Six years after their original outing, actors Blake Lively and Anna Kendrick are back for “Another Simple Favor.” This time, a destination wedding on a sun-drenched Italian island is the backdrop to intrigue, murderous intent, and floppy hats the size of small parachutes. The sequel to 2018’s dark comedy “A Simple Favor” sees the cunning Emily (Lively) reunite with frenemy Stephanie (Kendrick) after the former’s early release from prison for double murder. The simple favor in question this time? “Will you be my maid of honor?” Emily asks — a surprising turn as Stephanie played a key role in the arrest and conviction of Emily years prior. Nonetheless, the two jet off to Capri, Italy, for the lavish wedding of Emily and the very suave and wealthy Dante (played Michele Morrone) where betrayal, snappy dialogue and vintage mob boss-inspired suits await them. Fans of Emily and Stephanie’s wardrobe in 2018 can look forward to more bold, opulent statement pieces and elevated looks, according to the film’s costume designer Renee Ehrlich Kalfus. “I’d say the whole of the picture was to attain more of a grand and over the top style,” Kalfus told CNN over email. “The costumes altogether were designed to be imposing and memorable.” When we first see Emily, her outfit leaves us in no doubt where she’s been these last few years. Her jumpsuit is a couture twist on the cartoonish striped getup of a jailbird. Her hooped earrings resemble separated handcuffs, and her belt reminiscent of one you might see on a member of a chain gang. Wedding bells and whistles Then there’s the highly-anticipated wedding itself. For the extravagant nuptials, director Paul Feig (who clearly knows a thing or two about on-screen weddings, having directed 2011 comedy “Bridesmaids”) took particular inspiration from one real life union. “Paul came to me and his team to tell us to look at this video of fashion editor, Giovanna Bataglia, marrying Oscar Engelbert,” Kalfus says of the lavish gathering, also held on Capri. “He wanted his movie to have the look of grandeur, and he wanted us to create an ostentatious and gorgeous wedding.” One of the film’s most memorable garments is Emily’s one-of-a-kind wedding dress — complete with 40-foot veil — designed by Kalfus herself. The gown features a bustier and leggings made of latex courtesy of designer Renee Masoomian, with a satin skirt by Tirelli Costume House. “It is an unexpected mix of beauty and harshness,” Kalfus says — the garment an embodiment of how Emily herself could be described. The extravagant veil was bordered with hundreds of crystals dipped in blood-red as a “harbinger of things to come,” according to Kalfus. The dress — latex aside — is a surprisingly traditionally feminine look for Emily. Fans may remember her appearing in several tailored (and largely monochromatic) suits throughout “A Simple Favor” — a look which was inspired by the way Feig dresses in real life. “We were trying to figure out what Blake’s look was,” explained Feig in an on-set interview during the production of the first film. “Over the course of trying to figure it out, she became enamoured with the way I dress,” he added. Kalfus, who designed the looks for both films, adds that, “Both Blake and I, we looked at each other and go ‘somebody should dress like Paul, don’t you think?’ Every day he wears a three-piece suit.” Emily’s outfits ended up making their way off screen, with Lively promoting the first film in tailored pantsuits by Ralph Lauren, Roland Mouret and Vivienne Westwood among others. In the sequel, “Emily’s style is pushed, much more heightened,” according to Kalfus. Her dresses, accessories, and that hat — the striped number worn while descending a hotel’s grand staircase (that could block out the sun for a small village) — have all increased in size. Emily’s black and white lines, neckties and waistcoats are juxtaposed with Stephanie’s colorful floral sweaters and flowing skirts. You also see Emily’s dramatic couture going toe to toe with an often dressed down Stephanie — appearing in sweatshirts and sweatpants, “showing her reluctance to be part of the wedding,” Kalfus says. When Stephanie is in more formal attire, it errs towards a more youthful femininity, while Emily’s appears more mature and domineering, lending a “psychological edge” over Stephanie, Kalfus says. That “edge” may be the key as to why Emily’s looks are so striking. However, as Dante’s mother Portia (Italian actress Elena Sofia Ricci) says, “No amount of fashion can save this wedding from being a disaster.” She may just have a point.

The official coronation portrait of Britain’s King Charles was made public on Tuesday, two years after he was crowned, in a tradition dating back more than 400 years to a time when such a painting often became the defining image of a monarch. The portrait of Charles, in his Robe of State standing beside the Imperial State Crown, and one of his wife, Queen Camilla, will go on display in London’s National Gallery for a month before being moved to Buckingham Palace, their permanent home, Buckingham Palace said in a statement on Tuesday. Charles, 76, who was diagnosed with an unspecified form of cancer early last year some 10 months after his coronation, has been sitting for the portrait while he undergoes treatment. The king and queen commissioned the paintings shortly after the coronation ceremony at London’s Westminster Abbey, choosing different artists. Charles was painted by Peter Kuhfeld, while Camilla selected Paul Benney, Buckingham Palace said. “I have tried to produce a painting that is both human and regal, continuing the tradition of royal portraiture,” Kuhfeld said in a statement of the image of the king whose backdrop is the Throne Room in St James’s Palace. Camilla is seen wearing her Coronation Dress of ivory colored silk, next to a different crown. Benney said he wanted to acknowledge the historic nature of the coronation while also showing “the humanity and empathy of such an extraordinary person taking on an extraordinary role.” Historically, the paintings were used as a show of power. The earliest example in the royal collection is the state portrait of James I of England, James VI of Scotland, from 1620.

