Nymphet Alumni

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


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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



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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