Himbofication and Dystopiacore

"matching Arc’teryx parkas drinking flat whites at La Colombe"

Hello and welcome back to the weekly paid edition of After School.

Have you been outside yet? It is so cold and so snowy and oh my god I love it. My dog, on the other hand, is not having it.

Kyle Chayka @chaykak

my pet theory is that quarantine ratcheting up with omicron has caused people to go stir crazy once more and intensify Internet Discourse a la 2020, totally overheating all cycles of enthusiasm and backlash and meta-backlash blah blah

Before I drag him to McCarren Park against his will, I’ll be digging into everything I bookmarked in my brain about youth culture this week, including but not limited to:

Trends: himbos, dystopiacore, bump-its
TikTok: Frank Ocean, celibacy, OK perfect
Retail: Skims, Sephora, Walmart
Tech: Web 2.5, crypto kings, metaverse real estate
Dating: depop, strawberries, Thursday

And, as always, everything else I’ve been consuming this week. Not that you asked, because you didn’t, but it’s the internet, and if the internet isn’t for oversharing, then I frankly do not know what it’s for.

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Trends 💥

• The himbofication — typified by Channing Tatum in Magic Mike,  Kronk of The Emperor's New Groove, and essentially every Matthew McConaughey movie — of high fashion is upon us.

• Speaking of himbos, guys are paying $10,000 to become real men at warrior camps.

  • But it’s not just men! Inside an all-female fight camp: ‘I thought there was no way I could do it – not at my age.’ Is the impending end of the world reviving interest in physical combat or…

    • Uhh, speaking of Fight Club.

• Hypebeasts are trying to look like triathletes now.

“I’d notice twentysomethings in Patagonia fleece vests thumbing through Lost Downtown at Dashwood; an El Rey waiter ringing up my kale Caesar in a Columbia windbreaker; diners at Win Son in North Face puffers and Acne Adrians; a couple in matching Arc’teryx parkas drinking flat whites at La Colombe.”

• What is dystopiacore? The answer is either a) The new doomsday-inspired, leather-infused fashion aesthetic or b) whatever the heck Kanye West is wearing/doing these days.

• Speaking of dystopia, Chinese youth’s latest buzzword is “emo” thanks to the growing “singlehood trend” and mounting struggles with work pressure, many young Chinese have shared their feelings of sadness, depression, and sensitivity on the country’s digital platforms.