CATCHING FIRE: Bloomer skirts, money dysmorphia and straight-to-consumer-millennial-core
Do keep up!
It’s been 16 whole days since I hit you with a round-up so this one’s a biggie. Enjoy!
Trends, trends and even more trends
Money dysmorphia… is pushing some to live beyond their means and others to hold back on unnecessary spending as the mood sours on the economy.
The phenomenon is keeping financial therapists (yes, that’s a thing) booked and busy according to The New York Times.
The overspenders say that their nihilism about the world leads them to wonder what they’re saving for and that’s compounded by FOMO when they see posts from friends on fancy trips or showing off their splurges. At the other end of the spectrum some are forgoing treats even though they can afford them because of financial anxiety.
The report comes as buy now, pay later schemes surge in popularity especially with young people. More than 50 per cent of users of Klarna and Afterpay in the U.S. are under 35. And 60 per cent of Coachella attendees spread the cost of their $649/£489 plus tickets according to Billboard. Speaking of the festival in the desert…
The ‘it’ skirt and hat… Fashion at Coachella weekend one was a real mixed bag with many moaning that few looks were served. I was particularly perplexed by Kendall Jenner who twice looked like she was going to a business meeting.
What did become clear was the emergence of two extremely hot-right-now items - the Aknvas x Revolve Aja Bloomer skirt and the Miu Miu cowboy hat.
Big time TikTokers Alix Earle and Katie Fang rocked the $295/£222 puffy micro skirt, which has since sold out in some sizes.
There were loads of other frilly itsy bitsy skirts on show too, like the one worn by rapper Jhené Aiko, who also bagged the coveted $650/£490 Miu Miu hat alongside actress and singer Teyana Taylor.
And 2025’s hottest Prom dress also has frills… so they must be trending
According to the high school TikTok girlies this $750/£565 floral blue and ivory strapless gown with a tiered skirt from Sherri Hill, is what they’re wearing or wanting.
“God forbid a girl”… has become the expression du jour to describe or justify any type of behaviour in videos, posts and on comments across all the major platforms…
AI action figures… Another week, another controversial trend powered by ChatGPT’s image generator. I told you about the Ghibli craze and now everyone’s turning themselves into boxed action figures or creating their own “starter kit”.
Like Ghibli, the trend was sparked by a viral post, but this time on LinkedIn of all places. It didn’t take long for brands and public figures to jump on the bandwagon…
Again, like Ghibli there’s been backlash about the ethics of using the tech and some artists hit back by drawing their own versions.
I fall on the artist’s side of this debate but at the same time could this be highly flammable’s first merch play?
RELATED: ChatGPT’s owner OpenAI is building a social network and according to The Verge they’ve built an internal prototype focused on image generation
So hot right now
Minecraft… The digital Lego game has over 200 million monthly players and it seems that all of them have gone to see the franchise’s first film after A Minecraft Movie grossed more than $570/£429 million in two weeks.
The film looks set to join the billion-dollar box office club, a takings threshold that only 57 other titles have passed. If it makes it then Warner Bros. has tween boys and teens to thank after they packed out cinemas.
Their enthusiasm for the film has led some theaters to issue warnings about shouting and standing. One screening in Provo, Utah, went viral after attendees went nuts during the “chicken jockey” scene with one audience member bringing an actual, live chicken with them.
CoryxKenshin… who was named by American teens as a top influencer in Piper Sandler’s Taking Stock with Teens spring report. They listed the YouTuber and actor as their fifth favourite behind Kai Cenat, MrBeast, Alix Earle and LeBron James.
CoryxKenshin, whose real name is Cory Williams, has over 21 million subscribers and eight billion views on his YouTube channel where he’s made his name playing horror video games. Cory has created content since 2010 but recently returned to YouTube after a years-long break.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez… after the Democratic congresswoman raised nearly $10 million in donations in just three months. The boost comes after high-profile turns on Bernie Sanders’ Fighting Oligarchy tour, the Democratic Party hitting a new polling low and increasing anger that the party is not fighting Trump’s presidency hard enough.
Going viral
Chinese factories trolling Americans… by telling them on TikTok that high-end goods can be bought at a fraction of the cost if they go direct.
