Capsule #50 ft. Sarah Dunn

Hello hello,

So pleased to welcome a bunch of new subscribers to Capsule this week!!! 🖤

To recap once more, this newsletter aims to keep you in the loop with interesting chat around fashion, pop culture, and trends, without the need to keep up with endless algorithm content. I find the good bits and distill it into a leisurely Friday read 🫶.

In today’s issue we have: Cannes Film Festival fashion moments and what they say about broader culture, an awkward Shein skit that we need to discuss, and snippets of news from the fashion and pop culture space. Plus some recs for your weekend ahead!

I believe it’s a long weekend for lots of us. How divine…

Holly x

First up!

Cannes Film Festival is drawing to a close and since we normal people can’t watch the films just yet, we’re all eyes on the red carpets. Here are some key moments and what they say about our current culture.

1. Bella Hadid is back

The supermodel of our times and Cannes Film Festival fave is back on the red carpet and La Croisette (I can say that now I’ve been to Cannes!). Search traffic and post engagement around her looks has been crazy. Most of her dresses this week were archive pulls, plus some fresh off the runway pieces.

But she’s back for a reason: to flaunt her new perfume brand, Orebella. In between the balcony shots and red carpet fun, Hadid was photographed spritzing herself in the sun. A great advert of course. The lesson? Celebs always be marketing, and the most successful celebrity brands put their icons (with product in tow) at events with massive reach (see: Hailey Bieber’s Rhode at Coachella, Rihanna’s Fenty Beauty at the Super Bowl, Kim K’s Skims literally everywhere).

2. The red carpet is a place to make a statement

One of the most talked about moments came when Cate Blanchett wore a Jean Paul Gaultier dress that bore resemblance to the Palestinian flag (using the red carpet for the red bit). Some of the headlines for this made me laugh: “Cate Blanchett appears to wear secret Palestinian flag”… Secret? At a globally observed celeb event? It’s also not the first time Blanchett has made noise on this issue. She’s a goodwill ambassador for the UN Agency for Refugees, and called for a ceasefire at the European Parliament last year.

Bella Hadid also wore a dress inspired by the keffiyeh, a traditional Middle Eastern scarf associated with Palestine. More details on that here — including where we’ve seen something similar in Sex and The City.

3. Classic dress codes are still hot

The Cannes Film Festival dress code is known for being strict, rendering red carpet fashion less experimental and more classic French elegance. A quote from the dress code section of their website: “Elegant shoes, with or without heels, are required. Trainers are forbidden.” Despite restrictions, there were so many good looks. Like so many… Which adds to the theory that constraints improve creativity — it’s easier to respond to a brief when guardrails are there; there’s nothing harder than a blank piece of paper. Some favourites below!

Moving on!

We need to talk about the SNL Shein sketch… To summarise: it’s a skit of an advert for “Xiemu,” a Chinese fast fashion brand. Models (including Jake Gyllenhaall) show off the clothing, while an AI voiceover calls out key features like “good materials” and “not made with forced labor.” When the models break the fourth wall to express their concerns (“how so cheap?”), the voiceover replies: “Don’t worry about it.”

We’re at the stage now with fast fashion where the majority of consumers know it’s bad for the environment, our consumption appetites, and workers rights, but the industry has never been bigger. Everyone is shopping. Shein hauls rack up millions of views, and Gen Z who we broadly categorise as environmentally conscious love the brand. But it’s not just about young people and affordability. Recent research found that the average Shein customer is actually a 35-year-old woman who spends $100 on clothes per month, dispelling notions that the brand is a necessity for low-income consumers.

@tayrankine

Replying to @ayana🪩 what to buy on Shein #sheinhaul #sheinfinds #sheinbigsale #sheinsummer #sheinootd #sheinhauls #sheinmusthaves #whattob... See more

An aspect worth mentioning: the dummy fast fashion brand in the ad is called Xiemu and clearly labelled as “fast fashion from China.” I am reminded of this excellent piece Terry Nguyen wrote for Dirt last year, about the framing of Asian “super apps” (Temu, Shein) as worse than say, Amazon, and the consumption habits nurtured for the past decade. She explains:

I think this hits on what’s missing from so much of the discourse: we know there is a problem, but aren’t willing to acknowledge the role of our culture (or our desires!) in it. Companies make it possible to access cheap products with lightning fast delivery, but our appetite is there. We want to order stuff last minute. We want to hop on trends, and pay little to do so, knowing they are fleeting. It’s why people buy from brands like Shein and cut the labels out, and why there is so much fast fashion on resale apps like Vinted and in charity/thrift shops.

I’d love to get your thoughts on the fast fashion stuff. When you vote in the poll you can also leave an extra comment - I’d love to hear any builds - like what you think of supposedly more sustainable options, price points, how your desires have shifted (or not).

And finally…

Snippets of news from the extended Capsule universe to keep you in the loop:

• Jacob Elordi is the latest face of Bottega Veneta, which makes sense given his love of their bags

• Ayo Edebiri is on the cover of Vanity Fair, alongside a great cover story in which she talks about her story so far, her very lovely relationship with Jeremy Allen White, and being dressed like a “leading lady” by her stylist 🥺

• The cover of the forthcoming Sally Rooney novel Intermezzo has been released. See it here

• Anya Taylor-Joy is one of GQ’s heroes, and the pics are very Uma Therman in the 90s

• Miley Cyrus is going to be on David Letterman’s My Next Guest Needs No Introduction. Love this woman…

• Zendaya attended the opening night of the new Romeo & Juliet show in London, in which Tom Holland plays Romeo. She dressed like a real Juliet in Vivienne Westwood

• Two women talking about staying away from men: Julia Fox and Kate Hudson. The Kate Hudson stuff is from her Call Her Daddy episode, which I recommend

• According to fan groups, Rihanna is rumoured to replace Charlize Theron as the face of Dior J’Adore. She does have history with the brand…

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

Sarah is a NYC-based marketing consultant who runs a self-proclaimed attainable fashion blog. She’s always looking for new brands, sometimes looking for new friends and never not online shopping. Check out her Instagram.

📺 Watching: ‘Ayo Edebiri Settles Your Petty Disputes,’ a skit for Vanity Fair with Ayo as a judge helping people settle their beef. Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga is also here!

📖 Reading: From the Culture Study newsletter, a piece called ‘What is Anne Hathaway Trying to Tell Us?’, in which Anne Helen Petersen analyses all the interviews and photoshoots Anne has given in recent months to draw some conclusions about where she’s really at.

🎧 Listening to: Some great summer singles: ‘Spite’ by Omar Apollo, ‘L’Amour De Ma Vie (Over Now Extended Edit)’ by Billie Eilish (ideal for the club or the last stretch of a run), and a great new Clairo single called ‘Sexy to Someone.’

Dartmoor may have a vested interest in getting us outside more more BUT he insists that high tea parties and picnics will be hot on our agenda in the coming weeks. And one TV show might have something to do with it. Searches for ‘Bridgerton tea party’ have increased by 430% on Pinterest, alongside soaring searches for ‘high tea food ideas’ (+177%) and ‘afternoon tea party ideas’ (+165%). Ice tea anyone?

If you’d like to adopt Dartmoor 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, please forward on 🥺

See you next week 💋