Wimbledon 2026: the 19-year record — all 8 women's quarterfinals, seeds only

After 17 years in television, Melania Medeleanu chose an unexpected path: leaving TV for social projects she openly admits never paid her. Today she's the founder of Zi de Bine Association and coordinates KIT — Keep In Touch, a peer-to-peer emotional health program now reaching 110 students across 6 Bucharest high schools. Plus "Plantați în amintire" — nearly 700 trees planted in memory of loved ones, each with a QR code linking to their story. Très chic is doing good without expecting anything back.

The Bucharest Opera Festival, now in its 5th edition, runs June 11–22 at the National Opera, bringing together opera, ballet, musical theatre, and traditional Japanese performance, with over 1,500 artists from lyric institutions nationwide. Meanwhile, Art Safari stays open in its new Amzei-area space, Thursday-Sunday, 11am-8pm — a quieter weekend alternative. Très chic is making time for an opera night at least once a season, even if you're not an expert.

By June 2026, Romania can select 700,000 hectares of its most valuable forests and landscapes for strict protection — a step that would place Romania among Europe's pioneers, if the 10% strictly-protected-zones threshold is reached. The decision hinges on political will and public pressure, not just resources. Très chic is caring about a real stake, not just an "eco" label on packaging.

Publishing house Nemira celebrates 35 years and brings to Romania, for the first time, through its partnership with Shueisha — Japan's largest manga publisher — the cult series "Death Note" and "Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba". For more literary readers, a collection of 7 Romanian authors, including Theodor Paleologu, Bogdan-Alexandru Stănescu and Augustin Cupșa, explores meaning, memory and collective identity. Très chic is keeping a hard-hitting novel and a manga volume on your nightstand at the same time.

Royal Ascot, happening right now this week in the UK, began with Queen Anne, who in 1711 found a stretch of land near Windsor "ideal for horses to gallop at full stretch" — and founded the racecourse. The dress code only arrived in 1807, courtesy of dandy Beau Brummell, but rules for women stayed unwritten for a long time. Today, extravagant hats and fascinators are the main attraction alongside the racing itself — a strict code requires knee-length dresses and hats worn on the head. Très chic is knowing the story behind the tradition before you copy it for the next wedding.

Few know her name, but almost everyone has seen her creations: Ana Istodorescu, Romanian milliner and creator of the NITA SAO brand, designs the hats worn by Her Majesty Margareta and other women of Romania's Royal House — and London has already confirmed her status. Across the Channel, Irish-born Philip Treacy remains the milliner of kings and queens: he made all 36 hats for William and Kate's wedding, including Princess Beatrice's famous "pretzel," and has dressed heads from Lady Gaga to Queen Elizabeth II. Très chic is knowing that somewhere between the Carpathians and Buckingham Palace, the hat remains a language of rank — and of creative courage.

Unlike Britain, where the hat is part of social etiquette, in Romania the accessory remains more of a festival or special-occasion piece — but the local designer scene is steadily growing. Names like Kristina Dragomir (whose Bucharest showroom is itself an art installation), Maria Pălăria (creating hats for Romanian celebrities since age 26), or quieter ateliers like Palaria Dădârlat are each, in their own way, building a Romanian hat culture — worn with attitude, not just for weddings or christenings. Très chic is discovering a local designer before the rest of the world does.

In 1984, actress Jane Birkin was on a Paris–London flight, seated next to Hermès president Jean-Louis Dumas. A mother of three, she told him she couldn't find a bag spacious enough — she used a wicker basket instead, which spilled accidentally into Dumas's lap. "He told me: draw it for me," Birkin recalled. So, on one of the airplane's sick bags, she sketched the design that would carry her name. Hermès delivered the bag in 1985. The original prototype, worn for years without ceremony by Birkin, sold in 2025 at Sotheby's Paris for €8.6 million, after a 10-minute bidding war between 9 collectors — the highest price ever paid for a handbag. Très chic is knowing that the most coveted object in luxury was born from a practical problem, not a marketing strategy.

Hubert de Givenchy was the last great couturier to share the fashion stage with Dior, Balenciaga and Schiaparelli — but his relationship with actress Audrey Hepburn went beyond France and fashion itself. "People say I'm a classic. I don't try to be classic, but I wish to be simple and elegant," Givenchy once said. His clothes, a perfect blend of tradition and innovation, promised women an everyday elegance, free of constraint. Givenchy was a designer for women — but above all, he was a designer of muses, and Hepburn remained the most famous of them, the model of a friendship that came to define 20th-century elegance.

In 1966, trousers on women were still met with suspicion — considered "obscene" by many institutions. Against that backdrop, Yves Saint Laurent presented "Le Smoking," the first women's tuxedo ever designed by a man, in his fall-winter haute couture collection. The silhouette was so controversial that many Parisian hotels and restaurants refused entry to women wearing it in public. Saint Laurent borrowed codes from the male wardrobe to give women real freedom of movement — not just an illusion of elegance. Over time, the piece became a symbol of emancipation: writer Marguerite Duras described "Saint Laurent women" as coming from harems, castles and suburbs alike, walking through metros and stock exchanges with the same confidence. Très chic is wearing a suit not to imitate a man, but to define your own power.