Sotheby’s has postponed the controversial sale of a dazzling cache of jewels linked to the remains of the Buddha after India’s government slammed the auction and called for the gems’ return. In a statement emailed to CNN on Wednesday, the auction house said its decision came “in light of the matters” raised by officials in India, where the jewels were dug up more than a century ago by a British colonial official. The postponement, which Sotheby’s said was agreed to by the sellers, will “allow for discussions between the parties,” the statement added. The collection of “gem relics” — including amethysts, pearls, carnelians, shell and embossed gold sheets — was set to go up for auction in Hong Kong on Wednesday. Described by Sotheby’s auction house as having “unparalleled religious, archaeological and historical importance,” the gem relics are considered sacred by many Buddhists, who believe they are the corporeal remains of the Buddha. “Nothing of comparable importance in early Buddhism has ever appeared at auction,” Sotheby’s had earlier said on its website. The web page dedicated to the sale has since been taken down. The gems were being sold by three descendants of William Claxton Peppé, a British colonial engineer who made the extraordinary discovery in the village of Piprahwa after excavating part of his estate in northern India in 1898. Though the Buddha was born in what is now Nepal, he became enlightened, first preached, and died in neighboring India. On Monday, India’s Ministry of Culture said it was taking “swift and comprehensive” measures to “immediately” stop the sale and “highlight the illegality of the auction and ensure compliance with international laws.” It also called on Sotheby’s to “return these sacred artifacts to their rightful place.” In a brief statement posted to Facebook on Wednesday, the ministry welcomed the auction house’s decision to postpone the sale, adding: “Further details will be shared in due course.” Peppé’s Birdpur estate was located in what is now northern Uttar Pradesh, about 20 kilometers from Lumbini, the Buddha’s birthplace across the border in Nepal. His excavation of the site uncovered an ancient Buddhist stupa and a huge sandstone sarcophagus-like tomb. Inside the cavern were five vessels containing about 1,800 gemstones and precious metals, dating to around 240 BCE, and small pieces of bone and ash. An inscription on one of the urns indicated the remains belonged to the Buddha, who had his ashes buried at eight separate sites following his death around 480 BCE. Historians have said the site was the first credible find of the Buddha’s relics in modern times and captured the imagination of Buddhist scholars and devotees ever since. “These gem relics (in all likelihood contributed by the Buddha’s clansmen), are, by association, as valuable as the ash and bone pieces (of the Buddha) themselves that were found alongside them,” said Karam Tej S. Sarao, former professor and head of the department of Buddhist Studies at the University of Delhi. The gems put up for auction were a small portion of the original find. Following the discovery, the bone and ash fragments were gifted by the British to King Chulalongkorn of Siam, now Thailand. They are now spread across important Buddhist sites in Thailand, Myanmar and Sri Lanka. Most of the gems were sent to an Indian museum in Kolkata, according to the Indian government, and a fifth of the total find — consisting of duplicates of the main collection — were retained by Peppé. Controversial auction The upcoming sale of the gems handed down to Peppé’s descendants had sparked criticism among several historians. “There is a limit to greed. Commercialization… of the relic gems must be stopped,” said Sarao, the former professor. “The gems should be immediately handed over to the Indian government” to be “enshrined in the Piprahwā Stūpa where they belong,” he added. Curator Conan Cheong and Professor Ashley Thompson of SOAS, University of London, both specialists in Southeast Asian Buddhist art, wrote in a joint paper that the sale amounted to “perpetuating colonial violence.” The relics are considered the “corporeal remains imbued with the living presence of the Buddha” and so, “for the Buddhists who deposited them, as for many Buddhists today, gems, bone and ash are all relics,” they wrote. Chris Peppé, great grandson of William Claxton Peppé, and two of his cousins now have possession of the gem relics. Since inheriting them in 2013, the family have “sought to make them available for viewing by the public (ideally a Buddhist public).” Through the Piprahwa Project, the family has made research on the gem relics available to the public and the gems have been exhibited in museums around the world. Prior to the auction’s postponement, Chris Peppé told CNN that his family believe the 334 items in their possession should go to Buddhists. “Despite exhibitions in major museums including the Met, there has been relatively little interest from the public (including Buddhists) in the gems. Choosing temples and museums for donation all presented different problems on closer scrutiny,” he said. “The auction seems to have finally brought the gems into the spotlight and may present the fairest and most transparent way to transfer this small part of the original find to Buddhists. Chris Peppé said 25% of the proceeds from the auction were due to be donated to “Buddhist institutions” and a further 25% to the display of the main Piprahwa collection in Kolkata, which has never been exhibited to the public.

