In the first Study Break of the year, Biz and Sam survey the state of the world refracted through the prism of pop culture. They discuss Odessa A’Zion’s wig allegations, the hypernormal clownery of Nicolas Maduro’s kidnapping, Bella Hadid’s blonde hair omen, and the pop-princess perfection of Zara Larsson. Plus: a meditation on time in the second quarter of the 21st century, viewed through the anamorphic looking glass of Hollister’s 2016 anachronism, Cameron Winter’s Dorian Grey agelessness, and North West’s prodigious beat-making potential.

Links:

Hollister’s Tumblr Drop

2016 Revisionism

Stateside + Zara Larsson by Pink Panthress

North West’s Beatmaking Sample

Cameron Winter at Carnegie Hall

Bella Hadid for Dazed MENA

@shop_reallifeasliv

Carnival Time, Hardness, and the Machines That Process Excess by Sachin on Substack

Work-Hardened Archetypes by Sachin on Substack

Venezuelan Oil Explainer in The Guardian

Enhanced Oil Recovery Techniques

Oil Company Pushback in The Guardian

Who is Zach Bryan’s Wife?

Rama Duwaji Profile in The Cut

Previous Episodes Referenced:

Ep. 76: Get Silly

Ep. 24: The Snapocalypse

Ep. 25: America (with Light Townsend Cummins)

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This week, we herald the coming of the Pastel Grunge Revival, a new wave of candy-colored femininity characterized by an eclectic and deliberately unsettling fusion of childlike innocence and overt sensuality. We discuss the style’s influences— soft grunge Tumblr imagery, cartoon nostalgia, Harajuku fashion, sex worker style, and more— and unpack the social functions of age regression, self-objectification, and homosocial fantasy that resonate with young women online. We also provide a brief overview of pastels in visual culture from the 1950s to present, and we explore the myriad reasons why this aesthetic emerged from Los Angeles in particular.

Special thank you to Monica @finalformfemale for this episode idea!!

Links:

Image board

Ashley Williams – Vogue Runway

f5ve – I Choose You (Official MV)

PGR It Girls and Creative Forces Masterlist: Mazzy Joya, Savannah Hudson, Miss Madeline and Chase Icon, Cannelle, ADÉLA, Manon Macasaet, Lexi Kingery, Kennedy Dechet, Natasha Somerville, Aerin Moreno

Shopbluedream.us and @shopbluedream on Instagram for an inspired selection of PGR clothing

Misc. PGR brands: Lovett, OGBFF, OMIGHTY, Poster Girl, I.AM.GIA, Poison Candy Apple, WeedSlut

TikToks of girls posting their younger selves to sad songs

Accidentally getting a job as a stripper in Japan TikTok storytime

fakemink - Easter Pink (Prod Suzy Sheer) (Official MV)

Rhode remakes Richard Avedon’s iconic Versace 1994 campaign

OG Soft Grunge It Girls: Joanna Kuchta, Shelby Hamilton aka meowshelbs, Erika Kamano fka Erika Bowes

Gwen Stefani and the Harajuku Girls (2005)

Nicki Minaj explains Harajuku Barbie (2009) (+ Nicki’s iconic pastel necklaces by ONCH)

Rapper CeeChynaa shows off her vintage doll collection

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After a brief hiatus, the Nymphies are BACK!! In this annual ceremony, we honor 2025’s greatest achievements in fashion and culture with awards from us at the Nymphet Alumni Academy of Arts and Sciences, including categories such as Best and Worst Rebrand, Outfit of the Year, Best Sillyboy, and Best Brainrot Trend, featuring exclusive access to our careful deliberation process. We lay to rest dearly departed aesthetics of years past, and we end the evening by announcing the winner of the prestigious Lifetime Achievement Award, immortalizing one true legend in the Nymphet Alumni canon. For the first time, we’ve also tallied up your votes for the Reader’s Choice Awards!

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In this episode, we’re joined (again!!) by Avery Trufelman, the grand dame of fashion podcasting, to discuss the latest installment of her podcast, Articles of Interest, titled Gear. In this meticulously researched series, Avery dives deep into the history of tactical/outdoor fashion and the ways in which the United States Military and the world of high-tech performance wear continuously influence each other. She answers our pressing questions about American frontier cosplay, the symbolism of the modern field jacket, the innovations behind lightweight tech, and why gear has reemerged as a major fashion language. We also touch on the future of patriotism ahead of the country’s 250th anniversary and the rise of meme-ified military archetypes among Gen Z.

