The Art of Waking Up, a film by Jen Steele, is something between a manifesto and a field guide—a prescriptive handbook for the first few hours of the day. Inspired in part by Holly Golightly’s studied nonchalance, the film approaches morning as an occasion for self-invention, amusement, and silver service.

Chapter One: Waking. Do not lurch. Surface. Let the light in as if you’ve invited it. Address your posture. Acquire fresh fruit and a silk robe.

Chapter Two: Looks and Behavior. Remember that one must look like oneself even at breakfast.

Chapter Three: Ready yourself for the week's dinner parties by reading the day's newspaper. Promptly unscrunch your brow. Push ahead.

From this gist, a way of thinking takes shape: live alone and like it. A sentiment drawn directly from practical 1936 guide by Vogue editor Marjorie Hillis, that shares astute advice for "live-aloners" and "lady bachelors" on how to enjoy and manage a solitary life with fervor.

In her wise outline of etiquette, she addresses the complexities of being an adult who also happens to be a single woman in America in the 1930s. Generations later, the advice she penned is apt as ever with chapter titles like "A Lady and Her Liquor" and "The Pleasures of a Single Bed."

With affectionate precision, these vignettes in writing from Hillis and on film by Steele remind us that glamour need not be public to be persuasive. It can be domestic and self-authored. Independence, as the film suggests, begins before noon—and often with a very good croissant.