The Spread
The return of a favorite Composite column
I’ve been focused on my Digest column for so long that I completely stopped writing The Spread - and this weekend, I missed her. So here you go! This send is a more personal peek into what I’m reading, doing, loving, and more, alongside the pop culture content / critique you know and love from The Composite.
‼️Don’t miss the section on sardines vs lobsters and their place in modern aestheticism‼️
My birthday is this week and I’m looking forward to a week off work - a week that will be much more pleasant if the weather cooperates. It’s been raining for months in NYC, and I’m just here hoping the weather gods will smile down on my Gemini self and let me have a beach day this week, damnit! On the bright side (literally), the weather is looking good for my birthday party next weekend. I haven’t had a birthday party in years, so I decided to finally make use of the back yard space I have and throw a little shindig. Hot dogs will be grilled (not by me) and many martinis will be had (definitely by me). I finally caved and placed a Solid Wiggles order, which I am very excited about.
I also spent a few hours doing yard work (lord help me) which resulted in an aesthetic nightmare for my hands and about 23 mosquito bites (to which I am very allergic) but the backyard has never looked better! Probably because it has always looked very bad!
Now we get to do the fun part - decorating. I’ll share the final result soon.
Apart from party prep and hopefully an excursion to Rockaway for my ideal summer day, I plan to eat lots of seafood at Crevette and check out the tuna tartare and fries at Binx, a new spot in the West Village. Binx (yes, named after the cat) also happens to be on the same block as one of my favorite bookstores, so I will be purchasing some of the books I mention in the reading section of this newsletter.
PS: if you find yourself on that block, I highly recommend Moody Tongue’s hand roll + martini bar. SO good. Will almost certainly stop by Big Night’s WV location as well to stock up on some excessively bougie party supplies because, well…
I have been woefully behind on reading wrap ups this year, and I have a huge book post coming up soon because of that. In the meantime, some of my recent reads:
📖 To Have and Have More | Sanibel | Contemporary Fiction | Loved - I never hear anyone talking about this one but it was so great
📖 Death of the Author | Nnedi Okafor | Science Fiction | Liked it
📖 Sea of Tranquility | Emily St. John Mandel | Science Fiction | Loved
📖 Perfume and Pain | Anna Dorn | Contemporary Fiction | Really liked it - very excited for her upcoming release, American Spirits
📖 The Girls Who Grew Big | Leila Mottley | Literary Fiction | Loved
📖 Good Morning, Midnight | Lily Brooks-Dalton | Science Fiction | Reading now - for fans of St John Mandel or Charlotte McConaghy
A few others on my immediate TBR that I can’t wait to dive into. I might cave and irresponsibly buy all of these on my birthday. Only time will tell.
📖 Great Black Hope | Rob Franklin | Literary Fiction | Comes highly recommended
📖 Park Avenue | Renée Ahdieh | Contemporary Fiction | Said to be perfect for fans of Crazy Rich Asians and Succession
📖 The Poppy Fields | Nikki Erlich | Speculative Fiction | sounds right up my alley
📖 Nightcrawling | Leila Mottley | Literary Fiction | After reading TGWGB, I knew I had to grab Mottley’s debut as well
You can (sometimes) read my book reviews from each month here.
Next up in the ring: Sardine Girl Summer vs Lobster Girl Summer 🐟 👊 🦞
Maybe I’m hallucinating, but I swear Sardine Girl Summer is not a new idea - my feeds last year were already full of the Staud sardine bag and various knockoffs. Even so, InStyle reported that “According to Google Trends, the search term "beaded sardine bag" saw a 300% increase in May”. Sure enough, Staud dropped a new 2025 version of the ubiquitous bag (a cuter one, I think). A cursory google search showed me that Sardine Girl Summer is indeed in full swing for 2025.
Interestingly, the InStyle article that grabbed my attention re: SGS calls the trend “a new fashion psy-op”, saying that it is NOT to be confused with the fisherman trend, which they claim “has the real-life workwear references needed for a convincing Cute Name Trend.” More on this in a moment.
Essentially, the entire article is claiming that Sardine Girl Summer has no legs as an aesthetic core, and the Sardine Girl has no personality. I find that assertion very intriguing, as I have never associated the adherence to an aesthetic core as personality-defining: in fact, I might go so far as to say it does the opposite, stripping your personality from your style in favor of assimilation. Not a derogatory observation, but just interesting.
What I find even more interesting is that the same publication posted a few days later about Lobster1 Girl Summer, driving to a curated list of crustacean-adorned picks. As I mentioned, the original article does mention the fisherman aesthetic, and calls out the lobster motif as one of the things that defines that look - “That look is firmly New England—think: lobster merch, the Ralph Lauren Flag sweater, boots for quahoging”. This caught my attention - hello old money!!
