Playfulness, 'the marriage pact', nostalgia loops, an innovation idea for footwear brands lurking
and a grab-bag of culture links
Hiiiii, this is me:
But I’m back. Here’s an assortment of things!
A unified theory of Play
You know i love me some subway takes. This one about flirting grabbed me for a gem buried within the bigger message though:
This gorgeous human (Saidah Belo-Osagie) shared a deeply profound insight that;
“We have lost a sense of play. After 2020 did her big one, we’ve been looking for play….. with Pickeball, with trivia nights, and frickin’… improv. And in reality, you can just leave your house and have a nice playful moment with someone else. […] We live in a fear-based culture.”
The more i see it, the more i cannot unsee it. This is why we have things like Loewe Tomato bags, Gucci gremlin bags, jelly shoes and ballet flats, coquette-core, the whole thing. It’s not only a joyful symbol, but a conversation starter that engineers a moment of play between people.
The Dating App vs offline connection vs perpetual singlehood Conundrum
Dating App discourse has reached a new and inescapable fever pitch. This lil post started going viral recently:
People are looking for new solutions to old problems. The Economist did a deep dive on how Dating App usage is on a steep decline, specifically missing the mark with younger audiences:
Younger adults are growing especially weary of the apps. One survey commissioned last year by Axios, a news site, found that only a fifth of American college students were using them at least once a month. “It’s not fun, it’s so superficial and it’s also just like really exhausting,”
They also reported an uptick of 88 (!) colleges across USA now participating in something called “The Marriage Pact”, a platform designed for those who feel College is the best time or place to meet your partner for life - and registering interest in peers as a ‘plan b’ further down the line should you not meet your match. Pretty interesting concept to me as a foreigner….. i dont think we quite have the same relationship with college (and friends made throughout) back home. :-/
Over at the Atlantic, another piece emerged that spotlighted a trend i’ve noticed anecdotally; a group of people who have resolved to deprioritize dating from their life, or eliminate it entirely.
For the people I spoke with, the lack of control over their romantic life was exasperating. They could decide to make friends, or move, or switch jobs—but they couldn’t will a partner into being. Quitting dating was a way to reconcile themselves to that fact. Jeffrey B. Jackson, a family therapist and a professor at Brigham Young University’s School of Family Life, reminded me about a prayer that’s a core part of Alcoholics Anonymous: The goal is to develop “the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.”
Anyway, no clear conclusion here except that our lives and digital apparatus presently do not seem conducive to meaningful long term connections. I maintain that people should just treat instagram as a dating app and keep it pushin. 👍 Source: my lived experience.
Nostalgia death loop of culture persists + some musings on the artists/indie creatives plight
Somewhere between Cobrasnake shooting Charli XCX’s birthday party and Supreme (finally?) doing something with Tyler the Creator, the notion of ‘stuck culture’ is firmly back in the zeitgeist.
I’ve quoted Mark Sabino here before (and i will do it again), but you should really read his essay titled “Camus & Curren$y; Why I Preach Indie”. Its a wild ride through his taste and interpretations (of both Camus and Curren$y) but has some incredibly salient observations on nostalgia-driven culture (i encourage you to read the whole thing, but if you have AD/HD like me, skip to ‘Pilot Talk’ headline and go from there).
There is a ton of nostalgic longing for these previous eras and scenes like “Indie Sleaze” without any of the desire to create the environment to make new versions of them possible. […'] This forced synthesizing of the past for the sake of our generational feeling of missing out is the ultimate sign of the times. It’s preferable to try and crawl into a comfy diorama recreation of nostalgic half-memories rather than try to face the disgusting state of the present. Also the fact is, a scene that was primarily based on mass indie talent cannot exist with the way we operate today.
I am a believer in things needing to get really bad before they can be rebuilt, so maybe we are on the precipice.
Innovation in footwear is not goofy air bubbles or weird appendages. It is just something that feels new, even if it is old.
I was so pleased to see this piece on Snobette that picked up on a (wildly unpredictable) trend emerging of the fashion girlies rocking Vibram 5finger shoes. They astutely commented that Vibrams best move is no move- “as much as the trend is based on the shock of the unseen and ugly, an anti-marketing effort themed on ignoring the fashion trend altogether might actually make the most sense of all.”
To me, a future hit riding off this momentum would be a hybrid of both the vibram and rift with a functional story —- a pilates/yoga-forward lifestyle shoe; this is a category no one is really nailing yet, certainly none of the ‘cool’ brands and a market that shows no sign of slowing down.
Pilates — a low-impact exercise that benefits balance, flexibility and core strength and can help athletes recover from injuries — was the most popular ClassPass workout of 2023, with booking reservations up 92% from 2022, according to data shared with Axios. - Axios, “Cross Fit is out, low impact work-outs are in”.
I also think pricing is an increasing issue; people like no-fuss, low-profile gear that costs closer to $100 than $200.
And here’s a random link round-up for ur headtop
incredible Youtube deep dive on the power of tiktok editors / edits.
Brands mentioning “AI” in their messaging seem to decrease in trust
i missed this when it happened, but Arcteryx opened a stunning new “creation center” in tokyo, devoted to craftsmanship
Noah NY AW24 lookbook is lovely- its a lil old polo-ey but still hits
Weed brands are doing some really cute celeb collabs - (h/t
for the round up). Love the Pure Beauty / Zoe Kravitz pre rolls to celebrate the launch of her new film.
somewhat related- i am obsessed w this joint holder ring my girl Justine designed for Peach Honey. Genius- and gorgeous.
just thought this was pretty sick:
Seeing as you made it this far- please feel free to forward this on to folks who you think might appreciate :) ALSO, if you enjoy my perspective and perhaps work somewhere that might need consulting, please holler at your girl. I do Great Point for the love, but money is a pleasant side effect.
On that note - if you work for a big company and have a corp card, would you pay a ‘my overlords are paying’ membership fee for this newsletter with some perks? I am considering it as i come up to my one year of GP. only a little though.
BYEEEEEEE
GG x
Yes!! I’ve been saying this about ‘play’ too! I get some weird looks but convinced the tipping point is coming 🤞🏻