Body Glitter and Opera Gloves

gross girls unite

Rachel Zegler is the new Anne Hathaway; you might be leasing (not buying) your next couch; ‘90s spray body glitter is unfortunately back; what is the point of digital fashion?; and Gen Z has fallen for opera gloves (according to The Guardian, anyway).

GEN Z BROUGHT THE '90S BACK BECAUSE IT FEELS IMPOSSIBLE TO GROW UP IN TODAY'S ECONOMY, insider
Are you perplexed about Gen Z nostalgia? It also perplexes Benjamin Ho, an associate professor of behavioral economics at Vassar College: "The way nostalgia usually works is it activates your memories from childhood, primarily the pop culture from your teenage years," he told me. "It seems too soon for Gen Z to be seeking the past."

The ironic part is that it's through social media that people are making these nostalgic connections. Gen Z digitally bonded during quarantine, prompting the resurgence of these trends to take off on TikTok and making it easy to cycle through so many of them.

FILTH & LOATHING: WHY ‘GROSS’ WOMEN ARE TAKING OVER LITERATURE, r29
”Women who make readers wince with descriptions of their bowel movements, who eat until they vomit for the pure pleasure of filling themselves to the brim, who expose the grotesque potential in sexual desire.”

OWNING A HOME IS NO LONGER THE AMERICAN DREAM — BEATING OUT MILLIONS OF OTHER RENTERS FOR AN AFFORDABLE LEASE IS, insider
I spent the last month holding my breath in anticipation of receiving my apartment lease renewal, having heard horror stories about NYC landlords jacking up the rent post-covid, this headline is a little too close to, uh, home.

First-time renters like Gen Z, or those who lived with their parents or other family members during the pandemic, have been steadily moving out. Baby boomers are selling off their homes in the lucrative market and renting instead. And millennials, the largest generation, are just simply more likely to be renters right now by nature of them being mostly in their 20s and 30s

YOUR DOCTOR IS ON TIKTOK, atlantic
Medical professionals — virologists, epidemiologists, doctors — are going viral on the app. But anyone can claim to be an expert on TikTok, making it complicated to figure out who to trust.

Still, scrolling through the app, I was stumped by how audiences could trust creators whose only solid claims to truth are their own assertions that they are reliable. Their videos are trustworthy because the creators are transparent about their logic and provide evidence for their claims, but I could see some parallels between how these audiences engage with partially anonymous science accounts and how COVID deniers engage with misinformation.

CHINA IS SPENDING $300,000 TO GET US INFLUENCERS TO SHARE POSITIVE SOCIAL MEDIA POSTS TO BOOST THE COUNTRY'S IMAGE AHEAD OF THE 2022 WINTER OLYMPICS, insider (again??? i know, i’m sorry!)
New Jersey-based Vippi Media “signed a $300,000 contract with the Chinese consulate general in New York to organize a social media campaign that promotes positive messaging about China and the Beijing Games on TikTok, Instagram, and Twitch.”

One last thought:

Nate Fridson @natefridson

We need a pill that makes you feel like you’re buying stuff online

January 22nd 2022

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