Intimate hedonism: celebrations during the pandemic era

As we usher in 2022, much of the world is in a festive mood having celebrated Christmas, Pancha Ganapati and New Year’s Day, or awaiting the arrival of the Lunar New Year.

However, this does not necessarily mean bigger parties, as festivities are again in question with the arrival of new Covid-19 variants. Although, consumer forecasts suggest desire for indulgence and celebration is likely to result in an uptick in spending on luxurious foods, glam but comfortable fashion and gifts that enhance wellbeing.

Tune in to find out how things might be shaping up for events over this festive period. Join our experts from Insight, Food & Drink and Fashion in this episode of our Create Tomorrow podcast.

An intimate affair

“It’s more intimate hedonism, like having six of your closest friends over for champagne and caviar. We’re still going to see people going over the top by buying some nice wine and really indulging when it comes to food, but it’ll be a smaller gathering of people.” 
– Allyson Rees, Senior Strategist, WGSN Insight

Fusing culinary traditions

“From a culinary perspective, people are wanting something new. So they are turning to global cuisines that are less familiar and they’re incorporating them into their own traditions, which has been really interesting from a food perspective because it’s just great to see all these new flavours and ingredients used in really unexpected ways.”
– Claire Lancaster, Strategist, WGSN Food & Drink

Delivering understated sexiness

“We've been talking about the subversively sexy trend. It’s a lot of knit sets – think a high-waisted sweater knit trouser that has a flare at the bottom, knocked back with a knitted bralette and a little shrunken cardigan over the top. There’s a lot of cutouts and strapping with a bit of a bondage element, which is where subversively sexy comes in.”
– Sidney Morgan-Petro, Head of Retail & Buying, WGSN Fashion

To hear the full discussion tune in to Episode 40 of our Create Tomorrow podcast, Intimate Hedonism for the Holiday Season, on Anchor, Apple and Spotify.