Soberchella and Hipstamatic

croissant headbands, anyone?

Levi’s will begin testing AI-generated models; Sydney Sweeney is designing a workwear collection with Dickies and Ford (did not see that one coming); Skims tapped SZA to front its latest campaign; and get to know Milly Alcock, a very Gen Z star.

‘OWN THE FEELS’: NEW ZEALAND GOVERNMENT TRIES TO HELP TEENS RECOVER FROM BREAKUPS, theguardian
A New Zealand government video “affirms the universal truth that ‘breakups suck,’” as part of an unusual new campaign to support young people through their experience of being dumped and suggest healthy ways to process their feelings. The government — all governments — should be banned from using “feels” as a noun.

RETRO CAMERA APP HIPSTAMATIC MAKES ITS RETURN AS AN ANTI-INSTAGRAM SOCIAL NETWORK, techcrunch
I don’t know that a “social network for iPhone photography enthusiasts” is the IG replacement Gen Z needs, but this is certainly a splashy relaunch: ”Don’t like ads? Hipstamatic doesn’t have them. Hate the algorithmic feed? Hipstamatic’s feed is chronological. Sick of the clout-chasing creators and influencers? Hipstamatic limits users to following a max of 99 people.”

TRY YOUR BEST TEAMS WITH SHOPIFY TO PUSH WEB3-POWERED LOYALTY, voguebusiness
If you’re smart, you’re paying attention to Ty Haney. Her new-ish Web3 community platform TYB just launched on Shopify, making its loyalty technology available to millions of merchants. This partnership will allow retailers to reward brand fans for referring friends or posting about it on social media; in exchange, shoppers can receive discounts, gifts, etc. Definitely one to watch.

IT’S MORE THAN A FLUFFY HEADBAND. ON TIKTOK, IT’S A STATUS SYMBOL., wsj
But if you read my weekend edition, you already know that.

Call it a skin-care headband, a bubble headband, a croissant headband or a GRWM (“get ready with me”) headband—anyone who regularly watches TikTok beauty videos will know it when they see it. Made of terry cloth and featuring plush, pillowy bumps all the way around, the headband has become so ubiquitous in skin-care confessionals that it has spawned parody videos, with detractors comparing it to an airplane neck pillow. Where did this curious accessory come from? The story begins, like so many in this genre, with a gift package. 

SOBERCHELLA: BOOZE-FREE BARS ARE COMING TO THE FAMOUS DESERT MUSIC FESTIVAL, adweek
A real sign of the times! The New Bar, a Los Angeles bottle shop, will soon become the first nonalcoholic retail partner for the event; they’ll be serving Hop Wtr, French Bloom wine, Heineken 0.0, and Kin Euphorics at this year’s music festival.

HOW BOOKTOK MAKES MONEY, vox
Before the pandemic, it was common for the US book market to grow at rates of 3 or 4 percent. From 2019 to 2021, it grew 21 percent. In the first three months of 2023, according to Circana, it has declined 1 percent — except for the authors whose books blew up on BookTok. So far this year, they’re seeing an increase of 43 percent over their 2022 sales figures.

One last thought (she has a point…):

delia @delia_cai

my other thought is that a shallot DOES kind of look like That though