There were many firsts at the 2025 Met Gala — it was the first exhibition to focus exclusively on Black designers, and the first year the event raised more than $30 million in donations. But among these record-breaking moments was an important return. After a hiatus of more than two decades, disco legend and one-third of The Supremes, Diana Ross, graced the Met steps once more for fashion’s biggest night of the year. Ross, who last attended the Met Gala back in 2003, arrived at the event Monday adorned in feathers and sporting a jaw-dropping 18-foot-long train. It took five men to carry the star’s hand-embroidered ivory white accessory, which enveloped the carpeted steps when laid flat. But hidden in the yards of fabric was a small detail many may have missed. “It has (stitched) the names of all my children and my eight grandchildren,” Ross told Vogue carpet-side, calling the dress “a forever family gown.” On her arm was Evan Ross, her son and the co-creator of the look. “She is the best thing. She is the Met Ball,” he told Vogue. Ross worked with Ugo Mozie, a Nigerian designer and founder of fashion label Eleven Sixteen to bring his mother’s show-stopping ensemble to life. “Family. Heritage. Legacy,” Mozie posted on social media. “So grateful to be a part of this special moment. To have co-designed this work of art for an Icon.” Underneath the larger-than-life train, the Motown singer donned a crystal-embellished spaghetti-strapped gown and a dazzling pair of chandelier earrings. On her head sat a custom, wide-brimmed feathered hat by LA-based milliner Sarah Sokol. Despite being one of the most memorable outfits of the evening, Ross let slip that her appearance was actually last minute. “There was not a plan,” she said. “My son persuaded me (to come), because I’m actually on tour. He said, ‘Mom, you gotta go.’” Luckily for us, she had just the thing to wear.

Ahead of a fundraiser for the Democratic National Committee, former Vice President Kamala Harris made a surprise appearance at the Met Gala in New York, along with husband Doug Emhoff, wearing a custom black-and-white gown by Off-White. Though they skipped the red carpet, Harris appears in photos ahead of the event wearing an elegant silk silhouette with an asymmetrical cape sleeve and a long scarf — a look meant to evoke a sense of timelessness, according to the luxury label. The former vice president was invited by Vogue editor-in-chief and Met Gala co-chair Anna Wintour, according to a spokesperson for Harris. She has made few high-profile appearances since losing the presidential election in November, though she has recently given two speeches at the Leading Women Defined Summit and Emerge Gala, the latter of which benefits an organization that recruits and trains women to run for office. In both, Harris has rebuked US President Trump’s first 100 days in office. “Instead of an administration working to advance America’s highest ideals, we are witnessing the wholesale abandonment of those ideals,” she said at the Emerge Gala last Wednesday. “And what we are also seeing in these last 14 weeks is Americans using their voice and showing their courage.” Over the course of her vice presidency, Harris’ fashion choices often evoked subtle symbolism, from the suffrage-associated white suit and pussybow blouse she wore as she stepped into the role, to a tan Chloé suit at last year’s Democratic National Convention that seemed to be a playful nod to former President Obama. The former vice president also appeared on the cover of Vogue twice, with her first portrait igniting debate over her more casual demeanor in a black jacket and Converse sneakers, photographed by Tyler Mitchell. At the Met Gala, Harris celebrated the spirit of the Costume Institute’s exhibition “Superfine: Tailoring Black Style” in her look from Off-White. The show explores the exuberant and subversive history of Black dandyism, based on the landmark book “Slaves to Fashion: Black Dandyism and the Styling of Black Diasporic Identity,” by the show’s guest curator and scholar Monica L. Miller. The exhibition on Black sartorial history is going on during an uncertain time for museums, as the Trump administration has made calls to end crucial federal funding for the arts and has targeted Smithsonian museums for their exhibitions on race and gender. “To me the true core of dandyism is rooted in confidence and strength. There is no person who exemplifies these characteristics more than Kamala D. Harris, someone who has overcome adversity and continues to be a beacon for so many,” Off-White creative director IB Kamara said in a statement shared with CNN. The night marks her first appearance at the Met Gala, though she’s far from the only politician to grace the museum’s steps during fashion’s biggest night out. In 2022, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton attended the Met Gala for the first time in two decades wearing a red Altuzarra gown embroidered with the names of trailblazing American women, including Harriet Tubman and Eleanor Roosevelt. The year prior, US representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez made a splashy statement in a white Brother Vellies gown emblazoned with “Tax the Rich” in red. Wintour has said, however, that US President Trump is persona non grata at the event. In 2017, during his first term, the Vogue editor told James Corden on his late-night talk show that he is one person she would “never invite back.”

