Lunch Box Nonsense, Brotox Men

They're small, super chic, come with flashy branding and are designed for everyday use. Forget a new It bag - the status accessory luxury brands want to sell you right now is a lunch box.

Prada's costs £1380 and can be purchased with a £320 individual set of branded stainless-steel cutlery.

Balenciaga's is made of shiny chrome-finished stainless steel, resembles a tool box and is £615.

At the French label Saint Laurent, a £1350 "take-away box" made of vegetable leather is for sale.

A Capital Joke
unknown artist
Photo Credit: Preston Park Museum [CC BY-NC-ND]

In 2024 the power packed lunch is trending. Those who take their midday meal to work used to be judged solely on the scent of their lunch box's contents. Now when they dine al desko it matters where the receptacle comes from too. If yours is plastic, came in a multi-pack and is more identifiable in the communal fridge by its stubborn stains than upmarket logo, it might not pass muster.

Some are willing to pay above the odds to add a bit of polish to their salad. The black. soft-sided lunch box made of recycled nylon by Anya Hindmarsh is £325. Selfridges stocks a £50 "Food a Porter" tiered lunch box from the high end Italian homeware label Alessi.

"Lunch boxes are the new status accessory," Dan Black, founder of the stylish food-storage company Black+Blum, told me...

(Hannah Rogers, The Times, 2024) 

Upmarket logo, super chic, flashy branding, the trending power- packed lunch. What kind of nonsense is this? Are there really mentally balanced people who would waste huge amounts of  money on a lunch box? Of course there are! Don't we all need the new status accessory?

Brotox Men

Rugged good looks are so last century. For modern men scars, blemishes and laughter lines are decidedly out of fashion and they are turning to "tweakments" and "Brotox" to keep their faces looking fresh.

The British College of Aesthetic Medicine said that the number of men opting for injections to boost their appeal has increased by 70 per cent in the past two years, with male customers now taking up nearly one in five  appointments...

Demand is growing despite some hefty price tags. Facial fillers start from £250 but can cost three times as much in London. Botox usually costs £200 to £300 a treatment, and it wears off after four months. Fillers tend to last two years.

The Old Man
Francis Reily (1858-1928)
Photo Credit: Atkinson  Art Gallery Collection [CC  BY-NC-SA]

 

Laser treatments are becoming more popular, inspired by celebrities such as Cilian Murphy...

Edward Robinson of De Ed Robinson Aesthetics in Altringham, said several factors were driving the trend, such as a growing social acceptance of the practice and the ubiquity of video conferencing apps "where people end up staring at their own face for hours on end a day." Celebrities are also a big influence...

Sales of male grooming products are also booming, including nail care...

(Andrew Ellson, The Times, 2024)

If some people are going to spend huge amounts of money on lunch boxes then they're definitely going to spend even more on trying to keep their faces looking fresh!