3 days ago
Saturday Feeling: Gen Z's superfast fashion, ‘Stolen' review and other stories
It was at an airport a year ago, while chatting with a young UI/UX engineer who was on the same delayed flight, that I learnt about fashion cycles shrinking to two weeks. She worked for a fashion brand that changed its collection every two weeks since Gen Z followed social media trends and switched out their wardrobes about once a month. I was surprised because this is a generation that has brought 'eco-anxiety' and 'climate grief' into everyday vocabulary. A few weeks later, Myntra launched its M-Now 30-minute clothing delivery service targeted largely at Gen-Z and since then a host of other companies have been talking about their 60-90-minute deliveries for clothing. Who needs a new outfit in 30 minutes? That's the question we set out to answer this week, and found out what's driving the buying patterns of Gen Z, born between 1997 and 2012 and the generation influencing most buying decisions in a family. Their personal style is driven by trends, the internet, and never being caught in the same outfit twice. Which means they often shop for a new outfit every day of the week, giving Monday-Sunday dressing a whole new meaning. Pooja Singh spoke to 40 people outside colleges, via social media DMs, in the Metro, while browsing at shopping malls, and at local markets. She found that Gen Z is playing an endless game of catch-up and it is a story about excess, but it's also an indicator of the industry's own complicity in this superfast cycle. The cover of Mint Lounge dated 7 June 2025, which has stories on Gen Z's shopping habits, new galleries transforming the art world, and more.
At a time when fine-dining menus evolve with fresh takes on hyperlocal cuisines, the culinary culture of Maharashtra remains confined to a few select dishes. But there's more to Marathi food than vada pav and misal. A new era of chefs is changing the narrative by showcasing the diverse food heritage of the state with bold, progressive formats. Think puran poli baklava, karvanda Cosmopolitan, and goda masala pizza, that too served in an omakase in Japan, writes Rituparna Roy. Read more.
There's a quiet shift in the Indian art market landscape. Newer art galleries are whetting the appetite of collectors, both seasoned and novice, as interest continues to evolve. Many of these galleries showcase the personal collections of longtime art collectors. For some, the galleries represent a chance to give their artworks a home. For others, it's a way to tap into a growing fraternity that's interested in acquiring art, reports Abhilasha Ojha. Read more.
Poets have often called love an insanity, a disease that destroys the one who experiences it, steals their tranquility and sleep; its only reward being the sights, sounds and smell of the beloved. Mehak Jamal's book, Loal Kashmir, takes you into this world of love and insanity told through 16 non-fiction stories, exploring the human cost of conflict and the resilience of lovers in Kashmir. These stories, told to Jamal by people who have faced the twin demons of militancy and army atrocities for decades, are full of beautiful nuances, without being preachy, Zeyad Masroor Khan writes in his review. It's an insider's view of the cost of loving and caring while living in a conflict zone. Read more.
Only a handful of Hindi films, including Mukkabaaz (2018) and Afwaah (2023), have addressed the modern face of lynching in India. Karan Tejpal's Stolen doesn't imitate, but it comes close to capturing the dread of WhatsApp videos of lynch mobs. It's a searing, scary film about two brothers and a desperate mother—Gautam (Abhishek Banerjee) has come to pick up his brother, Raman (Shubham Vardan), from the railway station. Jhumpa (Mia Maelzer) is accusing Raman of stealing her baby. The misunderstanding turns into a nightmare and unfolds as the kind of film that makes you feel some hope for Hindi cinema and none for the country, writes Uday Bhatia. Stolen is now streaming on Amazon Prime. Read more.
Cold showers are touted for sharper focus, reduced inflammation, and mood boosts. Silicon Valley CEOs swear by them. Fitness influencers frame them as proof of grit. But beyond the invigorating jolt, what does science really say? Tanisha Saxena speaks to experts and finds that pairing short cold showers with breathwork aids post-exercise recovery, mental clarity and metabolic resilience. It taps into the body's natural stress adaptation systems that not only boost circulation and metabolism, but also train the nervous system to better handle real-life stress. The key, though, is to do it small doses. Exposing yourself to cold water for 11 minutes per week is said to boost the production of beneficial neurochemicals in the body. Read more.
The new Redmi Watch Move ( ₹ 1,999) by Xiaomi is a budget-friendly smartwatch that aims to deliver a compelling set of features without breaking the bank. It's an important intervention, since most affordable smartwatches in India often come with heavy compromises and significant inaccuracies in fitness tracking. The 1.85-inch AMOLED display is one of the biggest and brightest displays in the segment—there's vibrant colours, deep blacks, and pretty good contrast. You can customize the interface via the Mi Fitness app (available for both Android and iOS). The watch also supports Hindi to widen its cache of users. Xiaomi punches above its weight with this device, delivering features that fly in the face of its price, concludes Abhishek Baxi. Read more.
Amazon's business model may be riddled with ethical problems, but there's no doubt the Kindle is a popular device among avid readers. A newish, less-visible feature in Kindle devices allows users to share their library with others. Given Amazon's tendency to bury such options deep inside its ecosystem, it is likely that this hack may be news to many readers. If you want to legally share your library with another user, you can use the Amazon Household platform, and it works pretty much like Amazon Prime's family plan, writes Somak Ghoshal. Read more.