After revealing her second pregnancy in dramatic fashion during her 2023 halftime Super Bowl performance, Rihanna has followed up by debuting her third on the Met Gala red carpet. The last attendee to arrive at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art on Monday evening, the star wore a pinstripe Marc Jacobs ensemble, accentuating her baby bump, with a polkadot cravat and oversized hat. Rihanna’s pregnancy announcement came on an historic evening, co-chaired by her partner A$AP Rocky, that celebrated exuberant Black style and dandyism. The evening’s theme was inspired by the Met’s accompanying Costume Institute exhibition, “Superfine: Tailoring Black Style.” A$AP Rocky arrived hours earlier wearing a self-designed outfit that he told Vogue was “a bit of Harlem Nights,” referencing Eddie Murphy’s classic 1989 crime comedy movie. He accessorized with an umbrella and red-soled Christian Louboutin shoes. The singer and rapper have two sons together. Earlier in the day, the Barbadian singer was photographed walking around New York in the rain in a gray-blue cropped top and skirt set with a fur stole and 1920s-style cloche hat with a visible bump, igniting conversation online. On the Met Gala red carpet, A$AP Rocky confirmed the news to Reuters, saying “it feels amazing” to reveal Rihanna’s pregnancy at the event. CNN has reached out to Rihanna’s representatives. Rihanna wasn’t the only celebrity with a pregnancy reveal on the red carpet, with model Karlie Kloss appearing in a black buttoned jacket with high lapels — her first appearance since announcing her third child in March. The Met Gala red carpet has become a popular place for pregnancy reveals, with model Adwoa Aboah doing so last year in a ruffled red two-piece set, and tennis star Serena Williams and Kloss (again) the year prior. “There’s three of us here,” Wiliams told La La Anthony during Vogue’s live red carpet show in 2023. “I can stop hiding now,” she added. That same year, Rihanna shut down the Karl Lagerfeld tribute-themed Met Gala, arriving last in an all-white Valentino gown and hooded coat adorned with a camellia flower motif, which she took off to reveal her growing baby bump. The singer and Fenty Beauty founder is widely credited for her influence on celebrity maternity style thanks to her daring looks throughout both of her pregnancies, from a third-trimester sheer skirt over a thong to Dior’s Fall-Winter 2022 show, to a green and purple metallic fringe set by The Atitco to a Fenty Beauty event. “When I found out I was pregnant, I thought to myself, ‘There’s no way I’m going to go shopping in no maternity aisle.’ I’m sorry — it’s too much fun to get dressed up,” she told Vogue for the magazine’s May 2022 cover. “I’m not going to let that part disappear because my body is changing.” The all-red unzipped flight suit, matching catsuit and sculpted leather corset — designed by Loewe under creative director Jonathan Anderson — that Rihanna wore during her halftime Super Bowl performance the next year became immediately engrained in pop culture history.

It was still early in the morning when the crowd of sleepy students – all in matching uniforms and identical neat hairstyles – lined up for a daily gathering by the flagpole of their Bangkok high school. Eighth grader Baramee Chaovawanich was among the 3,600 students in attendance as teachers walked through each row, examining every teenager in a monthly spot check of their dress code compliance and appearances. Then, a teacher pointed at Chaovawanich, who goes by his nickname “Khao Klong” — indicating his hair was too long. Mortified, the boy was forced to step forward and have his head partially shaved in front of the whole school, with the teacher deliberately leaving the haircut unfinished for him to wear for the rest of the day. “There was a feeling of shame, like a child being singled out, made into a joke, isolated, and having their hair shaved, making them look ugly,” said Khao Klong, now 20 and at university. He still vividly remembers walking back into class afterwards, where “everyone turned to me and burst into laughter.” “It was a scene that remains stuck in my mind, and it made me really insecure,” he said. The punishment may seem extreme, but for decades, these scenes were common across Thailand, with students subject to strict rules about their appearances that go far beyond the school dress codes seen in other countries. For instance, male students had to have an army-style crew cut and female students had to wear their hair in short, ear-length bobs — before rules were loosened in 2013 (when boys could grow their hair to the base of their neck, and girls could grow their hair even longer, so long as it was tied up). Khao Klong’s hair had only been a few centimeters over the limit, but even that was too much to allow. But rules on hairstyles are changing in a significant way. In March, the country’s highest administrative court annulled the directive – set by the Ministry of Education in 1975 – declaring it unconstitutional. The rules “imposed excessive restrictions on personal freedom,” thus violating the Thai Constitution, read the court order. It added that the 50-year-old regulations “did not align with contemporary social conditions” and harmed children’s mental health during developmentally significant ages, and especially those with diverse gender identities. The court ruling has been a long time coming, after nationwide student protests in 2020 pushed the issue to the fore and prompted the education ministry to leave it to schools to decide their own rules. The decision was met with delight by some students, who have long wanted to express themselves freely in their appearance. “Things have changed, especially (regarding how) they checked hairstyles,” said 16-year-old Nijchaya Kraisriwattana in April. Her school in Bangkok used to hold weekly checks to examine students’ appearances, and she’d previously had academic points deducted for her hair being too long. The rules were so strict she even had to pin back her bangs and tuck away stray baby hairs curling around her face – but these days, the rules seem “more relaxed,” she said. But concerns linger among others who fear some schools will continue to impose strict guidelines and harsh punishments without government intervention. “At first, I was happy when I read about it, but then people started analyzing it. It seems like there are still gaps, which makes me a bit worried because it doesn’t seem very different from before,” Khao Klong said. He and other student activists “haven’t seen much change happening,” he added. CNN has reached out to the Ministry of Education for comment. Military past and conformist culture Though it can be hard to fathom why the rules were so rigid, they reflect Thailand’s conservative, hierarchical Buddhist society — and a culture born from many years of authoritarian rule. The powerful military’s influence runs deep in Thailand, a constitutional monarchy that has seen a dozen successful coups since 1932 — the most recent in 2014. The student dress code regulations were drafted by a military government under the decade-long dictatorship of Thanom Kittikachorn, who was ousted by a violent uprising in 1973. But the military’s conservative influence on how students are told to show up to school has persisted until today, said Thunhavich Thitiratsakul, an educational policy researcher at the Thailand Development Research Institute who has previously written about the dress code policy. “It’s a social norm, the social value is that students have to abide by the law, and if they behave well, they become a good person,” he said. In Thailand, “students have to listen to their parents and follow the school regulations,” he added. “If (they) get a job in the future and can follow by the rules … it means like, OK, you’re a good person, and you tend to do well.” The March court order acknowledged this line of thinking, pointing out that the hairstyle regulations had “aimed to cultivate students as future responsible citizens, emphasizing the need for close supervision by parents and teachers to ensure they adhered to societal norms and laws.” This military-style education extended to other forms of discipline, too. Khao Klong recalled teachers beating him almost “every day” in middle school for “lacking discipline,” sometimes using a ruler until it broke. The rules are strict about uniforms too, which are similar across all public schools – even specifying the types of socks and shoes students must wear. As times changed, students began pushing back. But even a relaxation of rules in 2013 stoked controversy — with some parents and teachers arguing that looser regulations would encourage disobedience and distraction. That debate continued until protests broke out across the country in 2020, with a band of students deciding they had had enough. ‘Bad Students’ fight back That year was a monumental one. Across the nation, tens of thousands of pro-democracy protesters took to the streets, demanding reforms to the military-drafted constitution and powerful monarchy. The protests were remarkable because they challenged long-standing taboos against criticizing the royal family — which under Thai laws is punishable by jail time. As the demonstrations stretched across the summer and fall, students took action too. Middle and high school students vowed to overhaul the dress code and hairstyle regulations, and to reform what they called the abuse of power by teachers and administrators. The two movements were separate, but the students’ protests may have been influenced by the larger pro-democracy demonstrations, said Thunhavich, the researcher. Photos from student protests showed hundreds of teenagers adopting many of the visual cues used in the pro-democracy demonstrations, like the three-finger salute and yellow rubber ducks. “Our first dictatorship is school,” read one popular slogan written on protest signs. Khao Klong was one of those students. His head-shaving experience had left a “mental scar” that he didn’t want anyone else to endure, he said — so he joined a coalition of activists called Bad Students. “Cast off the bitter, outdated uniforms!” read one Facebook post by Bad Students in November 2020, urging students to “dress as you please.” The following month, the group organized a protest in front of the Ministry of Education, where students hung their school uniforms on the gates. The protests were colorful, lively affairs — with students kitted out appropriately. Some put black masking tape over their mouths to represent their feelings of oppression at school; others came in inflatable dinosaur costumes, poking fun at what they called the older, outdated generation of Thai politicians dictating their uniforms. In a show of defiance, some even cut their hair at the protests. One 19-year-old, Pimchanok Nongnual, shaved her hair on the steps of the education ministry and in front of a top official, Reuters reported at the time. “What about gender fluid or non-binary students?” she said — echoing many students who showed up in rainbow clothing to demand more gender-diverse uniforms. “We felt hopeless. At that moment, it was like, if not us, then who? In the sense that if we don’t speak up, who will speak for us?” Khao Klong said. The group filed petitions and complaints with the government — which eventually led to the education ministry repealing its hairstyle regulations in 2023 to ensure they “do not limit students’ bodily freedom.” Last year, the ministry also told schools and teachers to use caution when doling out punishments. The recent court order appears to, at least on paper, cement these victories — and by declaring the hairstyle rules “unconstitutional,” could give students more leverage at schools that choose to maintain stricter rules. Nijchaya, the student in Bangkok, felt the change when she arrived at school recently without her bangs pinned back. “They just let it pass without saying anything,” she said. When asked whether she wanted more freedom in her clothing, she emphatically answered, “Yes, absolutely,” and said she’d like to wear T-shirts and jeans, and let her hair down loose. But Thunhavich said it’s too soon to celebrate. Schools now need to be held accountable and consult with their communities and school boards on how to adjust their regulations, he said. But it’s not clear if students will have a seat at the table. Five years after the protests swept Thailand, the students once on the front lines are also tired. Many have moved on with their educations, juggling the demands of schoolwork, jobs and daily life. The issue of student rights has faded from headlines, though obstacles linger. Still, Khao Klong said, “with this court order, I hope we can return to discussing rights and freedoms in every school, issues of oppression or authoritarianism.” “Just because we haven’t talked about it doesn’t mean it has disappeared; we’ve just forgotten to address it,” he added. “We feel that the desire to fight may have diminished, but everyone still remembers the feeling of being threatened when we stood up to fight for our own rights.”

