MVP of the week — Featuring Heineken x Bodega

Welcome to HUNGER’s Most Valuable Player, the place to find the best things to buy, watch, do or listen to each week. Forget about the hype, we want to separate what’s hot, what’s not, and what needs to be on your radar…

Art + CultureBeautyFashion + Beauty

April 19, 2024

According to a recent survey by Heineken, 90% of Zillennials across the UK and US confess to doom scrolling while socialising with friends and family, checking their devices an average of seven times on a night out. Enter: “The Boring Phone”. Marking the first collaboration between legendary brewers Heineken and Boston-based streetwear company Bodega, “The Boring Phone” is for the young adults who want to disconnect from tech. The limited run of “dumb” phones is designed to give you the bare necessities needed for a night out – you can send and receive calls and text messages – without the frills that have you scrolling Instagram in the smoking area. “The Boring Phone” looks pretty good too: like something straight out of a Charli XCX video, it features the Bodega touch of transparent casing and holographic stickers. They were first launched just last night as part of Milan Design Week, and you can learn more about them here.

This week’s fashion fix comes in the form of Daily Paper’s SS24 Resort collection. Daily Paper is all about enmeshing creative trio Jefferson Osei, Abderrahmane Trabsini, and Hussein Suleiman’s African roots with contemporary streetwear designs. Their SS24 Resort line does just that, offering up a one-stop shop for festival season. Key players in the collection are soft crochets in playful tie-dye designs and ocean-esque gradients. There’s also Daily Paper’s signature monogram design, this time delivered as a denim short and shirt co-ord that’s just about the perfect thing to slip over a bikini when you descend to a beach-side bar. Daily Paper’s take on the summer wardrobe also includes sporty sets, eye-catching outerwear like the Yaro anorak, and future-facing, silver-hued accessories that look straight out of a sci-fi flick.

For something a bit different, deep dive into the life of India’s most revered Sikh Maharaja at a meticulously curated new exhibition at The Wallace Collection in Mayfair, London. Ranjit Singh: Sikh, Warrior, King explores the legacy of the man whose bravery earned him the ‘Lion of Punjab’ moniker, whose military expertise had the French and British likening him to Napoleon, and who, to many South Asians, is the last legitimate owner of the famous Koh-i-Noor diamond. The exhibition showcases everything from intricate paintings of the king and his court, his jewels and fabrics from that era, military paraphernalia including swords, armour and guns and his majestic Golden Throne. There are also exhibits referencing his wives and children and those that more generally depict his life in Lahore and Amritsar during his reign in the early 19th century.

Ranjit Singh: Sikh, Warrior, King runs until October 20th 2024

We know, we know. We just can’t stop waxing lyrical on Herbar, the pioneering skincare brand that’s all about embracing the brilliance of adaptogenics and fungi. Their latest offering, however, is one to get really excited about. In celebration of Earth day, they’re re-releasing their cult Gua-Shroom. That’s right, a gua-sha – the traditional Chinese medicine practice – in the shape of a mushroom. What makes the Gua-Shroom different this time around is Herbar’s use of materials. Wary that Tiger Eye and Calcite are becoming increasingly rare stones, their limited edition Gua-Shroom is made of Unakite, a stunning green stone that contains several other rocks within its matrix. The green is, according to Herbar, a “reminder of our connection to nature”, the pink “represents unconditional love”, and clear quartz promotes “clarity of thought and higher consciousness”. And if you haven’t used a gua-sha before (let alone a Gua-Shroom), get to know. It’s a sculpting and toning face massage tool that drains lymphatic fluid, releases tension and promotes relaxation. Basically, you’re about to look about 10% more like Bella Hadid, and you’ll have cute addition to your dressing table in the process. The Unakite Gua-Shroom will be released on Earth day, April 22nd.

Last but certainly not least, we’ve got a roundup of all the best bits dropping on Goodhood. First up, there’s the exclusive launch of Miami-based fragrance brand Binaurale. Thought up by partners in life and work Arielle Elfassy and Jack Roizental, Binaurale is all about creating a fragrance that blends a fresh new vision with old world expertise. To create their eye-catching olfactory sensations, the couple have teamed up with renowned perfumers Jérôme Epinette and Clément Marx, the guys behind fragrances at prestige names like Christian Dior and Byredo. Binaurale’s bold bottles hold fragrances that pay homage to everything from “the crunch of walking on fresh snow” (that ones named Supersolid) to “densely populated dancefloor” (Happy Hardcore). Goodhood have also partnered up with Gomi, a design studio in Brighton, to make an exclusive line of UK-made power banks. Each one is fully made from recycled plastics and uses power generated from 100% repurposed e-bike batteries. They’re the answer to all your festival season charging woes, with the added bonus that their production involves 50% fewer CO2 emissions than other power banks. Finally, there’s Goodhood’s 4/20 edit. As a little celebration of every stoner’s fave time of year, the iconic East London concept store has brought together the best things for the best smoking sesh. Think Seth Rogen’s coffee-table worthy Houseplant ashtrays (crafted in California), Bleu Nour‘s cannabis-infused perfume oil Canna Crush, and the Goods by Goodhood Bandana Print Grinder.