Fendi revealed a Marc Jacobs capsule collection to commemorate the Baguette Bag's 25-year-anniversary; Rihanna, meanwhile, revealed a new $500 Fenty lipstick case covered in 975 Swarovski crystals; TikTok princess Dixie D'Amelio buzzed her hair (now how many Gen Zers will follow suit?); and the era of eyebrow democracy is upon us.
TWO DOZEN TECH FOUNDERS LIVING IN A MANSION. WHAT COULD GO WRONG?, vox
Kevin entered Launch House in August 2021 as an ideal member: a young, ambitious, eager guy in tech who, as he puts it, “didn’t realize I was in a f***cking cult.”
INSTAGRAM AND TIKTOK GO TO WAR AT NEW YORK FASHION WEEK, dailybeast
An illuminating quote from Cole Etgen, a Gen Z model and influencer who has both attended and modeled at New York Fashion Week: “Instagram is the first fashion platform, so people on there take fashion more seriously. On TikTok, if you’re perceived as attractive and have fashion clothes on TikTok you do well. On Instagram, people are less concerned with being perceived as attractive, and there’s more of a focus on the actual fashion.”
THE JOKE’S ON FASHION WEEK, nyt
The only fashion show that matters: Susan Alexandra DMed comedians who follow her brand, including SNL’s Chloe Fineman and Sarah Sherman, to do a five-minute set at the Comedy Cellar, wearing her accessories, paired with luxury looks borrowed from the RealReal.
TIKTOK RESPONDS TO KYLIE JENNER’S NEW ‘RELATABLE INFLUENCER’ AESTHETIC, glossy
I’d recommend reading this entire piece to understand the enormous yet extremely subtle shifts happening on TikTok, but the tl;dr here is that Kylie filmed a clip announcing new lip colors from her car — and she dropped her phone during the clip without editing it, highlighting the fact that she was, in fact, in her car and that she’s just a normal girl filming candid TikToks.
Posting TikToks about beauty products from one’s car is a very normal, “regular girl” thing to do. Jenner’s post has 2 million likes and a plethora of comments debating its authenticity, or lack thereof. Examples include: “That was the most intentional drop I’ve ever seen,” and, “POV … her whole team standing outside her car while she films.”
HOW TIBI DESIGNER AMY SMILOVIC TRANSFORMED HER BUSINESS BY BECOMING A CREATIVE PRAGMATIST, wwd
Smilovic created an entire philosophy of dressing and being, which she calls “creative pragmatism” (she’s writing a book about it, too), a Tibictionary of her own styling terms to remember when getting dressed, and became an Instagram Live star, increasing the brand’s following to more than 500,000. She increased her gross profit by more than 300 percent in the process.
COACH IS DONE WITH ACCESSIBLE LUXURY, bof
At Coach’s investor day Friday, the brand is coining a new term, “expressive luxury,” as part of a broader repositioning meant to lure Gen-Z and lean away from the down market connotations of “accessible,” and more into “luxury.”
One last thought: