The style pages of the first Sunday of every new year are usually earmarked to discuss upcoming fashion trends. But this year, the blitz of the pandemic undid the game, promoting a broad shift in consumer aspirations and shopping habits, but also nudging designers and creators, with the canniest business instinct, to pivot on the side of personal well-being and reconfigure their priorities. And that is the positive opening story of 2021: to take happiness seriously.

So, what's for lunch today?

Sabyasachi Mukherjee
I've been waking up each day to my mother's query: 'So, what's for lunch today?' She is my greatest critic; she has never worn a Sabyasachi outfit. That changed when I started cooking lunch and dinner for my parents and work assistants during the lockdown. After all my achievements, I feel I have finally arrived for them! It's wonderful and makes me happy. Before the pandemic, I practically lived at my factory. I admit I couldn't do so much as boil an egg. I got interested in cooking last year, specially making my blend of gentle, earthy spice masalas from scratch on the sill batta. The magic lies in the spices. Now I am addicted. I extract comfort from making old, forgotten recipes, cooking on charcoal fire. I sit down in front of my laptop for a few hours in the morning and browse YouTube for new recipes. There's an entire online universe of Indian housewife gastronomists making the most incredible food.