Known for its boundary-pushing works at the intersection of art, technology and nature, art collective teamLab has added to its exhibitions in Japan, Saudi Arabia and China with a new multi-sensory museum in the United Arab Emirates. Walking up to teamLab Phenomena, in Abu Dhabi’s Saadiyat Cultural District, you’re met with an enormous white building with an amorphous form that’s difficult to characterize. “We came up with this shape that people cannot define, and that’s what makes it curious for people,” says Tony Abi Gebrayel, managing partner of MZ Architects, the local firm that partnered with teamLab on the exterior architecture. Its brilliant-white façade is made up of myriad panels — no two alike — adding to the 17,000-square-meter (183,000-feet) building’s organic and asymmetrical feel. Entering through the doors into a darkened reception, your eyes take a second to adjust to the extreme contrast to the bright white outside. The darkness is meant to heighten your senses for what awaits inside — a collection of 25 interactive digital art exhibits. The museum is divided into two zones: dry and wet. In many of the dry areas, the floor of the exhibits undulates, because, says teamLab’s principal interior architect Shogo Kawata, the soles of our feet aren’t flat, and are therefore more suited to walk across organic shapes than even surface. Doing so can bring visitors closer to nature, he says. In the wet zones, shoes and socks are removed and trousers rolled up, as guests move through areas flooded with shallow water. Walking through one exhibit, the water level rises and falls, changing your proximity to the digitally projected artworks. Moving around the museum is an experience in itself. Light projections on the floors and walls react to your movements and presence, and reaching out to touch the installations feels playful and thought-provoking. Entering one exhibit in the wet area, you’re met with an earthy, organic smell from the water. “Floating Microcosms” is a collection of unanchored soft sculptures — or “Ovoids” — bobbing in ankle-deep water. Wading around can create waves which topple these Ovoids, and they fall over, only to rise again, emanating different colored lights and sound tones. The Ovoids can also be pushed over and moved around by visitors, so the exhibit is constantly transformed. Kawata wants visitors to have “physical experiences — to smell and touch things” and to “take home the feeling they had visiting this space.” In “Wind Form,” lights projected on the uneven ground and walls are meant to replicate the movement of wind. Moving through, the artwork reacts to you, as if you are blocking the natural passage of a breeze; the lights stop where your feet touch the ground, and you can see the ripples of this change spread over the walls around you. Toshiyuki Inoko is one of the founders of teamLab. Established in 2001 in Japan, the international collective comprises artists, architects and tech specialists, with a mission to help visitors to move beyond perceived boundaries of the world by experiencing their art. Inoko says that it is an honor to have his museum open amongst the other landmarks in Saadiyat Cultural District — already well-established locations like the Louvre Abu Dhabi and the Manarat Al Saadiyat gallery, as well as many currently in development, such as the Guggenheim, the Zayed National Museum, and the Natural History Museum. He hopes that by engaging with the exhibits and seeing them react to their presence visitors take away a new “connection with themselves and with the environment itself.”

There is something peculiar about entering a building only to be greeted by another one inside it, so it takes a moment to adjust upon arriving on the second floor of London’s prestigious Tate Modern art gallery. Directly in front of the entryway is a 1:1 scale facsimile of Do Ho Suh’s childhood home in Seoul, which he wrapped in mulberry paper and carefully traced in graphite to produce an intricate rubbing of the exterior. It is just one of many versions of home envisioned by the Korean artist over the past 30 years. Running at Tate Modern through to October, “Walk the House” is Suh’s largest solo institutional show to date in the UK, where he has been based since 2016. Before that, he lived in the US, having studied at the Rhode Island School of Design and Yale University in the 1990s. The exhibition’s name stems from an expression used in the context of the “hanok,” a traditional Korean house that can be taken down and reassembled elsewhere, thanks to its construction and lightweight materials. The buildings have become rarer over time, because of urbanization, war and occupation, which led to the destruction of many traditional homes in the country. Suh’s own childhood home was an outlier amid Seoul’s changing cityscape during the 1970s, which underwent rapid development after the Korean War left the city in ruins. It spurred the artist’s ongoing preoccupations with home as both a physical space that could be dissolved and reanimated, but also a psychological construct that can reflect memory and identity. Among the show’s exhibits are embroidered artworks, architectural models in various materials and scales, and film works involving complex 3D techniques. The detailed outlines picked up in Suh’s hanok rubbing are echoed in two closely related large-scale pieces on display for the first time, both of which visitors can walk inside. “Perfect Home: London, Horsham, New York, Berlin, Providence, Seoul” (2024) takes various 3D