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Think of what you’re doing as swapping stories, not running down a checklist. If you ask about cleaning habits, share your own (“I’m a vacuum-once-a-week kind of person — what about you?”). That back-and-forth keeps things from feeling one-sided and shows you’re as invested in making the space work as they are.

If you’re chatting before move-in, keep it casual but intentional. Suggest grabbing coffee, hopping on FaceTime, or even trading a few quick voice notes to run through the basics. Show you’re paying attention by following up on their answers (“You said you work nights — do you need total quiet during the day?”). Those small moments of connection set a friendly tone and help you both avoid unwelcome surprises later.

If you’re meeting for the first time on move-in day, lean on natural conversation openers while you unpack. Suggest ordering a pizza or taking a quick break to walk to a nearby café. Ask things in ways that invite stories instead of yes or no answers (“How do you usually spend a Sunday?” works better than “Do you like Sundays?”). That way, you can open the door to shared experiences and help the chat feel like genuine bonding — not just a rule-setting session.

Personalities, interests, and senses of humor all shape a roommate experience just as much as who showers when. Still, even the most compatible personalities can clash without clear ground rules! Use the practical roommate questions below to make sure you’re both happy with how your space functions. Then, layer on some “get to know you” questions that’ll help make living together not just functional, but fun.

Practical Questions to Ask a New Roommate

Knowing the right things to ask potential roommates does everyone a favor. Practical questions get all parties on the same page, so you can understand what each person needs from the space and prevent un-fun surprises later on.

Don’t have the opportunity to ask these questions before committing to living together? Try to get through them early into your first week as roommates.

1. What’s your usual weekday schedule?
2. How early/late do you typically go to bed? Are you a morning person or a night owl?
3. How often do you have guests over? How much notice should we aim to give each other?
4. What are thoughts on overnight guests, both the dating kind and friends crashing (after a night out, for instance)? What about out-of-town company?
5. How do you like to keep the shared space looking — super tidy or a little lived-in?
6. How do you most prefer to relax at home: socialising in shared spaces or being independent and doing your own thing?
7. How should we split cleaning tasks?
8. How often do you like to cook? Any food allergies?
9. Do you prefer to share certain items (like spices, condiments) or keep everything separate?
10. How should we handle apartment supplies (i.e. paper towels, toilet paper, cleaning products) — as shared purchases or taking turns?
11. What’s your stance on borrowing clothes or personal items?
12. How do you feel about music or TV volume in shared spaces?
13. What’s your preferred way to split utility bills?
14. Are you okay with scented candles, incense, or diffusers?
15. Do you smoke or vape?
16. How do you feel about pets? Any allergies?
17. How do you usually handle conflict when it comes up?
18. Are you more “text me” or “knock on my door” for communication?
19. How do you feel about decorating shared spaces — joint effort or “do your own thing”?
20. Are you okay with splitting subscriptions for things like streaming services?
21. Do you prefer to lock the door even when someone’s home?
22. How should we handle repairs or landlord communication — one point person or whoever notices first?
23. Any pet peeves or big non-negotiables I should know about?

Personal Questions to Ask Your Roommate to Get to Know Them

After you’ve tackled the practical stuff, you can move on to the fun part: finding out who your roommate actually is. These questions go beyond logistics to reveal personality, interests, and all the little details that make sharing a space feel more personal.

For the past two years, one of the most talked-about topics at Vogue Runway—and among fashion week designers and the industry at large—has been fashion’s big vibe shift. When we started talking about it, we couldn’t have guessed just how big of a shift we’d be getting. Reports of new designer appointments came every month of 2025, with the exception of April and August.

Now, the endless speculation is finally coming to an end: We will witness 15 designer debuts at the spring 2026 ready-to-wear shows.

Although many of the fashion week designers involved in this re-shuffle are familiar faces like Pierpaolo Piccioli and Demna, their stakes are as high, if not more so, than those of the designers stepping into the spotlight for the first time. For the first time in decades, the Christian Dior label will be under one creative director, meaning Jonathan Anderson will be working on at least 10 collections a year between menswear, womenswear, and couture. Lazaro Hernandez and Jack McCollough, long New York fashion’s golden boys, have left the city and the Proenza Schouler label they founded more than 20 years ago to take a gamble in Paris at Loewe. Perhaps no one is feeling more pressure than Matthieu Blazy, whose debut at Chanel will fittingly take place on the final day of shows.

