Latest news with #GensZ
Mint
27-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Mint
Why Gen Z loves fake weddings
The world may be breathlessly watching all the drama surrounding the Jeff Bezos-Lauren Sanchez wedding in Venice, but in India, a new trend is unfolding: the non-wedding wedding party. In cities like Pune, Delhi and Bengaluru, event managers, clubs and bars are organising 'wedding-themed parties" (some are brashly calling them fake weddings, no cap) and they are a hit with Gens Z and Alpha. More than 1,500 people turned up over the course of a few hours for his 'big fat fake wedding", says Rahul Avadhani, a Bengaluru-based events curator who recently 'hosted" a mega wedding party at the JW Marriott Hotel. Most of the attendees were between 21-30 years old, and it was put together by a private members club that organises experience-based events across cities in India, inspired by similar events that became mega popular at locations such as Ballr Club in Pune, which was among the first event venues to kick off the trend. Yes, people paid to be there: while women could enter for free, 'stag entry' was at a cover charge of ₹5000, fully redeemable against food and drinks. 'The vibe was like a typical Indian wedding, with mehendi wallas, dhol, wedding decor, photo booths, a DJ… only the bride and groom were missing," says Avadhani. 'The idea is why wait for someone to get married to have fun and dance till you drop? This way, the pressure is off and everyone gets to have fun." It was such a hit that 8club is planning to replicate the event in Delhi at Bel-La Monde, a posh wedding venue in Chhattarpur. As part of the promotions, a ghodi (horse) dressed in Punjabi wedding finery has been filmed around Gen Z-friendly spots in the Capital, such as the mysteriously popular Faqir Chand Bookstore in Khan Market. Without clutching our pearls and going into 'everything is a photo op for Gen Z of course they love fake weddings!" lamentations, the popularity of these events is a bit puzzling to someone not from the generation, at least initially. As someone who gets literal nightmares about weddings—losing one's entire wardrobe, turning up under or over-dressed, landing up at the wrong venue —it seems almost masochistic to do this voluntarily, without the spectre of family obligation and rashly sent RSVPs hanging over one's head. And yet, maybe that is the trick—being able to enjoy a wedding without feeling like a misfit, wondering if everyone's judging your clothes, and having people come up to you wagging a finger and going 'you're next!". I can sort of see the appeal—Indian weddings are hella fun if you can leave all that baggage behind. You get to hang out with friends, a chance to air all those outfits you wore just one time for a cousin's wedding, eat, drink and dance, take some lovely photos for Instagram, and go home without worrying if your gift will be deemed good enough. Who wouldn't want them? Are there any fake weddings for Gen Xers? Apparently, there are. The trend has advanced so rapidly in such a short time that now there are spin-offs of the same idea, such as more traditional fake wedding parties—think Hum Aapke Hain Kaun rather than Yeh Jawani Hai Deewani. Your Third Place, a Bengaluru-based events company that promotes 'curated IRL experiences that spark real connections", is organising a Sober Sangeet Social in July. Founder Anurag Pandey calls it a 'begaani shaadi" (someone else's wedding) and says guests can expect 'flowers, food, mehendi, and some classic shaadi games" including a Sangeet Social Antakshari. As a child of the 1990s with bona-fide antakshari-winning credentials, I could see myself at one of these parties. Maybe Gen Z has got it right, after all. Maybe weddings should not be about managing egos, expectations and stress, the way I grew up experiencing them (hence the nightmares), but having one hell of a good time.
New York Times
30-03-2025
- Health
- New York Times
Take Better Care of Your Skin
The beauty industry has always preyed upon our insecurities: Try this lotion or potion to look (and thus be!) happier, healthier, prettier, younger. Savvy marketers use that vanity to convince us that we need products uniquely formulated for cold weather, warm weather, crow's feet, undereye areas, lips, necks, scalps — and yes, even derrières. As a result, there have never been more skin care products out there. My family's crowded bathroom counter is evidence of this, and my 15-year-old daughter is its driving force. Like many of her peers, she has developed a seemingly limitless appetite for all manner of beauty products. In fact, thanks to Gens Z and Alpha, global beauty sales are expected to reach $590 billion in 2028 (up from $466 billion in 2023). But, it turns out, a basic routine still reigns supreme. In today's newsletter, I'll explain what Wirecutter's beauty team learned about skin care from months of research, testing and interviews with dermatologists. And I'll share a simple regimen for healthier skin that won't break your budget. Easy does it That focus on simplicity is something we heard repeatedly during our reporting and testing. 'Simple is good,' Dr. Neelam Vashi, a dermatologist in Boston, told us. 'You really just want to have products that moisturize, rejuvenate and feel comfortable on your skin. There is no magic cream. The magic is just finding the routine and sticking to it.' The more extraneous goops you layer on, the more you risk irritating your skin — and the trickier it becomes to discern exactly which ingredient might have triggered a reaction. In general, products with short ingredient lists are preferable. And scan ingredient lists to check that your products have components targeting specific skin care concerns — sometimes called active ingredients. On the labels of moisturizers and body lotions, for instance, look for water-trapping additives like glycerin, squalane, hyaluronic acid and ceramides. When shopping for a retinoid serum, look for retinol or retinaldehyde (aka retinal). And if you need an exfoliant to improve texture and tone, look for skin-buffing glycolic and lactic acids, or oil-fighting salicylic acid. If a product is a bargain, don't assume it will feel like a compromise: Many