What's your sign to keep swiping?
But out of an unlikely font of romantic inspiration – the New York mayor's race – came a sign of hope.
'Zohran shows that if you're pure of heart, Hinge is fine, good even,' one dater posted.
'Maybe I should give it a try again,' another posted.
They were responding to the revelation that Zohran Mamdani, 33, the Democratic mayoral nominee, had met his wife, Rama Duwaji, 27, an animator and illustrator, on the dating app Hinge.
If they could do it, maybe all was not lost.
App dating seems to need a boost these days. Artificial intelligence-powered matchmaking and tightened security are just some of the ways that the dating app companies have tried to shore up engagement, but some users continue to express fatigue over online dating, and Match Group and Bumble have lost billions in market value since 2021.
A 2024 Forbes Health Survey reported that 78% of daters said they were feeling mentally and physically exhausted by the services. A 2023 Axios/Generation Lab survey of college and graduate students across the country found that 79% of respondents did not use dating apps.
In my conversations with dozens of match seekers in writing about dating for the past 2 1/2 years, people have said that using dating apps can feel like another job, that it's difficult to truly gauge compatibility through a screen and that they prefer meeting people in real life.
Still, three in 10 adults are still using the apps, according to a 2023 Pew Research Center study. And people feel like they can't fully give up.
So New Yorkers, and politics watchers, and romance fans in general seized on Mamdani's Hinge success as a small, unexpected moment of reassurance that it is possible to actually meet someone, that it's not all endless swiping and disappointment.
'It definitely gives me hope that they found each other on Hinge – I think in general, I feel a little bit disillusioned by the apps,' said Jenny Gorelick, a comedian and writer living in New York City who also volunteered for Mamdani's campaign. In her Substack blog, 'Night Out', she writes about her experience exploring New York's nightlife as a single woman.
'I've only ever, in almost a decade of dating on Hinge, had one boyfriend that came from the app,' she added. 'Out of 220 matches on Hinge, one boyfriend is not amazing odds.'
Mamdani seems to know that his story may feel like an outlier, but he encouraged singles not to give up.
In an interview with the podcast 'The Bulwark' in June, the subject of dating came up. Cameron Kasky, one of the show's hosts, expressed his dismay over New York City's social scene and his love life.
'In terms of dating, it has been a disaster for me lately – my heart has been broken, I have broken hearts,' he said.
He explained how difficult he had found it to make connections in real life, something he pointed as deeply affecting members of Gen Z.
How, he asked Mamdani, would he as mayor revitalise the New York social scene?
'I met my wife on Hinge, so there is still hope in those dating apps,' he replied.
Jeniea Howard, a 32-year-old content creator who often recaps her app dates online, even the failed ones, agreed that there was hope out there. Her move to Washington, D.C., from New York City two months ago did not stop her from using Hinge, the only dating app she's currently on. It has, in fact, become one of her main reasons to stay on: to meet new people in a new environment.
'I met my ex on Hinge, and we dated for close to three years, and we really only broke up because we weren't as compatible as we originally thought,' she said.
'If I found him and he was great, I'm sure I can find somebody else,' she added.
She also worked from home and said that because all of her hobbies weren't the type of things that would attract straight men – pole dancing, boutique fitness classes, drag shows – she realised that she probably wouldn't meet her man in any of those spaces.
'I'm not going to change up my entire life and the things that I love doing, so let me go back on this app and maybe I'll have more luck, because the chances of me running into someone were a little bit slimmer,' she said.
Like Howard, Akiera Charles hasn't abandoned the apps. She re-downloaded Hinge on July 1, just two days after she had broken up with a man she had dated for about a month. After venting about her breakup on Instagram, she said, part of getting back on the app was because she wanted to take her mind off her ex. The other reason, though, was that she still had hope for the app after dating someone she had met on Hinge for about a year.
'Since that point of me meeting that person on Hinge and it being successful initially, I still hold out that type of hope, like maybe I am going to find my person on Hinge,' she said.
She also has friends who have had success stories on the app, including one woman who is married to, and recently had a baby with, a man she met on Hinge.
'If all of these people around me are meeting their person on Hinge,' she said, 'there has to be something in this app.' – ©2025 The New York Times Company
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Star
2 days ago
- The Star
What's your sign to keep swiping?
