Culture Club - Is ‘Cool Girl’ Content Cool？ Shein’s Shady New Brand & Olivia Rodrigo’s New BF

00:00:00.000 The rise of Cool Girl content, Xi'an's new UK rebrand and Olivia Rodrigo's new finance bro.

00:00:12.120 I'm Maggie Zhao and I'm Jasmine Wallace and you're listening to Culture Club where two

00:00:16.320 writers and editors chat about pop culture, the arts and the internet.

00:00:20.800 Today we are on the land of the Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung people of the Kulin Nations.

00:00:25.880 We would like to pay our respects to Elders past and present

00:00:28.440 and extend this to any Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander listeners today.

00:00:36.480 Sometimes we're so codependent that we're like a married couple

00:00:40.140 and we go to separate events and people are like,

00:00:42.700 where's Jazz or where's Maggie?

00:00:44.680 And last night that happened to me, I was at a Substack event.

00:00:47.360 It was the launch of Dee Salman, who's a local writer and broadcaster.

00:00:51.780 She was launching her Substack No Chill Girl, which is live now.

00:00:54.980 And at the event, Ali, our friend, was like, I'm going to see Maggie after this.

00:00:58.620 And I was like, where are you guys going?

00:01:00.300 How do I not know about this?

00:01:01.900 I literally feel like I was cheating on you because I was like, why didn't I tell you?

00:01:04.880 And then I felt I was feeling weird about this.

00:01:06.980 Wait, do you want to?

00:01:07.560 No, you continue your story.

00:01:08.620 And then I'll, I know, I'm like, I'm like on my hands and knees, like praying for forgiveness.

00:01:13.240 I know.

00:01:13.660 I felt really weird that I didn't tell you where I was going.

00:01:15.820 And it's fine because like we're separate people.

00:01:18.580 But our manager had said like, are you both going to that subsec, I think?

00:01:22.040 And you were just like, no, I'm not.

00:01:23.220 I've said I can't go.

00:01:24.100 So I thought you were just like chilling at home

00:01:25.760 because you're going away soon

00:01:26.840 and I thought you wanted to spend time with Tom.

00:01:28.400 And then Ali was like, I have to give this thing to Maggie.

00:01:30.680 I was like, I'm seeing her tomorrow.

00:01:31.760 We're recording.

00:01:32.400 She's like, no, I'm seeing her tonight.

00:01:34.200 And you're like your heart shattered.

00:01:36.320 It was kind of like, oh, that's so cool.

00:01:38.380 Like we're separate people.

00:01:39.480 We don't have to know what we're doing like all the time.

00:01:42.360 Okay, I'll tell you where I was.

00:01:43.620 Yes.

00:01:44.020 I was seeing a musical slash play.

00:01:46.120 It's kind of hard.

00:01:46.800 It's in between.

00:01:47.740 And it's Mackenzie by Eve Blake, who we love.

00:01:50.800 She's a local playwright here.

00:01:52.600 we loved her original musical fangirls and I like pested multiple email addresses to get tickets to

00:02:00.700 this preview performance and then I felt bad because I was taking Tom so I was like I don't

00:02:04.200 want to like just tell you that I'm going and then not be like come you know okay that too

00:02:09.200 Ali's like we're going to see Mackenzie I was like wait is it opening night like have I missed

00:02:12.580 something what's going on um but you and I were lucky enough to get tickets like over a year ago

00:02:19.180 to the um what do they even call that a reading a reading that was really a really cool experience

00:02:24.420 I did a little bit of theater when I was in high school but I wouldn't say I'm like a theater girl

00:02:28.620 yeah I was on stage hold the phone I was on the stage like what theater thing did you do

00:02:34.900 it was some Australian play I feel like it was set in like the 1800s I can't remember what it

00:02:40.220 was called but I played some like English Victorian woman whoa I love this law drop

00:02:46.700 yeah I guess you're used to being um with a microphone yeah I don't think I was very good

