Emily Ratajkowski Has Already Received Her Best Gifts This Year

Emily Ratajkowski loves to go all out on holiday decor—ribbon on the banister, tinsel everywhere, you name it. “If I could, I would have a tree all year,” she jokes.

This year, she and her husband, the producer Sebastian Bear-McClard, are having a New York City Christmas, their first with their son, Sylvester (affectionately referred to by his nickname, Sly). “I’ve had a few Christmases in New York,” she says, “but this one is obviously going to be very special, because it’s our first one with a little person.”

For baby Sly, Ratajkowski is planning to invest in “some winter looks, because he’s a New York City man.” That means he’ll be fitted in a North Face jacket, as well as some sets from Bobo Choses, Mini Rodini, and the Animals Observatory. She’s also planning on acquiring a humongous stuffed animal from a French brand called BigStuffed. “I have this fantasy of a giant stuffed octopus underneath the tree for him,” she says with glee.

For Sebastian, she’ll stick to their usual formula. “We traditionally give each other jewelry, because he actually will wear chains, and he has an ear pierced,” Ratajkowski says. And for her friends, there are handmade Piera Bochner candles, molded in the shape of gourds and squash (“They look really, really funky—almost like organic fungi, but they’re brightly colored and beautiful”), Clio Peppiatt custom beaded dresses, and blue crushed velvet bikinis from her swimwear line, Inamorata.

Also on the to-give list: a copy of My Body, the collection of essays Ratajkowski published this year. She says the process of putting it out into the world was a difficult one, but, in a way, it was also a present to herself. “When New York magazine published an excerpt, I saw a couple of things where people were like, ‘Did she have a ghostwriter?’ And it pissed me off, because I worked so hard on this. But one of the subjects that I deal with in the book is how, if you have objectified your own body, then it’s like you’re not capable of having thoughts,” she says. “Writing and being so honest with myself about those power structures and the ways I was complicit has been such an incredible gift.”

And, of course, she didn’t forget about Colombo, her husky-malamute mix. “He’s such a good boy,” Ratajkowski says. But this year, “he’ll probably get a bad-boy present: a big bone.”

Emily Ratajkowski’s Gift Guide

Photo assistant: Donna Viering; retouching: Allison Richman at Chroma New York; fashion assistant: Tori López. Still lifes photographed by Devin Doyle; set design by Elaine Winter; styled by Christina Holevas.