Links:

Articles of Interest on Substack

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 return of press tour psychodrama surrounding Wicked: For Good, the concerning midwittery of the Met Gala’s recent theme announcement, DLlegations in the highest office of the nation, and profiles in infidelity and iMessage confessionalism featuring Olivia Nuzzi and Lily Allen. We also review Vanity Fair’s latest Hollywood issue while reflecting on the bygone golden age of Hollywood ensemble editorials, and we launch a counteroffensive against Sombr in his war on 25-year-olds.

Links:

Vanity Fair’s 2026 Hollywood Issue: “Let’s Hear It For the Boys”

Twilight cast for Vanity Fair December 2008

“Hollywood’s Next Wave” in Vanity Fair August 2008 (feat. Kristen Stewart, Amanda Seyfried)

“It’s Raining Teens” in Vanity Fair July 2003

Druski + Timothee Chalamet hold auditions for Coulda Been Records in Brooklyn

Viral Sombr concert review on TikTok + Sombr’s response

PyjamaMann (Johnson Wen)

Anime cardboard cutouts kid (Tobyn Jacobs)

Bob Army – Saturday Night Live sketch on YouTube

Metropolitan Museum of Art Costume Institute Spring 2026 Press Release – “Costume Art”

Ken Burns | This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von #615

“I Left My Home” US Army Cadence on TikTok

Cassius Thundercock on KnowYourMeme

Nicki Minaj speaks at the United Nations on behalf of the Trump administration

“Postscript to an Open Marriage: On Lily Allen’s West End Girl” by Jean Garnett – The Paris Review

“Olivia Nuzzi Did It All for Love” by Jacob Bernstein – The New York Times

Ryan Lizza on Substack

Red Lobster CEO Damola Adamolekun

Ice Spice - Big Guy (from The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants) on YouTube

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In this week’s episode, we develop a theory of Scientifica, a fashion aesthetic that borrows from the visual language of science, with influences ranging from Victorian taxonomy to Utopian Scholastic nostalgia to legacy science-fiction world-building. We examine recent manifestations of this impulse—runway shows that feel like scientific exhibitions or presentations, references to astronomical phenomena and archival display, and couture idealization of intellegentsia femininity—and question what it means when the fashion world aligns with objective inquiry and institutional knowledge in the face of epistemological crisis.

Links:

“The Universe According to Timothée” by Mattie Kahn, shot by Annie Leibovitz – Vogue (December 2025 cover story)

Chanel Spring 2026 Ready-to-Wear by Matthieu Blazy

“The pioneering ‘great men’ of Victorian science were once attacked for being unmanly” by Heather Ellis – The Conversation

“Victorian Egyptomania: How a 19th Century Fetish for Pharaohs Turned Seriously Spooky” – History Answers

Utopian Scholastic – Consumer Aesthetics Research Institute

“Understanding the Japanese Influences Behind Star Wars” by Ollie Barder – Forbes

Overview of Pseudoarchaeology

“The Complicating Role of the Private Sector in Space” by Victoria Samson – Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists

“Goodbye, $165,000 Tech Jobs. Student Coders Seek Work at Chipotle” by Natasha Singer – The New York Times

College Board Research Brief on U.S. High School Students’ Use of Generative Artificial Intelligence

“Historians See Autocratic Playbook in Trump’s Attacks on Science” by William J. Broad – The New York Times

Protecting Freedom of Science and Preventing Distortion of Scientific Truth: A Statement of Concern from the Catholic Church’s Pontifical Academy of Sciences

Tech oligarch freakshow: Elon Musk says AI is more dangerous than nukes, Peter Thiel’s creepy ahh lectures on the Antichrist, Sam Altman creepy ahh references to an AI kill switch

Vogue Paris December 1998/January 1999 Discussion – TheFashionSpot

The Price of Illusion: A Memoir by Joan Juliet Buck

Prada’s spacesuit design for Axiom Space, “the world’s first commercial space station”

“As Prada Pairs With NASA, a Look at the Best Space-Inspired Looks From the Runway” by Laird Borrelli-Persson – Vogue

“Was Timothée Chalamet’s Vogue Cover Really So Out of This World?” by Jacob Gallagher – The New York Times

“Michelle Obama Is the Perfect Partner in Matthieu Blazy’s Modern Chanel Suiting” – Vogue

Venice W. Spring–Summer 2026: Sparkling Sea (Symposium)

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In this episode, we are honored to be joined by pop princess and fashion icon Kim Petras to discuss the world of inspiration behind her newest project, especially the Fashioncore anthem heard around the world, “I Like Ur Look.” Kim walks us through her formative fashion memories, from aspirational MTV programming to inaugural designer grails, and tells us about her latest archival obsessions, including her special connection to Marc Jacobs-era Louis Vuitton. We also discuss the tension between authenticity and reinvention, the heritage of electronic music in Europe, our proposal for party reform, and more.

Links:

Kim Petras on Instagram

Kim Petras HQ

Kim Petras - I Like Ur Look (Official Music Video)

Marc Jacobs & Louis Vuitton (dir. Loïc Prigent)

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In this edition of Study Break, we discuss the ragebait spectacle of Paris Fashion Week, darksided news from Hollywood featuring Tilly Norwood and D4vd, lives of showgirls everywhere from Taylor Swift’s possible schizophrenia diagnosis to Addison Rae’s vintage scream queen moment to Zara Larsson’s sublime vocal talent, and the cultural warfare fallout of Bad Bunny’s road to the Super Bowl. Sam also reviews Paul Thomas Anderson’s One Battle After Another and we discuss the curious case of Chase Infiniti.

Links:

Jean Paul Gaultier Spring 2026 by Duran Lantink

Cardi B “she was so happy to look a mess” Tweet (Gypsy Sport Spring 2016)

Balenciaga Spring 2026 by Pierpaolo Piccioli

Maison Margiela Spring 2026 by Glenn Martens

“When Did New York Fashion Week Get So Boring?” by Rachel Seville Tashjian for The Washington Post

Ben Doctor Spring 2026

Keith Urban and Maggie Baugh affair rumors amid Nicole Kidman split

Tilly Norwood Official Website

“Hollywood is Already Falling Behind on AI Video” by Lucas Shaw for Bloomberg

“Everything We Know About D4VD” – Billboard

Chase Infiniti’s K-pop dance cover of “OMG” by NewJeans

Addison Rae’s performance in Ryan Murphy’s Monster: The Ed Gein Story

Addison Rae performs “Diet Pepsi / New York” on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon

Taylor Swift explains her song “Actually Romantic”

“Irony and Proverb Comprehension in Schizophrenia: Do Female Patients ‘Dislike’ Ironic Remarks?” in Schizophrenia Research and Treatment

Zara Larsson on Sweden’s Got Talent in 2008

El Chavo Del Ocho (English Version) - Saturday Night Live starring Bad Bunny

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This week on Nymphet Alumni, Biz is joined by journalist and author Marisa Meltzer to talk about her new book It Girl: The Life and Legacy of Jane Birkin — the first comprehensive biography of the actress, singer and myth-muse. The two get into the making of Birkin’s image and the unseen real life behind it, plus how aging, style and selfhood intersect. Also discussed: the horrors of Serge Gainsbourg’s man-cave, Timothee Chalamet as inheritor of the Jane B legacy, and why swag might just come from getting older.

Links:

It Girl: The Life and Legacy of Jane Birkin by Marisa Meltzer (Out now!)

Soft Power by Marisa Meltzer

Marisa Meltzer

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In this episode, Alexi is joined by writer, editor, and dear friend Olivia Kan-Sperling to discuss the aesthetic universe of her brand new novel, Little Pink Book, a lyrical and decadent romantic tragedy set in Shanghai. In unpacking her wide range of influences, we explore shabby chic Orientalism, avant garde florists, Chinese romantasy web novels, baroque bespoke beverages, the emerging field of Wasian studies, the triggering qualities of Clairo’s “Pretty Girl” music video, the possibility of Labubu as a literary format, and much more.

Links:

Image board

Little Pink Book by Olivia Kan-Sperling from Simon and Schuster

Olivia’s website

Olivia on Instagram @dianadiagram

Alexi’s interview with Olivia in Interview magazine

Diane Severin Nguyen: In Her Time (Iris’s Version)

Empire of Signs by Roland Barthes

Molly Tea’s domineering CEO romance receipt promo via Dr. Candise Lin

The Architecture of Taste by Pierre Hermé - Lecture to the Harvard Graduate School of Design (2013)

Julian Castronovo review of Little Pink Book in BOMB magazine

Shanzhai: Deconstruction in Chinese by Byung-Chul Han

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