🌶 THE GIST OF IT

Welcome to your biweekly roundup of all the contemporary cool girl news that’s fit to print. We’re breaking down the second act of a beauty founder, the rise of the casual drink, the fall of the fancy salad and so much more.

Also inside: the 50 year (!!!) mortgage and a historical fiction book rec about trailblazing women fighting for American literacy.

Let’s go.

Subscribe now

💄 SKIMS Beauty and the Nuance of Ami Colé’s Second Act

What’s Up: Beauty industry news exploded with the announcement that Diarrha N’Diaye, founder of the recently shuttered cult-favorite Black beauty brand Ami Colé, is joining Kim Kardashian’s Skims as Executive Vice President of Beauty & Fragrance.

The Insight: This move is a fascinating, fraught case study in what it takes for a Black female founder to achieve scale in a market that loves to celebrate small brands but rarely funds them for the long haul. N’Diaye’s own essay about Ami Colé’s closure highlighted the near-impossible metrics and data-access gaps facing Black entrepreneurs. While many in the community are genuinely happy to see N’Diaye secure a powerful, well-resourced role that grants her the infrastructure and capital she couldn’t access independently—a necessary “check” and professional victory—the sentiment isn’t simple.

There is an understandable tension: some critics view the move as a loss of a vital, independent voice and express concern over the optics of a talented Black leader joining a brand that has often been accused of exploiting or appropriating Black culture for profit. The situation reveals a structural economic reality: sometimes, the only viable path to genuine influence and the ability to scale inclusivity (the goal of Ami Colé) is through the financial and logistical machine of a massive, Kardashian-backed entity. This is not a simple narrative of betrayal or triumph, but a nuanced reflection of the systemic barriers that force brilliant founders into difficult, high-stakes alliances.

🥗 Sweetgreen’s Slowdown: What the Salad Bowl Says About the Consumer

What’s Up: Sweetgreen, the darling of the upscale fast-casual movement, is hitting a rough patch. Recent financial results show negative same-store sales growth, a drop in traffic, and widening net losses, despite efforts to automate with its “Infinite Kitchen.”

The Insight: The performance of Sweetgreen is a direct reflection of shifting consumer sentiment and the ultimate limit of the “lunch premium.” For years, the demographic of cultured, urban professionals was willing to pay upwards of $15-20 for a bespoke salad bowl, symbolizing convenience, health, and a certain aspirational lifestyle. Sweetgreen’s struggle suggests that amid economic uncertainty, this discretionary spending is the first to be cut.

This isn’t just a challenge for one company; it’s a canary in the coal mine for the entire “better-for-you” fast-casual category. Consumers are either retreating to cheaper, more value-driven alternatives (traditional fast food) or opting to save money by preparing their expensive, healthy bowls at home. It highlights that no amount of branding or efficiency (like the Infinite Kitchen) can insulate a premium product from a market that is suddenly prioritizing savings over convenience and daily health status signaling. The salad bowl, once a status symbol, is now simply too high a price for a daily habit.

☕️ Starbucks’ China Strategy: A Smart Retreat?

What’s Up: Starbucks is offloading a majority 60% stake in its lucrative Chinese retail operations to the Chinese investment firm Boyu Capital in a deal valued at approximately $4 billion, while retaining 40% and licensing its brand.

The Insight: On the surface, this might look like a retreat, but it’s a strategically smart defensive move that echoes McDonald’s successful divestment model in the region. Starbucks faces intense, hyper-localized competition, primarily from fast-growing, cheaper rivals like Luckin Coffee, which has rapidly surpassed Starbucks in store count. By selling a controlling stake, Starbucks achieves three things: 1) It immediately pockets significant cash; 2) It insulates its bottom line from the risks of a slowing Chinese economy and rising U.S.-China political tensions (tariffs, boycotts); and 3) It gains a Chinese partner with “deep local knowledge” to navigate expansion into smaller cities, streamline operations, and aggressively compete on price and speed—areas where the foreign brand struggled. This move transforms Starbucks from a burdened, full-scale operator to a profitable minority shareholder and brand licensor, ensuring it still profits from the Chinese market’s growth without bearing all the operational and political risk.

🥤 The Age of the Corporate Elixir: Why Fast Food is Chasing Drinks

What’s Up: Major quick-service restaurant (QSR) chains, including McDonald’s with the now-shuttered CosMc’s concept and Taco Bell’s Live Más Cafes, are aggressively investing in specialty, custom-order, high-margin beverage businesses.

The Insight: The beverage game has become the final frontier of fast-food profit. Drinks have a significantly higher profit margin than food—a few cents in syrup and ice can sell for several dollars. For QSRs, drinks solve a critical business problem: the drive-thru bottleneck. Specialty drinks, with their custom toppings and flavor combinations, demand a higher price point and are easily added to an existing order, dramatically increasing the Average Unit Volume (AUV) without requiring a major kitchen overhaul. Taco Bell’s Live Más Cafe, focused on flashy beverages, and McDonald’s’ efforts show that these giants are targeting Gen Z’s preference for complex, customizable, and visually appealing “experience” drinks. This is less about food and more about dominating the afternoon “snack and sip” market, turning existing locations into high-efficiency, liquid-profit centers.

TT BOOK REC: The Giver of Stars

If you’re looking for an unforgettable saga of female resilience, deep friendship, and the quiet power of literature, this is it. Set in Depression-era Kentucky, the novel follows a remarkable group of women who, as part of Eleanor Roosevelt’s WPA program, form the Packhorse Library—riding out into the treacherous mountains to deliver books to the isolated, book-starved poor. It’s a beautifully written, character-driven story that moves beyond simple historical fiction to explore the constraints placed on women, the importance of education, and the enduring connection that forms between women when they unite against convention and patriarchal control.

🧠 CULTURE CANDY (links to make you cool to talk to)

1. Generational Wealth, Deferred: The True Cost of a 50-Year Mortgage- We analyze President Trump’s floating of a half-century mortgage, dissecting whether a slightly lower monthly payment is worth nearly double the interest and a massive loss of equity for millennial homebuyers.

2. Orange is the New Power Color: The Psychology of Apple’s New ‘Black’- Why is Apple betting that the new, vibrant Orange iPhone will become the next must-have status symbol? We explore how color psychology drives tech adoption and cultural trends.