00:02:51.860 at it and I did it once and once only but I didn't know what a reading was I remember we got cheap

00:02:57.960 tickets and I was like wow so lucky to get cheap tickets to see Mackenzie and you're like girl it's

00:03:03.400 the reading yeah so they're sitting all the actors for reference are like sitting at a table and

00:03:07.460 reading through the script together yeah that's what it is anyway I love learning new things about

00:03:12.120 you you know years into our relationship friendship this is partner years ago we also

00:03:19.260 interviewed eve blake i think she's one of our first interviews like within the first 10 i think

00:03:24.900 of people we interviewed on culture club and we interviewed her for her play fangirls which if

00:03:30.100 you haven't seen it make sure you go when it's happening again god knows when that will be but

00:03:35.740 yeah if you want to hear a bit more about eve and her career then listen back to culture club's

00:03:41.720 interview with her and don't judge us for the quality because it was like five years ago or

00:03:46.440 something genuinely we'll link that in the show notes hot off the press olivia rodrigo reportedly

00:04:01.980 has a new boyfriend and she didn't tell us i do feel sometimes like do you have a bit of a

00:04:08.640 parasocial relationship with Olivia. Oh for sure especially Olivia in terms of all the pop girlies

00:04:13.820 she is one of the most I feel like she really feeds that relatable vibes and because she's

00:04:19.300 Asian I'm like we're connected. Yeah every time I see something about Olivia I'm like Maggie must

00:04:23.620 know this already. Yeah. So tell us what is the update? I think the most shocking part is that

00:04:29.400 he is reportedly a finance bro which is wild so let me take you back there were photos released

00:04:35.960 of olivia returning to new york city after a trip to iceland and there's like a cute little

00:04:41.220 pic i saw where they're just at the airport and she's kind of looking up at him because he's like

00:04:45.380 what is that tiktok someone six foot finance so it's kind of that let me tell you a bit more

00:04:53.640 about this potential beau his name is julian croonenbergs he is a brown university alum

00:04:59.840 working at the private equity firm HG Capital.

00:05:04.520 You hate saying those words?

00:05:06.120 You can't even say it.

00:05:07.020 No, I was like, capital equity. 1.00

00:05:10.620 Sorry, I don't want to be all like, girls are dumb. 1.00

00:05:13.900 But me in terms of talking about private equity, 0.99

00:05:16.940 whatever the hell that is, I don't like it.

00:05:18.940 Whatever the hell that means.

00:05:20.660 So some online sleuths have also found out that he played

00:05:23.460 for the US men's national field hockey team

00:05:26.100 and he speaks Dutch and French.

00:05:28.680 he also has a sister named jade who is in the music and entertainment business so that could

00:05:34.020 be how they met the people are saying my question is there's been one photo in one airport and

00:05:40.740 there's headlines yeah this is her new boyfriend how do we know yeah new boyfriend is a stretch

00:05:45.200 new boyfriend is a stretch she's just spotted with a young guy in an airport with other people

00:05:51.360 around and now i i would not like to be that famous i know it could be a stretch but the

00:05:57.760 photos they are standing quite close a photo tells a thousand words it is a split second

00:06:03.720 or less in time I think it looks pretty close like they look like it's not like a fan encounter

00:06:09.440 you know oh yeah not a fan encounter but I thought maybe friends so true we'll see we'll see but a

00:06:15.320 lot of people online are joking about her song expectations yeah that you clocked me on being

00:06:19.880 like that's your favorite and I was like no it's not and then it was my top played song of May

00:06:23.760 the lyrics go I won't settle for a guy with a fake job and lots of people

00:06:28.800 song break and people kind of not calling her out that's very dramatic but saying like

00:06:36.520 you won't settle for a guy with a fake job but private equity sounds like a fake job

00:06:40.560 but she did dispel what she actually meant in the song in an interview with the music reviewer

00:06:45.720 Anthony Fantano she said when I said fake job I was picturing the guys that I've met in LA or New

00:06:51.040 York who have really rich parents who are like producers or DJs or creative directors. And I'm

00:06:56.800 like, I think you work maybe one day a week. She clocked them. I love it when she gives these really

00:07:01.260 sassy lines. Like she would never date a guy who wants to go to space. She doesn't want to date a

00:07:06.940 guy who's a creative producer one day a week. Yeah. What's her star sign? She's Pisces, baby.

