Meet the people reshaping how we live.Fresh perspectives from cultural pioneers,business leaders and creative minds.A zeitgeist moodboard with headlines to skim & stories to get lost in.(→ links to the original source)
MAISON MARGIELA UNVEILS “A TABI FILM”AS A CELEBRATION OF CRAFTSMANSHIP.
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Most know the history of the Maison Margiela Tabi, but what about how it's made? A Tabi Film gives a rare look inside the notoriously discreet house, showing the making-of the distinctive, and divisive, split-toe design.
THESE ONE-OF-A-KIND TABIS ARE ADORNED WITH 8000 HAND-EMBROIDERED BEADS, SEQUINS AND METALLIC SHARDS.
An in-depth conversation with Marina Yee,the Antwerp Six enigma.
Remembering a fashion pioneer and the wisdom she shared with us earlier this year.
'LUXURY IS LIFE WITHOUT A PHONE.'
→ RORSCHACH X WeWantMore's White Paper on New Luxury Launches on the 15th of December. Ahead of the release, we’re sharing a few teasers to whet your appetite.
Is this 'modern-day cabinet of curiosities' by Jonathan Anderson the future of luxury retail?
Kinda, yeah. Go see 👀
A conversation with Isabella Burley.
Youngest ever editor in chief of Dazed, former chief marketing officer at Acne Studios and founder of Climax Books.
'Paywalled platforms as the new private salon.'
→ "Miu Miu isn’t just a sub-label—it’s Miuccia Prada’s alter ego in full bloom. If Prada is the intellectual minimalist, Miu Miu is her messier, moodier, party-at-midnight twin. This isn’t “pass it by the board” branding. This is personal. And it’s exactly why it works so well. It’s the spirit of the founder incarnated. Founder-led brands have an edge because the vision is rooted in lived identity, not market research. You feel the difference. There’s coherence. Confidence. Consistency. You’re not seeing what a focus group thinks Gen Z wants, you’re seeing what Miuccia believes is cool, and you either get it… or you don’t. And there’s massive power in that."Carolynne Alexander spills the beans on how you can steal Miu Miu's luxury-level clarity and “It Girl” energy for your personal brand on her THE BUSINESS OF LUXURY Substack.
When one of the world's leading British luxury brands invites a crop of top galleries mixing up collectible design and art, and hides one of its premium SUVs there, you know luxury marketing has stepped up a few notches.
→ "RORSCHACH redefines the definitions of what is an art gallery and the role of luxury brands in the industry in SCENE by Range Rover in Knokke-Heist. It unites rising talents with renowned visionaries. The gathering space for curators, collectors, architects, and artists alike is a showcase for cultural relevance in luxury marketing.
Chinese milk tea brands are nowwriting fanfiction on receipts.
Women collectors are outspending men — and taking bigger, smarter risks. The latest Art Basel & UBS Survey of Global Collecting reveals a generation of women reshaping the market.
Anxiety about an ever-accelerating future is nothing new. Whether it’s the impact of artificial intelligence, migration, or new social structures, for some the future always seems a little too fast. Back in the early seventies, futurism’s leading voice Alvin Toffler was already predicting the internet, the breakdown of the nuclear family, interactive media, chatrooms, and cloning. He warned of “information overload,” the accelerating pace of technological change, and the social upheaval it would unleash. His book Future Shock sold millions, inspiring world leaders like Mikhail Gorbachev and Chinese Premier Zhao Ziyang — but Toffler also left his mark on the dancefloor. Techno pioneer Juan Atkins claimed that Toffler’s phrase “techno rebels” inspired him to describe his music. Curtis Mayfield and Herbie Hancock both wrote tracks titled Future Shock, and science-fiction author John Brunner penned The Shockwave Rider under Toffler’s spell. For anyone wanting to make sense of today, revisiting Future Shock remains essential reading.
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The 1972 documentary film 'Future Shock', based on the book and featuring a cigar-chomping Orson Welles as on-screen narrator, oozes a darkly dystopian atmosphere and techno-paranoia.
'Yes, I am a techno-optimist But with a few notes.'→ Click to read on The Elysian
Case in point: when Marc Andreessen — big-shot tech investor and advisor to the Zuckerbergs of this world — published his Techno-Optimist Manifesto, the internet went into overdrive. Unsurprisingly, half of Silicon Valley (and beyond) had something to say about Andreessen’s call for techno-optimism and entrepreneurship with as little state interference as possible. Once the dust settled, journalist Elle Griffin — you might know her from Esquire or Forbes — weighed in on her must-read newsletter The Elysian. In a deeply researched piece, she tested and connected the reactions of various thinkers, writers, and entrepreneurs to Andreessen’s manifesto. Just goes to show: we’re not against opinions — we’re just selective about whose.