3. The Art of the Unscripted: Deconstructing the Political Speaking Style- A fascinating linguistic and political analysis of how a public figure’s unique, often rambling, speaking style—known as “the weave”—is meticulously crafted to bypass traditional media and activate core supporters.

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   🖤 UNTIL NEXT TIME...

   The career comeback is still a thing, drinks are the new dinner, and China is still a formidable power player in America-based business. You? You’re watching it all and probably counting the calories in a dirty soda.

   xx Jenn,
   Thoughtful Threads
   Your URL safe space for good taste and smart takes

   ---

   Enjoying the Thoughtful Threads newsletter? Please consider the following:

   • Giving this post a 💜 and sharing it with any other aesthetic over-thinkers you know!

   • Joining the party over on TikTok and Instagram (a work in progress but we’ll get there!)

   • Joining this community as a paid subscriber which helps support my work for less than a large coffee (or a one time coffee treat is fine!)

   • Sharing any interesting info/topics of interest/pictures of your furbabies to hithoughtfulthreads@gmail.com

   Disclaimer

   Some of the links in this newsletter may be affiliate links. This means that if you make a purchase through these links, I may earn a small commission at no additional cost to you. I only recommend products or services that I personally believe will add value to my subscribers. Your support helps keep this newsletter running and allows me to continue providing valuable content. Thank you for your support!

🌶 THE GIST OF IT

Welcome to your biweekly roundup of all the contemporary cool girl news that’s fit to print. We’re breaking down Kering’s attempt at keeping Gucci relevant, an upscale vision of the future in the Middle East and so much more.

Also inside: the weird girl comfort creator you didn’t know you needed and a book rec about a woman’s life story as told through her conversations with ChatGPT.

Let’s go.

Subscribe now

👜 FASHION IS THE NEW MEME

The Drama: The fashion world is still reeling from Demna’s inaugural outing at Gucci, titled La Famiglia. Forget the idea of quiet luxury that the industry spent the last year pushing—this was a calculated, unapologetic spectacle of high-octane branding and cultural commentary. Demna didn’t just design clothes; he debuted a cast of archetypes: Miss Aperitivo, La VIP, The Bastardo. These characters are instantly recognizable, designed less as garments to be worn and more as ready-made digital avatars for the algorithm.

The Takeout: Public opinion is predictably split down the middle. One side calls it genius—a sharp, necessary critique of internet-delineated identity and a brilliant move to inject Tom Ford’s late-90s hedonism with post-digital irony. The other side dismisses it as boring, lazy, and an overpriced rehash of Balenciaga’s stunts wrapped in Gucci monograms. But that mixed reaction is the point. Kering needed Gucci to stop fading into irrelevance and start dominating the global conversation again. Demna’s ultimate bet is that polarization and instant shareability are the only true currencies of luxury today.

The Bottom Line: This collection is a Masterclass in manufacturing cultural cache. By collapsing high-fashion silhouettes with internet-delineated personas, Demna has ensured Gucci is not just a brand, but a discourse engine. Whether you love it or hate it, his vision affirms that the luxury house is no longer simply selling clothes; it’s selling an aspirational, slightly uncouth, and highly viral way to “rich right” in the current cultural landscape.

🖼️ ART IS THE NEW OIL

What’s Happening: Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 is arguably the world’s most ambitious national rebrand, and it is banking heavily on culture as a pillar of its future economy. The kingdom is pouring immense state investment into arts, humanities, and heritage—funding new entities like a Ministry of Culture, specialized commissions, and major projects such as the Saudi National Opera House and international film festivals. They are actively pursuing UNESCO inscriptions and cultivating both traditional crafts and contemporary visual arts.

Why It Matters: This is far more than just a tourism push. It’s a strategic recognition that in the 21st century, an advanced society cannot achieve sustainable economic diversification or global leadership through finance and oil alone. Cultural soft power is the non-negotiable currency of modern diplomacy and influence. By building a thriving creative sector, Saudi Arabia is actively attempting to shift its global narrative and compete on a level of cultural prestige traditionally reserved for Western powers.

The Lesson? The commitment to the humanities proves that liberal arts are anything but outdated; they are the essential building blocks for prestige, diplomacy, and next-generation economic growth. When the state-level imperative is to transform and lead, culture becomes the essential economic infrastructure. The world is watching to see if a country can fundamentally reshape its global identity through the power of its creative output. (Though I would argue Japan is already proof that it works)

🪫 THE HEADS UP: POWER GRID WARNING

The Issue: The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) just released a chilling report: the risk of rolling blackouts across large parts of the country could increase by a factor of 100 by 2030. This isn’t theoretical; it’s a hard-data warning based on current infrastructure plans and demand projections.

The Breakdown: We are caught in a perfect storm created by two powerful, conflicting forces. First, the scheduled retirement of vast amounts of reliable, firm power sources (like natural gas and coal) is outpacing the replacement capacity, especially dispatchable power. Second, the demand side is exploding, driven by the unanticipated, massive power needs of AI-driven data centers and re-industrialization efforts. We need up to 100 GW of new power within five years, half of it just for AI—and current plans fall dramatically short.

The Policy Context: This fragility is exacerbated by a policy backdrop where energy stability is constantly in flux. For instance, the recent rollback of key energy tax credits for homeowners and developers makes investments in distributed energy or energy-efficient replacements less attractive, only compounding the overall stress on the grid. The core issue is that the capacity deficit threatens not only household comfort but also economic stability and national security. Simply put: we are trying to run a 2030, AI-driven economy on a 1980s electrical grid, and the laws of physics are about to catch up.

💋 THE TWEEN BEAUTY GOLD RUSH

The Scoop: Sephora is officially making an aggressive bid for the Gen Alpha consumer with the launch of Sincerely Yours, a new skincare line co-founded by 15-year-old creator Salish Matter and her father. The brand is formulated specifically for young skin—clean, barrier-friendly, and most importantly, explicitly anti-anti-aging.

The Blueprint: The brand launched with a viral pop-up that drew 80,000 screaming fans and sold out immediately. This proves the new retail mantra: authenticity and community are everything. They utilized a “Teen Advisory Board” and a private text chat to design the products, ensuring it felt like it was “made with them, not just for them.”

