

Discover more from After School by Casey Lewis
PacSun is launching a capsule collection with A$AP Worldwide and…Eddie Bauer; LeSportsac is partnering with Pac-Man in hopes of making Gen Z nostalgic for a time before they were born (hmm); and Walmart is chasing fashion clout with designer Brandon Maxwell’s debut spring collection.
WHAT ARE GEN Z INVESTORS WEARING?, voguebusiness
“In crypto, at my level, in my network of friends, people are really into watches and cars right now,” says Brian Jung, 24, a crypto investor and YouTuber who gained 900,000 of his 1 million YouTube subscribers in 2021 by advising budding crypto investors. “For me, for anything luxury I buy, I just want to know is it going to carry value? I need to know it won’t depreciate more than 50 per cent.”
TIKTOKERS VS INSTAGRAMMERS: WHO RULED LONDON FASHION WEEK?, voguebusiness
The answer is — spoiler — TikTokers. As someone who vividly remembers the bloggers vs editors fashion week controversy in, oh, 2009, it’s fascinating to witness the new guard vs the newer guard, aka Instagram influencers vs TikTokers. Of course, the real way to win as a creator is to be all of the above. (“Originally a blogger and Instagram influencer, Bryanboy has also pivoted to TikTok. He now has 2.9 million TikTok followers in comparison to 608k on Instagram.”)
ELLA EMHOFF ANNOUNCES KNITWEAR BRAND ON INSTAGRAM,
hypebae
The 22-year-old Balenciaga model (and Kamala Harris’s stepdaughter) is coming out with her own knit label next spring “with the promise of monthly drops after that.” This brand — and her career — will be an interesting one to watch.
ARE DATING APPS DEAD?, dazed
We’ve talked about this before (and no, dating apps aren’t dead), but young people are doing some really cool things to encourage more organic / IRL meet-ups.
For Cem A, the admin behind art-centric meme account Freeze, the pandemic made them pursue new methods of dating. He founded Freeze dating last year with the intention of bringing like-minded followers together beyond the algorithm…Having launched the first Freeze Dating last year, Cem received over 800 responses in 12 hours, prompting him to close applications early.
FROM TOXIC MASCULINITY TO AGE-OLD IDEALS, ROM-COMS DON’T MAKE THE CUT FOR GEN Z WOMEN ANYMORE, screenshot
Rom-coms: also dead, at least as far as Gen Zers are concerned.
FASHION IS BETTING ON THE AMERICAN SOUTH, bof
Admittedly more youth culture adjacent (and perhaps I’m biased because I’m currently driving through the south), but I do think post-pandemic we’re going to see young people living in cool smaller cities over the NYCs/LAs of the world and the industry is going to have to be ready for it.
One last thought: