It's Ashe here on the intro again! This week, shipping and romantic relationships have dominated my timeline. The main culprits: Carmy and Syd in The Bear Season 3 and a love triangle among three TikTokers.
X, formerly Twitter, has been abuzz with discourse over shipping Syd and Carmy. Apparently the showrunners ‘made it clear’ it’s not happening - at least not this season - and some people have taken it to heart, while others are happy to hear it. Whether you ship them or not - the surprising thing here is that there’s discourse at all about shipping. In my mind, it’s a common understanding that so many fandoms stand on the shoulders of people shipping the characters - so it’s odd to me that this article had ‘so much vitriol [for shipping]’, as an X-user put it. Many say this show ‘isn’t for shipping’ - but I feel like we, as a culture, have become disconnected from the fandom lore of yore. A lot of very non-romance oriented media has a very diehard fanbase writing up romance fanfiction. Nothing signaled the end of Pride month for me like the TL fighting over a het couple in fiction.
+ but I’ve got my own personal beliefs about shipping ‘real’ people (it makes me feel icky, but that’s probably just ✨childhood trauma✨). But three TikTokers - Ayame, Oliver, and Yuval, have been playing out a love triangle that’s a skit…or is it? I mean, Ayame an Yuval just released a podcast where they were flirty and people are responding to it like it’s beyond just a skit. To me, it’s an incredible showcase in innovative storytelling (literally) by content creators - let’s see if this results in positive engagement and hope it doesn’t make their audiences feel manipulated if it’s not real.
P.S. Speaking of romance and real people… X is also obsessed with Manny Jacinto on The Acolyte - and I’m glad people are opening their eyes to his beauty. Beyond his looks, no spoilers, his performance was so, so good - he brought, for me, what has been missing from one of the sides of the Star Wars dichotomy.
Anyway, back to the weekly scheduled trends you’ve been waiting for:
Pop-ups are popping
In summer we’re all social butterflies, not just me and you, but retailers too, gracing us with delicious and interesting collabs in the shape of pop-ups.
If you happen to be in Brussels tomorrow (July 5) Rebel Wine bar is hosting Amsterdam’s sando-wizards Paindemie. While natural wine importer Sebonsa has launched a seasonal pop-up Zomerbar in Amsterdam Noord.
There’s even an Instagram listing weekly pop-ups of Copenhagen and X/ Twitter profile covering London’s pop-ups.
While the lux brands anchor where the fat cats spend their holidays: Lacoste has shop-cum-bar in Ibiza, sugar daddies in Bodrum are treated by Loro Piana, while Saint-Tropez has everything from Dior and Louis Vuitton to Jacquemus’ redecorated brasserie.
BlushBlushBlush!
Nothing compares to the love blush is getting these days. Feels like not a week goes by without yet another blush trend - and we love it. We’ve got sunset blush, sunburnt look, boyfriend blush, the natural flush, the Sabrina Carpenter or Devon Aoki looks... + People are getting comfier with showing off their round cheeks and rosacea/redness with the proliferation of blush forward makeup looks, and that’s the way we like these trends: with positive impact.
People have also been talking about ‘blush blindness’ - deriving from the ‘eyebrow blindness’ conversation about the 2000’s thin brows or the 2015-2016 block brows. They reckon we’ll look back at this era in a few years and be confused why our cheeks were stained so clearly with blush. But honestly, do we care? Trend cycles come and go, but it’s important to have autonomy over your aesthetic to feel good in your skin.
Scandi breakfast plates
From Fauna in Paris to Bennie’s in Amsterdam - and countless homemade versions on Instagram - this summer’s breakfast of choice is the perfectly-curated plate, often called a Scandinavian/Danish breakfast. Inspired by Copenhagen OGs like Atelier September, this plate includes a soft-boiled egg, a nice slice of bread (sourdough/rye), Comté, jam, and butter.
The hype makes sense: 1) it’s like the girl dinner equivalent for breakfast, 2) it’s savory (hello, anti-glucose spike warriors), 3) it’s aesthetic as hell.
Vintage Piping and Fresh Produce on Cake
With the rise of the ‘coquette’ aesthetic, that vintage-y cake frosting method has moved on from being more of a ‘wedding cake’ vibe to showing up on so many birthday cakes. But that’s not all. Lots of berries and other fruit are showing up on these cakes - and edible flowers are so back. Since the most common birth months (allegedly) are upon us, maybe these are good cake inspos.
Raw-Dogging
Raw-dogging means getting through a trip with no phone, no magazines, or other entertainment. Some also abstain from food, water, sleep, or nature callings. Also called barebacking and flying raw, TikTok is filled with videos of dudes staring at the safety instructions on the backseats during flights for hours.
Men used to go to war; now they’re sitting on a plane, dealing with the stuff they have tucked away in the backrooms of their minds, just like women do every night before falling asleep.
[CNN article on the trend]
How many aura points…?
More on TikTok Gen Z meme culture - measuring aura points is what the youth are doing online. It’s essentially a rebrand of ‘cool points’. You can win (or lose) aura points for relatively mundane things - walking a certain way, just giving cool energy, or accomplishing something. The current trend is it being used as almost a storytelling mechanism; people are sharing their stories and asking (often rhetorically) if they've gained or lost aura points. Even the WSJ is covering this.
The socks debate
Tell me what socks you're wearing, and I'll tell how old you are. Gen Zs have found a fresh way to single out millennials—through their socks. It's pretty straightforward: anything ankle-length or shorter gets dubbed "millennial socks."
VOGUE even went so far calling Jennifer Lawrence “brave” for stepping in ankle socks in public.
The no-show socks are a hard no.
This TikTok video gives a good low-down of the nuanced art of wearing socks:
Word on the streets of Milan is…
People are stacking their necklaces a lot more - regardless of gender. Lots of metal mixing in those stacks too, which our Milan local did not expect. We like that the maximalist aesthetics are a little more conspicuous on the streets now. Whether it’s the beachy-seashell vibe (we told ya about it) or the quirky charms, this is the perfect way to show off your jewelry collection - and your personality.
Psst - if you’re inspired and here’s a hack for layering your necklaces.
P.S. We don’t understand the obsession with the Hawk Tuah Girl - why is she so viral? She’s shot to fame after that one street interview (and was even a special guest at a concert, apparently). It’s like the skibbidy toilet meme but so millennial - but as a certified Gen Z’r - Ashe really doesn’t get it. Maybe y’all could explain the fame?
+ we’ll see you next week