The Take: This is the new retail blueprint. Sephora is capitalizing on the “Sephora Kids” trend by offering products that are parent-approved but tween-validated. It’s a masterful demonstration of how to harness creator power and community-led product development to win the next generation of consumers. Not to mention it’s a massive stamp of approval from Sephora to embrace its newfound status within Gen Alpha’s minds, even at the expense of alienating older and well paid customers who want child-free beauty spaces.

📚 TT BOOK REC: Searches, Selfhood in the Digital Age

Vauhini Vara’s sharp non-fiction is required reading for anyone struggling to define their identity when technology feels like an extension of the self. This book is a journalist’s smart, funny, and occasionally neurotic inquiry into how our deepest human desire—the search for self-understanding and connection—has been simultaneously fulfilled and ruthlessly exploited by the giants of Big Tech. Vara masterfully blends journalistic rigor with deeply felt vulnerability, making the theoretical critique feel acutely personal.

Part memoir, part manifesto, and part chilling conversation with a chatbot, the book is a profound and essential reflection for our time. While some literary critics noted that the pure AI sections could feel occasionally diffuse, Vara’s core personal writing—her search for truth, meaning, and a sense of self in a sea of algorithms—is powerful, singular, and exactly the intellectual fodder your book club needs. This is the definitive text on the cost of living a truly digital life.

🐀 TT’S TIKTOK GIRL OF THE MOMENT

Niche NYC: Want to feel like an authentic, low-key NYC weird girl? Find @itsthaovy on TikTok. Her content is a beautiful, analog escape—she’s got the perfect blend of existential humor, niche style, and effortless cool that makes you remember what the internet was like before the algorithm tried too hard. Go follow.

@itsthaovypov: hang out with me after work to avoid bedrotting 🐀 learning how to fish for the first time today :) #dayinthelife #vlog #nyc #softwareengineer #womenintech

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🧠 CULTURE CANDY (links to make you cool to talk to)

1. Am I in an Intellectual Gap Relationship? - A fascinating read on the intelligence gap and how unequal mental workloads might be the latest invisible killer of modern romance.

2. The FARE Act: What’s the Fair Price of Allergen Safety? -A new California law mandates extreme allergen transparency, but restaurant owners are calling the compliance costs too high a price to pay.

3. Unraveling the System: The Quiet Revolution Happening in Knitting Circles -Forget the angry tweets. The most potent political power is being woven one stitch at a time.

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   🖤 UNTIL NEXT TIME...

   The house of Gucci is in freefall, Saudi Arabia is betting big on culture, and the United States is becoming an aging empire. You? You’re watching it all and probably shopping for solar panels.

   xx Jenn,
   Thoughtful Threads
   Your URL safe space for good taste and smart takes

   ---

   Enjoying the Thoughtful Threads newsletter? Please consider the following:

   • Giving this post a 💜 and sharing it with any other aesthetic over-thinkers you know!

   • Joining the party over on TikTok and Instagram (a work in progress but we’ll get there!)

   • Joining this community as a paid subscriber which helps support my work for less than a large coffee (or a one time coffee treat is fine!)

   • Sharing any interesting info/topics of interest/pictures of your furbabies to hithoughtfulthreads@gmail.com

   Disclaimer

   Some of the links in this newsletter may be affiliate links. This means that if you make a purchase through these links, I may earn a small commission at no additional cost to you. I only recommend products or services that I personally believe will add value to my subscribers. Your support helps keep this newsletter running and allows me to continue providing valuable content. Thank you for your support!

🌶 THE GIST OF IT

Welcome to your biweekly roundup of all the contemporary cool girl news that’s fit to print. We’re breaking down fashion publishing’s newest heir to the throne, China’s EV takeover and so much more.

Also inside: how influencers tanked a new restaurant with the power of the internet and a book rec with a whodunnit mystery storyline about gentrification that oddly doubles as a romcom.

Let’s go.

Subscribe now

💸 Saks Global’s $600M Lifeline: Luxury is Still in Style (If It Evolves)

Saks Global just secured a major $600M cash infusion, led by Amazon and private equity firm Insight Partners. (Lest we forget that Jeff Bezos has wanted to be in fashion for a long time now, oddly. Buying Shopbop hasn’t done it for him but I guess having a Sak’s Fifth storefront on Amazon will?). That kind of money signals not just survival, but an aggressive digital transformation play. Saks has been quietly building out a stronger e-commerce platform, and this new round of funding hints at more tech, more data, and maybe fewer underperforming stores. The luxury customer of 2025 isn’t shopping like she used to, and Saks knows it. Less is more, but faster is everything.

This isn’t just a retail story—it’s a relevance one. Saks has the name recognition, but not the cultural cachet it once did. And agreeing to buy out Neiman Marcus, which had an even staler reputation certainly didn’t help. (Shameless plug: I’ve talked about the business blunders of Saks in this podcast episode.) Compare that to, say, Loewe or Jacquemus, who thrive on narrative. If Saks can figure out how to make “American department store” mean something in a TikTok universe—while staying rooted in elevated, personal service—they might just earn a place in Gen Z’s fashion psyche. And if not? There’s always Amazon’s logistics.

👑 Chloe Malle’s Vogue: Make Print Great Again

So, it’s official….the reigning queen of Conde Nast is stepping down (sorta) as the editor in chief of US Vogue—and she’s appointed an heir. Chloe Malle is stepping into the Vogue Editor-at-Large seat (still reporting to Anna though….) with the kind of energy that signals change—not chaos, but thoughtful evolution. Known for her writing and podcasting, Malle brings a deep curiosity about culture beyond couture. She’s aiming for a Vogue that doesn’t just show beautiful things—it explains why they matter. Less polished perfection, more textured storytelling. Less whispering from the front row, more dialogue from the floor seats. Chloe is reportedly already toying with the idea that Vogue may scale back from being a monthly print so that they can tell more in depth, compelling stories and produce more compelling editorials. Personally? All my favorite magazines are quarterlies at this point and I do think that the future of most serious print media is on a quarterly basis at least.

What’s especially promising is her focus on quality—not just on the surface, but in the decision-making. She’s already talking about harkening back to a time when people poured over the pages of their magazines and treated them like mini heirlooms. Honestly? I’d be lying if I said I don’t think she’s got the right idea. (Even if she does like to dress like Eva Braun.)

And speaking of making print great again……

🗞 The Onion’s Print Revival: Satire Sells (IRL)

You didn’t hallucinate that headline—The Onion is printing a limited-edition physical newspaper. And people are buying it. What started as a one-off satirical stunt has turned into a surprising retail moment. In a time when media brands are cutting print left and right, The Onion's move suggests something deeper: that we still crave tangible culture, and that scarcity in print—if done right—can feel like luxury.

This isn’t just about satire. It’s about identity. Print is becoming the new vinyl: analog, aesthetic, and symbolic. When you buy a niche zine or limited-edition paper, you’re not just reading—it’s a flex, a point of view. You’re saying: I value slowness. I like to hold what I consume. And this media is important enough in my world that I’m willing to pay for it. And in a world that’s algorithmically flattened everything? That tactile intimacy is worth something.

🔋 China’s EV Takeover: The Quiet Power Move (of Many)

While the U.S. (pretends climate change isn’t real) and Europe debates charging infrastructure and emissions targets, China has quietly built a global EV empire. In just a few years, Chinese electric vehicle makers like BYD have gone from local players to global threats—offering stylish, affordable models that compete on both performance and price. Think I’m overselling it? Well, get this: Chinese EV maker BYD entered the Australian car market (where they are not punished with high tariffs) in 2022 and now represents 14% of all EV sales there. And it’s not just about the cars; it’s about the ecosystem. China controls massive portions of the lithium battery supply chain and production capacity, giving it a nearly unshakable advantage.

This isn’t just about transportation—it’s about the future of manufacturing, trade, and even geopolitical influence. If China becomes the EV supplier to the world, it also controls the next phase of automotive design and energy policy. The West is responding, but very slowly. And in luxury? Expect to see more “Made in China” on high-end wheels, whether we admit it or not. Think about the American CEO of Ford Motors, who bypassed laws to make a Chinese EV his daily driver under the guise of “competitive analysis”.

Moral of the story: You can’t compete where you don’t compare. And the U.S. government is full of sore losers.

📚 TT BOOK REC: What You Leave Behind

In the humid shadows of Deep South legacies, What You Leave Behind thrums like a courtroom thriller wrapped in generational reckoning. Set deep in a historic town in Georgia, Morris delivers more than just a legal drama — she gives us Deena Wood, a Black attorney-turned-reluctant-activist who returns to her hometown after her marriage unravels and unearths a past that refuses to stay buried.

The case at hand — the suspicious death of a local Black recluse — should be open-and-shut. But when a suspiciously popular land developer puts a ‘sold’ sign on the recently deceased’s property, Deena becomes curious. And thus, Deena is pulled into a web of buried secrets, stolen land, and small-town justice meted out in whispers. Morris paints the South not as a place frozen in time, but as one where memory is weaponized and silence is currency.

And in the midst of all this legal drama, Deena reconnects with a childhood friend who hasn’t been that much of a friend since Deena’s marriage dissolved and her job at a prestigious Atlanta firm was revoked. Deena is mad but her childhood friend Howie just wants to make things right— and wants Deena to consider that maybe they should try being more than estranged friends. This is not a tidy redemption story. It’s a slow-burn unbraiding of history — both personal and political. Deena’s fight is not just for justice, but for the soul of a town that taught her to survive by forgetting. And as the legal tension mounts, the real trial becomes the one inside Deena herself: Who was she before she left, and who does she have to become to make things right for the people in her hometown?

Read it because: if A Time to Kill had a child with The Vanishing Half, and that child grew up listening to NPR beneath Spanish moss, it would be What You Leave Behind — a novel that reminds us some legacies aren’t inherited, they’re demanded.

🧠 CULTURE CANDY (links to make you cool to talk to)

1. The Wine Bar Closure That Says Everything About Modern SF. -Wine bar meets influencer saga meets small business heartbreak. A beautifully messy microcosm of Gen Z gentrification, social capital, and the economics of taste in one SF block.

2. Coach’s Coffee Shop Empire -Coach isn’t just selling bags anymore—they’re selling lifestyle. Enter the café-as-retail-model era. Question is: is this a genius brand move, or just another vibe chase? (Shameless plug: we dissected the rise of lifestyle activations from fashion brands here)

3. The Next Frontier For Tech Is Your Face- After blazing the trail (and flatlining) for smart eyewear, Google is betting that it’ll be better the second time around.

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   🖤 UNTIL NEXT TIME...

   The fashion girls are cosplaying as feudal serfs, China is running laps around the developed world, and print media still has a home. You? You’re watching it all and probably learning a little Mandarin.

   xx Jenn,
   Thoughtful Threads
   Your URL safe space for good taste and smart takes

   ---

   Enjoying the Thoughtful Threads newsletter? Please consider the following:

   • Giving this post a 💜 and sharing it with any other aesthetic over-thinkers you know!

   • Joining the party over on TikTok and Instagram (a work in progress but we’ll get there!)

   • Joining this community as a paid subscriber which helps support my work for less than a large coffee (or a one time coffee treat is fine!)

   • Sharing any interesting info/topics of interest/pictures of your furbabies to hithoughtfulthreads@gmail.com

   Disclaimer

   Some of the links in this newsletter may be affiliate links. This means that if you make a purchase through these links, I may earn a small commission at no additional cost to you. I only recommend products or services that I personally believe will add value to my subscribers. Your support helps keep this newsletter running and allows me to continue providing valuable content. Thank you for your support!

🌶 THE GIST OF IT

Welcome to your biweekly roundup of all the contemporary cool girl news that’s fit to print. We’re breaking down the fashion industry’s open secret, the fall of a cult-beloved retail brand and so much more.

Also inside: how tinned fish got its groove back and a book about asking for what you want that will have you in disbelief til the very last page.

Let’s go.

Subscribe now

💸 “It’s Giving...Experience”

The $55K Fashion Job Listing That Set the Internet Off

When Recho Omondi — host of The Cutting Room Floor podcast — posted a job listing offering a $55K annual salary for a full-time role at her brand, fashion’s corner of the internet had big feelings. The job required in person work 5 days a week, with a heavy emphasis on personal assistant, admin and studio coordinator work — essentially 3 jobs in 1 for just enough to scrape by in NYC if you really like eating at the hotdog stand. Omondi defended the salary, citing the grind of independent media. But for many creatives, the listing hit a nerve. Why does fashion, an industry that sells luxury, still operate on survival wages behind the scenes? And more specifically — how can the champion of ‘pay what it’s worth’ podcasting feel so smug about lowballing a new hire?

