In this edition of Study Break, in which we subtly celebrate Sam’s birthday, we discuss a variety of women’s issues: the discourse meltdown brought on by Sabrina Carpenter’s chauvinist comeback and her aesthetic shift from pastels and pin-ups to Helmut Newton and Halston; the mass crisis of female reproductive unwellness; Addison Rae’s kaleidoscopic showgirl debut; and the upsetting regression of Sydney Sweeney’s bathwater hustle. We also discuss some boy issues: Luigi Mangione’s lovably centrist birthday dispatch from prison, putting the Guy Fawkes mask on and embracing Redditism, Trump and Elon’s toxic yaoi best friend breakup, and more.

To stay subscribed to exclusive episodes and all the glamour of our premium content, head to https://www.nymphetalumni.com/subscribe and add your payment info <3

Links:

“How Sabrina Carpenter Dream-Come-True'd Her Whole Life” – Rolling Stone

Sabrina Carpenter Man’s Best Friend album cover

J. G. Ballard on Helmut Newton in The Art Newspaper, 1999

Sabrina Carpenter - Manchild (Official Video)

Sports betting based on period cycles

Recent PCOS/PMDD celebrity press: Lorde, Bella Hadid, Miley Cyrus

Nadya Okamoto/August on TikTok

Addison Rae – Addison Pitchfork Review (8.0)

Addison Rae Interview: From $20 TikToks to Pop’s Most Promising Prospect – Popcast

Addison Rae with superstar vocal coach Eric Vetro

Addison Rae – Times Like These (Official Video) (feat. Gio the line cook!)

Luigi Mangione’s gratitude-pilled birthday letter from MDC

Alex Cooper Accuses Her College Soccer Coach of Sexual Harassment – Vanity Fair

Martin Lawrence on The Jennifer Hudson Show (interview flop)

Sydney’s Bathwater Bliss by Dr. Squatch

Sydney Sweeney W Magazine cover story

Belle Delphine bathwater PayPal controversy – Business Insider

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.nymphetalumni.com/subscribe

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In this episode, we oscillate between antebellum steamboat grifters and prosperity gospel televangelists to unpack the archetype of the American con man: a self-made myth-maker cloaked in charisma, uniqueness, nerve and talent. We discuss itinerant preachers, LA hypebeast cyber-apostles, Herman Melville, identity theft, April Fool’s Day, man-on-the-street content creators, jewelry dropshippers, and more, tracing the legacy of scammers through primary sources from 1850s op-eds to influencer snark pages.

Links:

This week on Nymphet Alumni, Alexi interviews Angel Money, New York nightlife darling and visionary of beauty and commerce. Over the course of more than two hours, we discuss her past life as a Tumblr-famous pale grunge blogger, her balance between New Age spirituality and hedonistic abundance, her intimate knowledge of custom Chinese manufacturing, her fashion controversies from cultural appropriation to exotic animal pelts, mad scientist gray market beauty treatments, the implicit influence of trans aesthetics on 21st century femininity, the mental and physical architecture of transsexuality, and much more. Angel also shares her exclusive recipes for a perfect night out—including her precise methodology for a 48-hour glam—and her high-fantasy vision for the ultimate immersive nightlife experience.

Links:

Listen to Money Talks with Angel Money

Angel’s Share – Document Journal

Angel Money on Instagram

Angel Money on Twitter

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.nymphetalumni.com/subscribe

In this episode, we’re joined by the legendary Emily Segal: writer, artist, cultural clairvoyant, and co-founder of K-HOLE and Nemesis. We talk about her brand-conscious NYC upbringing and art school education-by-osmosis, AI and telepathy, the collapse of unified worldviews, and what it means to be a creative director when every pair of jeans is trending at once. Emily also unearths the lost downtown dream of Chumbo and unpacks for us the group polarization and identity negotiation of contemporary parenting culture.

Links:

NEMESIS on Substack

K-HOLE

Emily Segal on Instagram

The Generational Triennial: Younger Than Jesus at The New Museum

Wolff Olins

Matan Even on YouTube

Mother Media: Hot and Cool Parenting in the Twentieth Century by Hannah Zeavin

IDEO

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.nymphetalumni.com/subscribe

In this episode, we introduce the concept of whimsimod to explain the recent trend of pattern-printed and adorably tailored fashion among sensitive indie starlets and Instagram baddies alike. In the process of unpacking this polished yet playful re-envisioning of femininity, we discuss the aesthetic shift from “kiki” to “bouba” over the past year, the history of girly youth diffusion lines like RED Valentino and Blugirl, the current hemline crisis and the accompanying novelty hosiery movement, seminal lady designers including Carolina Herrera and Kate Spade, and more. We also provide a forensic cultural history of the polka dot throughout the decades.

Links:

Image board

“The Power Of Two Claires: Miss Claire Sullivan Talks Designing Clairo’s Grammys Look” — Nylon

“Reflections of Clairo” by Clairo — Byline

beabadoobee — “Beaches” Jimmy Kimmel Live performance on YouTube

beabadoobee slayful Getty Image

Patternalia: An Unconventional History of Polka Dots, Stripes, Plaid, Camouflage, & Other Graphic Patterns by Jude Stewart

“The Polka Dot’s Past Is Weirder Than You Think” by Nancy MacDonell — The Wall Street Journal

Blondita, Lauren Perrin, Ben Doctor, Lucila Safdie

TJ Maxx psychosis monologue TikTok (?)

Miu Miu Fall 2023 Ready-to-Wear Collection — Vogue Runway

Addison Rae’s polka dot catsuit by Miss Claire Sullivan at Coachella

Addison Rae Vogue France cover story

Disney Channel’s Former Costume Designer Doesn’t Get the Y2K Resurgence Either — Vogue

Paloma Sandoval on Instagram

“That’s So ’80s:” Wes Gordon Finds Treasures in a Scrapbook From Herrera’s Past — Interview

“Carolina Herrera: Portrait of a Lady” by Anamaria Wilson — Harper’s Bazaar

Lynn Wyatt's Glamorous Life: Celebrities, Couture, and Castles | Paper Trail on YouTube

@chloyorkcity’s 80’s Excess series on TikTok

Surrey glasses on EyeBuyDirect

“The Enduring Legacy of Kate Spade’s Witty, Misunderstood Life” by Rory Satran — The Wall Street Journal

Vogue’s extremely belated trend report on statement socks and tights at NYFW

“1960s-Style Tights Are Back. How to Wear Them in 2022.” by Nancy MacDonell — The Wall Street Journal

Cero Magazine Issue 9 — Kiko Kostadinov Special Edition featuring our interview with Laura and Deanna Fanning!

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.nymphetalumni.com/subscribe

In this edition of Study Break, we discuss the emancipatory joy of Justin Bieber’s public glow-down, shocking displays of tactical romantic psychosis by girls online, the despair wrought by the all-female Blue Origin space flight, the self-titled musical bonanza of Addison and Jonatan, the subversive pots-and-pans earworm Gnarly by Katseye, reflections on Californian millennialism from HAIM to Meghan Markle, our field trip to Pope Francis’s memorial mass, and more.

To stay subscribed to exclusive episodes and all the glamour of our premium content, head to https://www.nymphetalumni.com/subscribe and add your payment info <3

Links:“Hailey Bieber’s Dangerous Decade-Long Obsession [Reupload]” on YouTube

Justin Bieber e-bike bong photoshoot

“I’m Dating A Fan” by Caspar Lee on YouTube (and his gf’s viral TikTok)

Benny Blanco reveals Selena Gomez used to wait outside his house for 30 minutes before dates

Alexandra French’s “First Glam Ever in Space” Instagram post

Katy Perry Sings in Space, Reveals “Lifetimes” Set List

Levi Coralynn by Elizaveta Porodina for Alla Carta

“The Untold Story Of America's Southern Chinese” (Mississippi Delta Chinese population documentary) on YouTube

