What girl in red Can’t Live Without

If you’re like us, you’ve probably wondered what everyday stuff famous people add to their carts — like hair spray or an electric toothbrush. We asked Oslo-based musician girl in red (née Marie Ulven Ringheim) — who recently launched a collaboration with Swiss art-supply and pen-maker Caran d’Ache — about the notebooks, coffee equipment, and dermatitis-friendly moisturizer she can’t live without.

Every day I write “Dear diary” and I fill in some crap that I did that day, or some thoughts. I’m trying to be less on my phone, trying to journal every day instead of scrolling endlessly, which I still do, even though I try not to. But the Moleskine diary is something I’ve religiously been using since 2019. My mom gave me one and ever since I’ve been using that same size, same cover. Always black. I have them in these archival boxes that say “Moleskine from 2019 to 2021,” and so on. Whoever is going through my stuff will see a perfect archive of Moleskine books that all look the same. I’m definitely thinking far ahead with this. This is a collection.

There’s a really good coffee scene in Oslo and one of the greatest roasters in the world is located in Oslo. His name is Tim Wendelboe and he is well-known all around the world. So coming from a place that has great coffee, then traveling around the world where there’s a lot of really bad coffee places, it kind of makes you more homesick. My coffee obsession got strengthened by being away a lot and wanting to create that sense of home by drinking something that felt familiar — trying to bring that comfort and ritual with you on the road.

My tour manager is the one who started bringing coffee on the road and introduced me to all these different brewing methods. So when I got back home, I bought the Hario V60 brewing kit. And when I’m home, I like to try all the beans that I bought all around the world — like I have some funky beans from Japan. I like to make that for my girlfriend and be like, “Yeah, I got this in Japan,” and tell the little story about it.

But that being said, I’m not very good. I never really know how good it’s going to be, because brewing coffee is not easy — it’s definitely an art. I admire anyone who can brew a really good cup of coffee. I do also enjoy a classic diner coffee in a thick, heavy-ass mug that you just feel like has lived for 50 years. So I’m on both sides of the scale.

My group of friends and my band, we all have these very good grinders. We buy beans all around the world and we find really good stuff. Then we have what we call “coffee club.” When we all wake up in the morning — we do this either on the bus or in the hotel rooms that we check into — we make coffee together and we talk about love and hate and the struggles of life and whatnot.

The Comandante can go really, really, really fine, and it can go quite coarse. It’s very specific. And very consistent. When you’re grinding beans, you really want a consistent grind so that they’re all the same size. It’s a very intuitive grinder, very easy to use, and it has an amazing design. I will never turn down some cool design stuff.

Then, obviously, you’ve got to have a good pour-over kettle. So I have a Fellow Stagg kettle with the walnut handle and walnut top. That’s the whole kit.

I’ve always worn hats, but there’s actually a little bit of a dark history behind the hats. I was losing so much hair due to severe stress, which led me to wear hats and hoods all the time. Some of my fans will think of this L.A. hat that I used to wear in 2020 as a very iconic hat. It’s kind of a staple piece of mine. I still wear hats now and I’m not losing my hair anymore, so I’m doing better in that sense. But now I just have hats with me everywhere, because when I’m traveling a lot and I’m touring, I can’t always look after my hair. You’re flying for 20 hours. Your hair looks like greasy fucking shit. Then you just put on a hat, then you’re like, “Hey, I don’t look that bad.”

One hat that I’ve really been digging recently is from a brand called Smart Turnout London. Angus Young, the guitar player in AC/DC, wears really cool British schoolboy hats, but I couldn’t find anywhere to buy them. Then I was at Mick Fleetwood’s studio in Hawaii and I saw he had a similar schoolboy hat. And I was like, “Oh my God, I’ve been looking for a hat like this.” I tried his hat on, I took a picture of the brand, and that’s how I have this hat now.

[Editor’s note: This particular hat from Smart Turnout London is currently sold out, but other styles from the brand are available.]

I’m the type of person who always brings a book with me, but I never really read it. I have to really be in the zone to be able to read because I’m a little distracted, I suppose. But the books also bleed into this “trying to stop my phone” thing. At 25 right now, I feel like I’m the most stupid that I’ve ever been. The second that stuff starts getting hard mentally — when I have to think about something, to really solve something — I’m like, “Ah, I just want to scroll on TikTok right now.” So having books is me trying to fuel my imagination, fuel my vocabulary, and fuel my mind a little bit and get some more discipline to stay within that activity without trying to do multiple things at the same time.

I really like Joan Didion and Deborah Levy; I think those are cool ladies. And I feel like Annie Ernaux, who wrote this book The Years that I’m reading right now, is in that same realm of coolness. Then a friend gave me this book called Near to the Wild Heart that I’m going to read next. I usually buy books at this amazing book shop in Oslo called Tronsmo. It has a really, really big selection. It’s independent, so that’s great, because I feel like all the independent bookstores are disappearing every single day. Then there’s this really cute store in Williamsburg called Spoonbill & Sugartown that I love going to every time I’m in New York.

