Wedding dressing has long been synonymous with embroidered lehengas, sweeping anarkalis and jewel-toned silks. But every so often, a look arrives that quietly expands the conversation instead of following it.

Janhvi Kapoor’s latest ensemble does exactly that. Built around a sculptural 24K gold Misho bustier, the look pairs contemporary jewellery design with traditional Indian textiles, replacing predictable bridal codes with something far more directional. Styled with a metallic draped silk skirt and an embroidered hand-fringed shawl from That Antique Piece, it’s an outfit that feels rooted in craft while refusing to look backwards.

Gold, But Not As You Know It

The first thing you notice isn’t the sparkle — it’s the structure.

Instead of sequins or crystal embellishments, the look centres on a sculpted gold bustier that behaves more like wearable art than conventional occasionwear. Its molten finish catches the light differently with every movement, creating dimension through form rather than embroidery. It’s bold, architectural and unmistakably modern, proving that statement dressing doesn’t always require excess.

When Draping Replaces Volume

Rather than pairing the bustier with an elaborate skirt, the styling embraces fluidity. The metallic silk draped skirt falls close to the body, allowing texture and movement to take precedence over dramatic silhouettes. Draped over the shoulders is a hand-fringed silk shawl embroidered with a tiger motif — a detail that quietly introduces narrative into an otherwise minimalist palette.

Together, the pieces blur the line between couture, jewellery and textile craftsmanship.

Less Is More

The styling resists the temptation to compete with the outfit. A richly detailed gold choker and traditional jhumkas echo the warmth of the bustier without overwhelming it, while a tiny bindi adds just enough nostalgia to balance the contemporary silhouette.

Beauty follows the same instinct. A sleek braided ponytail, softly defined eyes and luminous skin keep the focus exactly where it belongs — on the dialogue between metal, silk and craftsmanship.

Wedding Fashion Is Entering A New Chapter

The most interesting occasionwear today isn’t abandoning tradition; it’s reinterpreting it. Designers are increasingly borrowing from sculpture, jewellery and textile art to create looks that feel less costume and more collectible.

Janhvi Kapoor’s ensemble is a reminder that modern wedding fashion no longer has to begin with a lehenga. Sometimes, all it takes is a sculpted gold bustier, impeccable draping and the confidence to let craftsmanship speak in a different language.

FAQs

Who designed Janhvi Kapoor’s gold bustier?

Janhvi Kapoor wore a sculptural 24K gold bustier by Misho, paired with a metallic silk draped skirt and an embroidered hand-fringed shawl by That Antique Piece.

What is a draped skirt?

A draped skirt uses gathered and folded fabric to create soft movement and fluidity, offering an elegant alternative to heavily structured silhouettes.

Can sculptural jewellery-inspired pieces be worn for weddings?

Yes. Contemporary occasionwear increasingly incorporates sculptural metallic elements, making them a striking option for cocktail evenings, receptions and modern wedding celebrations.

Amidst the constant updates that the Instagram goes through, all in an attempt to make the user experience better, there lies a trend. A trend that dominates our feeds and gives us a peek into how we'll perceive the next feed aesthetic. 

Every Era Of Instagram Holds Memory

For years, it was hashtags and a slanted location mention. Then came visible tags and reposting. Then came the era of keeping it minimal. Earlier this year, the sudden wave of 'whimsy,' as the word became popular, entered the Gram, and suddenly we were all romanticising the mess, with an added pop of colour. The good old 2016 dream catchers were rebranded as wall hangings, except now they came in pink and somehow added more personality to your room. Recently, the feed aesthetic seems to be a mix of the last two decades compiled together, but with an added twist of nonchalance, mystery, and a teeny bit of whimsy.

The Art Of Looking Effortless On Instagram

The New Definition Of Clean Is 'Messy'

We learned how to sell things online, how to package a moment, and how to make the ordinary feel aspirational. Maybe this aesthetic is just another extension of that. The 'messy clean' feed isn't about being disorganised at all. It's about making imperfection look intentional. It celebrates clutter. nostalgia, colour and chaos, but only when every detail has been thoughtfully curated. Ironically, the messiest-looking posts on your feed might just be the cleanest examples of planning, proving once again that on Instagram, even effortless has an algorithm. That's the irony of 2026; we're trying so hard to make life look unfiltered that even our chaos comes with an art direction. 

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Diana Penty remembers being a stubborn child. Tantrums on the floor of shops. A memorable disappearance in a Singapore mall, at an age too young to understand why her mother was terrified rather than delighted by the adventure. By the time she reached school, that child had been replaced by someone quiet, someone diligent, someone who gave her teachers nothing to worry about. She doesn't think the stubbornness went anywhere. "It just evolved," she says. "Today, it shows up as conviction."

Fourteen years into a career, the industry insists on describing as underused; that conviction is the through-line. Perhaps there is still a version of that little girl somewhere, having an adventure while everyone else panicked. She hasn't wandered off like that in a long time. These days, when she disappears, it is on her own terms, for exactly as long as she decides. She no longer mistakes uncertainty for being lost.

A Compass Of Her Own

Growing up in a home where two faiths coexisted, Penty was never expected to inherit belief unquestioningly. Her Parsi father and Catholic mother cultivated the freedom to arrive at her own understanding. "My parents never tried to mould me into a particular version of success," she says. "They encouraged me to explore, to ask questions, to trust my instincts and to take responsibility for my own choices."

Her father's influence lingers in a sentence she still returns to: "How will you know if you never try?" She was in college when he first said it. Years later, after his passing, those words returned when Cocktail arrived. "The first professional decision that genuinely kept me up at night was Cocktail. I didn't even walk into that meeting expecting it to become my first film." What she assumed would be a routine audition turned into a life-changing decision within twenty-four hours. "It completely threw me," she admits. She seriously considered walking away from the role, until she found herself returning to her father's question. "I remember seriously wondering whether I should say no, despite knowing it was an incredible opportunity."

Ask her what speaks to her first when an opportunity arrives now, and she doesn't reach for curiosity or excitement. "Instinct is usually the first thing that speaks to me," she says. "Quickly followed by fear." Her mind runs through the scenarios: "Am I making the right decision? What if this changes everything? Am I ready for it?" For Penty, a pause is essential for clarity. She doesn't decide on the spot. She waits, sometimes a day, sometimes longer, and lets the feeling either hold or dissolve. "If something feels right on day one, it almost always feels right after I've slept on it and if something feels off, that feeling rarely goes away either."

It is closer to testing a structure for weight before standing on it. She has never operated with a five-year plan. "At every stage, I simply tried to make the best decision with the information I had at the time," she says. "I didn't plan to become a model, and I certainly didn't grow up planning to become an actor. Each opportunity arrived unexpectedly, so I never really thought too far ahead. I just kept asking myself whether it felt like the right thing to explore at that point in my life."

On Being Seen

Penty has spent most of her adult life in professions built around appearance, and for a long time, appearance was the thing she trusted least about herself. Modelling arrived as an unexpected detour for a Mass Media student who imagined her future in advertising and marketing. What she couldn't have predicted was that the qualities she had spent years feeling self-conscious about would become the very ones that opened the first door. "The irony is that, despite constantly being told I should model because I was tall and skinny, I never really believed it myself," she says. "I'd spent so many years feeling awkward, lanky and self-conscious that I couldn't see what everyone else seemed to see."

The early days were neither glamorous nor easy. "I was painfully shy in front of the camera and had no idea how to pose or feel comfortable in my own skin," she says. "Looking back at some of those first photographs still makes me cringe a little." Confidence came gradually, but the more lasting shift was financial independence. Earning her own money in her early twenties changed the way she thought about freedom. It meant making choices because they felt right, rather than because they depended on somebody else's approval. "I genuinely believe it's one of the most empowering things a woman can have."

Over the years, her relationship with being seen has settled into something steadier. "I no longer look at myself through the lens of what I think other people expect me to be," she says. It is a comfort that took years to arrive at, one she doesn't take for granted now that it has.

Not every part of her, however, needs an audience. Penty has made a conscious decision to keep much of her personal life private, content with the distance between the woman people encounter in interviews and the one known only to family and close friends. "I'm a lot more self-deprecating and silly than the composed version people often see," she says. "But I've never really felt the need to convince anyone of that. The people who matter know me, and that's always been enough."

The Many Women She Has Been

Audiences met Penty as Meera first and, by her own admission, they have never quite let her go. She understands why. Cocktail happened fast. The response arrived before she'd had time to absorb the film itself, and her life changed overnight while she was still trying to keep up with it. It is only now, over a decade on, that the scale of that moment has caught up with her.

She doesn't resist the association. "The interesting thing is that Meera wasn't entirely separate from who I was then." Still finding her own place in the world, she saw herself in the character. "There were parts of her that came very naturally to me because I recognised them in myself." But she is clear about where the resemblance ends. Life changes a person, she says, and she is different from the one who walked onto that set. "She was real," Penty says. "She just isn't the whole story anymore."

The years since have filled in the picture. A runaway bride in Happy Bhag Jayegi, an army officer in Parmanu, and the poised Zinat-un-Nissa Begum in Chhaava. None of them Meera, exactly, but all of them recognisably drawn from the same well. Ask her about the women she is drawn to playing and the pattern shows up on its own. "I'm drawn to women who have a quiet strength about them," she says. "They don't have to be the loudest person in the room. They don't have to prove themselves all the time. They're resilient, emotionally intelligent and grounded." It reads less like a description of characters and more like a description of the woman choosing them.

The Interior World

Before social media existed to shape a childhood, hers was shaped by Enid Blyton mysteries, by Nancy Drew and The Hardy Boys. Rushing home from school to Doogie Howser, The Wonder Years, and Blossom was an essential ritual.

Ask her what a day off looks like now, and she will remind you that Sundays don't really exist in this industry; a free day is just as likely to land on a Tuesday. But whenever one does arrive, it tends to look the same. Slow mornings, a cup of tea, "probably one too many coffees through the day," and time spent looking out at the trees from her window, especially once the monsoon sets in. Watching the rain, she says, is one of her favourite ways to spend time. "It has a way of making everything feel quieter and more grounded."

Lately, she has been reading books about perspective, about how people relate to themselves and the world around them, drawn to anything that nudges her toward a little more awareness, a little more gratitude. Her animals anchor the hours in between. "A lot of my day revolves around my animals too. Between the dogs, cats and rescues at home, there's always something happening." There is another obsession, one she admits to almost sheepishly: she spends a surprising amount of time daydreaming about redesigning spaces, some corner of the house always mid-reimagining. She finds it strangely therapeutic.

"We're here on rent, really," she says, of the earth and everyone sharing it. "We could all do a better job of coexisting with a little more kindness and awareness." It is the thing occupying her mind these days.

Her Own Rhythm

If Penty could say one thing to her younger self, it wouldn't be a warning. It would be reassurance. "I'd tell her that the things she worried about would eventually become the things she'd embrace," she says. "Growing into yourself takes time. There's no rush."

Looking back, what gives her the greatest satisfaction isn't any one milestone but the knowledge that she never lost sight of herself. "When I look back at my body of work, the greatest sense of satisfaction comes from knowing that I've done it in a way that feels true to me. I'm proud that I've managed to navigate an industry that's incredibly dynamic and demanding without losing sight of who I am."

Somewhere in a Singapore mall, a small girl once wandered off entirely certain she wasn't lost. It seems she was right all along.

Team Credits: 

Editorial Director: Ainee Nizami Ahmedi; Videographer: Akshay Pawar; Fashion Editor: Shaeroy Chinoy; Asst Art Director: Shrushti Sudhakar; Makeup: Nikita Thadani; Hair: Sanjana Ghedia at Eficiente Artist Management; Words by: Riddhi Mishra; Editorial Coordinator: Nirja Shah; Set Design: Sneh Lad; Assisted by: Hardika Singh, Muskan Mehta (Styling), Kripa Elsa Varghese, Disha Talwar (Bookings); Artist Reputation Management: Communiqué Film PR (@communiquéfilmpr)

1.  Vinita Bhansali

Every Vinita Bhansali creation reflects Rajasthan's rich cultural heritage through vibrant colour, intricate craftsmanship, and timeless silhouettes. Entirely hand embroidered by master artisans in Jaipur, the label preserves techniques once reserved for royalty, reinterpreting them for the modern festive wardrobe. Its latest collection, RangKamal, celebrates an expressive interplay of bold Indian hues, with every ensemble subtly anchored by a lotus motif, a signature woven throughout the collection. With the recent opening of its flagship store in Jaipur, the city that continues to inspire its design language, the label reaffirms its commitment to preserving heritage craftsmanship while shaping a distinctly contemporary vision of Indian couture.

Instagram:- @vinitabhansaliofficial


2. Sitaara by Sama

Founded by Sama Verma, Sitaara by Sama is redefining occasion wear through a unique convergence of jewellery and fashion. The label’s standout creations feature fully crystal-embellished blouses, crafted over countless hours and adorned in a spectrum of crystal tones that shimmer like fine jewellery. Designed to be the focal point of every look, they are paired with elegant saree silhouettes that complement the glamour of the blouse while allowing its craftsmanship to take centre stage. For women seeking statement dressing with exceptional craftsmanship, Sitaara by Sama delivers sparkle in its most refined form.

Instagram:- @sitaarabysama

3. Kajal’s Couture

Rooted in the rich textile traditions of Western India, The Gujarat Archives by Kajals Couture, based in Surat, Gujarat, is a masterclass in heritage storytelling. The collection reimagines the artistry of Bandhani and Patola, elevated by intricate Mochi and Marodi embroidery. By artfully balancing historic motifs with fluid, contemporary silhouettes, the luxury label honors meticulous regional techniques. It is a stunning, modern portfolio where ancestral craft meets editorial edge, designed for the fashion forward wardrobe.

Instagram:- @kajalscouture240

4. Kasbah

The modern man is embracing occasion dressing with a renewed sense of confidence, where craftsmanship speaks louder than excess. Mirror work, once reserved for tradition, is being reinterpreted through clean silhouettes, understated opulence, and impeccable detailing. At Kasbah, every kurta is designed to strike that rare balance between heritage and contemporary sophistication, effortless enough to feel modern, yet distinctive enough to command attention. It’s a celebration of Indian artistry, tailored for the discerning gentleman who believes true luxury lies not in being loud, but in being unforgettable.

Instagram:- @kasbah___

5.  Label Shivani Nirupam

Shivani Nirupam redefines modern Indian luxury with a vibrant, celebratory aesthetic that beautifully merges heritage storytelling with contemporary silhouettes. Renowned for its artistic digital prints ranging from intricate Warli art to whimsical floral motifs ,the label breathes fresh life into traditional wear. Spanning flowy organza and satin anarkalis, pre-draped luxury sarees, and embellished lehengas, each piece is meticulously handcrafted with 3D florals, cutdana, sequins, and unique kaudi shell detailing. It is the ultimate go-to brand for the modern woman seeking playful yet sophisticated festive luxury.

Instagram:- @labelshivaninirupam

6.  Laromani

Redefining contemporary groomswear, Laromani seamlessly blends age-old Indian craftsmanship with modern, sharp silhouettes. Catering to the modern man who values heritage and sophistication, the brand excels in handcrafted luxury. From rich velvet sherwanis adorned with intricate zari work to flawlessly tailored Jodhpuri Bandhgalas and draped Indo-Western kurta sets, each piece reflects an affordable yet premium aesthetic. Ideal for everything from grand weddings to festive celebrations, Laromani delivers impeccable, trend-setting designs for discerning buyers seeking timeless elegance.

Instagram:- @laromaniofficial

If there was ever a case for swapping predictable festive colours for liquid metallics, Vaani Kapoor has just made it. Stepping out in a shimmering Rohit Gandhi + Rahul Khanna lehenga, covered in intricate embellishments and cut in a sleek, sculptural silhouette, the ensemble struck the perfect balance between contemporary glamour and couture precision.

When Liquid Metallics Take Centre Stage

Rather than relying on colour, the ensemble let texture do all the talking. Thousands of hand-applied embellishments created a fluid, almost molten effect across the lehenga, catching the light with every movement. Signature to Rohit Gandhi + Rahul Khanna’s design language, the look showcased meticulous craftsmanship while maintaining a sleek, modern edge.

The muted metallic palette kept the ensemble elevated, making it equally suited to cocktail soirées, receptions and after-dark celebrations.

A Sweetheart Neckline That Steals The Spotlight

The blouse brought structure to the otherwise fluid silhouette. Designed with a sculpted sweetheart neckline and a dramatic halter neck that wrapped elegantly around the shoulders, it framed the look beautifully while echoing the intricate embellishments seen throughout the ensemble.

The result felt architectural yet feminine.

The Mermaid Silhouette Does The Rest

The fitted mermaid lehenga skimmed the body before softly flaring towards the hem, allowing the embellishments to create movement rather than volume. Instead of dramatic layers, the silhouette relied on precision tailoring and fluid draping, lending the ensemble an effortless sense of glamour.

A sheer embellished drape added just enough softness, complementing the structured blouse without distracting from it.

Metallic Dressing Has Officially Entered Its Festive Era

Metallics have steadily moved beyond evening gowns and red carpets, finding a new place within Indian occasionwear. Vaani Kapoor’s latest look is proof that when combined with thoughtful craftsmanship and contemporary silhouettes, a metallic lehenga can feel just as timeless as traditional jewel tones. It’s festive dressing with a distinctly modern point of view.

FAQs

Who designed Vaani Kapoor’s metallic lehenga?

Vaani Kapoor wore a metallic embellished lehenga by designers Rohit Gandhi + Rahul Khanna, known for their contemporary take on couture craftsmanship.

What is a sweetheart neckline?

A sweetheart neckline is a low-cut neckline on a dress or top that curves along the bust, resembling the top half of a heart. It is known for enhancing natural curves, accentuating the collarbone, and elongating the neck, making it a universally flattering and romantic choice.

Are metallic lehengas suitable for weddings?

Yes. Metallic lehengas have become a popular choice for cocktail parties, receptions and evening wedding celebrations, offering a glamorous alternative to traditional festive colours.

Beauty used to be simple: buy a product you loved, use it up, and enjoy it. Today, the beauty world moves at lightning speed, with exciting new launches, fresh packaging, and “must-try” finds popping up on our feeds almost every day. It’s easy to get caught up in discovering the next favorite before the last one is even finished.

That’s part of what makes beauty so fun. But it’s also nice to remember that you don’t have to try everything. Sometimes the best beauty routine is the one that feels good for you, whether that means testing every new launch or happily sticking with the products you already love.

When Trends Became Content

Beauty used to be personal, now it's all about the content. A product isn't just a product anymore, it's a video, a review or a "get ready with me," a reason for someone to go viral. And somewhere in all that noise, we stopped buying things because we wanted them and started buying things because everyone else seemed to have them first. Trends move so quick that by the time you've actually tried something, it's already old news. There's always a "next" one waiting.

Trying to Keep Up With What’s New

FOMO is real, I have to say. When you don't have that one product everyone's talking about, it genuinely gets to you. It's such a small thing, a blush, a serum, a lip oil, but not having it makes you feel like you're missing out on something bigger. Like you're falling behind in a race you didn't even sign up for. And the annoying part is, you know it's silly, you know you don't need it. But the feeling doesn't matter what you know. It just sits there nagging, until you cave in and buy it anyway.

Beauty's Never-Ending Upgrade Culture

Nothing feels finished anymore. There's always something new happening, some upgraded version, some "better" formula and with it comes this constant urge to upgrade too. It never used to be like this. I remember actually finishing a whole bottle of foundation before I even thought about getting a new one. You'd use it down to the last drop because that was just normal. Now, the moment something exciting shows up, we buy it, even if the old one is barely half used. Our makeup vanity are living-proof of this. Half-used bottles everywhere, each one left around the second something pretty-looking came along.

The Rise of Beauty Fatigue

And that's where the tiredness probably creeps in. Not tired of beauty itself, I still love it, but tired of the pressure that comes with it. Tired of feeling like I need to know about every new launch, every viral product, every "you need this in your routine" video. Tired of my wishlist growing faster than I can ever actually use what I already own. Beauty was supposed to be fun, a little ritual, something that made you feel good. But somewhere along the way it turned into a race with no finish line and races like that don't leave room to breathe.

Maybe it's just slowing down. Finishing what you have before buying what's next. Letting a product be just a product again, not a badge of keeping up. Because at some point, the constant chasing stops being exciting and starts being exhausting. And I think a lot of us are already there, we just haven't said it out loud yet.

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The internet has spent the better part of the last few weeks dissecting every frame of Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey. Ever since the first trailer dropped, social media has been flooded with theories about Homer's epic, debates over its casting, appreciation posts for its practical effects and, naturally, endless excitement over what Nolan might do after Oppenheimer. By the time the film arrives in cinemas this Friday, it has already become one of the year's most talked-about releases.

While much of the spotlight has understandably been on Matt Damon as Odysseus, Tom Holland's Telemachus, Zendaya's Athena and Anne Hathaway's Penelope, one performance quietly stays long after the credits roll. British-Indian actor Himesh Patel steps into the sandals of Eurylochus, Odysseus' second-in-command, brother-in-law and, perhaps most importantly, the man brave enough to question a leader everyone else continues to follow.

It's a deceptively difficult role. Eurylochus isn't the hero, nor is he the villain. He is the audience's conscience, watching, questioning and ultimately forced into impossible decisions as Odysseus' long journey home becomes increasingly consumed by grief, pride and divine intervention.

When we connect over Zoom, Patel is warm and refreshingly understated. Before we dive into mythology and movie-making, he tells me he had already heard about Mumbai's reception to The Odyssey.

"It's a shame I couldn't come out there," he says with a smile. "I saw some of the pictures, and I saw Matt this morning. He said it was so great—the crowds were amazing, everyone was wonderful."

That generosity, towards his co-stars, towards the crew and towards the audience, runs through our conversation. Over the next few minutes, Patel talks about finding the humanity inside Greek mythology, reuniting with Christopher Nolan after Tenet, spending months opposite Matt Damon, filming one of the most technically ambitious movies ever made and why seeing South Asian actors occupy space in blockbusters of this scale still feels quietly revolutionary.

"He's Watching Someone He Loves Slowly Slip Away"

Greek epics have a habit of dividing characters into heroes and villains. Eurylochus belongs to neither category. If anything, Patel sees him as one of the story's most tragic figures.

"This is his king through war," he explains. "He trusts him. He loves him. But he has to watch as Odysseus' judgement becomes more and more impaired."

For Patel, Eurylochus isn't motivated by rebellion.

"His faith in his king's ability to lead slowly erodes," he says. "That leaves him in this heartbreaking place where he feels he has no choice but to make a decision that, unbeknownst to him, is going to doom them."

It's what makes Eurylochus feel surprisingly modern. He's the voice asking difficult questions when everyone else is too afraid to. Patel is drawn to that moral ambiguity.

"It ends up in this really interesting morally grey area," he says. "That's what I found fascinating about him."

That complexity also explains why Eurylochus never feels like the stereotypical doubter audiences might expect. Even when he challenges Odysseus, it comes from loyalty rather than ego.

Christopher Nolan Doesn't Hold Your Hand—He Trusts You

Patel first worked with Christopher Nolan on Tenet, but The Odyssey gave him the opportunity to collaborate with the filmmaker on a much larger scale.

Given Nolan's reputation for precision, you might expect lengthy rehearsals and detailed conversations about every emotional beat. Patel laughs at the suggestion. "Chris kind of leaves you to it." Instead, Nolan's approach is rooted in trust. "Unless he feels we need to have a conversation, we don't have one. He trusts your intelligence as an actor."

That freedom surprised Patel when they first worked together, but now it's something he actively enjoys. Rather than overanalysing every scene, Patel found himself having conversations with Matt Damon about where Odysseus and Eurylochus stood emotionally before simply stepping in front of the camera.

"We'd just get it on its feet and let it become what it became," he says. "Chris would then gently nudge us if he felt we needed to move in another direction." It's an approach that leaves plenty of room for instinct, something Patel believes benefits performances.