00:07:13.360 Spicy Pisces. That was her Instagram bio for a long time. Okay. The parasocial is popping off

00:07:18.640 here. I should shut my mouth before I keep going. We have a couple of fashion popcorn stories for 1.00

00:07:35.440 you that we just want to chit chat about. The first one is the Christopher Nolan Uggs headline.

00:07:41.640 I don't know what side of the internet I'm on, but I did not see this anywhere. When you put it in

00:07:45.160 the potential topics i was like what are we talking about uh please divulge yeah let me tell

00:07:51.080 you because of course christopher nolan is all over the headlines we talked about the odyssey

00:07:55.980 last week this tidbit has come out because anne hathaway actually was on britney broski's uh

00:08:01.800 royal court recently and in that episode she revealed that oh christopher nolan hates ugg boots

00:08:08.060 this checks out though like i'm not surprised by this yeah okay wait tell me why he doesn't even

00:08:14.260 have email like he doesn't have a smartphone he says he doesn't reply to emails like he has

00:08:19.320 assistance for everything he's very old school like wants to be like you know that well he

00:08:22.980 literally is one of the biggest auteurs in the whole history of film so it makes sense that he'd

00:08:27.560 be like nothing not nothing modern but like i don't know commercial or something you will you

00:08:33.060 kind of hit the nail on the head because christopher nolan was interviewed by gail king

00:08:36.960 on cbs mornings and like she asked him about it i'm gonna play the clip now sometimes actors will

00:08:43.940 turn up because the footwear hurts them so they'll turn up in these you know big fluffy comfy slippers

00:08:48.560 I have a couple yes and the funny thing is you can be on a set where you've got you know a guy

00:08:53.760 holding a microphone you've got a giant camera you've got crew everywhere but something like

00:08:58.160 that can actually really take you out of reality and for me I think that's always been something

00:09:04.260 where you know it's like if someone's eating a bag of chips off camera or something you know

00:09:07.560 there's certain things that just remind you you want to stay in the moment you're in the real

00:09:11.860 world as opposed to the world we're trying to create for the actors i want to stay in the moment

00:09:15.360 want the actors to stay in the moment and so for me the odd boots are a signifier of

00:09:20.060 modernity you know absurd though that is got it i thought god does he just not like uggs but i get

00:09:26.060 it i get it i get it oh my god i genuinely have not seen that clip nailed it yeah i was like oh 0.92

00:09:33.500 my god are you christopher nolan's like offspring secret offspring i fucking wish i think that's so

00:09:41.080 funny to be honest I I do feel for the poor especially women on his set that might be in 0.99

00:09:46.140 like really uncomfortable footwear or like really cold and they just want to put their little feet

00:09:50.380 in some uggies in between takes but he's like no yeah but I do respect the whole like world

00:09:55.280 building thing I think when you're creating art I think it's so important to like be in that world

00:10:00.500 another fashion headline that was doing the rounds that is pretty silly is the rise of the

00:10:07.440 Zara death pant. This is another one you put in the show notes and I literally messaged going,

00:10:11.880 what the hell are Zara death pants? I don't know where I've been this week. Clearly not reading

00:10:15.500 the news. To be fair, I think you're all good missing this headline. Like I wish I didn't know

00:10:21.560 about this. I'll give you the low down. Essentially there's these like semi-viral pair of Zara pants

00:10:28.420 that are like really flowy, really wide leg, like kind of a, oh, I was going to say a wavy material,

