Insider Today: My home-renovation nightmare
- This post originally appeared in the Insider Today newsletter.
Welcome back to our Saturday edition! Foodies rejoice: Disney World now has a Michelin-starred restaurant. So after your kids drag you to Epcot, you can drag them to Victoria & Alberts, where a prix-fixe menu starts at a whopping $300.
On the agenda:
Welcome to Scottsdale, Arizona — a millionaire's playground.
Young people have a new status symbol: Botox.
Grabbing sushi this weekend? Look out for these red flags.
They wanted a nice summer cottage. They got a $500,000 reno nightmare.
But first: Get in, we're going to the Met Gala.
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This week's dispatch
The Oscars of the East
The Met Gala returns on Monday — the busiest (and bougiest) Monday in May — and fashion lovers are in for a treat.
This year's theme, "The Garden of Time," is a nod to an exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute, "Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion." But it's not exactly a Disney fairytale.
Instead, celebrities, fashion's elite, and Vogue editor-in-chief and gala chairwoman, Anna Wintour, are expected to wear delicate, historical styles, dug up from the fashion archives.
The gala, an annual fundraiser for the Costume Institute that has been happening since 1946, is being hosted this year by "Challengers" star Zendaya, Bad Bunny, Jennifer Lopez, and Chris Hemsworth.
Those aren't the only celebs you can expect to walk the red-carpeted steps. TikTok is an official sponsor, so CEO Shou Zi Chew is expected to attend.
As a journalist, I'm also thinking of the dozens of scribes who will be stationed in the basement, covering the $75,000-a-ticket event. Vogue staffers call it the War Room, and one staffer said of covering it live, "You don't see the light of day until the next morning."
For fans who want to follow along while getting some sunlight, Business Insider will be live-blogging the stand-out moments from the event so you won't miss a thing.
48 hours in Scottsdale
Scottsdale, Arizona is one of the country's fastest-growing cities when it comes to wealth: It's seen a 102% increase in millionaire residents over the past decade.
In a city where one in 17 residents is a millionaire, it's no wonder it feels like a luxury oasis in the middle of the desert. On a trip to Scottsdale, a reporter found booming businesses, breathtaking mansions, and all the trappings of a millionaire hotspot.
Why millionaires are flocking to Scottsdale.
Also read:
Gen Z's new status symbol
Remote work has affected how we present ourselves online. People may not see your bag or your shoes, but everyone sees your face.
Social media, compounded by the rise of WFH, has resulted in more and more young people splurging on "tweakments" like Botox and filler to achieve an Instagram-perfect face.
Why everyone's suddenly getting Botox.
Sushi restaurant red flags
Masaharu Morimoto, a chef with restaurants around the world, knows what constitutes a high-end sushi restaurant. He also knows what can make or break an experience.
Morimoto told BI your rice should never be cold — and that if it's chilly and hard, that could be a bad sign of everything else that's to come.
Read all of Morimoto's sushi tips.
Home-renovation regrets
When the author and her husband bought their Michigan cottage in 2020, they imagined moving in by 2021. All it would take, they thought, was a yearlong renovation they estimated would cost about $140,000.
But the couple still hasn't moved into their home. By late 2021, it became clear their contractor wouldn't finish by their agreed-upon deadline. A few years and $500,000 later, they're still not out of their "renovation purgatory."
Where the renovation went wrong.
What we're watching this weekend
"The Idea of You": Anne Hathaway's sizzling new romantic dramedy, about a 40-year-old single mom who has a steamy affair with a 24-year-old boybander, streams exclusively on Prime Video.
"Zillow Gone Wild": The beloved Instagram account gets the reality TV treatment with a new HGTV show celebrating America's most outrageous homes.
"Unfrosted": Jerry Seinfeld stars in and directs a new Netflix comedy loosely based on the true story of how Pop-Tarts were created.
More of this week's top reads:
The Hollywood box office is slumping. "The Fall Guy" could change that.
I made Ina Garten's weeknight pasta and had dinner ready in 30 minutes.
See inside a salvaged Boeing 727 that's been converted into a lavish Airbnb.
A Gen Zer who spent seven hours a week on TikTok describes deleting the addictive app.
What it's like to stay at an all-inclusive, private-island resort — as the only guest.
An Ivy League student makes $105,000 selling restaurant reservations.
Check out an Airbnb dome near Joshua Tree National Park.
Move over Coachella, there's a new festival wooing influencers.
The six-time Fittest Woman on Earth uses rucking to train.
Blade is launching a luxury bus service between NYC and the Hamptons.
The Insider Today team: Joi-Marie McKenzie, editor-in-chief, in New York. Jordan Parker Erb, editor, in New York. Dan DeFrancesco, deputy editor and anchor, in New York. Lisa Ryan, executive editor, in New York.