Why your intuition, imagination, and emotion will outlast AI.
Renowned as a boundary-breaking thinker, Angus Fletcher fuses science, history, and art to show why stories matter and how they fuel human creativity. In his new book 'Primal Intelligence', Fletcher argues that our deepest intelligence isn’t computational at all. It’s rooted in intuition, imagination, emotion, and common sense — capacities that modern systems of school and work often suppress, but remain essential for human flourishing.
'The moving walkway has long been a fringe fascination in the world of mobility, says Tom Vanderbilt on Monocle.
'Science-fiction writers from Isaac Asimov to Robert A Heinlein imagined future cities bristling with speedy pedestrian conveyors but the technology hasn’t quite lived up to its potential. Now a US start-up called Beltways hopes to change this. In early 2026 the firm will hold a public trial at Cincinnati & Northern Kentucky International Airport (CVG) to deploy what it claims will be the world’s fastest moving walkway, capable of whisking standing users at a top speed of 16km/h. (Current travelators putter along at a maximum of 3km/h.)'
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The first moving walkway was set up at the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893, then a revised version by the same architect, Joseph Lyman Silsbee, featured at Paris’s Exposition Universelle in 1900. More than a century later, the “street of the future” might be about to arrive, and quicker, than you think.
"If social media isn’t about connecting with people anymore, then what is it even for?"
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"I’ve been reflecting on this a lot lately, especially after speaking with anti-tech writer and activist August Lamm earlier this year, who has been without her phone for nearly three years and is now living laptop-free, relying only on the computers at her local library. Lamm used to be an influencer, hooked on the dopamine high of posting and getting likes and comments – until she realised that social media was leaving her emotionally wrecked and socially isolated. Speaking with Lamm made me question why I pick up my phone every day and why I post in the first place. Do I in some way contribute to people’s mental health struggles by participating in a culture that showcases every win, achievement or holiday? Maybe it sounds ridiculous to question something as harmless as sharing good news or celebrating how we look, but when you stop and really ask yourself why you post and whether the need you feel in posting is actually fulfilled by doing so, often to strangers, you might start to rethink not just what you share, but why and with whom. Especially when you’re posting all of this stuff and are still not responding to your friends." → HALIMA JIBRILreports on DAZED
'For a while, being vegan wasn’t merely a dietary choice—it was the cultural high ground. An oat milk latte was a political statement and tofu, a symbol of moral clarity. You were either part of the plant-based future or stuck in a world chewing itself to death. But something shifted, quietly at first. Somewhere in the back rooms of TikTok, in fringe podcasts and gut health rabbit holes on Reddit, a new aesthetic started taking shape. Less kale, more liver, raw honey, and bone broth in recycled jam jars. Men in their twenties started frying up steaks with the same obsessive energy they once gave to ranking their favorite Frank Ocean tracks or optimizing their skincare routines.'
Open Reel Ensemble is a music group which plays old reel-to-reel tape recorders as musical instruments. They are delusional about the ”Magnetikpunk world” where magnetic technology has developed beyond the realm of reality, and play reel-to-reel tape recorders as “magnetic folklore instruments." The group’s unique playing techniques and sounds were praised highly, and their first album was released on a label led by Ryuichi Sakamoto. They played the music for ISSEY MIYAKE's Paris collection for four seasons.
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→ "Nothing beats a slice of cake and a coffee (or a headier beverage) at the Neue Galery's stately Café Sabarsky, especially in the winter, but the wait can be long. If you are in a rush, Café Fledermaus in the basement has the same exact menu."
Andrew Russeth, art critic.
Your cultural status is measured by what you know (and eat, read, and shop), how quickly you know it, and who told you. Preferably, it’s obscure inside info, far from the vulgar gaze and taste of the average shopper or celebrity hunter. Just like with “real” news, the source’s value becomes essential. CULTURED asked your favorite art world insiders for the museum-going tricks they've been gatekeeping.
The largest NYC subway advertising campaign ever is for a fake ai friend you wear around your neck to keep you company, and people have been covering the ads with graffiti.