00:10:34.040 but silk-like material in the sense that it's really flowy and they're really long and they're

00:10:38.180 really wide-legged okay and people dozens of people are tripping and falling over them some

00:10:45.300 people are even going to hospital what the hell I know so they're quietly being dubbed as quote

00:10:50.800 the world's deadliest pants at the moment in Australia they're about 50 dollars it's just

00:10:56.540 it's covered my for you page and I wish it hadn't it's crazy that there's been so many incidents

00:11:02.260 that they've like chronicled them and now these quote-unquote death pants are here

00:11:07.480 I do have a bit of a woke take I guess and it's like well I don't expect much from these fast

00:11:14.900 fashion conglomerates it's obvious that these pants haven't been sampled correctly and you know

00:11:20.220 tried on people and they literally are impeding women's ability to walk and move about the world

00:11:26.580 you know yeah it's a sign of the times I think that this fashion branch is churning it out

00:11:31.660 not thinking about how they're actually being worn and this is the result my double woke take

00:11:37.640 is that garment workers around the world are literally being injured and working in poor

00:11:42.540 working conditions constantly whereas this is just like a light quote-unquote funny news story

00:11:48.980 about people who have fallen because they've chosen to buy these pants they don't have to

00:11:53.100 work under these conditions yeah you're right I think this is bringing more awareness back to

00:11:59.100 the garment workers who are in these factories who get injured on the regular and it's like

00:12:03.980 white women or like middle class western women are tripping over their pants and it's like haha

00:12:09.440 so funny but if you think about like where those pants came from then it's a lot darker than that

00:12:14.840 speaking of fast fashion there's this brand called Musera and they have recently thrown a brand trip

00:12:21.220 but the real tea is this is a brand that's 100 owned by Shein it's just like pretending that

00:12:29.440 it's not you first found this on Rachel Griff's page she's a fashion commentator who is quote

00:12:34.420 de-influencing fast fashion and she found out that Musera is 100 owned by Shein so it's kind of

00:12:42.360 giving cool girl label which we'll get into later as well but it's all from the same factory same

00:12:48.780 owners and I think brands like this are getting really sneaky with their marketing because there

00:12:54.740 is so much backlash against Shein and Timu. Yes. I also have a side note, such a side note. I was

00:13:00.300 on Pinterest the other day. I'm feng shuying my room up a little bit, just getting rid of stuff

00:13:04.160 and trying to restyle it a little bit. And I came across something like an ad, clicked into the ad,

00:13:10.000 it takes me to the Timu website. It is the worst UX I've ever seen in my life. How do you even use,

00:13:16.460 Like, I don't know how people buy things on it.

00:13:18.320 It comes up with a spinning wheel and I exit out the wheel

00:13:20.280 and I was just looking at what it was.

00:13:21.820 I think it was like a photo frame or something.

00:13:23.360 And then you can't even add to cart.

00:13:24.720 I don't understand how people are buying so much stuff on these websites

00:13:27.820 when it's so difficult to use.

00:13:29.440 It's so chaotic, the look of it as well.

00:13:31.820 It kind of reminds me of those, you know,

00:13:34.320 you'd get advertising material in your mailbox.

00:13:37.420 Like, it's like, bam, bam, bam, sale, sale, sale.

00:13:39.780 It's kind of that energy.

00:13:41.020 Yeah, it looks like one of those websites like 10, 15 years ago

00:13:43.800 that would have given your computer a virus.