The daters are down. The dating apps feel universally terrible. (Or, as one person noted, the apps are where 'I keep meeting the devil incarnate.') But out of an unlikely font of romantic inspiration – the New York mayor's race – came a sign of hope. 'Zohran shows that if you're pure of heart, Hinge is fine, good even,' one dater posted. 'Maybe I should give it a try again,' another posted. They were responding to the revelation that Zohran Mamdani, 33, the Democratic mayoral nominee, had met his wife, Rama Duwaji, 27, an animator and illustrator, on the dating app Hinge. If they could do it, maybe all was not lost. App dating seems to need a boost these days. Artificial intelligence-powered matchmaking and tightened security are just some of the ways that the dating app companies have tried to shore up engagement, but some users continue to express fatigue over online dating, and Match Group and Bumble have lost billions in market value since 2021. A 2024 Forbes Health Survey reported that 78% of daters said they were feeling mentally and physically exhausted by the services. A 2023 Axios/Generation Lab survey of college and graduate students across the country found that 79% of respondents did not use dating apps. In my conversations with dozens of match seekers in writing about dating for the past 2 1/2 years, people have said that using dating apps can feel like another job, that it's difficult to truly gauge compatibility through a screen and that they prefer meeting people in real life. Still, three in 10 adults are still using the apps, according to a 2023 Pew Research Center study. And people feel like they can't fully give up. So New Yorkers, and politics watchers, and romance fans in general seized on Mamdani's Hinge success as a small, unexpected moment of reassurance that it is possible to actually meet someone, that it's not all endless swiping and disappointment. 'It definitely gives me hope that they found each other on Hinge – I think in general, I feel a little bit disillusioned by the apps,' said Jenny Gorelick, a comedian and writer living in New York City who also volunteered for Mamdani's campaign. In her Substack blog, 'Night Out', she writes about her experience exploring New York's nightlife as a single woman. 'I've only ever, in almost a decade of dating on Hinge, had one boyfriend that came from the app,' she added. 'Out of 220 matches on Hinge, one boyfriend is not amazing odds.' Mamdani seems to know that his story may feel like an outlier, but he encouraged singles not to give up. In an interview with the podcast 'The Bulwark' in June, the subject of dating came up. Cameron Kasky, one of the show's hosts, expressed his dismay over New York City's social scene and his love life. 'In terms of dating, it has been a disaster for me lately – my heart has been broken, I have broken hearts,' he said. He explained how difficult he had found it to make connections in real life, something he pointed as deeply affecting members of Gen Z. How, he asked Mamdani, would he as mayor revitalise the New York social scene? 'I met my wife on Hinge, so there is still hope in those dating apps,' he replied. Jeniea Howard, a 32-year-old content creator who often recaps her app dates online, even the failed ones, agreed that there was hope out there. Her move to Washington, D.C., from New York City two months ago did not stop her from using Hinge, the only dating app she's currently on. It has, in fact, become one of her main reasons to stay on: to meet new people in a new environment. 'I met my ex on Hinge, and we dated for close to three years, and we really only broke up because we weren't as compatible as we originally thought,' she said. 'If I found him and he was great, I'm sure I can find somebody else,' she added. She also worked from home and said that because all of her hobbies weren't the type of things that would attract straight men – pole dancing, boutique fitness classes, drag shows – she realised that she probably wouldn't meet her man in any of those spaces. 'I'm not going to change up my entire life and the things that I love doing, so let me go back on this app and maybe I'll have more luck, because the chances of me running into someone were a little bit slimmer,' she said. Like Howard, Akiera Charles hasn't abandoned the apps. She re-downloaded Hinge on July 1, just two days after she had broken up with a man she had dated for about a month. After venting about her breakup on Instagram, she said, part of getting back on the app was because she wanted to take her mind off her ex. The other reason, though, was that she still had hope for the app after dating someone she had met on Hinge for about a year. 'Since that point of me meeting that person on Hinge and it being successful initially, I still hold out that type of hope, like maybe I am going to find my person on Hinge,' she said. She also has friends who have had success stories on the app, including one woman who is married to, and recently had a baby with, a man she met on Hinge. 'If all of these people around me are meeting their person on Hinge,' she said, 'there has to be something in this app.' – ©2025 The New York Times Company This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
The Star
6 days ago
- The Star
Why is Jonathan Anderson's first Dior show at Paris Fashion Week so significant?
