trends & digital culture.
This just in: Unattainable body ideals are no longer for women alone
Vogue Business data shows plus-size representation on men's runways has flatlined at 0.2-0.3% for three years, while the male ideal splits into two unachievable extremes: emaciated-thin and pharmaceutically jacked. It's not a health conversation, it's manufactured insecurity, and it's a wide open lane for brands who market to the healthy, functional middle instead.
Read the full thing →Has tip culture finally gone too far?
Tip prompts are popping up everywhere now, even for a sandwich or a pair of boots. That guilt trip at the checkout is not generosity, it is a lazy shortcut for businesses that will not just price things properly. Real loyalty comes from being upfront, not from making customers feel bad.
trends & digital cultureThe phone-free sanctuary era is here
Phoebe Bridgers just made her whole tour phone free, and it is part of a bigger shift. People are sick of being tracked and filmed everywhere, so brands that lock the phones away and let people just be present are about to feel like a luxury. The real premium now is not being online, it is being left alone.
trends & digital cultureWhy having Clavicular open Paris Fashion Week was lazy AF
Paris Fashion Week opened its show with a notorious internet troll, and the internet lost it. But the outrage was the whole point. Brands are using rage instead of good design to go viral, and that is a lazy, cheap trick.
most read in this topic.
This just in: Unattainable body ideals are no longer for women alone
Vogue Business data shows plus-size representation on men's runways has flatlined at 0.2-0.3% for three years, while the male ideal splits into two unachievable extremes: emaciated-thin and pharmaceutically jacked. It's not a health conversation, it's manufactured insecurity, and it's a wide open lane for brands who market to the healthy, functional middle instead.
Has tip culture finally gone too far?
Tip prompts are popping up everywhere now, even for a sandwich or a pair of boots. That guilt trip at the checkout is not generosity, it is a lazy shortcut for businesses that will not just price things properly. Real loyalty comes from being upfront, not from making customers feel bad.
The phone-free sanctuary era is here
Phoebe Bridgers just made her whole tour phone free, and it is part of a bigger shift. People are sick of being tracked and filmed everywhere, so brands that lock the phones away and let people just be present are about to feel like a luxury. The real premium now is not being online, it is being left alone.
Why having Clavicular open Paris Fashion Week was lazy AF
Paris Fashion Week opened its show with a notorious internet troll, and the internet lost it. But the outrage was the whole point. Brands are using rage instead of good design to go viral, and that is a lazy, cheap trick.
What happens if we stop playing the internet game?
Bots officially outnumber humans online. Over half of all web traffic is now automated, and creators are starting to ask whether the game is worth playing. This is what happens when the internet stops being a human space.
What the 'hyper goo' design trend says about the global mood
Consumer design has always been a mirror of the times, and right now the mirror is melting. The clean, frictionless aesthetic that dominated the last decade is being replaced by Hyper Goo, a gloppy neon maximalism taking over fashion, typography, and packaging. Sophie argues this is not a random creative shift but a collective psychological immune response to over-optimisation, AI perfection, and the numbing blandness of the digital age.
Gen Z’s meeting up for “admin nights.” But, why?
Young professionals are gathering after hours to tackle admin tasks together, snacks in hand. It is a direct backlash to the promise that apps and digital tools would make life simpler. This piece explores why shared dysfunction might be the most human response to modern administrative overload.
Lost in the sauce: the high-stakes game of corporate irony
The line between a brand being genuinely witty and completely losing the plot is finer than most teams realise. Corporate irony has gone mainstream, and the saturation has made it very hard to tell discernment from desperation. Sophie lays out the three types of brands navigating internet humour and explains why knowing when to stay quiet is the most powerful strategy of all.
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