I haven’t written about clothes in a while because we recently bought the biggest jawn possible – a home – and I haven’t been doing much shopping outside of Canadian Tire. I won’t go into the details, but I had to radically change my approach to money and get over a lot of fears to get through this process, and pushing myself in ways I didn’t think possible has really paid off. But we still must get dressed for fall, and I got rid of most of my old clothes during the move, so I have to get out of Canadian Tire and find something to wear. Which brings me back to writing this newsletter.
Style notes
Longtime readers know that I have been watching the baggy pants trend for a while now, which first caught my attention via The Row’s Igor pant. With fall collections hitting stores, this style has now gone fully mainstream (pleated trousers abound at all price points) and The Row is already sold out of their new, slightly deconstructed take. I have a black pair from COS that I like, even if they do feel swimmingly large on me, a short person of thigh experience. I’m currently seeking more tops to style with baggy pants, if anyone has tips.
Big jeans are mainstream now as well, and I think we’ll see a lot more large denim in the near future. I tried the Good Skate jean from Good American and sent them back because I didn’t like the quality or the fit. Lesson learned: I should have gone with the Polar Big Boy jeans if I really wanted a skate jean instead of trusting Khloe Kardashian.
My current jean of choice is a pair of men’s Wranglers my husband got me for my birthday after I threatened to steal his. I wear them oversized and love the fit, the stretch, and the price. Also of note: low rise is on the rise. I recently heard Gen Z vintage seller Emma Rogue say on a podcast that she hasn’t sold a pair of high-waisted pants in months.
Culture Trends: On God
I’ve been ethnographically observing the rise in earnest God-posting amongst Gen Z and younger millennials for a while now, which at first seemed really odd to me. I came of age in a coastal liberal milieu where organized religion was widely derided – churches always felt more like artifacts than anything tangible or functional or real, and for a lot of coastal elites this is still the view. So I didn’t understand at first why hip, younger people would gravitate towards religion when for so long it seemed like we were culturally moving towards acceptance of science as truth and religion as passé.
There’s some panic around the rise in young, hip people converting to Catholicism, which seems funny in contrast to the Satanic panic of the 80s and 90s. Like me a few years ago, many people my age don’t get it. Why would anyone want to commit to an organization that has perpetrated sexual abuse and genocide across the world for centuries? And that isn’t even getting into the church’s stance on reproductive rights. It seems unthinkable, and yet, here we are. There are a lot of complicated takes on the issue that I won’t get into, but it makes more sense to me now that it did when I initially heard about it, and from an anthropological standpoint re: both the culture wars and humanity’s search for meaning, it tracks.
I have some preliminary analysis on why God is cool again, or rather, why it’s no longer cringe to post about spirituality: I think there is a legitimate rise in people earnestly and openly seeking comfort and meaning in the face of the chaotic realities of life on this planet. I think some people are drawn to Catholicism because it allows them to be reactionary and edgy, but I also think people genuinely like the history and the structure of the Catholic Church. Those who shun Catholicism may be on their own spiritual journeys through exploring Buddhism, or recommitting to Judaism, or checking out whatever church the Biebers are going to now that Hillsong is cancelled, or just really going hard with the meditation apps on their phones.
Whatever the spiritual specifics, the common thread is the earnest search for meaning via some sort of higher power or understanding, because the horrors of reality are so overwhelming to comprehend. Trying to figure it all out on your own can be a lonely, futile pursuit, and people seek community in many forms. What feels different to me right now is the earnestness. Talking about spirituality doesn’t feel cringe like it used to. There are even controversies like the one surrounding Addison Rae wearing a Praying bikini that show how some younger people view Christianity as a culture to be respected and not appropriated, which I find fascinating.1
Currently Reading/Watching
I love Gracie Wiener’s piece about the ironic Boat and Tote trend in Air Mail. Gracie is a writer (and family friend of mine) who started @ironicboatandtote, and her take is being widely covered. We love to see it, Gracie.
Default Friend is a Substack I enjoy for its coverage of cultural trends, and I really enjoyed the recent take on the “bad anthropology” of some of the writing about the post-left New York art scene.
I liked the new version of Persuasion on Netflix starring Dakota Johnson. It was a bit overloaded with corny references to #wine culture and other attempts to appeal to millennials, but I loved the 90s version in my youth and I’m happy to see a classic take on the exes trope (and Captain Wentworth) any time.
That’s it for now. I’m hoping to write more frequently as we settle into the new place and get back into a routine, but I do this in my scant free time and without an editor (which I’m sure I could use) so I’ll do my best as the trends keep coming and the inspiration strikes. Follow me on IG and let me know what you’re seeing on the streets and on your TL.
Nymphet Alumni’s newest episode gets into this and I can’t get enough of their analysis.