A model presents a creation by Dior Homme for the Spring/Summer 2026 collection as part of Paris Fashion Week. Photo: AFP It was the most eagerly awaited show of Paris Fashion Week Men's. And for the few days before it took place, Dior's new creative director Jonathan Anderson had been dropping clues on social media about the contents of his first collection for the fabled French house. In a virtual version of Hansel and Gretel, the 40-year-old Northern Irishman expertly teased fashion fans with little peeks of what is in store for them when he finally lifts the curtain. And even the invitation to the show in the 17th-century splendour of Les Invalides has gone viral. His eclectic clues started with him posting Andy Warhol's photographs of the American socialite Lee Radziwill – the sister of Jackie Kennedy – and artist Jean-Michel Basquiat. He said that both New Yorkers are his "epitome of style". While the trail of posts started in the Big Apple, it seemed to be ending at the Palace of Versailles outside Paris – particularly in the cutesy hamlet Marie Antoinette had built in the grounds so she could play at being a peasant. There were also snaps of a gilt clock in the Queen's Bedchamber, a Dior ring set in one of the hamlet's apple trees and a brilliantly witty measuring tape in the shape of a snail perched on a leaf. Read more: Jonathan Anderson will now lead Dior men's, women's and couture – can he do it? Tied in knots Anderson also posted two rather endearing videos of French football star Killian Mbappe putting on a tie and trying – and failing – to knot a dickie bow. "It is not that bad, no?" the Real Madrid star and Dior ambassador asked, before admitting the fail with a laugh, "It is (that bad)?" Anderson – a lover of literature – also seems to have returned to his homeland for inspiration, with three new versions of the brand's Book Tote bags. The first has "Dracula" in blood-red letters in a nod to Dublin writer Bram Stoker while the "Les Liaisons Dangereuses" bag pays homage to French novelist Pierre Choderlos De Laclos. The enigmatic invitation to the show – a porcelain plate adorned with three eggs – has already gone viral on social media. Anderson's arrival at Dior had been flagged for months after he turned around the rather fusty Spanish label Loewe, which is also owned by the French luxury giant LVMH. Just weeks after he was named to head Dior Homme, he was also appointed creative director of the Dior's women's collections and its haute couture. The last person to have such a free rein at the brand was its founder Christian Dior. Read more: A look back at Jonathan Anderson's star-studded legacy of dressing celebrities Tricky time With the luxury sector's once bumper profits plummeting, Anderson's appointment is an attempt to renew the fashion house after nine years under the Italian Maria Grazia Chiuri. Anderson, the son of former Irish rugby captain Willie Anderson, trained at the London School of Fashion after starting on the shop floor at a Dublin department store. His first big break was landing a job in Prada's marketing department before launching his own brand, JW Anderson, in 2008. "I think he is one of the most gifted talents of his generation," said Alice Feillard, men's buyer at Galeries Lafayette, Europe's biggest department store group. "We saw what he achieved at Loewe – a really remarkable and brilliant body of work." "He is one of the most talented and undoubtedly prolific designers of recent years," Adrien Communier, fashion editor for GQ France , said. "There is something childlike yet very intellectual" about his collections, he added. "Very cheeky, very bold... and really intriguing." Feillard said bringing together Dior's three lines "makes sense". "Dior Homme and Dior Femme are almost two different brands. I think now the real challenge for the brand is to establish a somewhat more coherent identity", she said. – AFP
Sinar Daily
03-07-2025
- Sinar Daily
Sean Combs: music pioneer, entrepreneur
NEW YORK - Even during his federal criminal trial in New York, the descriptions of Sean Combs were frequently those of awe: one former assistant called him "a god among men." "Larger than life," said witnesses over and over -- his accusers included. Janice Combs (L), mother of Sean "Diddy" Combs, arrives at federal court as jury continues deliberations in Sean "Diddy" Combs' sex trafficking trial on July 1, 2025, in New York City. Jurors on June 30 started deliberating on whether Sean "Diddy" Combs used his celebrity, wealth and business empire to set up a decades-long criminal ring that allegedly saw him force women into drug-fueled sexual performances with escorts. After the judge completed his instructions, the jury in New York began the task of weighing evidence from phone