Wirkin Class and Rom-Com Lips
after school weekend edition
Welcome back to After School Weekend Edition, a not-so-brief trends debrief for paid subscribers. Your support keeps this newsletter going! 💫
This week, we’re talking about:
How TikTok users are feeling about the impending TikTok ban
An analysis of 2025 in-and-out lists on TikTok (plus a look back at 2024 in-and-out lists stacked up)
Hermès for the Wirkin class: what one viral Walmart dupe says about a generation
The
rebrandingreblanding of Vera BradleyAn update on Alix Earle-led Pantene comeback
Gen Z TikTokers have caused a $90 pair of Gap sweatpant jeans to sell out
What the Dating Wrapped trend says about the state of love (or lack thereof)
Why young people are obsessed with ultramarathons, triathlons, and Solidcore
“Full bush in a bikini”
Plus everything else that happened in style, beauty, and culture and what I’m buying, reading, and listening to. But first, my favorite TikTok of the week:
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(I’ve been thinking about this TikTok for two days straight.)
Later today, I’m heading to NRF to moderate a panel with Winnie Burke, Head of Fashion & Retail Partnerships for Roblox; Meghan Hurley, VP of Global Marketing for Claire's; and Brent Mitchell, VP of Social Media and Influencers for Sephora. They’ll be talking about Gen Z consumer habits, evolving influencer strategies, and how they — personally and professionally — keep up with trends. If you’re going to this conference (apparently more than 40,000 people are?!), please come and say hi.
On Friday, I moderated a fireside chat with Anna Harman, the CEO and co-founder of Studs, as part of the NRF Foundation’s Student Program. Every year, more than 1,200 college students from all over the country attend this event. It’s perhaps the most terrifying audience I’ve ever had to dress for — I kept asking my husband if various outfits were “cool” enough to wear, to which he gently suggested that trying to dress “cool” in front of a bunch of Gen Z fashion students was a losing battle — but it turned out to be a really fun conversation. The students were super engaged, which was cool to see.
What Anna and her co-founder Lisa Bubbers have built over the last 5 years is incredible. Anna said a lot of smart things about experiential retail, brand building, and fundraising — I was too busy asking questions to take notes on her answers, but if NRF posts the talk, I’ll be sure to share it — and she also teased out a potential expansion into tattoos (!).
A quick look at how TikTok users are feeling about the impending TikTok ban
An analysis of 2025 in-and-out lists on TikTok
In the days leading up to and immediately following New Year’s Day, in-and-out lists, where Gen Z and young millennials share what is and isn’t cool in the year ahead, infiltrate TikTok.
Like last year, I watched as many in-and-out TikToks as I humanely could — hundreds, if not thousands — and tallied up the most-mentioned ins and outs of the year, which I’ve compiled for you below.
