Friday fly list

A hip Houston hotel, a Tokyo dramedy, and a museum show on sustainable fashion.

Houston’s new Hotel Saint Augustine. Photo by Julie Soefer.

Hi from Japan, where I’ve been hiking in the Kyushu countryside with Walk Japan, sitting in onsen (hot springs), and eating copious amounts of sushi and ramen. I just got to Tokyo, where I look forward to checking out what people are wearing as well as a bunch of museums and temples.

Here’s what I’m reading, doing, shopping for and watching as summer rolls in.

PS: D.C.-area subscribers—I’m hosting a guided lunchtime tour of an exhibit on sustainable fashion at George Washington University’s Textile Museum Friday June Details below, and subscribers will get an email invite soon.

Staying: Hotel Saint Augustine, Houston, Texas

Bunkhouse Group—the hipster hotel brand behind Austin’s Saint Cecelia and San Antonio’s Hotel Havana—knows how to set a scene. Many of its properties star renovated historic buildings (a south Austin bungalow at Cecelia, a 1914 hotel at Havana). But for Bunkhouse’s newest bolt hole in Houston’s Montrose Park neighborhood, the architects of Lake|Flato created a low-slung series of modernist buildings in glass, stone, and wood. They’re meant to play nicely with the next-door Menil Collection, renowned for its cache of drawings and Renzo Piano-designed Cy Twombly pavilion. Guest rooms show off rich earth tone color schemes; the clubby Augustine Lounge features sculptural Charles Rennie Macintosh-style seating and a mirrored bar pouring drinks such as the Coyote Call (mezcal, raspberry, port, rum, lime, nutmeg).

The Takezawa sisters of Netflix’s new Asura.

Watching: “Asura,” Netflix

Like Scarlett Johansson in “Lost in Translation,” I’m waking up early and dozing off late in Japan (a 13-hour time difference is brutal!). Good thing I can stream “Asura,” an artful newish Netflix show about a quartet of Japanese sisters living in 1979 Tokyo. The mix of Eastern and Western clothing, artfully shot Tokyo backdrops, and tension between siblings is addictive—and indicative of the world I’m seeing around me. A highlight: Rebellious younger sister Sakiko’s groovy outfits and handsome boxer boyfriend.

A 19th-century Tibetan jacket was made using 17th-century Chinese fabric.

Seeing: “Source Material: Lessons in Responsible Fashion,” Washington, D.C.

Clothing production accounts for roughly 10 percent of the world’s CO2 emissions, a decidedly unstylish problem that fashion designers and consumers are just beginning to grapple with. This new exhibit at Washington, D.C.’s George Washington University Textile Museum dives into how mending garments, recycling textiles, and other methods can help us have our clothes but feel good about the environment. Expect historic artifacts (a 19th-century Japanese coat made of reused scraps) as well as contemporary fashions (Green Matters vegetable-dyed dresses). And join me for a curator-led free tour at the museum Friday June 27 at noon EST; click here for details and to RSVP. Spaces are limited.

Douglas Poon jewelry is carved from Lucite but resembles cut glass.

Buying: Douglas Poon carved jewelry

Sapphire blue etched rings and ruby-hued clutch bags that appear to be carved from fine crystal headline in the work of Hong Kong-born, British-based designer Douglas Poon. But his hand-done pieces are actually made of resin, meaning they glitter but won’t shatter like the goblets and chandeliers they resemble. I’m eyeballing a bangle or two to go with a tropically bright Ulla Johnson dress in hibiscus pinks and deep greens I got for summer dinner parties and an anniversary bash in Bozeman, Montana this July. (Imagine that frock, a few bright bracelets, and some vintage cowboy boots.)

Reading: Intrepid travel guides

Known for immersive, small-group trips to, well, nearly everywhere, tour company Intrepid just launched its first guidebooks on Iceland, Japan, and Australia. Like Intrepid’s trips, they’re full of personality and long on insider expertise—how to sink your teeth into izakaya food culture in Japan, the best spots to spy puffins in Iceland. What I especially like is that, instead of the laundry lists of old-fashioned guidebooks, these volumes read more like good travel magazines of the past, with feature stories with great writing and lively photos.