The IMAX Cameras Demand Perfection

One of the biggest talking points surrounding The Odyssey is its technical achievement.Nolan shot the film entirely using IMAX cameras—a first made possible by new technology developed with IMAX engineers. Patel remembers feeling the pressure every single day. "You're incredibly aware of that camera," he says.

Not just because of its physical size. "The film running through it is incredibly expensive, so you don't want to waste a take."

Every shot also came with technical considerations. The roll only holds around two-and-a-half minutes of film, meaning scenes often had to be carefully choreographed around reloads. "There's a technicality to it, but there's also just a respect that the camera commands," Patel says.

"Once that thing starts rolling, everybody is completely on it." He pauses before adding one final thought that perfectly captures Nolan's obsession with cinema. "You're immortalising every single moment in the highest resolution available on this planet."

How Do You Build Mythology Without Leaning On CGI?

Even Patel admits he spent much of pre-production wondering how Nolan intended to bring Greek mythology to life, be it the Cyclopes, Sirens, sea monsters or whirlpools. "I just kept thinking... how?"

The answer, he says, revealed itself one practical effect at a time. "Every step along the way there'd be some incredible engineering that allowed us to achieve these moments practically." Perhaps the biggest surprise? "People will assume some sequences are CGI."

They're not, he points specifically to Samantha Morton's Circe sequence. "There's no CGI in that transformation." Instead, Nolan resurrected filmmaking techniques that Hollywood has largely abandoned in the digital era.

"Chris kept asking, 'Why have we forgotten these techniques? Let's bring them back.'" For Patel, that's ultimately what audiences respond to. "He understands what practical filmmaking gives an audience experientially. It genuinely feels different."

Matt Damon Leads By Example

Patel spends much of The Odyssey opposite Matt Damon, something he describes as one of the greatest learning experiences of his career. "I can't speak highly enough of him." While his talent was never in doubt, it was Damon's generosity that left the strongest impression.

"He's funny. He's constantly cracking jokes. He's kind to everyone on set." Watching him lead such a huge production changed Patel's perspective on movie stardom. "He has absolutely none of the airs and graces you'd associate with being a star. He's just another one of the gang."

Representation Is About The Kids Watching

Our conversation eventually turns to representation, particularly after the online conversations surrounding The Odyssey's diverse cast. Patel's answer is thoughtful rather than defensive. He speaks instead about childhood.

Growing up as a British-Indian boy, films like Troy or Gladiator were thrilling—but they never reflected someone who looked like him. "There was no chance I was going to see someone like me in those movies."

That's why The Odyssey matters. "I hope young South Asian kids—in India, in the UK and in the US—can see themselves in a film like this." He smiles. "Because it would've meant the world to me."

He also lights up while talking about the growing community of South Asian actors working across Britain and Hollywood. "There are so many of us now doing really great work, and we're all getting to know each other. That community is really important to me." He's currently writing his own film too, a detail he mentions almost in passing, but one that hints at the stories he hopes to tell next.

A Film Built To Be Watched Again

Before we wrap up, I ask Patel what he hopes audiences carry with them after watching The Odyssey. His answer isn't about spectacle. It's about reflection."People should absolutely watch it more than once," he  laughs. Not because they'll miss plot points, but because every viewing reveals another emotional layer. "There's family, faith, love, war, identity... all these themes exist together."

For him, Nolan's greatest achievement wasn't simply adapting Homer. It was making a 3,000-year-old story feel immediate without losing its complexity. "Everyone kept saying you couldn't make The Odyssey," Patel says. "The moment I read the script, I thought, 'He's done it.'" Finally, I ask him to describe the film in three words. He pauses before answering:

"Monumental. Intelligent. Thrilling."

And after spending time talking to him, those three words don't just describe The Odyssey. They quietly describe the journey Himesh Patel has been on, too.

Also, read:

Before Someone Mansplains The Odyssey, Here's What You Should Know

The activewear market in India today is extremely saturated, with no shortage of brands promising the softest fabric, the best fit, the smoothest feel when you're moving. But scratch beneath the marketing, and very few of them are actually built for the women wearing them. Most performance wear sold here is designed elsewhere first — cut for different climates, different body types, different lifestyles — and adapted for the Indian market almost as an afterthought. The result is a category full of options but strangely short on fit: silhouettes that don't flatter every body type, fabrics that can't hold up to India's heat and humidity, and pieces that only make sense for the one hour you're actually at the gym.

Harshita Motaparthi and Pravishta Nadella, Founders of Mile Collective, recognised this exact gap when they set out to build a homegrown activewear brand from the ground up — one rooted in research. That thinking became ‘On The Go’, their debut collection, designed around a simple but overlooked idea: that movement looks different for every woman, and her clothing should move with her, not against her. The brand's profile got a further boost with actor Samantha Ruth Prabhu coming on board as co-founder, bringing her own perspective on product, storytelling and community to the table.

We sat down with Harshita and Pravishta to talk about what it took to build On The Go, why they chose to design for real life instead of just the gym, and where Mile Collective goes from here.

ELLE: Mile Collective's debut activewear collection, On The Go, is built around the idea of clothing that moves with women throughout the day. What was the starting point for the collection, and what gap in the market were you hoping to address?

Mile Collective (MC): It all started with a problem I was personally facing myself. I couldn't find high-quality activewear in India that felt premium without being overpriced, so I decided to build it.

As we spent more time researching and talking to women, we realised the problem went far beyond price or availability. Most activewear in the market was designed with Western consumers in mind, right from the fabrics and fits to the silhouettes, without considering what Indian women actually need. That's what led to "On The Go," our debut collection. We wanted to create pieces that recognised movement looks different for every woman, so the collection was designed to be versatile enough to support everything from low-impact activities to more intense workouts. We paired that with fabrics suited for India's climate, tested them for durability and everyday wear, and designed silhouettes that are flattering, functional, and comfortable.

ELLE: Performance wear has traditionally been built around fitness, but the On The Go Leggings and Sports Bra are positioned to work far beyond the gym. Was that a conscious reframing, and what design and fabric decisions made it possible?

MC: Absolutely — that was a conscious decision from day one. We felt the conversation around activewear had become too closely tied to fitness, when in reality, movement means something different to every woman. It could be walking your dog, travelling, running errands, chasing after your kids, or spending hours at work before heading to a workout class. We wanted to design products that support women through all of those moments, not just the one hour they're in the gym. That's why we called the collection On The Go — it's built for real life. Pieces that perform when you need them to, but are comfortable and versatile enough to wear for the rest of your day as well.

ELLE: The foundation of the collection is its comfort-first fabric. Beyond softness and breathability, what were the non-negotiables when developing it?

MC: Durability was a key focus from the beginning. We know washing habits in India are often far more demanding than in many Western markets, so we tested our fabrics and construction to withstand repeated washes without compromising on performance or appearance. The goal was simple: create everyday essentials that last, reducing the need for frequent replacements and encouraging more mindful consumption.

ELLE: As an Indian brand, how much did body diversity specifically shape the way this collection came together?

MC: Quite a bit. India has a huge range of body types, and it didn't make sense to simply adapt silhouettes designed for a different market. We spent a lot of time making sure the fits genuinely flatter Indian women, rather than assuming one global size logic would translate here.

ELLE: Activewear has increasingly become part of everyday wardrobes rather than something reserved for workouts. How do you see that relationship between fashion and functionality evolving over the next few years?

MC: I think we're moving towards a future where functionality becomes the expectation, not the differentiator. Women no longer want separate wardrobes for workouts, work, travel, and everyday life — they want fewer, better pieces that can do it all. Performance, comfort, and style will increasingly exist together rather than as trade-offs. The brands that succeed will be the ones designing products for real life, where women can move seamlessly from one part of their day to the next without having to change what they're wearing. That's exactly the future we're building towards at Mile.

ELLE: With Samantha Ruth Prabhu joining as a co-founder, how has her perspective influenced the way Mile Collective approaches product, storytelling and community?

MC: Samantha has always believed that movement is about feeling strong and confident, not chasing perfection, and that aligns closely with what we wanted Mile to stand for. Since coming on board as a co-founder, she's brought a very customer-first perspective to everything we do — she's deeply involved in product feedback, brand storytelling, and thinking about how we build a genuine community around the brand. Having someone who is both incredibly discerning as a consumer and deeply invested in the brand has been invaluable.

ELLE: This is Mile Collective's debut activewear collection, but it also hints at a larger vision. Beyond On The Go, what can we expect from the brand in the future?

MC: On The Go is just the beginning. We believe there's still a huge opportunity to build a truly world-class activewear brand for Indian women, and our immediate focus is on doubling down on the category — there are so many gaps left to solve, from product innovation and performance to fit and versatility. Our long-term vision extends beyond activewear too. As we continue to earn our customers' trust, we'll thoughtfully expand into other areas of their wardrobe, always with the same philosophy of creating premium, functional products designed for the realities of everyday life.

Explore the collection and all things activewear here.

The rustic tablecloths, Diana Spencer's (or Marilyn Monroe's) pants, Brigitte Bardot's bridal look, Dorothy's percale apron from The Wizard of Oz, or those squeezed at the waist of the housewives of the Fifties. Again; the padded protuberances of Rei Kawakubo in the seminal Body Meets Dress, Dress Meets Body, between faux cul, humps and hypertrophic breasts in a great subversion (and reflection) of the female body. Gingham and its infinite variations, its multiple meanings, its different stylistic eras; squared fabric that came from India where in reality it had different connotations. From the Malaysian genggang, or striped, check was reconfigured, arriving in Europe first and then the United States, spun relatively cheaply by a Manchester weaving company that, in the mid-eighteenth century, patented the pattern that we still know today. Some say that the term derives from the Breton town of Guingamp, while the fantasy is often called Vichy on the hook of the common spa where the French believed the cloth originated

Light but tenacious, easy to produce, in the twentieth century it became popular all over the world, a reason both for girls' fru fru fru dresses and for the robes of women engaged in domestic work and portrayed with gingham dresses with airy skirts and scalloped aprons. As is often the case, it was Hollywood that broke the fabric of its home heritage: Katherine Hepburn as Tracy Lord, the rich heir to Scandalo in Philadelphia who, separated from her husband, is preparing to marry a young nouveau rich dressed (also) in squares, behind the hand of the great MGM costume designer Adrian who made the ruffled check skirt for her, back from a mythological tall outfit designed just one year first for Judy Garland as Dorothy Gale in The Wizard of Oz, in an iconic squared apron.

How Hollywood transformed gingham into a style icon

Or Lauren again Bacall by Acque del Sud screwed into a suit with marked shoulders and a tight waist designed by Milo Anderson, not to mention the group of divas whose imagination declined even beyond celluloid, including a Shirley Buchanan posing with squared beachwear, or a Doris Day in a pastel sheath lying on a sofa with Rock Hudson.

If Hollywood changed the perception of gingham, while continuing to evoke that domestic respectability embodied by the impeccable housewives of pop culture, it was on the Left Bank and the Côte d'Azur that the fabric took on an unexpected allure; more sensual, more carefree, infinitely more desirable. Like the skirt supported by layers of petticoats dancing in the footsteps of a young Brigitte Bardot in Voulez-vous danser avec moi? , a manifesto of a free and hopelessly chic femininity signed by Jacques Esterel with four hands with costume designer Rosine Delamare. 

Also by Esterel, the wedding dress worn by the actress — and again in 1959 — to get married to Jacques Charrier, inevitably one of the  most famous bridal looks in the history of the genre. Cheeky, quick, very short with a tone-on-tone lowered belt with white and blue squares, the dress worn by Jane Birkins on the edge of Jacques Deray's La Piscine, hopelessly sexy as any dress touched the most French of the British. True divas, and yet not the only game changers in the history of gingham that saw Barbara Hulanicki's touch across the Channel. 

The story — curious — was told some time ago by the magazine AnOther, explaining how the fashion editor of the Daily Mirror Felicity Green, in 1964, was creating a report on young women career women and would have liked to include Hulanicki, who had recently opened his Biba mail-order boutique, with the request for a model that, made ad hoc for the piece, could be sold for 25 shillings. Et voilà, the sleeveless pastel pink checkered dress, a sign on cloth of a (youthful) spirit of the time that earned Biba seventeen thousand orders.

Having earned their reputation à la mode, there are not many designers who have included gingham in their collections over time. . And if the unforgettable Azzedine Alaïa in the Spring Summer of 1991 sent delicious bodycon sets to the platform from the checks (actually houndstooth but completely similar to the Vichy motif) now enlarged and now reduced, including trench coats, tops, fuseaux, minis and culottes that were inspired by the logo of the Parisian department stores Tati, it was Rei Kawakubo who finally subverted the cuteness of the print, with gingham bulges on the silhouette in an exploration of the dressed body that ended up in fashion history manuals. “It's our job to question conventions — was the designer's line to Vogue —. If we don't take risks who will?”

After all, Gingham has never told a single ideal of a woman and from a domestic uniform to a manifesto of freedom, from a bourgeois habit to a land of experimentation, few reasons have crossed eras (and styles) with the same ability to change meaning, each time reflecting a different idea of femininity. 

Read the original article on ELLE Italy

Not every blockbuster has to be a masterpiece. Some are brilliant, some are forgettable and some simply don’t live up to the hype. Yet female-led action films are often expected to justify the entire genre in a way male-led films never are. As Supergirl (2026) joins a growing list of women-fronted blockbusters met with mixed reactions, it’s worth asking why one film is still expected to answer a question that male superheroes never have to: whether women belong at the centre of action cinema.

It happened with Captain Marvel. It happened with The Marvels. And now, following the release of Supergirl, the same discussion has resurfaced. 

Supergirl isn’t above criticism. Reviews have been mixed, with many praising Milly Alcock’s performance while arguing that the film struggles with pacing, an overcrowded story and inconsistent character development. Those are perfectly valid criticisms. Every blockbuster deserves to be judged on what it gets right and wrong. But somewhere between discussing the screenplay and the box office, the conversation changed. Instead of asking why this film worked or didn't work, people began asking whether women could carry the franchise at all. 

That leap is definitely worth questioning. 

The Freedom To Fail

Male superheroes are allowed to fail individually. When a Batman movie disappoints, no one concludes that audiences no longer want Batman. A Thor sequel underperforms, Marvel doesn’t question whether male heroes have reached their limit. The blame usually falls on the script, franchise fatigue or marketing. 

Female led action films rarely get the same luxury. A disappointing opening weekend or mixed reviews often becomes “proof” that women-led blockbusters don’t sell, despite decades of successful examples proving otherwise. One film ends up standing trial for an entire category. 

Taken Seriously Or Not At All 

There’s a subtle but persistent double standard in how female-led action films are discussed. Male-led blockbusters are generally assumed to belong in the genre by default. Their place isn’t questioned. Critics and audiences debate the quality of the screenplay, the action sequences or the performances, but rarely whether the film deserves to exist.

Female-led blockbusters don’t always receive that same benefit of the doubt. Their action sequences are often scrutinised more heavily, their emotional moments dismissed as being “too soft”, and their commercial prospects questioned long before they’ve had the chance to find an audience. Even valid criticism can become entangled with assumptions about whether women are convincing action heroes in the first place.

That difference in framing matters. It means female-led action films are too often treated as experiments that need to justify themselves, while male-led films are simply accepted as another entry in a long-established tradition. Until women are afforded the same presumption of legitimacy, they’ll continue to be judged by a different set of rules.

We’ve Seen This Before

The conversation around Yash Raj’s Alpha, starring Alia Bhatt and Sharvari, followed a similar trajectory. 

Long before audiences had fully processed the film itself, debates emerged as to whether women can successfully lead large scale sci-fi franchises. Rather than focussing on the films strengths and weaknesses, the discussion divulged into whether Bollywood should continue investing in female led action movies all together. It was an oddly familiar response.

The reaction to Alpha showed that this isn’t just a Hollywood phenomenon. Across industries, conversations about female-led action films can quickly become conversations about the future of women in the genre itself. 

The Marketing Trap

Part of the issue is that Hollywood still tends to market female led movies as first time events. They are presented as milestones rather than simply movies. 

“The first woman to…”

“A ground breaking female superhero…”

“A historic action female led”

Representation matters, but constantly framing woman-led blockbusters as exceptional reinforces the idea that they are departures from the norm rather than being a part of it. Audiences pick up on that framing and treat the films differently as a result. When you position something as an exception, and it will inevitably be judged as one. 

Celebrated, Then Forgotten

Some might argue that films like Wonder Woman or Barbie prove audiences happily support female-led stories. They do. But they also reveal another pattern.

When these films succeed, they’re often described as exceptions or rare phenomena. When one underperforms, it becomes evidence that audiences aren’t interested in women-led blockbusters at all. The standards remain uneven regardless of the outcome. When one underperforms, it becomes evidence that audiences aren't interested in female led blockbusters at all. 

The Real Measure Of Progress 

Perhaps we’ve been asking the wrong questions all along. Instead of asking whether women can lead blockbuster franchises, we should be asking why we keep asking that question in the first place.

Supergirl may not work for everyone. That’s completely fair. Films are subjective, and blockbuster criticism is part of the fun. But acknowledging its flaws doesn't require turning one movie into a verdict on an entire gender. 

The real sign of progress won't be when every female led blockbuster becomes a masterpiece. It’ll be when women are finally allowed to make average films, great films and terrible films without carrying the weight of proving that women belong in the genre. 

Male heroes have enjoyed that freedom for decades. Perhaps it’s time female heroes did too. 

Love rarely arrives with perfect timing. Sometimes you meet someone who seems to tick every box but careers, distance, emotional baggage or personal struggles get in the way. That's when the idea of the right person, wrong time starts to feel comforting. It offers hope that maybe the story isn't over — just paused. But relationship psychology suggests things aren't always that simple. While timing does matter, so do emotional availability, communication and shared goals.

It's easy to mistake unfinished feelings for destiny, especially when someone left a lasting impact. The bigger question isn't whether they're your soulmate but whether the relationship could genuinely thrive if life looked different. Before waiting around or convincing yourself that fate is simply taking its time, it's worth asking whether you're holding onto love or holding onto an idea of what love could have been.

When Love Feels Right But Life Doesn't

Sometimes everything clicks between two people, except their circumstances. One person may be building a career abroad, while the other isn't ready to leave home. One may still be healing from heartbreak, while the other wants commitment now. It can genuinely feel like you've met the right person at the wrong time and that's what makes letting go so difficult.

But timing isn't just about calendars or long-distance flights. It's also about emotional readiness. Healthy relationships need two people who are willing and able to show up fully. If life's demands constantly push the relationship aside, it may not be the connection that's failing. It may simply be that both people are in different chapters and that's okay.

Chemistry Isn't Enough To Build A Future

Strong chemistry can make two people feel completely inseparable. The conversations flow, attraction is undeniable and it seems like you've finally found your soulmate. But chemistry alone doesn't guarantee compatibility. Shared values, trust, emotional maturity and the ability to solve problems together often matter far more in the long run. 

This is where relationship psychology becomes interesting. Many people confuse emotional intensity with lasting love. Missing someone deeply doesn't always mean they're meant for you but it simply means they mattered. If the same issues continue to resurface whenever you reconnect, timing may not be the real obstacle. 

The relationship itself may be struggling to meet your emotional needs. That's why dating advice often focuses less on butterflies and more on consistency. Real love isn't only about feeling connected during the good moments; it's about whether you can build a stable future together without constantly hoping circumstances will magically change.

Are You Waiting For Love Or Avoiding Reality?

Holding onto the hope that "one day it'll work" can sometimes stop you from fully living in the present. Waiting feels safer than accepting that a relationship has reached its end. It allows you to believe the future will fix what today cannot, even when there's little evidence that anything is actually changing.

Moving on doesn't mean the relationship wasn't meaningful. It simply means you're choosing yourself instead of staying emotionally paused. Self-growth often begins when you stop asking, "What if?" and start asking, "What's next?" Sometimes closure isn't something another person gives you but it's something you decide to create for yourself.

The Right Person Won't Always Need The Perfect Time

There's truth to the saying that love needs timing but it also needs effort, communication and mutual commitment. When two people genuinely want the relationship to work, they usually look for solutions instead of waiting for life to become perfect. There will always be challenges but healthy relationships grow through them rather than around them.

So, is the right person wrong time real? Sometimes, yes. But it shouldn't become an excuse for years of waiting or ignoring reality. If someone is truly meant to be part of your life, they'll meet you with the same willingness to make it work. And if they don't, moving on isn't giving up on love. It's making space for a relationship that doesn't depend on perfect timing to survive.

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Twin Flame Or Soulmate: The Relationship Theory That's Dividing The Internet

It would be easy to call Amol Parashar an unconventional actor, but that would only tell half the story. Over the past decade, he's quietly built a career that refuses to follow the industry's rulebook, choosing thoughtful, character-driven projects over predictable star vehicles. Now, as he returns as the idealistic Dr Prabhat in Gram Chikitsalay Season 2, Parashar is once again reminding audiences that some of the most compelling heroes aren't the loudest in the room, they're simply the ones who refuse to compromise.

In conversation with ELLE India, Parashar opened up about revisiting Dr Prabhat, the surprising messages he's received from real-life doctors, producing theatre, his dream role as a serial killer and why he has absolutely no idea where he'll be five years from now.

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ELLE: You've spoken about receiving messages from real doctors who saw their own experiences reflected in the show. Did those conversations change how you think about telling stories rooted in reality?

AP: A lot of those messages also mentioned that they felt inspired by Prabhat, which is fascinating because he's not even a real doctor. He's a fictional character being played by an actor. But that's when you realise the power of storytelling. Even fictional characters can inspire people to become better versions of themselves. Many of these doctors told me they face similar challenges in their own careers. They're constantly making choices between sticking to their values or taking the easier route. Seeing someone on screen choose the harder but more ethical path can sometimes be encouraging.

It also reminded me of something we've perhaps lost in storytelling. Historically, stories often gave us characters who embodied ideals. They inspired us to be better people. Today, we tell many stories about flawed protagonists, which is important too, but there is something beautiful about characters who represent integrity and conviction. In that sense, Gram Chikitsalay feels a little old-school, and I mean that in the best way possible.

ELLE: Your career has never felt driven by trends. There's always a sense of intention behind the projects you choose. What's become your biggest yes or no when reading a script?

AP: The biggest filter is simple: does it engage me? If I lose trust in my own instinct, then what do I really have? Otherwise, you end up constantly asking other people what they think and basing your decisions on their opinions. I would rather make a wrong decision that belongs to me than a right decision that belongs to someone else. If a script genuinely excites me, then I feel there's probably something interesting there. It may not work, but if it doesn't, I'll learn something from that experience. That's how you grow. For me, it's important to own my choices completely.

ELLE: Has your definition of success changed over the years?

AP: Honestly, when I first came to Bombay, I didn't even have a definition of success. I thought I would stay for a year or two, do some theatre and eventually return to my corporate life. This entire acting journey started as a sabbatical. The funny thing is that the sabbatical has now lasted fifteen years.

Back then, there were no material goals attached to it. I wasn't dreaming about billboards, luxury cars or fame. The fact that I can make a living doing something I love already feels extraordinary. When I arrived in Mumbai, I didn't know anyone in the industry. I saw people come and go constantly. Every six months, there would be a new batch of hopeful actors, while others quietly disappeared.

The people who survived were often the people who simply refused to leave. I think perseverance matters more than people realise. There are countless days when your talent isn't rewarded. There are countless rejections. The only thing that keeps you going is genuinely loving what you do. That's probably the one thing I got right. I never wanted to quit because I lost. If I ever walked away, it had to be my decision.

ELLE: You've recently stepped into producing as well. What inspired that move?

AP: It actually began with theatre. I started my career on stage, and for almost a decade, I hadn't performed in a play because work on camera became so busy. Eventually, I realised I missed it. So I produced a one-man play for myself. Partly because I wanted to perform again and partly because coordinating schedules with other actors is a nightmare.

