Coquettecore and Gag City

after school weekend edition

Welcome back to After School Weekend Edition. Think of the Monday-Thursday letters as the CliffsNotes; this is the extended version for paid subscribers.💫

Earlier this week, I stopped into Mejuri while running errands — I’ve been hoop charm-pilled — and a boomer-aged man came in. “My wife…” he announced to the entire store. “She’s asking for…Princess Diana earrings?” He was visibly flustered.

The Gen Z store associate exchanged blank looks. “They’re apparently…going viral?,” he continued.

I left before the situation was resolved, but I spent the rest of the day thinking about the Princess Diana earrings. Was he talking about the sculptural Bottega-style earrings that have made a comeback? Were dripping rhinestones having a moment? Did this boomer man know about a viral trend before I did?

A Google News search did not deliver much. A few weeks ago, Kate Middleton wore Princess Diana’s diamond and sapphire earrings, though it was hardly a viral trend (and certainly not something anyone would find at a Mejuri in Williamsburg).

Google Shopping was not much help either:

And TikTok turned up nothing — the hashtag #princessdianaearrings doesn’t exist, and #princessdiearrings, similarly, yielded nothing.

The trend cycle these days is kind of like a game of telephone; it only takes one TikToker or publication to declare an item “viral” — in hopes of driving up sales or eyeballs — to manifest a “trend,” and the lifespan of a trend is so brief that it’s impossible to keep up, whether you’re a Gen Z store associate or a very online millennial or a doting middle-aged husband just trying to make his wife happy with the right Christmas gift. I hope the man found the earrings he was looking for.

Today we’re talking about:

• Fashionable nepos

• “Me if you even care”

• Gag City 

• Hallmark Christmas

• DINKs

• CosMc’s

• Dry partying

• Secondhand beauty

• Ugg conspiracies 

• Halley & Sophia drama

• The next Samba

• Trend reports 😵‍💫

And everything else that happened this week in youth culture. Before we jump in, my favorite TikTok of the week:

@ashbc30Lets discuss #greenscreen #2000sfashion #2000sthrowback #mid2000s #millennial #fashion #fyp

Tiktok failed to load.

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