Patrick Whitesell, who just invested in the Unwell Network at a $500 million valuation, compared Alex Cooper to Dr. Dre; SNL’s Veronika Slowikowska will star in the comedy Stephanie, Bride to Be, alongside Michael Imperioli and Amy Sedaris; Coco Gauff and Taylor Fritz signed on as Oura brand ambassadors ahead of the 2026 US Open; and meet Bo Bragason, the star of your summer YA obsession.
INTERIOR DECORATOR TORN TO SHREDS ON SOCIAL MEDIA AFTER SHARING A $20K DORM ROOM MAKEOVER, nypost
Another back-to-school season, another round of trend pieces about six-figure designer dorms (see also: “Welcome to the Era of the $10,000 Designer Dorm Room,” WSJ, 2022; “Tuition: $9,400. Dorm Room Interior Designer: $10,000?” NYT, 2024). This year, the prices have gone up — inflation! — with Mississippi interior decorator Shelly Gates of Mary Margaret Designs charging up to $20,000 to transform cinderblock rooms into a space worthy of TikTok virality (and also…sleeping). Business is coming in “everywhere from Texas to Tennessee to Tallahassee,” Gates told the Post. One trend she’s noticed is that 2026 is “the year of color,” she says. Quiet luxury no more! Instead, she’s “seeing so many girls wanting pastels, bright colors, fun patterns, and just rooms that really feel like them.”
GEN Z IS BRINGING PEN AND PAPER BACK TO THE WORKPLACE, businessinsider
Digital natives may have killed cursive, but that’s not stopping them from snapping up premium notebooks, cutesy desk pads, and Post-its to combat Slack fatigue. A July survey from Quill, a Staples subsidiary, found 94% of Gen Z and millennial office workers say physically crossing off a paper to-do list feels more satisfying than checking a digital box, and 56% of Gen Zers would rather leave a colleague a Post-it than send a DM. “They are twice as likely as boomers to handwrite notes in a journal or during meetings,” said Quill head Gil Grandbois, who’s seeing demand for “colorful leather desk pads” and higher-end writing tools. Stationery brand Papier — where whimsically printed Damson Madder notebooks run $30 a pop — saw sales double between 2022 and 2025, a jump the brand attributes to Gen Z spenders.
FOR SOME SINGLES, ‘HOBBYAMORY’ HAS REPLACED HOOKUPS, nytimes
This hobby stuff is getting out of control. Singles are now trading dating apps for packed calendars full of extracurriculars, a shift the Times has creatively dubbed “hobbyamory.” On TikTok, #hobbies posts in the US are up nearly 15% year over year, and #grandmahobbies has grown more than 400%. Tylo Laidlaw, a 30-year-old freelancer in London, fills his week with salsa, chess and boxing. “I’m so fulfilled in my life that I know the right person will come, but I’m not out searching for it,” he said. Jenneh Kaikai, who runs cake-decorating classes at Pelah Kitchen in New York, said the sessions have become popular alternatives to swiping. “So many folks join for solo dates and things to do as an alternative to dating apps,” she said.
GEN Z DATING APPS LIKE DITTO DITCH SWIPING IN FAVOR OF AI MATCHMAKING, techcrunch
Ditto, a dating app for college students founded by UC Berkeley dropouts Allen Wang and Eric Liu, has hit 150,000 signups with a swipe-free model: users text an iMessage number, get onboarded by an AI chatbot, and receive one match every Wednesday at 7 p.m., complete with a time and location. The algorithm makes matches based on underlying “personality signals” rather than overlapping hobbies (ironic, given the above!). “We see that people are getting super tired of all the endless swiping and endless small talk, and they’re really looking for something more genuine in real life,” said Wang. Ditto has raised $9.2 million in seed funding and is currently hiring a “chief yacht officer” to throw promotional parties, should you be interested…
BUMBLE GIVES MEN A SHOT AT FIRST MOVE IN A SHIFT FOR THE DATING APP, bloomberg
As Whitney Wolfe Herd teased in May, Bumble has officially retired its signature women-message-first rule, letting either party send the first message once matched. “What we are introducing is not a reversal of our principles or our DNA or our original mission, but to really create a safer, more collaborative, kinder ecosystem that will lead to even better offline experiences,” said Wolfe Herd, citing feedback from women that mandatory first messages often produced “low-effort” replies from men, though it’ll take more than that to solve the “low-effort men” epidemic. The company is also extending the message-response window to 72 hours, up from 24 — considering how many young people take frequent phone breaks, I’m surprised they didn’t implement this change sooner.
One last thought:
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