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We've now been running the show for over a year. We've travelled across India and even performed in London. It's been incredibly rewarding. The experience has also made me more interested in producing and developing stories. I'm even experimenting with writing for the screen. What I've realised is that after years of acting, you develop an instinct for storytelling. You start understanding what works, what connects with audiences and what doesn't. Producing allows me to explore that side of myself.

ELLE: Is there a role that people would never associate with you but is secretly at the top of your wishlist?

AP: I'd love to play a serial killer. Maybe if you ask one of my exes, they'll tell you it wouldn't be much of a stretch. But genuinely, I'd love to play someone completely removed from how people perceive me. Often people cast based on face value. They think, "He seems like a nice guy, let's cast him as a nice guy."

Thankfully, there are filmmakers who have a bigger imagination than that. A friend of mine is currently developing a project where he wants me to play a serial killer, and he's absolutely convinced I can do it. I'm hoping it happens because otherwise people will just keep offering me variations of the same role forever. And that's not why I became an actor.

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ELLE: If some of your most iconic characters were stuck in a room together, who would take charge and who would create chaos?

AP: Chitvan from Tripling would definitely create chaos. He'd walk in, blast some music and try to convince everyone to party. Prabhat would probably be the quiet one, wondering what on earth is happening. And if we're including Bhagat Singh, then he naturally becomes the leader. Not because he would demand it, but because that's simply the kind of person he was. As for the character who shouldn't be allowed into the room at all, it would probably be Balwant from Kull. He's genuinely one of the most terrible people I've ever played. No redeeming qualities whatsoever. I wouldn't want to spend time with him either.

ELLE: Five years from now, where do you see yourself?

AP: This feels like a job interview question. The honest answer is: I don't know. And I like it that way. Every time I've tried to predict where I'd be five years later, I've been wrong. This profession is simply too unpredictable.

Corporate life used to bother me because everything felt mapped out. You could almost see the next promotion, the next designation, the next step. Acting feels more like walking through a forest. There isn't a clear road. Sometimes you find a path, sometimes you create one. Sometimes you get lost. And sometimes, after hours of wandering, you suddenly arrive at a beautiful place you never expected to find. That's what I enjoy about it. I like planning my day. I like planning my week. But planning my entire life? That doesn't interest me at all. I think the uncertainty is part of the magic.

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Social media has turned love into a never-ending conversation. One minute, everyone's talking about attachment styles and the next, it's all about figuring out whether you've found your twin flame or your soulmate. From viral Instagram reels to Reddit debates, people are trying to decode the difference between a relationship that feels destined and one that simply feels right.

While the two are often confused, they promise very different experiences. One is said to challenge every part of you, while the other offers the kind of stability many people spend years looking for. But is there any truth behind these labels or are they simply modern ways of describing powerful emotional connections? Here's why the internet and especially millennials can't seem to stop talking about the Twin Flame vs Soulmate debate.

Why We're All Searching For 'The One'

The idea of finding someone who completely understands you has fascinated people for generations but social media has made the search feel more personal than ever. Millennials, in particular, are drawn to concepts like the twin flame and soulmate because they promise an explanation for why certain relationships feel unforgettable. Whether it's instant chemistry or an unshakable sense of familiarity, people naturally want meaning behind those feelings.

A soulmate is often described as someone whose values, compatibility and emotional support create a healthy relationship over time. A twin flame, on the other hand, is believed to mirror your deepest fears, strengths and insecurities, making the connection feel incredibly intense. While neither idea is backed by science, they continue to shape the way people understand modern relationships.

Peace Or Chaos? That's The Biggest Difference

If there's one thing that separates a twin flame from a soulmate, it's how the relationship feels over time. A soulmate connection is usually linked to comfort, trust and stability. You may still argue or disagree but the relationship tends to feel emotionally safe, allowing both people to grow together instead of constantly questioning where they stand.

A twin flame relationship is often described as far more unpredictable. Supporters of the theory believe these connections bring unresolved emotional patterns to the surface, which is why they can feel passionate one moment and overwhelming the next. The attraction can be incredibly strong but so can the emotional highs and lows. While some believe this chaos leads to personal growth, others argue that intensity shouldn't be confused with compatibility. In reality, healthy relationships are built on mutual respect, communication and consistency — not just overwhelming chemistry.

Is It Destiny Or Just Powerful Chemistry?

One of the biggest reasons the Twin Flame vs Soulmate conversation continues to trend is because people want to believe certain relationships happen for a reason. When someone enters your life at exactly the right moment and leaves a lasting impact, it's tempting to call it fate. That's where the idea of the twin flame becomes so appealing — it offers an explanation for connections that feel impossible to ignore.

At the same time, psychology suggests that a strong emotional attraction can also be influenced by shared experiences, attachment patterns and familiarity rather than destiny. A soulmate relationship doesn't have to arrive with fireworks to be meaningful. Sometimes the strongest connections are the ones that quietly build trust, emotional security and long-term compatibility. Whether you believe in destiny or not, the healthiest relationships are the ones that help you become a happier version of yourself rather than constantly leaving you emotionally exhausted.

Maybe The Label Matters Less Than The Lesson

Whether someone is your twin flame or your soulmate, the label doesn't automatically determine the future of the relationship. What matters far more is how the connection makes you feel every day. Does it bring emotional safety? Does it encourage growth? Does it leave room for honesty, respect and genuine happiness?

The internet loves putting relationships into neat little categories but real life rarely works that way. Some people arrive to teach you difficult lessons, while others stay because they bring peace and stability. Instead of chasing a title, focus on the kind of relationship that supports your emotional wellbeing. Because at the end of the day, the right person shouldn't leave you wondering whether they're your destiny but they should simply make life feel better with them in it.

FAQs

What is a twin flame?

A twin flame is believed to be someone who mirrors your deepest emotions, encouraging intense personal growth and transformation.

What is the difference between a twin flame and a soulmate?

A soulmate brings stability and compatibility, while a twin flame is often linked to emotional intensity and personal transformation.

Which is better: a twin flame or a soulmate?

Neither is better. It depends on whether the relationship supports your emotional wellbeing, growth and long-term happiness.

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The “5:1 Ratio” Theory Is The Healthy Relationship Advice We Needed

If there's one film everyone seems to be talking about this week, it's The Odyssey. Timelines are flooded with clips of its breathtaking visuals, debates over its adaptation of Homer's epic and, of course, the familiar Christopher Nolan discourse. Every new Nolan film arrives with the same questions: Will audiences understand it? Will it be another cinematic puzzle? And, inevitably, a loud corner of his fanbase once again insists that those who don't "get it" simply aren't intelligent enough, a criticism that has, more often than not, been disproportionately aimed at women.

It's ironic because, for years, the sharpest criticism levelled at Nolan has come not from people who failed to understand his films, but from those who understood them all too well. Even as he cemented himself as one of modern cinema's greatest auteurs, Nolan has repeatedly been called out for underwriting his female characters.

From The Prestige and The Dark Knight to Inception, Christopher Nolan's women have frequently been remembered less for who they were than for what they meant to the men around them. Even in Oppenheimer, Florence Pugh's Jean Tatlock, an accomplished psychiatrist, Communist activist and one of the film's most compelling figures, often felt confined to embodying Oppenheimer's passion and guilt, while Emily Blunt's Kitty largely existed in relation to her husband's rise and downfall, despite both women having extraordinary lives beyond him.

The Odyssey changes that conversation.

Adapted from Homer's timeless epic, the film follows Odysseus (Matt Damon) as he attempts to return home to Ithaca after the Trojan War. What should have been a straightforward voyage becomes a years-long odyssey across storm-ridden seas, mythical islands and encounters with gods, monsters and mortals. Haunted by war and burdened by impossible choices, Odysseus is forced to confront not only supernatural forces but also the emotional aftermath of becoming a legend.

The premise is familiar, but Nolan's execution feels surprisingly intimate.

Working once again with cinematographer Hoyte van Hoytema, Nolan delivers some of the most spectacular imagery of his career. Towering cliffs, unforgiving oceans, haunting underworlds and colossal creatures are rendered with an astonishing sense of scale, yet the film never loses sight of the humanity at its core. Practical effects elevate every action sequence, making the mythical world feel tangible rather than manufactured.

Whether it's the terror of the Cyclops, the eerie beauty of Circe's island or the chaos of the sea itself, The Odyssey reminds audiences why Nolan remains one of cinema's most ambitious visual storytellers.

But beneath the spectacle lies a surprisingly human film.

Matt Damon delivers a quietly powerful performance as Odysseus, portraying him not as an untouchable hero but as a man fractured by war, guilt and the relentless desire to find his way home. Tom Holland brings vulnerability to Telemachus, whose own journey mirrors his father's in quieter, more personal ways, while Robert Pattinson relishes every moment as the deeply unsettling Antinous.

Yet, for perhaps the first time in Nolan's career, the women are more than just some people supporting the protagonist's emotional journey.

That shouldn't come as a surprise. Homer's The Odyssey has always belonged as much to its women as to Odysseus himself. And Nolan appears to draw significant inspiration from Emily Wilson's celebrated translation—the first English translation of The Odyssey by a woman. Wilson's work challenged generations of male translators who framed the epic through deliberately archaic and I must say misogynistic language, reminding readers that Homer's poem was never intended to feel elite or inaccessible. More importantly, her translation restored nuance to its female characters, foregrounding their intelligence, resilience and agency rather than reducing them to archetypes.

That perspective can be felt throughout the film.

Anne Hathaway's Penelope emerges as its emotional centre. While mythology has often remembered her simply as the loyal wife who waited, Nolan understands that waiting was never passive. As Ithaca descends into political uncertainty and opportunistic suitors attempt to seize power, Penelope becomes the kingdom's quiet strategist.

 Hathaway imbues her with grace, restraint and quiet resolve, making every glance and calculated decision feel like an act of resistance. She's ensuring there's still a kingdom left for him to come home to.

If Penelope is the heart of the film, Athena is undoubtedly its mind.

Rather than appearing as a distant goddess who occasionally intervenes, Athena (Zendaya) is presented as the unseen architect behind Odysseus' survival. She guides, questions and challenges him, becoming the intellectual force that continually pushes him forward. It's a refreshing interpretation that finally allows a Nolan woman to exist not as someone's emotional anchor, but as the sharpest mind in the room.

Charlize Theron's Calypso has comparatively less screen time, but her presence lingers. The nymph who keeps Odysseus on her island has never occupied a large section of Homer's narrative, yet Theron transforms what could have been a one-note role into something deeply melancholic. Her Calypso is neither villain nor seductress. She's lonely, conflicted and trapped by immortality itself.

Then there's Samantha Morton's Circe, who deserved even more time than the film gives her.

Popular culture often reduces Circe to the witch who turns men into pigs, but mythology paints a far more complex picture. Modern readings have increasingly interpreted her actions as a response to the violence, entitlement and destruction wrought by men. Nolan leans into that understanding, allowing Morton to portray Circe not as an evil enchantress but as a woman shaped by the world around her. Her scenes become some of the film's most fascinating, quietly interrogating power, masculinity and survival through a distinctly female perspective.

Lupita Nyong'o's Helen, meanwhile, has one of the smallest roles in the ensemble, which may disappoint audiences hoping to see more of her. Yet the discourse surrounding her casting has arguably overshadowed the character herself. Critics questioned whether Nyong'o was "historically accurate" enough to play Helen of Troy—a criticism that fundamentally misunderstands mythology. The Odyssey isn't history. It is an oral tradition that evolved over centuries before it was written down, surviving through countless translations and reinterpretations. Myths are meant to evolve with the people retelling them. Holding a mythical queen to rigid historical standards says more about our modern biases than it does about Homer.

Ironically, Helen's story itself has always exposed the same contradiction.

For centuries, she's been remembered as the woman whose beauty launched a thousand ships, while the men who actually chose war escaped the same scrutiny. The film subtly reminds us that women have long been blamed for conflicts orchestrated by men, a theme that still feels remarkably relevant today.

Does The Odyssey suddenly erase every criticism ever levelled at Christopher Nolan?

Not entirely. The film still centres on Odysseus, and some of its female characters, particularly Circe and Helen, leave you wishing they had even more room to breathe. Yet the difference is undeniable. The women here shape kingdoms, question heroes, manipulate them and expose the emotional consequences of male ambition.

Perhaps that's because Nolan finally chose a story where women were never meant to stand in the background. For years, audiences have debated whether Christopher Nolan could write women. The Odyssey doesn't answer that question by reinventing them. Instead, it trusts the women Homer had already written more than two millennia ago. And in doing so, Nolan delivers not only one of the most visually staggering films of his career, but also one of his most emotionally complete.

It's an epic in every sense of the word, spectacular in scale, deeply human in emotion and, perhaps most importantly, proof that Nolan's greatest evolution as a filmmaker isn't just how he tells stories, but whose stories he finally allows us to hear.

Also, read:

Before Someone Mansplains The Odyssey, Here's What You Should Know

There is something about an ivory outfit that never goes out of style, especially during the wedding season. While vibrant colours will always have their moment, soft neutrals have slowly become the choice for those who want their look to feel elegant without going over the top. Athiya Shetty's latest appearance is a beautiful reminder of exactly that. Dressed in Rohit Bal's FW24 creation, she brings together everything we love about festive dressing — beautiful craftsmanship, delicate floral embroidery, a striking monochrome palette and jewellery that instantly catches the eye.

The outfit feels fresh, timeless and incredibly wearable for bridesmaids, wedding guests and even intimate celebrations. Finished with a bold gemstone necklace, tiny diamond studs, sleek hair and glowing minimal makeup, every detail works together beautifully. Nothing feels too much, yet nothing goes unnoticed. If you're looking for wedding fashion inspiration that feels romantic and easy to recreate, this look deserves a spot on your mood board.

An Ivory Anarkali Rich In Floral Embroidery

The first thing you notice is the soft ivory colour, but it is the embroidery that keeps your eyes on the outfit. Crafted as part of Rohit Bal's FW24 collection, the anarkali is covered in beautiful floral embroidery inspired by blooming botanical gardens. The threadwork stretches gracefully across the flared skirt, while the embroidered border at the hem adds a richer finish without making the outfit feel heavy. Instead of relying on sequins or dramatic embellishments, the craftsmanship itself becomes the standout feature.

The sheer organza dupatta deserves just as much attention. Draped lightly over one shoulder, it features oversized tonal floral motifs that seem to float across the fabric. As Athiya moves, the embroidery catches the light ever so slightly, adding depth while keeping the monochrome palette beautifully soft. It is this balance between texture and simplicity that makes the outfit feel so timeless. Nothing shouts for attention, yet every element has something worth looking at.

A Corset-Inspired Bodice With Monochrome Charm

One of the most beautiful details of the ensemble is its corset-inspired bodice. Rather than feeling structured or rigid, it softly shapes the silhouette with delicate panelling and embroidered cups that blend seamlessly into the flowing anarkali. The wide straps frame the neckline beautifully, while the fitted upper half creates the perfect balance against the voluminous skirt.

What makes the look even more captivating is its monochrome story. The bodice, skirt and sheer organza dupatta all stay within the same ivory palette. The layered fabrics create depth without needing contrasting colours, making the outfit feel rich yet beautifully understated. Peeking out beneath the embroidered hem are shimmering juttis by Needledust that complete the look with just the right touch of sparkle, staying perfectly in tune with the soft ivory palette.

A Gemstone Necklace And Diamond Studs That Adds A Pop Of Colour

Against the soft ivory neckline, the jewellery instantly becomes the hero of the look. Athiya styles the ensemble with a custom Navratna gemstone necklace by A Jewels by Anmol and it completely changes the mood of the outfit. Set with colourful stones in rich shades of emerald green, ruby red, sapphire blue and warm amber, the necklace brings a vibrant burst of colour to the otherwise neutral palette. It feels heritage-inspired against Rohit Bal's beautifully embroidered creation.

The rest of the accessories are thoughtfully chosen, allowing the statement necklace to shine without competing for attention. Tiny diamond studs from Irasva Fine Jewellery add a subtle sparkle, while a custom embroidered ivory bag by Meera Mahadevia blends easily into the monochrome styling. Its delicate detailing mirrors the craftsmanship of the anarkali, tying the entire look together while keeping the styling elegant and celebration-ready.

Sleek Hair And Minimal Makeup Complete The Look

The beauty look follows the same approach as the outfit — simple, fresh and beautifully balanced. Athiya parts her sleek hair neatly down the middle before pulling it back into a long braided ponytail. The hairstyle keeps her face open while drawing even more attention to the statement necklace. It also adds a slightly modern touch to the otherwise traditional outfit, making the overall styling feel current without trying too hard.

Her minimal makeup ties everything together perfectly. Glowing skin, softly sculpted cheeks, brushed brows, lightly defined eyes and a nude pink lip keep the focus exactly where it should be — on the outfit. There are no dramatic beauty choices or bold colours competing with the embroidery or jewellery. Instead, everything feels light, polished and easy to wear.

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Athiya Shetty's Bandhani Saree And Emerald Choker Are A Winning Pair

Can we all collectively agree that the giant "NOW A NETFLIX SERIES" banner slapped across book covers is one of the worst design crimes of the 21st century? Not the peel-off stickers (already annoying, but fine, they come off). I mean the ones directly printed onto the cover. Forever. Permanently. 

It’s like someone looked at a beautifully designed book jacket and thought, "You know what this needs? A bright red advert."

And before anyone says, "Well, just buy another edition," I'd like to point out that sometimes there isn't another edition. Sometimes the only copy on the shelf is afantasy novel wearing a Netflix name tag for the rest of its existence.

I know, I know —  niche thing to be mad about. But if you're a reader, you get it.

Growing up, books didn't need a streaming service to blow up. Harry Potter wasn't something you discovered because HBO made a show — it was the show, the fandom, the whole conversation, years before anyone adapted it. People were assigning themselves Hogwarts houses, arguing over Snape's intentions, and debating whether they'd survive the Triwizard Tournament. Same with Percy Jackson. If you hadn't read it, you genuinely felt left out of conversations. 

There was an unspoken understanding that some books were simply required reading not because your English teacher assigned them, but because culture did. The books came first. The adaptations, if they happened at all, were exciting little bonuses.

Now it feels like the reverse.

A book gets announced, and within five minutes someone has bought the adaptation rights. You've barely finished chapter three, and BookTok has already fancast the entire thing, IMDb has a page for it, and everyone's arguing over who should play the morally grey love interest. 

Somewhere along the way, books stopped being the destination and became the pitch

Don't get me wrong, I love a good adaptation. Stories moving across different mediums are awesome. Some films are incredible. Some people simply enjoy watching stories over reading, and that's completely valid. 

My issue is when the adaptation becomes the main character.

Take All the Bright Places. One of my closest friends loves it so much that she has Violet and Finch tattoos. Ask her about the Netflix film, and she'll shrug. Not because it's bad, but because no adaptation could ever match what that book made her feel.

That's the thing about reading: nobody else's version exists yet.

Every Finch looks different in every reader’s head. Every Violet sounds different. Every sunset, every bedroom, every tiny detail — your brain built all of that while you were turning the pages. Reading isn't passive. It's collaborative. 

The author hands you the blueprint. Your imagination does the rest. A movie can't do that. They give you one interpretation. One cast. One soundtrack. One colour palette. That's not a flaw; that’s just what a film is. But it's also exactly why the book cover shouldn't have to look like a movie poster. 

Book lovers are weird about covers, and honestly? As we should be.  A cover isn't just packaging. It's part of the story. It's why people collect different editions of the same novel. It's why sprayed edges have somehow become their own economy now. It's why people display books face-out rather than spine-out, like tiny art pieces.

Then a movie adaptation happens, and that carefully designed cover just... disappears. In comes two actors staring dramatically into the distance, plus the sticker: "NOW STREAMING ON NETFLIX." Like the biggest achievement of this book was becoming content.

That's the part that actually gets to me. It feels like books are being treated as pitches rather than the finished, whole things they already are. The book becomes the trailer for the show instead of the other way around.

I get it. Movie tie-in editions sell. Familiar faces catch people's attention. Someone who loved the series might finally decide to pick up the novel. Great. I'm genuinely happy more people are reading. 

I just wish we could do it without permanently altering the art. Give me an ugly removable sticker if you absolutely must. Let me peel it off with the satisfaction of someone ripping the protective plastic from a new phone. Just don't print it onto the artwork forever. Don't turn beautiful art into a permanent ad. 

Because despite what the publishing industry seems convinced of, most people buying books actually like...books. Not because they might become the next big show. But because, for a few hundred pages, they're still the only place where you’re the casting director.

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Ever wondered why the smallest disagreement can feel like the end of the world, or why some people crave constant reassurance while others pull away the moment things get serious? The answer may not lie in your present relationship at all. Instead, it could be hidden in experiences you barely remember. The idea of the inner child has become one of the biggest conversations in psychology and wellness, offering a fresh way to understand everything from trust issues to emotional triggers.

It isn't about blaming your childhood but recognising how early experiences quietly shape the way we seek comfort, respond to conflict and build a healthy relationship. The good news? Once you understand those patterns, the healing process becomes a lot less mysterious and your future relationships can begin to look very different.

What Is The "Inner Child Healing" Theory?

The idea of the inner child refers to the emotional part of us that still carries memories, feelings and beliefs formed during childhood. It isn't a literal child living inside you but a way of understanding how early experiences continue to influence your reactions as an adult. Moments when you felt ignored, criticised or unsupported can quietly shape how safe you feel in relationships years later.

Rather than trying to erase the past, the healing process focuses on recognising those old emotional wounds with curiosity instead of judgement. It encourages you to notice patterns, understand where they began and respond to yourself with kindness. Over time, this creates space for healthier choices instead of letting old habits take over.

How Childhood Shapes Adult Relationship Patterns

Our earliest relationships often become the blueprint for future ones. If love once felt unpredictable, you may constantly look for reassurance. If emotions were dismissed growing up, opening up to a partner might feel uncomfortable. These experiences can also create defense mechanisms that once kept you safe but now make emotional closeness more difficult.

One common example is the fear of abandonment. A delayed reply or cancelled plan can suddenly feel much bigger than it really is because it activates old emotions rather than the present situation. Recognising these patterns isn't about placing blame on your childhood. It's about understanding why certain situations affect you more deeply than others.

Reconnecting With Unmet Emotional Needs

Many people spend years looking for someone else to fill emotional gaps that began much earlier. The inner child theory suggests that before expecting a partner to provide every sense of security, it's important to understand your own emotional needs first. That could mean recognising the need to feel heard, valued or accepted without conditions.

Reconnecting with those feelings can happen through therapy, journalling, mindfulness or simply paying attention to your emotional responses instead of pushing them away. While support from loved ones matters, real change begins when you learn to offer yourself the same comfort you've always searched for elsewhere.

Self-Compassion As Part Of The Healing Process

One of the biggest misconceptions about healing is believing you should already have everything figured out. In reality, the healing process isn't about becoming perfect. It's about meeting yourself with patience, especially during moments when old fears return. Self-compassion allows you to respond differently instead of criticising yourself for having emotional triggers.

The more gently you treat yourself, the less power shame has over your reactions. This doesn't mean avoiding accountability. It simply means understanding that growth happens more easily when you feel emotionally safe. Over time, that mindset can slowly replace survival-based defense mechanisms with healthier emotional responses.

Building Healthier Relationships Through Healing

Healing doesn't guarantee that relationships will always be easy but it can completely change how you experience them. When you become aware of your emotional patterns, you're more likely to communicate honestly instead of reacting from old wounds. That creates stronger foundations for a healthy relationship, built on trust rather than fear.

The goal isn't to stop needing people but it is to build connections where both partners feel seen, respected and emotionally secure. As you understand your inner child, meet your emotional needs with care and work through the fear of abandonment, relationships begin to feel less like survival and more like genuine connection.

FAQs

Can a partner heal your inner child?

