Where Does All The HYPE Go? | Lush Life B Sides
Labubu's + The Row MARGAUX + Social Justice Movements + our obsession with short term trends. where does it all go, when the hype is over and fades away?
I’ve been thinking about this considerably the past few weeks- namely when it comes to fashion, but i suppose the thinking could be applied universally.
The internet- and social media- has this illusion of connecting us all, while seemingly disconnecting us all at the same time.
Fashion was once helmed (for over 150 years) by gatekeepers, who were the arbiters of taste- and made the decisions of what the marketplace would value and desire.
Vogue, Bazaar, magazines, publishers, television networks and the financial backers of fashion houses controlled and influenced how we decided what was worth vying for, and what was not.
After the grunge era of American culture in the 90’s happened in the way in which it did: the youth pushed back against the systems of class and fashion- and fashion ignored them- only for fashion to come back around and bow to the new era: the democratization of fashion and fashion as an industry. The youth determine what’s en vogue- not the editors and PR teams.
Fast forward all these years later- the same experience seems to be happening again.
The old guard- the original guardians of taste making and fashion have lost their power with the emergence of content creators.
Most people don’t get their fashion news from Vogue anymore (unless your me)- and most people don’t go into a department store to see what the newest in fashion has to offer (now you can simply scroll tik tok or instagram).
Anna Wintour is leaving her current post at Vogue to ascend into the leadership of Conde Naste- overseeing the global content from all of the Vogue’s multi national publications- and the search for an Editor in Chief of American Vogue looms with so many questions- what does a role like this look like when Anna is still in control of the narrative, albeit from a different seat?
Can Vogue and traditional fashion media continue to reign as the gatekeepers of fashion the way we access information and fashion has changed considerably?
Does a blessing from Vogue mean anything to an emerging designer beyond guaranteed press and eyeballs?
I’m also thinking of the ways the culture is clinging to these trends that seem to thrive in and on the internet exclusively?
On the internet, I’m seeing this fascination and fanfare around Labubu’s (I think I spelled that right)- these monsters on key chains have gone viral.
But in my real life, I just saw a Labubu for the first time in person on someone’s (now viral) Coach hobo bag at a boutique grand opening.
What appears to be everywhere, seems to be no where at all.
That, and I am a homebody who rarely leaves the house- and I live in Houston, which isn’t exactly a fashion place.
Fashion of course happens, but it’s an oil town here, so everything is veneered to the core. Range Rovers, BMW’s and Hermes Birkins seemingly abound and in abundance- but not exactly a city with nuanced fashion and taste- at least in my neck of the woods in River Oaks.
Last year, suede bags were all the rage- so virtually every designer has mass produced suede bags- but I rarely see anyone carrying a suede bag (at least in my travels).
The Row’s Margaux bag was the “it” bag of last year- and I (living in Houston but even in San Francisco) spotted Margaux’s and “dupes” and replicas around and around.
But I can’t recall the last time I saw someone carrying the bag. In Houston or San Francisco or Atlanta or Boston Newport, Rhode Island or Chicago or Los Angeles or any other city I’ve visited the past few months.
Tik Tok has dubbed this summer as a “Pucci Summer”- where young Gen Z girls are donning their Emilio Pucci mesh dresses.
The brand has gone viral ten times over this season- and the content is everywhere- even if you are not a fashion girlie, chances are you’ve seen or heard of it.
And yet, as I move through the world with my own extensive collection of more recent and vintage Emilio Pucci (i’ve been collecting for years)- i have yet to see anyone in Pucci.
Granted, I have not gone to Italy or the French Riviera this year where perhaps the girlies are saving up their couture for their destination weddings and instagram worthy vacation carousel posts?
Who knows.
Fashion has always been cyclical- as an industry, it’s created its multi billion dollar staying power by always creating scarcity of what is new, and people always want what’s new.
I feel like this is where I bow out of “influencer land” (i’m not an influencer!) especially- considering I’m still digesting runway shows from 4 years ago- and still searching the marketplace for the B side releases from 10 years ago from designers I love.
With our constant obsession with newness- and social media no longer really being social per se but rather a matrix of which we exist as our online selves- because let’s face if, what happens on there doesn’t always directly correlate to what happens out here (have you seen Labubu’s on your morning commute? are you seeing preening gen z girls running through the streets in $2k Emilio Pucci dresses? when was the last time you saw someone carrying a birkin or a tote from The Row- outside of the internet, when they seem to abound in abundance)?
With our double lives- both in real life and on the internet, I do often wonder, where does it all go when the hype goes away?
Will there be a special zone at the landfill with mountains of labubu’s?
Will The Real Real be having a flash sale of all things pre owned Emilio Pucci next season?
Will we all be scrambling the internet for gently used The Row totes 10 years from now at a steal?
I suppose we know where the hype all goes.
It goes away.
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On the flight to Atlanta this weekend, I had my own epiphany about my work and my place in the world, as it relates to hype.
I will never be as commercially successful as I once was.
I don’t mean financially- I mean commercially.
I can’t recreate that moment.
I can’t recreate another Trans District or recreate another Kween Culture.
The awe inspiring storytelling of black trans women banding together to create something that will outlive us all won’t resonate again.
That moment is gone, and likely gone forever.
The hype doesn’t even feel applicable to the nuanced realities and news of the world now in the present.
Similarly, I thought of Alicia Garza- a friend in my head and someone I looked to as a blueprint and a role model in my own work because I didn’t have one.
She (and her lovely co-founders) can’t recreate the moment of Black Lives Matter (as a movement) or the nuance of impact and cultural significance as it has already happened- and probably won’t resurface again in our lifetime.
She has gone on to launch new projects and initiatives- just as impactful, just as strong- but never with the same spotlight and resonance as BLM.
You can’t recreate something like that.
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As I continue on in my new work, I am grateful that every blue moon, I get a call from someone who remembers my work, and wants to pay me a fortune to do work with them.
Recently, a new client booked me for a project I worked on over 10 years ago- it felt so random, so out of the blue. And funny enough, it’s often to do what I just told you can’t be recreated LOL “we’ve seen what you did for XYZ- can you do that for us?”
Those moments remind me that you never know who’s paying attention- and just when you think you’ve fallen off, voila- new work to sink yourself into.
I’ve been asked to go off to Martha’s Vineyard for the remainder of the summer to support a dear friend in fundraising for her organization’s current campaign.
Not to be a sappy + sensitive thug- but it means a great deal to me to be working- and to be doing so in a way I quite enjoy.
Working with BAACAL as a style advisor has been a dream (what a cool job) and working with Black trans led nonprofits (The Theater Offensive, Save Our Sisters United and more recently, LGBT youth advocacy in the digital realms with Give Us The Floor) that are still pushing on in a time where so many are shuttering and much of the movement has been disinvested due to philanthropy’s scale back has made me more stubbornly passionate in hopes that we do find a light at the end of the tunnel.
In contrast to the internet’s hype machine and my own career’s hype machine- I am still incredibly content with my pieces I’ve sourced over the past few years (the ones we decided to keep in my closet).
The pieces I have feel connected to me, and have enriched my life.
They are just bags and shoes yes, and clothes- but if you’re just tuning in, clothes feel just as spiritual to me as much as they mean function.
At the end of the day, a Bottega Veneta bag and a Jimmy Choo Shoe and a BAACAL trench coat or an Emilio Pucci caftan didn’t cure my sorrows entirely- but they certainly made navigating my most trying times of my life a bit easier, and made life a little sweeter.
They mean nothing- and everything, at the same time.
Until next time,
Aria
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