clear gloss and if anyone deserves to look like a mermaid at Wireless, its her, right?
2. Pat Mcgrath Labs METALMORPHOSIS 005 Black Dual Ended Marker– $24 (Free Worldwide Shipping)
She can do a cat-eye that would make you weep with envy if she didn’t also do yours before you go out/touch it up when its gone south at 3am. Pat McGrath is the mother of all beauty, the greatest make-up icon ever to walk God’s green earth and your best friend’s artistry deserves the proper tools….that you also receive the benefits of.
3. Legs Market “In Memoriam” Phone Case– $28 (Not including shipping)
Kelly Shami, the woman behind Legs Market is an amazing jewellery designer, illustrator and digital artist (she’s Queen Bey’s creative producer) and her cases are the perfect accessory for someone who never puts her phone down. This one is especially brilliant because she doesn’t like anyone else touching her phone either and you know better, no matter how funny it was to swipe right on the 46 year old “looking for a playmate.”
4. Movie Night at The Electric– £36.00
Rent a bed for two and take her to see a movie. Greta Gerwig’s Lady Bird, her directorial debut about a dysfunctional mother-daughter relationship opens in the UK next year as does Ava Duvernay’s A Wrinkle in Time, based on the YA novel we all had to read when we were twelve and stars the woman who introduced us to “living our best lives”, Queen Oprah. The only thing better than lying in bed watching a movie is lying on a bed watching a movie on a cinema screen with attractive waiters bringing you booze.
5. LAPP Nuditee Collection T-Shirt- £26.00
I saw a tweet this weekend from Veep writer Alexis Wilkinson describing “performative hoeness”. I support and cherish women who are confident in their sexuality, I’m socially awkward to the point of literal medical diagnosis and being more open in that regard has helped me be more open in other areas of my life too.
Anyway, this shirt is perfect is your friend is anything like me. Your BFF gets to support beautiful talented, amazing girls and make a statement about antiquated societal notions of the female body being somehow offensive in and of itself!
JUST CAME INTO YOUR TRUST $$$- £60 +
Alternatively, she just knows too damn much about you
- WTC 60s Afro Pin-Up Girl Necklace– $80 (not including shipping)
Brooke Dulien of White Trash Charms (I know, it was a ‘different time’) has been making jewellery for over a decade, most famously, Amy Winehouse’s ubiquitous heart grenade. These pin-up necklaces are badass and as someone who bought the ‘lightning bolt’ back when Paris Hilton was on the cover of tabloids and not taking selfies of herself reading them, they last forever.
Alternately these Astley Clarke Mini Hoops are chic enough to wear on weekends but pull everything enough to on weekdays to project ‘I didn’t cry once this morning’ without too much effort, in her professional life.
2. Nubian Skin x DBLEU.DAZZLED LFW Collection Panty – $80.00 (Not including shipping)
Destiney Bleu made headlines this year when ‘Kompton Khloe’ Kardashian got caught ripping off her designs. Since then she’s made pieces for Lady Gaga, Netflix GLOW and that iconic Fifth Harmony VMA performance. This is freakum underwear, the kind of thing you wear on an after work drinks date with someone who is potential spouse material, or you’re just really, really feeling yourself. The power of good lingerie is even though no-one can see it (without your permission), it can change the way you feel about your appearance and make you feel 100% more sexy & pulled together.
3. Hoop and Rose “Francesca” ring – £90.00
Diamonds are a girls best friend! She’s fun, smart, kind, knows more about you than your boyfriend ever will and has seen you at your worst, several times a week. You love her and no-one deserves diamonds more. Why not put a ring on it?
4. Classpass – £105
Classpass is an app that lets you take classes in exercise studios all over for a monthly fee. If your bestie is an work-out fanatic, she’ll love it and if she aspires to be one, she can use the gift code to try modern dance, reformer pilates, spinning, barre core, boxing and boot camp. It’s a great way to figure out what you’re into because P.E did not adequately prepare anyone for the joys of breaking a sweat, by choice- although you’ll always have fond memories of trying to convince your cycles were in sync for the third time in three weeks.
Source: Pinterest
If she’s a gym bunny, or just like tracksuits (girl after my own heart) this is also a must have. It reminds me of something you’d see on a Jamaican uncle, which is obviously chic AF. If you’re feeling particularly flush, pair it with the red Camo bra from N.E.R.D’s collaboration with Adidas (as seen in the “Lemon” video on dancer Mette Towley). Braids or a high ponytail and that’s an all day outfit that looks like it took hours of effort but only took like, five.
@lappthebrand
6. Commission a Nettie Wakefield drawing– Price on request
I think having a piece of art commissioned for you is the most decadent thing ever. Like Rihanna levels of opulence. Nettie Wakefield is an amazing artist whose Reversed Portrait Pencil Series is one of the coolest things I’ve ever seen. She’ll keep it forever.
You can’t afford anything yet/your present is coming in January
Greeting card from Sapling Press– £3.60
Lisa Krowinski takes every ridiculous fear or shameful personal belief and slaps them on uncomfortably hilarious greeting cards. Buy one and explain why you were such a bum bitch. Pair it with her a few of her favourite sweets and voila!
Remember, our lives, in general, would be immeasurably worse without our best friends. Give her a hug. Randomly text her telling her how grateful you are for her friendship. And buy her a Christmas present.
Written by Amy Green
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