b*tch, don't kill my vibe.

on aesthetics, vibe shifts, and breaking the "easily digestible" mold.

the reference, here.

👋 ! I’m back from the small hiatus that was seasonal depression (this is me now), a mild existential crisis flare up, the general state of the world, and the reality that life is beginning to move a little faster than it has in the last two years.

While I haven’t fully shaped the ideal trajectory of this space, the more time I spend thinking about this platform and its potential the more excited I am to mold it into a community that separates itself from the ethos of so many others of its kind.

Something I’ve been mulling over this week is what the future holds for people who find themselves wondering if they can have a successful, long-term career on the internet without feeling like a trope “content creator” or “influencer.” It only recently occurred to me that the reality is the internet is here to stay and that marketing a product, business, or branding yourself as a business on the wide world web will likely not cease to exist for the rest of our lifetime. Even as part of the generation that watched the inception of the world wide web, this is a thought that comically has somehow had never crossed my mind before. For the amount of “death to influencers” colloquy floating around, it’s a fact that making money off of personal content will continue on, even if Instagram as we know it today eventually ceases to exist. Having a job “on the internet” will in some way be as common as someone who works “in an office.”

After seeing Chrissy Ford mention it, I watched this entire 37 minute interview with the viral wonder Victoria Paris and was decently shocked at how informative it was? Despite not being Tik Tok literate in any way (it’s banned in our household as my partner, Mike, is vehemently against its use of data), the discourse surrounding Paris’ six month rise to Internet fame (posting 20-40 videos on the app A DAY and perfecting the biased algorithm boost that comes from being white, thin, privileged, and living in New York City) is all around fascinating. Whether she’s your “vibe” or not, it’s hard to not be impressed with the business ethic behind her commitment to basically “Big Brother” her life for viral clout, brand partnerships, and a cult-like following, not to mention the foresight to actually invest and save for her future. I cOuLdN’t HeLp bUt w0nDeR — can you find the same kind of fame/success/community interaction without bombarding the masses with 25 second clips from your life and remain truly authentic? And most importantly, can you do it while not being an easily digestible, perfectly trendy niche/aesthetic/keyword search?

The fascinating thing about the evolution of the internet is how quickly the vibe shifts these days. Prior to instantaneous navigation through the virtual world, humans wore the same clothes, observed the same habits, and lived generally the same existence for decades at a time before society slowly but gradually shifted and evolved from a slower consumption of media. The modern-day interruption of this is discussed more in depth in Allison P. Davis’ controversial article for the Cut titled, “A Vibe Shift Is Coming.” In the article, she quotes Sean Monahan, an author and fellow substacker who originally coined the term “vibe shift”:

A vibe shift is the catchy but sort of too-cool term Monahan uses for a relatively simple idea: In the culture, sometimes things change, and a once-dominant social wavelength starts to feel dated. Monahan, who is 35, breaks down the three vibe shifts he has survived and observed: Hipster/Indie Music (ca. 2003–9), or peak Arcade Fire, Bloc Party, high-waisted Cheap Mondays, Williamsburg, bespoke-cocktail bars; Post-Internet/Techno Revival (ca. 2010–16), or the Blood Orange era, normcore, dressing like The Matrix, Kinfolk the club, not Kinfolk the magazine; and Hypebeast/Woke (ca. 2016–20), or Drake at his Drakest, the Nike SNKRS app, sneaker flipping, virtue signaling, Donald Trump, protests not brunch.

The vibe shift portion of this is where I would like to focus attention, but the essay does go on to explore the potential future eras we may be entering and the comment section is juicily filled with haters, hypocrites, and Boomers who just want us to shut up already. I would highly recommend as an afternoon-work-break-worm-hole activity.

Anyways, last night as I restlessly laid awake trying to dissect what has been holding me back from treating this newsletter and its further brand development like a full-time job, I was reminded that even 22-year-old Victoria Paris had better work ethic than me, mentioning that there were days she spent up to 11 hours creating content and managing her brand. (I also now hear Kim repeating the words “Get your fucking ass up and work!” in my nightmares…🙃 ) So what has been holding me back? From previous newsletters, it’s no secret that my self-awareness is both a blessing and curse, my intimidation to post on my own Instagram coming from the fear of being judged by my peers. But it goes deeper than that. I fear that it’s impossible to thrive, grow, and create an authentic “cult-like” following if you don’t fall into a specific niche perfectly curated in some corner of the internet. What happens when you don’t fit into just one vibe?

Generally, there are a lot of things I naturally gravitate towards that don’t really mesh or vibe together aesthetically (example: I love ridiculous platform goth boots with 12 sets of buckles paired with a moody Betty Page bang [me]- but I also love ruffled prairie dresses that I could frolic through the english countryside in, feet bare, face perfectly sun-kissed [also me].) When I look at who I follow on Instagram and the things I re-pin on Pinterest, there’s similarities and then there’s glaringly large, contrasting differences. And yes - it is 100% human nature to like a varied array of different things, but as consumers tied to an algorithm can we define ourselves with all these interests at once and gain interest from the general masses?

I feel like I can easily sum up a decent amount of the “types” of vibes I regularly see shifting around in the digital space I consume. They look a little like this:

• the Lisa Says Gah person, obsessed with warped checkered everything, has a pastel colored wavy mirror in their living room, only wears Glossier, loves Scandi influencer girls and makes necklaces from summer craft sets from Michaels that are geared for 5-11 year olds.

