July 2026
Appetite
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.
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.
Subscribe below to receive our free monthly digital issue directly to your inbox.
All articles are available now below.
Cover: Courtesy of Laura May, photographed by Andrew Burton Photography.
House & Haunt
Cover Story: 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.
Ritual Kitchen Recipe: The Welcome Home Vanilla Chai Loaf Spell
By Laura May
This vanilla chai loaf is infused with warm, cozy spices, creating a welcoming atmosphere for a home or a space in need of comfort. Baking with intention, especially when working towards creating a happy home, can help manifest peace and prosperity.
It’s the reason I found my narrowboat home, and I bake it once a year to keep my space sacred and filled with joy.
As you prepare this cake, focus on your wishes for your home, symbolizing a safe, nurturing environment for all who dwell within it.
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 library
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.
Dark Roast: 13 Gothic Mugs We Covet
When the caffeine craving calls
By: The Lace Ledger Staff
There comes a point each morning when resistance becomes futile. The percolating coffee pot calls to you, your thirst impossible to ignore. From delightfully macabre to playfully peculiar, these gothic finds bring a little extra character to every cup.
Dark Delicacies: 13 Gothic Food Brands to Fill Your Pantry
From your morning coffee to your favourite hot sauce, these gothic brands make everyday essentials a little more menacing
By: The Lace Ledger Staff
Your grocery list probably already includes coffee, tea, hot sauce or the occasional sweet treat. If you're looking to swap a few everyday staples without changing your routine, these gothic brands are a fun place to start..
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.
Style
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.
Forbidden Fruit: Dark Cherry, Plum & Blackberry Dark Feminine Fashion
From black cherry to midnight blue, these sumptuous shades are ripe for the picking
By: The Lace Ledger Staff
Summer has a way of making everything look a little more appetizing. Cherries ripen. Blackberries stain your fingertips. Plums practically glow in the afternoon sun. It's only natural that our wardrobes would follow suit.
These are the rich, fruit-inspired shades we're reaching for all season long.
The Dark Feminine Lipstick Cellar: Body, Balance & Finish
Discover the lip products worthy of a permanent place in your collection from everyday vintages to rare bottles
By: The Lace Ledger Staff
Much like a well-stocked wine cellar, the best lipstick collections evolve over time, each addition carefully chosen for its unique formula, finish and where you'll wear it.
Some become everyday staples, others are reserved for special occasions and a select few are simply too beautiful not to own. From luxury icons to affordable favourites, these are the products that have earned a permanent place in our rotation.
Culture
Insatiable Cravings: 20 Films About Excess & Obsession
Love. Power. Wealth. Beauty. Status. Some appetites grow stronger once they're fed.
By: The Lace Ledger Staff
Hunger comes in many forms. Sometimes it's for success, sometimes it's for status and sometimes it's for another person entirely.
These films and series examine the consequences of gluttony, following characters whose relentless pursuit of "more" ultimately becomes their greatest downfall.
15 Foodie Films to Devour for Culinary Arts Month
Sink your teeth into these on-screen stories
By: The Lace Ledger
Food has always been one of film and television's most versatile supporting characters. It can bring strangers together, drive people apart, mark celebrations, conceal secrets or become an art form in its own right.
To celebrate Culinary Arts Month (July), we've rounded up 15 films and series where every plate, kitchen and restaurant adds something memorable to the story.
Gift Guide
Midnight Market: A Summer Gift Guide for Your Goth Girlfriend
Our latest eternal obsessions
By: The Lace Ledger Staff
She has a habit of finding the one thing nobody else noticed or even thought was a little weird. A stained glass heart. An eerie, artisanal fragrance. An odd impractical trinket she'll treasure for years. The kind of gift that earns a permanent place on the shelf instead of disappearing into a drawer.
Some things are simply destined to be hers.
If "clean girl aesthetic" couldn't be further from your beloved, this is what she yearns for.