Pasta Puffers and Stick Shifts
Discover more from After School by Casey Lewis
Pasta Puffers and Stick Shifts
e-bikes are...cool...now?
Bella Hadid is the new face of Charlotte Tilbury, one of Gen Z’s favorite beauty brands; Halsey makes modeling debut at Paris Fashion Week; Rihanna announces the return of Fenty x Puma; and see Yara Shahidi as Tinkerbell in the new Peter Pan & Wendy trailer.
THE 20-SOMETHINGS FUELING A STICK-SHIFT RENAISSANCE, wsj
This is a status item I didn’t see coming: “It’s not a statement against electric cars so much as I’m going to try to enjoy the type of driving that’s the most fun to me until I can’t anymore,” says 26-year-old Lucas Marcouiller, an engineering salesman in Warwick, R.I., who has purchased three manual vehicles.
HOW VANMOOF MADE E-BIKES COOL, i-d
Another status item I didn’t see coming; never thought I’d see a headline with the words “e-bike” and “cool” in the same sentence. Alas, the S3 — the brand’s classic straight-frame silhouette — is a hit with a number of artists and culture-shapers, including Frank Ocean, Tyler, the Creator, and West Coast rapper Aminé. (E-scooters, on the other hand, will never be cool.)
THE ‘IT’ COAT THIS WINTER IS … A PASTA PUFFER?, nyt
The inescapable farfalle design has become Rachel Antonoff’s best-selling print, and the jacket — which retails for $425 — has sold out three times since it was introduced at the end of 2021. On Nuuly — the clothing rental service owned by Urban Outfitters — the coat has been rented more than 1,000 times.
SORRY KIDS: TIKTOK SETS ONE-HOUR SCREEN TIME LIMIT FOR USERS UNDER 18, gizmodo
The 60-minute screen time limit can be unlocked with a passcode (but look at all the favorable press this news won TikTok…!)
RED CARPET INFLUENCERS: BEHIND A LUCRATIVE (AND GROWING) NICHE FOR CREATORS, hollywoodreporter
When I was 18 or so, I was invited to L.A. by a skincare company — Neutrogena, I think? — to cover a movie premiere red carpet for my teen fashion blog. (I was no Tavi Gevinson). A lot has changed since then and I am captivated by this new guard of creators making thousands of dollars interviewing stars on the red carpet.
I REMEMBERED HOW AWFUL IT IS TO GO VIRAL, garbageday
Ryan Broderick dug deep into the new Twitter algorithm, and while his findings are fascinating, I can’t stop thinking about this generational insight:
Lots of Marvel fans were very angry with me because I’m an older millennial that engages in fandom as a way to critique and discuss topics that interest me, instead of how Gen Z engages with fandom, which is more of a mildly-fascist personality cult you pledge hysterical allegiance to as a way to push it further up a digital leaderboard within the greater online attention economy.
One last thought:
P.S. Quick links up top are back, as you may or may not have noticed. I missed them and a lot of you did too. As always, thanks for your feedback — and thanks for reading!