Prestige Plastic and Polyester Lifestyle

Nuuly’s fall campaign is a 12-part microdrama starring Overcompensating’s Wally Baram; A24 released a trailer for Jordan Firstman’s buzzy directorial debut Club Kid; Gracie Abrams looks so good in Chanel’s latest ad; and luxury kids’ retailer Maisonette is taking on the tween market with Neon Rebels (their clothes look fun, but their social media could use a zhuzh).

‘POLYESTER’ IS GEN Z’S NEWEST VIRAL INSULT, usatoday
The term “polyester” has recently taken on new meaning, at least among Gen Z, who is using it as shorthand for anything they deem low-quality or generic. It riffs on a growing distaste for polyester fabrics compared to 100% cotton, a trend I’ve written about previously. One viral TikTok shows an 18-year-old waking up at 6 a.m. in a New York penthouse for Bible study and “deep work” with a Claude agent running in the background; the top comment — “polyester lifestyle” — has more than 45K likes. Morgan Hurlock, 24, of Philadelphia, said quality obsession is a defining trait of her generation. “I think everyone, especially in Gen Z, scrolls inherently with this feeling of distrust for every video.”

EVEN COLLEGE STUDENTS HAVE STOPPED HANGING OUT, theatlantic
The loneliness epidemic has hit college campuses. In 1994, 32% of college seniors spent more than six hours a week partying; by 2026, that had dropped to 21%. A rising senior at MIT, involved in both Greek life and athletics, said he feels “like I’m somebody who seeks social interactions,” yet “I would say I am alone at least four or five days a week.” Because so many lectures are recorded, no one goes. “I have a class where, on paper, I should have five of my friends in that class,” he said. “But then I show up, and I just go the whole week without seeing my friends.” Worse, experts aren’t sure how to fix it: Cat Moore, USC’s former director of belonging, said the school had over 1,000 student clubs “yet their loneliness is out of control. So the answer is not more clubs.”

GEN Z HAS JUST DISCOVERED THE PREMIUM REWARDS CREDIT CARD, wsj
“Just” isn’t entirely accurate — back in 2024, Business Insider reported on “Gen Z’s credit card obsession,” noting at the time that young adults made up 60% of Amex’s new customer acquisitions worldwide. But now, two years later, Gen Z and millennials made up 65% of American Express’s new consumer accounts globally in Q2, and more than three-quarters of Amex’s premium card sign-ups in the U.S. Many young Americans are entering a “happy medium” where they have the time and the money to spend, said TransUnion’s Michele Raner. Kevin Lin, 22, got the $895 Amex Platinum before graduating from Harvard. “It kind of forces you to enjoy life,” he said. Ally Chiu, 27, got a Chase Sapphire Reserve — her first “big-girl card” — after moving to New York for a finance job, and uses the concierge service to book spots like the Polo Bar.

AI IS STARTING TO DEFINE BANK INTERNSHIPS AS MUCH AS LONG HOURS, bloomberg
The students who aren’t skipping finance internships for AI startups are finding themselves teaching senior colleagues how to use AI instead. One private banking intern in London said their summer job included building agents to streamline workflows and running drop-in sessions for senior bankers, a process they compared to “teaching parents how to use a phone.” Another intern said they were told during training to use AI for everything except emails. Despite fears that entry-level roles are drying up, banks are still hiring interns and grads at similar rates, they’re just doing different things. With AI handling email summaries and Excel charts, grads are spending more time on analysis and research.

‘YOUR EXCEL SKILLS SUCK’: THE POWER USERS TURNING SPREADSHEETS INTO A SPECTATOR SPORT, wired
But not everyone’s handing Excel charts over to AI. Spreadsheet influencers are building huge followings by turning the stodgy Microsoft program into spectator content, posting speedruns through self-designed obstacle courses and evangelizing keyboard-only workflows. Dan Kidney, 32, a London-based data analyst behind the account “Functional Excel,” has 300,000 followers across TikTok and Instagram. I don’t get it, but I appreciate that it exists. (Elsewhere in Excel mania, the Washington Post memorably reported on the competitive college spreadsheet scene back in February.)

FOR TEEN BOYS, BEAUTY IS SUDDENLY COOL, businessoffashion
Lest you think Sephora tweens are just girls, Gen Alpha boys have emerged as a formidable beauty demographic, too. LA hairstylist Stephen Pierce said he’s “developed this weird clientele of younger kids,” many of whom “follow trends just to follow them…I see a lot of kids just buying product for the sake of buying because it was trending on TikTok.” But they’re shopping offline, too. “You really have cohorts of men — and pretty young men — that actually love to go and just see what’s at Sephora,” said Sol de Janeiro CEO Jordan Saxemard, whose brand launched a $26 men’s cologne mist there last month. Saxemard called it “the bridge between the locker room and the luxury counter,” aimed at a young shopper “searching for brands at lower price points.”

One last thought: