Now that it is unexpectedly socks weather, prepare to have yours knocked off by this song. The feminist pump-up track “Kings & Queens” comes on a new album by Ava Max, an aspiring pop star who’s found her way to something quite good (not without some clear references to her elders: Lady Gaga, Kim Petras, etc). The song’s unforgettable hook is a wall of autotune that manages to pack a disorienting degree of sincerity and solidarity into its two compact lines: “To all of the queens who are fighting alone / Baby, you’re not dancin’ on your own.” Take it as a tribute to Ruth.
Remember how Fashion Week was dying? (To recap, who cares to get into a fashion show when you can see everything online.) Well, now that Covid has placed the final nail in that coffin, TikTok is here to steal the jewels buried inside. The platform is currently hosting a month-long fashion event with shows from designers including Louis Vuitton, Saint Laurent and Alice + Olivia. Of course, those are the forward thinkers; most labels have been slow to come around to the wild west of the youth. According to a Vogue Business editor, when TikTok started taking off, brands were wary of a platform “filled with non-famous individuals” and their crazy antics (LOL); Instagram seemed safer with its polished images that cater reliably to the olds (that’s us now). Of course, TikTok tells the story differently: as they say, “TikTok is where authenticity meets creativity,” which makes it a more trustable platform for viewers. Incidentally, that always ends when the brands roll in. Purity: over.
Elsewhere on the internet (specifically Instagram, which I’ll reiterate is for the olds (read: >28)), plastic bags are already fashion thanks to the Instagram-based Plastic Bag Museum. The account catalogs designy sacks of yore, and as the “curator” explains on Vice, but frustratingly not on the digital walls of her museum, each of the specimens points to a specific moment in time (the Royal Wedding!), status (Virgin!) and branding. (The New York Times has also done a feature on the city’s plastic bags, collected by the designer Sho Shibuya.) Captions or no captions, surveying the objects as a collection surfaces a realization that as soon as they’re truly inaccessible, all plastic bags will be vintage, and you know what that means: Watch the TikTok runway in 2023.
Speaking of gaining new life, raise your hand if you’ve been frustrated by failed attempts to deal with a UTI. The founder of Uqora felt the same. Her experience with chronic UTIs inspired her to create Uqora, a line of proactive urinary tract health supplements to keep your urinary tract clear while boosting your immunity. If you could use some help in that area, check them out and get 15% off your order with the code LOREM15.
