Bed Parties and Resale Rolexes
"perfect for Reels"
Tate McRae lands first number-one album with So Close to What; Chappell Roan dedicated her BRIT Award to “trans artists, drag queens, fashion students, sex workers, and Sinead O’Connor”; and 25-year-old breakout star Mikey Madison won the best actress Oscar.
THE LATEST TEEN STATUS SYMBOL IS $10 HAND SANITIZER, wsj
I talked to Fiorella Valdesolo about Touchland’s status-y hand sanitizers that have “made their way into school-age kids’ backpacks and are being traded with the same fervor Bonne Bell lip smackers or Pokémon cards were in past generations.” Following a Covid-era surge, demand for hand sanitizer plateaued in 2021; demand for Touchland, however, has not: Revenue grew from $15.9 million in 2022 to over $100 million in 2024.
YOUR KID GOT INTO COLLEGE. DOES SHE NEED A ‘BED PARTY’?, nyt
I’m forever grateful to Madison Malone Kircher for introducing me to the concept of the “bed party,” a “relatively new style of celebration that involves tricking out a college-bound senior’s bed with university merchandise, candy and just about anything else one can buy in a particular school’s colors.” Tina LaMorte, who owns an events company in Maywood, N.J., planned a dozen bed parties for clients last year, a figure she expects to top this year. Her rates start at $1,000, which doesn’t cover the cost of the décor.
THESE KIDS WANT TO SELL YOU A SECOND-HAND ROLEX, ft
Two twenty-something brothers who call themselves the Kettle Kids — “in south London, the youngsters call watches ‘kettles,’” explains Jacob, 27 — are redefining the pre-owned luxury watch market. “First, our customers were friends. Then, when we ran out of friends, we went on Instagram,” says Harvey, 29. “The stars of their own Guy Ritchie rags-to-riches fairytale,” they now have a quarter million social media followers and have secured a 20-year lease on Old Bond Street, cementing their status among luxury watch heavyweights.
A NEW ANTI-SWIPING DATING APP WANTS TO BE LIKE POKÉMON GO FOR FINDING LOVE, businessinsider
Left Field, a new dating app that launched in New York City last week, aims to combat swipe fatigue by using location-based notifications to encourage real-life encounters. Positioned as the “Pokémon Go of dating,” the app alerts users when they cross paths with a potential match. To get the word out, Left Field is taking a page from Tinder’s playbook by throwing parties and spinning up ambassador programs for college students.
THE STRANGE REPULSION OF INSTAGRAM REELS, vox
Online, Instagram Reels has become an insult, with being deemed “perfect for Reels” shorthand for being cringe. “Reels can kind of feel like being on social media with your parents,” said creator Beverly Hart, who likens it to visiting a social media retirement home. But “what’s most galling about all this is that platforms can disincentivize the shit. They can throttle it or ban it entirely,” says social media producer Adam Moussa. “But they don’t.”
One last thought:
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The second hand watch dealers! I said female luxury watch influencers would be big this year & these guys are part of the reason why
Is this a rare instance where the Midwest has been doing something for years before the NYT reported on it? Bed parties have been around for at least 5 years, at least in the Chicago area.