No. A supportive partner can help but healing your inner child is ultimately a personal journey.

What is the inner child in a relationship?

It represents childhood emotions and experiences that influence how you love, trust and respond to your partner.

What are the signs of an unhealed inner child?

Fear of abandonment, people-pleasing, trust issues, emotional triggers, low self-worth and difficulty expressing emotional needs.

Also Read:

How Gen Z's Spending Habits Reflect Healing The Inner Child

This season’s best bags don’t just demand drama, they cause it. Hold on but don’t hold back.

Shift Gears

Going from day to night? Level your look up or down with these Valentino Garavani beauties. The larger Hoboho nappa leather bag is for your daily bits, while the DeVain bag can’t wait to be out on the town. A vibrant pop of green ensures all eyes are on you, always.

Fuzzy Feelings

Bottega Veneta’s Baby Veneta is so cute we could just eat it up. It has all the hallmarks of the brand’s signature, such as the cushiony Intrecciato weave, soft curve and supple nappa leather, making it super cool (and very cuddly).

Head Case

If you’d like it to, this Gucci jewellery box can pull double duty as a clutch. The canvas monogram pays tribute to a travel trunk, and when paired with second-skin animal print, it’s just crazy enough to work.

Come Closer

If you’re the type to keep your fashion secrets under lock and key, you’ll want to whisper when someone asks you where you got your bag. The Louis Vuitton Express PM in vanilla with monogram trimming is discreet, but it gets its point across. IYKYK.

Mystery Bag

Anthony Vaccarello’s Amalia Hobo bag for Saint Laurent is for flying under the radar — but with bronzetoned hardware to make sure you get noticed a little bit. Wear it with leather on leather and oversized sunglasses for the full effect.

Gotta Run

‘Fashionably late’ takes on a whole new (more acceptable) meaning if you’re in head-to-toe Dior. The small Crunchy bag is lightweight enough to dash from party to party, while still large enoughfor the essentials.

CREDITS

Model: Holly Brown at Priscillas

Photographer: Alex Wall Fashion

Editor: Jordan Boorman

Hair: Stephanie Dell at Hart & Co

Makeup: Carly Lim at Hart & Co

Fashion Assistant: Harriet Mills & Chelsea Holm

Read the original article on ELLE Australia

The question started with a fact I learnt embarrassingly late in my wellness education: fish don't produce Omega-3. They accumulate it from the algae they eat. Which means every fish oil capsule I've ever swallowed, nose metaphorically pinched, bracing for that aftertaste, was essentially algae with a middleman. So when I came across Ace Blend's Vegan Omega-3, sourced directly from marine algae, I couldn't shake the obvious follow-up: if the fish were never the point, could a supplement simply skip them? One capsule a day for seven days seemed like a reasonable way to find out.

The Case For Algae

In a country where so many of us eat vegetarian by default, Omega-3 advice has always arrived with an asterisk. The usual plant sources, flaxseeds, walnuts, chia, give you ALA, a form the body converts to the EPA and DHA it actually uses, so inefficiently that most of it never gets there. Algal oil sidesteps the conversion problem entirely, delivering DHA in its final, usable form. Straight from the original source, no detour through a fish.

The formula itself is refreshingly uncluttered: single-strain, high-potency, and developed with DSM-Firmenich, the Swiss-Dutch nutrition science major that has spent decades on algal research. That pedigree mattered to me. The supplement aisle is full of products that lead with buzzwords and bury the science; this one does the reverse. On paper, at least, my question had a promising answer. The week would tell me the rest.

The Week Itself

It slotted into my mornings without ceremony. No mental negotiation, none of the small friction that usually kills a supplement habit by day four.

The most immediate difference was the absence of a fishy aftertaste, the thing I actively dread with my regular Omega-3, and the reason so many people quietly abandon theirs. There were no repeat appearances through the day either, which anyone who has taken fish oil will understand as high praise.

I'll be honest about the limits of the exercise: Omega-3 is a long-game nutrient. Its real work, supporting heart, brain and skin health, unfolds over months, and no one can credibly measure that in seven days. What a week can answer is the question I actually started with: whether skipping the fish costs you anything in the daily experience of taking the thing. It doesn't. If anything, it removes the worst part.

So, Could It?

Yes, and what stayed with me after the week wasn't the capsule itself so much as what it represents. Choosing a supplement today means interrogating the source as closely as the nutrient, where it comes from, what it took to get to you, whether the quality is traceable. Ace Blend's Vegan Omega-3 answers those questions before you've asked them, which is perhaps the most modern thing about it. The fish, it turns out, were never carrying the story. The algae was doing the work all along.

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The Comfort Scents I'm Reaching For As Summer Winds Down

You know a look is doing something right when you find yourself noticing a different detail every time you look at it. First, it's the silhouette. Then it's the crystals dusted across the jacket. A moment later, it's the sculpted corset, the softly gathered draped skirt, or the diamonds glimmering against the neckline. That's exactly what makes Sonakshi Sinha's latest fashion outing so captivating. Wearing a custom ITRH co-ord set, the actor leans into sharp tailoring without losing the softness that makes eveningwear feel elegant.

Styled by Mohit Rai, with Nannika Bhuptani and Taranga Garwal, the ensemble finds its balance through thoughtful styling rather than excess. A polished sleek bun, radiant soft glam makeup and carefully layered jewellery complete the picture, allowing every element to work together seamlessly. It's contemporary luxury fashion that feels refined  — proof that a beautifully crafted black blazer outfit can still surprise us.

A Masterclass In After-Dark Glamour

Eveningwear often leans towards sequins, dramatic silhouettes or bold colours but this look takes a quieter route. The all-black palette instantly feels classic, while the sculpted corset gives the outfit a strong shape without making it look too structured. Sitting neatly over it is the cropped black blazer outfit, designed with crystal detailing that catches the light in the most subtle way. Instead of stealing the spotlight, the shimmer blends into the fabric, adding depth and texture to the monochrome look.

The draped skirt changes the mood completely. Its soft folds bring movement to the outfit and stop the tailoring from feeling too formal. Together, the fitted upper half and fluid lower half create a silhouette that's balanced, flattering and easy on the eye. It's a refreshing take on occasion dressing — elegant without being predictable and polished without feeling overdone.

Crystal Embellishments Meet Sculptural Tailoring

The beauty of this outfit lies in the little details. Tiny crystal embellishments are scattered across the cropped jacket and corset, adding just enough sparkle to lift the all-black ensemble. They don't overpower the design or distract from the silhouette. Instead, they work with the tailoring, catching the light every now and then and giving the look a soft, almost jewellery-like finish. It's understated but impossible to miss.

What makes the outfit even more interesting is the way different textures come together. The structured corset sits close to the body, creating a beautifully defined waist, while the draped skirt introduces softness through its flowing folds. The contrast keeps the look feeling fresh and modern. Finished with pointed heels peeking out beneath the hem, the entire co-ord set feels contemporary while staying timeless.

Diamonds, A Sleek Bun And Soft Glam Perfection

An outfit this striking doesn't need much to complete it, and the styling understands exactly that. The jewellery is elegant without feeling excessive, with layered diamond chokers sitting beautifully against the sweetheart neckline and adding just the right amount of sparkle.

Matching floral earrings and diamond rings bring everything together, echoing the crystal detailing on the outfit rather than competing with it. Every accessory feels like it belongs, creating a look that's polished from every angle.

The beauty choices are just as well considered. A sleek bun keeps the focus on the neckline and the sculpted shoulders, while a few loose strands soften the overall look. Her soft glam makeup is fresh and understated, with warm-toned eyes, glowing skin, softly defined cheeks and a nude lip that lets her natural features shine through.

Nothing feels overdone and that's exactly why it works. The hair, makeup and jewellery don't steal the spotlight — they simply elevate what's already there, making the entire look feel beautifully put together.

When Power Dressing Gets A Couture Upgrade

This look is a reminder that tailoring can be just as exciting as the most dramatic gown. The cropped jacket brings the sharpness of a classic blazer, while the sculpted corset creates a clean, defined shape. Paired with the fluid draped skirt, the outfit strikes a beautiful balance between structure and movement. 

Designed by ITRH, the crystal-embellished co-ord set feels like a fresh take on power dressing, where clean lines meet couture-inspired craftsmanship. Styled by Mohit Rai, with Nannika Bhuptani and Taranga Garwal, every finishing touch has been carefully considered, from the sparkling diamonds to the sleek bun and soft glam makeup. It's the kind of black blazer outfit that leaves a lasting impression not because it's loud, but because every detail feels right.

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Tailored Talk: 5 Times Sonakshi Sinha Lent Her Own Spin To Styling Blazers

Fashion has become remarkably loud. Between dopamine dressing, micro-trends and wardrobes changing at the speed of an algorithm, standing out often feels synonymous with wearing more. 

That’s precisely why Genelia Deshmukh’s latest look feels so refreshing. A crisp powder blue shirt, a flowing plaid skirt and refined minimalist styling create an outfit that’s confident and not attention-seeking.

Instead of relying on trending pieces, Genelia leans into old-school fashion and subtle vintage influences, proving that timeless dressing can still feel contemporary. Afterall, great style isn’t always about wearing something new and latest, it can also make classics feel relevant again.

Why Genelia Deshmukh Brought Vintage Dressing Back

Fashion’s relationship with vintage has shifted. It no longer feels like nostalgia for another era—it feels like a reaction to fashion fatigue. As micro-trends appear and disappear at algorithmic speed, pieces with lasting appeal have become the real luxury. That’s exactly what Genelia Deshmukh captures in her latest look. A crisp powder blue shirt paired with a flowing plaid skirt doesn’t rely on novelty to make an impression. Instead, it celebrates old school fashion that has already proved it's staying power. 

A Plaid Skirt That Nods To Heritage

Plaid has always been one of fashion’s great shape-shifters. It has dressed schoolgirls, punks, royalty and runway models without ever losing its identity. Very few prints have managed that.

On Genelia Deshmukh, it feels neither preppy nor overly polished. The powder blue shirt lifts the seriousness often associated with plaid, while the clean silhouette keeps the outfit feeling fresh instead of nostalgic. It becomes softer, more relaxed and undeniably modern and acts as proof that vintage dressing doesn’t need to feel rigid. Sometimes all a classic piece needs is a different companion. That’s perhaps why plaid has never really gone out of style. It doesn’t reinvent itself every season or rely on viral moments to stay relevant, the print evolves by balancing itself with something more relevant.

Minimalist Styling That Keeps The Focus Sharp

Anyone can put together a good outfit. Knowing when to stop is the harder skill. Great styling is often less about adding another accessory and more about resisting the urge to. That’s what makes Genelia Deshmukh’s look so effective. The plaid skirt already carries enough character, so the powder blue shirt is left crisp and uncomplicated. The pointed pumps quietly anchor the outfit, while the understated jewellery never competes for attention. Every choice feels edited rather than decorated. Perhaps that’s the real difference between simply getting dressed and having personal style. Minimalist fashion isn’t about owning fewer clothes or avoiding colour altogether. It’s about understanding that not every piece needs to be the main character. By letting one statement speak at a time, Genelia Deshmukh creates an outfit that feels balanced, intentional and effortless.

Moral of the story: Taste isn’t discerned by what you choose to wear, it’s what you decide to leave out.

Old School Never Looked This Relevant

Fashion often celebrates the outfits we wear once, but the real heroes of any wardrobe are the ones that carry us through our daily lives. Like the pieces you instinctively reach for before an important meeting, a long lunch, a coffee date or an evening dinner because you know they’ll never let you down. 

That’s exactly what makes Genelia Deshmukh’s old-school fashion feel convincing. Her powder blue shirt and plaid skirt don’t belong to a single occasion—they move between one’s daily routine, proving that versatility is the real marker of personal style.

It’s easy to build a wardrobe around standout pieces but it’s far harder to build one around clothes that can be paired easily. The most successful outfits aren’t always the loudest or the newest. They’re the ones that become part of your routine, worn often, styled differently and loved a little more with every outing.

For nearly a decade, Gemma Chan has quietly built one of Hollywood's most compelling filmographies. From the strength of Astrid Leong in Crazy Rich Asians to the empathetic Sersi in Eternals, her characters rarely announce themselves, they unfold. They're layered, resilient and often leave the biggest impact in the quietest moments.

Now, Chan joins another ensemble of formidable women in The Five-Star Weekend, Peacock's adaptation of Elin Hilderbrand's bestselling novel. Set against the picturesque shores of Nantucket, the eight-part drama follows five women brought together by grief, unresolved relationships and the different versions of themselves they've become over the years.

Speaking to ELLE India ahead of the show's release on JioHostar, Chan reflected on why the series immediately stood out to her, the joy of working alongside Jennifer Garner and an all-star female cast, and why hearing that Crazy Rich Asians still resonates with audiences means more than she can express.

For Chan, the biggest draw wasn't simply adapting one of Hilderbrand's most beloved novels—it was the opportunity to tell a story where women and their friendships take centre stage.

"It was such a rare thing to have a show that centres on five women and on female friendship," she says. "That seemed really special to me. There are so many themes running through the story, friendship, loss, grief, romance, betrayal, and Elin Hilderbrand created these brilliant characters. Then our showrunner, Becca Brunstetter, enriched them even further and developed the relationships in such an interesting way. And on top of that, we managed to get such an incredible cast. It really felt like a dream."

That cast includes Jennifer Garner, Chloë Sevigny, Regina Hall and Darcy Carden, actors who have each shaped contemporary film and television in their own way. For Chan, joining them was both exciting and surprisingly effortless.

"I feel incredibly lucky," she says. "I was the second cast member to sign on after Jennifer Garner, and she's always been one of my idols. She's such a role model and honestly even lovelier in real life than she appears. Then you've got Chloë Sevigny, who's just eternally cool, brilliant and fearless. Regina Hall is so funny and talented, Darcy Carden is amazing too."

Perhaps even more remarkable is that none of them had worked together before filming began. "We didn't actually know each other before this project," Chan recalls. "But there was such an ease between all of us from the beginning. We bonded very quickly and our conversations became really deep, really fast. We still have our group chat, it’s called Five Stars with star emojis, and it's still very much active."

In the series, Chan plays Gigi, the newest addition to the group. Unlike the others, who share decades of history, Gigi enters their world as an outsider, creating a dynamic that's both refreshing and quietly unsettling.

"Gigi is Hollis' newest friend," Chan explains. "They met online, and I think sometimes you're able to be more honest with someone you've only recently met than with people who've known you for years. They have this very honest relationship, but at the same time there are still secrets between them. In many ways they know everything and nothing about each other."

Thrown into an already established friendship circle, Gigi must quickly find her footing. "She's really thrown into the fire," Chan laughs. "She's entered this environment with four women who have so much shared history, and she's just got to sink or swim."

One of the series' biggest strengths is how naturally it portrays female friendships, not as endlessly supportive or relentlessly competitive, but as relationships that shift and evolve with time. "I think the show captures the nuance of female friendship really beautifully," Chan says. "Those relationships fluctuate and grow in ways that are sometimes almost intangible, and I think that's very true to life."

She points out that many friendships naturally ebb and flow as people move through different phases of life. "We all have people we've been incredibly close to, and then life happens, you grow apart for a while. Sometimes you find your way back to each other, sometimes you haven't yet. I actually hope people finish watching the show and feel inspired to pick up the phone and call someone they haven't spoken to in a long time, just to say, 'I've been thinking about you. How are you?'"

It's also a reminder, she believes, that friendships deserve the same patience we often reserve for romantic relationships. "We have to give ourselves and our friends grace. Life is complicated and there are ups and downs, but we're lucky to have one another. Jennifer Garner described friendship as 'the breadth of life', and I couldn't agree more."

For many audiences, including us in India, Chan's career is still closely tied to Crazy Rich Asians. Nearly eight years after its release, Astrid Leong remains one of modern cinema's most beloved portrayals of quiet strength.

When I mention that Astrid, and particularly her unforgettable line, "I can't make you something you're not"—has stayed with me since watching the film in college, Chan smiles warmly.

"Thank you so much," she says. "I absolutely loved making Crazy Rich Asians, and it means so much when people tell me it had an impact on them. Astrid was such a special character."

Rather than chasing a particular type of role, Chan says she's always searching for women whose complexity isn't immediately obvious. "Sometimes these characters just come into your life and they feel like the perfect fit," she reflects. "I'm always looking for characters who seem to have one thing going on on the surface but have many more layers underneath. Looking back, that's probably the thread connecting a lot of the characters I've been fortunate enough to play."

It's a fitting description of Chan's own career. Whether she's anchoring a global blockbuster or a character-driven ensemble drama like The Five-Star Weekend, she continues to gravitate towards women who reveal themselves slowly, whose strength lies in their vulnerability rather than spectacle. And if her growing body of work is anything to go by, that's precisely the legacy she's creating—one layered character at a time.

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July arrives with a mood of its own. Between monsoon showers, relentless humidity and Mercury retrograde in full swing, the month feels like an invitation to slow down. It's not the time to force things, especially when it comes to your beauty rituals. Instead, July calls for a softer approach, one that embraces lightweight textures, breathable makeup and skincare that feels comfortable on the skin. The mantra for this month is simple: heavy formulas are taking a back seat, and lightweight, wearable makeup is what you need. These beautifully curated, newly launched products scream fragile and made for July and definitely deserve to be in your vanity.

Atelier Materi Black Oregano Perfume

As fragrance preferences continue to move beyond sweet gourmands and classic florals, herbaceous compositions are gaining attention. Atelier Materi's Black Oregano explores that direction through wild oregano, layered with smoky and woody notes for a scent that feels earthy, aromatic and quietly distinctive.

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 Antinorm One Step Wonder 

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Skinvest Melts Ultimate Lip Balm Duo

Lip care has become a more considered part of everyday skincare routines. Skinvest's new Melts duo includes an SPF-tinted lip treatment for daytime wear and a repair and brightening formula for overnight use, offering two products designed for different moments of the day.

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Laura Mercier Tinted Blur Balms

If your base makeup struggles through humid days, Laura Mercier's new Tinted Blur Balm brings breathable coverage, a soft-matte finish and shades that flatter every complexion. 

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Neothera Spot Corrector

Science-backed skincare continues to gain momentum, and Neothera is one such brand that has entered the game in India. The brand has an acne-focused range including a spot corrector, and an 8-week skin science system centred on a more personalised approach to managing breakouts, and we're all so here for it.

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Typsy Beauty Foundcealer Flex

Typsy Beauty combined your daily essentials into one bottle and made Foundcealer Flex. Combining full coverage, skincare benefits, SPF 30 and a first-of-its-kind dual applicator in one bottle. On-the-go makeup is literally what everyone is talking about, and this product is serving that.

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Be Wellness Yeast Protein

If traditional protein powders don't sit well with your gut, Be Wellness' new Yeast Protein combines a plant-based, lactose-free formula with 25g of complete protein to support strength and recovery.

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 Plum BodyLovin’ Matcha, But Disco Milky Body Lotion 

Your matcha obsession doesn't have to stop at your cup. Plum BodyLovin's Disco Matcha range includes a Milky Body Lotion alongside other bodycare must-haves that keep your skin soft, hydrated and nourished throughout the day.

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Insight Cosmetics CUSH ON YOU Foundation

Busy mornings call for makeup that’s quick, and reliable. This cushion foundation makes it easy to get seamless coverage and a fresh, glowy finish in just a few taps

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LOVETC Glaze, Glam, Etc Peptide Lip Conditioner 

A good lip product should do more than just add shine. Infused with a peptide-hyaluronic blend, this gloss-balm hybrid pairs the comfort of a nourishing balm with the finish of a glossy lip treatment, and the applicator literally resembles noodles. How cool is that! 

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Forest Essentials Light Hydrating Facial Gel Panchpushp

When the weather calls for lighter skincare, gel-based hydrators naturally take centre stage. Forest Essentials' new Light Hydrating Facial Gel Panchpushp blends steam-distilled waters of rose, jasmine, kewda, parijat and crocus with fresh aloe vera in a lightweight formula that delivers a cooling layer of hydration, making it an easy pick for warm, humid days.

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Eucerin Anti Pigment Cleansing Gel 2% Exfoliating AHA Complex

If dullness and uneven skin have been showing up more often lately, this cleansing gel needs to be on your list, it is designed to gently exfoliate with a 2% AHA complex which leaves skin feeling smoother and fresher.

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The Compound Way Dark Spot Control Duo

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Nykaa Skin Vegan PDRN Pink Collagen Hydrating Mask

After a long week of work, your skin deserves a proper self-care night. This overnight glow mask helps replenish hydration, soften the skin, and leave you looking fresher and more radiant by morning.

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Kama Ayurveda's Bringaras Densifying & Fortifying Scalp Concentrate

With monsoon humidity and sudden weather changes making your hair feel weaker and more prone to fall, this scalp concentrate helps strengthen roots and support healthier-looking hair.

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ETUDE Soft Fix Makeup Fixer

When makeup starts to melt and fade through the day, a good setting spray can make all the difference. This new Soft Makeup Fixer helps lock everything in place and keeps your look looking fresher for longer.

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Anastasia Beverly Hills Embers Mini Eyeshadow Palette 

When your makeup calls for a little extra drama, Anastasia Beverly Hills' Embers Mini Eyeshadow Palette brings in beautifully curated warm neutrals and metallics that blend easily for eye looks that last from day to night.

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Flossy Cosmetics The Fine Line Plumping Lip Duo

Glossy, fuller-looking lips are still having a major moment, and this duo makes the trend feel easy to wear. The liner helps define and shape the lips, while the hydrating lip oil adds a juicy, high-shine finish that keeps everything looking fresh.

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Shankara Naturals Mineral Sun Shield

Monsoon humidity can make sunscreen feel like a chore, but this keeps things surprisingly easy. It feels lightweight, sits well under makeup, and leaves no visible white cast.

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Pink Foundry's Melt to Foam Cleansing Balm

Monsoon grime, makeup, and SPF usually need a little more than a basic face wash. This starts as a balm that melts away the day’s buildup, then turns into a soft, milky foam that leaves skin feeling clean and refreshed.

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Daily Compounds Garden 28

Monsoon is the perfect excuse to change up your signature scent, and Daily Compounds Garden 28 feels especially suited to rain-soaked days. It has that fresh, clean feeling that lingers beautifully in humid weather, making every spritz feel like a little reset after a long day in the rain.

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Streax Professional Anti Hairfall Shampoo 

If the weather has your scalp feeling oily and your hair shedding more than usual, Streax Professional Scalp Care Anti Hairfall Shampoo is worth a look. It cleanses without feeling harsh and leaves hair feeling stronger after each wash.

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Seva Home HUES Mediterranean Fig

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unfltrd Almost Blended Blush

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 d'you Embrace Retinoid Serum

If you’ve been curious about retinoids but worried about irritation, d'you embrace Retinoid Serum feels like a more approachable starting point. It focuses on skin comfort just as much as the active ingredients.

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Dream Beauty Air Matte Liquid Lipstick

A sudden wave of matte lips took over our feeds earlier this year, and hence came the obsession, because no one wants a matte lipstick that feels dry and heavy anymore. Dream Beauty's Air Matte Liquid Lipsticks prove just that with a breathable formula and a soft-focus matte finish that feels as good as it looks.

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Wellbeing Nutrition Himalayan Sea Buckthorn Juice

The easiest wellness habit is the one you'll actually stick to, Wellbeing Nutrition's Himalayan Sea Buckthorn Juice with Curcumin nourishes skin, immunity and gut health with naturally powerful ingredients in every sip.

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Hibiscus Monkey The Tin Edit Collectible Edition 

If you’re a sucker for pretty packaging, Hibiscus Monkey Tin Edit is hard to resist. It gives the HM Love Scalp & Hair Oil a nostalgic new look without changing with the formula.

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Lakmé 9to5 HyaGloss Powerplump Lip Oil

If your lips have been craving that juicy, glassy finish, Lakmē 9to5 Hya Gloss Powerplump Lip Oil is a fun one to keep in your bag. The cooling feel and glossy shine make it especially easy to reach for throughout the day.

