Pop Culture Mondays/7.8.24
The BRAT GIRL Edition
WRITER’S NOTE:
Hi all, it is obviously not Monday. I had the best of intentions of getting this out yesterday, but something unexpected came up in my life that required my full attention, so I had to stop mid-stream to deal with it. So, most of it was written Monday morning before I had to drop everything, but hopefully, better late than never.
Xx,
B
Happy Monday, my darling pop culture junkies. I know I know…we are all digging out from a long weekend, but who are we kidding…we all basically took last week off even if we didn't want to. It seemed like everyone else was off, so we sent emails into the darkness with few responses. And NOW here we are. I don’t know about you, but my Sunday Scaries were on another level yesterday. Hence why I am here at 5 AM PT writing this now so I can face the day. And dig out.
This week’s edition is dedicated to a trend that has been going on for a couple of weeks now, thanks to Charli XCX, which we will get to. I apologize for not covering it earlier. But it has been BUST in pop culture land.
Another trend I have not covered before, but if you are a parent of a preteen or teen boy, then you are VERY well aware of and that is boys and cologne. We have talked about how girls are taking over Sephora, and now some of the biggest buyers of make-up and skincare are preteen and teen girls…but BOYS are dominating the cologne counters. I don’t mean AXE body spray…I mean expensive colognes.
IN case you want to read up on this trend, the New York Times has already covered it, and here is a gifted article for you:
You will learn about SMELLMAXXING, which is one of the terms they use. Also Fragrancemaxxing. It’s like a whole new world.
But here is another trend that is big with the boys…
See how they point out their jawline? YES…the teen boys are all about having a chiseled jawline. Like this is a THING.
AKA MEWING…
There are now gums being sold that say they make your jawline better:
SO much so Fast Company wrote about it recently:
Are the kids alright? I mean, to be fair, we did this to them. WE DID.
I couldn't bring myself to write a whole standalone post on this so that’s why this is in the intro. Now, grab some headphones if you have NOT done so already and some Swedish candy…and enjoy!
BRAT SUMMER:
As I mentioned, it has been BRAT summer for some time now, and I have let you down by not giving you the heads-up on this a few weeks ago! But here we are, and better late than never. IN case you have been hearing or seeing the term “BRAT” lately, or you have noticed your kids wearing fluorescent green, well, you have yourselves a brat.
According to THIS Business of Fashion piece, being a “brat” is…
Inspired by the musician Charli XCX’s latest album, also called “Brat,” it can be interpreted as an attitude that’s both immature and commandingly careless, messy but still girly. The album’s bright, slimey green cover is a visual personification of the aesthetic’s signature colour, but to dress the part, all you need is a strappy tank top, a BIC lighter and a pack of cigs, Charli told the BBC.
The article goes on…
“Brat summer” can be seen as a sibling to the “feral girl summer” and “rat girl summer” themes that ran rampant on TikTok in summers past. It also has similarities to the Megan Thee Stallion-inspired “Hot Girl Summer,” (think of brat as its distant, skinny-cigarette smoking, cool cousin) as well as the many trends that took off during 2023′s “year of the girl,” including coquette. It’s also influenced by grunge and early aughts club aesthetics, said Mia Jacobs, WGSN’s youth fashion strategist.
I will say THIS. SKINNY cigarettes are all over the place. For some reason, smoking is making a comeback and those I have seen are smoking the skinny cigs.
Here is Charli herself discussing it:
And brands are definitely jumping on this trend:
And the creators are loving it:
And the IT store, REVOLVE (I do love Revolve, I will not lie) has taken on the trend:
And for a better explanation, watch Charli AND Julia Fox explain it in the music video:
So, hopefully, you are UP to speed on the BRAT moment!
A LITTLE OF THIS, A LITTLE OF THAT:
We have had a bunch of pop culture moments we are going to breeze through today so we can all get back to digging out.
Let’s start with THIS:
We have Mark Zuckerberg back to his hydro-foiling antics, and he has definitely gotten better than in previous videos.
3 years ago, we had this video…
And never forget SUNSCREEN MARK:
But he has definitely gotten more confident on his little rich boy toy and we love to see it:
Yes, the reinvention of ZUCK is in full swing. The army of fashion consultants and stylists and culture vultures have tried to turn him into a bro…a DAVE PORTNOY if you will type of character…
You know who is NOT having it?