This isn’t just about one job post — it’s about an industry-wide normalization of underpayment in exchange for “exposure” or proximity to coolness. Fashion has long thrived on the unspoken rule that to make it, you have to eat dirt first — but Gen Z and Millennial creatives aren’t buying it anymore. With inflation rising and conversations about wealth inequality reaching the runway, fair compensation isn’t a nice-to-have; it’s a baseline. And frankly, if your brand is built on aesthetic excellence and intellectual discourse, shouldn't that extend to how you pay your team?

Shameless plug — my TikTok post about this can be found here

📉 SSENSE & Sensibility

SSENSE Files for Bankruptcy — What’s Fashion’s New Business Model?

SSENSE, the Montreal-based e-comm darling that made indie luxury shopping feel like an aesthetic experience, has filed for bankruptcy. Despite a massive cultural footprint — it was the place to buy Wales Bonner, Margiela Tabis, and obscure Korean designers — the business couldn’t keep pace with its ambitions. The problem? A mixed one: U.S. tariffs that are strangling profits, a lender eager to pull the plug, and a digital retail environment that trained the customer to only buy on sale. You can’t disrupt an industry if your burn rate is doing the actual burning.

The fall of SSENSE points to a larger reckoning in fashion retail. Moving forward, fashion businesses may need to return to a slower, steadier model that prioritizes margin over market share. In other words: it’s time to grow smart, not just big. And also, be very slow to move into brick and mortar retail just for the prestige of saying your brand has a ‘flagship’.

💄 Anastasia’s Arch Is Falling

ABH Might Be the Next Beauty Brand to Go Bust

Anastasia Beverly Hills, the brand that quite literally shaped the Instagram brow era, is rumored to be in financial trouble. Once a ride-or-die label for beauty YouTubers and Sephora stans alike, ABH has seen declining sales and cultural relevance over the past few years. A recent delinquent payment to creditors after a forbearance agreement has led the company’s credit rating to drop to a shockingly low ‘D’ grade. Their attempt to pivot with buzzy palettes and celebrity collabs didn’t quite hit — and now, with Morphe, Becca, and Bite Beauty already shuttered or absorbed, the question is whether ABH can escape the same fate.

The beauty industry is experiencing a correction. After years of growth driven by influencers and fast product cycles, consumer behavior is shifting. Gen Z is skeptical of influencer hype, less loyal to brands, and increasingly values function over flash. That’s not great news for legacy brands whose entire identity was built on virality and trend-based launches. ABH still has a strong name and a few iconic SKUs, but if the brand doesn’t restructure soon, it might become the latest cautionary tale in a saturated, post-glow-up industry. And this might be a cautionary tale about assuming your kids are the natural successors to your business.

✂️ The Forgotten First

An interview from SHOWstudio recently surfaced, featuring a fellow who claims to have been Bottega Veneta’s first ready-to-wear designer — only to be entirely omitted from the brand’s official archives. The omission isn't just a footnote; it’s a pattern. Bottega’s sleek rebranding and cultural resurgence have been widely celebrated — but at what cost, and whose contributions are being conveniently forgotten?

The fashion industry has made a lot of noise about inclusion in recent years, but meaningful representation goes beyond casting or seasonal “diversity” campaigns. It’s about giving credit — publicly, historically, and with integrity. As Bottega continues to thrive under Matthieu Blazy, the brand owes its full story — not a selectively edited one. If fashion truly wants to evolve, then reckoning with its past- including who it’s erased— is not optional. It's necessary.

📚 TT BOOK REC: ENTITLEMENT

In the uneven glow of Manhattan’s gilded guilt, Rumaan Alam’s Entitlement unfurls as a psychological thriller disguised as a chilly moral fable. Set in the summer of 2014, the novel follows Brooke Orr, a 33-year-old Black woman raised by a white, liberal single mother, who lands a job at the Jaffee Foundation — a philanthropic shell for an octogenarian billionaire’s ambition to give away his fortune. Proximity to wealth seduces Brooke: fancy dinners, art shows, career windfalls, and the intoxicating promise that money equals meaning.

But as the reader tracks Brooke’s descent, we see just how fast being “deserving” morphs into entitlement. The narrative unfolds like a careful dissection of aspiration, envy, and the corrosive pull of wealth dressed as virtue. With taut prose and mounting dread, Alam offers a warning: sometimes, the real danger isn't in the world breaking down — it’s in how we break ourselves trying to get in.

Read it because: if The Great Gatsby met American Psycho in a subway car, and both were invited to dinner at the Hamptons — Entitlement would show up as the quietly unsettling host, making you question whether the real villain is glitz or greed.

🧠 CULTURE CANDY (links to make you cool to talk to)

1. AI as Your Intern? Creators Say Yes. -Influencers are giving AI the boring tasks so they can get back to being brilliant. Efficient or the slow burn to a smooth brain?

2. Beauty’s New Frontier? Professional sports. -This deep dive explores how WNBA stars and Topicals are redefining brand deals for a new kind of audience.

3. Fishwife Is the It-Girl of Tinned Fish. -Becca Millstein’s DTC seafood brand is a case study in branding with flavor.

   ---

🖤 UNTIL NEXT TIME...

The fashion girls are unionizing, the beauty girls are pivoting, and the finance bros are branding themselves on TikTok. You? You’re watching it all and moving gracefully.

xx Jenn,
Thoughtful Threads
Your URL safe space for good taste and smart takes

Enjoying the Thoughtful Threads newsletter? Please consider the following:

• Giving this post a 💜 and sharing it with any other aesthetic over-thinkers you know!

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• Joining this community as a paid subscriber which helps support my work for less than a large coffee (or a one time coffee treat is fine!)

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Disclaimer

Some of the links in this newsletter may be affiliate links. This means that if you make a purchase through these links, I may earn a small commission at no additional cost to you. I only recommend products or services that I personally believe will add value to my subscribers. Your support helps keep this newsletter running and allows me to continue providing valuable content. Thank you for your support!

🌶 THE GIST OF IT

Welcome to your biweekly roundup of all the contemporary cool girl news that’s fit to print. We’re breaking down the fall of a nostalgic retail outpost, the rise of a retail underdog and so much more.

Also inside: a book about a dystopian future state that will have you on the edge of your seat.

Let’s go.

Subscribe now

🛍️ Claire’s is filing for bankruptcy. Again.

Yes, that Claire’s — your first ear piercing (and my 3rd as of 2 days ago), your first pair of glitter hoops, and maybe your first lesson in retail collapse. The mall icon has filed for Chapter 11 again (second time in under a decade). Why? Think: inflation, declining foot traffic, and Gen Z and Gen Alpha’s lack of desire for youth centric stores.

Let me break it down (because spreadsheets don’t sparkle like a statement necklace):

• Debt drama: $496‑500M loan looming by end of 2026; interest deferred—but the bill’s still waiting to be paid, and you can’t ghost that

• Store shrinkage: They’ve already started trimming—18 U.S. and Canadian stores slated to close by Sept 7, with a potential 700 closures (including all ICING and Walmart mini‑shops) by end of October if nobody swoops in with cash

• Meanwhile, across the pond: UK and Ireland operations are teetering—entering administration with over 2,150 jobs at risk, but stores still open for now

• Why? Because foot traffic at malls is practically nonexistent, tariffs have crushed profits, and online brands like Shein, Amazon, Temu, are stealing Claire’s sparkle for a fraction of the price and the convenience of shipping right to your door

But don’t count her out yet — Claire’s is eyeing a restructuring plan that includes digital expansion and wholesale partnerships (hello, Walmart and CVS). Nostalgia still sells. Ask Lisa Frank.
TL;DR: Claire’s isn’t dead, she’s just rebranding... from tween chaos to strategic wholesaler.

💋 Ulta is quietly becoming the new Sephora

While everyone watches Sephora drop limited editions and collabs like Beyoncé albums, Ulta’s been playing the long game — acquiring wellness brands, doubling down on Gen Z skincare obsessions, and expanding their in-store Target partnership (ultra smart, pun intended).
The latest flex? A rumored stake in a buzzy skincare startup and whispers of going after Sephora’s exclusive-brand playbook.

Let’s talk Ulta—a retail mainstay that’s quietly pulling a stealth glow-up. Here’s what they’ve been up to:

• Ulta and Target are ending their mini-shop partnership in 2026 (600 locations impacted). Ulta stock dips ~1%; Target’s falls ~1.6%–2%

• Ulta acquired UK beauty brand Space NK — a fast-growing retailer with revenue climbing from £11.8M in 2021 to £195M in 2024. It stays as a standalone subsidiary

• All 1,385 Ulta stores now include “Wellness Shops,” expanding into self-care categories like supplements, stress relief, and intimate wellness

• Beyoncé’s haircare brand, Cécred, launched exclusively in all stores and online

Why it matters:

• Ulta is diversifying beyond cosmetics into wellness, services, and experiences.

• Looks to be doubling down on tech and brick and mortar—with better in-store vibes and smarter digital tools.

• Going global with Space NK positions Ulta as an international beauty player.

• High-profile exclusives like Cécred keep the brand in pop culture headlines.

Moral of the story: Ulta is your cool friend who doesn’t post her wins — but she’s definitely winning.

🏦 Klarna wants to be your bank now

Klarna’s been the queen of “buy now, panic later” — but now she wants to hold your savings account too. The Swedish BNPL giant is officially applying for a U.S. banking license ahead of its much-hyped IPO (the second attempt at going public), targeting a valuation north of $15B. The move comes as what was once Europe’s most highly valued start-up faces growing pressure over the resilience of its business model in the face of a potential consumer downturn.
The move signals a shift from fintech disruptor to full-on banking player. But is the average 30-something ready to let Klarna do more with their money? TBD.

Hot take: Klarna is trying to get in on the neobank moment and all these fintech companies want to replace fiat money someday soon. Suspicious... but intriguing.

📼 The hot new thing? Dumb tech.

In a world of infinite scroll, more people are opting out — intentionally. Think flip phones (no notifications, no dopamine traps), modded iPods that only play music (not track your every move), and thrifted DVD players bringing back the tactile joy of movie nights. If this year has made us question anything, it has made us question the power that technology wields over our lives. Some of us are choosing to take that power back by rejecting modernity and convenience, two of the biggest values that tech provides.
This movement isn’t about anti-tech paranoia — it’s about boundaries. And yes, there’s a certain power in owning your media again instead of streaming what you’re “allowed” to see.
Bottom line: Digital detox is no longer a trend. It’s a lifestyle — and a quiet rebellion.

📚 TT BOOK REC: HUM

In an increasingly realistic dystopian future, Helen Phillips’s ‘Hum’ is set in a world that is defined by artificial intelligence and surveillance technology. One such machination that has taken over this future state is the ‘Hum’, a type of robot designed to help humans outsource every part of their lives — and in true Western fashion, these robots come with a free and a paid tier experience. The story follows May and her small family, with May participating in a study that alters her face to evade surveillance tech so she can clear up some of her family’s debt. With a mother longing to show her children a time before machines and AI were integrated into their everyday lives, May splurges on family passes to the Botanical Garden — a rare green forest biosphere with animals and plant life that no longer exist. When May’s children come under threat, May had to partner with a rogue Hum to protect her children from the technocratic state.

An intimate, vivid novel by Helen Phillips that blends domestic drama with speculative undertones. It’s about motherhood, capitalism, and technology — and it’s really about the quiet ways that dystopia becomes an everyday reality.

Read it because: If Severance by Ling Ma and The School for Good Mothers had a literary love child, it would be Hum.

🧠 CULTURE CANDY (links to make you cool to talk to)

Here are 3 smart, stylish reads for your subway scroll or evening wine-down:

1. Was I Allowed to Grieve My Ex-Lover? His Wife Said Yes. -His wife gave the ex permission to grieve—and it changed everything.

2. Nearly $10 Million Worth of Birth Control Incinerated -When offers to save lives meet political red tape.

3. Summer Loses Favor Amidst Climate Change — Sweltering heat making summer feel like a chore? Turns out, embracing ‘indoors’ might just be the new summer glow-up.

