The Digest 22
Hairspray on Ozempic, dessert with benefits, & macroplastic beauty
Welcome back
to the Digest, my weekly download on everything I found interesting and think you will too, a result of staying chronically online so you don’t have to. Personally think we have a really good one this week — we’re chatting about human claw machines, the sluttiest thing a man can do, a production of Hairspray on Ozempic, and dessert with benefits. Don’t forget to tell the algorithm (and me) that you enjoy reading this by hitting the like button.
Happy digesting xx
Throughout the week, I keep track of everything that feels culturally relevant in the areas that I care about. I take that list from my notes app and turn it into this download of understanding consumer culture, tracking trends, and dismantling beauty standards to keep you in the loop on what I think you should know about this week. I hope you enjoy and take your time to Digest.
Think of this as a curated morning paper to replace your AM doom scroll, best read with coffee in hand
Trending Tidbits:
Felt it was important to mention here that there are so many trends that are just plain silly and/or unnecessary. Inclusion on the Trending Tidbits list (or in my newsletter in general) never means it’s necessarily a trend I endorse — just means I put it here so you know it’s swirling around the internet. Do with them what you will.
👖 and Statement Belts
Recommended Reading
The Real Reason Menswear* Is Booming In 2025 (*for women)
More and more young people are breaking up with smartphones and social media – and our perception of beauty and body image is changing as a result
Curves Are In, Curvy Girls Are Out
The street style in Milan is HR-approved
K-Beauty makeup could be the next big thing, if it masters inclusivity
The Soulless Corporate Style of Severance
How the Trump Administration Will Affect Book Publishing
The sluttiest thing a man can do is read
Is the Age of Health Care TMI Actually Making Us Feel Like Crap?
The Main Event:
W Mag says “The hourglass silhouette is officially out” but Vanessa Friedman at the NYT says that THE look of the season is “Any distortion of the silhouette, in other words, that creates a sort of in-your-face hourglass”
Rachel Tashjian reported that many Oscars red carpet looks were too perfect, citing an era of “body exclusivity”
In general, designers are distorting the concept of body, a trend confirmed by the newest Miu Miu collection in which “construction invents a shape independent from the figure of the wearer, a shape that sits around and beside the body”
The Vogue Business AW25 runway size inclusivity report looks bleak — “Curvaceous silhouettes were all over the AW25 catwalks, but you had to look hard to find curvy models” THAT PART. Across 198 shows, 0.3% were plus size, down from 0.8% last season
On the other side of the Vogue coin: I know they are constantly churning out out-of-touch content, but this one really threw me for an extra loop. As a fat girl and former theatre kid, I am desperate to know who was in the room when they declared Gigi Hadid as Tracy Turnblad to be something that we needed in 2025
reported that “Instagram Premium”, aka highly produced content on short-form social sites, is gaining momentum. also shared that several brands have recently released serialized content fashioned after popular tv shows like Sex Live of College Girls and ANTMBetween their upcoming Tamagotchi collection and their recent runway alongside a Fortnite tournament, Coperni is getting techy
Estée Lauder has hired a “Global Sleep Adviser” to “expand and enhance its sleep-related skin care offerings”, citing that chronic poor sleep will age your skin twice as quickly. Not saying that I find this particularly sinister, but it did remind me of this book I just read in which even dreams weren’t safe from targeted ads
Musical artist Japanese Breakfast is also known as Michelle Zauner, the author of hit memoir Crying in H-Mart — and this profile on her is how I discovered we’re getting a film adaptation! Zauner will also be creating original music for the movie
The 25 best books coming out this spring, according to Harper’s Bazaar (Seconding Immaculate Conception!)
Several designers were inspired by classic novels and authors this season. Sean McGirr at McQueen created Victorian Dandies inspired by Charles Dickens’s Night Walks and Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray. Maria Grazia Chiuri at Dior took cues from Virginia Woolf’s Orlando
Is Boxingcore the new Tenniscore? (big week for Puma)
Fashion is fully on board with boat shoes. Aritzia x Sperry sold out in 5 hours and is getting a restock. I viscerally remember being in middle school circa 2008 and saving for a pair of Sperry’s — all the cool girls at my school wore them. Of course, there’s no surprise that they’re surging in popularity right now, considering they’re a favorite of the wealthy elite. Saxon from White Lotus vibes
Brands continue to flock to Substack as a new form of customer connection. M.M.Lafleur (a women’s workwear brand) and Allure are among the most recent. Would you subscribe to a brand newsletter on Substack?
What are the odds that two brands would do a human claw machine in the same week? Hero Cosmetics and Beis both strapped people up and lowered them into pits of their product
We will continue to consume food in any way but with our mouths — Haribo x Crocs, Hard Candy x Girl Scout Cookies, Moschino x Milano, Haus Labs cafe vibes — this is indulgence in the Ozempic era
However, I recently discovered Amorecco, a LICKABLE perfume. “Made to be sprayed, tasted and devoured - this is dessert with benefits.”
Related: How do you promote a sexual wellness brand when “recent regulatory restrictions, cultural conservatism, and social media censorship” are preventing these brands from advertising anything involving sex?
Brands have been recreating their products out of food for a while now (looking at you, J.Crew) and I clocked these little pasta outfit recreations on my feed twice this week
Good Thinking’s
reported that retro was big at EXPO West this year (a major food trade show). She mentions specifically that there were many references to 1950s housewives - something you saw coming if you read The Composite!Elle dropped a new series called Hot Shots, completely dedicated to coverage of GLP-1s and their cultural impact. They covered what it’s like to be married to someone using a GLP-1, their effect on college campuses, Ozempic dupes, and more.
Velvet is having a moment. The blurred skin trend touts a “velvety complexion” and it’s the hot fabrication in swimwear. As we know, opulence is the word these days
On Maximalism: more is more when it comes to hair accessories (and everything else, of course). One thing I’m noticing is an uptick in jewels, not only in the expected ways but also in beauty and on garments. Jeweled nails in particular seem to be rising in popularity
Speaking of nails — glitter nails are trending thanks to Miu Miu. Actually, it seems that glitter in general is trending, which is interesting given the increased awareness of microplastics and glitter’s detrimental environmental effects
What year is it? Gen Z envies millennials’ young adulthood in the days of IG filters and Buzzfeed. Man repeller outfits are trending. Fashion week attendees are dressing like it’s 2006. Runways themselves look like resale sites from eras past
In case you missed it, I waxed poetic about apocalyptic aesthetics last week. This week, I saw the first mention of Y3K fashion, a futuristic aesthetic that has Gen Z dressing like the world is ending
In that newsletter, I said that I think we’ll be seeing long-extinct animals popping up in fashion. Yesterday, I clocked this ammonite purse at ASOS (an organism that went extinct along with the dinos)
Mentioned this week:
I’d love to know what resonated most with you this week so I can continue honing this newsletter into being the best version of itself. Thanks for reading!