AI Essays and Hyper-Nostalgic Runways
AI Essays and Hyper-Nostalgic Runways
“incredibly blessed and grateful"
Paris Hilton closed Versace's hyper-nostalgic runway show; Lena Dunham’s new film Catherine Called Birdy is getting rave reviews; Jenna Ortega is bringing “Gen Z meets Poe antihero vibes” to the new Addams’s Family series; a dislike button is being globally rolled out on TikTok; and now I have a reason to watch the Super Bowl even if the Chief’s don’t make it (though they will, obviously).
SHEIN’S NEW RIVAL, EXPLAINED, bof
A new Chinese shopping app selling of-the-moment garments at rock bottom prices is shaking up the US fast fashion turf war. Temu, a sister company to the Chinese online marketplace Pinduoduo, that sells everything from distressed denim to AirPod cases, has ranked in the top 10 most-downloaded shopping apps in Apple’s app store less than a month after its US launch.
SHEIN HOSTED ‘ROCK THE RUNWAY’ DIGITAL FASHION SHOW WITH AVRIL, CHRISTIAN SIRIANO, wwd
This is long, but stick with me here: The fast-fashion company’s second annual digital show featured “special musical guests” including Avril Lavigne and an Australian singer named Ylona Garcia who told WWD she feels “incredibly blessed and grateful for the opportunity to not only perform at, but also to wear the latest Shein collection” (emphasis mine) during the show. Incredibly blessed, indeed. A Shein x Christian Siriano collaboration also debuted. (As an aside, Siriano, interestingly, was recently named the creative director of C. Wonder, a brand that splashily opened its first location in NYC in 2011, very quickly expanded to 11 locations, and then quietly went bankrupt and closed all stores by 2015. Anyway, the brand apparently lives on and is sold at Walmart and Nordstrom Rack.)
HOW GEN Z IS RESHAPING CHINA’S HALF-A-TRILLION WEDDING MARKET, jingdaily
Hannah Yang, who is based in Shenzhen, says that “ever since I was a teenager, I had an inexplicable longing: I must wear a Vera Wang wedding dress, Jimmy Choo’s crystal shoes, and hold my wedding ceremony in a castle.” This year, the dream came true for the 26-year-old, who under a sky of fireworks said “I do” to her other half. (This entire piece is fascinating and very much worth a read.)
HACKS AND ROASTS: INSIDE THE NEW SOCIAL MEDIA CURRENCY, voguebusiness
When it comes to TikTok, no brand is safe from being roasted.
Both Target and Walmart's collections for Pride Month went viral in June thanks to witty reviews on TikTok, with users posting videos and comments like, “Suddenly I’m very straight”. A set of Louis Vuitton chopsticks also went viral on TikTok as users roasted the cost of the item. “Rich people would buy a fart in a jam jar for $1,500 if it was in a Louis Vuitton store,” said one TikTok user.
SHE TRIED TO BLOCK EATING-DISORDER CONTENT ON TIKTOK. IT STILL POPS UP DAILY., wsj
“I still see posts related to eating disorders on my feed at least three times a day,” says the 15-year-old high-school sophomore from Bellingham, Wash., who’s been struggling with unhealthy eating habits since middle school.
One last thought:
