Can You Wear Shorts to the Office? Bermudas If You're Petite? A Women's Guide to Wearing Shorts Now.
Yes, albeit strategically. Gen Z likes to style theirs with rumpled tees. Anyone who remembers using a landline should pair them with tailored, polished pieces. When Laurel Pantin, 39, wears boxers 'like a 25-year-old' with sneakers and scrunched-down socks, 'I feel very weird,' said the Los Angeles stylist and mother of two. The solution? Pantin balances the youthful shorts with grown-up button-ups.
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Fox News
5 hours ago
- Fox News
Labubu vs. Sydney Sweeney: The Gen Z culture war you didn't know was already happening — experts weigh in
What do a Chinese-manufactured toy and an American actress have in common? According to experts, not much — except they're both being marketed to Gen Z. Distributed exclusively by China-based retailer Pop Mart, Labubus are viral Monster plush toys, created by Hong Kong-born artist Kasing Lung, who became inspired by Nordic supernatural folklore and children's imaginative abilities to create Labubu and the larger "Monsters" figurine series. Since their introduction to the U.S., Gen Z demand has prompted the toys to repeatedly sell out, turning them into America's newest status symbol. At the same time, "Euphoria" actress Sydney Sweeney has become a culture icon in her own right — representing youth marketing, American glamor and femininity. Recently, Sweeney, who faced backlash for her controversial American Eagle jeans ad campaign, was also recognized by President Donald Trump, who applauded both the ad and her voter registration as a Republican. Fox News Digital asked media and culture experts to weigh in on how different brands are marketing to Gen Z today, and if they believe the Chinese plush toy represents a change in values compared to traditional "It girl" icons like Sweeney. "At the core, Labubu and Sydney Sweeney aren't radically new; they're evolutions of age-old marketing patterns," said Daniel Robbins, Founder of IBH Media. "History is repeating itself. Labubu mirrors the Beanie Babies craze of the '90s: collectible, emotionally charged, and driven by hype cycles. The difference is distribution. Beanie Babies thrived on scarcity and word-of-mouth, while Labubu rides [on] algorithmic virality and influencer amplification. Social media didn't exist then, but now it accelerates niche obsessions into global movements almost overnight." "The same goes for Sydney Sweeney," Robbins said. "We have seen similar marketing in the past. Today, the audience isn't just passively consuming these images; they're curating them, remixing them, and reacting in real time. We now see instant feedback loops — backlash, praise, irony, sincerity… because we're constantly plugged in. The consumer's voice is no longer an afterthought; it's part of the marketing narrative itself." Among the differing feedback loops, liberal media outlets and progressive commentators fretted over what they deemed coded language from American Eagle and Sweeney about White supremacy and eugenics, while conservatives mocked these concerns. While Labubus aren't inherently political, some believe they invoke identity play and "weirdcore." With 2.5 million Hashtags dedicated to the plush toy on TikTok, alone, users can be found changing up their Labubu, based on identity, such as creating "24k gold" and "Pride" Labubus. "Labubu embodies anti-aesthetic charm, messy, weird and emotionally ambiguous — a far cry from the polished beauty and aspirational femininity of Sydney Sweeney," Top Culture/Trending podcast host of The Determined Society, Shawn French told Fox News Digital. "While Sweeney symbolizes the return of classic Hollywood allure and controlled branding, Labubu taps into post-irony and collectible culture where cuteness, chaos and emotional nostalgia collide." Generation Z, also known as "digital natives," grew up with accessible internet and social media, feeding varying possibilities of identities and subcultures — from the "tradwife" aesthetic to gender-fluid fashion and more. These differing camps of identity are what Shama Hyder, CEO of Zen Media, says makes Gen Z "a pendulum generation constantly navigating between extremes." "The Sweeney camp still believes in playing the game of existing systems, in meritocracy and conventional success," Hyder told Fox News Digital. "The Labubu camp feels alienated from those structures and is creating alternative value systems. It's not necessarily left versus right politically. It's establishment versus anti-establishment cultural positioning. Both sides are trying to find their footing in an intensely polarized world." Labubu and Sydney Sweeney aren't "radically new" in terms of marketing. Other examples of how Gen Z is being marketed include MSCHF Big Red Boots, for its "weirdcore" appeal, or surreal imagery, and on the flipside, Hailey Bieber's Rhode beauty brand, for its curated and "clean girl" aesthetic. Hyder says that branding both "weirdness" and "beauty" can work for Gen Z because of how the generation has "cultural literacy." "The Sweeney pole says people want aspiration, beauty, status — things that have always worked in marketing. The Labubu pole says people want community through shared weirdness, success through viral chaos, authenticity even if it's ugly," said Hyder to Fox News Digital. What's fascinating is that both work simultaneously for this generation. Gen Z has the cultural literacy to appreciate ironic ugliness and traditional beauty depending on what they need to express in that moment." While they may differ in appeal, Gen Z isn't necessarily choosing sides, but rather buying both. Labubus continue to be in high-demand and difficult to find, and despite the surrounding controversy, Sweeney's visibility and marketability has increased among younger audiences, according to public relations experts.
Boston Globe
11 hours ago
- Boston Globe
At Jacob's Pillow, Eun-Me Ahn's hologram-enhanced ‘Dragons' glitters
Advertisement In her director's note, Ahn described the symbolic significance of the Korean dragon as 'aspiration toward … truly unlimited potential.' For the premiere of 'Dragons' in Becket, Ahn collaborated with the Gen Z dancers and used projection technology to create 'a new time-space of the dragon, guiding us into a future we have never seen before.' When developing the piece during the pandemic, her original dancers were unable to practice together in a physical space, so Ahn moved rehearsals to Zoom and choreographed from a distance. As the show evolved, seven Korean dancers joined the production, and Ahn worked holograms of the original dancers into the piece, projecting them alongside the live performers throughout the show. Advertisement "Dragons" by Eun-Me Ahn was performed twice during week six at Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival. Jean Marie Chabot. For Ahn's choreography, behind a translucent fabric projection screen, the Duke's stage was lined with giant silver foil springs that resemble HVAC tubing. One shiny tube snaked out beyond the rest, and Ahn floated onto stage in a sparkling empire-waist gown reminiscent of the traditional Korean Hanbok. Two short sticks dangling little rainbow ribbons jutted out of her fluffy hat like antennas. She began rhythmic vocalizations, as a bare-chested dancer wearing a black skirt kicked and flipped through the air to the beat of her accompaniment. Although she won't return to the stage until the end of the piece, Ahn started the show with a playful unpredictability that persisted through the piece. Ahn's choreography is distinct in its athletic and detailed blend of traditional Korean and pan-Asian dance techniques with contemporary dance forms and sensibilities. It is also a spectacle. In addition to the textured, undulating set, Ahn designed 150 costume pieces — there seemed to be a costume change nearly every other minute — that outfitted dancers in skirts and dresses that became increasingly elaborate over the 75-minute performance. Later, after leaping through the air with sweeping kicks, a dancer in an impossibly long black dress careened to the floor, then sprang back to their feet. They snapped the hem of their skirt to the floor with a flourish, and thousands of light specks exploded from the ground beneath them. Dancers moved about inside digitally created soap bubbles, images of clouds drifted across the stage, and rainbows formed on glistening circle skirts. For the most part, the dance and digital art enhanced each other, but a few moments that used the scrim as a video screen without live dancers onstage felt gratuitous. An extended montage of dramatic underwater portraits demonstrated the exceptional image quality the theater's projectors can produce, but was far less compelling than the charismatic dancers that had leapt weightlessly moments before. Advertisement A dance with a digitally created "bubble" in "Dragons" by Eun-Me Ahn. Jean Marie Chabot Over the course of the night, the audience learned quite a bit about the virtual dancers through audio recordings accompanied by projected subtitles — who they are, why they started dancing, and their hopes for the future — but gained no insight into the identities of the spectacular performers in the room with us. It conjured a sense of memorial for the isolation of lockdown, but left the current company's identity anonymous. The technical demands of this maximalist production included quick shifts of light, expertly mapped and timed projections, and numerous props along with the outfit changes. Wednesday's opening performance appeared seamless — thanks to the Pillow's Director of Technical Production Jason Wells and crew. The ever-changing costumes, lights, and projections contributed more style than substance, but the result was whimsical and eye-catching. Toward the show's end, in an especially beautiful moment, the live dancers sat downstage with their legs folded beneath them. Between each performer was an original dancer's hologram. With elbows folded, the dancers moved their arms decisively and slowly unfurled their hands. Bringing palms to thighs: slap-slap-slap, clap-clap-clap — everyone moved in perfect unison. The piece was a perfect showcase for the spectacular new Advertisement One foot stands on tradition, the other on innovation — just like Eun-Me Ahn. DRAGONS At Jacob's Pillow's Doris Duke Theatre, Becket, July 30 Sarah Knight can be reached at sarahknightprojects@
Vogue
11 hours ago
- Vogue
The Wednesday Addams Way to Do Street Style
Our favorite fictional goth girl, Wednesday Addams, has finally returned to our screens for the second season of Wednesday. In character, actress Jenna Ortega either wears her black and gray pinstriped uniform or a leather get-up, and in real life she's adopted a similarly moody color scheme. At the Christian Dior spring 2025 couture show in January, the Gen Z star sported a monochromatic blazer-and-shorts ensemble accessorized with leather opera gloves and sunglasses, serving a Wednesday level of intensity. Scroll through for the best Wednesday Addams–inspired looks in street style below. Paris, spring 2023 ready-to-wear Photographed by Phil Oh
