The Culture List: Every Buzzy Thing to Do, See, and Visit This Winter

In the Culture List column, we weigh in on culture through the lens of fashion—including what to know in events, travel, restaurants, films, art, music, and more.

The holiday season is nearly here, and with it comes some of the most anticipated cultural moments of the whole year. Straker's opened in New York this fall and has quickly become the hottest (and hardest-to-get) table in the city. It also served as the backdrop for Net-a-Porter's Incredible Women party during New York Fashion Week. Visitors to New York will also want to make time for several of the latest art exhibits currently on view, including the Brâncuși showcase at MoMA and an exhibit of Yoshitomo Nara's paintings at David Zwirner gallery.

November and December are always filled with the most exciting film and TV releases, and this year, the seasonal calendar is a stacked one with Dune: Part Three and Pride and Prejudice among the many titles that will influence what everyone is watching and talking about in the coming months. Meanwhile, several openings from the French Alps to NYC's Meatpacking District have the style set eager to book flights and secure reservations at the buzziest new hotels. In Europe, the newest Four Seasons property, Danieli, is reviving a sense of old-school opulence in Venice, and Saint Roch is already set to be the most sought-after new address in Courchevel. Read on for Who What Wear's top cultural highlights for winter 2026, including everything to see, do, and visit.

Dune: Part Three arrives on December 18, and fans of the Denis Villeneuve–directed sci-fi series will want to make a point of heading to the theaters to catch the third and final installment. The story, which picks up roughly 17 years after the events of the second movie, features the star-studded cast including Zendaya, Timothée Chalamet, Florence Pugh, and Anya Taylor-Joy, which means that we can anticipate another suite of epic press-tour looks.

Fans of The Hunger Games are in for a treat with the release of The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping, a prequel that's set 24 years in advance of the original storyline. Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, and Woody Harrelson are all set to reprise their roles alongside a cast of new faces that includes Who What Wear cover star Whitney Peak.

Jane Austen's most beloved romance story is getting a modern refresh this season with the arrival of a six-part Netflix series written by acclaimed author Dolly Alderton and starring Emma Corrin as Elizabeth Bennet and Jack Lowden as Mr. Darcy. Olivia Colman, Rufus Sewell, and Louis Partridge round out an enviable ensemble, so expect plenty of Regency-coded press-tour looks in the lead-up to the December 3 release.

In the wake of Nosferatu's success comes a follow-up horror film by the same director, Robert Eggers. Timed to a Christmas Day release, it's a werewolf tale set in 13th-century England and starring Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Lily-Rose Depp, and Willem Dafoe.

The season’s neon-lit night race tears down the Strip past the Bellagio fountains, and with F1 locking in Vegas through 2037, the motorsport event is now a permanent fixture on the Q4 cultural calendar. Between the A-list paddock looks and the Saturday-night spectacle, it’s as much a fashion moment as it is a sports one.

Miami Art Week is the style set’s favorite December detour, with hundreds of galleries filling the Miami Beach Convention Center and a citywide circuit of satellite fairs, dinners, and parties around it. The move is to do some daytime gallery hopping and transition into a late-night party crawl.

The Aspen World Snow Polo Championship descends once again on the St. Regis Aspen, marking the official start to the winter season in the Alps. It brings together elite horsemanship with elite après-ski style codes and a likely celebrity sighting or two—last year, Prince Harry played on the runner-up team.

Gracie Abrams’s third album, Daughter From Hell, has arrived, and it trades some of her hushed intimacy for a darker edge. Led by singles like “Hit the Wall,” it’s the perfect moody cold-weather listen.

Brancusi: The Artist and His Studio takes over the MoMA's entire top floor, re-creating the sculptor’s Paris studio with rarely loaned works and materials from the Centre Pompidou. It also includes photographs Brâncuși took himself, so you see how he lived with his work as well as the sculptures.

Nara’s first show with the gallery and his first major New York solo in nearly a decade fills two Chelsea spaces. The 20th Street gallery holds new atmospheric paintings, large drawings, and early works, while 19th Street has monumental white bronze heads. Walk both for the full arc from 1980s sketches to today.

Dolly: A True Original Musical brings the country icon’s life story to Broadway, with her hits plus new songs she wrote for the show. Bartlett Sher, who directed the sold-out Nashville premiere, stages it at the St. James Theatre, and opening night lands on the late singer's would-be 81st birthday.

The resale giant’s first book is a guide to figuring out your own taste, with essays, prompts, and exercises (including one that pits your “good voice” against your inner critic) in place of the usual list of things to buy. It’s written by The RealReal’s Kristen Naiman, Cait Munro, and Sarah Leon, with contributions from Kim Hastreiter, Rachel Tashjian, and Janicza Bravo. It makes a smart gift for the person who already owns everything.

Venice’s storied Hotel Danieli, which has been hosting guests since 1822 (Dickens and Wagner among them), has reopened as the Four Seasons’ first property in the city. Pierre-Yves Rochon led the restoration, which brings lagoon-view rooms and the Terrazza Danieli for aperitivo. A spa is set to follow later this year, and more rooms arrive in 2027.

Maisons Pariente, the group behind Crillon le Brave, reopens this Courchevel 1850 institution on December 18, with just 37 rooms and suites right on the Bellecôte piste. Friedmann & Versace’s design riffs on Slavic dachas and Persian palaces, and there’s a Tata Harper spa and a Prunier restaurant serving caviar and seafood. Expect it to be the most sought-after address in the Alps this season.

A 1931 Presbyterian church in Silver Lake has been reborn as a 25-room boutique hotel from Casetta, keeping its stained glass, soaring sanctuary, and hand-painted murals. Southern French–meets–Deep South restaurant Sous Sous now occupies the nave. There’s a rooftop deck and a rotating art program curated with Rhett Baruch Gallery. Consider it the Eastside L.A. stay the neighborhood has been missing.

Thomas Straker’s beloved Notting Hill restaurant crossed the Atlantic in October, taking over Keith McNally’s former Lucky Strike space on Grand Street in SoHo. It’s his first restaurant outside the UK, with a wood-fired menu, a Post Company redesign, and art by Keith Haring and Damien Hirst. Weeks in, it’s already the hardest table to get in the city.

"Led by chef Sertaç Dirik, son of Mangal II founder and a familiar name on London’s dining scene, this contemporary Turkish restaurant is quickly becoming one of the capital’s most sought-after tables," says Poppy Nash, Who What Wear UK's associate business director. "Add his partnership with David Carter, the restaurateur behind Manteca, Agora, and Oma, and expectations were always going to be high. Thankfully, Kid delivers. Bringing a modern touch to traditional Turkish cooking, the menu is centered on bold flavors, live-fire cooking, and generous sharing plates. Think beautifully charred meats, fresh pide, and vibrant dips. Factor in the intimate interiors and naturally buzzy atmosphere, and you have all the makings of a restaurant worth booking ahead for."

The H.wood Group finally brings Delilah to New York with this 10,000-square-foot Art Deco supper club in the Meatpacking District, which opened November 3. Think live music, dancers, a glamorous bar, and a modern American bistro menu from culinary director Michael Teich. It’s the place to put on something sequined and stay for the whole evening.