Wednesday, April 22, 2026
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My wife is a real saint. For the eight years we’ve known each other, she’s been subject to my weird artsy fragrances—all smoke and leather, “complex” formulas. One day at work, I spritzed on some of this Ralph’s Club New York that was at my desk. She loved it immediately. She told me straight-up, within minutes of meeting me for drinks. It has been number one in my rotation ever since. The lesson? Stop thinking you’re above the popular stuff. Pop music, popular fragrance, whatever—if a lot of people like it, it’s probably good. And this cologne? My wife likes it. So, it’s the best.
—Luke Guillory, commerce editor
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Ralph’s Club New York smells as good at a black tie gala as it does at the beach.
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On its release, the original Ralph’s Club was positioned as a black-tie alternative to the rest of the Ralph Lauren lineup, and the rest of the releases has followed suit. The Ralph’s Club line was typically pretty simple, inoffensive and sophisticated. The notes were a straightforward flow of lavender and sage, then cedar.
This new expression, Ralph’s Club New York, caught my wife’s and I noses because it’s a more complete fragrance. It keeps that through line of Ralph’s Club—lavender, sage, woods—but it builds on the front and back ends of the scent. On the initial spritz, I get a good dose of blackcurrant which gives it a red wine ripe fruit smell. The new expression also added vanilla to the base, giving the scent a longer-lasting boozy quality. I think both notes give the fragrance romantic bookends on either side of the lavender, sage, and cedar heart. Neither ends are cloying, so they’re fine for a dressed up occasion. But, they are sweet, and they do draw people in—which makes them great in a more laid-back romantic setting.
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Everyone has a favorite David Spade movie. The stand-up comic and former Saturday Night Live cast member says he’s recognized in daily life because of movies like Tommy Boy and Joe Dirt, which appeal to adults, and movies like The Emperor’s New Groove that charm the kiddos. In a new installment of Esquire’s “What I’ve Learned” video series, Spade reflects on politics in comedy, losing family and friends—like Chris Farley and sister-in-law Kate Spade—and where he stands with Eddie Murphy.
The Emmy- and Golden Globe–nominated actor says that being in showbiz ultimately amounts to working to “just stay alive.” He brings up that his 2020 Netflix film The Wrong Missy renewed his stardom, but a friend reminded him of the fickle nature of fame. “Even Chris Rock says, ‘Spade, it buys you six months. That’s it.’ It’s kinda true. It’s a tricky business to kind of stay in the mix. But if you can be out there at all, it’s fun.”
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Alone in the fog, after six days of running through the British mountains, Raf Willems began to speak with the grass and stones. About what, he doesn’t know. The air was freezing, but he liked it that way; summer heat made for awful running weather. To be in nature—the thickening precipitation above, the undulating terrain below—pushing his physical limits was a thrilling adventure. Until he saw dead people lying in the snow, calling to him: Help, help, help me!
The start of the ultramarathon had been lively. More than one hundred deliriously excited long-distance runners—their faces flushed from the drizzly 35 degree morning, colorful waterproof jackets zipped to the chin with hoods up—all huddled in mass anticipation of the Montane Winter Spine Race. It was January 15, 2023.
Some wanted to win. Most, like Willems, simply wanted to finish. But completing the 268-mile course in the allotted time of 168 hours would be no simple feat. Starting in the town of Edale in Derbyshire, the trail ultramarathon threads the Pennine Way, a ragged seam that sews together northern England’s east and west halves. It ultimately needles just past the Scottish border. Participants would have to climb mountains that jut from the earth like knobby vertebrae, the highest being the nearly three-thousand-foot Cross Fell. Running the course takes nearly a week, even in the best conditions, and British winters are particularly unkind.
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