
Weekender: 32 things to do in Charlotte this weekend including restaurant week and a Peruvian Festival
Friday, July 25
🍽️ Dine at 125-plus participating restaurants across Charlotte for prix-fixe three-course menus for Queen's Feast. | $30-$50 | Runs through Sunday | Details
🎶 See Goo Goo Dolls with Dashboard Confessional make their tour stop in Charlotte at Skyla Credit Union Amphitheatre. | $109+ | 7:30pm | Details
🎱 Play bingo at Sugar Creek Brewing while you enjoy a girl dinner and cocktails. | Free | 8pm | Details
🎶 Vibe to live music at Vaulted Oak Brewing and grab dinner from the Indian food truck on site. | Free | 6pm | Details
👯♀️ Take a 30 minute beginner-friendly aerial dance class at Aerial CLT. | $5 | 5-8pm | Details
🤼 See WWE wrestler Hall of Famer Sting and eight matches at Truist Field. | $55-$150 | 5-10:30pm | Details
🤭 Check out a comedy festival with shows, workshops and improv jams at Stage Door Theater. | Prices vary | Runs through Saturday | Details
🍷 Get a taste of Spain with a guided tasting of four wines at Cork & Cap in Camp North End. | $50 | 7-8pm | Details
🍾 Party into the weekend at STATS Restaurant & Bar and stay for a guest appearance from R&B singer Jacob Latimore. | $23+ | 9pm-2am | Details
🎭 Take the kids to see "The SpongeBob Musical" at Dale F. Halton Theater. | $12.53-$18.04 | Times vary | Details
🎤 See smooth jazz singer Lindsey Webster at Middle C Jazz. | $49-$60 | Times vary | Details
Saturday, July 26
🎸 Rock out to the 10th annual Outlaw Music Festival, featuring Willie Nelson and Bob Dylan at PNC Music Pavilion. | $54+ | 4pm | Details
🏟️ Catch a Charlotte FC game against Toronto FC at Bank of America Stadium. | $38+ | 7:30pm | Details
🪴Bring a plant to swap or trade at Sugar Creek Brewing and stick around for drinks and food. | Free | 12pm | Details
💪 Take your kids ages 7-18 for an outdoor workout so they can experience D1 training. | Free | 8am | Details
🎉 Celebrate the 10th anniversary of Wooden Robot Brewery at The Chamber in NoDa with beer releases, merchandise, live music and local vendors. | Free | 12pm | Details
🤣 Enjoy an evening comedy session at Charlotte Comedy Theater. | $15 | 6pm | Details
🛍️ Shop for items from local vendors at a pop-up market at Victoria Yards in Uptown and grab a bite to eat from The Market at 7th Street. | Free | 12-6pm | Details
🌇 Vibe to music at Novelty House's rooftop day party and grab dinner from a local restaurant afterward. | $0-$116 | 4-9pm | Details
🙎♀️ Meet other mothers in a mixer at Sip City Market & Bottle Shop. | $23.18 | 11am-1pm | Details
⚽️ See Charlotte Independence play Richmond Kickers at American Legion Memorial Stadium. | $13-$66 | 7pm | Details
👑 Enjoy a 90s drag brunch by The Vanity House at Catalú. | $24.86 | 11am-2pm | Details
💄 Meet fashionistas and stylists at Folia in South End and stick around for a Dior beauty bar and cocktails. | $50-$160 | 12-3pm | Details
Sunday, July 27
🇵🇪 Check out the Charlotte Peruvian Festival at Symphony Park and expect traditional, food, dances, live music, arts and crafts and a kid zone. | $10-$20 | 12pm | Details
🪩 Have Sunday funday at Blinders by vibing to house music from a list of rotating DJs and enjoy drink specials. | Free | 12pm | Details
😂 Hear jokes from student comedians at Charlotte Comedy Theater. | $10 | 7pm | Details
🍱 Get a taste of hand roll sushi restaurant Sharigato at Night Swim Optimist Park before they open and enjoy a tangerine miso matcha drink special. | $11.50 | 12pm | Details
☕️ Sip on drinks from Black Cat Coffee and enjoy brunch bites while you vibe to beats from a DJ. | Free | 11am-4pm | Details
🥂 Pull up with friends to Boileryard Brunch in Camp North End for music from a DJ and light bites. | Free | 12-4pm | Details
🧑🍳 Learn how to how to create handmade pasta at Hi-Wire Brewing. | $59 | 12:30pm | Details
🎶 Head to Folia in South End as they celebrate the launch of their daytime service with a DJ set by See Bird Go (10am-1pm) plus $2 lattes and $4 pastries. Stick around to win free lattes for a month and a $150 gift card. | Free | 8am-2pm | Details
🪓 Throw axes with friends at BATL for their open house in Lower South End and Plaza Midwood, and stick around for cocktails. | Free | 12-4pm | Details
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Eater
2 days ago
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Cosmopolitan
2 days ago
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From the scarf dress trend to kolhapuri sandals, Western fashion has to stop rebranding South Asian culture