and financial records, and 34 people who testified against Combs over the past seven weeks. (Photo by TIMOTHY A. CLARY / AFP) And that he was, until it all came crashing down. The music and entertainment titan known for his legendary A-list "white parties" had multiple mansions, a private jet, a business empire and scores of accolades. Then in September 2024, he was arrested on sweeping charges including running a criminal ring that allowed him to commit harrowing sexual abuse. And after a two-month long courtroom saga, a jury of 12 New Yorkers on Wednesday found him guilty of two prostitution-related counts -- but acquitted him of more serious allegations of racketeering and sex trafficking. The outcome was not what prosecutors had hoped for -- a decisive conviction for grave crimes that could have kept him incarcerated for life. Nevertheless, even before the blockbuster proceedings began, Combs's reputation was in tatters. The 55-year-old still faces dozens of civil lawsuits in which he is accused of lurid abuse. And even his own team's defence came back to haunt him: the federal judge denied Combs bail as he awaits sentencing, reading back his attorneys' words in which they conceded again and again that he has a record of violence. Rebrands upon rebrands Combs, the founder of Bad Boy Records whose proteges included the late Notorious B.I.G. and Mary J. Blige, was known as a high-flying, smooth-talking kingpin who ushered hip-hop from the underground to bottle-service clubs. He was continuously rebranding -- his monikers include "Puff Daddy," "P Diddy" and, more recently, "Brother Love." Court proceedings revealed a much seedier side, casting him as a violent, domineering boss whose inner circle helped him live life with impunity. Even before his arrest, the mushrooming accusations and legal action left many of his businesses reeling. There were symbolic measures as well: the city of New York had rescinded the honorary key they had bestowed upon him. But as was clear outside the courthouse throughout the proceedings, he still has a loyal fan base, especially in the city where he made his name. Party boy and hip-hop mogul Born Sean John Combs on November 4, 1969, in Harlem, the artist entered the industry as an intern in 1990 at Uptown Records where he eventually became a talent director. He gained clout as a party planner, which would remain central to his brand. In 1991, he promoted a celebrity basketball game and concert at the City College of New York that ended in a stampede, leaving nine people dead. The event was over-capacity by the thousands and resulted in a string of lawsuits, with Combs blamed for hiring inadequate security. He was fired from Uptown, and founded his own label, Bad Boy Records. Thus began his quick ascent to the top of East Coast hip-hop. The Notorious B.I.G. became the genre's king following the release of his landmark debut album "Ready to Die" in 1994, up until his shock murder in 1997. Combs boasted a number of major signed acts and production collaborations with the likes of Blige, Usher, Lil' Kim, TLC, Mariah Carey and Boyz II Men. He was also a Grammy-winning rapper in his own right, debuting with the chart-topping single "Can't Nobody Hold Me Down" and his album "No Way Out." The smash hit single "I'll Be Missing You" was a tribute to Biggie. His other major tracks included "It's All About The Benjamins" and "Been Around the World." He built an image as a brash hustler with unapologetic swagger, a major producer who also ventured into Hollywood, reality television and fashion. He was known as a ladies' man -- he had a high-profile relationship with Jennifer Lopez. 'Next chapters' As recently as 2023, Combs was still on top of the world -- releasing a new album and taking a victory lap as he accepted lifetime honors including a "global icon" award from MTV. But his star plummeted rapidly in November of that year, when his former partner of 11 years, Casandra Ventura, filed a civil suit with a litany of allegations including a 2018 rape. Combs settled the suit almost immediately, but months later, it became clear that federal investigators were trailing him. His mansions were raided and many possessions seized. Then came his arrest and, nearly eight months later, his high-stakes federal trial. Combs's defence conceded that he committed brutal violence. But they insisted that those instances did not amount to the extensive charges he faced -- and won. Combs routinely brought self-help books or Bible passages with him to the courtroom, and his lawyers argue he's an evolving man. He has six adult children, and a two-year-old named Love Sean Combs. "He's been given his life back," his attorney Marc Agnifilo said Wednesday. "He's going to have next chapters of his life." - AFP