The industry-wide shakeups are allowing new talent to rise, whether that’s relative unknowns like Nicholas Aburn at Area, and Miguel Castro Freitas at Mugler, or designers who have toiled as second-in-commands behind the scenes and now get to call the shots like Versace’s Dario Vitale and Carven’s Mark Thomas.

It’s a lot of names and places to remember, so we’ve put together a yearbook to commemorate what is sure to be a season that changes fashion. Meet the designers of the Class of Spring 2026.

Photo: Getty, Design by Vogue

Cosmic tip: Build your tribe to celebrate life.

Everything seems to be falling apart. Not quite, Sag. Even though it may seem like it, it is far from the truth. You may be picking and choosing from your orchard; however, take a second look, you have an orchard, and that is the first thing you must be willing to be grateful for. This crowning moment—the one where you feel like you are being squeezed through to enter this world—is your rebirth. This is the moment that sets you up for a grander stage in life. Don’t lose hope now.

Cosmic tip: Your loved ones are always backing you—even in spirit.

It may feel like fireworks are on, but these are celebratory ones, and you can almost dance to their rhythm and make merry with life. Capricorn, you have toiled hard to get to this point, and yo,u my de, ar are being blessed abundantly for keeping up with your consistency in looking for answers even when all else felt like it was doomed. This window of breathability and relaxed mind—this is the cosmos allowing you to look far out and honestly assess where you want to see yourself and what you wish to be doing. Shine, darling, shine, and keep up with the good work.

Cosmic tip: Whatever you are doing seems to be working.

You are in between stuff, yes, and my next question to you is— So what? When you started off on this path, you did not know where you would land, yet here you are precisely where you once wished you were, and things only get better from this point on. Not everything can move as fast as your mind and Aquarius. Do you realise that more often than not, you are ahead of the game? Now, with this in mind, remember that you are not lost. You may simply be waiting for the world to catch up faster. You only need to keep on with your heart’s work and purpose— everything will show up soon enough.

Cosmic tip: You try so hard to be vintage when you really are avant-garde.

You are the medium through which spirit flows; you are the medium through which your ideas become tangible forms. Pisces, what you can see, most often others cannot—because you see through the lens of your heart and your intuition, whereas a lot of others only perceive through logic. Be it within relationships, work or anything else, let your heart be your guide, let your energy help you grow and allow yourself to take that step forward because you can see where it is leading you.

Cosmic tip: Solutions often spark off as intuitive ideas first.

The experts both stress: it’s not protein that’s the problem, it’s the way we’re eating it, pairing it and digesting it. Chawla dismantles each one with ease. Whey is from milk. Pea protein is from peas. If your paneer isn’t doing its job, it’s not a sign to ditch protein—it’s your gut asking for a reset. “Your gut and protein share a bro-code,” she says. “When they get along, they go a long way. When they don’t, it is when we get bloated, suffer with gas and constipation.”

Food-wise, the options are not as beige as you think. Adnani swears by chickpeas: “the little black dress of protein, chic enough for both chaat and hummus.” She layers in rajma, paneer, yoghurt, tofu, quinoa, nuts, seeds and even a well-sourced plant-based or whey powder when you think you don’t have the time to do it all. Chawla swears by organic eggs, chicken, fish and plant-based sources like pea or hemp protein, but she’s clear on one thing: no brownie points for milk tea and paneer.

Getting adequate protein is about rhythm over rush, letting your body get steady hits through the day. A latte in the morning, dal at dinner, protein woven through your day. “Even distribution, 20–30 grams per meal, maximises absorption for repair and glow,” says Adnani. Chawla suggests the same too: “Morning, mid-morning, pre- and post-workout, in mains, even with collagen.”

And if you’ve ever wondered why your serums don’t seem to be working according to the promises stamped on their bottles, Adnani has a blunt reminder: without protein, even the most high-tech skincare has nothing to hold on to. “Protein is the canvas, skincare is the paint. Without the canvas, the art won’t stick.”

The truth is, protein won’t ever feel as glamorous as a fancy-led ingredient cream or as instantly gratifying as evening chai. But answer the question of how much protein do women need with care, give it space on your plate and in your day, and it pays you back; in steadier energy, stronger bones, better moods, and skin and hair that look like they’re looked after from within, no matter your age.