   ---

🖤 UNTIL NEXT TIME...

Keep your skincare stocked, your Klarna tabs closed, your DVDs alphabetized, and your tech just dumb enough to stay sane. Nostalgia’s trending, banks are rebranding, and Ulta’s playing chess. You? You’re just staying ten steps ahead.

xx Jenn,
Thoughtful Threads
Your URL safe space for good taste and smart takes

Enjoying the Thoughtful Threads newsletter? Please consider the following:

• Giving this post a 💜 and sharing it with any other aesthetic over-thinkers you know!

• Joining the party over on TikTok and Instagram (a work in progress but we’ll get there!)

• Joining this community as a paid subscriber which helps support my work for less than a large coffee (or a one time coffee treat is fine!)

• Sharing any interesting info/topics of interest/pictures of your furbabies to hithoughtfulthreads@gmail.com

Disclaimer

Some of the links in this newsletter may be affiliate links. This means that if you make a purchase through these links, I may earn a small commission at no additional cost to you. I only recommend products or services that I personally believe will add value to my subscribers. Your support helps keep this newsletter running and allows me to continue providing valuable content. Thank you for your support!

🌶 THE GIST OF IT

Welcome to your biweekly roundup of all the contemporary cool girl news that’s fit to print. We’re breaking down the abrupt end of a promising beauty brand, luxury’s last hope, and ‘mid’ social media.

Also inside: an iconic movie turns 30 and gets a long awaited coffee table book.

Let’s go.

Subscribe now

🔌 Shutting Down, But Make It Beautiful

After three buzzworthy years and enough press to fill a Glossier tote, Ami Colé is closing. The brand made beauty for deeper skin tones feel special, not niche. Founder Diarrha N’Diaye-Mbaye got VC (venture capital) funding, Sephora shelf space, and glowing reviews. What she didn’t get? A proper runway for brand growth.

This is what happens when a company meant to grow organically gets forced into hyperdrive. Spoiler: it doesn’t end with a successful exit. It ends with exhaustion.

Same goes for Soho House. Once an elusive club for artists and “creative consultants,” it tried to go global, and now you can basically join with a headshot and a WeWork badge.

The lesson? You can’t rush real connection. Especially not in beauty. Or nightclubs.

And (shameless plug incoming) here’s a TikTok from my perspective (from 2 years ago!) about the dangers of accepting VC money:

@thoughtfulthreadspodAmi Cole will be missed in the beauty space . #amicole #beautytok #beautytiktok #venturecapital

Tiktok failed to load.

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💎 Luxury’s Gone Minimalist—and a Bit Moodier

Forget flash. Today’s status symbols don’t announce themselves—they shimmer quietly. Think: subtle gold hoops from niche brands, an artisan-made scent, or a $150 face oil that makes your skin look “well-traveled.”

As fashion becomes less logo-forward and more soul-forward, jewelry (and fragrance) are taking over. We called this back in 2023. See the receipts:

@thoughtfulthreadspod#stitch with @elysiaberman guys, we totally called it! the fine jewelry takeover is upon us #fashiontiktok #trendanalysis #trendforecasting #luxuryfashion

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Even LVMH is leaning in. The brief: while Vuitton bags lost power, Dior lipstick carried the day. When luxury flags fall, beauty becomes the reliable cash cow. Which means fragrances, skincare, and Sephora exclusives are now not just indulgences—they’re the life rafts of a multibillion dollar company in freefall.

This means you don’t need the newest bag drop—you need a signature scent and a ring that feels like an heirloom (even if it came via Klarna).

📱Why Posting Feels Like A Part-Time Job

Critic Kyle Chayka is saying what we’ve all felt: social media is no longer fun. Bonus: we LOVED his debut novel Filterworld so much that it was the subject of a 2024 podcast episode last year. According to his recent BBC interview, the casual user is disappearing, with the collective no longer interested in competing for airspace to share with their friends in the same room as mega-celebs, politicians and big box brands.

It’s giving: fewer curated stories, more “close friends” mode, and occasional guilt for not being a content machine.

I say log off and read a book. Speaking of…

📚 Totally Buggin’ (But in a Literary Way)

Mona May, the mastermind behind the Clueless wardrobe that defined a generation (and at least four Halloween costumes), is releasing a book. Yes, the woman who made plaid mini-skirts a cultural event is finally telling her story.

Expect behind-the-scenes tea from the set, style breakdowns that shaped Y2K fashion before we even called it that, and a firsthand look at how costume design is storytelling—especially when it involves a fuzzy pen and a rotating closet.

This isn’t just nostalgia bait—it’s a fashion history archive, a creative manifesto, and a love letter to dressing like you give a damn.

If you’ve ever said “as if” unironically or matched your lip liner to your mood, consider this your required reading.

🧠 CULTURE CANDY (links to make you cool to talk to)

Here are 3 smart, stylish reads for your subway scroll or evening wine-down:

1. Why Tech Bros Are Firing People While Preaching About AI -It’s not just ‘automation’. It’s vibes, margins, and a serious identity crisis in Silicon Valley.

2. This Brand is Making Climate Change a Marketing Tool -In a dystopia, the horrors persist….but so does this soda brand’s PR team

3. An Insider’s Account of Disneyland for the Elites -It’s giving Ratatouille meets Succession. And no, you probably can’t get in.

💜 UNTIL NEXT TIME...

Buy real jewelry. Smell expensive. Unironically respond to someone’s ridiculous request by saying “you don’t understand..this is an Alaia”.

xx Jenn,
Thoughtful Threads
Your URL safe space for good taste and smart takes

Enjoying the Thoughtful Threads newsletter? Please consider the following:

• Giving this post a 💜 and sharing it with any other aesthetic over-thinkers you know!

• Joining the party over on TikTok and Instagram (a work in progress but we’ll get there!)

• Joining this community as a paid subscriber which helps support my work for less than a large coffee (or a one time coffee treat is fine!)

• Sharing any interesting info/topics of interest/pictures of your furbabies to hithoughtfulthreads@gmail.com

Disclaimer

Some of the links in this newsletter may be affiliate links. This means that if you make a purchase through these links, I may earn a small commission at no additional cost to you. I only recommend products or services that I personally believe will add value to my subscribers. Your support helps keep this newsletter running and allows me to continue providing valuable content. Thank you for your support!

-xoxo Jenn

🌶 THE GIST OF IT

Welcome to your biweekly roundup of all the contemporary cool girl news that’s fit to print. We’re breaking down what happened at Essence Fest, a TikTok creator whose “I quit!” moment didn’t go as planned, and the beauty trend that’ll have you blushing (literally).

Also inside: a book that will make you examine the different ways we encounter heartbreak and a TikTok girlie you’ll wish you found sooner.

Let’s go.

Subscribe now

💥 BACKLASH AT ESSENCE FEST

This year’s Essence Festival of Culture- meant to celebrate Black creativity and community- sparked more frustration than fanfare. From last-minute schedule chaos and ticket mismanagement to panels that felt more like PR than substance, many attendees left feeling unheard and underserved. Not a great look for an event that brands itself as “for us, by us.”

Beyond the chaotic scheduling, ticketing misfires, and what some described as “panel pandemonium,” a deeper issue had people talking: the fest no longer being under Black American leadership.

After Essence Communications was acquired by Essence Ventures in 2018 (initially Black-owned under Richelieu Dennis), recent reports suggest that the company is no longer majority Black-owned, with leadership and operational decisions increasingly driven by non-Black execs. For an event rooted in Black cultural power and legacy, that shift stung for a lot of people and it showed. It brings up a lot of interesting questions- what do you do if/when the ‘best person for the job’ does not reflect the core values of your company? Is it more important for a for-profit business to be strategically aligned or fundamentally aligned?

Trending Tweet: “Essence Fest is starting to feel like Coachella with shea butter.”
🧐 Bigger question: Can a brand still claim cultural authenticity when its leadership no longer reflects the culture?

And (shameless plug incoming) here’s a TikTok from my perspective as a brand analyst about what went wrong this time around:

@thoughtfulthreadspodlet’s talk Essence Fest and brand strategy. do you think the festival has lost its way? 🤔 #essencefest #essencefestival2025 #brandanalysis

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🚨 WHEN GOING “FULL-TIME CREATOR” GOES LEFT

TikToker @Hubs.Life was living the relatable dad-meets-lifestyle-influencer dream. With a TikTok audience of over 900K people, this influencer amassed a large community of people who enjoyed his takes on embracing the ‘slow and steady wins the race’ nature of salaried work in a timeline where having a full-time job can make you a social pariah in some spaces (sidebar- don’t live in Atlanta if you shame easily from being gainfully employed lol). So when he quit his 9–5 to go all-in on content, it turned to out to be that the internet was more-so a fan of the message, but not exactly the messenger. But the likes didn’t exactly pay the bills- and recent videos reveal a man spiraling in real time and doing the equivalent of ‘digital panhandling’.

This TikTok does a decent job of explaining the fall off:

@ivangtvThis is the downfall of hubs.life #hubslife #9to5 #corporatelife #foryou

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💜 BEAUTY TAP: THE RISE OF PURPLE BLUSH

First it was peach, then cherry- now purple blush is having a moment. Yes, lavender on your cheeks. It sounds terrifying, but the cooler undertones actually pop on a wide range of skin tones—and bring out your natural flush like you just got good news and did a brisk walk.

👑 Hot tip: Try it with minimal eye makeup and a bold lip. It’s 90s meets runway minimalism.
💄 TT picks: Fenty Beauty’s Cheeks Out Cream Blush in Drama Cla$$ (trust Rihanna). Glossier’s Cloud Paint in ‘Wisp’. e.l.f. Camo Liquid Blush in ‘Bold Faced Lilac’. Danessa Myricks Beauty’s Yummy Skin Blurring Balm Powder in ‘Grape Soda’.

📚 TT BOOK REC: How to Fall Out of Love Madly

If you’ve ever romanticized a relationship past its expiration date (haven’t we all?), Jana Casale’s novel How to Fall Out of Love Madly is for you. It’s dry, funny, and just biting enough while following three women navigating messy love, friendship, and the quiet pain of being the “cool girl” when you’re really falling apart.

Read it if you: Loved Fleabag, cried during Frances Ha, or have ever stared at your phone like it owes you closure.

🎧 TT’S TIKTOK GIRL OF THE MOMENT

My favorite person in my phone as of late is @elisapeta27 – part internet cool girl, part turnt up DJ. She curates dreamy playlists on TikTok and hosts a (slightly up tempo?) indie-soul radio show from her bedroom. Think Sofia Coppola meets pirate radio. It’s a vibe in the best way.

🔊 Stream her show here and prepare to have a bunch of new songs for your car drives.

@elisapeta27@Lylogold ur music EATSSSSS thx u for sharing ur light 💕🫶 #music #recommendations #rnb #soul #uk

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🧠 CULTURE CANDY

Here are 3 smart, stylish reads for your subway scroll or evening wine-down:

1. Inside the Booming (and Bizarre) Industry of AI Girlfriends - The future is flirty, and maybe a little dystopian.

2. “What If I Don’t Want the Corner Office?” - A stats-heavy treatise on the reality that Gen-Z (and some millennials tbh) don’t care about outdated work accolades.

3. “Want Some Company? Walk Down the Hall” - This article makes the case for living in the same building as your relatives to achieve peak happiness.

🖤 UNTIL NEXT TIME...

Wear purple blush to your next dinner date. Don’t quit your day job (yet). And always, ALWAYS Google the festival schedule before booking that flight.

xx Jenn,
Thoughtful Threads
Your URL safe space for good taste and smart takes

Enjoying the Thoughtful Threads newsletter? Please consider the following:

• Giving this post a 💜 and sharing it with any other aesthetic over-thinkers you know!

• Joining the party over on TikTok and Instagram (a work in progress but we’ll get there!)

• Joining this community as a paid subscriber which helps support my work for less than a large coffee

• Sharing any interesting info/topics of interest/pictures of your furbabies to hithoughtfulthreads@gmail.com

Disclaimer

Some of the links in this newsletter may be affiliate links. This means that if you make a purchase through these links, I may earn a small commission at no additional cost to you. I only recommend products or services that I personally believe will add value to my subscribers. Your support helps keep this newsletter running and allows me to continue providing valuable content. Thank you for your support!

-xoxo Jenn