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Jean Paul Gaultier Le Male In Blue Eau De Parfum

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PAC Cosmetics  Base Perfecting Trio 

Consider this your sign to replace those worn-out makeup sponges. This trio includes everything you need for a smooth, even, airbrushed-looking base. They're perfectly shaped to make your makeup application process a little cuter with the right precision.

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Old School Rituals Mango & Lemon Sugar Brightening Face Elixir

There are some indie brands that are really getting Indian skin and formulations right, and Old School Rituals is one of them. Formulated with mango wine, lemon sugar, kojic acid and salicylic acid, this lightweight serum targets uneven skin tone and dark spots while helping skin look smoother, more radiant and refreshed.

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Swiss Beauty Care Juicy Glow Face Wash Papaya + Alpha Arbutin

A good cleanser can make all the difference, especially during humid weather. Swiss Beauty Care's new Juicy Glow Face Wash combines ingredients like papaya and alpha arbutin in a pH-balanced formula that does all the heavy lifting. The cushiony texture makes all the difference.

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indē wild's Ice Ice Baby Dewy Lip Treatment 

The infamous 2000s frosted lips are officially back on everyone's beauty mood board, and Indē Wild's latest drop is literally that with a cool new icy tingle. This needs to be in your bag if you're a gloss girly for life and love some extra shine. 

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Every red carpet has its standout look, and at The Odyssey premiere in New York, Zendaya made sure hers was the one everyone paused to look at twice. Dressed in The Ange from Matières Fécales' debut Haute Couture collection, the actor stepped onto the carpet in a white gown that felt equal parts classic and unexpected.

Styled by Law Roach, the look wasn't about piling on dramatic details. Instead, every piece had its own purpose. The gown carried the biggest statement, while the styling quietly supported it. Chopard diamonds added just the right amount of sparkle, glowing dewy makeup kept everything fresh and a long braid running down the back became one of the loveliest details in the entire look.

The story behind the dress makes it even more special. Matières Fécales shared that Law Roach had asked them to save this couture finale look for Zendaya almost two years ago. The designers honoured that request, keeping The Ange aside until the right occasion arrived. Every angle of her look reveals another detail, making it one of those red carpet moments that keeps rewarding a second look.

A Feathered Wing Gown Fit For The Odyssey Premiere

The first thing you notice is the neckline. Deep and sharply cut, it creates a strong frame for the bodice without taking attention away from the craftsmanship. Instead of embroidery or embellishment, the gown relies on carefully folded pleats that wrap around the torso in soft layers. They almost resemble overlapping feathers, giving the dress plenty of texture while keeping the all-white palette clean.

As the gown falls from the waist, the silhouette begins to soften. The tightly fitted bodice opens into fluid draping that moves naturally with every step, while a thigh-high slit breaks up the layers and gives the skirt a lighter feel. The long train follows behind without feeling heavy, allowing the dress to glide across the carpet. It's a look that feels just as interesting from a distance as it does up close, with every pleat adding something new to discover.

Angelic Silhouette Contrast: Minimalism Meets Sculptural Drama

From the front, the gown feels surprisingly restrained. The crisp white colour allows the shape to stand out, while the pleated construction creates quiet texture instead of relying on sparkle or embellishment. Every line of the bodice feels considered, giving the dress structure without making it look stiff.

Then you notice the back.

Large feathered wings rise from the shoulders before falling all the way down the back of the gown. They're made from long layers of raw-edged feathers that create movement instead of looking perfectly polished. As Zendaya walks, the feathers shift gently, changing the silhouette with every step.

That's what makes the dress so interesting. Depending on where you're standing, it almost looks like a different outfit. From one angle it's sleek couture, from another it's soft and almost dreamlike. The contrast between the clean front and feathered back gives the gown its own personality.

Chopard Statement Jewellery Adds Quiet Luxury Sparkle

With such an eye-catching gown, keeping the accessories simple was the best styling decision. Instead of layering diamonds or wearing a statement necklace, Zendaya chose a pair of Chopard diamond drop earrings from the Haute Joaillerie Collection. They frame her face beautifully and catch the light without drawing attention away from the neckline.

The jewellery blends naturally into the overall styling rather than becoming the focal point. It adds brightness around the face while allowing the couture to remain the hero of the look. It's a reminder that statement jewellery doesn't always have to be oversized to make an impact.

Hidden beneath the flowing skirt are custom white heelless pumps created through Matières Fécales' collaboration with Christian Louboutin. They're only visible in glimpses but they continue the futuristic mood of the outfit and complement the gown without interrupting its clean silhouette. Together, the diamonds and shoes bring a subtle sense of quiet luxury to the entire look.

Soft, Undone Waves Complete The Ethereal Red Carpet Look

From the front, the hairstyle feels relaxed and uncomplicated. Soft pieces frame the face, while the hair is loosely gathered to keep the neckline and earrings fully visible. The slightly undone texture stops the overall styling from feeling too polished and pairs beautifully with the softness of the feathered gown.

The back, however, reveals one of the prettiest details. A long textured braid falls down the centre of the feathered wings, almost becoming part of the dress itself. The contrast between the warm blonde tones of the braid and the crisp white feathers adds another layer of interest without feeling overstyled.

It's one of those details that's easy to miss at first glance but once you notice it, it changes the entire look. The braid brings warmth and softness to the couture which makes the outfit feel more romantic while still letting the dramatic shape of the gown take centre stage.

Dewy Makeup That Lets The Gown Lead The Red Carpet Moment

The beauty look stays beautifully understated, allowing the couture to remain the main focus. Zendaya opted for fresh dewy makeup with luminous skin, softly flushed cheeks, feathered brows, lightly defined lashes and glossy pink lips. A touch of shimmer across the shoulders and collarbones added just the right amount of glow, catching the light without feeling overdone.

It all came together with a light hand, matching the softness of the feathered gown perfectly. Instead of competing with the look, the makeup simply enhanced it, bringing a fresh finish to an outfit that was already full of detail.

FAQs

Why is this look considered a quiet luxury moment despite its drama?

Because refined styling, minimal accessories and subtle beauty balanced the gown's striking couture design.

What made this look stand out at The Odyssey premiere?

Its feathered wings, sculptural pleats, thigh-high slit and fresh styling created an unforgettable red carpet appearance.

What jewellery did Zendaya pair with the gown?

She wore Chopard diamond drop earrings from the Haute Joaillerie Collection.

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Imagine telling someone ten years ago that being called delusional would one day sound like a compliment. They’d probably recommend therapy.

Yet here we are. Between manifestation journals, vision boards, and the art of romanticising everyday life, Gen Z has embraced the word with open arms.

What psychology once classified as a warning sign has been rebranded into the generation’s favourite buzzword—a tongue-in-cheek philosophy for self-belief, confidence, and, at times, even self-care. Because sometimes, being a little delulu means refusing to spiral into worst-case scenarios. It becomes a way to protect your peace, back yourself before anyone else does, and choosing optimism over escapism.

So why has an entire generation embraced a word that was once considered an insult? And when did delulu stop being denial and start becoming a surprisingly effective coping mechanism?

Delulu Is The Viral Philosophy Changing How Gen Z Thinks 

In a culture of ghosting, stonewalling and nonchalance, Gen Z has mastered the art of looking like it doesn’t care. Wanting something too badly feels embarrassing because if the effortless cool girl  never admitted she wanted something, she could never lose it. (Then she pretends she applied as a joke- she didn’t, but instead please please pleased god until it happened).

Spending 100 hours on a project feels “try-hard” in an age with the attention span of a swipe. So we shrink our ambition into something easier for the internet to digest. We don’t call it optimism. We don’t accept the intensity of our emotions because it’s too daunting, we dilute them and call it “delulu is the solulu”.

From Being An Internet Joke To A Generation’s Survival Strategy

It’s easy to dismiss delulu as another internet trend, but trends rarely survive unless they’re solving a real problem. Soaring rents, stagnant wage growth, inflation, layoffs and the rise of AI, and entry level jobs somehow requiring three years of experience. At this point - Gen-Z should have started posting on linkedin at the age of three instead of watching cartoons.

It’s perhaps no coincidence that this is also the generation that invented the “little treat” economy: if buying a home feels out of reach, at least an overpriced iced matcha can make an existential crises feel survivable.(it’s self-care okay?) Delulu belongs to that same emotional ecosystem. It’s not denying reality but making an increasingly uncertain one feel a little lighter. Previous generations had “fake it till you make it.” Gen Z has, “delulu is the solulu.” as a coping mechanism. 

Why Radical Self Confidence Feels Revolutionary 

Women have always walked on a tightrope, and society expects us to strike an olymipic balance. Speak too softly but make sure you’re not overlooked. Speak confidently but don’t come across as “intimidating.” Be humble but brag just enough to not be underestimated. Be certain but don’t be “too much.”

Sociologists have long described this as a double bind: women are often expected to be both competent and endlessly likeable, even when those qualities pull in opposite directions. Maybe that’s why delulu resonates with us. Beneath the memes is humour that makes the balancing act more bearable. It gives women just enough self confidence to back themselves and dream big while still being palatable to society.

The Psychology Behind ‘Fake It Till You Make It’ 

Imagine two people reading the exact same job description.

The first thinks, “I only meet seven of the ten requirements. Better not.”

The second thinks, “What’s the worst that could happen? They ignore me like my crush already does.” Clicks Apply and gets on with her day.

Who do you think has a better chance?

Psychologists call this self efficacy—the belief that you’re capable of succeeding at a task. It doesn’t magically make someone smarter or more talented. It just makes them more likely to raise their hand, send the email, ask the question or survive hearing the word “no” without immediately deciding to change careers and move to the mountains.

That’s where delulu, manifestation and self belief unexpectedly intersect. The healthiest version of “fake it till you make it” is not pretending to have skills you don’t. It's refusing to let self-doubt make your decisions for you. 

The Secret Lies In Letting Yourself Live The Fantasy

Children spend years pretending. They’re astronauts, teachers, chefs and superheroes long before they become any of those things. Somewhere between growing up and paying taxes, we start calling that same imagination “unrealistic.” Perhaps that’s why delulu struck such a chord with Gen Z. Every generation creates stories to help it survive. Previous generations had “The American Dream.” Gen Z has “delulu is the solulu.” Neither was ever meant to be taken literally. They’re reminders that hope has always needed a language. The healthiest version of delulu isn’t believing fantasy is real. It’s remembering that imagination has always been the first draft of reality. After all, every company, every invention and every career began as an idea someone else dismissed as unrealistic.

FAQ

Is “delulu” a Gen Z word?

Pretty much. The term first floated around K-pop fandoms, but Gen Z gave it a second life. Thanks to TikTok, delulu went from niche internet slang to a personality trait, a coping mechanism and, for some, an entire life philosophy. It says a lot about the times we’re living in that being called “delusional” somehow became a compliment.

What does “delulu is the solulu” mean?

It’s internet shorthand for “delusion is the solution.” Dramatic? Absolutely. Literal? Not even slightly. It’s less about believing impossible things and more about talking yourself into sending the email, asking the question or backing yourself before you’ve got all the proof. Think of it as confidence with a meme attached.

Is there a difference between “delulu” and optimism?

Definitely. Optimism says, “Things might work out.” Delulu says, “I’ve already mentally accepted the award.” One is measured, the other is theatrical. But underneath the humour, they’re surprisingly similar. Both ask you to imagine a better outcome before it’s happened.

I knew something suspicious was happening when my Instagram feed started looking like Elsa had hired a luxury stylist. Icy blue satin quietly slipped into the room, didn't introduce herself, and somehow left with everyone's attention. Very Serena van der Woodsen behaviour, if you ask me. 

For decades, the little black dress has been fashion's emergency contact. Date? Black dress. Gallery opening? Black dress. Existential crisis at 8 p.m. with reservations at 8:30? Black dress. She's reliable, she's timeless, and frankly, she's exhausted. The poor thing has been carrying wardrobes on her shoulders since the 1920s. Someone get her a holiday. 

That someone, apparently, is icy blue. 

Not cobalt. Not "gender reveal balloon" blue. Think the colour of early morning light bouncing off glass buildings. This is the pale, liquid shade that sits somewhere between a cloudless winter morning and the Tiffany box you've convinced yourself you're "just browsing." 

Why icy blue, though? Fashion rarely falls in love with a colour by accident. After several seasons dominated by dopamine brights, Barbie pink and fire-engine reds, wardrobes are craving a visual exhale. Icy blue lands at the sweet spot between optimism and restraint. It's also remarkably photogenic in an era where every outfit is expected to survive both natural daylight and a 0.5x iPhone camera. 

The numbers back up the obsession. Pinterest reported a sharp rise in searches around blue satin dress, ice blue outfit and powder blue fashion over the past year, while trend forecasting platforms have repeatedly identified cool, frosted blues as key seasonal colours extending well beyond autumn and winter. Luxury retailers have followed with remarkable consistency. When brands that rarely agree on hemlines all arrive wearing the same colour family, that's less coincidence and more fashion's version of a group chat. 

Fashion has always loved assigning personalities to colours. Red is loud. White is innocent until coffee enters the conversation. Black is mysterious. Beige owns at least three scented candles. Icy blue, however, feels emotionally unavailable in the most attractive way possible. It looks expensive without trying particularly hard, which, ironically, is usually the hardest thing to achieve. 

Perhaps that's why it's escaping its traditional associations. Pale blue was once largely confined to bridesmaids, winter campaigns and the occasional princess-inspired fantasy. It now appears at summer weddings, and even everyday separates.

The styling possibilities are far broader than social media sometimes suggests. Brown suede instantly warms the cool tone. Burgundy accessories make it unexpectedly rich. Butter yellow adds optimism without becoming childish. Silver jewellery feels obvious but effective, while gold creates enough contrast to stop and look. 

The fabric matters just as much as the colour. Satin gives icy blue its confidence. In cotton, the shade can feel sweet. In linen, it's coastal. The liquid finish transforms what could have been delicate into something surprisingly commanding. It's proof that texture often does half the styling before accessories even arrive. 

There's also a subtle optimism to blue that feels particularly timely. Colour psychologists have long associated lighter blues with calm, openness and clarity. Whether or not your dress can genuinely improve your emotional wellbeing remains highly debatable, it certainly can't answer your unread texts, but fashion has always sold us the fantasy that clothing changes how we move through the world. Sometimes believing that is enough. 

Will the little black dress disappear? Please. Fashion loves drama, but she's rarely that committed. The LBD isn't being cancelled; she's simply sharing the spotlight for the first time in decades. Think of it less as a hostile takeover and more as a very stylish succession plan. 

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As for icy satin, she never asked to become the new neutral. She simply showed up looking impossibly polished while everyone else was busy arguing over whether "mob wife" or "clean girl" had officially won the culture war. Classic overachiever behaviour. 

And perhaps that's the real lesson hidden beneath all that shine. The colours that stay aren't always the loudest ones. Sometimes they arrive quietly and make everything around them feel just a little more interesting.

Close your eyes and imagine a woman walking into a room. You hear her before you see her. A soft, layered sound, like wind moving through a temple corridor. That sound is Yoshita 1967. It's the bells. It's the weight of hand-crocheted yarn settling against a body in motion. It's the quiet insistence of a brand that refuses to be merely looked at when it could, instead, be heard.

Anil Padia, the Nairobi-based designer behind Yoshita 1967, has been building toward this kind of feeling for years — though it began somewhere far more cinematic. It began with Madhuri Dixit in Khal Nayak (1993), draped in mirror work and silver, and the women in his family dressing for Navratri, his mother and grandmother’s bangle cases that felt magical to open. Fashion, for him, was never going to be anything else. He went on to study at La Chambre Syndicale de la Couture Parisienne in Paris, training in the technical rigour of haute couture, and working his way through some of fashion's most distinctive houses. But it was the pandemic that brought him back to Nairobi, and home, it turned out, was where the real work was waiting. He called Catherine, a tailor he had met during an internship at 19, lost touch with for nearly a decade and asked if she was working, and when she said no, told her: “Let’s try something.” The first piece was a men’s polo crocheted from old cotton lace borders. That was the beginning. The brand he named 'Yoshita' — after his late aunt, born in Bombay in 1967 with a physical disability, deeply beloved, and in his words, someone who had been “quieted by circumstance.” “The brand unifies the unheard voices of the women in my life and the censured stories in my lineage,” he says. “It is a liberation of our collective karma. It is me coming home to myself.”

The bells that are integral to his brand trace back to sacred women's spaces in the Navratri ritual. The mirrors embedded in the fabric are drawn from Gujarati textile tradition. Padia describes the crochet as transgenerational — a craft passed from mother to daughter, hand to hand, carrying muscle memory that no machine can replicate. None of these are decorative choices. They are the brand's entire argument. "When a woman moves," he says, "the garment sings. That sound becomes part of her presence."

What makes Yoshita 1967 remarkable is not simply what it is made of, but who makes it. In a studio in Nairobi, a community of women bring as much to each piece as Padia does. His Gujarati cultural memory meets theirs until the two become inseparable. "These two forms of memory intertwine in the garment," he says. "The artisans are not simply reproducing my memory. They are bringing their own to the piece. When something is made by hand, it also belongs to the person who made it. The hand cannot be erased." It is a philosophy of co-ownership, lived daily between Padia and co-originator Catherine Wanjalo, who has stood beside him from the days of seven samples a year to the significantly expanded studio they run together today.

On The LVMH Moment

Earlier this year, Yoshita 1967 became the first Kenyan brand to reach the finals of the LVMH Prize. A milestone that sent a current of pride through the Kenyan creative ecosystem and placed Padia in a room with some of the most prominent names in fashion. The prize process then asked something the work itself rarely demands — justification. To stand before over 80 industry specialists and explain a brand that was built on instinct, emotion, and the particular weight of memory, requires a kind of distance from your own work that doesn’t come naturally. The most searching exchange came from jury member Linda Loppa, Consultant, Advisor Strategy and Vision at Polimoda, who questioned the English name, the construction choices, the brand’s relationship with contemporaneity. Her final provocation was direct: “My job is to challenge you and see if you can stand.” He stood. And found, in the standing, something clarifying. “There is still room for growth,” he says, “and that is exciting.” 

A Return

The world Padia is building stretches from Nairobi to Paris to India. A triangle that functions less as a business strategy and more as emotional geography. Yoshita 1967’s second collection was always meant to be shot in Keem, Surat — his mother’s hometown in Gujarat, a plan still waiting to be realised. Artisanal networks and partnerships in India are already quietly taking shape, but for Padia, the significance runs deeper than production. “Expanding there is not only a business decision,” he says. “It is also a return.”

The Bride Who Belongs To Herself

That same refusal to separate the personal from the professional lives most fully in Yoshita 1967’s bridal collection, Manorama, named after his grandmother. It arrives as a natural continuation of Temple Road, the brand’s first collection, which traced the passage from girlhood to womanhood. Manorama takes that journey further into the threshold of a woman choosing her life on her own terms. The Yoshita bride is not defined by whether she is modern or traditional but by agency. “She is saying yes to sovereignty, to personal choice, to self-awareness,” Padia says, “and to the freedom to navigate the world in her own way.” The women who made her dress travel with her into that moment invisibly, their work a form of accompaniment. “The Yoshita bride is not alone,” he says. “She is being held.”

Whatever September Brings

Whatever the 4th of September 2026 brings at the Foundation Louis Vuitton, Padia carries into that room a reminder, “That a unique point of view matters.” For a brand built from grief, memory, the hands of women in Nairobi, and the textile traditions of Gujarat, that’s not a small thing. 

Some colours never fail to command attention, and magenta is undoubtedly one of them.

Madhuri Dixit’s latest look proves exactly why. Dressed in an Anita Dongre saree awash in intricate mirror work, delicate sequin embroidery and traditional craftsmanship, the actor embraced festive dressing with her signature elegance. 

A Mirror-Embroidered Saree That Does All The Talking

The Anita Dongre saree celebrated Indian craftsmanship through meticulous mirror work scattered across the body and intricate embroidered borders. Tiny mirrors caught the light with every movement, while delicate sequin detailing added another layer of dimension without overwhelming the richness of the fabric.

The vivid magenta hue brought a contemporary energy to the otherwise traditional silhouette, making it feel equally suited to festive celebrations, wedding functions and evening occasions.

A Monochrome Moment Done Right

Instead of breaking up the colour story, Madhuri paired the saree with a matching sleeveless blouse in the same striking shade of magenta. The clean silhouette allowed the ornate embroidery to remain the focal point while lending the overall look a polished, contemporary finish.

Jewellery That Complements, Never Competes

Her accessories followed the same philosophy.

Statement kundan chandelier earrings, stacked bangles and classic rings brought a regal touch without competing with the intricate mirror work. Rather than introducing contrasting gemstones or bold colours, the warm gold tones echoed the embroidery woven throughout the saree, creating a harmonious finish.

Fresh Flowers And Soft Glam Keep Things Timeless

The finishing touches stayed true to Madhuri’s enduring aesthetic. A sleek low bun wrapped in fresh jasmine flowers lent the look a timeless elegance, while a softly blended smokey eye, luminous skin and a glossy pink lip added warmth without overpowering the overall styling.

The result was unmistakably festive, yet refreshingly understated.

Why The Look Works

Madhuri Dixit has always understood that the strongest festive looks begin with exceptional craftsmanship. Here, Anita Dongre’s intricate mirror work takes centre stage, while every styling choice — from the monochromatic blouse to the floral bun — supports rather than distracts from the artistry of the saree. It’s an elegant reminder that timeless Indian dressing is rarely about adding more; it’s about letting beautiful craft speak for itself.

FAQs

Which city is famous for mirror work?

Mirror work is most closely associated with Kutch in Gujarat and parts of Rajasthan, where the embroidery has been practised for centuries across various artisan communities.

What is Gujarati mirror work called?

Traditional Gujarati mirror embroidery is commonly known as Abhla Bharat or Abhla embroidery, where small mirrors are stitched into fabric using intricate hand embroidery techniques.

What are the origins of mirror work?

Mirror work is believed to have originated in Persia before travelling to the Indian subcontinent through trade. Over time, it evolved into a distinctive craft in Gujarat and Rajasthan, becoming an integral part of the region’s textile traditions.

Over a glass of pét-nat and bar snacks, my friend is venting about someone we both know with whom she’s fallen out. Words like ‘narcissist’ and ‘gaslighting’ are thrown around as casually as drink orders. Having heard the other side over a coffee a few weeks prior, I piece together two versions of the same story. As is the case in most conflicts, neither — and both — of them are right. Most of us have been a version of each of these women at one point or another, and as my friend speaks, I catch glimpses of patterns that play out in almost every relationship.

In the wake of a rift, it’s cathartic to let off steam with someone who knows you well. However, equipped with nothing but second-hand context, I can’t help but imagine how much more fruitful it might be if both these friends were in the same room, hashing out their differences with an impartial (and professionally trained) voice of reason. After all, their friendship had lasted longer than most marriages in Australia, which the Australian Bureau of Statistics places at an average of 13.2 years.

On the bus home, tipsy and curious, I google ‘couples counselling for friends’. And voilà — articles, Reddit threads and resources about a seemingly fledgling but growing practice: friendship therapy.

“The term ‘just friends’ drives me a little crazy,” says Rhaina Cohen, author of The Other Significant Others: Reimagining Life with Friendship at the Center. As a journalist who has spent much of her career exploring the nature of friendship, Cohen has seen countless platonic connections take the shape of something closer to a spousal bond than a casual social tie. “A very close friendship isn’t fundamentally different from a romantic relationship,” she says. “There might not be sex, but there’s commitment, vulnerability and the same kinds of communication issues.”

According to Elisabeth Shaw, psychologist and CEO of Relationships Australia NSW, friendship isn’t a ‘nice to have’ but a core pillar of our wellbeing. “Friendships can have as great an impact as any other relationship,” she says. She attributes this shift to evolving lifestyles and a growing recognition that no one person can meet all our needs. “If people do marry, they’re marrying later, so there’s a longer phase of life where broader social networks play a really significant role,” she adds. “That gives friendships more time and space to deepen.”

