Nymphet Alumni

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 boardAshley Williams – Vogue Runwayf5ve – 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 Morenoshopbluedream.us and follow @shopbluedream on instagram for an inspired selection PGR clothingMisc. PGR brands: Lovett, OGBFF, OMIGHTY, Poster Girl, I.AM.GIA, Poison Candy Apple, WeedSlutTikToks of girls posting their younger selves to sad songs Accidentally getting a job as a stripper in Japan TikTok storytimefakemink - Easter Pink (Prod Suzy Sheer) (Official MV)Rhode remakes Richard Avedon’s iconic Versace 1994 campaignOG Soft Grunge It Girls: Joanna Kuchta, Shelby Hamilton aka meowshelbs, Erika Kamano fka Erika BowesGwen 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 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

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! 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 (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 2003Druski + Timothee Chalamet hold auditions for Coulda Been Records in BrooklynViral Sombr concert review on TikTok + Sombr’s responsePyjamaMann (Johnson Wen) Anime cardboard cutouts kid (Tobyn Jacobs) Bob Army – Saturday Night Live sketch on YouTubeMetropolitan 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 TikTokCassius Thundercock on KnowYourMemeNicki 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 TimesRyan Lizza on SubstackRed Lobster CEO Damola AdamolekunIce Spice - Big Guy (from The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants) on YouTube 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 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 AnswersUtopian Scholastic – Consumer Aesthetics Research Institute“Understanding the Japanese Influences Behind Star Wars” by Ollie Barder – ForbesOverview 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 TimesCollege 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 TimesProtecting Freedom of Science and Preventing Distortion of Scientific Truth: A Statement of Concern from the Catholic Church’s Pontifical Academy of SciencesTech 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 switchVogue Paris December 1998/January 1999 Discussion – TheFashionSpotThe Price of Illusion: A Memoir by Joan Juliet BuckPrada’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” – VogueVenice W. Spring–Summer 2026: Sparkling Sea (Symposium) 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