Last year, as many people will remember, LA-based brand Reformation released flowy silk dresses and co-ords in a range of colours, with the addition of thin, matching scarves. The brand then repeated the designs within its collection in collaboration with American influencer Devon Lee Carlson. This look, which sees the scarf draped at the neck, was labelled as by many online as "Scandinavian" or "European". But this drew quick criticism from the South Asian community, who condemned the repackaging of a trademark South Asian outfit to a Western ensemble. The scarf in question resembles a dupatta, a long piece of fabric traditionally worn by women throughout South Asia, sometimes draped over their shoulders and across their necks, or used to cover their heads. Reformation's version of this outfit was the catalyst in an ongoing debate surrounding South Asian fashion inspiration in the Western marketplace. In the past year, I've seen designer labels and high-street brands alike mirroring the aesthetics of South Asia in their garments. E-tailer Oh Polly followed in Reformation's footsteps with a scarf look of its own, as did high-street fave Mango (one South Asian creator on TikTok ironically deems this the 'dupatta apocalypse'). Luxury brands have used South Asian templates for recent collections, too, cementing this 'trend' of cross-cultural style. Take Pharrell Williams' Louis Vuitton's Spring/Summer 2026 menswear show, where the designer paid clear homage to India in everything starting from the theme, which was inspired by Wes Anderson's The Darjeeling Limited. India seeped into the textiles, the runway's set design, and even the music, featuring a track co-produced by iconic Indian composer AR Rahman. Around the same time came Prada's leather sandals, which models sported down the runway during the label's SS26 men's show. But these sandals looked exactly the way Kolhapuri chappals, worn by millions of Indians, do, causing an outcry from India and leading Prada to apologise and acknowledge the sandals are "inspired by traditional Indian footwear made in specific districts in Maharashtra and Karnataka, India." While Pharrell laid out the blueprint for his collection (although the guestlist and show's casting were perhaps not as representative of his inspirations as they could have been), people pointed out that Miuccia Prada and Raf Simons, co-creative directors of the brand, failed to do the same. All of this is to say that South Asian culture is having a real moment within the global fashion scene. But the larger issue? That credit, context and even collaboration aren't being considered. Across social media, some have deemed this appropriation. Others accuse these brands of cultural erasure. The aesthetic resemblance between these items and outfits, created by Western brands, is uncanny, as South Asians are pointing out. And while many say this is a testament to the rich history of aesthetics from the subcontinent, it is also the time for recognition to be given. When South Asian-inspired clothes are now being called "trendy" and even referred to as "European" because of the majority of people wearing them, both the original context and culture are being dismissed. South Asia itself is vast and nuanced, with an array of countries, religions, traditions, handicrafts, and ways of living. This is often forgotten, both by the West and by the fashion industry. While workers in South Asia face gruelling conditions labouring for Western brands, these brands, in turn, fail to recognise or credit the influence of their subcontinent in their aesthetics. These controversies are illustrating the need not only for acknowledgement, but for an uprising. For one thing, Western designers who 'borrow' or catch inspiration from aesthetics across the Indian subcontinent should explicitly say so. For another, and perhaps most importantly, Western designers have the opportunity to collaborate with or directly hire South Asian designers. The Indian fashion industry, for example, is flourishing in size and reach, as I wrote about last year. The world is increasingly seeing the wealth of talent and options coming straight from the country itself. That makes this viral discourse all the more hard to digest. As fashion industries in South Asia skyrocket, it seems like the right time to turn our heads and appreciate all that these designers offer, from authenticity to craftsmanship to art bound by history. So the next time a 'Scandi scarf' catches the collective attention of TikTok, we should be quicker to identify and nod towards the roots of these designs. The West should be doing that themselves without a reminder. I don't believe that creating South Asian-inspired fashion is exactly the problem, and neither is wearing South Asian-inspired clothing designs. Erasing the political and complicated history of borrowing cultural aesthetics – and sanitising them in the process – is.