While many of the offers have been debunked and deleted, it hasn’t stopped some from falling for the pitch that they could get cut-price Lululemon leggings, Birkenstocks, Restoration Hardware furniture, Hermes bags and even Tide pods for pennies.
The videos follow Trump’s trade war with China which slaps tariffs up to 245 per cent on goods that are imported into the United States. This week Shein and Temu warned customers that they face "price adjustments" from April 25.
RELATED: Under 29s disapprove of Trump’s tariffs more than any other age group…
The Group Chat… TikTok series, which I flagged in the last Catching Fire, blew all the way up with over 87 million cumulative views of the five-part drama.
Sydney Robinson, the creator and star of the fictional mini-series, broke through to the mainstream, and was even booked on the Today show, after her videos became the internet’s new soap opera.
Need to know
Saratoga water man… grew his Instagram following by 3.7 million in March following his mega-viral and much copied morning routine video.
Ashton Hall now has 14 million followers on Insta and is regularly getting over 80 million views per video there, with one getting an astonishing 365 million views. The post shows him sprinting in a balaclava and sunglasses to celebrate hitting 12 million followers. Goodness knows what he’ll do when he gets to 20.
Time flies… and to prove the point consider that this time last year Sabrina Carpenter had only just released Espresso and barely anyone knew who Chappell Roan was
This week I’m…
OBSESSED WITH
Addison Rae listening to her new track Headphones On on an iPod nano, and featuring the British discount supermarket Iceland in the video
The 19 seconds of new music Lorde has blessed us with
The savagery in the comments of this TikTok about a woman leaving her partner
The impressive flexibility of this diva as she hopped on the “women in their 30s” TikTok trend
The concept of straight-to-consumer-millennial-core and the idea that it is cringe
The guy who brought an oak dining table to Coachella
Jordon Hudson (again and always)
The *effort* that goes into making a TikTok
The people who gave the Fyre Festival fraudster their money
The logic that resulted in this viral Financial Times bar chart
READING
’s brilliant post on Remi Bader ’s interesting take on The Gen Z Resilience DroughtEvery word of The Wall Street Journal’s The Tactics Elon Musk Uses to Manage His ‘Legion’ of Babies—and Their Mothers. The last line is particularly delicious.
Why ‘Dubai chocolate’ went mega viral over at BBC News
The New York Times’ profile of nepo baby turned public administrator Jessica Tisch
The Wall Street Journal’s profile of another nepo baby, aka Mr Sofia Richie Grainge
WATCHING
MobLand on Paramount Plus. I’d watch Tom Hardy read a book and truth be told I’m still not over his exceptional eye acting in Dunkirk.
Bad Influence: The Dark Side of Kidfluencing on Netflix, which details Tiffany Smith’s mission to make her tween daughter Piper Rockelle a star. Disturbing stuff.
Paul American on HBO which sees Logan and Jake Paul try their hand at a The Kardashians style show. It’s, erm, interesting but not revealing. Skip.
The White Lotus finale. Of course show runner Mike White killed off the only adorable character on the show.
Con Mum on Netflix. I’m more astounded that the victim left his newborn baby for months on end than the fact a mother ripped off her son.
GETTING HYPED FOR The Met Gala and how much the guests will butcher the theme “Superfine: Tailoring Black Style,” which is being interpreted as a celebration of black dandyism. The co-chairs list reads like a who’s who of the world’s most stylish men - Colman Domingo, Lewis Hamilton, A$AP Rocky, Pharrell Williams - so if you’re going please please please do not let them down.
BUYING This fabulous lantern hat from Madewell for a trip to Palm Springs to celebrate my birthday (forty bloody six, how did that happen?)…
EATING My first ever Raising Cane’s. The sauce lived up to the hype.
highly flammable is produced and written by me, Rachel Richardson
I’m a content creator, commentator and consultant at Beginning, Middle and End
Want more? Check out Threads, Twitter/X and Instagram. I’m also dabbling in some Bluesky thinking.
Email rr@bmend.com
Love that hat (and pic of you!) Also your action figure is 🔥, natch.
I want your hat 👒