00:13:46.460 So back to this story, right? The only difference between Shein and Muzera is that their design team

00:13:54.160 is technically based in Manchester, but like you said, it's still being manufactured in the same

00:13:59.280 factories that Shein operates in. Save the Planet Society, which is a great Instagram page that kind

00:14:06.080 of talks about environmentalism as well as fashion, they put up a great carousel about this too,

00:14:12.820 and they looked into more like the Shein Musera connection and Shein Group officially lists

00:14:19.320 Musera as one of its brands and the Musera clothing trademark is owned by the same like

00:14:25.940 limited propriety company that owns Shein's trademark so it's all the same family okay

00:14:31.940 what really pisses me off is that you're right this brand is trying to be this cool girl label

00:14:37.900 I hate the name I keep like tripping over it Musera uh their tagline is be a muse in your own

00:14:44.540 era so it's like muse era you get it yeah but it's one word so muse era wow have a look at

00:14:52.880 their Instagram feed like what is the vibe that they're giving off live reaction oh the logo is

00:14:58.760 not what I thought it was going to be it's very beige it literally is beige what is the vibe of

00:15:03.400 the Instagram feed oh it looks like an influencer's Instagram feed yeah it says a lot of iPhone shots

00:15:08.960 there's like shoot BTS even like BTS of like the design process but it's very aspirational again

00:15:16.560 they're posting these like girls trips they're working with different influencers it doesn't

00:15:21.180 read as she in like obviously right no definitely not I would not look at that and think that she

00:15:26.720 I'd look at it and think it's fast fashion for sure there's a t-shirt that says pretty and

00:15:30.820 problematic I know hilarious right oh someone's commented at Macy Barnwell has commented heavy

00:15:36.860 on the problematic at Shein Official so true let me give you some more background on this bloody

00:15:44.000 brand um WWD reported on last year the piece was not um critical about it at all but whatever

00:15:51.640 so Shein actually hired the former pretty little thing buying director Gemma Dunn back in 2023

00:15:57.700 specifically to build a new brand around UK trends. So yes, this article was written last

00:16:04.700 year. And at that time, the Musera team is made up of 30 people in Manchester. The average age

00:16:11.100 is 27. And in the article, Gemma Dunn was very proud of, I guess, the work that they're doing,

00:16:16.200 which understandable, you're working for this company. But there's a quote in the article

00:16:19.680 that she says, which reads, Musera is like pretty little things on steroid. And then she also added

00:16:26.100 that, you know, if an item performs well, Musera can get it restocked within a week and that

00:16:31.180 orders can go from 5,000 to 10,000 units. A pretty little thing. In comparison, that process takes

00:16:37.880 three months and the quantity won't go over 300. That is actually insane. Those clothes have to

00:16:44.920 come from somewhere. I know this is like basic, basic sustainable fashion talk that like I know

00:16:49.820 a lot of our listeners would understand. This is nothing new. That comparison is pretty stark.

00:16:54.880 pretty little thing which i would consider like one of the top three like fast fashion brands in

00:17:00.040 the world they won't go above 300 yet muse era goes from 5 000 to 10 000 that's like i'm not

00:17:06.680 gonna do the maths but crazy crazy crazy stuff also in that article jemma says that muse era

00:17:11.320 represents less than one percent of shein's total revenue but 30 percent of shein's workforce in the

00:17:17.440 uk i think it shows that she obviously knows that he has a bad standing in public like the save the

00:17:24.060 Planet Post said, it's like people don't want to be seen shopping at Xi Yin. So they're happy 0.86

00:17:28.860 to have this like bandaid fix where it is the exact same thing, but with a literal different

00:17:35.300 logo slapped on it. That doesn't change anything about the product quality, doesn't change anything

00:17:40.180 about the manufacturing. It just makes people feel better about themselves for a short amount

00:17:44.240 of time. And the strategy of pairing local influencers in the UK to push that trust and

00:17:49.880 pushing the brand trips, it's very aspirational for young girls to like get invited on these

00:17:53.940 brand trips and make it seem more exclusive you wouldn't say I'm going on a Shein brand trip or

00:17:58.640 some people some people mind but I think it's very smart marketing from muse era smart not

00:18:04.480 meaning ethical or right in my opinion but smart if you're trying to sell clothes

00:18:09.240 now it's time for off the record we are piloting a new segment where we talk about

