Magazine Editor Shares What’s on Their 2025 Moodboard
By Grace Charlton 07/12/2024
Hey, I'm Grace Charlton, Editor at Monocle. Here's whats on my 2025 moodboard.
Fashion
At the moment, I'm trying to really focus on bringing sculptural elements into my outfits. This usually means long silhouettes (floor-length coats, long skirts) but also short jackets layered over longer shirts or maybe even incorporating the odd 'skater sleeves' to chop up the top half of my outfit a bit. It's been fun because I've been rediscovering pieces in my wardrobe and getting creative with what's already in there.
Another "theme" is to feel less guilty about dressing in a lot of black, white, grey – sometimes I have little freakouts about wearing mostly monochromatic fits but it's something I've always felt comfortable in. Sometimes it's best not to overthink when it comes to fashion! The black pieces in my wardrobe have been reliable favourites for years, it's what's most authentic to me.
In particular these pieces have been on heavy rotation:
Toteme Hat
I have an Etsy dupe of this shearling hat from Toteme.
"It's best not to overthink when it comes to fashion!"
Vintage Ralph Lauren Skirt
My vintage, grey wool maxi/pencil skirt from Ralph Lauren – similar to this one from The Frankie Shop (sorry, can't find the exact one online!).
Agolde Balloon-leg Jeans
I've been wearing these Agolde balloon-leg jeans non-stop.
Music
As a preface, my 2024 Spotify Wrapped was very dire. Basically only pop music – which is fun, I loved Brat – but I feel like I used to be better at going down artist wormholes and being more experimental with genres and different time periods. So this week I've been listening to the late Australian singer Anita Lane's album Dirty Pearl a lot recently.
Other artists on heavy rotation are System Olympia and Sade! Plus this random '80s luxury penthouse playlist on Spotify.
Books
The Odd Woman and the City by Vivian Gornick. Very candid, makes me want to move to NYC.
Brights Lights, Big City by Jay McInerney. A yuppie romp I read in a day (and a classic "I work in print media" book to read).
Les Années by Annie Ernaux. Finally got round to reading this and it delivered! Made me feel existential about the passing of time but I loved it.
Travel
It's been an amazing year for travel, it's really my favourite thing in the whole world to do. Not to sound too cheesy but you need to travel to broaden your mind, staying stuck in London would be a struggle for me.
I feel super lucky to be able to report stories from cool places for my work (Copenhagen, Istanbul, the Swiss Alps, the Albanian coast) + I went to Shanghai/Beijing this year for a friend's wedding.
I'm going to Sydney for a sun drenched family Christmas and I cannot wait, literally getting me through this insanely busy time of the year.
Fitness
I'm in my reformer pilates princess era and it's super fun. Also, continuing my jivamukti obsession.
Art
My fave exhibition from this year was probably the Expressionists one at Tate Modern. To be honest, I've been less good about going to museums in 2024 so I'm going to make more of an effort next year to catch some exhibitions more regularly.
I also loved the Long Museum in Shanghai and seeing calligraphy pieces by Bada Shanren, whose work I studied when I was at uni but had never seen IRL. And the Long Museum is an insane space – concrete bunker by Atelier Deshaus
Beauty
My baseline makeup routine is always: Anastasia brow gel in clear + mascara + I swipe on the Merit blush in the shade Beverly Hills most days (sometimes I add the contour stick in Quince + the Cava highlighter when I'm feeling fancy).
I got a bottle of this Diptyque Papier perfume through work and I've been enjoying using it as a signature scent. It cracks me up that I work as a writer/editor in print media and I smell like a sheet of paper.
+ I drink almost three litres of water a day, better than Botox.
+ I recently bought that Dr Dennis Gross LED mask in a Black Friday sale and I'm praying it helps with my fine lines and the monthly bout of hormonal acne.
"I want to cultivate niche interests rather than surfing the wave of whatever my algorithm feeds me."
2025 Attitude
Wormholes
I want to get better at delving into wormholes and get a little more obsessive with things I enjoy. If I come across a song I enjoy, I'm going to try and go a little deeper and listen to a full album + learn about the artist. Same with films. Currently, we're watching all of Stanley Kubrick's films.
I feel like I learned a lot about Chinese history this year because I went there and made an effort to read books like Wild Swans and watch documentaries. Basically, I want to cultivate niche interests rather than surfing the wave of whatever my algorithm feeds me.
Ease
Another thing I'm manifesting for 2025 is a sense of ease – not getting bogged down in minutiae or struggling through tasks but rather approaching things I have to do with a sense of playfulness and enjoyment. Most things are not that deep.
Nesting
I've moved into a new flat and I want to get better at hosting events/dinners on a super regular basis. I want my friends to come over and feel super at home and relaxed, to share bottles of wine, cook meals, get some music on. My mother gave me this book from Moosewood (iconic veggie restaurant in Ithaca, NY) and it's so fun and very '70s. I'm planning to cook heaps of meals from this book in 2025. So much easier than Ottolenghi too (even though some of the recipes are rogue).
Which brings me on to my FINAL faves but I'm in a big nesting mood at the moment and all of my brain power/budget is going to interior design.
I got this cow-hide chair on Vinterior that I'm super chuffed with:
And this Castelli for Kartell bedside table from a flea market: erior that I'm super chuffed with:
I'm lucky to work in the design media industry which means I get gifted fun tchotchkes on a regular basis e.g. this Raise carafe and glasses set from Muuto. And this trio of candle holders from Frama:
And more random tchotchkes from my travels to give personality to my flat I find super important e.g. this lucky shiba inu that sits on my window sill.
And more random tchotchkes from my travels to give personality to my flat I find super important e.g. this lucky shiba inu that sits on my window sill
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