Vape Voice and and A.I. Hadids
Discover more from After School by Casey Lewis
Vape Voice and and A.I. Hadids
counting this dumb money
Coco Gauff and Carlos Alcaraz emerge as Gen Z icons at the U.S. Open, signaling a generational shift in the sport; Bella Hadid is an A.I. alien for Heaven by Marc Jacobs' new campaign; “Dumb Money” turns the GameStop saga into the Gen Z “Big Short”; and I had the massive honor of being on Fat Mascara, the best beauty podcast in the world — we talk about Gen Z trends, Y2K nostalgia, and why I’m a Glossier stan; listen here!
AFTER SELLING TO COMMENTSOLD, POPSHOPLIVE IS SHIFTING ITS FOCUS TO LIVE SHOPPING FOR CREATORS, modernretail
Popshoplive — one of the biggest contenders in the livestream shopping race that at one point had a valuation of around $100 million — quietly sold itself to the live commerce startup CommentSold last month. Popshoplive founder Dan Dan Li told Glossy that the company’s goal now is to be a platform that onboards sellers who need more support and resources to build their e-commerce business. Livestream shopping adoption has been notoriously slow in the U.S., and look, I want it to happen more than anyone, but it’s going to take more than offering “more support and resources” to crack the code.
TIKTOK’S NEW SHOPPING HUB AND WOULD-BE RIVAL TO AMAZON IS FILLED WITH CHEAP GOODS FROM CHINA AND POSSIBLE COUNTERFEITS, fortune
TikTok’s Shop marketplace features a never-ending scroll of “recommended” random products, from a $2.99 Nike sweatshirt to a $6.99 statue of a “naughty dwarf” sitting on a toilet. Sounds like the algorithm needs a lot of work. Many of the listings say they’re shipped from China, where TikTok’s parent company ByteDance Ltd. is based, which could reignite US regulatory concerns if it puts user data in the hands of Chinese sellers.
GEN Z IS OBSESSED WITH SHOWER ROUTINES. BRANDS ARE RIDING THE WAVE, voguebusiness
TikTok's #showertok trend is gaining popularity, with creators sharing elaborate "everything shower" routines featuring an endless erray of beauty products. In June 2023, #showerroutine and #bodywash were top trending hashtags on TikTok. The #everythingshower hashtag garners an average of 7 million weekly views in the U.S. My biggest question is: how are these creators recording TikToks in the shower?
Shower content first appeared on social media at the end of 2021, with users discussing simple shower routines and mass market product recommendations from labels like Dove. It’s since continued to climb. In March, TikTok mega influencer Alex Warren posted a video of his influencer fiancé Kouvr Annon explaining what an everything shower is. It hit over 9 million views and 2 million likes.
TO FIND FREEDOM, GEN Z WOMEN ARE LOOKING BACK TO GIRLHOOD, nyt
Gen Z women are using the trend of adding "girl" to various activities as a way to express their yearning for freedom in the face of a backlash against women's rights. Activities like "girl dinner" and "hot girl walks" allow women to reclaim autonomy and escape societal expectations and the male gaze.
THE VOICE OF A GENERATION, airmail
Teen girls' voices are changing due to excessive vaping, making them sound “less like kids and more like Tom Waits.” Currently, 37.3% of high-school seniors — and 1 in 30 middle-schoolers — say they vape.
SILICON VALLEY’S QUEST TO LIVE FOREVER NOW INCLUDES $2,500 FULL-BODY MRIS, wapo
While many of Ezra members are bio-hackers, the founder of the full-body MRI startup estimates two-thirds are “cancer-conscious,” people who have lost loved ones to cancer and want to manage their anxiety. Another subset is Gen Z. “They don’t drink, they wear trackers, they spend most of their disposable income on supplements and Instagram workouts,” he said. They’re presumably the ones who don’t sound like Tom Waits from their vape addictions.
JUST KIDDING ABOUT AFFORDING A HOME, nymag
About 18 percent of millennials say they’ll never own a home, according to a new study by Redfin. Gen Z is a bit more optimistic, with only 12 percent saying so, that survey found.
One last thought:
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