Addison Rae’s Elle April 2025 cover story

KATSEYE (캣츠아이) “Gnarly” Official Music Video

dearALICE by SM Entertainment (boy group whose name i couldn’t remember lol)

PSYCHIC FEVER “Just Like Dat” Official Music Video

Encyclical Letter Fratelli Tutti (On Fraternity and Social Friendship) by Pope Francis

Michelle Obama on the Shocking Cost of Living in the White House

Meghan Markle Netflix snarking on YouTube

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.nymphetalumni.com/subscribe

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In this solo debut episode, Sam introduces us to her fantastically anachronistic obsession: dinosaurs and their recurring impact on fashion and culture. From the “Bone Wars” of the Gilded Age to the fossilized postwar fantasy of The Flintstones to the mass Dinomania surrounding the release of 1993’s Jurassic Park, Sam explores paleontological and prehistoric aesthetics as a reflection of cultural anxieties and technological advancements. She also walks us through major fashion moments including Jeremy Scott’s electroclash cavewomen (S/S 2010) and Gucci’s retro roadside dinosaur encounter (F/W 2017).

In this very special video episode of Nymphet Alumni, we convene in Hell’s Kitchen to perform our first-ever mukbang. Filmed the evening after our tiki-themed Substack launch party, we attempt to recover with 30 Chick-fil-A nuggets, two Cokes, two large fries, one chicken sandwich, and six Crumbl cookies. Along the way, we unpack the economics of fast food franchising, explore the theological divide between Protestant and Mormon desserts, debate the integrity of Chick-fil-A’s pickle batter and more. Bon appétit!

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.nymphetalumni.com/subscribe

In this episode, superstar model-actress-writer and certified Tumblr icon Hari Nef joins us to discuss the electric energy of the mid-2010s New York fashion scene— VFILES, Hood by Air, Eckhaus Latta, and more— and the collision of early online content and the fashion industry that birthed some of the most brilliant creative personae of our generation. We learn about Hari’s cutthroat electioneering of the Dazed 100, her double life of uptown collegiate excellence and downtown nightlife chaos, street casting in SoHo and shitposting on the main grid, reflections on a decade of woke ideology, and so much more. We also get exclusive scoop on Hari’s upcoming Candy Darling biopic!

Links:

Image board

Hood By Air – FW 2014 Runway

Hood By Air – FW 2013 Runway

Kalifa (fka Le1f) profile in The Washington Post

Venus X on the origins of GHE20G0TH1K, a club night that shaped the 2010s – Dazed

VFILES Model Files Episode 5: Nodels (Not Models) on YouTube

VFILES Model Files Season 2 Episode 1: Save SoSo on Youtube

“Where Fashion Blogging Began” (Fashin F*gs profile) in The New York Times

Blythe Marks on Instagram

i-D Meets: Hari Nef on YouTube

Hari Nef for the Dazed 100

Hari’s scarily spot-on gay identity prediction tweet from 2014

Enigma (dir. Zackary Drucker) in Variety

@FilmUpdates announces the upcoming Candy Darling biopic

Hari Nef’s Hottest Fashion Opinions – The Run-Through with Vogue

@marcitlali’s legendary amish b***h Tumblr post

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.nymphetalumni.com/subscribe

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.nymphetalumni.com

In our first exclusive episode on Substack (yay!), we discuss the Ibiza fashion craze, unpacking the sparkling, sunset-hued resortwear fantasy that looms over the coming summer. Using our revolutionary theory of “trickle-down Ibizanomics,” we leave no sequin unturned, from the couture treasure trove of Annie’s Ibiza to the injection-molded accessories of Amazon influencer storefronts. We analyze the aesthetic’s cultural context through the Balearic club scene’s seedy history, 2000s rom-com costuming, White Lotus hypergamy discourse, EDM tourism, traditional Indian fashion, the moodboard-to-stimboard-to-vision board pipeline, and more.