‘Tramp stamps’ are in again and no longer ‘trashy,’ influencers say; Mariah Carey’s “All I Want For Christmas Is You” returns to #1 for a fourth straight December (but all they want for Christmas is to stop that Mariah Carey song); and N.Y.U. students are throwing underground parties at a beloved barbershop.
INSTAGRAM IS ADDING A BEREAL CLONE, A TWEET-ISH FEATURE, AND GROUPS, verge
”Candid Stories,” which Instagram is testing in South Africa, is a BeReal dupe, while “Notes” is a Twitter-inspired feature that brings friend-focused status to the top of the inbox that will begin rolling out to all users Tuesday.
GEN-Z BEAUTY BRANDS GROW UP, bof
OK, but when are we going to talk about how "the Gen Z aesthetic” — squiggly fonts, neon colors, untraditional models, personality-infused copy — has gone the way of “millennial blanding”? So many of these “for Gen Z” companies, especially beauty brands, are now entirely indistinguishable from one another, and it’s a problem.
HE BUILT A GLOBAL FASHION BRAND—BEFORE HE PASSED HIS COLLEGE FINALS, wsj
In the time that it takes some college students to pick a major, 22-year-old Kartik Kumra — who just graduated from Penn last week — has built a clothing brand that’s carried in Mr Porter and Ssense and worn by the likes of Kendrick Lamar and Joe Jonas.
GEN Z AND YOUNG MILLENNIALS HAVE FOUND A NEW WAY TO AFFORD LUXURY HANDBAGS AND WATCHES — LIVING WITH MOM AND DAD, fortune
Reiterating what Bain reported last month, Gen Z is indeed fueling the luxury boom, says Morgan Stanley. I’m curious whether the young people who have moved back home due to economic woes are splurging on designer goods “to lift their spirits,” as analysts suggest, or if their luxury spending has driven (forced?) them to move back home to offset inflation.
According to the analysis led by Edouard Aubin, this structural trend has been “overlooked” in the context of rising luxury spending over the past decade. As older Gen Zs and younger millennials have their rent and food paid for by their parents, their discretionary spending increases, allowing them to buy up more designer handbags, watches, and jewelry.
GOING BACK TO GO FORWARD: FOUNDATIONAL NEEDS TAKE CENTER STAGE, forerunner
Forerunner is launching a collaborative primary research platform called Dinner Party. Brilliant. Ahead of the launch, they partnered with Bain on a consumer quant survey and used those findings to inform their approach. Few consumer reports are such a delight to read — the design on this one is reallyyy good — and you can take a quiz to discover your own consumer archetype. (I’m wellbody 🧘.)
One last thought: