Nymphet Alumni

In this episode, the ladies welcome America’s favorite game show host Ben Mora for a survey of the interior design landscape among Millennials and Gen Z. They discuss how bedroom stratigraphy reveals the history of interior design fads, the never-ending influence of the long ‘90s, the tyranny of mid-century modern, blackout curtain pleasure caves, Pinterest boards, the housing crisis, various gay predispositions, and more!

Interior Motives

Seeking Derangements

Ben’s profile in New York magazine!!

Printed out Pinterest Moodboard TikToks

$4,300 in missing rugs, online shame, 7 hours in NYPD custody: A stooping story

Samantha Wynn Greenstone (girl who married a gay guy and had a baby)

BBL Arab Gays

Tasteslop by Nemesis

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In this edition of Study Break, we go deep on Sombr’s ED summer track “My Body Isn’t Ready,” make the case for Obsession star Inde Navarette as this generation’s Dead Wife Montage Stacy, and extol Erling Haaland’s universal Homo Erectus charm. We also assess Olivia Rodrigo’s and Gracie Abrams’ claims to girl-loserdom and the influence of children’s literature on men’s fashion week.

Links:

sombr - My Body Isn’t Ready (official video)

James Blunt - You’re Beautiful (official video)

James Blunt’s 13 most savage tweets

Olivia Rodrigo - honeybee

Olivia Rodrigo addresses the “baby boy, honeybee” allegations

Olivia Rodrigo - the cure (official video)

Gracie Abrams - Look at My Life (official video)

Gracie Abrams - Daughter From Hell album art

Grace Abrams - The Secret of Us album art

Dior Men’s Spring 2027 Ready-to-Wear Collection

Celine Men’s Spring 2027 Ready-to-Wear Collection

Prada Men’s Spring 2027 Ready-to-Wear Collection

Worldpeace DMT - Love Yourself (official video)

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In this solo minisode, Sam enters the wilderness of mirrors to unpack Michael Jackson: child star, King of Pop, fairy-tale monster, walking logo, and one of the strangest cultural phenomena of the 20th century. Using Margo Jefferson, Wendy Lesser, Mark Fisher, Foucault, Bakhtin, Peter Pan, The Little Prince, Shirley Temple, Diana Ross, Elizabeth Taylor, Bob Fosse, P.T. Barnum, Neverland Ranch, pork pie hats, patent leather shoes, and white spats, Sam pursues Michael as a figure of inversion: the child who was an adult, the adult who became a child, the Black man who became white, the man who became a woman, the innocent who became the guilty. Along the way, she considers the glamour and horror of child stardom, the maternal diva archive, the carnivalesque body, the freakshow of Wacko Jacko, and why Michael’s legacy remains endlessly unresolved.

Stargirl’s 100th episode, we love you Emma <3

On Michael Jackson by Margo Jefferson

On Michael Jackson, with Shannon Taggart by Weird Studies

The Resistible Demise of Michael Jackson, edited by Mark Fisher

His Other Half: Men Looking at Women Through Art by Wendy Lesser

Moonwalk: A Memoir by Michael Jackson

The Autobiography of PT Barnum by PT Barnum

Rabelais and His World by Mikhail Bakhtin

r/LeavingNeverlandHBO

My Family, The Jacksons by Katherine Jackson

Michael Jackson’s Interview in Gold Girl Magazine, 2002

Michael Jackson - Thriller (Original)

Who’s Loving You - The Jackson 5 on The Ed Sullivan Show

Interview with Suzanne de Passe, Motown Costume Designer

Human Nature, Wembley ‘88 - Michael Jackson

Michael Jackson’s This Is It

Sylvester Stallone on Michael Jackson

Bob Fosse, The Little Prince, and Michael Jackson

The Little Prince

MJ Productions’s Letter to The Little Prince

Marianne Williamson officiates Elizabeth Taylor’s wedding to Larry Fortensky

Elizabeth Taylor surprises Michael Jackson with an elephant

Abnormals, Freaks, and Michael Jackson: Foucault, Baldwin the Truth of the Grotesque by Brad Elliott Stone

Nymphet Alumni’s Ep. 157: American Freakshow

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In this episode, we kick off the summer by denominating a colorful attitude toward dress manifesting bicoastally. Epitomized by brands like Emily Dawn Long, Brooke Callahan, and Cleo Camp, Crayola Casual is the funky counterpart to freaky minimalism— accessory agnostic, anti-synthetic, built around hot saturated colors and the art of the easy-on easy-off. We review this aesthetic’s historical antecedents, from fluid disco formalwear of the 70s (Halston, Stephen Burrows) to globalist chic sportswear of the 80s (Esprit, United Colors of Benetton). We also discuss Downtown New York’s Maryam Nassir Zadeh as the missing link, classics of rainbow urbanism including Sesame Street and the Vignelli Subway Map, our predictions for an aerobics renaissance, and the creative exuberance of a season of parades, pop-ups, and pennants.

Links:

Image board

Cleo Camp

Brooke Callahan

Emily Dawn Long

Rummage Stretch

“Vintage Sportswear Will Crush Your Alo Yoga Sets” by Liana Satenstein for Neverworns

Allegra Samsen on Instagram

Ventriloquist Sophie Becker for Paloma Wool

“The Accidental Trendsetter” by Emilia Petrarca in The New York Times (Emily Dawn Long profile)

“The Sisterhood of the Unraveling Pants” by Sarah Shapiro in Puck (on the rise of the easy pant)

“The Sexy Sincerity of Maryam Nassir Zadeh” by Rachel Tashjian in Harper’s Bazaar

“How Does Maryam Nassir Zadeh Stay in Business?” by Madeline Leung Coleman in The Cut

“1970–1979” from FIT’s Fashion History Timeline

“A 1970s Fashion History Lesson: Disco, Designer Denim, and the Liberated Woman” by Lilah Ramzi in Vogue

“The Halstonettes” by The Museum at FIT from the 2015 exhibit Yves Saint Laurent + Halston: Fashioning the 70s

“Stephen Burrows, the CFDA’s 2024 Lifetime Achievement Winner, in the Words of 7 of His Closest Collaborators” by Laird Borrelli-Persson in Vogue

“The Radical History of Sesame Street” by Figgy Guyver in Frieze

“The Quintessential Urban Design of Sesame Street” by Anna Kodé in The New York Times

“Towards a Better Way: The “Vignelli” Map at 50” (Digital Exhibit) – New York Transit Museum

Supergraphic Ultramodern – Consumer Aesthetics Research Institute

“The rise and fall of Esprit, San Francisco’s coolest clothing brand” by Joshua Bote in SFGATE

“opening ceremony’s founders on how esprit changed fashion (and the world)” – i-D

“Esprit’s Brand Books” by Jill Singer in Sight Unseen (on Esprit: The Comprehensive Design Principle from 1989)

“From Plain Jane to Esprit: The Making of a California Icon” by Bertrand Pellegrin

“Benetton: Celebrating a Colorful History” by Amanda Kaiser in WWD

“History” – Gap, Inc.

“Khaki Swing” – 1998 Gap Commercial on YouTube

Something Wild (1986) dir. Jonathan Demme – Official Trailer

Excerpt from Bobos in Paradise: The New Upper Class and How They Got There by David Brooks

“Everything You Need to Know About the Battle of Versailles on the 50th Anniversary of the Event” by Laird Borrelli-Persson in Vogue

“Fashion” - The 1973 World Book Year Book

“Yanks Pull Off Paris Fashion Heist” by Eugenia Sheppard in The Los Angeles Times

Big Bad Wolf workout class on TikTok

Aerobics by Kenneth H. Cooper

エアロピクルス｜Aeropickles on YouTube

“1988 Crystal Light National Aerobic Championship Opening” on YouTube

Audrey Hobert live performances: trenchcoat reveal, mini trampoline

Audrey Hobert x Fishwife Tinned Fish Bundle

“Forget Euro Summer. Brands Are Having a Wet, Hot American Summer” by Madeleine Schulz in Vogue (pop-up economy write-up)

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In this episode, Sam is joined by friend of the pod Anika Jade Levy, author of Flat Earth and founding editor of Forever Magazine, for a sprawling investigation into the paranoid spirit of the United States of America. Beginning with the America’s founding fantasy of paradise, Anika and Sam trace how the country’s utopian dream soured into a national aesthetic of suspicion: from Puritan invisible enemies and the feminized conspiracy of the Salem Witch Trials, to the pastoral terror of data centers humming in the American wilderness, to cyberpunk stealthwear, urban camouflage, hollow earths, Atlantis, visions of a lost world, and much, much more. Drawing from Leo Marx, Richard Hofstadter, Adam Curtis, Cotton Mather, Anette Kolodny, Silvia Federici, and Anika’s own novel, the girls move through history, politics, media, and fashion to uncover what conspiracy reveals about American self-invention.

Links:

Anika’s Instagram

Flat Earth by Anika Jade Levy

Forever Magazine

Agens Denis’s A Confrontation: Battery Park Landfil

The Machine in the Garden by Leo Marx

The Paranoid Style in American Politics by Richard Hofstadter

The Lay of the Land by Annette Kolodny

Caliban and the Witch by Silvia Federici

The Significance of the Frontier in American History by Fredrick Jackson Turner

Wonders of the Invisible World by Cotton Mather

The Cultural Cold War by Frances Stonor Saunders

CV Dazzle

Balenciaga Panic of 2022

Lotta Volkova Conspiracy

Data Center Hum on TikTok

Mr. Bean/Princess Diana Reel

The Century of the Self by Adam Curtis

MAGA as Fan Fiction by Gideon Jacobs

Player One and Main Character by Gideon Jacobs

New Models: The Online Marketplace of Ideas with Joshua Citarella

The Gurdjieff Movements

The New Age Bible by Sheila Heiti

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 legendary TikTok creator, Slushy Noobz creative director, and certified #SWAG Dadaism pioneer Chase Rutherford to further interrogate the ideas introduced in our previous episode. We discuss the freedom of default aesthetics and the legacy of normcore, the provocative power of readymades over a century after Fountain, how Kanye anchored the preppy misfit years of Chase’s youth, and how Chase resisted the siren song of LA influencer culture in favor of creative autonomy. We also discuss the art historical impact of Beyoncé and Jay-Z at the Louvre, how Sombr’s personal brand might still be salvaged, and the importance of reframing transient microtrends—from clout goggles to Brazil baby tee—as the significant cultural artifacts of our time.

Links:

Chase Rutherford on Instagram

Chase Rutherford on TikTok

Slushy Noobz on Patreon

Slushy Noobz official merchandise

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 less-than-triumphant return of Euphoria and Sam Levinson’s pivot to everythingsplotation Western, Michael Jackson’s new hagiography and the grotesque legacy that transcends it, and recent fashioncore highlights from the literalism of the Met Gala to the nostalgia of The Devil Wears Prada 2. We also discuss the Substack truth nuke that rocked the indie music scene, Olivia Rodrigo’s coquette comeback, The Drama’s fresh take on the tribulations of female adolescence, and more.

Links:

Suga Free the Pimp on Instagram

Pimp: The Story of My Life by Iceberg Slim

“Why Is Everything So Ugly?” in Issue 44 of n+1

“Fashion Is Not Art (And That’s OK)” by Valerie Steele in Someone Else

“See Every Look from the Met Gala 2026 Red Carpet” in Vogue

Hudson Williams MUA Aika Flores Pinterest board leak

Hudson Williams heading home at 7am following the Met Gala after party

“Abnormals, Freaks, and Michael Jackson: Foucault, Baldwin, and the Truth of the Grotesque” by Brad Elliott Stone

“Freaks and the American Ideal of Manhood (Here Be Dragons)” by James Baldwin, originally published in Playboy, January 1985

Rabelais and His World by Mikhail Bakhtin

Michael Jackson describes his first sexual encounter with Tatum O’Neal (2003)

Telephone Stories: The Trials of Michael Jackson on Spotify

On Michael Jackson by Margo Jefferson

“Meryl Streep and Anna Wintour on Power, Fashion, and Acting the Part” (April 2026 cover story) by Chloe Malle in Vogue

Synopsis: Innocence by Kaija Saariaho from the Metropolitan Opera

Olivia Rodrigo – drop dead (Official Music Video)

Olivia Rodrigo – begged (Live) on Saturday Night Live

“Fake Fans” by Eliza McLamb in words from eliza on Substack

Nancy Pelosi Endorses Jack Schlossberg For Congress

Acquired Style x Swan Beauty Viral Bachelorette Party

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 coin a new term for one of the most interesting creative impulses of our generation: #SWAG Dadaism. Like the original Dadaists responding to the whiplash of industrialization and WWI, a certain subset of young creatives are responding to the vertigo of global instability and breathless technological futurism through fashion assemblage, IP maximalism, and a fearless embrace of all things chopped and random. We conduct a historical survey from Clement Greenberg’s theory of kitsch and the avant-garde to the early days of meme culture to explore page fashion parodists of the past decade. We also get into Justin Bieber and Timothée Chalamet’s parallel #SWAG rebrands, the collapse of the secondhand market and its unexpected creative upside, and how #SWAG exists as the antithesis of refinement culture.

