Being smart is cool again!
Or at least pretending to be smart has become the hottest fashion item of the season.
In recent years, we’ve been bombarded with recommendations for the “best” product for your skin, the “best” album of the year, the “best” bar in town. And we’ve come to realize that it’s all extremely fake. That’s because these recommendations are made by influencers who are paid to say these things in a very extreme way and have ended up losing all credibility by doing so. Or worse: recommendations by algorithms that promised to deliver what we need but end up doing the opposite. We’ve entered in a twister of algorithm fatigue and an overload of digital junk in our minds. It’s no surprise that brainrot was one of the most-read words last year.
As Eugene Healey said in a recent video, the boom of this digital junk movement happened because Millennials decided to rebel against the biggest gatekeepers in fashion, music, and criticism in general. That was kind of great. But now we’re living through a new shift: the revival of niche mainstream gatekeepers. Very different from those extremely elitist figures who lived in super-exclusive clubs deciding what was cool and what wasn’t.
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Now it’s much more about experimenting and figuring out what fits your style, because the new gatekeepers are niche-based. And they are called curators. If you’re more gamer & geeky, you’ll find a curator just for you. If you’re more underground & princess, your’ll find another one. They can make better curations because through experimentation, this curators make mistakes and (most importantly) they are not afraid to be cringe (sometimes). Because it’s by not being afraid to expose themselves to ridicule that they develop what we call personal taste. And that’s something A.I. will never be able to have.
Every curator influences, but not every influencer is a curator.
Curators exist precisely to offer us a personalized content diet. These new digital creators bring their context, passion, and personal subjectivity into their curatorship helping us discover hidden gems and powerful insights without needing to consume excessively. That’s why, for example, you’re reading right now this text on Substack, a platform that’s been steadily growing its audience. Newsletters offer a more intimate, personal touch for readers. That’s exactly why I chose to share my opinions here, and not on some side social network. In fact, the farther from there, the better for me.
We’re also seeing the return of slogan t-shirts in fashion. Whether it’s a tee from your favorite band that speaks for you, or a statement more political like “Protect The Dolls”, the viral shirt created by Conner Ives that directly supports a trans organization through its sales. And that reminds me of one thing: the D.A.N.C.E. music video by Justice, which elevated this trend 15 years ago with a super playful video that showcased the fashion of statement tees and graphic prints that were huge at the time and are now back.
Plus, Dua Lipa has joined the trend by launching her own book club. Miu Miu also has one, featuring recommendations that highlight women authors. And it’s no coincidence that, according to ELLE magazine, the new must-have bag of the summer is a tote designed to carry a book (and little else) branded from bookstores and publishers. During Pride Month, Aesop created a whole library full of Queer authors in their stores. This is smart!
We’re also seeing a rise in the popularity of more in-depth podcasts, like Bella Freud’s Fashion Neurosis (yes, Freud’s great-granddaughter), which explores fashion through a psychoanalytic lens with amazing guests. Longer YouTube videos are also gaining traction, reflecting a growing awareness that TikTok view counts can be misleading or inflated. For example, Rian Phin’s in-depth fashion analysis offers a personal and distinctive perspective—something neither an algorithm nor Anna Wintour can replicate:
In music, the music alone no longer matters. People want to buy the whole storytelling. Over the past decade, musical projects like El Mal Querer by Rosalía, which blends the tradition of Flamenco with elements of Urban Pop, have told us a different kind of story - and success. The same happened this year with Bad Bunny’s mega hit DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS. In Brazil, MC Tha did something similar with Rito de Passá, where she mixes contemporary elements of Brazilian Funk with the religious traditions of Umbanda, an Afro-Brazilian religion. People want to dive into the lore. They're tired of “fast food media”.
And I have to mention: the return of cigarettes. They’re everywhere. At birthday parties of trendy singers, in And Just Like That…, and in paparazzi shots of the coolest people in media. The romanticization of cigarettes might be tied to the resurgence of intellectualism. Or maybe just a post-brat Summer / Indie Sleaze revival thing. Or maybe an anti-wellness lifestyle bullshit. Or maybe it's just ANOTHER recession indicator (literally everything is a recession indicator now because we're living in a recession). But that’s a topic for another day.
And here I am, making a bold statement while smoking a menthol cigarette in Paris:
Tooooooootally recommend:
1 - Can you imagine connecting different cultures using a language that doesn’t exist? I did that for the release of Paraísos Invisibles, the new compilation album from my record music label Perfecto Estado. Since we have artists from Brazil, Chile, Portugal, and Spain, we decided to use Portuñhol, a ‘dialect’ that mixes Portuguese and Spanish words to bring people together. And we used music (an invisible paradise) to make everyone dance on the dancefloor. Our goal is connecting people through joyfulness in a polarized and divided world. Design made by the great Leonardo Pissetti. Listen to the album here:
2 - J'Nae Phillips: Slogan Tees Are Back, Baby.
3 -
: The Curation Renaissance Reviving Human Gatekeeping and Returning Human Judgment.