March 01, 2025

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Bankr by the upted haul

Hi everyone, so today I've got a pretty little thing haul. It has been so long since I've done one, so we're back! Lucy Ledgeway buzzes, her infectious high spirits ricocheting off the beige and silver tones of her immaculate, empty bedroomActually, it's not completely empty. Poodle cross Coco (also beige) is sprawled on the bed, chameleoning into the duvet. Oh yes, and me. I'm here on Zoom, watching Lucy tear open the packaging of her latest delivery for her 3,16,000 TikTok followers and 97,000 YouTube subscribers. Today's batch contains 10 items, and I watch as she holds up hot pants, corset tops, halter dresses, and jumpsuits to her phone camera, each getting its moment in the spotlight as she describes them in her warm Lancashire twang. "I'm obsessed with this!" "I just love these!" "Definitely wearing that to Marbs next year!" Lucy whips through with breakneck efficiency, clothes accumulating around her, stumbling just once--"Oh my god, how do I say it? Band-o?" she turns to me, I nod, trying not to break her flow and she launches right back in, beaming --"Yeah, I feel like Sabrina Carpenter has us all obsessed with these bandeau dresses." Lucy's "haul" videos sit alongside countless others across social media, with users going feral over Shein, Asos, Zara, and Primark deliveries. They're compelling to watch, as content creators effervesce with the thrill of tearing open parcels and narrating the tactility and fit of what's within. But, as the packages pile up in the influencers' bedrooms, how do these seemingly innocent videos impact our psyche? Are they just feeding an endless cycle of want, want, want? Today, UK consumers are collectively spending more than £3 billion (around `337 crores) a month on impulse purchases. What happens when our "little treats" become something much bigger and harder to control? Will we ever be truly satisfied? CONSTANT EXPOSURE Bleary-eyed one Sunday morning, I swipe up on the targeted ad, you know, just to see. Under two minutes later, I've double-clicked on Apple Pay and a pair of earrings that I absolutely do not need is on its way to me. I haven't even brushed my teeth yet. Did that really just happen? Where once we may have only been exposed to such advertising during the hour we sat down to watch TV in the evening, and then had to travel to a brickand-mortar shop to part with physical cash, now it can feel like we're never given a break from temptation. We're bombarded at virtually all times of the day via the integration of shopping into our phones while content creators devise seamless ways to weave products into the carefully constructed narratives of their aspirational livesThis, combined with "one-click buy" technology, enables us to purchase effortlessly, often before our brain's rational side can stop us. When we spend money swiftly and indirectly through our devices, it doesn't really feel like spending at all and, in the case of Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) services, sometimes (in the moment) it isn't. We don't see the funds coming out of our account then and there, so we can kick the can down the road for future us to contend with. There's also the flash sales and pop-ups telling us items are about to sell out, not to mention a new gamified version of shopping, in which gambling-style spinning wheels offering coupons and rewards flash up. But, if we enjoy our purchases and eventually pay them off, is it such a problem if we indulge just a little? After all, in doing so, we're contributing to the economy...right? This "f*ck it, it's funny" attitude towards spending is one I see play out in my own behaviour (last week, I regaled friends with how I saved a fortune at a sample sale) and across social media. Last year's "Girl Math" trend saw posts like, "I bought this purse for £38 (around `4,190), which means it was £30 (around `3,310)-- round down, not up." And other users refer to "blackout shopping"--the intention to shop for one thing but leaving with far more. Associated videos have titles like, "When you blackout while shopping and your total is £300 (around `33,140)." But, with 88 per cent of online shoppers reporting feeling financial strain, 41 per cent of new customers to debt solutions service MoneyPlus grappling with BNPL debt, and data from March last year by personal finance company Credit Karma finding that Gen Z's credit card debt is growing at a faster pace than any other generation, are we actually joking about something that's far more sinister? WHAT YOU SEE IS NOT WHAT YOU GET They were the boots that broke the camel's back. More specifically, the Chloé Susanna boots. You remember the ones: Western- style ankle boots with three brushed brass buckles, a Cuban heel, and a dusting of tiny gold rock studs. They were the

MRUNAL THAKUR

There's something about Mrunal Thakur. A pulchritudinous girl who disarms you with her warmth and smile to snub delulu where it hurts the most--in being as real as it getsTMrunal feels like the MVP who is almost always fully present in the moment. She made this quality pretty evident while on set for the cover shoot, picking up on small nuances and noticing everything and everyone, from the art lead to the spot boyStrong-willed, after almost 13 years in the entertainment business, 32-year-old Mrunal's body of work and filmography is reflective of a range of characters and story arcs that are diverse and divergent, all at once. She not only managed to gracefully transition from making her television debut in 2012 to regional cinema in 2014, but consciously chose to make her Hindi film debut in 2018 with Love Sonia (inspired by the perilous world of sex trafficking), directed by Tabrez Noorani alongside Freida Pinto, Manoj Bajpayee, Adil Hussain, Anupam Kher, RajKummar Rao, Richa Chadha, Demi Moore, and othersHow has she managed to be friends with that often-elusive thing called `mindfulness'? When we connect over our interview call, I dive straight in-- is the attention to detail and being privy to how everyone around her is feeling what makes her thrive and come alive? "Yes, because most of the people keep worrying about tomorrow or keep living in their past, and you know keep bringing up those, `mere saath yeh hua tha-voh hua tha' [this happened to me, that happened to me] and don't live in the moment. Also, it's important to be able to talk it out because most of the people don't find it comfortable expressing themselves or even asking for help. We are allowed to feel a lot of other emotions besides being happy...and it's absolutely okay to feel a certain way. Even in school when we were growing up, we were only taught to pass and succeed. But no one taught us how to deal with the grief...that moment when you lose your family or friends. No one teaches you how to deal with failure either. That's why I love being around children...they do what they have to, and I feel like there is so much learning in that because they don't have any inhibitions. Also one of the many reasons why living in the moment is extremely important for me." It would take years of therapy, journaling, or a deep sense of self-awareness to have this level of clarity--I am amazed and in awe, as Mrunal explains, "I feel this self-awareness comes from the people we're surrounded by, and also the industry that we work in. On a movie set, we have a big set-up, crew, and actors, so I don't restrict myself from sharing my experience or talking to everyone. I'm the most chatty person ever, because I'm very curious to know what's happening in someone's life. I remember when I used to travel to college in the local train, I would end up chatting with strangers and they would just share their problems