Choosing the best gifts for minimalists can prove surprisingly difficult. After all, any streamlined enthusiast will tell you that less is indeed more, but what exactly does that mean in the present giving season, when so many cadeaux will be dismissed as simply superfluous?
With that in mind, Vogue has curated a handful of understated tokens and extravagances alike that are sure to strike a chord with anyone who falls into the pared-back camp. This time around, there are velvet flats and cashmere tights, leather-bound planners and sculptural alabaster candles, Japanese makeup brushes and subtle highlighting sticks… and the list doesn’t end there!
Below, the 24 best gifts for minimalists.
Subtly Chic Wardrobe Additions
For the stripped-down sartorialist, look no further than Falke’s jet-black cashmere tights; Lemaire’s logo-less leather keychain; Agnès B.’s classic cotton snap cardigan; and Le Monde Beryl’s velvet, made-in-Italy Mary Janes, which are designed to carry the wearer from fête to fête (or, at least, room to room) in seamless style. Meanwhile, even the most simply dressed among us can’t refuse a little embellishment: Enter Sophie Buhai’s long beaded necklace. Handcrafted in the Hollywood hills, the quiet accent piece is strung with onyx stones and finished with a distinctive sterling silver toggle.
Timeless Treasures for the Hushed Home
As we all tuck away indoors, a carefully chosen interior touch—such as Smythson’s 2022 planner, Métier’s artisanal roll-up backgammon board, or a set of Danish design giant Georg Jensen’s pebble-like reusable ice cubes—is sure to win hearts (and stomachs, in the case of Carissa Bakery’s fresh pickled rye loaf) this season. A newly re-issued book from Phaidon, meanwhile, features the work—along with personal letters and unpublished texts—of Agnes Martin, whose “meditations on innocence, beauty, happiness, and love,” as writes Arne Glimcher, were thought of as a major influence on Minimalist painters. Consider it a coffee table must-have.
Less-Is-More Beauty Thrills
Chances are the minimalists on your list prefer their above-the-neck equation as rigorously pared-back as what comes below. That’s why they’ll fall hard for Yves Durif’s classic ivory-hued resin comb, or Westman Atelier’s collectsion of Japanese birchwood-handled makeup brushes. What’s more? A limited-edition golden hydrating highlighting balm from Chanel will impart a subtle—not sparkly—gleam, as will a new serum (laced with breu and camu camu) from Francisco Costa’s Costa Brazil. And don’t sleep on Hermès’s just-launched natural nail formula, which arrives in the ultimate mood-lifting package: a little orange boîte.