fixtures and fittings from homes Suh has lived in around the world and maps them onto a tent-like model of his London apartment. “Nest/s” (2024) is a pastel-hued tunnel, again based on different places he has called home, this time splicing together incongruous hallways — an environment that holds symbolic meaning for the artist. “I think that the experience of cultural displacement helped me to see these in-between spaces, the space that connects places. That journey lets me focus on transitional spaces, like corridors, staircases, entrances,” Suh told CNN at the show’s opening. The exhibition also features “Staircase” (2016), a 3D structure that was subsequently collapsed into a red, sinewy 2D tangle. “I think in general we tend to focus on destinations, but these bridges that connect those destinations, often we neglect them, but actually we spend most of our time in this transitional Removing internal walls There’s a translucent quality to much of the work on display. Fine, gauzy textiles are used directly within many of the pieces, as well as in the form of a subtle room divider — the closest thing to an internal wall in the main space. “For the first time since 2016, the galleries of the exhibition will have all their walls taken down in order to accommodate the multiple large-scale works that will be materialized within them, as well as the multiple times and spaces that those works carry,” said Dina Akhmadeeva, assistant curator for international art at Tate Modern, who co-curated the show with Nabila Abdel Nabi, senior curator of international art at the Hyundai Tate Research Centre: Transnational. “In doing so, the open layout will form not a linear passage or narrative, but instead encourage visitors to meander, return, loop back, evoking an experience closer to the function of memory itself.” Suh’s emphasis on spatial interventions poses creative challenges for curators as well as the institutions that hold these works. One such example is “Staircase-III” (2010), acquired by the Tate back in 2011, which often needs to be adapted to wherever it is shown by measuring new panels to fit each space. “I wanted to disturb the habitual experience of (encountering) an artwork in a museum,” said Suh by way of explanation. Akhmadeeva added that the approach challenged the “idea of permanence — of the work and of the space around it.” Removing the gallery walls also reflects Suh’s interest in peeling environments back to their foundations. “It’s just the bare space that the architects originally conceived,” he said. Suh’s work often focuses on spatial experiences rather than material goods because, just like the rooms and buildings we inhabit, an empty space behaves like a “vessel” for memories, he explained. “Over the years and the time that you’ve spent in the space, you project your own experience and energy onto it, and then it becomes a memory.” Exploring transience The artist does occasionally focus on ornaments and furnishings, however, as seen in his monumental film, “Robin Hood Gardens” (named after the East London housing estate it captures), which used photogrammetry to stitch together drone footage taken inside the council building awaiting demolition. It marked a rare instance of Suh documenting both residents and their belongings. The film illustrates the subtle politics of Suh’s practice. “Often in my case, the color and the craftsmanship and the beauty in my work distract from the political undertone of it,” he said. Issues such as privacy, security, and access to space are intimately connected to class and public policy, but his commentary is covered in a soft veil of fabric or the gentle rub of graphite. The latter is also used in “Rubbing/Loving: Company Housing of Gwangju Theater” (2012), which reflects on the deadly Gwangju Uprising of 1980. The artwork resembles the shell of a room that is unravelled to form a flat, vertical structure, like a deconstructed box. It is based on a rubbing that was taken by Suh and his assistants while blindfolded — a nod to the censorship of the military’s violent response and its absence from South Korean collective memory. The exhibition is bookended by pieces that address sociopolitical questions. “Bridge Project” (1999) explores land ownership among other issues, while “Public Figures” (2025), an evolution of a piece Suh made for the Venice Biennale in 2001, is a subverted monument featuring an empty plinth, directing focus to the many miniature figurines upholding it. For Suh, it was intended to address Korea’s histories of both oppression and resilience. While these two exhibits may feel distinct, for Suh, all of his work interrogates the boundaries between personal and public space, and the conditions that force transience or enable permanence. The tension between public and private was thrown into sharp relief during the pandemic, when lockdowns forced people to spend most of their time indoors. Although Suh “scrutinized” all corners of his home during this time, the lockdowns didn’t materialize in his practice in the way one might expect. Instead, it elicited a more tender reflection on what is often the making of a home: people. It explains why, among the substantial, often colorful structures in the exhibition, there are two small tunics made for (and with) his two young daughters, adorned with pockets holding their most cherished belongings, such as crayons and toys. “As a parent, it was quite a vulnerable situation. Other families, I cannot speak for them, but it really helped us to be together,” said Suh.