Of course, the significance of friendship itself is nothing new. The pantheon of great thinkers, from Aristotle to Sex and the City’s Charlotte York, seem to agree — the former more than 2000 years ago writing, “No-one would choose to live without friends,” and the latter 25 years ago suggesting that women might be “each other’s soulmates”. What’s really changed is how we define, navigate and nurture these bonds.

Engagement with psychology in all its forms is on the rise. The global marriage counselling market has reportedly grown by more than $2 billion in the past year alone. Meanwhile, Medicare data shows a 13 per cent increase in mental health services in the past decade. As therapy becomes increasingly commonplace, it’s starting to filter into most areas of our lives. It’s shifted from a last-ditch option to an early intervention, maintenance rather than repair.

Shaw sees the benefit in friends pursuing therapy together, noting that the value is often symbolic as much as practical. “Having someone acknowledge that the friendship matters, and that it’s worth setting time aside to talk about what’s become stuck, can be really powerful,” she says. The act of engaging with the issue, she adds, is sometimes as important as ‘fixing’ it.

On reflection, it seems obvious: most of our issues involve other people in some way, so why relegate therapy to a purely solo pursuit? Dr Scott Terry, a psychologist and marriage and family therapist who has worked extensively with friends, says, “When we think about relationships, we think about the fact that there are three people there: there’s you, there’s your friend and there’s who you are together.” He adds, “We don’t live in a vacuum … we live in connection to others,” and encourages everyone to interrogate that dynamic. “If I don’t understand my connection to others, how can I understand my connection to myself?”

Although one-on-one therapy is undoubtedly valuable for self-understanding, it may not fully address the patterns we create with others. Terry argues that society is overly individualistic, and that we tend to focus too much on the self, not the system.

Whether or not we actually attend a therapy session with a friend, the language and logic of therapy has entered our friendships. We’re more familiar than ever with the tools of the trade, from holding space and doing the work to co-regulation and reparenting our inner child, and we’re bringing this knowledge to our relationships. Social anthropologist Laura Eramian examines how therapy-informed thinking has shaped our expectations and understanding of platonic bonds. “Therapy culture says you need to have these close, intimate, talk-based relationships for it to be a strong friendship,” she says.

Traditionally, friendship was seen as voluntary, easygoing — an escape from our more demanding, ‘obligatory’ relationships, such as family or colleagues. It wasn’t a commitment you had to ‘work on’ in a structured way. In previous generations, you’d be unlikely to find friends analysing their perceived emotional labour. Engaging in a clinical setting with a friend could certainly be interpreted as formalising a once low-pressure connection.

Expectations of emotional intimacy and openness now strongly coexist with self-protection and boundaries — often in tension. “People still want their friendships to be easy and pleasurable, relaxing and fun, but they also have this new kind of layer of expectations on top of that,” Eramian says. To explain this friction, she uses the example of confiding in a friend. “Acts of disclosure can be read as either building intimacy or as burdening your friend — and can be both at the same time.”

Cohen has observed this, too. “There are these competing ideas: one that says if something isn’t serving you, leave, and another that says relationships take work and deserve effort,” she says. In the conversations she’s had with people who have tried friendship therapy, approaching conflict with a formal set-up was helpful. “Having that structure gave them an excuse to have conversations that might otherwise feel awkward or unnecessary.”

With relationships an extension of the self, and the self a project we’re constantly trying to perfect, friendship therapy may also be a symptom of society’s obsession with optimisation. “Therapy culture tends to turn anything it touches into an object of reflexive monitoring,” Eramian says. “It leads people to think in strict binaries: the friendship is either healthy or toxic.” Actively striving to have calibrated, healthy affiliations is a sign of the times — call it friendshipmaxxing. But the difficult truth remains: expectations are often misaligned, and not every friendship is meant to last indefinitely — treating all of them as solvable problems risks overlooking that.

There’s neither a specific accreditation nor a unique framework for treating platonic relationships. Instead, couples counselling-style models are generally used. The workaround points to several possibilities: that friendship is similar enough to romantic relationships to borrow from existing models, or too fluid, informal and low-stakes to justify its own. Or it might suggest that our expectations of friendship are evolving faster than the systems that could support them.

Cohen views the use of couples counselling frameworks by friends as somewhat inevitable. “When there isn’t a structure designed for your particular relationship, you scramble to use the next best thing and adapt it,” she says. “It makes sense to me that people would try to use something that’s already established.”

Therapy, and therapists, are not monoliths. Shaw explains that some professionals whose training is solidly in couples work can sometimes approach friendship situations in ways that don’t fully account for how different friendship is. “The dynamics aren’t the same, particularly because friendship sits within a wider social network and carries different kinds of expectations,” she says. “You wouldn’t want to imply that two friends have the same kind of bond or obligation as a couple, but the principles of bringing people together to talk through what’s happening can still be very helpful.”

The elephants in the room have been patiently waiting their turn: money, insurance, logistics. Couples attending therapy will likely draw from shared funds; business partners might expense the cost. But with friends, who pays? The person who suggested it? Do you take turns?

“I find the people who are more serious about [friendship] therapy are the ones with something more at stake … maybe they’re living together, or they’re wanting to move from romantic to friendship, or they’re in business together,” Terry says. He is straightforward about the financial reality of it: “How many thousands of dollars are you willing to spend working on a friendship?”

And this is the crux of it. Friendship is a relationship that’s sustained entirely by its participants’ desire to be in it. In other relationships — a marriage, family or business partnership — there are tangible stakes, like children, finances, housing or careers. With friendship, the stakes are simpler: losing the connection.

So how do you know if it’s the right decision to opt into friendship therapy? You don’t. But if a friendship matters enough to consider it as an option, it might matter enough to work through — together.

A-List Fall-Outs

Stars – they’re just like us. They’re not immune to friendship struggles.

Lena Dunham & Jenni Konner

In her new memoir, Famesick, Lena Dunham outlines the many struggles that came with fame, not least of all the end of her romantic relationship with music producer Jack Antonoff, but also the slow demise of her friendship with her Girls co-showrunner and writer Jenni Konner. These two did try therapy, and that session was the last time they spoke.

Lauren Conrad & Heidi Montag

Once roommates, best friends and co-stars of two OG reality series, Laguna Beach and The Hills, Lauren Conrad and Heidi Montag had a falling-out to end all falling-outs in 2007. There was disapproval of Heidi’s boyfriend (now husband and wannabe LA mayor) Spencer Pratt, and accusations that Heidi and Spencer spread rumours about a sex tape between Lauren and an ex. Anyone who can still hear Lauren yelling “You know what you did!” needs no further explanation.

Gwyneth Paltrow & Winona Ryder

These two 1990s icons lived together before their friendship apparently ended over the 1998 film Shakespeare in Love. Rumour has it that the screenplay was on Winona’s coffee table (why it wasn’t a shared coffee table, given they lived together, is unclear). Gwyneth picked it up, read it and immediately called her agent to get her the role, which earned her the Academy Award for Best Actress. If you’re to believe the disgraced producer Harvey Weinstein’s version of events, Gwyneth originally turned down the role and recommended Winona. Later, Gwyneth accused Winona of starting the script-on-the-coffee-table rumour. Who to believe, the convicted sex offender, the shoplifter or the Israeli real estate ambassador? (Winona Forever).

Paris Hilton & Nicole Richie

The stars of The Simple Life famously broke up in 2005, but the reason was unclear (“Nicole knows what she did”). Was it because Paris hosted Saturday Night Live by herself? Did Nicole really show Paris’ leaked sex tape at a party? Whatever happened, they reconciled a year later over dinner at a steakhouse, according to TMZ.

Kylie Jenner & Jordyn Woods

These two middle school best friends turned roommates’ friendship blew up in 2019 when reports emerged that Tristan Thompson allegedly cheated on a pregnant Khloé Kardashian with Jordyn. In a 2024 ELLE cover interview, Kylie said she was “heartbroken” at the time. The pair seemed to try to repair things after Jordyn apparently apologised in 2023, and this year they’re hugging it out courtside in orange and blue as two Knicks superfans.

Tyra Banks & Naomi Campbell

Newcomer Tyra Banks and supermodel Naomi Campbell were pitted against each other in the 1990s fashion industry, which seemed to only have room for one Black model at a time. Tyra said she felt intimidated by Naomi backstage when she apparently said, “You’ll never be me. Don’t think that you can be me.” For her part, Naomi said she does not recall making those comments. The pair smoothed things over in 2005 during an episode of The Tyra Banks Show, where they made peace and agreed to move forward; they acknowledged the real enemy was the industry’s racism, not each other.

Alexandra Cooper & Sofia Franklyn

The co-founders of the now wildy successful podcast Call Her Daddy were once the very best of friends. In 2020, two years after launching the podcast, they went their separate ways due to contract disputes. Alex is now the sole host of Call Her Daddy and co-owner of the Unwell media empire with her reportedly problematic husband, Matt Kaplan; Sofia launched her own podcast, Sofia with an F. Sofia has promised to detail her side of the split in her perfectly titled upcoming memoir, Daddy Issues, out in November.

Taylor Swift & …

Better to have been part of a girl squad and kicked out than to have never been part of a girl squad at all, right? Katy Perry fell out with Taylor Swift after three backup dancers left Taylor’s Red Tour early to perform on Katy’s Prismatic World Tour (they’ve since reconciled). Karlie Kloss was a key squad member from 2013 to 2016, only have been demoted thanks to Kloss’ manager Scooter Braun owning Taylor’s masters and her marriage into the Kushner family (read: Trump’s in-laws). Despite multiple rumours of friendship breakdowns, apparently Taylor and Lorde are experts at navigating disputes while remaining friends, and Taylor and Blake Lively’s text exchanges were recently made public due to the latter’s legal dispute with her It Ends With Us co-star Justin Baldoni, reportedly forcing Taylor to distance herself from the friendship.

Read the original article on ELLE Australia

We’ve all had that moment. A friend recommends a product that transforms her skin, you try it with the same excitement… and your skin simply reacts differently.

It’s a familiar experience — beauty routines can be shared, but skin behaves in its own way. Your skin is shaped at every moment by both: the genetic blueprint you were born with, and the lifestyle that decides how that blueprint actually plays out.

Dr. Dmitry Chebanov, Chief Scientist at Holivita — a science-led longevity platform that connects your genes, lifestyle, and biomarker data into one clear picture — shares five eye-opening ideas about how this works — and why understanding both sides changes everything.

1. Why that serum works on your friend — and does nothing for you

If skincare ever feels a bit unpredictable, you’re not imagining it — your skin plays by its own rules, many of which are written in your genes. They influence how much collagen your skin produces, how it handles everyday stress, and how it reacts to ingredients like retinol or vitamin C, which is why results vary between people. 

The same product can feel like a miracle for one person and underwhelming for another. At the core, it’s how your skin is wired to read these signals. As Dr. Chebanov says: “Skin is one of the clearest examples of how genetics shows up in everyday life. The same routine can feel different, and DNA is part of that story.”

2. Why skin ageing doesn’t look the same for everyone

One of the key biological mechanisms behind skin ageing involves telomeres — protective structures at the ends of chromosomes that shorten as cells divide over time.

As telomeres become shorter, skin cells gradually lose part of their ability to repair and regenerate efficiently. This is linked to visible changes like reduced elasticity, slower recovery, and fine lines.

What makes telomeres especially important is that they are shaped not only by genetics, but also by lifestyle. Chronic stress, poor sleep, smoking, inflammation, and long-term metabolic stress are associated with faster telomere shortening, while healthier routines may support healthier cellular ageing patterns.

This helps explain why two people of the same age can experience very different skin ageing trajectories — even with similar skincare routines.

3. “Glow” is actually your antioxidant system at work

Glow is often treated like a beauty mystery — something you either naturally have or don’t. But biologically, glow is closely connected to how efficiently your body manages oxidative stress.

Every day, your skin deals with pressure from UV exposure, pollution, stress, lack of sleep, and normal metabolic activity. To protect itself, the body relies on an internal antioxidant defence system.

Part of how efficiently this system works is influenced by genetics. Certain genes help regulate how the body responds to oxidative stress and repairs damage at the cellular level.

When these systems function well, skin often appears brighter, calmer, and more even. When the system is under more pressure, skin can start looking dull, tired, or uneven — sometimes even when your skincare routine hasn’t changed.

The practical takeaway is important: understanding your genetic tendencies can help you adjust lifestyle habits and skincare choices more intelligently. For some people, sleep and stress management become the missing piece. For others, it may be nutrition, sun exposure, or barrier support.

4. Your metabolism may be affecting your skin more than your skincare routine

Your skin reflects how your metabolism works behind the scenes. The way your body processes sugar, regulates inflammation, produces cellular energy, and absorbs nutrients directly affects hydration, collagen stability, breakouts, and skin recovery.

One surprising fact: high blood sugar spikes are linked to glycation — a process that damages collagen and accelerates visible skin ageing.

Another important layer is the microbiome. The bacteria living on your skin and in your gut help regulate inflammation and barrier function, and genetics partly influences how these systems interact.

Metabolism itself is shaped by both DNA and lifestyle. Some people are genetically more sensitive to oxidative stress or inflammation, but sleep, nutrition, stress, and movement strongly affect how these systems perform. Understanding your genome helps explain how your skin actually functions — not just how it looks.

5. Your ancestry may influence how your skin reacts to ageing, sun exposure, and inflammation

Your skin story may start earlier than you think — long before your skincare routine, and even long before you were born.

Scientists increasingly believe that genetic background can influence how skin responds to things like sun exposure, inflammation, pigmentation, and ageing. Different populations evolved under different climates, and traces of those adaptations still show up in skin biology today.

A 2024 genomic study published in Nature Communications found major differences in pigmentation-related genetic markers between East Asian and European populations.

In real life, that can mean some people are naturally more prone to hyperpigmentation, while others may experience visible collagen loss and photoaging earlier — even under similar environmental conditions. Which is also why your friend’s “miracle” skincare routine may never work quite the same way for you.

Closing

Your DNA stays the same throughout your life, but how it expresses itself is more flexible than most people think. This is where epigenetics comes in — the way lifestyle and environment influence gene activity.

Sleep, nutrition, stress, sun exposure, even emotional rhythm — all of these can influence how certain genes are switched on or off over time. And that, in turn, affects how your skin behaves.

So while your genetic blueprint sets a baseline, it doesn’t define a fixed outcome. It works more like a starting point that responds to how you live. As Dr. Chebanov puts it: “Genetics isn’t destiny. It’s a starting point. And what you do with it plays a very real role in how things unfold.”

If you’re curious what your own genetic profile might say about your skin, you can explore it here.

FAQ

1. Can a DNA test really guide skincare choices?

It can’t build a perfect skincare routine for you, but it can help explain biological tendencies behind how your skin behaves. That may include sensitivity patterns, collagen maintenance, oxidative stress response, or how your body handles inflammation. The value is not prediction — it’s context.

2. Can lifestyle really influence how skin ages if genetics already plays a role?

Yes. Genetics sets the baseline, but lifestyle strongly affects how those biological systems operate over time. Sleep, stress, nutrition, sun exposure, smoking, and recovery all influence processes linked to skin ageing, including inflammation, oxidative stress, and cellular repair.

3. Does DNA change over time?

Your DNA sequence itself stays mostly the same throughout life. What changes is gene activity — the way certain genes are switched on or off depending on lifestyle and environment. This process is known as epigenetics, and it helps explain why long-term habits can influence how skin looks and feels over time.

Expert Bio

Dr. Dmitry Chebanov is a Chief Scientist at Holivita, a science-led longevity platform that focuses on connecting genetic insights with lifestyle and biological data to help people better understand their individual biology.

Website 

Some wedding invitations call for one great outfit. Akansha Ranjan Kapoor and Sharan Sharma's celebrations called for three and Alia Bhatt understood the assignment beautifully. Instead of sticking to one signature look, she explored three completely different takes on festive dressing, each with its own personality. There was a richly embroidered black ajrakh saree steeped in heritage, a striking purple drape paired with a sculpted corset and finally, a steel-blue silk sareethat felt quietly elegant. None of them chased trends. They simply celebrated beautiful textiles, thoughtful styling and the kind of craftsmanship that makes you pause for a second look.

Styled by Rhea Kapoor and Sanya Kapoor, the wardrobe felt cohesive without looking repetitive. Every outfit had its own colour story, jewellery mood and beauty direction, while her signature dewy makeup stayed soft enough to let the clothes shine. Whether it was intricate zari work, blooming floral motifs, mirror embellishments or heirloom-inspired traditional jewellery, every detail added something to the story. If you're building your festive wardrobe this season, consider these three looks your mood board.

The Cheena Cheeni Saree, Rich In Zari Work

The first thing that catches your eye is the colour. Rendered in a striking jewel-toned purple, the Cheena Cheeni drape feels festive without leaning on heavy embellishment. Woven throughout the fabric are intricate zari motifs depicting miniature scenes, architectural elements and floral details, creating a tapestry-like effect that reveals itself gradually. The border carries the same richness, framing the drape beautifully. What makes the look particularly interesting is the contrast between the traditional weaving and the contemporary styling. Instead of a conventional blouse, Alia pairs the saree with a structured strapless corset in a matching shade of purple.

A closer look reveals thoughtful details that elevate the ensemble further. The corset features delicate loop fastenings running down the centre, adding texture without distracting from the saree's intricate zari work. As the pallu gives a flash of bright chartreuse-yellow lining peeks through, introducing an unexpected burst of colour against the deep purple palette. Jewellery is kept refined, with an ornate choker, statement earrings and cocktail rings complementing the look rather than competing with it. Her sleek centre-parted bun and fresh dewy makeup complete the styling, letting the craftsmanship of the weave remain the hero. 

The Embellished Ajrakh Saree With Floral Motifs

Draped in a black ajrakh saree, Alia wears a piece brought to life with intricate embroidery, mirror work and vibrant floral motifs scattered across the fabric. The richly detailed borders and pallu add depth without overwhelming the drape, while hints of red along the edges subtly break up the darker palette. Paired with a matching blouse featuring the same embroidered motifs and mirror embellishments.

A statement maang tikka, oversized chandelier earrings and an embroidered potli echo the handcrafted details of the saree, while colourful tassels at the back of the blouse add a playful finishing touch. Her sleek centre-parted hair, glowing dewy makeup and tiny black bindi keep the focus exactly where it belongs — on the textile and the intricate work woven into every inch of the ensemble.

The Steel-Blue Silk Saree With Traditional Jewellery

For the wedding day, Alia turns to a steel-blue silk saree that lets texture and subtle detailing do all the work. Woven with delicate gold butis and finished with an intricately embroidered border, the drape feels light, fluid and quietly festive. The sleeveless halter-neck blouse adds a contemporary touch with its embroidered high neckline, elegant keyhole cut-out and open-back design.

Antique-inspired traditional jewellery, including statement earrings, a delicate maang tikka and stacked bangles, complements the muted palette without taking attention away from the saree. The backless blouse is finished with tassel ties, adding movement and a playful detail to the look, while her sleek low bun and fresh dewy makeup keep everything versatile.

A Celebration Of Craft, One Saree At A Time

The common thread across all three looks isn't a particular colour palette or silhouette — it's the attention given to Indian textiles and craftsmanship. From intricate zari work and richly embroidered ajrakh to the gentle beauty of a steel-blue silk saree, every outfit tells its own story without feeling disconnected from the next.

The styling plays an equally important role. Traditional jewellery, fresh dewy makeup, sleek hairstyles and thoughtfully chosen accessories allow each saree to take centre stage naturally. Rather than chasing trends, Alia Bhatt shows how a well-crafted drape, beautiful embroidery and timeless details can make wedding dressing feel fresh season after season.

Sometimes the most memorable festive wardrobes aren't built around one standout outfit but they're created through a collection of beautifully considered looks.

FAQs

What is the speciality of an Ajrakh saree?

An Ajrakh saree is known for its hand-block printing, natural dyes, geometric patterns and intricate craftsmanship, rooted in centuries-old textile traditions of Kutch and Sindh.

What is the price of Alia Bhatt's Ajrakh saree?

The exact price hasn't been officially disclosed. Designer Ajrakh sarees by Punit Balana typically range from around ₹30,000 to over ₹70,000.

Which saree is called the Queen of Silk?

The Kanchipuram (Kanjeevaram) saree is widely known as the "Queen of Silk" for its rich silk, intricate zari weaving and timeless craftsmanship.

Also Read:

Back To Black: Alia Bhatt’s Strategic Style Reset

Following the global success of Baby Reindeer, Richard Gadd could have easily returned to familiar territory. Instead, he did the opposite. His latest series, Half Man, is an entirely fictional six-part drama, now streaming on Lionsgate Play in India. Starring Gadd alongside Jamie Bell, the series follows the decades-long, emotionally volatile relationship between step-brothers Ruben and Niall. Through their intertwined lives, Half Man examines masculinity, shame, trauma and the complicated emotional bonds that can both sustain and destroy us.

Speaking to ELLE India, Gadd opens up about stepping away from autobiographical storytelling, transforming into Ruben and why pushing himself creatively was the only way forward.

"The challenge wasn't masculinity—it was the shape of the story"

Although Half Man grapples with difficult questions around masculinity and emotional repression, Gadd says the biggest challenge wasn't the subject matter itself. "It wasn't necessarily masculinity that was challenging to write," he tells ELLE India. "It was almost the whole shape of it."

He wanted the relationship between Ruben and Niall to feel instinctive rather than easily explainable—a connection that exists beyond logic. "We had these two people who seemed bonded almost transcendentally, in ways that almost defied explanation," he says. "Finding that atypical shape within the time pressures we had was the real challenge."

Instead of following a conventional dramatic structure, Gadd focused on balancing darkness with moments of tenderness, creating a relationship that constantly shifts between love, dependence and destruction.

Why Ruben Needed To Feel 'Like A Devolved Animal'

If writing Ruben was one challenge, becoming him was another entirely. After audiences met Gadd as the vulnerable Donny Dunn in Baby Reindeer, he knew Ruben had to feel like someone completely different.

"I needed to change everything about myself," he says. That transformation began with Ruben's voice. Gadd underwent extensive vocal training to lower his register and create a physical presence that felt instinctive and unsettling. "I wanted him to almost feel like a devolved animal—a grunting, devolved kind of beast," he explains. "I worked so hard on getting the voice deeper, bassier and broken."

For Gadd, the physical transformation wasn't simply about sounding different. "Eventually the voice becomes twinned with the body," he says. "That's really when you begin getting into character." The process was so immersive that he laughs he can barely recreate Ruben's voice today.

"We're Codependent Beasts"

At the heart of Half Man is the deeply complicated relationship between Ruben and Niall. Rather than writing a simple story about abuse or brotherhood, Gadd wanted to explore the contradictions that define human relationships. "I think, for the most part, we are codependent beasts," he says.

Looking back at life's defining relationships, he believes the people who shape us most are often those who leave us carrying the greatest emotional complexity. "If we look back on the defining relationships in our lives, the ones that shape us the most—for good or bad—they also tend to be the most complicated."

That complexity became the emotional foundation of Half Man. "I always try to lean into the complication of humanity because I think that's a fair and accurate representation of humanity."

For Gadd, brotherhood itself carries a unique emotional intensity. "Growing up, you bond with your male brethren in ways that are almost unexplained and transcendental," he says.

Those early emotional connections, he believes, are often the hardest to let go of, even when they become destructive. "Sometimes the relationships that bind together the brightest break the hardest," he says. "We're driven by emotions, by dopamine, by fractured psychologies. I really wanted to lean into that need we all have for someone else."