This drove me to think about Fishwife, of course, a brand that sells highly aestheticized tins of fish. I won’t pretend like they didn’t convince me to try tinned fish for the first time last year, and I’ve since become a fan of cooking with them. What is fascinating about this is that Fishwife took a longtime pantry staple that has historically been affordable and not particularly glamorous and turned it into a must-have item in the kitchens of it-girls everywhere. Not only did they popularize it, but they did so at much higher prices than these products would typically go for. Essentially, it all boils down to the idea that tinned fish is cool when it takes on the appearance of a luxury item, branding them a status symbol and justifying luxury prices.
So - it begs the question, is the claim that Lobster Girl Summer is somehow more justified as an aesthetic than Sardine Girl Summer due to an inherent association of these marine meats with certain income levels?
Now, I’ve written that out and realize that it could be considered insane. And while it’s really not that serious, I still think there is merit to the question! HypeBae and InStyle both note that the popularity of sardines could be dubbed a recession indicator (as can everything these days). On the other hand, lobster has always been seen as aspirational and signifies a certain level of disposable income.
Unlike her predecessors, Sardine Girl doesn't seem like she's always on vacation. She seems like she's scrolling vacation photos from her blu-lit bedroom - Instyle
From The Composite’s unpublished archives: a post I started to write end of last year:
“Unsurprisingly, many of the fashion trends we’ve seen as of late have been directly tied to the concept of class and wealth, subverting connotations of items that we typically associate with each class stratum: democratization of styles like “old money”, “quiet luxury” and “stealth wealth” for lower classes, and the co-opting of blue collar class signifiers by the wealthy with trends like camo and barn jackets.”
So, TLDR…. sardines are the new lobster. The proof is in the pudding, aka $1500 sardine earrings from Bottega.
➡️ “What Does Virality Taste Like?” I-D
➡️ “The Growing Belief in ‘Love at First Sight’” The Atlantic
➡️ “They’re Gentle. They’re Seasonal. They’re Soft Boy Cooks.” NYTimes
➡️ “‘No Ordinary Love’: Upasna Barath on the alchemic timing of love” Dazed
➡️ “‘I feel like a drug dealer’: the parents using black-market melatonin to help their children sleep” The Guardian
➡️ “Do Androids Dream of Anything at All?” The New Yorker
I’ve always been interested in science fiction, but in the last year or so I’ve become quite a loyal indulger of the genre across forms of media. It’s my most read genre this year, and I actively seek out sci fi movies and shows (particularly about space). You might be thinking, huh, weird hobby for a fashion girly. Think again! This year, I’ve written about why I think the genre as a whole as well as dystopian aesthetics are so relevant in fashion and beauty right now. All that to say, you’ll definitely see this reflected in what I consume, of course.
Movies:
This weekend was a rare one home alone without my partner and with no plans, so I went in search of some sci fi movies to watch. I did a double feature of Gravity (2013) and Arrival (2016). Gravity was a heart pounding and sufficiently terrifying thriller about being untethered in open space, starring Sandra Bullock and George Clooney. Arrival, starring Amy Adams, was a thought-provoking, non-linear story about various countries’ responses to the arrival of aliens and how they learn each other’s languages. Both were great in their own ways, but Arrival took the cake for me.
🍽 Side note: If you need a good summer dinner recipe, I’ve been craving this one and finally made it prior to watching my movies last night. It’s so good and so easy - I make it every summer. 20 Minute Lemon Butter Pasta with Ricotta and Spicy Breadcrumbs.
Television:
The shows I’m keeping up with on my own currently are some old faves.
Brothers and Sisters - a rewatch of an all time favorite of mine. Sally Field is incredible, and while I’ve never had the desire to read Remarkably Bright Creatures, knowing that she stars in the Netflix adaptation makes me think twice.
Criminal Minds Evolution - an actually good continuation of another hall of fame show for me
Anxiously awaiting the new season of Project Runway coming out next month. Also as a major Dexter fan, cannot wait for Resurrection next month as well.
My partner and I are watching a few, some old and some new. Mainly:
Overcompensating - I unironically, genuinely love this show. We also tried watching Adults which felt like a less coherent version of Overcompensating
Mindhunter - which I’ve seen but he hasn’t. Decided to torture ourselves by watching a canceled show, I suppose
Some recent song saves:
See you in The Digest this week! xo
interestingly, there was also a beaded bag frenzy over a lobster bag too… perhaps we should be observing the beaded bag industry for what is going to hit next. pro tip
I don't typically read a ton of sci fi, but I've found myself reading so much more dystopian fiction this year! Maybe it feels a little bit too real now or I'm desperate for an alternate reality!