Memetic Subcultures and TikTok Twee

don't sleep on Yubo

Rihanna and Madonna’s daughter Lola Leon star together in the latest Fenty campaign; GIFs are for boomers now, sorry; meet Gen Z’s buzziest director (who’s still waiting to go to a film festival); and why Gen Z loves ‘Cow Tools,’ a nonsensical comic from 1982.

abercrombie kids does not look like it did when i was a kid

YUBO ISN’T TRYING TO BE TIKTOK. BUT IT DOES WANT TO PAY CREATORS, fastcompany
Though it may not have the name recognization of other platforms, it has 50 million users — 12 million in the U.S. — and 99% of Yubo’s users are between 13 and 25.

WHY THE GOVERNMENT IS RAISING AN EYEBROW AT GEN Z'S FAVORITE NEW WAY TO SPEND: 'BUY NOW, PAY LATER', insider
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau opened an inquiry into the sector last month. (It’s about time…!)

VIRAL ‘DISSOCIATIVE IDENTITY DISORDER’ TIKTOKER SPARKS QUESTIONS ABOUT THE INTERNET’S EFFECT ON MENTAL HEALTH, yahoo via rollingstone
This entire piece is a must-read, especially Matt Klein’s quotes (if you don’t subscribe to his newsletter zine, you’re missing out):

“There’s an emerging reflex to invite ourselves into the lives of those that we scroll past,” he says. “We don’t ask for nor require permission to enter these narratives. We instead co-create them ourselves. There’s an implicit invitation once it’s online. This has always been a norm for celebs, but now that fame has been democratized, everyone’s vulnerable for scrutiny and narrative-jacking.”

ALLOWANCE IS PAID IN ROBUX’: HOW ABERCROMBIE UPDATED ITS KIDS’ LINE FOR A NEW GENERATION, glossy
The children’s offshoot is now hyper-focused on trends, just like their grown-up line. (Neither here nor there, but I still have an Abercrombie Kids T-shirt that says Princess on the front, which would probably be worth hundreds on Depop.)

Especially in the Instagram era, style-conscious adults want their kids to be dressed on-trend, as well. And children in the tween age group are tuned into trends themselves. In 2019, when the refocusing first began, Krug and Hall talked to hundreds of children in focus groups to find out what they were interested in wearing. According to Krug, the 9- and 10-year-olds she and Hall spoke to when finetuning the brand vision were aware of what was in style, thanks to social media and observing their parents, older siblings and celebrities.

JOSHUA CITARELLA, THE INTERNET THEORIST TRACING THE RADICALISATION OF GEN Z, dazed
An interesting interview with the artist/researcher who has “spent the past four years documenting zoomer politics on platforms like Instagram and Discord” and whose work “focuses primarily on memetic subcultures – “online groups gathered around sharing funny political images – and the effects this has on teens across the political spectrum.”

UNPACKING THE TWEE FASHION CRAZE TAKING OVER TIKTOK, vogue
Oversized collars, printed A-line dresses, Mary Jane flats, colorful tights, and layered cardigans built the bulk of twee, with Zooey Deschanel standing in as the unofficial queen while Wes Anderson movies and indie music flew high as the unofficial flags.

One last thought:

lucy ford 🍊 @lucyj_ford

francis bourgeois in the gucci x north face ad i’m obsessed