Also read:

Why protein powder lost its place in my routine

Is chocolate milk the perfect protein after all?

Protein had a glow-up and women are eating the pressure

Giorgio Armani, who designed the uniform of aspiration that both defined the 1980s and shaped the course of fashion beyond it, has died, it was announced today. He had turned 91 on July 11. His passing was confirmed by the company.

“With infinite sorrow, the Armani Group announces the passing of its creator, founder, and tireless driving force: Giorgio Armani,” a statement read. “Il Signor Armani, as he was always respectfully and admiringly called by employees and collaborators, passed away peacefully, surrounded by his loved ones. Indefatigable to the end, he worked until his final days, dedicating himself to the company, the collections, and the many ongoing and future projects.”

Unarguably the most successful Italian fashion designer in history, Armani was also its most successful entrepreneur. He was the sole shareholder in his eponymous company, Giorgio Armani S.p.a, whose interests expanded far beyond apparel to encompass hotels, homewares, and even confectionery. The business he began from scratch in 1975, funded with the sale of his Volkswagen Beetle, saw revenues of 2.1 billion euros in 2019 and employs around 8,000 people worldwide. His own personal wealth has been estimated at 11 billion dollars. Remarkably, when he founded his company, Armani was already 40 years old. It would take him only seven years to go from unknown to Time Magazine cover star, which in 1982 represented the apex of cultural recognition.

Armani began designing both womenswear and menswear as a freelancer in the early 1970s, after a six year stint as protege to the tailor Nino Cerruti, for whom he worked on a sportswear label named Hitman. Prior to that he spent seven years working at the Milan department store La Rinascente, where he had served as window dresser and assistant buyer. Armani opened his own design studio with the encouragement of his partner in both life and business, the architect Sergio Galeotti. As Armani told GQ in 2015: “Sergio made me believe in myself. He made me see the bigger world.” The two men set up their company—Galeotti was chairman and co-owner—alongside assistant Irene Pantene (who still works for the company today) and showed their first womenswear collection on the Camera Della Moda calendar for Fall 1976, a collection for which they secured a distribution deal with Barneys.

Wednesday Addams is fashion’s longest-running goth muse. From 60s TV screens to Netflix streams, she has been redrawn in every era. Each version of the iconic character carries her own spin on collars, tights and braids. The uniform never shifts, but the mood always has. Innocent. Menacing. Rebellious. Viral.

And with the show’s return, she is once again the style fixation of the moment. There has never been a better time to channel your inner Wednesday. Take cues from Wednesdays past and present and build your own uniform of doom.

The Original Gothlette

Lisa Loring’s Wednesday was neatly pressed. A pinafore. A Peter Pan collar. Opaque tights. She was the childlike Wednesday, the very first draft of a cult fashion iconography.

UNITED STATES – NOVEMBER 18: The Addams Family “Fester Goes on a Diet” Season One, Uncle Fester ( Jackie Coogan) shakes Wednesday”s (Lisa Loring) hand., (Photo by ABC Photo Archives/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty Images)

ABC Photo Archives/Getty Images

Cropped shirt with ruffled collar, Chola, ₹10,500

Bow Lace Mesh Thin Breathable Lace Crew Socks Girls Cotton Crew Socks, Craze, ₹1,299

The Cult Cinema Darling

Christina Ricci made her sinister. Sharp collars and a clinical centre part. A poker face that became a style weapon.

Christina Ricci dangling meat in a scene from the film ‘Addams Family Values’, 1993. (Photo by Paramount/Getty Images)

Paramount Pictures/Getty Images

Piano Key Dress, Abraham & Thakore, ₹32,900

The Traveller – Stardawg Green, Gully Labs, ₹18,750

Prima Donna jacket dress, Rajesh Pratap Singh, ₹1,50,000

The Animated Emo

The animated Wednesday was drawn like a stretched shadow. A long black dress to the ankles and a pair of witchy black shoes. She was the digital Wednesday, her look exaggerated into iconography for a generation fluent in memes and emoji.

The Netflix Renaissance

Jenna Ortega’s Wednesday became a viral silhouette. A black Alaïa tulle dress spun across social media. Oversized blazers with Doc Martens. She was the hybrid Wednesday, stitching Victorian gloom to Gen Z internet culture. A style written for both runway and scroll.

Padukone’s look echoes the broader themes artistic director Nicolas Ghesquière has been evolving across seasons, from the sculptural contrasts of Fall/Winter 2025 to the theatrical edge of Cruise 2026. The molten textures, shimmering fringe and sharp accessories all tap into the house’s ongoing play of past and future, structure and ease.

Jewellery was kept minimal, with gold textured studs offering just enough gleam. Her bronzy beauty look featured a high bun with locks coming loose at the back, brushed-up brows, terracotta-toned lids, cheeks and lips set against radiant skin.

Indian actress Deepika Padukone speaks during the 2025 LVMH Prize award ceremony at the Louis Vuitton Foundation, in Paris on September 3, 2025. (Photo by Thomas SAMSON / AFP) (Photo by THOMAS SAMSON/AFP via Getty Images)THOMAS SAMSON/Getty Images

Deepika Padukone’s fashion evolution with Louis Vuitton has been one to watch. Initially appointed as the brand’s global ambassador—making her the first Indian woman in that role—she has worn the brand’s most standout looks on global stages like Paris Fashion Week. Now, stepping into her new role as a jury member at the LVMH Prize 2025, she has moved from being the face of the brand to helping define its future.

From Vogue’s fashion desk:

“Keep the high knot to elongate the silhouette, and swap the oversized tote for a sleek, structured clutch. Ground the drama with metallic heels that mirror the movement of the streamers. No necklace needed but instead, opt for bold geometric earrings that tie into the futuristic, tribal-regalia energy. With pared-back makeup and a glossy lid,” says Vogue India fashion associate Manglien Gangte.

Cheaters suck. That part isn’t controversial. The default advice for dealing with cheating in a relationship usually goes something like: Leave. Block them. Never look back. But what happens when a woman dares to stay? That’s when the spotlight—and shaming—turns on her.

We saw this pattern play out on The Summer I Turned Pretty. Belly, after being cheated on by her boyfriend, Jeremiah, still chooses to marry him—a decision that triggered a torrent of online hate. Since the episode aired, she’s been branded by viewers as insufferable, embarrassing and pathetic. Meanwhile, Jeremiah—the perpetrator—largely escapes the internet’s scrutiny.

In the court of public opinion, it’s the woman forgiving a cheater who becomes the punchline.

According to infidelity experts, this one-sided backlash is hardly surprising—and reflects a broader, sexist double standard: We claim to hate cheaters, but the truth is, we hate the women who refuse to leave them even more.

The double standard that blames women for forgiving a cheater

“Historically, women were often locked into marriages regardless of their well-being,” says Idit Sharoni, LMFT, a couples therapist who leads an infidelity recovery program called It’s Okay to Stay. “Over time, they fought for and won the right to leave unhappy marriages and normalise divorce.” That progress has been so powerful that now, “when a woman chooses to stay, she can be judged just as harshly for not leaving.”

Layered onto that is a cultural narrative that normalises men’s infidelity. “The stereotype is that women don’t need a lot of sex and men do,” says Lauren LaRusso, LPC, LMHC, author of Beyond Infidelity: How to Turn the End of Your Relationship into the Beginning of Your Life. This belief feeds into the perception that unfaithfulness, for men, is inevitable—an expression of biology and instinct, rather than a betrayal—which shifts the burden of judgment onto women. “It becomes deep-seated in our subconscious schemas about the way men and women are socialised, raised and wired,” LaRusso says. “Of course, they’re going to go out and have their needs met, which means only a weak woman would stay and stand for that.”

Case in point: Look at how the public treated Khloé Kardashian after giving Tristan Thompson multiple chances following his cheating scandals. He’s the one who repeatedly wronged and humiliated her, yet it’s Kardashian who has been relentlessly mocked and memed. Even Hillary Clinton’s decision to remain married to Bill was cast less as a reflection of a painful, complex circumstance and more as “evidence” of moral weakness, low intelligence and poor self-esteem. Time and time again, society doesn’t just downplay men’s bad behaviour—it ridicules the women for enduring it.