of our picks are under $20. Don't get bamboozled by fancy packaging, either. Some truly amazing products reside in lackluster tubs and tubes (and underperformers can lurk in luxe bottles). Four steps for skin care It doesn't take much to maintain healthy skin. Here's a routine you can follow that requires only a few products and a few minutes of your day. Our testing led us to 31 stellar products across skin types and categories — each ready for heavy rotation in an easy routine. You can find them in Wirecutter's new Skin Care Essentials package. Wirecutter's skin care guides Myanmar Earthquake U.S. Foreign Policy Government Overhaul More on the Trump Administration Other Big Stories Across the country, in red and blue states, everyday people are doing quiet, vital work to confront climate change. A new series from The Times's Climate desk will tell their stories. See more here. What makes the leaked Signal chat by high-ranking government officials a scandal? The security failure. The defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, was reckless to discuss on Signal the timing, weapons and targets of the planned strike against the Houthis. 'Thank luck (or the grace of God, if you prefer) no U.S. pilots were killed due to Hegseth's fecklessness,' The Philadelphia Inquirer's Trudy Rubin writes. The contents of the leak. The chat revealed a more important issue at hand: the lack of seriousness the officials displayed when planning a military operation. 'They spent more time discussing 'messaging' than say, protecting an ally like Saudi Arabia from retaliation,' The Times's Farah Stockman writes. From its founding, the U.S. has wanted to annex Canada. Previous attempts have been disasters, Stacy Schiff writes. Here's a column by Ross Douthat on the defense secretary. Hot yoga: Two million views, thousands of angry comments and a lost job, all stemming from a single sip of water. Backyard economics: You can rent chickens. But it may not get you cheaper eggs. Vows: The wedding of a bus driver and a salon owner became a detour on the path to parenthood. Most clicked yesterday: In Greenland, JD Vance found the weather and reception chilly. Lives Lived: The Los Angeles optician Gai Gherardi pioneered eyeglass frames as fashion statements, attracting a celebrity clientele. She died at 78. 'Yoko,' by David Sheff: 'The Lennon/Beatles saga is one of the greatest stories ever told, but Yoko's part has been hidden in the band's formidable shadow and further obscured by flagrant misogyny and racism,' writes David Sheff in his compassionate, just-this-side-of-authorized biography of Yoko Ono. Not only does he stare down the myths that landed the woman known as John Lennon's wife in the cross hairs of conspiracy theorists, he gives Ono her due as an artist, musician, peacemaker and revolutionary in her own right. And Sheff — who's best known for 'Beautiful Boy,' a memoir of his son's drug addiction — is well qualified to do so, if biased in ways he acknowledges: In September 1980, he spent almost three weeks with Lennon and Ono, interviewing them for an article that appeared in Playboy the week Lennon died. He later became friends with Ono. 'I didn't varnish the truth to depict Yoko as either a saint or a sinner,' Sheff writes. 'Instead, I did my best to strip the varnish away.' The result is a time capsule from another era, and a thoughtful look at a determined woman who tried to make it better. More on books This week's subject for The Interview is the former Fox News host Megyn Kelly, who now hosts 'The Megyn Kelly Show' on YouTube and SiriusXM. One of the things you did, which is a red line for most journalists, is that you showed up at one of Donald Trump's rallies right before the election, and you formally endorsed him. Once you endorse a politician onstage at a rally, I don't think you can reasonably be called independent anymore, or do you see it differently? I think I can. I don't agree with that because I can still hit Trump, and do. There's no question that I owned my bias on Trump and crossed a line that I had never crossed before, and never would have crossed when I was still straight news, ever. It's just this weird new hybrid lane I'm in that even made it a possibility in my mind, that I even allowed myself to consider saying yes to the invitation. I think a lot of people saw you endorsing Trump as caving — as essentially going to where the power is. I don't think it was me caving. It was me rising. It was me answering something I truly felt called to do. I'm thrilled Trump won. I shudder to think of what the country would be right now if Kamala Harris had won, and in the end, I had no qualms about going out there for him whatsoever. You know the symbolism of it: Someone who so famously had been at odds with him, that he had done so much to, to publicly stand up and embrace him — that was significant to a lot of people. I hope so. That was my goal in helping him, especially with women. I wanted to look them in the eyes, figuratively, and say: Trust me. You know I'm pro-woman, and you know I've expressed doubts about him in the past, about some of the choices he's made when it came to dealing with women, but there is no other choice for women in this election. Read more of the interview here. Click the cover image above to read this week's magazine. Refresh your style with statement socks. Cut hair with easy-to-use clippers. Use a lip mask. Emily Weinstein devotes this week's Five Weeknight Dishes newsletter to a ubiquitous, economical but sometimes underappreciated ingredient: ground meat. Emily's recommendations include a fragrant coconut chicken and sweet potato dish, one-pot chicken and meatballs, and stir-fried cabbage and pork in fish sauce butter. Here is today's Spelling Bee. Yesterday's pangram was catbird. Can you put eight historical events — including the discovery of X-rays, the invention of the chat room, and the painting of 'American Gothic' — in chronological order? Take this week's Flashback quiz. And here are today's Mini Crossword, Wordle, Sudoku, Connections, Sports Connections and Strands. Thanks for spending part of your weekend with The Times. Sign up here to get this newsletter in your inbox. Reach our team at themorning@