00:18:25.200 our hottest take of the week are you a little bit nervous i'm a little bit nervous

00:18:29.560 you're so nervous your fake british accent came out oh i know it comes out sometimes and

00:18:35.640 I can't tell you why this week we want to talk about cool girl content and whether it actually

00:18:43.840 is cool you've probably seen this content everywhere here are the cool girl brands

00:18:48.160 that you need to know where the cool girls are shopping where the cool girls are eating

00:18:52.100 what handbag the cool girls are wearing we are a bit tired I've been thinking about this quite a

00:18:59.860 lot because I think over the last few months this has risen up I don't know about you but

00:19:05.080 there have been fewer micro trends that have made the fashion rounds on TikTok like remember 0.84

00:19:10.980 tomato girl cottage cook girl like e-girl like very specific traits of people women usually

00:19:18.800 I feel like I've been seeing a lot less of that I have a question for you though yeah is it because

00:19:24.520 we're aging out of that no no no I mean that is a good question I think I do try to keep like my

00:19:31.300 finger on the pulse so i i don't think so maybe algorithms are changing because i think as well

00:19:37.580 a lot of people are going more for like personal takes like this is what i learned about x we

00:19:42.760 spoke about this a few weeks ago but like even the fashion girls i feel like the fashion bloggers are

00:19:45.980 doing that as well my theory here is that we're seeing less of those fleeting micro trends and

00:19:52.480 then that this blanket trend of cool girl has usurped that because it's now a stand-in for

00:20:00.120 like what's oh like what's hot right now to me when I see cool girl content it reads as oh this

00:20:06.200 is trendy but a bit alternative yes you're so right like it still fits into a very specific

00:20:12.920 niche you are still appealing to others it is still very aspirational but it's just got like

00:20:19.640 a little bit of an individual slant to it local content creator and stylist Jolie Malcolm actually

00:20:24.680 wrote about this on her sub stack the headline reads if everyone is the cool girl then nobody is

00:20:30.100 In brief, the cool girl isn't a person anymore. 0.98

00:20:33.060 It's a purchasable aesthetic.

00:20:34.960 I don't think that this trend is any different to the clean girl aesthetic,

00:20:39.060 to the other quiet luxury aesthetics.

00:20:42.100 You could say that they look so different on paper,

00:20:44.740 but I think they're trying to do the same thing,

00:20:47.060 which is signifying belonging to a subculture and to signify that you belong,

00:20:52.260 but while also pretending that you are unique in some ways.

00:20:55.740 Jolie writes,

00:20:56.580 Every day I open social media and I'm inundated with videos of influencers claiming that all

00:21:01.560 someone needs to be the cool girl is ballet flats, capris, and that gold jaded London top,

00:21:07.000 or at least that is until the wave changes. And we can trust her, right? She's wearing these.

00:21:11.980 She looks cool. Love that. Jolie actually read out some more of her piece in her own words. So

00:21:17.300 here she is. Do I have an issue with the pieces and style that cool girl content pushes? Not

00:21:21.980 really. It's my main issue that cool girl content is one of the biggest micro trend pushes at the

00:21:25.940 moment and therefore pushing people away from finding their true style and also putting more

00:21:29.200 and more into landfill? Yeah probably. I do think we need to talk about the internet's collective

00:21:33.660 decision that wearing particular clothes and doing particular activities will immediately make you

00:21:37.540 cooler than everyone whilst everyone is doing the exact same thing. Do I have an issue with the

00:21:41.600 pieces and style that cool girl content pushes? Not really. Is my main issue that cool girl content

00:21:46.260 is one of the biggest micro trend pushes at the moment and therefore pushing people away from

00:21:49.640 finding their true style and also putting more and more into landfill? Yeah probably. Jazz so do you

00:21:54.860 think that coolness is subjective yes 100 so how does that logic fit into this trend then i wonder

00:22:02.620 if this trend is just responding to the algorithm though i'll admit that i do get sucked into these

00:22:09.940 trends and these roundups i think they're so easy to save as well if i see like what the cool girls

00:22:16.520 are drinking in melbourne i'll save them but i'll go back to that later if i need a recommendation 0.99

00:22:22.220 for something that's super niche, I'll go back and find that. So I do think it serves a purpose

00:22:26.620 and I do, but I do think it's responding to the algorithm. Yeah, but I don't like that. I agree

00:22:31.660 with you, but I don't like that mindset of like, oh, let's just feed the algorithm what it wants.

00:22:35.960 And then because people are seeing that on their feeds, they're interacting with it. It's like this

00:22:40.360 weird cycle. It's like, who does actually benefit? The algorithm, not the people that are making or

00:22:45.020 consuming the content, perhaps. I'm talking more in general, not necessarily about this type of

00:22:49.400 content I think it's lazy I think having this like umbrella term that you know will perform well

00:22:56.140 you're right on social media but it doesn't actually mean much it lacks so much substance

00:23:01.120 and like Jolie said as well it reduces cool girl whatever coolness means to you that is something

00:23:08.740 that is subjective into something that's consumable and packageable and looks one note

00:23:13.840 like everyone is thinking the same image now of what a cool girl looks like because of what we've

00:23:18.680 seen on our TikTok feeds but that's not the truth right that's not the truth Ellen like when we think

00:23:26.740 about people in our personal lives and who we think are so cool you know it doesn't always look

00:23:32.140 like that it's more about an attitude I think than like the way you look but I think that's such a

00:23:37.260 basic take that people learn when you're like 14 another term that like is a Venn diagram of this

00:23:42.220 is the term chic I think that's such a recession indicator as well if things want to oh that looks

00:23:48.000 so chic it's because you want to look like you have money and everyone's trying to look like

00:23:51.680 they have money because a lot of people don't have much money at the moment to expand on the

00:23:55.920 chic term as well I definitely think that one has more roots in whiteness in heteronormativity

00:24:02.440 in wealth as you said in class so I feel like that's even more dangerous and don't get us wrong 0.71

00:24:09.220 like we're using these terms as well yeah for sure you sent me a photo of your lash lift yesterday

00:24:13.240 and I was like so chic girly yeah and I said nail emoji I got a lash lift guys just if you're

00:24:19.180 watching YouTube I also think at the end of the day and I mean this like with love in my heart

00:24:27.360 I promise I know it sounds bad but I just don't think people who are actually quote-unquote cool

00:24:32.320 whatever that means to you are like consuming this content being like oh I need to copy and

00:24:35.920 paste this into my life and I need my wardrobe to look that way like that's not how oh a cool

00:24:41.120 girl i cringe at that term operates like you said it's an attitude that cool attitude is something 0.75

00:24:47.460 that nylon magazine examined in a recent article by zara mcintosh and sam tracy the headline reads

00:24:53.640 the new cool looks a lot like trying and that is so true i feel like we've been leading up to this

00:24:58.960 moment for a long time ish i think about cringe like climbing fringe mountain that was said on

00:25:04.900 the podcast la culturistas now we're talking about addison ray so the article reads traditionally 0.99

00:25:10.780 the unofficial advice for it girldom has been simple have perfectly coiffed hair dress with 0.87

00:25:16.080 seemingly instinctive style and above all else don't try too hard or at least act like it the

00:25:22.660 only problem of course being that everyone who has ever actually made it has cared a lot the

00:25:28.160 article also references charlie xcx's recent interview with nikki at night where she reflects

00:25:33.900 on the fear of being seen trying it's a really great episode there's been lots of like clips

00:25:38.860 farmed from that I think I've reposted a few I'm very into that kind of messaging that's just like

00:25:44.320 you just have to go for it you just have to try and like who cares no one's actually looking at

00:25:49.320 you as deeply as you think I have a personal question for you yeah I guess do you feel cool