Why Half Man Had To Be Completely Different From Baby Reindeer

Unlike Baby Reindeer, which drew heavily from Gadd's own life, Half Man offered him the opportunity to build an entirely fictional world—and that's exactly what excited him. "I was very excited because it was a new challenge," he says. "I've never wanted to live life in one lane."

He admits there was an easier version of Half Man he could have made by borrowing the style audiences had come to associate with Baby Reindeer. But repeating himself never interested him. "There was a version of Half Man that could have been made in the Baby Reindeer style," he says. "But I wanted to do something completely different."

Instead, he leaned into a more socially realist approach, writing characters from a completely different background and mindset. "I wanted to explore a different class, a different mentality," he says.

For Gadd, creative growth only comes from embracing discomfort. "I don't believe in living life in a comfort zone because I don't think you improve or learn things," he says. "I'm all for taking risks."

Releasing Half Man so soon after Baby Reindeer was one such risk, particularly because Ruben couldn't be further removed from Donny Dunn. "Ruben was so different from Donny. You've got to do these things because they keep you developing, and that's what makes life interesting."

As for what's next, Gadd isn't revealing much. But one thing is certain: he's not interested in repeating himself. "I hope whatever I do next is challenging in a different way again," he says. "I want to keep evolving and keep challenging myself to do new things."

Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey is yet to hit the screens, and somehow, the internet has already become one giant lecture hall. Every other podcast is breaking down Homer's epic or a YouTuber is explaining why the story is "essential reading." Every film bro suddenly has a degree in Classics, patiently informing the rest of us about Odysseus, Penelope and the Trojan War, as though Nolan has single-handedly introduced the world to one of the oldest stories ever told.

It's also strangely familiar.

For years, Nolan's films have carried the reputation of being cinema for the intellectually elite. His fanbase has often been framed through a "you either get it or you don't" lens, one that has frequently sidelined women from conversations about his work. Somewhere between Inception, Interstellar and Tenet, appreciating Nolan became less about enjoying films and more about proving you were clever enough to understand them.

Except that's never reflected reality.

When I attended the premiere of The Odyssey, the audience wasn't made up of men trying to solve Nolan like a Rubik's Cube. It was filled with women, journalists, critics, fans, movie lovers—every bit as excited about his latest film as everyone else. Women have always been part of Nolan's audience. They just haven't always been treated as though they belong in the conversation. His writing about female characters is a whole different question.

So before another man with a microphone explains The Odyssey to you, let's talk about what it actually is, and why the internet's current discourse misses the point entirely.

Homer probably wasn't who you think he was.

The first thing worth knowing is that The Odyssey didn't begin as a book. Long before it became one of the most influential works in Western literature, it was an oral tradition. For centuries, travelling poets, known as bards or rhapsodes, performed the story aloud, adapting it for different audiences. Scholars still debate whether Homer was a single poet, several storytellers whose work merged over time, or even a symbolic figure representing an entire oral tradition.

That uncertainty matters because it reminds us that The Odyssey was never born as one definitive text. It evolved through performance, memory and retelling before it was finally written down around the eighth century BCE. The version we know today is already the product of centuries of adaptation. In other words, the very first Odyssey wasn't fixed. It was fluid.

The plot, in case you somehow escaped every podcast.

Long before Nolan assembled one of the most star-studded ensembles of his career, The Odyssey had already travelled the world for nearly three thousand years. Attributed to the poet Homer and believed to have been composed around the eighth century BCE, the epic didn't begin as a book at all. It began as oral storytelling. Travelling bards, known as rhapsodes, recited the tale before audiences across Ancient Greece, altering details, expanding scenes and adapting performances depending on where they were and who they were speaking to. Historians still debate whether Homer was a single poet, several poets or simply the name attached to centuries of oral tradition. In other words, there has never been one "original" Odyssey. The version we know today is already the product of countless retellings.

The story begins after the events of The Iliad. Troy has fallen, and the Greeks are finally heading home after a decade-long war. Among them is Odysseus, the King of Ithaca—not the strongest warrior on the battlefield, but certainly the cleverest. It was his infamous Trojan Horse that won the war. Yet his greatest challenge begins only after the fighting ends. Having blinded the Cyclops Polyphemus, Odysseus unknowingly incurs the wrath of Poseidon, who vows that the Greek king will never have an easy journey home.

What follows is one of literature's greatest adventures. Odysseus and his crew encounter the Lotus-Eaters, whose enchanted fruit erases all desire to return home. They narrowly escape the man-eating Laestrygonians before arriving on the island of Circe, the sorceress who transforms his men into pigs. They sail past the Sirens, whose hypnotic songs lure sailors to their deaths, navigate between the sea monsters Scylla and Charybdis, descend into the Underworld to seek prophecy from the dead, and spend seven years trapped on the island of the nymph Calypso. Throughout the journey, the Olympian gods play favourites: Athena champions Odysseus' return, while Poseidon repeatedly attempts to destroy him.

Meanwhile, the emotional heart of the story unfolds hundreds of miles away in Ithaca. Penelope, Odysseus' wife, spends twenty years resisting relentless pressure to remarry, weaving and secretly unravelling a funeral shroud each night to delay choosing one of the many suitors occupying her palace. Their son, Telemachus, embarks on his own coming-of-age journey, searching for news of the father he barely remembers. Together, the father and son's stories become as much about identity, grief and homecoming as they are about monsters and gods.

Which is why the backlash over Nolan's casting feels so misplaced.

Nolan's adaptation leans into that scale. Matt Damon takes on the role of Odysseus, with Tom Holland playing his son Telemachus and Anne Hathaway as the steadfast Penelope. Zendaya steps into the role of Athena, the goddess of wisdom and Odysseus' fiercest divine ally, while Samantha Morton plays Circe, the powerful enchantress whose relationship with Odysseus remains one of the poem's most fascinating chapters.

Lupita Nyong'o is cast as Helen of Troy, whose elopement with Paris sparked the Trojan War in the first place, while Jon Bernthal portrays her husband, Menelaus. Robert Pattinson plays Antinous, the most arrogant and dangerous of Penelope's suitors; Benny Safdie appears as Agamemnon, commander of the Greek forces; Himesh Patel plays Eurylochus, one of Odysseus' closest companions; John Leguizamo is Eumaeus, the loyal swineherd who helps Odysseus reclaim his kingdom; Elliot Page portrays Sinon, the Greek soldier whose deception helped the Trojan Horse succeed; and Mia Goth is reported to play Melantho, Penelope's maid whose loyalties lie with the suitors.

And that's precisely why the backlash over the casting feels so contradictory. The same audiences willing to accept gods descending from Mount Olympus, one-eyed giants, witches transforming men into animals, prophetic ghosts and sea monsters suddenly draw the line at a Black actress portraying Helen of Troy. It's an argument that mistakes mythology for documentary. The story isn't a historical record. It isn't a census of Ancient Greece. It's one of humanity's oldest surviving myths, a story that has crossed borders, languages, religions and cultures for nearly three millennia. 

If the poem itself has never belonged to one definitive author, one definitive text or one definitive interpretation, why should its characters suddenly be confined to one imagined racial identity? Perhaps the question isn't whether Nolan's cast is "accurate." It's why, in 2026, some people still imagine that one of the world's greatest myths should only be allowed to look one way.

There has never been one Odyssey.

If people were truly interested in preserving a single "authentic" version of Homer's epic, they'd have had a difficult time doing so over the last 2,700 years.

The Romans reimagined Odysseus as Ulysses. Dante placed him in The Divine Comedy. James Joyce transformed his journey into an ordinary day in Dublin in Ulysses. The Coen Brothers turned the epic into O Brother, Where Art Thou?. Margaret Atwood's The Penelopiad asked what happened when Penelope finally got to tell her own story, while Madeline Miller's bestselling Circe shifted the spotlight from the celebrated male hero to one of mythology's most misunderstood women.

Every adaptation changes something and the translation makes choices. Nolan is simply doing what artists have been doing for nearly three millennia.

Women have been questioning Homer long before the internet discovered him.

For centuries, it was translated, interpreted and taught almost exclusively by men. Unsurprisingly, Odysseus emerged as the flawless hero while the women around him became archetypes: the faithful wife, the dangerous temptress, the beautiful cause of war.

That began to change when women entered the conversation. In 2017, Emily Wilson became the first woman to publish an English translation of The Odyssey. Her translation revealed just how much earlier versions had reflected the biases of their male translators. She stripped away language that unfairly condemned the poem's enslaved women, refused to romanticise Odysseus and translated the text with a sensitivity that many readers felt had been missing for centuries.

The backlash against Wilson was immediate. She was accused of being too feminist, too modern and too "woke." It feels oddly similar to the conversation surrounding Nolan today.

Nolan is probably the least surprising filmmaker to find himself at the centre of a culture war. This is, after all, the man who survived years of arguments over The Dark Knight trilogy, endless debates about whether Batman should kill, whether The Dark Knight Rises was misunderstood, whether Tenet made sense, whether Oppenheimer deserved its Oscar and whether his films are genius or merely complicated for the sake of being complicated. The Nolan fandom has always inspired strong opinions. The Odyssey was never going to be different.

Which is why the current backlash feels less like a response to the film itself and more like the latest chapter in a familiar cycle. The cast gets announced, the internet declares civilisation is ending and Nolan carries on making the movie anyway. If two decades of discourse have proven anything, it's that Nolan isn't particularly interested in letting online outrage dictate his storytelling choices.

So no, women don't need The Odyssey explained to them.

So no, women don't need The Odyssey explained to them. We don't need a podcast to tell us why Odysseus mattered. 

And let's be honest: if Nolan had cast an entirely white ensemble in 2026, we'd probably be having a different conversation altogether. Cinema is global now. Its audiences are global. So are its stars. Why shouldn't one of humanity's oldest myths reflect that reality? The real magic of this story has never been that it belonged to one people or one culture. It has travelled across continents, languages and generations for nearly three thousand years, constantly finding new audiences willing to make it their own.

Nolan's The Odyssey isn't the first retelling of Homer's epic, and it certainly won't be the last. The poem has survived for nearly three millennia because it has never belonged to one generation, one nation, one race or one interpretation. Every era finds its own way into the story.

Perhaps it's time we stopped asking whether today's audiences deserve to see themselves in mythology, and started asking why some people believe mythology was only ever meant to belong to them in the first place.

Each time I’ve met Kriti Sanon, she has been in a different phase of her life.

Back in April 2024, when we shot a digital cover with her, she was coming off a year that had already begun to complicate the idea of what a “Kriti Sanon film” could be. She played a humanoid robot in Teri Baaton Mein Aisa Uljha Jiya (2024), a flight attendant in Crew (2024), and later that year – a dual role in Do Patti (2024) – which also marked her first venture into production under Blue Butterfly Films. When we met then, alongside Kajol, she had said something that stayed with me: “I never want to be put in a box. It’s important to me that people don’t assume a ‘Kriti Sanon film’ will always be a certain type of movie.”

Meeting her now, it is clear that she has only moved further away from that box.

We caught Sanon between promotions for Cocktail 2 (2026), at a moment when the machinery around her was moving quickly. On set, however, she was strikingly unhurried while also being agile, clear, and willing to trust the people around her. There is a particular kind of confidence in that. The kind that comes from knowing what requires your control and what can be left to instinct, collaboration and taste.

For an actor whose public image has often been shaped by beauty, ease, and likability, Sanon’s real evolution has been more deliberate. She is no longer simply choosing different parts. She is building a career where the choices themselves are the point. In the space between Do Patti and now, she has expanded the idea of authorship: as an actor, a producer, an entrepreneur, and a public voice. Her skincare brand Hyphen (launched in 2023) has reported significant growth, her production banner has moved from announcement to action, and her role as UNFPA India’s honorary ambassador for gender equality (2025) has placed her in a wider conversation around women, agency, and visibility.

In an industry that still demands legibility from women, Sanon seems increasingly interested in becoming harder to summarise.“I think the industry has a habit of sometimes reducing actors to how they look, or the kind of roles they’ve played before, or their personal image.” Before Bareilly Ki Barfi (2017), she says, people could not easily imagine her as a small-town girl. After that, another kind of limitation arrived: the “good girl” — a character written closer to white than grey.

That changed with Do Patti. Playing Saumya and Shailee allowed her to enter a space that was darker, less decorative, and more difficult to neatly defend. “There was something so liberating about Shailee,” she says. What interested her was not just portraying someone unlikable, but making the audience feel for a character, even while recognising some of her shortcomings. “As human beings we all have our grey shades,” she says. 

With Do Patti, that instinct extended beyond performance. As producer, Sanon saw the machinery of a film from a different vantage point: movement from idea to draft, from schedule to location, from edit to music, from intention to final product. It did not, she says, make her think of power differently as much as it made her respect the process more deeply. “Everyone is just trying to do their bit and make a film that we can all be proud of eventually,” she says.

In her current phase, Sanon is not moving from glamour to gravitas, or from commercial cinema to serious cinema; she doesn’t care too much about inhabiting that kind of binary. Instead, what she seems to be asking for is range without apology. She is less interested in proving that she can do one thing well, than in protecting the right to do many things her way.

After the intensity of Tere Ishk Mein (2025), she says Cocktail 2 came as a necessary change of pace. “I didn’t have it in me to pour into another film in that way immediately,” she says. “Cocktail 2  was a breath of fresh air.” Ambition is often spoken of as relentless forward motion, especially for women who have had to prove their seriousness. Sanon’s current confidence seems to lie in knowing that you don’t have to repeat a certain kind of role or performance simply because it has been rewarded.

Success, she says, has made her more fearless, but not careless. “I have to instinctively feel that this is something I can’t let go of,” she says. The old fear of needing to constantly be on a set has faded. “It is more about quality versus quantity now.”

For our Luxury issue, that idea feels especially relevant. Luxury, at its most meaningful, is not only about access. It is also about discernment. The ability to choose fewer, better things, that seem right for you; The ability to pause without mistaking stillness for disappearance.

Sanon does not speak of this phase as though she has arrived. “This is probably the most exciting phase of my life and my career so far,” she says. It has taken her, she adds, about 12 years to get here. There is gratitude in the way she says it, but also relief.

The confidence, however, is not without its complications. She overthinks. She can be indecisive about small things. She is not as good at multitasking as people assume. On an off day, she can stay in bed, procrastinate and do very little. “I may come across as calm, but inside there’s a lot of anxiety,” she says.

Her wardrobe, too, resists expected stereotypes. For someone whose screen image has carried glamour with ease, her own clothes are far simpler: basics, oversized pieces, denim, tank tops, comfort over fashion. It is a small detail, but a telling one. The woman cinema dressed returns to ease, off-duty.

Towards the end of our conversation, I shift the pace a little and ask her to reflect on self-awareness and introspection. Sanon pauses. She used to write poetry, she tells me, though she hasn’t in a while. She also admits that as a child she had stage fright, and, despite the cameras, covers, and years spent performing confidence, that part of her has never entirely disappeared. “You can teach yourself confidence,” she says, “but I think that shy kid doesn’t completely go away.”

Perhaps, that’s what makes this phase of Sanon’s life and career compelling. Not that she has arrived at a final version of herself, but that she has stopped performing certainty as the price of success. The polish remains, but it is no longer the whole story. Underneath it is instinct, doubt, discipline, sensitivity, and an increasingly firm refusal to be easily understood.

For an actor who once worried about being put in a box, she no longer seems interested in fitting the shape of anyone else’s expectations. Now, that’s real luxury.

Beauty has entered an age of abundance. Every week introduces a new ingredient to obsess over, another aesthetic to recreate and yet another routine promising the skin you've always wanted. Conversations around acne and textured skin have become more common and honest, and people who rarely saw themselves reflected in beauty campaigns are finally finding representation online. But the democratisation of beauty has come with an unexpected side effect. Between accessibility and endless scrolling, beauty has also become exhausting. Nobody is more privy to this phenomenon than beauty influencers and social media creators whose work revolves around beauty trends and testing new launches. Jhanvi Bhatia makes her case for a personal and measured approach. 

Beauty Is More Inclusive Than Ever, It's Also Much Louder 

"There was a certain societal standard regarding beauty in the last generation that was unfitting for the majority of women," Jhanvi says. "Today, people question products instead of simply believing the marketing. People talk about clear skin, but they also talk about skin that is acne-prone — The definition of beauty has expanded." This inclusivity and broadening of spectrum has arrived with another reality: overconsumption. "There is also a certain pressure attached to it because of the limitless trends coming in and out," she says. "People try to adapt to every trend and use all sorts of products."

Content creation means her skin is rarely left alone. New products, new actives, makeup on more days than not. Her skin, sensitive and acne-prone, tends to protest. So every so often, she skips the routine entirely. "Sometimes taking a break and doing absolutely no skincare and giving your skin a breather is necessary," she says. It's a way to see what her skin looks like without interference, and whether the ten-step routine was ever solving a problem in the first place. "One doesn't always need a 10 step routine to get their dream skin."

Filtering The Noise 

There was a period when she wouldn't leave the house without concealing her under-eyes. Then one day she noticed the need, the way her hand went to the product before she'd even looked in the mirror properly, and she stopped. "My under eyes feel more free and less judged by my own self now that I know I am not relying on it," she says. It's a small admission, but it sets the terms for everything else she has to say about beauty. That instinct, catching herself before a habit calcifies into a rule, shows up everywhere in how she approaches her own routine. Nowhere more than in what she calls “skipcare” meaning exactly what it sounds like, skipping things that are not essential. It is an unexpectedly refreshing perspective in an industry where complexity is often mistaken for effectiveness.

Rather than chasing every recommendation online, she has also developed a simple filtering system. One creator with a similar skin type and one dermatologist whose ingredient-focused advice she trusts. Together, they help her separate genuine necessity from algorithm-driven temptation. "Not every product is to be tried," she says. "That's one motto everyone should have to avoid overconsumption." 

Personal Style And Identity

Ask her about fashion and the same principle resurfaces. Long before beauty became central to her content, fashion was her first creative language. While she enjoys experimenting with trends, she believes, confidence comes from recognising your own visual identity rather than borrowing someone else's version of it.

"If the clothes are wearing you and not the other way around, there's a high chance you are drowning yourself in the trends and not letting yourself create an identity there." A pantsuit can be a power look for one person and simply a uniform for another, the garment doesn't decide, the wearer does. For her, it is the saree, "Every time I wear one, it makes me feel the prettiest in the room," she says. "It gives me the confidence to present who I am, display my authenticity and show up to the world feeling confident in what I speak."

Rituals Worth Retaining

If her vanity shelf told the real story, she says, it wouldn't be about achieving a look. Skincare, for her, is closer to repair, an attempt at health rather than a bid for a societal standard. Makeup on the other hand is expression, for her and never an obligation.
Given the choice of where to put real money, she doesn't say serums. She chooses wellness, specifically the parts that involve moving her body and actually resting it. "A massage therapy is where the fix to a bad mood lies.” It's a small habit alongside bigger ones: soaked basil seeds, ghee for the lips, a trick from her mother that does more for her than most things on a shelf.

Also Read

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The First Skincare Routine I Ever Knew Lived On My Sister’s Shelf

Fashion's biggest conversations often begin with someone willing to rewrite the rules and Jim Sarbh has become one of the most exciting names leading that shift. Whether he's on screen or on the red carpet, his wardrobe consistently steers clear of the predictable, favouring silhouettes that feel artistic, contemporary and entirely his own. His latest outing in a custom Anamika Khanna ensemble is another reminder that ethnic menswear is moving into a far more expressive space.

Crafted in luxurious silk chanderi, the monochrome look balances fluid tailoring with sculptural layering, proving that occasion dressing can be just as experimental as it is refined. Instead of relying on embellishment alone, every element works through proportion, texture and movement, creating a look that feels modern without losing sight of Indian craftsmanship. It's exactly the kind of wardrobe moment that keeps Jim Sarbh firmly on every best-dressed list.

A Minimalist Fashion Triumph

At first glance, the outfit feels beautifully uncomplicated. But spend a little longer with it and the finer details slowly begin to reveal themselves. The ivory kurta is crafted with tonal floral embroidery that almost blends into the fabric, creating texture rather than contrast. It never competes for attention; instead, it quietly elevates the entire piece. The clean band collar and concealed placket keep the front uninterrupted, giving the embroidery room to breathe without feeling busy.

The long kurta skims the body before falling naturally over fluid trousers, creating movement instead of structure. Rather than standing stiffly for the camera, Jim Sarbh reclines with an ease that complements the outfit perfectly. That relaxed posture makes the ensemble feel lived-in rather than overly styled, reminding us that the best occasion wear should look just as comfortable as it does polished.

A Masterclass In Contemporary Couture

One of the strongest things about this look is how comfortably it sits between tradition and modern dressing. The familiar kurta silhouette remains intact, yet every design choice feels updated. The floral motifs aren't loud or heavily embellished; they're embroidered in matching ivory thread, giving the garment depth without overwhelming its clean aesthetic. Crafted in silk chanderi, the fabric catches the light softly, adding another layer of richness without relying on shine.

It's also refreshing to see a designer resist the temptation to over-style festive menswear. Instead of adding layered jackets, statement accessories or dramatic embellishments, the focus stays firmly on proportion and craftsmanship. The elongated kurta, wide trousers and uninterrupted monochrome palette create a silhouette that feels relaxed yet incredibly refined.

While sitting casually with one arm resting against his head, Jim Sarbh almost lets the outfit become an extension of his personality. The soft smile, natural expression and unfussy styling make the ensemble feel approachable rather than ceremonial. It's a reminder that great fashion often works best when it doesn't look like it's trying too hard.

The Power Of Modern Monochrome Dressing

Monochrome dressing has quietly become one of the smartest ways to approach festive fashion and this look explains exactly why. Working entirely in shades of ivory allows every element — from the floral embroidery to the gentle drape of the fabric to take centre stage. There's no distraction from contrasting colours or excessive layering. Instead, the eye naturally moves across the garment, appreciating every subtle detail.

Delicate botanical motifs spread across the shoulders and chest before gradually fading into the rest of the kurta, creating an almost painterly effect. Paired with the fluid trousers, the overall monochrome outfit feels airy, modern and incredibly versatile. While the design carries a quiet avant garde spirit through its pared-back styling and relaxed silhouette, it never loses sight of what makes Indian occasion wear so special — beautiful craftsmanship and thoughtful tailoring.

A New Era For Ethnic Menswear

For a long time, festive menswear largely followed the same formula — heavier embroidery, structured bandhgalas and predictable colour palettes. Designers like Anamika Khanna are steadily shifting that conversation, proving that craftsmanship can feel lighter, softer and far more contemporary without losing its cultural roots.

This custom look captures that shift perfectly. With its luxurious silk chanderi, fluid proportions and understated embroidery, it offers a fresh perspective on ethnic menswear that's polished without feeling formal. More importantly, Jim Sarbh wears it with the kind of quiet confidence that makes the clothes feel authentic. The outfit doesn't rely on spectacle to make an impression but it simply lets great design do what it does best.

Also Read: 

The Lungi Edit: Menswear’s Most Defining Silhouette This Season

Palak Purswani and Rohan Khanna had travelled the world together — Jordan left them speechless, AlUla felt magical, and Cappadocia will always hold a piece of their hearts, because that’s where Rohan got down on one knee. And yet, when it came to choosing where to actually get married, none of those postcard-perfect destinations made the cut. “Every destination gave us beauty, but none of them gave us peace,” the couple reflects. Somewhere along their journey together, they realised they weren’t searching for the most stunning backdrop — they were searching for a place that reflected who they truly were.

So on the morning on 26th June 2026, as the first light of day touched the earth, actress and lifestyle creator Palak Purswani married Rohan Khann, Vice President & National Head – Product, Pricing & Marketing at Reliance Jio, at the sacred feet of the 112-foot Adiyogi in Coimbatore — an intimate ceremony held with special permission from the Isha Foundation, planned by Kkings Events, and witnessed by around sixty of their closest family and friends. 

