Superman Hopecore and Hot Sad Girls
millennial portland hipster nostalgia
The Summer I Turned Pretty returns today; Owen Cooper, the 15-year-old Adolescence breakout, was nominated for an Emmy; Ariana Grande is starring in the upcoming adaptation of Dr. Seuss’ Oh, The Places You’ll Go!; and in big indie sleaze news, Dev Hynes announced a new Blood Orange album.
THE MOST POPULAR GIRL IN SOHO IS A BRANDY MELVILLE EMPLOYEE, thecut
Seventeen-year-old Allegra Pinkowitz has become a viral microcelebrity simply by working at the Brandy Melville store in Soho, where tweens now line up for selfies during her weekend shifts. Her TikToks — subway lip-syncs, Brandy try-ons, and DIML vlogs — tap into a glamorized version of “New York girlhood” that’s especially resonant with middle schoolers across the U.S. In many ways, this feels like today’s version of Teen Vogue circa 2002, where I first encountered (and then proceeded to internet-stalk on forums like theFashionSpot) New York cool girls like Lena Dunham, Annabelle Dexter-Jones, and Selby Drummond.
HOW ARE THE SUMMER INTERNS MAKING IT WORK?, nyt
I really liked this snapshot of 2025 interns in New York, but I was also struck by how little has changed since — not to make it about me again — I was an intern in the city in 2008, living in a dorm and fretting over $7 soup from Hale & Hearty. We didn’t call it “hustle” then, but the same pressure to level up and make the most of every minute remains. “Your network is your net’s worth,” one intern told the Times, which I swear is the same adage Ed2010 organizers told us 15 years ago.
THE BOOK COVER TREND YOU’RE SEEING EVERYWHERE, nyt
A new book cover trend is dominating shelves: classical paintings paired with neon sans-serif typography. First popularized by Ottessa Moshfegh’s My Year of Rest and Relaxation, the style has since become a Gen Z-beloved visual shorthand for coquette and “hot sad girl” aesthetics on TikTok. Designers say bright fonts are strategic, ensuring covers “pop” even at thumbnail size on platforms like Amazon and Goodreads, a make-or-break detail in the BookTok era.
“MIGHT’VE CURED MY DEPRESSION”: THE NEW “SUPERMAN” MOVIE GOES VIRAL FOR MAKING FANS FEEL SOMETHING RARE: HOPE, dailydot
James Gunn’s Superman has sparked a viral “hopecore” movement among Gen Z fans; one widely quoted scene features Superman saying, “Kindness, maybe that’s the real punk rock.” (That kind of earnestness makes me, a millennial, gag, but I am probably showing my age by admitting that.) The film opened with a strong $125M U.S. box office and is being praised across TikTok and Reddit for its sincerity. One viral post even claimed, “I haven’t felt depressed even once” since watching it.
AI DATING APP FEATURES AREN’T LANDING WITH GEN Z, bloomberg
While dating apps are pouring millions into AI-powered features, a new Bloomberg Intelligence survey found that Gen Z users are more uncomfortable than millennials with AI-generated prompts, photo edits, and auto-responses. Nearly half of respondents said they don’t need AI help making profiles or starting conversations, suggesting these tools may be addressing problems users don’t actually have. Match Group and Bumble have seen user declines for multiple quarters, with Gen Z now making up half of Tinder’s base. I find it hard to imagine these companies don’t do focus groups before funneling time and energy into these kinds of initiatives, and yet…
THE POPULARIZATION OF EGG FREEZING HAS CREATED A NEW ‘FERTILITY WEALTH GAP’, fortune
Egg freezing is booming among young women, but its high cost — $15,000–$20,000 per cycle, plus $500–$1,000 annually for storage — is creating a new “fertility wealth gap,” disproportionately impacting Gen Z and millennial women as they navigate career, dating, and economic instability. Women say egg-freezing brings a “relative peace of mind,” but that comes with resentment that they have to drain their savings accounts to do it. Meanwhile, sperm-freezing startups are on the rise, offering men low-cost, at-home options to preserve fertility, often for as low as $500.
One last thought:
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Loving these 2008 millennial magazine intern memories! Ed2010, forums, all of it is making me nostalgic! Oh, NYC summer in the pre-IG era.
So glad we’ve got an intern report here because it’s also intern season in DC and I’d just like to report that there is a huge uptick in ankle socks/no show-type socks with the under 30 set this summer.