From the Group Chat: “Wicker,” Boy Throb, and “Sterling Point”

EDITOR’S NOTE

Happy Sunday. After three delightful weekends at home, I’m back on the road. One upside? Extra time for unapologetic scrolling. A few of my best finds…

• If your flower-arranging skills are also…nonexistent, good news: Martha Stewart shared a ridiculously clever centerpiece hack that lasts forever and costs way less. I’m 1,000% using it even when I don’t have company.

• The extremely dated bedroom furniture my mom has always sworn by is coming back from near extinction — and now that I’m 30-something, I finally get it. Mom, consider this my apology.

• Look, I was willing to be blissfully ignorant of the $45 cocktail. But the one summer food I thought was safe from inflation has gone “haute cuisine” bougie. We ride at dawn. 

• A classic flip-flop brand is getting into the heel game — and it’s genuinely more perplexing than anything I could’ve dreamed up (think: eye-patch energy). If I see it in the wild, I’m out. 

• Hailey Bieber is single-handedly making the case for the hair accessory that had elementary school me feeling so grown up. My inner 7-year-old is finally vindicated.

— Melissa Goldberg / Senior Editor / Washington, DC

💁‍♀️ Millennials: Gen Z Icon Kaia Gerber just stepped out in a look once deemed tragically cringe — and it’s safe to say our redemption arc has arrived.

👑 Brace yourself: The sweatpants every 2000s high school queen bee owned are having a renaissance. Adult money has never been so exciting. 

☀️ Turns out, it’s not too late to discover the sandals you’ve needed all summer. This unexpected style is suddenly everywhere — and we’ll admit, it’s chicer and comfier than we realized. 

🤍 Toss your plain white tanks to the side. Copenhagen Cool Girls have moved on to something prettier that’s just as easy, just as breezy, and somehow makes denim shorts look expensive. 

✨  Zoë Kravitz, Emma Stone, and Zendaya have all cosigned a piece of jewelry that feels plucked straight from the ’90s. No, not a toe ring.

Friends, you can’t make this up: A man made of wicker has turned the entire internet into a horny basket case. Yes, we’re talking about Fifty Shades of Pinocchio — sorry, Wicker. In what can only be described as a vaguely medieval HomeGoods fever dream, Olivia Colman plays a spinster fisherwoman who, fed up with being taunted for her singleness and stinkiness (occupational hazard), does the only rational thing: She asks the local basket maker (Peter Dinklage) to weave her the perfect husband. Cue: Accredited Hot Freak™ Alexander Skarsgård as her seemingly well-endowed wicker husband (the sound engineers responsible for this deserve a raise) and a profoundly satisfying union with lots of girl-on-basket boning. So much, in fact, the trailer alone had people blushing over their patio furniture and demanding to “see that wicker weiner in 4DX.”

Now, while at least one woman focused on the most earnest part of what sounds like a 30 Rock bit gone Rated R (for “rattan,” obviously), the rest of the internet had a field day with the “Wicker Ween.” Particularly once everyone learned the UK trailer included a peek at his…branch (this nonwicker husband’s reaction? Oscar material). Many pitched names for the inevitable sequel (Hollywood, your move), others discovered more to love while running errands (did she have to say “get them while supplies last”?), and some Mensa members ruined nursery rhymes forever. Even IKEA understood the assignment. Still, we had more than a few questions about the man who’s literally woven for her pleasure (Fiyero wishes). For starters, what in the CGI is this? There’s less than you might think, according to Skarsgård, who apparently always dreamed of having “nipples made out of wicker” (relatable). But also: What about splinters? (Naturally, the internet had a solution.) How did the bar for men become so low we’re all “romanticizing baskets”? Oh, and shout-out to The Cut for posing the question of the century. Something tells us we’ll get our answers come Wickerween (correction: October 30).

It’s official: The Boy Band Era is back. And you can thank Boy Throb for that. Ever since a video of their debut gig at a nursing home went viral, the four guys rose to fame for their parodies of pop hits (their take on Taylor Swift is something to behold), and, yes, for their matching pink velour tracksuits. The group has seemingly attended the Grammys, released a song with Kesha, and played a sold-out “Throbchella” in New York — all in a self-described quest to become the “world’s next biggest boy band.” The one problem? No one’s actually sure whether Boy Throb is real, a joke, or an elaborate Nathan Fielder bit. And, more importantly, up until now, they’ve been performing as a trio, with singer Darshan Magdum edited or Zooming in. That’s because Magdum is supposedly based in India and needs an O-1 visa to join his bandmates in LA. But on Monday, the guys got one step closer to making the Backstreet Boys wish they were never born: After months of trying to prove to immigration officials that his band is, in fact, real, Magdum’s “officially” coming to America, allowing the group to finally be “4gether.” Is it too soon to ask for a world tour?

They say three’s a trend, right? In that case, women in music have a new favorite accessory. On Tuesday, Rolling Stone published a Gracie Abrams cover story with a photo of her posing with a — shall we say — head-turning companion. And that’s just the beginning. Exhibit B: The dove that left Sabrina Carpenter an unexpected souvenir at the 2026 Grammys (perhaps she should’ve sung “Feather” instead). And Exhibit C: The plus-one only Cardi B could conceive of taking to Paris Fashion Week. Björk would be so proud.

Having insurance doesn’t always mean your healthcare is affordable. Thankfully GoodRx Companion exists. It’s a $14.99/month membership (or $9.99/month if you pay annually) built to close the gap between what your insurance covers and the care you need. It unlocks 200+ common generic medications for free (yes, free) — plus hundreds more for less than $10 — at nearly any pharmacy. Need care fast? Book a $19 telehealth visit for stuff like UTIs or the flu. When it’s time for a dental cleaning, eye exam, or lab work, Companion’s got savings there, too. So, yeah, we’re signing up.*†

†GoodRx is NOT insurance. Terms apply.

If you also blew through Off Campus embarrassingly fast, your next Prime Video YA obsession is here. Sterling Point follows Annie (Ella Rubin), an overachieving, type A teen who lives with her twin brother, Connor (Keen Ruffalo), and their adoptive widower father (Jay Duplass) in a dreamy Brooklyn townhouse. When Annie gets rejected from an elite business school summer program, the months leading up to her senior year of high school — and, let’s be real, her five-year plan — are suddenly empty. Until she finds out her distant grandfather has died, leaving her and Connor to inherit a ramshackle cottage and a small island in Canada. So off she goes to visit, where she makes new friends, gets caught up in a love triangle (because, of course), and uncovers secrets about her late mother. Among them: a girl on the island who looks strikingly like her mom — and might just be her long-lost sister. Now, if you’re thinking this all sounds a little The Parent Trap goes to the cottage in Heated Rivalry, you’re absolutely right, and we’ll absolutely be watching.

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