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In this week's episode, we journey into a World of Pure Imagination to discuss fantasy, fairytales, and the endless revisitation of children's media. We investigate the historical influences of the fantasy genre, from classic feudalism to Victorian industrialization, and unpack common motifs from talking animals to hopecore orphans. We also discuss the turn to live-action realistic fairytales, the consequences of this aesthetic and conceptual darkening, the effects of AI on the storytelling and creativity, and more.

Links:
Spiritual Milk for Boston Babes by John Cotton (1656)
The Golden Age of Children's Literature – The Literary Encyclopedia
The Aarne–Thompson–Uther Index of Folktale Types
Under the Influence: Anna Biller on Donkey Skin – Criterion
"Chapter 31: Fairy Tales" from All Things Considered by G. K. Chesterton
"Out of Kansas: Revisiting the Wizard of Oz" by Salman Rushdie for The New Yorker
How Wicked Built Immersive Real-Life Sets, From Shiz To Emerald City – Architectural Digest
Willy's Chocolate Experience (Glasgow, Scotland Scam Willy Wonka Event) Script
Pinnochio: A True Story (2022) Trailer

In this edition of Study Break, we discuss the rise of celebrity lookalike contests, YSL's Proustian fantasy films, recent literary scoop on Cormac McCarthy, the extension of Brat into the deep dark winter, and all things Wicked from the uncanny Hollyweird sapphism of its press tour to the inescapability of its garish color scheme in consumer products.

Links:
Saint Laurent – AS TIME GOES BY
Marc Jacobs reading selfies
Emma Chamberlain for Warby Parker
Celebrity lookalike contests in CNN
"Aquarius" from Hair (movie adaptation)
Wicked costume design breakdown – InStyle
Gwyneth Paltrow wins Best Actress – 1999 Oscars
Mr. Golightly's "Who Sang It Best" YouTube playlist
"Cormac McCarthy’s Secret Muse Breaks Her Silence After Half a Century" by Vincenzo Barney – Vanity Fair
Didion & Babitz by Lili Anolik – Interview
Charli xcx Opening Monologue – Saturday Night Live
Jake Paul vs. Mike Tyson post-fight speech
Miley Cyrus on her upcoming album Something Beautiful – Harper's Bazaar

In this week's episode, we are honored to talk with dancer Lexee Smith, one of the most captivating and quietly influential figures in contemporary pop culture. Fresh off the heels of her crazy month of newly released projects, including Addison Rae's "Aquamarine" and Lady Gaga's "Disease," Lexee joins us to discuss her approach to dance, performance, and style. We talk about showgirls, video vixens, Clarice Lispector, Dance Moms, Parisian elegance, unhinged warmups, the Age of Aquarius, insane asylums, and much more.

Special thanks to Death to Stock! Use code "Nymphet" to get 20% off your first 12 months. Visit Death to Stock here!

Links:
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@lexeesmith on Instagram
Damiano David – Born With a Broken Heart (Music Video)
"You Were Meant for Me" from Singing in the Rain
Lady Gaga – Disease (Music Video)
Addison Rae – Aquamarine (Music Video)
Addison Rae – Aquamarine (Behind the Scenes)
"The American Modern Dancer: Loïe Fuller and Isadora Duncan"
Martha Graham – Lamentation (1943)
All His Jazz: The Life and Death of Bob Fosse by Martin Gottfried
A Look at Halston’s Historic Costumes for Martha Graham Dance Company – Vogue
My Boyfriend's Back – Molly Long Choreography
Massive Attack, Young Fathers – Voodoo in My Blood (Music Video) 

In this edition of Study Break, we discuss the double-release of Addison Rae’s “Aquamarine” and Lady Gaga’s “Disease,” Lexee Smith as Hollywood’s body double Rasputin, the “Dirty Cash” effect, the pros and cons of Gay Halloween, the triumph of the Dodgers, Slavic Dolls versus Brazilian Bombshells, and more.

Full episode available here <3

Links: 

Lady Gaga - Disease (Official Music Video)

Addison Rae - Aquamarine (Official Music Video)

Dirty Cash (Money Talks) videos on TikTok 

Shawn Mendes opens up about his sexuality, in a way

Shawn Mendes Interview feature

ian - Sh*t Sad (Feat. Chief Keef) (Official Music Video)

Barack Obama on DeepCut with VicBlends

Slavic Dolls vs. Brazilian Bombshells videos on TikTok

Saturday Night Live TikTok skit

Young Posse (영파씨) - Ate That (Official Music Video)

In this Halloween centennial special, we have the sublime honor of being joined by one of our all-time heroes Valerie Steele, fashion studies trailblazer and director of the Museum at FIT, to discuss all things Gothic, inspired by her seminal book Gothic: Dark Glamour. We explore the aesthetic’s medieval origins and trace its cultural evolution through literature, art, and architecture all the way to the rise of the Goth subculture in the 1970s and beyond, covering Victorian dandies, sexy vampires, McQueen skull scarves, Japanese couturiers, and more. 

Thanks so much to Valerie for joining us! 

