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It's the last day of my twenties.

I’m turning 30 tomorrow! I feel happy, grateful and fulfilled. I also feel more connected to my inner child than ever. In keeping with this theme (and because I can be sentimental), I’ll be waking up in the city in which I left my mother’s womb: Paris.

Welcome to Quality Sheet! In today’s newsletter:

• Why do trousers look like parachutes these days?

• How a monorail was almost installed along one of London’s busiest shopping streets

• What you’d need to spend to become King Charles III’s neighbour

• All you need to know about bitcoin’s upcoming “halving” event

And more! Let’s hop right in.

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Up my street, up my avenue: London and New York City could have looked very different had these abandoned development projects come to pass. Could you imagine a pyramid in Trafalgar Square? Or an airport hanging off the side of Manhattan? Atlas Obscura looks back at other futuristic plans for the cities that were never realised.

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Iris Apfel lived up to her name—she had an eye. The designer, style icon and businesswoman who died over the weekend at 102 was “the last of those 20th-century fashion exotics who presented themselves as installations,” the Guardian’s Veronica Horwell writes. Related: Vanity Fair looks back at her life in pictures.

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Jonah Weiner, writer and co-author of the Blackbird Spyplane newsletter, deftly wades through the style conundrum of our time: Why trousers have ballooned in size. During the pandemic, “the ‘right’ pants began to lurch away from the leg at scale. Jeans, a kind of Patient Zero for pants trends, showed symptoms of acute-onset elephantiasis,” he writes in the New York Times. I burst into laughter at least once per paragraph; it’s the best piece I’ve read so far this week.

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Zara knows how to spot an opportunity. For years, the high street giant has produced affordable dupes of coveted luxury designs. That strategy has helped propel its parent company, Inditex, to become the highest-earning fashion retailer in the world. Now, Zara is targeting fashion’s shrinking middle as luxury brands become pricier and fast fashion gets cheaper. It’s hoping to attract aspirational shoppers in between by elevating its prices and products, Bloomberg’s Andrea Felsted explains.

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“The United States of America, unlike most countries does not have an official language, despite English's prominence in culture and politics,” the Modern Met’s Madeleine Muzdakis writes. Here’s why.

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Club goin’ up…on a Sunday: The Cove in Nashville is a Christian pop-up nightclub swapping alcohol for soda—and chart hits for Christian music. “Christians get a rep for being corny. And we want to show that Christians can be normal, can be cool. And they can have fun,” co-founder Jordan Diggs tells the Associated Press.

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“People speak of girls finding their voices; but girls have their voices. Their outspokenness, their confidence, their clarity and their courage can be startling.” New York University Professor Carol Gilligan shares observations she’s made through her research of girls quieting themselves to maintain relationships, advance their education and avoid rocking the boat. As an antidote, Gilligan says: “To educate girls, it is necessary first to join their healthy resistance and strengthen their courage to not make what is a bad bargain: the bargain of silence that women make with patriarchy.” 

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Contrary to what we hear about Gen Z’s aversion to sex, “both Gen Z and Millennials in relationships are having more sex” now, according to eHarmony. Some of the reasons include people feeling more confident, less stressed and going to therapy, Dazed’s Serena Smith writes. Related: The Cut’s latest Sex Diaries is told by a woman who has sex again after 17 years.

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The value of bitcoin reached an all-time high on Tuesday. If demand stays the same, its price could rise further after the cryptocurrency’s halving event next month. Bitcoin halving takes place every four years and is designed to “maintain the asset's scarcity and, consequently, its value,” Forbes contributor Susie Violet Ward explains.

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How much does it cost to become King Charles III’s neighbour? A Grade II-listed terraced house next to Buckingham Palace is up for sale and the amenities inside the 14,000 sq ft. home don’t look bad at all.

Oh, and the answer is £45 million.

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Thank you for reading. Share to sweeten someone’s day—and have a lovely rest of your week!

Isabel :)

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