The Digest 27

+ the irresponsible marketing of Meg Thee Stallion's swimwear line

Jun 03, 2025

Welcome back!

You ever have a stretch of time where your entire life feels in flux and you have to majorly adjust to a variety of new circumstances? Hi, that was me in April-May 👋🏻

I am committing to you, here and now, that we will spend much more time together in June. And every month after that. Hope you missed me and that you’re ready for more of me xoxo

Also, happy Gemini Season to those who celebrate ♊︎ <3

At The Composite, we serve up a curated collection of culture, beauty, and critique. Think of The Digest as your quick, thoughtful read to replace the doom scroll, offering a bite of everything you need to stay in the loop. Come hungry. Leave questioning everything.

Aperitif

Trending Tidbits:

These trends are tracked not for following, but for what they reveal. Not necessarily an endorsement, but a thought starter

⚡️ Buzzballs

👙 Beaded Bikinis

☀️ Gingham1

🩴 Flip Flops - see also

👜 Bowling Bags

🧀 Cottage Cheese

The Main Course:

Cosmopolitan magazine launched a book imprint. Genius. I love it. More please

Several outlets put out articles about how constant self-monitoring (a la Oura rings) and body checking are burning us out2. Unburden yourself, be free. Add

Leslie Stephens

’s book about the pitfalls of wellness tech to your TBR

On that note - how good sleep became a status symbol (which you already knew if you’ve been a Composite reader for a while)

Obsessed is an understatement for how I feel about Samyra in Sol De Janeiro’s newest campaign. More 👏 of 👏 this 👏

The era of the ultimate throwback continues with rocks as shoes. Prehistor-chic isn’t going anywhere babes

Nostalgic shoes are also having a moment as the jelly shoe craze continue. The same article also references a “retro jet-setter” trend, something we’ve had our eye on here for some time now

This was an exceptionally interesting read about the “apocalyptic sensibilities of midwestern olfaction” which led me to discover agar olfactory, a singularly unique perfume brand with “speculative scents for the apocalypse” named for years between 1999 and 3030 - 1999’s notes: hot fax machine, mouse pad, mac carcass, tattered wire

In weirdly niche news, author Taylor Jenkins Reid is writing a musical featuring the music of The Chicks

Meanwhile, Ryan Murphy and Kaia Gerber are adapting a Bret Easton Ellis thriller

On the topic of strange pairings - would you put Burt’s Bees x Mike’s Hot Honey on your lips?

And while we’re on CPG, Hellmann’s continues to be iconic with bedazzled mayo at their Beyonce tour pop up. From Chopova Lowena to Cowboy Carter, Hellmann’s is weirdly ~with it~

Dieline wrote about this rise of bedazzled products in their newest issue of Shelf Life (subscribe asap if you don’t yet) - “Bedazzling, in all its maximalist glory, is proof of human touch, and we’re at the tipping point of its popularity”

Related: Art in marketing / on social is increasingly becoming a status symbol and brands will continue to leverage artists to distinguish and humanize themselves in the age of AI. SET Active’s newest campaign features two-dimensional hand drawn set pieces

Gaming goes glam: Chloe Grace Moretz and Rina Sawayama are launching a gaming-inspired beauty brand called Godmode

The recent surge in popularity of regular nail polish3 is almost definitely a recession indicator, but I feel like Essie has been doing some cool shit. I love that they brought back the shade Clambake with Wishbone Kitchen

Plus size retailers continue to shutter. Arula, the extended sizes arm of Altar’d State, announced this week that they're ceasing operations. This is on the heels of Pari Passu’s closure announcement, as well as Wray NYC a couple months back 💔

The editor-in-chief of Interview mag said some fatphobic nonsense loudly and proudly this week, essentially asserting that fatness and sex don’t mix well. He then told someone in the comments to “F off” when they called him out for it

Pinterest is the “official inspiration partner” of the NY Liberty, a “court-side to board-side” partnership that marks their first sports deal

The Lohanaissance is real. Lindsay is front and center of the new Old Navy athleisure campaign, as well as the cover of Elle Magazine this month. I don’t buy the pickled beets and juice thing, though

Brand trips → Bran Trip. I’m clocking a rise in the ultra-personal influencer trip - but in this iteration, the influencers do the organizing and their followers are attending. See also: Caudelie x Glamzilla’s giveaway for a 2 day brand trip to her hometown

Exceptional social moment from Beis, as always (this one’s for the PLL fans)

I wrote about Merit’s uniform campaign in my last newsletter - seems like dry cleaners are the new hot thing with Merit and Ouai both heavily leaning into the concept. Aritzia *did* do it first though

The TSA bin trend walked so the grocery basket trend could run.. so the coffee tray trend could fly. (Ouai is still on the grocery basket wave length)

Earlier this year, Macauley Culkin and Brenda Song were the first romantic couple to grace the cover of Cosmo. This month, Nicola and Brooklyn Peltz Beckham are on the cover of Glamour

Speaking of which - Cosmo just dropped a new social series called Blind Date, while Converse x Amelia Dimoldenberg dropped Chuckmates (also a social series about blind dating)

e.l.f played off the ubiquitousness of moving collaborations in influencer culture with this post about “moving” their skincare to a separate social page

Digestif

Meg Thee Stallion might’ve thought that “Designed to fit every body-ody-ody” was a cute and catchy tagline, but in reality it’s straight up deceptive marketing.

Something you might not know about me: I started my career in the fashion industry at size inclusive swimwear brands, so I know a little something about swimwear that’s truly for every body. This is not that.

The brief moment of optimism I experienced when reading the tagline was indeed too good to be true. When I clicked through to look at the collection, I was greeted by straight sizes only. With a limited size range of XS - XXL4, plus sizes are completely excluded. In a Rolling Stone feature, Meg goes on to say “It was only right that we kick off Hot Girl Summer with this launch and provide Hotties of all body types with the official Hot Girl uniform”. I think someone needs to tell her she forgot a few of us.

Here’s the thing - it’s one thing not to make plus sizes. It’s a completely different issue entirely to market your products for every body-ody-ody and then exclude… the majority of bodies. Her runway show at Swim Week was more inclusive than many runways these days, which makes the size range even more confusing. Why broadcast a purported interest in size inclusivity, but not make the product to back it up?

The name of the swimwear line being “Hot Girl Summer”, to me, drives the knife in a little further, as if to assert that a hot girl summer is only attainable to a certain size range. I assure you, I will be having a hot girl summer just the same.

PS: Want to know why a XXL and a 2X are not the same thing? Why big brands don’t make larger sizes but indie brands do, with far fewer resources?

I’m excited to kick off my new interview series with a special guest who helms a truly size inclusive, luxury swimwear brand. Have any questions about what it means to actually run a brand for all sizes? Drop them in the comments or respond directly to this email and I’ll make sure it gets into the interview.

Dessert:

“Love Island meets Lord of the Flies”

The Compound is a speculative novel that explores the unsettling landscape of reality television in a late-stage capitalist world. Set in a deteriorating world amidst an unnamed war and seemingly destitute circumstances, 20 young people are taken to a compound in the middle of the desert to compete for basic necessities (and, eventually, luxury items) on a live feed. It’s propulsive, addictive, and so sharply written. Cannot recommend enough.

Mentioned this week:

samyra

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beis

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orderandexperimentation

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setactive

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@nyr0k Real polish never dries I swear to god #foryou #nails #nailpolish

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