It may seem inconceivable, but only a couple of decades ago, women were encouraged to hide their pregnant bellies. Women even wore maternity corsets in the Victorian era just to hide the baby bump. The appearance of a pregnant woman was considered improper because it was evidence of sexual activity (God forbid). This year at the Cannes Film Festival, nobody could take their eyes off the Hungarian Beauty, Barbara Sprouse. She is not the first woman to debut her baby bump at Ca

Fiona Apple's styling still resonates today because none of it was built for approval. Every reference board right now looks pre-approved: clean girl neutrals, the same five brands, an outfit so smoothed over it might as well be AI-generated. Fast fashion chases that same flatness from the other direction, a rush job dressed up as a finished idea. There's been a cultural leaning toward sameness over the past thirty years, and now the pendulum is swinging the other way. A look

Can you love someone without ever meeting them? When was the last time you truly met someone? It sounds like a simple question, but I'm no longer sure it has a simple answer. We still talk about "meeting" as though it only counts when two people occupy the same room or shake each other's hand. But in 2026, is that still true? What if you've heard someone's laugh before you've ever heard their footsteps? What if you've spent nights discussing your essays, shared the poems you

Nowadays, we are constantly told to evolve, heal, and improve ourselves, while also practising self-love in the present tense. But the fully healed version of ourselves we long for is not coming. We will be forced to find love, friendship, meaning and happiness, all whilst still unhealed. Because everyone will always be healing from something. There will never be a final form where all grief resolves itself neatly, and we emerge as a regulated person who drinks enough water a

During a recent interview for a literary position, someone asked me a question I wasn't expecting;"How do psychology and literature work together?" I answered honestly. "They don't." At least, not intentionally. I wasn't one of those people who built a perfectly curated personal brand where every interest feeds into the next. I studied psychology because I wanted to understand people. I minored in creative writing because I loved stories. I wasn't trying to become the poster

Doit aimer les chiens II Thank god I finally figured out how to get Netflix to work so it’s not dubbed in French. I like it when it’s in English, but has French subtitles. It makes me feel like I am learning. I get a notification on WhatsApp from the guy I met at the dog park, DPB, asking if I wanted to go for a dog walk on Tuesday. Yes, of course I do. I’m half-watching Pop Star Academy. I think about how motivated these girls are. I’ve always felt I have some kind of cei

Have celebrities lost their personalities, or have they just learned to conceal them? I feel it has become too easy to blame everything on our contemporary age, to say art is not what it was before, but is that actually true? Do artists really have nothing left to say? I find that hard to believe. We shouldn’t blame the artists themselves, but a force much bigger than them. Think back to Jim Morrison, and it is clear what a stage presence used to look like. He didn't treat th

The other day, at 1 AM, my neighbour and I got out of two different cars at exactly the same time. We're the same age. She was holding her baby, and I was holding my vintage Isabel Marant bag. I was in heels, a tiny top, a leather jacket, and just tipsy enough to think the night wasn't over yet. She looked exhausted. I looked like I'd just left a party. We walked to the lift together. Neither of us said much, even though our apartment doors face each other. When we reached th

When traditional milestones disappear, one ceremony is carrying the weight of all of them. Last year, influencer Jazz Smith live-vlogged her entire wedding. She reportedly worked from a detailed content spreadsheet, posted around sixty videos over the course of the weekend, and gained more than 100,000 new followers in the process. The wedding wasn't documented because it mattered. It mattered because it became content. Stories like hers are becoming increasingly familiar. We