Why staying after infidelity is more complicated than you think

“We’re quick to judge life decisions through a simple ‘good versus bad’ lens,” Sharoni says. And choosing to be with someone who’s been unfaithful doesn’t fit that script—nor does it leave much room for sympathy.

“It’s a copyright nightmare and it’s disrespectful to artists”, says entertainment, media and tech legal advocate Sandhya Surendran. At Big Tech’s insistence, any material that is publicly available—whether it is protected by copyright or not—is fair game and can be used as training data for AI platforms to learn, under the guise of “fair use”. It is murkier in this regard because the resulting output is not “transformative,” although it is monetised without compensating the original composer or songwriter. Particularly problematic in an Indian context, where copyright and intellectual property are woefully ignored and rarely enforced. We are a land of remixes and remakes, mainly because composers do not own the rights to their music; production companies do.

Big Tech has plenty to gain from this, potentially the liquidation of certain human-driven departments since AI, requiring neither sleep nor sustenance, is the perfect inanimate workhorse. Meanwhile, it’s churn, churn, churn as some tech-bro feels the need to relive his college days without the nuisance of hiring an actual artist with a mouth to feed.

An ideal situation would have artificial intelligence manage the banalities within artistic expression. Manojna Yeluri of Artistik License adds, “We can safely lean on AI to assist with a lot of the mundane and administrative workload, especially if we’re indie or smaller creative projects.” Automate payments, generate invoices, help construct a stageplot, spit out suggestions for treating a recording space, navigate contracts, file taxes… artists are detracted from their main mission with these side quests and could use automation to eliminate them.

Doom and gloom aside, there is a much more hopeful counternarrative: the next step forward. The presence of such AI slop will only elevate art that is human-made. With AI art being based on what already is, making art that is unpredictable and counterintuitive is the next challenge that artists are being invited to embrace. There’s no better time to get really weird with it.

“Everybody’s going to find out that art and music are about the connection between human beings, not about the art itself. Welcome to the dawn of authenticity. Just hang tight,” reassures Josh Fernandez, frontman of our band The F16s. A real piece of work, but he’s real and that’s what matters.

Also read:

Why are Indian musicians at the top of everyone’s playlists? Actually, it’s about time they were

Gayathri Krishnan’s groovy classical-meets-R&B music will make you turn the volume up

French-Sri Lankan musician Nilusi’s butter-smooth voice will keep you up at night

Cosmic tip: Untrap yourself to welcome the sun.

Your heart wants to shine, your soul knows what to do, and Gemini, you have shown tremendous resilience in the past—stood your ground and made no excuses to filter what must or mustn’t enter your life and your energy field aka sacred space. You have made wise choices, and this has also been supportive of you being able to be in a place where you can consciously select where you wish to be headed. Be it within your relationships, your work, purpose or anything else—step up and shine, and when you feel called to recoil into the safety net of your cocoon.

Cosmic tip: Your heart is leading you the right way.

From indecision to deciding with a blazing fire in your belly—whoa, Cancer, you’ve got something up your sleeve. Let the drumroll in your heart take the lead. Let your ideas take flight and choose to walk your path your way—rediscovering yourself, your life, and your very purpose and goals. This time ahead could be an exciting time of getting to know not only yourself but also your dreams and renewed plans, if only you choose to keep listening to that voice within.

Cosmic tip: Let the cosmos help you decide what must stay afloat and what must go adrift.

Leo, You may have been deeply hurt in the past; however, Leo, has that episode or learning not made you more resilient and faith-holding in the Universe’s ability to be fair and helpful? You think you manifested it all through sheer hard work; however, my friend, hard work without cosmic support is mere work that could or could not reap results. This is your time to call in for cosmic support once more—to rise above it all and reclaim your piece of the pie or better still, show up with clarity, own your self worth, walk away from drama and let the Universe bake you your own special gateaux.

Cosmic tip: Walk away or step back before you burn out.

You can see clearly now, can you not, Virgo? The fog has lifted, your prayers are being answered and you are back once again in the game where you are thinking, acting, planning and executing like never before. Yes, things may have felt uniquely challenging in the past; however, you know you are not trapped anymore. You know what you need to gain momentum and the cosmos gives you just the nudge you need to propel you towards your destiny. Remember that while you ask for divine assistance, you must also be willing to walk on the roads that your intuition prompts you towards to reach your answers.