Links:
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The Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology

Gothic: Dark Glamour by Valerie Steele and Jennifer Park

Gothic: Dark Glamour exhibition at MFIT on Google Arts & Culture

Carmilla by Joseph Sheridan le Fanu

Goth Talk: Christina Ricci - Saturday Night Live

“Very Mad, Very Maudlin, Very Macabre: It’s Showtime for the Goth Revival” by Tish Weinstock for Vogue

How to Be a Goth: Notes on Undead Style by Tish Weinstock

In this week's episode, we're joined by the inimitable Emma Glenn Baker, NYC personal trainer and host of the podcast STARGIRL, to discuss all things body and the cultural status of fitness as it relates to body, brand, and spirit. We discuss activewear power players from Gymshark to Lululemon to Skims, the rise of the erotic fitness-inspired editorials, the sublime embodiment of Gen Z sweethearts Livvy Dunne and Addison Rae, the spiritual consequences of a life lived in stretchy clothes, and more. 

Listen to STARGIRL, join the Patreon, and follow Emma on IG!

Links: 

“Athleisure, barre, and kale: the tyranny of the ideal woman” by Jia Tolentino in The Guardian

Toxic gym motivation trend on TikTok 

“Make Yourself a Gift” by Emma Glenn Baker in Real Life

Equinox “Want It All” ad campaign

The Official Gymshark Story

“Musclebound” in A Dedicated Follower of Fashion by Holly Brubach

In this week's episode, we define the Pastel Protestant Grandmother aesthetic, a cozy visual universe recognizable to anyone belonging to the American Middle Class, or anyone who's ever been to an antique store in America. We discuss the hypnotic sedation of low-definition media, nostalgia-based commodities from Precious Moments figurines to dusty dollhouses, anti-intellectualism and sentimentality in American culture, the social history of craft, Christian kitsch and camp, the dark side of elderly matriarchs, and more.  

Links

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Pastel Protestant Grandma – Our Official Playlist! 

Anti-Intellectualism in American Life – Richard Hofstadter

Red Hat Society

”The Forgotten Everyday Origins of ‘Craft’” – Sarah Archer 

Cræft: An Inquiry into the Origins and True Meaning of Traditional Crafts – Alexander Langlands

Hobbies: Leisure and the Culture of Work in America – Steven M. Gelber

“Do Protestants Have a ‘Low’ Aesthetic?” – Front Porch Republic

“A Defense of Christian Kitsch” – Paul Griffiths

Gaither Music on TikTok

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In this edition of Study Break, we discuss Mel Ottenberg's new denim line and its adjacent clean boy creepshot visuals, the two-pronged cultural force of the Sweat/Short 'n' Sweet tours, our prediction for Disney adult chic following Coperni's S/S '25 show, Lady Gaga's disastrous Harlequin styling and Ryan Murphy's indelible impact, Dark Brainrot and weirdcore developments, recent cinematic triumphs including Megalopolis and The Substance, and more.

Links:
Club Mel – Mel by RE/DONE
TikTok King Bach Buquen is Hot, Viral, and French – Interview
Sabrina Carpenter's Short 'n' Sweet Tour – Rolling Stone 
Gracie ABramS
Coperni Spring/Summer 2025 at Disneyland Paris
Coperni Vinted Disney merch controversy
Chloé Spring/Summer 2025
Joker Folie à Deux x Louvre – Lady Gaga, Mona Lisa   
Francis Ford Coppola explains the origin behind "Wow Platinum"
Aubrey Plaza vs. Patti Lupone – Hot Ones Versus
Smartschoolboy9 – An Internet Rabbit Hole
Mr. Prada Murder Trial
At New York Fashion Week, Designers Search for America – AnOther

Hurricane Helene Relief Efforts:

• North Carolina Disaster Relief Fund
• One SC Fund
• UNC Asheville Disaster Relief

Full episode available  here <3

In this week's episode, we ascend the great champagne tower of history and proclaim the existence of Continental Luxury, an evocative aspirational aesthetic that has bewitched the palates of tastemakers across generations. We discuss the history of luxury hotels, the evolution of the boutique hospitality industry, Old World cuisine and interiors as status symbols, and we summon a cast of characters including Anthony Bourdain, Nancy Drew, and Keith McNally to unpack the oyster-laden, gold-trimmed, cherry-garnished lifestyle of our collective dreams.

Links:
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Ritz and Escoffier: The Hotelier, the Chef, and the Rise of the Leisure Class by Luke Barr
"Towards a Political Geography of Hotels" by Ruth Craggs
"A Legend as Big as the Ritz" – Vanity Fair
César Ritz: Life and Work by Chastonay, Adalbert
The History of Tourism: Structures on the Path to Modernity – Institute of European History
The Tourist: A New Theory of the Leisure Class by Dean MacCannell
“The Social and Material Life of Colonial Hotels" by Maurizio Peleggio
Hotel: An American History by A. K. Sandoval-Strausz
Home on the Rails: Women, the Railroad, and the Rise of Public Domesticity by Amy G. Richter
The romantic journey; the story of Thomas Cook and Victorian travel
Travel influencer rice farm controversy in The Daily Mail
"The World's Revolt Against 'Bad Tourists'" – BBC

In this episode, we investigate the cultural landscape of the 1990s with the help of a most legendary guest: NYT pop music critic and Popcast host Jon Caramanica. We discuss slackerism and authenticity discourse, the rise of alternative and independent media, the intricacies of subcultural style, the twin flames of rock and hip-hop, the surprising parallels between Gen X and Gen Z, white rappers, child rappers, Tommy Hilfiger grails, and much more.

Links:
Listen to Popcast
Jon on Instagram
Lady Gaga on the Doritos #BoldStage at SXSW, 2014
How SoundScan Changed Music Charts – Billboard
Pop Music's Middle Class by Shaad D'Souza – New York Times
Ice Spice vs. Cleopatra Drama Explained – Rolling Stone