Sofia Richie’s wedding is the picture of “quiet luxury”
The last the internet had seen of Sophia Richie was small appearances on Keeping Up with the Kardashians when she was dating Scott Disick, but lately she’s been flooding everyone’s FYPs thanks to her extravagant, yet “quiet luxury”-themed wedding. The 24-year-old “Zillennial” style icon and nepo baby has always been a fashion mogul for Gen Z with fun statement pieces and hopping on stand-out micro-trends, but those who are paying attention in the fashion world have noticed a serious shift in the way Richie is being styled—and the reactions are overwhelmingly positive.
Last year, YPulse told you how Kourtney Kardashian inspired a wave of “goth” wedding aesthetics, but after Richie’s star-studded wedding in the South of France, the newest “It” wedding is all about “quiet luxury”—taking inspo from the classic “old money” fashion aesthetic. The trend ultimately reveals a larger cultural shift among young consumers who are dropping the glitz and glamour once sought after thanks to celeb fashion tycoons like the Kardashians, and instead they’re swapping that for chic / toned down luxury that isn’t so in your face, but still clearly screams “expensive.” Fashion experts are concluding that this isn’t just another ‘fit for the feed trend and that “there’s an evolution within the American clients who want more of the minimalist ‘French girl’ style.” Vogue (who covered Richie’s wedding) event wrote back in March, “If you pay attention to one trend this season, make it ‘quiet luxury.’”
And as Richie keeps her style and social media content low-key, it’s proving just how influential “quiet luxury” can be as her Gen Z fans rave about her wedding, makeup, hair, jewelry, and fashion. Over on Twitter fans were live reacting to her ceremony pictures and tweeting “sofia richie’s wedding is my super bowl” and “sofia richie’s wedding dress in chanel is to die for like that’s what i wanna see from the rich.” And of course, on TikTok users are fawning over her display of “quiet luxury” (also referred to as “stealth wealth”) wedding looks, even though she’s been very vocal about working with Chanel. In fact, Richie only just joined TikTok during her wedding weekend to show off her expensive looks (oh the irony).
“Sludge” videos are Gen Z’s perfectly overstimulating content obsession
We know young people tend to seek out comforting content online, but recently “sludge” style videos have been taking over their feeds as a way to keep their attention by playing multiple videos at once via a split screen. These intentionally overstimulating (or maybe, perfectly stimulating enough) videos “are typically compiled from two or more unrelated sources: a popular game component such as Subway Surfers, an automated voice reading a confessional Reddit story time, an ASMR clip such as a bar of soap being cut or a scene from a cartoon or a television show.” Users love the content so much that they comment things like “my mind feels whole” and what makes it so appealing to viewers is that it’s ultimately a form of escapism.
It may remind you of the recent #CoreCore trend, where TikTok creators were compiling clips and audios to portray a deeper message that links all the content—but this trend isn’t quite the same. Instead, “sludge” content makes it easier to have their attention drift from one thing to the next within the same video, which is good for the accounts posting it because as one creator notes, “maybe the extra content makes you watch longer,” which boosts engagement rates.
Of course, there are critics of the genre, with those claiming “sludge” content is a result of TikTok-induced “brain rot.” That’s not stopping Gen Z viewers, though, because while this kind of content is not exactly new to TikTok, it’s only gaining more popularity as time goes on. Though there is no clear tag to easily track this content, it comes up everywhere; even the official Subway Surfers account—who are pros at TikTok memes—have posted this content for their 7.1M followers and tag it #Satisfying.
This week on TikTok: The Met Gala took over everyone’s FYP, again
When the first Monday in May comes around, Gen Z and Millennials know exactly what it’s time to do: make Met Gala content—and judge everyone’s outfits as if they’re the fashion police. This year, TikTok’s creative center data shows the hashtag #MetGala2023 racked up 668M views in the last week, bringing it to a total of 3.9B views, and of the 85K posts under it, 21K have been made in the last week. So, while usersmade content anticipating the event long before the celeb reveals hit the internet, this week was their time to shine in reviewing looks, making edits of their faves, and even taking time to critique the theme.
According to the top videos under the hashtag, many of their favorite looks of the night came from young icons, and several first-time invitees, like Jenna Ortega, Sydney Sweeney, Ice Spice, Dua Lipa, and Doja Cat (who came as a literal cat). While Gen Z themselves have a sometimes-love relationship with fast fashion for their own closets, they become experts in designer references for this event. But, as Gen Z does best, an annual meme had to come of the night: the top video under the Met Gala 2023 hashtag is not of any designer look, but rather a roach climbing the stairs of the Met and being photographed on the way—it has 5.1M likes, leading out over the second-top video which has 3.3M.
Also on the Met Gala: Jameela Jamil slammed her fellow celebs and online publications for giving Karl Lagerfeld attention during the Met Gala
Links We’re Passing:
Food: Chipotle’s “National Burrito Day” giveaway earned the brand its second highest digital sales day of all time and its highest one-day volume on social media
A creator is going viral for sharing their Olive Garden kids meal ordering hack
Social Media: Creators are using AI to make viral social media content
This is how you know sober curiosity is real among young people: drinking on a date is giving Gen Z “the ick”
Some TikTok users are rejecting put-together morning routines
Gen Z and Millennials are showing off their Zodiac signs compared to a ranking of all signs
TikTok Sounds: The “If you were a fish” song is actually so wholesome
Kali’s “Area Codes” is Gen Z’s social media anthem of the week