00:25:56.720 now at your age and were you quote unquote cool in school okay love this um I think I have a lot

00:26:06.100 a self-worth so I don't mind calling myself cool that's not an adjective that jumps out easily but

00:26:12.820 I'm like yeah if like sure like that's how I'd answer the question like sure like a bit but like

00:26:18.020 not not like yeah I'm the coolest girl in the world and then in school I know how you're gonna

00:26:22.780 answer this because like we've talked about this before we had a very similar high school experience

00:26:29.340 where especially at the end of high school we were very much the but like the floaters like

00:26:33.520 social butterflies um that we could just kind of jump from group to group and chameleon in and fit

00:26:39.560 in in those groups so is that cool less so but I would say we will lie oh this is too much

00:26:47.500 this is this is too introspective vulnerable what about yourself similar and I think it makes sense

00:26:53.860 that we're we're friends and we have a podcast together when I've heard other people say oh

00:26:59.000 blah blah like I was talking I was talking to blah blah and they said that they think you're

00:27:03.220 really cool I always feel like a bit like what really oh that's so nice um because similarly

00:27:09.200 it wouldn't be the first adjective I'd go to and I don't think I'm striving to be cool I'm striving

00:27:15.100 to be I'm striving to achieve my dreams and also I feel like I'm learning so much about myself at

00:27:19.680 the moment and I'm really getting to the root of like my values and what I want my life to look

00:27:25.040 like going forward whereas before i might have been a bit more a bit more aware of what other

00:27:30.320 people thought of me yeah and so i think that could be considered cool to really like what

00:27:34.400 charlie xdx is saying yeah like you said you clocked it like i was the same in school not

00:27:38.640 the most popular girl in the classroom but could jump around from group to group and i think what

00:27:43.500 you're saying about that attitude shift is why the cool girl content robs me the wrong way because

00:27:49.720 there is a lack of trying it's like someone's giving you a manual to follow that's not the

00:27:54.820 same as like doing it yourself and like finding your own pathway of coolness one thing I do like

00:28:02.420 about the content is I'm glad that it's not as taboo to be like oh I want to like be cool like

00:28:07.620 a lot of people feel that but it's kind of hard to admit or to say so I am like that's a positive

00:28:14.660 of this trend if I'm trying to find one of like yeah you can admit that you want to look a certain

00:28:19.680 way and and have a wardrobe that feels a certain way and I guess that is akin to you know knowing

00:28:27.520 that trying isn't as cringe as it used to be or it's not as embarrassing as it used to be like

00:28:33.460 we shouldn't be scared to be seen trying and that can look in many different ways. I think we'll

00:28:38.440 stop it there because we'll keep spiraling and deep diving and it's giving Jemima Kirk I think

00:28:43.440 you're thinking about yourselves too much mean? So true. Thanks for deep diving with us on Off

00:28:47.940 the record a bit more of a chatty segment so let us know your thoughts also would love to hear

00:28:53.180 thoughts on cool girl content yourselves is it something you consume do you find value in it

00:28:58.040 what are we thinking that brings us to the end of the episode in lieu of bookmarked where i know

00:29:03.580 some of you will be listening and wondering where the recommendations are we are releasing a bonus

00:29:09.140 episode of an extended bookmarked where we'll be talking about books movies etc podcasts that we

00:29:16.120 have loved consuming recently as well as things we're looking forward to reading and all the like

00:29:21.680 so keep an eye out for that in your podcast feeds as we have touched on recently I'll be heading

00:29:28.120 overseas for three weeks but don't you worry we have you prepped we have quite a few very cool

00:29:33.540 cool very cool podcast interviews coming up so stay tuned thanks for listening and we'll talk

00:29:40.560 to you next time bye

00:29:46.120 You

Culture Club - July 27, 2026

Is ‘Cool Girl’ Content Cool？ Shein’s Shady New Brand & Olivia Rodrigo’s New BF

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