Links:

Image board

Dada Manifesto by Tristan Tzara (1918)

“Avant-Garde and Kitsch” by Clement Greenberg from The Partisan Review (1939)

“The First Meme of 2026 Is About Not Explaining Yourself. And Buttons.” by Madison Malone Kircher for The New York Times

Chase Rutherford on Instagram (referenced posts one, two, three)

Chase Rutherford interview for Perfectly Imperfect

@okniceok on Instagram

@kalebphobic on TikTok re: digicore sampling

Canal Street Research Association and Shanzhai Lyric on Instagram

“Bags, Bootlegs and Art: A Quirky Communion on Canal Street” by Siddhartha Mitter in The New York Times

Ava Nirui / @avanope interview in Office magazine (2017)

“Meet Ava Nirui, The Creative Force Behind Marc Jacobs’ Heaven Line” by Eni Subair in Vogue (2020)

“Go To The Thrift Store That’s Where The Heat Is” on Know Your Meme

@harmonytividad “filet minion” post on Instagram

Middle school boy bar crawl on TikTok

Tung Tung Tung Sahur boxers outfit on TikTok

@twylatoktok on TikTok (referenced posts one, two, three)

@turtlewithhat_ / Izzy and Emma pink leggings outfits

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 week’s episode, we’re joined by critical mastermind Caroline Cai (aka Clairolime) to unpack what we’re calling Catalan Chicslop, the downtempo, sophisticated, quietly freaky aesthetic championed by brands like Paloma Wool and Gimaguas. We discuss how this look evolved from avant-basic dopamine dressing, its influences from ‘90s minimalism to early 20th century experimental couture, Barcelona’s history as a modernist aura farm, post-Phoebe Philo feminist-lite brand mythos, and strategies to transcend the tyranny of chicness. We also analyze the aesthetic’s appeal to women across successive life stages, from 13-year-old Penelope Dissick to microinfluencer gallerinas to mysterious pregnant brunettes. Links:

@clairolime on Instagram

Image board

Relevant brands: Paloma Wool, Gimaguas, Susmie’s Collection, Belle Anna, Deiji Studios, Buci, Geel, DémodéMODÉ

“How Spain’s Indie Fashion Scene Nailed Global Growth” in Business of Fashion

“These Brands are Putting Spanish Style on the Map” by Zoe Suen in W

“Paloma Wool: From Cool to Basic and Back Again” by Yola Mzizi in The New York Times

Paintings by Ramon Casas (Ex. 1, Ex. 2, Ex. 3, Ex. 4)

Paloma Wool’s “San Sebastián 2025” campaign featuring Carlotta Baan

“Studio Visit: Paloma Wool” in Sleek magazine (2023)

“Where Are All the Women Designers?” by Emma Childs in Marie Claire

Chicslop runoff examples from Miaou, Frankie’s Bikinis, Guizio, Jaded London, Revolve house brands Lioness and Lovers and Friends, With Jean, UNIFHAIM - Relationships (Official Music Video)

Crumbs from Penelope Dissick’s deleted TikTok photo dump

Emma Chamberlain’s “i got rid of (almost) everything” closet video

“T-boy swag: Claiming space where trans people feel we don’t inherently belong” by Reanna Cruz in NPR

Note from Alexi: I’m sorry I mispronounced Phoebe Philo omg put your chic pewter pitchforks down!!

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, the girls review the latest cultural dispatches, including the newest wave of attention-seeking fashion week stunts (from Fakemink at Balenciaga to Bryan Johnson lurking at Matières Fécales), the Buffalo Bill realness of Robert Pattinson and Zendaya’s Interview Magazine cover, Tyra Banks’s wacky legacy, Hillary Clinton’s bleach-and-tone, the rise of Wuthering Heights womanslop, and more!

Links:

Fakemink for Dazed

Brian Johnson for Fecal Matter in Paris

Robert Pattinson and Zendaya for Interview Magazine

Jim Carrey Clone Allegations

Alexis Stone Jim Carrey Prank

Punch the Monkey

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