Worm Regards #6: Timing is Anything
Hello worms! I’m back. Sorry for missing last week … I (Claire) simply had no ideas. Sometimes I talk so much I get to a Friday and I’m out. I just have nothing left to say. I also live in fear of self plagiarizing which is a rule really only I live by because it doesn’t make sense and it’s not economical. It’s also stupid. If I tweeted or made a tik tok about an idea I had … why wouldn’t I expand upon it somewhere else? Ideas aren’t matches. I can strike them more than once.
Also (candidly) I struggle with recs. I honestly don’t have any recommendations. There’s nothing I own that I really think you should try. I don’t stand by any of it. Which makes writing a newsletter hard because I think that’s what the people want! I know that’s what I want. I want to know where you bought that plain black t-shirt that I’ll never buy. I just want to know. So where does that leave *my* newsletter? Do I start giving fake recs? Do I start buying things I normally wouldn’t just to try them to let you know? I don’t know! I don’t want to become a consumer, I quietly pride myself on not buying a lot of stuff. But in a world of hauls and top ten lists I don’t know what I have to give.
(That being said I’m about to start an extreme skin care journey so I guess stay tuned for that.)
This Week’s Rant
What happens when your performative memories start changing your personal history?
As you know, I’m obsessed with wedding tik tok. One of the common tricks I see suggested is to buy a fake invitation suite with multiple components for the flat lay. This way you don’t actually have to spend money on an elaborate invitation bu you can have a more beautiful version for the memories. Personally, I don’t understand the point of preserving a memento that didn’t exist as a means to recall an important day, but overall that’s pretty benign.
But what will happen when all of our memories are slightly altered? Sure for your wedding, maybe you’ll look at that photo and always know the truth. But what happens the photos start serving their purpose? When you look at a picture to remind you of something you forgot, and you truly forget what was real and what was a filter?
It’s enough that we all have to compare ourselves to a barrage of images of perfect bodies, faces, outifts, and lives. And it’s arguably TOO much that these images are also being altered to unattainable degrees. But what happens when you start scrolling through your own phone and seeing an unattainable version of yourself? A version that never existed but holds you to a standard that you invented.
What will happen when the use of angles, filters, and photoshop starts existing in memories that are no longer meant to just impress other people but shape the mundane moments of our histories. What will happen when all the faking we do for each other now, seeps into our family’s lineage. What will your children think when they scroll through your feed for clues about you and find a completely different person?
I just can’t imagine finding my middle school diary where every entry was a sanitized version curated to impress the public. What would have been the point?
Take My Worm For It
That might have been so stupid so as an apology here are my recs for places I’m looking for rehearsal dinner/ after party outfits.
Khaite
retrofete
Two bodies
Fait par foutch
Saint art New York
Orseund iris
Cami
Jacquemus
KES NYC
Some Quick Announcements
We’ve got some live shows on the menu!
September 13 we’ll be doing a live digital experience with Moment so grab some tix and join us from wherever in the world you are.
September 22 we’re coming to Philly! Hope to see ya there.
September 23 we’re coming to DC! See you there as well??