From stopping dust and dirt getting into the eyes to prompting our blink reflex, eyelashes do more than just look pretty. Which makes it hard to explain the social media trend of men trimming down — or even entirely shaving off — their eyelashes in a bid to look “more masculine.” Videos posted to TikTok, Instagram and X in recent weeks show men braving blades very close to their eyes, in barber shops from Turkey to New Zealand, in a quest for stubby lashes. While some barbers are seen wielding buzzing electric clippers, others are freestyling with just a pair of hairdressing scissors and, hopefully, a steady hand. “Eyelashes are vital for both visual experience and eye health,” said Vickie Lee, a consultant ophthalmic and oculoplastic surgeon at Imperial College London, in an email interview. “As well as acting as a barrier and a trigger for the protective blink reflex, eyelashes help reduce airflow over the eyes… maintaining moisture, keeping the eyes healthy and comfortable, filtering intense sunlight, reducing glare and improving visual quality.” While Lee said eyelashes follow a natural growth cycle, shedding and re-growing over time, she added that there are many reasons why removing them, per the methods seen on social media, is a bad idea. “Improper removal can lead to complications… Cutting or trimming eyelashes can cause discomfort and irritation as (it) can leave a sharp stubby end rubbing on the ocular surface,” she said, not to mention the risk of “causing potential injury to the eye.” The rise of ‘masculine energy’ Lustrous lashes have been a signifier of femininity or attractiveness for centuries, depicted in art (including works by John Singer Sargeant and Pablo Picasso), poetry (Thomas Hood) and literature (F. Scott Fitzgerald), And there may be an evolutionary imperative, too: Scientific research from 2005 found that women with more attractive faces also possessed higher levels of the female sex hormone estrogen, which equates to increased fertility and fecundity — genetic traits that are appealing, in reproductive terms. But in today’s increasingly masculine political climate, fueled by controversial online “manosphere” figures such as Andrew Tate and tech bro jocks like Meta chief Mark Zuckerberg (who recently voiced his support for more “masculine energy” in the corporate world, telling podcaster Joe Rogan in January: “A culture that celebrates the aggression a bit more has its own merits”), it is easy to see why some men are eager to repress anything about their appearance that could be construed as overtly feminine. Even Vice President JD Vance, an outspoken defender of men’s right to “masculine urges,” has fallen foul of new masculine beauty standards when it comes to his eyes. During his televised election debate in October 2024, the internet was awash with speculation that Vance had worn eyeliner to achieve his dark, heavy-lashed look. The chatter became so widespread that disgraced former Republican congressman George Santos weighed in: “Vance does NOT use eyeliner,” he wrote on X at the time. “I’ve met him in person before he was a senator and I can confirm he has long eyelashes and they cast a shadow on his waterline. Grow up people!” While none of the eyelash-shaving barbers approached for this story replied to CNN’s requests for comment, I do speak to one long-lashed male friend, 48-year-old, Spencer Bailey. “I’ve got a lot of flak over the years about my thick, dark eyelashes,” said the London-based IT professional. “But I definitely wouldn’t take the clippers to them. Comments are usually from other men who say they’re ‘girly’ — despite the fact I’m also 6-foot-2” — and ask if I’m wearing eye makeup or, more recently, if they’re fake… My wife likes them, but they seem to really bother some guys.” After decades of decline, gender traditionalism is on the rise among Republican voters in the United States, according to recent data cited by The New York TImes. In the Views of the Electorate Research Survey (run by The Democracy Fund foundation in conjunction with YouGov), which was carried out after President Donald Trump’s re-election in November 2024, Republicans increasingly endorsed what the survey called “traditional notions of masculinity,” with more than three quarters of Republican men and women agreeing with the view that “what it means to be a man has changed and I don’t think that has been good for society.” The same study found that 48% of Republican men agreed that women “should return to their traditional roles” in society — significantly up from May 2022, when the figure was 28%. The proportion of Republican women agreeing with the statement meanwhile increased from 23% to 37% in that time. Who wants thick, long lashes? While these opinions are just that (or, at least, there is little evidence that these thoughts have translated into real-world behavioral changes — more women of “prime age” are employed than ever before and rates of marriage and childbirth are declining), it’s a stark reversal of the trends of the past half century, in which time the percentage of respondents in the American National Election Studies (ANES) saying that “women’s place is in the home” decreased steadily — from almost 30% in 1972 to 6% in 2008, when the survey’s researchers stopped asking the question. With women increasingly being perceived and treated as “less than” men, it is perhaps no surprise that some men are eager to avoid being perceived as “feminine.” “The more conservative, regressive or perhaps the more ‘traditional’ a society makes itself, the more it will really endeavor… to try to create two genders who look very different to each other,” Meredith Jones, honorary professor of gender studies at Brunel University of London, told CNN in a telephone interview. “Eyelashes are a strong binary,” Jones said. “There is currently a fashion for one sex to have eyelashes which are outrageously long, thick and black. These are seen as an indicator of high ‘uber’ femininity and… therefore, the opposite has to be ‘true’ for the opposite gender.” “The example of JD Vance being mocked for the appearance of wearing eye makeup during the election was fascinating,” Jones added. “Because President Trump obviously wears makeup, but his makeup endeavors to make him look more tanned, more toned, more chiseled… more ‘masculine.’” Meanwhile, influencers and celebrities appear to be eschewing bold lashes in what has since been dubbed the #fullfacenomascara movement. Could women also be moving away from the archetypally feminine big eyelash trend? While the ‘no mascara’ trend has been gaining traction, with a growing number of people showcasing their natural lashes as part of a broader shift towards minimalist beauty, mascara remains one of the most widely used cosmetic products, Clare Hennigan, principal analyst of beauty and personal care at research firm Mintel, told CNN. In fact, it remains the most commonly applied eye makeup in the US, she noted, indicating that “the no-mascara trend will take considerable time, if ever, to gain widespread adoption.” But trends are, indeed, cyclical. And for every action there is a reaction, pointed out Jones: “Fashions spring out of the times we are living in,” she said. “The 1960s were a classic example. One of the complaints of conservatives during that period was that they could no longer tell the difference between men and women due to the prevalence of bell-bottomed trousers and long hair worn by both sexes. In the ‘80s, in reaction to conservative Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, London’s club fashion became very adventurous. These movements are always cyclical.”