Current Issue
Appetite
July 2026
In honour of Culinary Arts Month, we found ourselves thinking about appetite in all its forms.
What nourishes us? What do we return to season after season? Which cravings deserve to be indulged, and which are best left unchecked?
This month, we explore those questions in the kitchen and beyond. Laura May shares the folklore hidden within everyday ingredients, while our entertaining ideas, cookbook recommendations and gothic kitchen finds celebrate the creative ways gothic style can find its way into everyday life.
Elsewhere, we adapt dark feminine style for farmers market mornings, embrace a palette of forbidden fruit for summer dressing and build a lipstick collection with the care of a well-stocked wine cellar.
Of course, not every appetite is a healthy one. Our watchlist of films about excess and obsession reminds us that hunger for love, beauty, wealth and power can be just as consuming as any meal.
Whether you're searching for your next favourite recipe, a statement handbag, the perfect shade of lipstick or simply a fresh perspective, we hope this issue leaves you feeling inspired to follow your curiosity—and perhaps satisfy a craving or two.
For free, subscribe below and/or read the full issue digitally here.
With devotion,
Amanda
Cover: Courtesy of Laura May, photographed by Andrew Burton Photography.
Feature Articles
Laura May's Recipe for Kitchen Magic
Inside the pages of Kitchen Magic: Over 65 Enchanting Recipes and Rituals for a Cozy, Witchy Kitchen and the stories that inspired them
By: The Lace Ledger Staff
It's easy to forget where our food comes from when most of us move through at least one meal each day on autopilot. Breakfast between emails. Lunch at our desks. Dinner in front of the television. Laura May, cookbook author and creator of @lauramayritualkitchen invites us to slow down, reconnecting with seasonality (and the harvests seasons yield) and rediscovering the folklore hidden in the ingredients we enjoy every day.
Laura shares her favourite summer kitchen witch ingredients for everything from allergy remedies and herbal teas to midsummer menus, seasonal rituals and the meals that carry us from breakfast through supper, along with the meanings behind the ingredients.
Nightshade: Goth-Coded Style Guide to Haunt Your Local Market
Everything you need to build the perfect market-day ensemble
By: The Lace Ledger Staff
There are few better ways to spend a summer morning than wandering a local farmers market with an iced coffee in one hand and a basket in the other.
Market mornings invite you to slow your pace and enjoy what's in front of you. We like to arrive dressed for the occasion, adapting storm cloud styling to even the sunniest days.
Shelf (After)Life: 11 Gothic Cookbooks to Collect
From witchcraft and herbalism to haunted baking and literary cocktails, these beautifully curated cookbooks deserve a permanent place in your kitchen
By: The Lace Ledger Staff
An exceptional cookbook does more than tell you what to make for dinner. It teaches, inspires and occasionally sends you down an internet rabbit hole over an unfamiliar ingredient or centuries-old tradition. These are the gorgeous gothic titles we'd happily read from cover to cover—even if we never turned on the oven.
The Gothic Harvest: A Dark Harvest Guide for Your Garden (& Table)
Rich in colour and full of character, these naturally striking fruits and vegetables are worth making room for this growing season
By: The Lace Ledger Staff
Gothic gardens aren't solely defined by gargoyles or iron gates (although we love those too). Sometimes, the most striking statement comes straight from the soil. With inky berries, blood-red roots and vegetables in shades of obsidian, plum, merlot and burgundy, these naturally dramatic varieties transform an ordinary harvest into something wonderfully ominous.
If you're looking to bring a little more theatre to your garden—and, eventually, your dinner table—these varieties are a beautiful place to begin.
Past Issues
About Us
The Lace Ledger is a gothic-inspired digital magazine for romantics, misfits and dark-femmes who live just outside the lines.
It’s a space for style, culture, decor, discourse, the arts, wellness, travel, intentional living and beyond — created for those who never fully saw themselves in mainstream media.
For those seeking a publication that values elegance with attitude, this is for you.
Founded by writer and poet Amanda Albert, The Lace Ledger blends fashion, literature and cultural curation into a digital anthology where depth meets decadence and personal style becomes its own form of storytelling.
Whether you come for the fashion, the poetry or the watch lists, we cordially invite you into a world shaped by dark feminine aesthetic with a splash of defiance.
Here you’ll find:
Style — fashion, accessories, beauty and the gothic archetypes that inspire them.
Literature + the Arts — original and beloved poetry, reading lists, gallery and bookstore recommendations, artist and author features and more.
Culture — music, film, television and fun for the romantic and the restless.
House & Haunt — moody interiors, darkly refined entertaining and decor.
Gift Guides — curated for every occasion and recipient.
Subscribe to receive our monthly edit — a curated delivery of style, culture and quiet luxury.
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We welcome collaborations with brands, creators, artists, writers and experts who share our taste for the uncommon.