I had not been into watches until last year when I was making my album with my producer Matt. We were like, “Okay, we’ve been friends for so long now, and we’ve made two albums together, so let’s get matching Cartiers.” So that’s what we did. We got them engraved with the album title on the back. And at the time, I was like, “Oh my God, this is the coolest thing ever. This will be my only watch. I’m not even interested in watches, but this is my only watch.” And boy, was I wrong, because after that I got really into watches. So now I have a total of five watches, and I just obsess over them a lot.

I have this Audemars Piguet Royal Oak, it’s a quartz movement from the ’80s or something. At the time people were like, “Quartz is so cool,” because you can make the watch so thin. It was very high-tech and new at that time. Right now I’m wearing a little Rolex Oyster Perpetual, which is my only Rolex. I think it’s really cool that you can put it up to your ear and you can hear the mechanics in there.

I have something called atopic dermatitis, which flares up during periods of stress … or just if it’s too warm, if it’s too cold. So I’m very sensitive. I have to have my very specific moisturizer and very specific steroid creams. Everything is prescription except this moisturizer, which is anti-scratching, reduces dryness, and soothes irritation. It’s a fancy French skin cream that you can get at the pharmacy. I tried hundreds of creams and remedies before I found this one five years ago, and this is the only cream that my skin has not gotten used to, then stopped working.

I had been looking for mules for two years and I just didn’t find anything that I liked. Then I went to Las Vegas, of all places, and I tried on these mules and loved them. But I didn’t buy them because I was like, “They’re $1,000. Maybe I should hold off for a second.” Then I came to L.A., to play the Greek Theatre, and went to the Beverly Hills mall and tried them on again. And I was like, “You know what? I look pretty sick in these.” I guess saying that you felt like Hugh Hefner isn’t a very cool thing to say — and I would never say that I feel like him in any other way — but I was wearing something that reminded me of velvet pants, and with the shoes, it seemed like something Hugh Hefner would wear. I felt like they were really classy and chic, and they had this kind of rock-star vibe, which I was really into when I was on tour. Trying to embrace that feeling of rock-starness when you have to be onstage every night, even though you don’t feel like a rock star. So that’s why I have these mules. They’re just like slippers, really, but I love them. I wear them on the bus; I wear them back home. I have them with me everywhere.

I use the MacBook Pro for writing and music production. And I use it for researching all my other interests that I’ve been telling you about. I still have the one from 2019, because I’m trying to have my computer for as long as possible. I have had a tendency to be like, “Oh my God, there’s a new MacBook. I want to get it.” So I’m trying to fight my own consumerist behavior. I have a MacBook Pro because of Logic, which is the digital audio workstation that I use to produce music, and you can’t get that on a PC or anything else. I’m very much linked-and-chained to the Apple ecosystem.

[Editor’s note: We’ve listed the 2024 version of the MacBook Pro, though you can find refurbished 2019 models on Amazon, BackMarket, and at other retailers that sell pre-owned electronics.]

I got these two perfumes the last time I was in L.A. Me and my friend Isaac, my creative partner whom I live with when I’m there, bought new perfumes and we’re like, “We can’t shake the feeling that we just smell like L.A.” So we’ll see what happens, maybe they’ll smell different somewhere else. When I first got into perfume, I bought some from Le Labo. It wasn’t very big in Oslo, but I remember when I talked to my label about it, they were like, “Oh yeah, everyone smells like that in L.A.” I didn’t know that at the time because I’m just on the little island of Norway, which is not an island but it feels like that sometimes. I feel like L.A. is the place of perfumes and scents, and people just want to smell good there. I would say I lean toward scents like wood and leather, maybe a little bit more masculine. I’m not a very masc-presenting lesbian at all, but I do think maybe I’m a little bit androgynous or something. I honestly don’t even know what I look like to other people, but the lesbian in me definitely wants something more leathery and woodsy.

I love stationery, pens, notebooks, and all those kinds of things. And in 2020 or 2021, I met some people in Oslo who introduced me to Caran d’Ache, this iconic pen from 1969, and suddenly I was sucked into this pen community. I bought a bunch of pens, and I was in a pen chat.

I just love a good, historic pen. I think the design is incredibly sleek. It feels like the essence of a pen, like the pen of all pens. It’s superlight; it’s super functional. And I think there’s something about it being from the ’60s — something about it being old, living through all of these generations, and it’s still here, which I think is cool.

So I was just loving the pen for a few years. I had it in the background of many of my Instagram photos and stories. Someone tagged me in their story, and they were like, “Oh, nice pen.” Then I was like, “Wait, who’s this person? Who’s this person commenting about my pen?” Because finally, someone notices my pen! So I got back to them. I was like, “Haha, thank you. I love Caran d’Ache.” Then this person just drops the biggest bomb ever: “That’s really cool that you love our pen. By the way, I’m the president of Caran d’Ache.” This was last February, on my birthday, and I remember I was so starstruck. I don’t think I’ve ever been that starstruck. Then they invited me to Geneva, and I got to see the factory where the pen is made. We did a little collaboration and designed two girl in red pens together. It was the coolest thing ever for a very geeky, nerdy person like me.

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