• the Terra Cotta person, who only consumes things in neutral earth tones, likes abstract half circle art, spends too much money on ARQ undies, only lets their babies play with curated beige toys and is often wearing shapeless, flowy linen.

  

• the High Fashion person, who loves a grainy zoomed in shot of an extra dirty martini, casually wears $450 Gucci socks, only buys Bauhaus furniture from Chairish and loves using flash in dark, romantic restaurants for dramatic flare.

• the Sporty + Rich person, who lives in New Balance 550s and mom jeans, dreams of owning an early 90’s Range Rover, pretends to have watched Seinfeld despite not being able to name a single main character and pretends to love tennis despite having never played. Lives adjacent to: the Aimé Leon Dore person. Who is distantly related to: the Bode person.

• the Delightfully British person, who owns the perfect embroidered puff sleeve cardigans, has a quirky cottage style home with striped wallpaper, painted green furniture, and a perfectly cluttered fireplace. They somehow make ballet flats look effortlessly chic and adult.

  

• the Quirky Fashion girl, who wears things that look thrifted but are actually expensive designer, somehow looks put together even when wearing athleisure and heels, likely to have read/worked at/or been featured in Man Repeller, and is often jet-setting around the world to places you wonder how anyone can afford.

  

• Rudy Jude. The Jack of all rural trades, Master of everything. Like, everything. You’ll have to lurk her.

Sprinkle in the drag queens, burlesque dancers, sewing/crafter folks, goth goddesses and American workwear vintage hoarders and you generally have a solid idea of what’s pumping through my feeds (and I would like to note there’s nothing wrong with being any of the above - except maybe the sporty and rich one because the founder is a decently shitty person.) All perfectly curated, perfectly specific, and perfectly consumable in their own way. So what happens when you feel like you’re a pinch of this and a dash of that? How do you build a brand with a loyal following around all of the above? It’s obvious I have some sort of digestible vibe because there’s a reason many of you have followed me to this space. But I’m often left with the debate of whether to buy something or get into a topic in fear it is too wildly outside of an aesthetic that someone thinks is “me.” Mike, having spent his formative adult years in a touring punk band, likes to remind me “there can be no originals if everything is a copy.” Cheesy, profound, but also the fundamental root of what punk was built on.

I often think about the time I saw a mommy influencer mention that she hides any toys that don’t match her aesthetic in a cabinet. At first I was horrified, but then I thought of the slightly terrible primary colors and neon accents that most children’s toys come in and I maybe didn’t blame her as much? But also kids are kids and they need visual stimulation to grow and at some point we need to just fucking let go and realize not everything has to be a ~vibe~ y’know? We are all real humans existing beyond the glowing screens of a smart phone - survival and function doesn’t need to look sexy. Feeling pressure to hide the ugly, messy parts that don’t fit a moodboard has led us down a path of magnified insecurities, heinously horrible face filters, low self esteem, and a lot of other really terrible statistics affecting the vulnerable sides of every generation using the internet today.

The more I reflect on all of this, the more tangents and philosophical questions make my millennial-short-attention-span brain spin. I’m not sure there’s a conclusion that gets wrapped up in a perfectly crafted verdict. It will be my goal here, as I form a community in this space, to more genuinely present myself in hopes I can be a vibe shape-shifter (the good kind, not the chameleon kind - another deviation of this topic), dodging between aesthetics and “eras” to hopefully showcase a smidge more of reality.

On that note, here are 5 things I’ve been digging lately that contradict some aesthetic in my life that make me not want to buy them but I probably should.

1. Vintage Putz Houses (these are newly made, but you can search for true vintage ones on Etsy)

   Holiday Decor is a sub-category I could write a whole other newsletter about. There seems to be an unspoken rule that you *must* fully outfit your home in one theme and one theme only: farmhouse, minimal, retro, or shabby chic - there is no mixing and matching! For having a home that is generally neutral with tchotchkes galore, I have strayed from collecting these adorable vintage houses in fear of being put too heavily into the “retro” category of holiday decor. I am reminding myself there is a middle ground and it doesn’t mean my house will suddenly look like this.

2. This mushroom hat - It borders on a little too niche cool girl that isn’t trying hard but also tries really hard but more importantly I don’t think I could pull it off without looking like a smol baby child. But damn, it’s fun.

Alexander McQueen Spring 2022

3. Likely another topic I could write a fairly long dissertation on, but I often stop myself from expressing my own sliding scale of gender identity/nurturing my queer identity through physically experimenting with masc/femme clothing because I worry about bouncing between the two. It goes deeper than aesthetic but I often get caught up in the surface level bullshit. I would like to invest in a bulky double breasted suit plz.

4. Wanting to decorate my house like this. Because my house currently has white couches, white rugs, and a whole hell of a lot of wood tones. How do I marry this with Leanne Ford’s penchant for plaster and concrete? I am determined to find the way.

5. The Balenciaga Platform Croc. So insanely impractical, but so so perfect. I would feel both very cool and very stared at wearing these. I would also likely twist my ankle.

And thus concludes this likely clipped newsletter filled with many deep thoughts and feels. I would love to know your thoughts, feelings, and questions as there are so many different aspects, opinions, and biases to take into consideration about this vastly expansive topic. Click the comment button and let me know - y’all keep texting me and that’s awesome (it is REALLY awesome, thank you!🥺) but I would love to see engagement on this platform *hint hint*! You’re the best!

Until next week!

XO,
Glenn