Capsule #72. ft VENUS GRRRLS

Hiii everyone,

Hope the week has been okay, and happy November to us all!

We have a few new subscribers from Deez Links this week, welcome <3!! Here is a quick reminder of what’s in Capsule each week:

• Open tabs - a few talking points from the week across pop culture and fashion

• Adding to queue - what to read, watch, and listen to this weekend

• Special guest - a cool person shares what’s Hot and Not for them right now

• Culture clairvoyant - a special oracle predicts a future trend

In this week’s issue, we’re looking at the connection between The Substance and the new Lady Gaga music video, rounding up some gorg little cardigans to cope with the seasonal shifts, and looking at a styling hack to make you feel better this autumn.

We also have the extremely fun VENUS GRRRLS here with their Hot & Not.

Thank you for reading!

Holly x

First up…

If you have seen the new Lady Gaga video for ‘Disease’, watched The Substance, or internalised the Taylor Swift lyric ‘It’s me, hi, I’m the problem it’s me’, you’ll see a bit of a cultural reckoning when it comes to acknowledging who is at fault in our problems.

In The Substance (plot spoilers ahead), Demi Moore’s character Elisabeth is continually reminded of the golden rule when it comes to taking the substance: “remember, you are one.” Although the experiment would birth a new, younger self in the form of Sue, played by Margaret Qualley, the two women’s lives are irrevocably tied. When the younger, hotter Sue demands more hours to live her exciting new life, Elisabeth suffers - physical pain, rapid loss of beauty, and mental turmoil. The best scene in the film happens when Elisabeth is getting ready for a date, and starts out feeling confident, before descending into self-hatred, smudging her makeup, peeling away at her own face in the mirror. We follow the impact of a passing thought as it spirals into a strongly-held belief, destroying her. As Elisabeth and Sue each complain about their counterparts to a hidden helpline voice, they are met with that same refrain: “you are one.”

Similarly, in the music video for ‘Disease,’ Lady Gaga battles with ugly, inner demon versions of herself. They fight in that body horror way, much like scenes in The Substance, conjuring rage that can only be directed at the self. She is the disease.

When the video aired this week, Gaga shared more notes on the concept:

The ‘inner darkness’ is the problem, she assures us, and in accepting it’s presence, she’s doing as much as she can to overcome it. The video takes us through a Scott Pilgrim-style conquering of the baddies, all wicked versions of Gaga, and climaxes as one of her evil incarnations vomits up a new version of her, presumably the one most representative of where she is today. The parallels with The Substance are clear - she is one - and there’s no rebirth without that connection to the dark underbelly.

Each of these artworks appears to point in a similar direction, one that admits that we are at the core of our problems and must take responsibility for our part in them, or at least take the rough with the smooth. Like going to therapy to work on yourself as opposed to blaming other people for how you feel all the time. But there’s an extra layer at play, which is these characters’ proximity to an industry or technology that doesn’t put wellbeing at the heart of its intentions. They exist within matrix of growth goals and return on investment.

Although we don’t see a monetary exchange in The Substance, the transaction is felt. On the surface we might see Elisabeth’s downfall as a problem with vanity that could be overcome with a stronger psyche, but such a fall is not possible without the structures around it - the entertainment industry who write her off as she ages, the beauty industry at large, and the new startup praying on the problems left behind by both.

Similarly with Lady Gaga, her return to the pop sound and aesthetics of her earlier work follows years of public lamentation for the old Gaga, an industry threatening to plug the gap with fresher talent like Chappell Roan, and a shifting media landscape that relies on virality more than ever. Your back catalogue isn’t as relevant as the TikTok dance opportunities of your next hit, and so on.

In her long caption ahead of the video relief, Gaga goes on to say: “I am the conductor of my own symphony. No matter how scary the question, the answers are inside of me.” I would argue that there’s a false confidence in believing you have total control - it’s more appealing to analyse your way out of a problem than to accept that the forces that are way bigger than you. Although ‘the demon is you’ narrative appears to offer pathways towards a resolution, I would hedge a bet that the production of more artworks that draw on similar themes to those in The Substance and ‘Disease’ for decades to come show us that the issue is much larger, and makes a lot of money.

