2025? More like 2020
And 75 hard has turned into 75 soft
Eating grapes under tables for a good 2025, having had a very cucumbery 2024 - food, or rather, otherwise basic non-complex ingredients have been on the cultural zeitgeist.
It’s Ashe on the intro, and the ‘conspiracy’ is that impending food scarcity and the current cost of living is making the pantry basics a luxury commodity. No - it’s not just artisan, locally sources, sustainably farmed, non-GMO, specialty foods.
It’s sardines, garlic, butter, onions, beans, sourdough, soup.
Cans, jars, freezing, fermenting, preserving.
Last year itself, so many celebrities boasted parties where food wasn’t just for eating - it was the theme, the decor. Food collabs are prominent in marketing strategies right now - especially fashionXfood (search out culinary creative studios). Food preparation has been an art-form for a long time, and we all know the Michelin stars’ equivalence to luxury. However, more than before, the ‘unsexy’ mundane aspects of eating are positioned as the ‘quiet luxury’.
Speaking of which, I’ll quiet down and you can read up on the rest we have to offer:
🗞️News
Romania joins the Schengen area - internet claiming a dog was allegedly the first to cross this border.
Erewhon goes to Paris: the LA supermarket collabs with Merci concept store
There’s a new “Couch Guy“ on TikTok
Is Elon Musk, Adrian Dittman?
The Honey extension (owned by Paypal) that all the influencers were pushing allegedly have been a scam. + an impending class action lawsuit against them.
Golden Globes 2025 - yay for Flow 🇱🇻 and I'm Still Here 🇧🇷
🧂Trends
20252020
TikTok is age regressing back half a decade (yes, it’s been that long) to the good ol’ ‘pandemic TikTok era’. People are nostalgic for… let us check… TikTok dances, POV, alt girls, hyper saturated images, and pop tunes from lesser known artists?
It’s not bringing back the ‘Supalonely’ earworm - it’s about embracing what’s now cringe. There’s a focus on alt-aesthetics (e.g. alt-girls, kidcore, weirdcore), and tbf, they sort of exist as anti-theses to the popular culture of the moment. Honestly, it’s all good fun.
Many following the trend speak of missing a time when they felt like self-expression was given space because, well, we had nothing else to do. Others talk about it being the classic nostalgia of being younger - whether you were a teen or an early adult. Grasping on to the rose-tinted idea of the past that we will keep revisiting - but more comforting to revisit with a million other strangers on the internet rather than all alone.
With the new Gen Beta being born starting this year, perhaps Gen Z have taken the mantel of the millennials to miss “the good ol’ years” that weren’t really all that great - they’re just enough in the past to romanticize.
75
hardsoft
📖Storytime: I [Ilze] once went out with a guy in the middle of his 75 Hard challenge, and let me tell you, it was hard… not to pull an Irish exit on him. The next day, he texted he "wasn’t himself." Turns out you need carbs and a few simple joys to maintain a personality.
75 Hard challenge has been around for some time: strict diet, no booze, two 45-minute workouts a day, 10 pages of self-help reading, a gallon of water, and so on. But now there’s a softer version. The rules are up for more interpretation, but mostly it’s about balanced meals, a drink when the occasion calls for it, daily workouts but with a recovery day.
Pantene
A new(old)drugstore holy grail TikTok girlies are raving about - Pantene. It says to do wonders for hair shine and health, particularly their gold line [pictured].
Bros, better stock up your Head & Shoulders - they might be coming for it next.
Double zipper
Half-zip cardigans are rad, but two-way zipper cardis? They’re your Friday uniform, taking you from employee of the month to club-ready agent of chaos. Find them in both women’s and menswear sections.
Dudes on TikTok are going crazy for this one from Zara.
Pokemon TCG Live
Remember the Pokemon Go craze? Pokemon TCG Pocket might be the new one.
Pocket’s popularity is due to the incredible card art (some digital only) - some immersive cards with crazy good animations. However, it has been criticized as a cash grab, and its ‘gambling’ elements make it currently unavailable in some countries (e.g., the Netherlands).
Pocket has banked on the current popularity of Pokemon card collecting via a digital medium. The game came out end of October 2024, and has already allegedly made $100 million in revenue in under three weeks of release.
Arguing - The Odyssey
It’s been a mess on X (ex Twitter) - Christopher Nolan allegedly is working on a movie adaptation of this Homer poem, and Twitter users have argued themselves from The Odyssey being ‘unread and irrelevant’ to ‘everyone has read it’ to ‘this is why I hate this translation’ to ‘if I ChatGPT literature then I’ve basically read it’ to ‘it’s difficult to read a book from before the 1970s’.
Project Pan
After the holidays, we’re all broke, so makes sense that Project Pan—which we first reported on last summer—is making a comeback. ICYMI, it’s named after the shiny metallic “pan” you see when your favorite beauty product is almost empty (RIP to that beloved eyeshadow shade). It ties in perfectly with the No Buy 2025 trend and extends beyond beauty—think cutting open toothpaste tubes to squeeze out every drop or mixing salad dressing in the nearly-empty tahini jar. Sustainability, baby! We’re here for it.
we’re baaaaaack - cya again next week
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