Bama Rush and Normcore Boyfriends
Discover more from After School by Casey Lewis
Bama Rush and Normcore Boyfriends
Your daily digest of youth culture
Tomorrow for paid subscribers, I have a look at the state of back-to-school shopping and fall fashion amid the Delta variant. It’ll be fun! (The deep dive, not the Delta.) And as always, I’ll have a briefing on everything that happened this week in youth culture-adjacent trends, tech, retail, etc.
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The rise of the normcore boyfriend, Samsung teams up with Thom Browne on a fashion-y flip phone, Adidas is offloading Reebok, Kanye’s already making bank on Donda, and…
BIG RETAILERS ARE FINALLY TAKING RESALE SERIOUSLY
H&M is the latest to get into resale — which is good, I guess, but also a little curious: when it comes to fast fashion and speed-of-light trend cycles, who’s going to buy worn, seasons old H&M? bof // Related: Boohoo insists it’s not a “throwaway brand,” promises to invest 500 million pounds ($693 million) and create 5,000 jobs in the UK over the next five years. bbc
ARE YOU READY FOR THE TUBE-TOP RENAISSANCE?
Like all recent trends, “the return of the once-maligned strapless top can be attributed to a viral hashtag on TikTok.” The #tubetop tag currently has more than 52 million views on the app. r29 // Related: Cargo pants are going to be everywhere this fall. (Don't say I didn't warn you.) nylon
WHY IS TIKTOK FLOODED WITH POSTS FROM ONE UNIVERSITY’S SORORITY RUSH?
Bama Rush is suddenly taking over TikTok, and reporter Kelsey Weekman explains why that might be. (One theory: The videos are being bankrolled by this local boutique, which is pretty impressive if true.) itk
PRADA IS OFFICIALLY THE GO-TO DESIGNER LABEL FOR SUPER STYLISH MILLENNIAL AND GEN Z SHOPPERS
The luxury label has accomplished this by tapping into Y2K nostalgia while constantly innovating. glamouruk // Related: Glamour UK’s 24 Under 24 is a great who’s who in Gen Z.
THE UTAH YOUTH UPCYCLING FASHION FOR THE FUTURE
This is cool as hell. i-d // Also cool: Middle East Matters, run by an all-women team, is breaking taboos about everything in the region from reproductive health to ethnic collaboration. vice
TWO-THIRDS OF US YOUTHS' CALORIES COME FROM ULTRA-PROCESSED FOODS, STUDY FINDS
Bad for parents, nutritionists, and the environment; good for Big Food. fooddive // On that note: Pop-Tarts pairs with Lyrical Lemonade — the multimedia empire founded by Cole Bennett, Gen Z’s Rick Rubin — for back-to-school. marketingdive
One last thought:
Stay cool out (in?) there.