Dave Portnoy:
Some people think the transformation is working:
However, recently released emails between Zuck and Marvel VillAIN Peter Thiel show us a lot about why this transformation is happening. SO so thirsty:
FASCINATING. Anyway, let’s end this with this one, which I love:
BERYL & JAMAICA:
As many of you know, I am very very connected to Jamaica and go there as often as I can. The people, the island itself, the music, the food…the VIBES. It is everything. There are so many amazing parts of the island to explore. So when the news came out that Beryl — the monster hurricane so early in the season — was going to make a direct hit on Jamaica, my heart sank. I was in constant touch with friends there, worried for their safety, and each person I spoke to there had the same response:
We are in this together. We are strong and we will help each other and rebuild if that’s what it comes to.
Amazing. And we saw this come to life with the GM of a Sandals Resort at Dunn’s River on Jamaica who has gone viral for how he handled the storm and communicated to all of the guests and staff.
And the comments are amazing:
What a guy.
MIXED-WEIGHT WHAT?
I am not sure how many of you are Bridgerton fans. I will admit it took me a little longer than some to give in to the charms of this show. And then I fell totally and completely hard for it. I don't know why I tried to avoid it, considering I am a Shonda Rhimes stan, but I am in it now, and I mean, I am IN IT. I mean, if nothing else, it is basically Dynasty meets Grey’s Anatomy meets The Tudors meets soft porn. And I am here for it. I think the 3rd season was arguably the best one, and I also loved Queen Charlotte, which is a prequel, and it’s all fun.
In this season, we see Penelope Featherington and Colin Bridgerton fall in love and marry. SORRY, SPOILERS, but come on…the picture is pretty telling. Anyway…that’s that right?
NO.
Because some people…some media peeps, decided to take any joy we had and destroy it. It started with this article around “MIXED-WEIGHT ROMANCES” in Forbes, but tbh, it was not this article that started the discourse. The discourse was about whether Penelope was “HOT” enough for Colin. But Forbes labeled it mixed-weight, and LORD did it not go over well:
But it was the memes for me, as always:
REDRUM:
Whatever side you’re on (oh come on, you are not a Conservative, are you?), you have to admit Rishi Sunak’s wife, Akshata Murty, gave us the meme of memes.
PS: I liked the dress. Just perhaps the wrong setting.
WEDDING DRESS DRAMA:
This is Olivia Culpo. If you are my age or older, you are likely like, who? She is a very pretty woman, no question. She is basically now an influencer but she was Miss America and Miss Universe in 2012. She just married her NFL husband, Christian McCaffrey, who plays for the 49ers. Her wedding was featured in Vogue and on social media, and with that comes opening yourself up to comments from the public. Olivia has gone on the record about what she was looking for:
“I didn’t want it to exude sex in any way, shape, or form. I wanted it to feel effortless and as if it’s complementing me, not overpowering me. There’s so much beauty and simplicity.”
I will say this…I actually love this look. The veil makes it, but I think it is truly beautiful…I just know my mother would have killed to see me get married and get married in that dress.
But Olivia also chose Dolce & Gabbana as her designer and that is not always looked upon kindly by the TikTok girlies. I mean, they destroyed the Kardashians for their involvement with them…but the Kardashians are doing just fine. Though I will say, Kourtney K’s wedding dress was VERY different and NOT my cuppa…
Well, the drama started when a creator took to TikTok to share her dislike:
If the creators just applied this time and energy to trying to solve climate change or bring world peace. But ok…you get what you get when you publicize your wedding.
But then Olivia and her new husband entered the chat and did what anyone in comms would advise them not to do….they commented. They let emotions get the best of them and they got emotive and mean and vindictive.
First, we have Olivia’s comment to the post:
“Wow what an absolutely evil person you are. I hope no one ever tears you apart in this way because it’s extremely hurtful. I love this dress, and it was everything I wanted and more.”
I wish she weren't spending her honeymoon looking at the public’s reaction to her wedding, but alas, 2024. And she was obviously super upset, and it was cutting into their honeymoon, so hubs entered the convo:
“What an evil thing to post online. I hope you can find joy and peace in the world, the way my beautiful wife does.”
And the Internet has gone all hot and bothered over these responses.
Because they were judging her for her comments, maybe not because of the dress itself. Because she seemed to be taking on this TRAD WIFE mentality…but then her party dress after the wedding was THIS:
THAT IS IT, my darlings…
I am so sorry for the unforeseen delay this week. Sometimes life happens. And it is not always awesome, but I am grateful to you guys for keeping me distracted at a time when I really need a distraction.
We are switching off of Medium SOON….so expect an update there. NOT SUBSTACK, so do NOT worry. IT IS COMING…
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Xx,
Brooke
