Content Consumed: Billie Eilish, Balenciaga, and White Lotus
Goooooood morning! Happy Monday. It feels so good to get back into a routine. At least, for a couple more weeks until the holidays get here again.
In today’s edition of Content Consumed…
🎬 Billie Eilish’s annual Vanity Fair interview
👠 Balenciaga can’t stop losing
⚽️ Hot gossip from the World Cup
🌶 White Lotus Episode 5: Recap and review
Billie Eilish: Vanity Fair Year Six
I’m super into this series from Vanity Fair, where they check in with Billie Eilish every year for an in-depth interview with similar/the same questions. She’s an incredible artist who has grown a lot and changed a lot, so it’s a fascinating cultural time capsule.
Highlights from this year’s interview:
- Her constructive criticism to her fans this year: “Trust me.” Which is an interesting statement, considering how much criticism her relationship with Jesse Rutherford (lead singer of The Neighbourhood and over a decade older than Billie) has gotten from fans and the press.
- Btw, she’s very proud of “pulling his ass”, as she describes Jesse Rutherford as the hottest man alive (eh… okay, Billie! Happy you’re happy!). She even has the whole VF studio give a little round of applause for it.
- Watching Billie watch her past self talking about things — she clearly wants to strangle 2017 Billie describing her bedroom as “hypebeast”. Relatable! I’m sure 16-year-old Casey would say some dumb shit too.
- How she feels pressure differently every year, especially with letting people down. It’s also sweet that she’s stayed so, so close to her family every single year without fail. Her mom’s appearance in each edition always makes me tear up a bit.
Balenciaga can’t stop losing
First of all, I can’t say I’ve ever been a fan of Balenciaga, and their current style especially sucks because it’s boring and repetitive. But their mistakes don’t stop there.
They’ve already gotten a massive shot to the reputation this year for their partnership with Kanye West (now canceled—both the partnership and Kanye).
But… child porn. That’s apparently where we go next.
It’s being called the Balenciaga ‘BDSM Children’ Scandal and it’s essentially a series of holiday campaign ads promoting(?) BDSM and possible child sex trafficking. Insane, yes. Stuffed animals wearing black leather bondage gear, scattered papers from a Supreme Court case on child porn, and various BDSM accessories lay around tables next to the children featured in the campaigns.
Yuck.
Bella Hadid immediately deleted all posts from her recent campaigns with Balenciaga, and Kim Kardashian (after 6 days…) denounced the brand and said she’s “re-evaluating” her relationship with them (why not just cut them off?).
Balenciaga’s own Instagram account is currently wiped clean. Apparently, Balenciaga will not sue the Italian photographer who took shots of children with BDSM teddies, but they will sue the creatives behind the photo set with the Supreme Court decision papers.
Yikes.
World Cup gossip
Listen, when the games are this boring… looking at you, USA v. England!… you gotta look at outside resources to get interested.
That’s why I recommend the Substack Impersonal Foul, self-described as “if the Bravo Cinematic Universe and ESPN had a baby”.
In today’s edition, writer Madeline Hill dives deep into the important things: Saudi Arabia’s hot coach, Cristiano Ronaldo’s dumb interview with Piers Morgan, Spain’s strange family connections, and more.
Check it out here.
White Lotus: Episode 5
Whew. What an episode. Some thoughts:
- 👶🏼 Cameron’s kids are, uh, not Cameron’s kids. At least, Daphne heavily implied to Harper that their children are actually fathered by Daphne’s “trainer” (who knows if he’s even a trainer). This, it seems, is Daphne’s revenge for Cameron’s known infidelity and antics. Yet Cameron goes to great lengths to try and cover up his and Ethan’s night with the escorts, getting pissed at Ethan in the vineyards for obviously finally telling Harper. Ethan really had no choice though — Harper knew.
- 👀 As I guessed in last week’s review, the “uncle/nephew” duo is certainly a man and his hired Essex boy prostitute. Portia certainly did NOT get the hint about this — she’s embarrassingly in love with nephew Jack, who can’t even pay for dinner — but Tanya now knows thanks to walking in on them. So… Quentin and Jack and their gang of gay guys are going to scam Tanya, right? Or maybe attempted murder?
- 🤠 Speaking of Quentin: that story he told. About the cowboy he fell in love with. All the details he gave… is it Greg? Is Greg in on the scam? Are Greg and Quentin former or current lovers? Quentin’s question about whether Tanya is willing to die for beauty is definitely some foreshadowing.
- 🛑 Ethan’s a tool and an idiot for digging himself such a deep hole when he had, as Harper said, every opportunity to confess. The most annoying part is he still doesn’t really think he did anything wrong. But he finally, if temporarily, stood up to Cameron with a little philosophical (and true) quip about Cameron’s mimetic desire.
My full recap, review, and ~character awards~ are right here!
Find out who I awarded MVP, Hottest Hotel Guest, Slimiest Slug, and more.
And that’s it for today! I love you. Thanks for reading!
Cheers,
Casey
👉🏼 Get more content over on the Content Consumed Instagram.
👉🏼 Find out what I’m reading at my Goodreads profile.
👉🏼 Interested in more long-form pieces? Check out my extended columns:
