Amy Sedaris’s pink paper towels

Amy Sedaris’s Greenwich Village apartment is the stuff of legends. When we visited back in 2019, it was packed to the gills with all manner of stuff, including two boxes of googly eyes (“one fancy, one not”), 13 bottles of Comme des Garçons’ Avignon perfume (“just in case they ever stop making it”), and Il Bisonte leather wallets (“my go-to gift for straight and gay guys”), along with 47 other treasures we catalogued — all of which were carefully and relentlessly collected with Sedaris’s extremely keen eye.

In many ways, Sedaris is a bit like the Strategist’s fairy godmother. “Since we launched the Strategist, Amy Sedaris has always been one of our North Stars in terms of someone who embodies the obsessiveness, sense of humor, and exquisite taste that we’re always striving for,” wrote New York Magazine deputy editor Alexis Swerdloff. While we’ve interviewed plenty of celebrities, New York legends, and cool people over the years, none have been baked into the blueprint of the site quite like Amy. During the 2023 holiday season, she graced the site as our deputized gift columnist, counseling somebody to give their wicked stepmother a mushroom-growing log. The following year, she provided another 104 inspired ideas, and her semiannual guest spot has become our favorite Yuletide tradition. So to represent her status as the Strategist’s patron saint, we are including her favorite fuchsia paper towels. Because while everyday life demands buying necessities — even in an apartment as fantastical as Sedaris’s, the kitchen counters still need wiping down — those essentials need not be boring.

When we reached out to Sedaris to revisit the pink paper towels, this is what she had to say: “My brother David turned me on to these Renova paper towels. He would buy them in England at Waitrose grocery store and, like a mule, bring them back to me. They make a terrific gift.” She is the expert, after all. —D.P.