It is a decision that, looking back, feels almost inevitable. Both Palak and Rohan have long found themselves returning to spirituality whenever life felt overwhelming: meditation, inner work, stillness – a thread that ran through their individual lives long before they met. “The first time we stood in front of Adiyogi, there was complete silence within us. No discussions. No debates. No pros and cons. We just looked at each other and somehow knew, ‘This is home,’” they say. “We didn’t want our marriage to begin with noise. We wanted it to begin with stillness.”

That instinct for the sacred, it turns out, had been present from the very start of their story. Their journey began in the most unexpected way with a fleeting five-minute conversation at a restaurant where they never even exchanged surnames. Yet something about the brief exchange lingered. Months later, a DM from Rohan changed everything, and their first date wasn’t over coffee or cocktails — it was at Siddhivinayak Temple. “We visited a temple, sat there, spoke for hours, and there was a strange sense of comfort, as if we’d known each other for much longer than we actually had,” they recall. “We often joke that Mahadev was probably listening to our first conversation before anyone else was. Over the years, every important decision seemedto circle back to faith — a pattern the couple now sees clearly. “So when it came to our wedding, choosing a spiritual space didn’t feel like making a statement. It felt like completing a circle that had quietly begun on our very first date.”

Within weeks of that temple visit, they knew they’d found something rare. Just three months later, in the snow-covered stillness of Love Valley in Cappadocia, Rohan proposed with a five-carat ring — unknowingly setting them on the very path that would lead them home, to Adiyogi.

Before sunrise on their wedding day, Palak and Rohan first offered prayers at the Devi Temple within the Isha Yoga Center. As dawn broke, the ceremony began beneath a gold-toned mandap inspired by timeless Indian temple architecture — designed deliberately to complement the sanctity of the space rather than compete with it. Mogra, tuberose, rajnigandha, white roses and sacred bilva leaves scented the air as Vedic chants rose with the morning light, every ritual gently narrated so that guests didn't merely witness the ceremony, but understood it.

There was one moment, the couple says, that neither of them will ever fully be able to put into words. “As the sun slowly rose behind Adiyogi, everything became incredibly quiet. The chants were playing softly, there were tears in our parents’ eyes, and for a few seconds it genuinely felt like time had stopped. We looked at each other and neither of us smiled or spoke. We simply cried.” Not from being overwhelmed by the occasion, they explain, but from a sudden, complete understanding of everything that had led them there. “Every heartbreak, every delay, every disappointment, every prayer we thought had gone unanswered… it all suddenly made sense.” And then, as if on cue, a brief drizzle passed over the gathering before vanishing — followed by a rainbow. “ It felt less like weather and more like a blessing we’ll carry in our hearts forever.”

For her wedding, Palak wore a striking red lehenga by Papa Don’t Preach, embellished with shimmering stonework and paired with a contemporary blouse that reimagined the classic bridal silhouette. She layered heirloom-inspired gold polki jewellery by Indriya over the look, with her hair and makeup done by Sugandh Khanna. But perhaps her most treasured detail was one few guests noticed at first: her bespoke kaliras, each charm a small chapter of their story — the couple’s initials, their parents’ initials, their dog Oreo, their shared zodiac sign, an Adiyogi motif, and a tribute to the restaurant where it all began. “I wanted my kaliras to tell our story,” Palak shares. “Oreo had to be there because he isn't just my pet, he's my family... But if I had to choose one that means the most, it would be the little tribute to where our story began. We spend so much time celebrating the proposal or the wedding day, but I think the first hello deserves just as much love.” Rohan, meanwhile, wore a regal layered Anarkali sherwani with refined belt detailing by Jigar & Nikita — royal, yet understated. Guests dressed in shades of ivory and white, keeping the focus exactly where it belonged: on the sacred union unfolding before them.

Photographer Rajesh Satankar, Founder of Knotting Bells, was tasked with capturing a wedding unlike any other he’d shot. “This place is pure. It is a temple,” he says. “Our biggest challenge was to not treat this as a conventional wedding with the Adiyogi idol simply as the setting.” His favourite frame — a black-and-white photograph of the couple with Adiyogi in view — has stayed with him. “It reminds me of Shiv and Shakti, and the connection they represent... it also feels like Adiyogi is blessing them.” Every editing choice, he adds, was made with restraint. “We wanted to maintain the piousness of the place while allowing the couple's spiritual journey to come through.”

The celebrations closed not with extravagance, but with simplicity — a traditional South Indian breakfast of live dosas, pongal and filter coffee, grounding the morning in the land that had blessed their union.

Looking back, Palak and Rohan don’t believe their story was ever about finding the perfect destination — it was about trusting divine timing. “There were moments when both of us questioned why certain relationships didn’t work out, why plans fell apart, or why life wasn’t moving as quickly as we wanted,” they reflect. “Today, we’re grateful for every unanswered prayer, because they quietly led us to each other.” 

Years from now, they say, they won’t remember every flower or every detail. But they will always remember standing barefoot before Adiyogi at sunrise, hands held, feeling small before something infinite — and knowing, with complete certainty, that they were exactly where they were meant to be.

Celebrating a wedding that deserves to be told? Write to us at editor@ogaan.co.in

With summer in full swing, it's natural for nail trends to favour the brighter side of the colour spectrum to reflect the blue skies, blossoming flowers, verdant fields and tropical vacations. Think shades of cobalt blue and tomato red sitting alongside joyful nail designs such as multicoloured French tips and soft florals.

That said, for those of us who favour a deep merlot hue or jet black on our nails, summer doesn't mean you have to shelf your go-to hues. As Zendaya and Dua Lipa demonstrates, dark, 'summer goth' nails are truly evergreen, and look sophisticated no matter the season.

Plus, a moody manicure promises to complement your outfits, regardless of its style or colour. Zendaya has worn hers with an all-white Schiaparelli gown, a romantic Trussardi dress and an embellished, 1920s-inspired Giorgio Armani ensemble. Meanwhile, Lipa teamed hers with more casual looks including one with a white tee and a mauve camisole. Whether you're heading somewhere ultra glamorous or chilling beach side, dark nails won't let you down.

"A dark manicure feels timeless because it relies on contrast and simplicity rather than trends,"agrees manicurist Samantha Clare. "On well-maintained nails, deep shades feel modern, minimal and quietly luxurious. Rouge Noir by Chanel and Ghost Noir by Bio Sculpture remain two of my favourites and continue to be a popular choice with my clients."

She adds: "In a season dominated by pastels and nudes, a short, chic black manicure feels like the perfect rebellious classic." Consider us sold.

5 ways to embrace the dark manicure for summer

1/Short and glossy

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Keep it clean with a jet black hue with a high-shine finish.

2/ Warm cocoa

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This chocolatey hue provides a gentler take on the dark manicure, yet still feels just as elevated.

3/ Micro-French

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For a subtler approach, an extra-fine French tip is always a great idea.

4/ Onyx eyes

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Feeling extra witchy? Try a cat-eye effect for a magical touch.

5/ Aubergine

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Midnight blue will always be timeless, but for something fresher, try a deep aubergine hue.

Read the original article on ELLE UK

We all know that girl. She applies for one internship and somehow she gets it. She randomly bumps into the CEO at an airport. Her "just for fun" application turns into her dream job. At this point, you're half convinced she has the universe on payroll. Meanwhile, you're wondering if yours accidentally blocked you. 

But what if she's not luckier than everyone else? What if you're only seeing the highlight reel? Behind every "How does she always get so lucky?" are the cold emails you never saw, the awkward networking events she almost skipped, the applications she submitted despite being convinced she'd get rejected and the conversations she started while everyone else waited to be introduced. Maybe ‘Lucky Girl Syndrome’ isn't convincing the universe you're special. Maybe it's giving the universe so many chances to notice you, that it eventually develops the tiniest crush.

The Delusion That Built Hollywood

Imagine telling your friends you're going to win an Oscar before you’ve even landed your first audition. They'd probably ask if you were okay (with a polite, slightly judgemental smile) but win the Oscar a few years later then suddenly everyone starts calling it "manifestation". 

Long before the fame, sold-out tours and awards, many of the world's biggest icons had one thing in common: they envisioned their future selves and aligned their actions with that identity long before anyone else could imagine it. Oprah Winfrey reportedly wrote herself a cheque for future success. Jim Carrey wrote himself a $10 million cheque years before landing a role that paid exactly that. Sound familiar? That’s why ‘Lucky Girl Syndrome’ is not just  about luck. It’s about being so delusional that you plan your party and act like your future had already RSVP'd.

The ‘Halo Effect’

Ever noticed how the girl who walks into a room like she owns it somehow ends up belonging there, like everyone has been besties with her since forever? She doesn’t awkwardly hover near the snack table pretending to text, she gleams. 

Here’s the thing about confidence: it’s a bit like a really good blowout. It doesn’t technically change who you are, but somehow everybody—including yourself—starts noticing you for just a little longer. Psychologists call this the Halo Effect: Someone who appears confident is often assumed to be more capable, intelligent and competent before they’ve even said hello. Your brain fills in the blanks with a very optimistic pen.

Your Brain Is Always Listening

We spend so much time worrying about what other people say about us that we forget the voice that matters most: our own.

Every time you sigh, “I’m terrible at interviews,” “I’m just unlucky,” or “I’m not that kind of person,” you’re not just describing yourself, you’re handing yourself an instruction manual without even realising it. Imagine if your best friend followed you around all day saying, “You’re awkward. Nobody’s going to reply. Why even bother?” You’d probably stop being friends with her and yet, most of us let that voice claw into our heads rent-free. 

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‘Lucky Girl Syndrome’ isn’t just whispering “I’m magnetic” into your bathroom mirror until your flatmate starts getting.. concerned.It’s more like being aware of the narrator (your thoughts)  and how it impacts you. If your brain hears “I’m always overlooked” often enough, it’ll start collecting evidence. “See? She didn’t reply.” “See? You didn’t get the internship.” Tell it, “Good things usually happen to me,” and suddenly it’s pointing out the recruiter who viewed your LinkedIn and the opportunity you would’ve ignored six months ago. 

Turns out, your brain is a bit of a people pleaser—it agrees with anything it hears it often. So make sure, you’re telling it the right things, and maybe be a teensy bit delusional while you’re at it.

Manifestation’s Fine Print

We fall in love with building vision boards, daily affirmations and day dreaming our dream lives, but we expectedly forget the least glamorous part: the unphotogenic work. 

You can’t manifest the dream internships without pressing “Submit” one too many times. The soulmate still requires you to answer the text. Envisioning your future self is  powerful because it changes your behaviour—and not because the universe treats your Pinterest board as a legally binding contract. 

Manifestation has to be met with decisions today that your future self would approve of, even if nobody can see her yet. Otherwise, you’re not manifesting and you’re not a lucky girl, you’re just daydreaming with excellent lighting.

Nita Ambani has long championed India’s textile heritage, often choosing handwoven creations that spotlight the country’s master artisans rather than fleeting trends. Her latest appearance was no exception.

Draped in a luminous pink Tanchoi Banarasi silk saree from Swadesh, Ambani wore a piece that quietly celebrated one of India’s most intricate weaving traditions. Inspired by the vibrant hues of Varanasi’s Gulab Holi, the saree took over two months to weave, transforming centuries-old craftsmanship into a contemporary expression of elegance. Delicate floral motifs, intricate borders and a lustrous silk finish came together in a look that was as much about preserving heritage as it was about personal style.

A Handwoven Tribute To Indian Craft

While its soft pink hue immediately catches the eye, the real story lies in the hands that created it.

Handwoven by artisans in Varanasi, the saree showcases the painstaking precision that has defined Banarasi weaving for generations. Every motif is woven directly into the fabric rather than embroidered afterwards, a process that requires exceptional skill, patience and technical expertise. Taking over two months to complete, the piece reflects the time-intensive nature of handcrafted textiles in an era increasingly dominated by machine production.

Through Swadesh, Ambani has consistently highlighted India’s regional crafts and artisan communities, bringing traditional techniques into contemporary conversations. This saree continues that vision, placing craftsmanship firmly at the centre of the narrative.

The Art Behind The Tanchoi Weave

Unlike many Banarasi sarees that rely heavily on metallic zari, the Tanchoi weave is celebrated for its richly woven patterns created entirely through coloured silk threads. The technique produces intricate, almost brocade-like surfaces without depending on heavy embellishment, allowing the weave itself to become the focal point.

Originally believed to have travelled from China before being embraced and perfected by Banaras weavers, Tanchoi has become one of the region’s most distinctive textile traditions. Its dense weave, fine detailing and luxurious drape have made it a favourite for heirloom sarees that are designed to be worn and treasured for generations.

The Beauty Was In The Details

The saree drew inspiration from Varanasi’s Gulab Holi, translating the city’s joyful celebration into a palette of layered pinks and delicate floral motifs. Running across the body and border, the intricate woven florals echoed the softness of scattered rose petals, while the vibrant pink edging added subtle contrast.

Ambani styled the saree with an equally understated approach. A matching blouse, diamond jewellery, a sleek low bun adorned with fresh flowers and a classic bindi allowed the craftsmanship of the textile to remain the undisputed focal point. Rather than competing with the weave, every styling choice complemented it.

A Six-Yard Ode To Heritage

At a time when conversations around fashion increasingly revolve around conscious consumption and preserving traditional craft, handwoven textiles carry a significance that extends beyond occasion dressing.

Nita Ambani’s latest look serves as a reminder that India’s textile legacy isn’t confined to museums or archives — it continues to evolve through the artisans who keep these centuries-old techniques alive. More than a beautifully woven saree, this Tanchoi creation is a celebration of patience, precision and the enduring value of handmade craft, proving that some of fashion’s greatest luxuries can never be rushed.

Growing up, I realised, very early, that while films made for women were widely consumed and much talked about,  they rarely commanded the kind of respect they deserved. Legally Blonde (2001), Mean Girls (2004), or The Devil Wears Prada (2006) were often dismissed as chick flicks — as if stories centred around female protagonists carried less cultural weight. Yet these were the very films that shaped how so many girls around me understood confidence, ambition and the power of female friendships. Long before ‘girlhood’ became an internet aesthetic reduced to Pinterest boards and social media trends, Legally Blonde’s Elle Woods (Reese Witherspoon in her most iconic role) gave audiences a radical hero to idolise — a hyper-feminine woman who refused to apologise for taking up space exactly as she was.

Elle loved pink, fashion, manicures, romance and beauty, and still walked into Harvard Law School as the smartest person in the room. At a time when female ambition in cinema was often depicted through seriousness, emotional restraint or the rejection of traditionally ‘girly’ interests, Elle Woods dared to insist that intellect and femininity could coexist. She did not abandon her pink car to be perceived as intelligent. The world simply had to change its perspective.

Taking a legacy forward

Nearly twenty-five years later, that message remains painfully relevant. The prequel series arrives at a cultural moment where women are still negotiating the same exhausting binaries – smart or pretty, ambitious or soft, feminine or powerful – as though all those things cannot exist together. In this context, Reese Witherspoon’s decision to return to the world of Elle Woods as executive producer feels like a reclamation. Producer Lauren Neustadter previously shared that the idea stemmed from frustration with the narratives young women are constantly fed today. Where were the hopeful stories? Where were the girls allowed to be joyful, emotional, glamorous or imperfect, and still worthy of respect?

The new series travels back with Elle Woods to a time before Harvard, before the courtroom victories, before “What, like it’s hard?” became cultural canon. The show asks an intimate question: how does a girl become someone capable of refusing the world’s assumptions about her? The answer lies somewhere between teenage heartbreak, mother-daughter relationships, glossy wardrobes and the awkwardness of growing up in 1990s Bel Air, Los Angeles.

At the centre of this coming of age tale stands newcomer Lexi Minetree, stepping into one of pop culture’s most recognisable heels. For Minetree, inheriting Elle Woods from Reese Witherspoon felt affirming. Meeting Witherspoon for the first time, she recalls being struck not just by her kindness, but by how similar their energies felt,“southern gals,” as she puts it, cut from the same warm, fast-talking cloth.

Unlearning societal mores

When she first watched Legally Blonde as a child, Minetree admits she initially interpreted the story the way many audiences did: a bubbly blonde girl chasing a boy to college before eventually “becoming smart.” Revisiting the film years later completely changed her perspective. “That’s not it at all,” she says. “Elle was always capable and intelligent. Everyone else just had to catch up to her.”

Because Legally Blonde was never truly about transformation, it was about perception. Society saw Elle’s femininity and immediately assumed incompetence. The question was never for Elle to become worthy of respect; it was for the world to unlearn its misogyny. “We are so much more than first impressions,” Minetree reflects. “We can care about makeup and reading. We can be nuanced human beings.” 

The series, however, has the luxury of time, unlike the original film. Across eight episodes, Elle delves into the emotional ecosystem that shaped its protagonist long before audiences met her. That emotional core emerges most powerfully through her relationship with her mother, Eva Woods, played by June Diane Raphael. Raphael describes binge-reading all eight episodes in one sitting, captivated not just by the comedy but by the emotional depth embedded within the scripts. “The show really explores the heart of the character,” she says. “And where she got so much of who she is.”

From one generation to another

 
For Raphael, the mother-daughter relationship becomes one of the series’ feminist foundations. Eva is not portrayed simply as a glamorous Bel Air mother dressed in archival Chanel and Yves Saint Laurent, though the wardrobe certainly delivers on that fantasy. Instead, she becomes the emotional architect behind her confidence. As a result she becomes a young woman raised in an environment where femininity was never treated as a limitation.

What makes the relationship heart warming, Raphael explains, is that the show allows both women to evolve simultaneously. While she navigates adolescence, Eva herself begins confronting questions about identity, womanhood, and purpose beyond motherhood. “The two of us are both on our coming-of-age journeys,” she says.

That multigenerational exploration of femininity gives Elle surprising emotional depth. It understands that girlhood does not end at adolescence. Women are continuously becoming and learning what it means to stand up for themselves.

Meanwhile, Tom Everett Scott brings warmth to Wyatt Woods, Elle’s father, describing the family dynamic as goofy, affectionate, and deeply loving. “He loves his daughter,” Scott says simply. “They’re very close.” Unlike Eva’s emotional intuition, Wyatt connects with the show through humour and ease, a softer, gentler father-daughter dynamic that quietly reinforces the show’s larger emotional ecosystem. There is no cynicism in the Woods household when it comes to Elle’s personality; nobody is asking her to be less herself.

Scott, who says his own daughter was ecstatic when he landed the role because of her love for the characters , also believes the series arrives at exactly the right cultural moment. “I think the younger generation is going to love this show,” he says. “It’s got comedy, romance, positivity… and people need that right now.” Growing up surrounded by female energy, three sisters, a wife, and daughter, Scott says he deeply admires the kind of stories Reese Witherspoon and her production company Hello Sunshine continue to champion.

And perhaps that is ultimately why this show feels so necessary in 2026. Because somewhere along the way, culture convinced women that to be respected, they must dilute themselves. Be less emotional. Less pink. Less loud. Less “girly.” The show pushes back against that narrative with glossy determination. It insists there is power in softness, intelligence in glamour, and feminism in refusing to abandon the things women genuinely love.

The original famously inspired waves of young women to apply to law school and the permission to imagine ambition without sacrificing femininity. The show seems poised to take the baton and run with it. 

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There's a familiar dilemma every jewellery lover has faced. You're looking for a pair of earrings that work for the office and dinner afterwards, a ring that stays on your hand every day, or a bracelet that gives a simple outfit a little more personality. Yet the search usually swings between two extremes. Affordable pieces often lose their shine after a few wears, while beautifully crafted designs demand the kind of budget reserved for milestone occasions. Everyday jewellery deserves a place somewhere in the middle.

That is exactly where ELLE Jewelry steps in. Designed with a fashion-first perspective, the collection brings together trend-led designs, vibrant colours and contemporary silhouettes at prices that make building a jewellery wardrobe much easier. Instead of waiting for a special occasion, these are pieces created to become part of your daily style, whether you're dressing for work, a weekend brunch or an evening out.

Modern Dual Stone Necklace

Some colour combinations instantly catch the eye, and this necklace proves why. A vivid blue stone sits beneath a glowing amber gem, creating a striking contrast between cool and warm tones. The clean silhouette keeps the design contemporary, while the bold pairing makes it an effortless conversation starter. Wear it with crisp white shirts, monochrome outfits or soft neutrals when your look needs a fresh burst of colour.

Flowing Vine Cuff Bracelet

Inspired by the natural movement of twisting vines, this sculptural cuff wraps elegantly around the wrist in a fluid ribbon of gold. Tiny white stones appear scattered across its curves like stars, adding just enough sparkle without overpowering the design. It has the kind of artistic silhouette that instantly elevates even the simplest linen dress or oversized shirt.

Serene Pastel Cuff

Soft blue and ivory enamel panels flow rhythmically across this gold-tone cuff, creating an easy balance between colour and sophistication. The pastel palette makes it ideal for spring-inspired dressing, yet it works just as beautifully throughout the year. It is the sort of bracelet that slips effortlessly into both weekday wardrobes and holiday packing lists.

Earthy Warm Beaded Bracelet

Earth-inspired colours take centre stage in this statement bracelet. Marbled and polished resin beads in shades of amber, mocha, burgundy and blush come together to create an organic, almost handcrafted aesthetic. Gold-tone links and a classic toggle clasp complete the design, making it an accessory that pairs beautifully with relaxed tailoring, flowing dresses and everyday denim.

Festive Sparkle Statement Necklace

Every jewellery collection deserves one piece that catches the light beautifully. This platinum-tone necklace delivers exactly that with sparkling stones arranged in a delicate vertical drop. Elegant enough for celebrations yet refined enough for everyday styling, it layers seamlessly with other necklaces or shines beautifully when worn on its own.

Amber Stacking Ring Set

Stacking rings continue to dominate jewellery trends, and this three-piece set makes the styling effortless. Two organically shaped gold-tone bands frame a bold amber resin ring that instantly draws attention. Wear all three together for a modern statement or mix them into your existing collection throughout the week. The warm amber centrepiece adds depth and character without overwhelming your look.

Chunky Contour Hoop Earrings

Hoops remain a wardrobe essential, but sculptural versions bring a fresh perspective. These open hoop earrings feature fluid contours and a polished finish that gives them a contemporary edge. Bold enough to stand alone yet versatile enough for everyday wear, they transition seamlessly from morning meetings to evening plans.

Lucky Charm Bracelet

Playful jewellery always brings a little energy to an outfit, and this bracelet embraces exactly that spirit. Crystals in different shapes, cuts and colours create an eye-catching mix that catches attention from every angle. An adjustable slider closure ensures a comfortable fit, making it an easy piece to wear every day or layer with other bracelets for a more personalised stack.

Classic Bezel Chain Bracelet

Some designs remain favourites because they work with absolutely everything. This silver-tone bracelet features a row of brilliant white glass stones set in classic bezel settings, creating timeless sparkle with a clean, contemporary finish. The adjustable slider closure adds everyday practicality, while its understated elegance makes it equally suited to office tailoring, occasion wear and weekend outfits.

Jewellery That Works With Your Wardrobe

The strongest part of the ELLE Jewelry collection is its versatility. Some days call for colourful enamel cuffs and sculptural rings, while others are better suited to sparkling studs or sleek bracelets. The collection embraces every mood without asking you to commit to a single style. Layer multiple rings, mix gold and silver finishes, combine necklaces of different lengths or keep things simple with one standout piece. The styling possibilities are refreshingly open-ended.

Colour also plays a defining role throughout the collection. Resin, enamel and vibrant stones introduce shades that go beyond classic metallic finishes, bringing everything from soft pastels to rich amber tones and brilliant crystal sparkle into everyday dressing. The result is jewellery with a distinctly fashion-forward perspective that adds personality to even the simplest wardrobe.

Across the collection, prices range from ₹500 to ₹3,000, making it easy to build a jewellery wardrobe piece by piece instead of waiting for a special occasion. With fresh designs launching regularly, there's always another style to discover and another reason to give your everyday outfits a fresh update.

Shop these pieces and more here.