If you have thoughts on The Substance or the new Gaga I would love to hear them — just hit reply to this email. :)

Moving on!

The nights are closing in and it’s on the cusp of being actually cold. You’re probably feeling sorry for yourself a bit more than you usually are. Perhaps still fantasising about the good bits of autumn without the reality of soggy leaves and apathy towards plans. That means it’s time to lean into clothing that makes this period feel good, cosy, and chic. The best companion right now is the cardigan. The small, fitted cardi that can be a top in its own right or an easy layer if you need. These references do it well:

You probably already have a little cardigan ready to go, but if not, there are so many good ones around at the moment. A few weeks ago, the top trending cardigan colours according to Google search data were burgundy, brown and maroon. These are great, but consider red and green too, especially if you veer towards neutrals during colder weather. Some picks for you:

Links: Free People (98% cotton), Sezane (74% mohair and Alpaca), Urban Outfitters, Zara (100% wool), & Other Stories (72% Alpaca and wool), Marks and Spencer 

Another way to combat the dark nights…

This styling formula from Tyla at the CFDA Awards this week, in vintage Gucci. You would never usually think about wearing a bright colour under your black lace or mesh, but with some fun eye makeup to pull it together it really works. Like signalling to people you’re a summer person but you can make this work too.

And finally…

News from the Capsule universe this week:

• Celeb Halloween costumes worth seeing: Amelia Dimoldenberg as Roz from Monsters Inc, Kendall and Kylie doing the Lizzie McGuire movie, both Janelle Monae and Heidi Klum as E.T., Molly Mae as the wolf grandma from Little Red Riding Hood, and randomly there were multiple Alice in Wonderland costumes

• Sabrina Carpenter also dressed up during her tour

• And here are some great Halloween costumes from the internet

• A good response to the Timothée Chalamet lookalike contest

• Tate McRae is the face of the Skims holiday campaign

• Zoë Kravitz and Channing Tatum have split up and called off their engagement. Tough week for fans of this post…

• Saoirse Ronan was surprised at the response to her comment on what it’s like to be a woman

• Lana Del Rey talked about new music, feeling different, and love for her Vogue Italia cover

• Charli xcx won the Wall Street Journal innovator award for music

• In other WSJ news, Marc Jacobs admitted he’d love the top job at Chanel

• Ethan Slater said some sweet stuff about Ariana Grande in his GQ profile

• And the Alex Consani Teen Vogue cover is great

This week, VENUS GRRRLS popped into Capsule to share what’s 🔥hot🔥 and what’s not 🙅‍♀️ …

VENUS GRRRLS are a grunge-rock band hailing from Leeds and Newcastle. With twinkling synth motifs to raspy guitar lines, the band has been played on the likes of BBC Radio 1, BBC 6 Music, Radio X, Sirius XM, and BBC Introducing. You can listen to their latest single ‘Darla’ here.

📺 Watching: Small Things Like These, the film adaptation of the Claire Keegan novel, the Rachel Chinouriri covering Fontaines for the Live Lounge, Rihanna’s episode of Recess Therapy, and the new Lady Gaga music video for ‘Disease’. Good stuff!

📖 Reading: This Katie Gavin profile because the new album is so good, this Amelia Tate article on using internet to make us feel superior to others, and also wanted to share this recent interview I did for a lovely newsletter called Awe in Retrospect, which is about appreciating life through the lens of our younger selves. You’ll recognise the list of joys!

🎧 Listening to: Lots of electronic things: Dreamstate, the new Kelly Lee Owens album, the Magdalena Bay ‘Image’ remix with Grimes, the new Two Shell album, and this Nymphet Alumni podcast episode on how our fixation with fitness and athleisure has impacted our culture.

Bueno comes bearing news that may or may not please you. This week, even BEFORE the arrival of Halloween, search interest in Mariah Carey rose +300% as we get closer to Christmas. The Christmas creep is real… Expect offers and a big ramp up in marketing everywhere from next week.

If you’d like to adopt Bueno or one of his friends, click here to learn more.

Thanks for reading! I’d love to hear how you’re finding Capsule - let me know here. And if you have a friend who might like it, do refer them! 🥺

See you next week 💋

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