Capsule #29

Hello hello,

Sorry we are landing a little bit late this week! Doing my best Frazzled Englishwoman rushing to get stuff tied up like everyone else 🎀.

This is your round up issue, of course, looking at the fashion and pop culture moments that defined the year. I hope you enjoy! And scroll for your holiday period recs, and a wonderful Hot & Not from Suyin Haynes. ❤️‍🔥

Now for a bit of end of year gratitude…

I launched Capsule this year after having a few conversations with friends who said they felt “out of touch” in fashion and pop culture. These were friends who now have busy lives - 9-5 jobs that bleed out beyond the allotted hours, lots of friends and family to see, lovers to nuture or to find, a tiny slice left for hobbies and exercise, and very little just for themselves. In all of this, keeping up with the fashion/pop culture/internet world felt like a big weight on top, especially given the pace at which it all moves (see: TikTok microtrends, hourly stories about Taylor Swift).

Capsule is an offering for people like you, who enjoy all this fun stuff but don’t want to spend hours on a screen every day trying to keep up. This weekly newsletter should be enough to keep you in the loop and offer up some stuff you might enjoy.

Thank you so much for reading and being here. I’m super excited to bring you more in 2023 🖤

Holly x

P.S. sharing Capsule with your friends is the best present I could receive 😘 

🩲👢🩰 The fashion trends and pop culture moments that defined 2023 🩰👢🩲

FASHION

1. Bows everywhere

Although bows and balletcore were seen before this year, 2023 is when the trend really hit the mainstream. Influenced by designers like Sandy Liang and Simone Rocha, fashion-forward people have been sporting ribbons on just about everything: in their hair, on their bags, tied to their tops, even replacing their Samba shoe laces. 

2. Blokette 

The term blokette (bloke + coquette) was coined by Nymphet Alumni, a fashion intellectualism podcast. The blokette trend refers to looks that have strong bloke elements - think retro football shirts and Adidas zip up jackets - paired with something ultra feminine, like long, flouncy skirts and ballet flats (and bows ofc). The resulting look is mismatched yet put-together, and plays with gender constructs we’ve normalised for so long in clothing. 

3. From cowboy boots to biker boots

If last year was the year cowboy boots really hit the mainstream, this year they were overtaken by the biker boot. Identifiable by the ring harness and square toe, they are usually black or brown and shine with skirts and shorts. 

4. Underwear as outerwear

This trend hasn’t quite cut through the mainstream, but in celebrity world, swapping out trousers or skirts for a chic brief has been all the rage this year. Paired with tights in cooler climes and a bare leg in the summer, we’ve seen a mix of on the nose cotton briefs, embellished sequin numbers, or luxury fine knits (a là Miu Miu). Advocates of the look include Emma Chamberlain, Hailey Bieber, Kylie Jenner, Camila Mendes, Emma Corrin, and Bella Hadid. 

5. Skirts over trousers 

Y2K remains, and after years of posting the meme of Ashley Tisdale, the trend finally returned. Seen either with jeans or a tailored trouser of the same colour, this year normalised even the most divisive of the 2000s trends. Fashionistas added a skinny scarf, leg warmers, and a shirt and tie to complete the look.

POP CULTURE

1. Motherhood done differently

In July this year, when Keke Palmer’s baby daddy Darius Dalton publicly called out his girlfriend for dressing too sexily for a mother, the internet lost it. Keke attended the Usher concert in Vegas in a black mesh dress, to which her partner tweeted: “we live in a generation where the man of the family doesn’t want the wife & mother to his kids to showcase booty cheeks to please others”. People overwhelmingly stood up for Keke, arguing that women don’t have to stop having fun and lose their sense of self when they a mother (say it again!). This confidence in motherhood is exemplified further by other famous figures, such as Rihanna, whose maternity dressing reset standards again this year, and Sienna Miller, who styled her bump in such a fresh way at the Vogue World show in London in September. 

2. Concert etiquette

Concerts are well and truly back after the pandemic hiatus, with the Eras Tour and Renaissance World Tour both setting and breaking new records for attendance and earnings. But with more concert goers has come more complaints around etiquette: many fans deplore the increased level of videoing that goes on at live shows, as many attendees capture footage to share on TikTok later. There was also a stint of fans throwing items on stage, including a cell phone which hit Bebe Rexha, and a bag containing what seemed to be the ashes of someone’s mother at a P!nk concert. Artists obviously hate this, and have increasingly spoken up about boundaries and fandom. At the sold out boygenius tour this summer, Phoebe Bridgers repeatedly asked fans not to film an emotional song, as she gives so much of herself away as it is. 

3. Pamela Anderson without makeup 

At Paris Fashion Week this September, Pamela Anderson attended The Row show wearing no makeup. The moment became a bigger talking point than any of the shows or clothes, with many people commending Pamela for the move. While some online pointed out that Pammy‘s “naturally pretty” (implying that it doesn’t make a difference), most people applauded the model for altering expectations. And it wasn’t an isolated incident - the model has popped up fresh-faced at other events, and has talked about freeing herself in her journalling newsletter.

4. Older people killing it

There is a bit of a misconception that young people only want to look at other young people. Some key moments this year have reminded us that that sentiment isn’t true. From 88-year-old Maggie Smith going viral as the latest face of Loewe, to André 3000’s excellent new album and look at 48 and Dolly Parton’s cheerleader moment at 77, it wasn’t just the under 30s stealing our attention. Long may it continue!

5. Cinema is back 

Films have been bigger than ever this year. Barbie became the highest grossing movie of all time, the Barbenheimer marketing craze put Oppenheimer not too far behind, and Taylor Swift and Beyoncé brought their tours to the big screen. Going to the cinema has become a real event again, and the biggest films are having a tangible impact on culture in real life. 

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

Suyin is a London-based freelance journalist covering identity, culture and underrepresented communities, who you might recognised as the former Editor-in-Chief of gal-dem. She's also the creator of the new Substack newsletter, Ginkgo Leaves.

📺 Watching: Such Brave Girls, a new sit-com written by Kat Sadler. The writing is excellent, and there’s something in it for both you and your parents if you’re looking for something to pop on over the holiday period. A friend with good taste (hi Arthur) also recommended The Holdovers, a Christmas film he says is “moving and comforting in equal parts”.

📖 Reading: Nothing Special by Nicole Flattery, this piece by previous Capsule special guest Roísín Lanigan on being a chic young divorcée, and ‘Women in Retrograde’, The Cut piece girl culture, which of course has got people talking.

🎧 Listening to: The best indie Christmas songs: ‘Lonely Christmas’ by Now, Now, ‘Christmas Song’ by Phoebe Bridgers, ‘Wintering’ by The 1975, and ‘My Favourite Day’ by Fickle Friends. If you’re still working or have to work until the end of the year and need soothing, try Astral Plains by Peace Flag Ensemble to help you through the days.

Lila predicts even more instances of sports jerseys in fashion next year, accelerated by Taylor Swift’s relationship with Travis Kelce and Kim Kardashian’s proximity to football as a soccer mom to Saint. Hold onto the shirts you have and scout for more in your family’s wardrobes this holiday period... you won’t regret it 👕

If you’d like to adopt Lila or one of her 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, please forward on 🥺

See you in January 💋