TT Vol. 71

Fendi x Skims, Kylie Swim, Halloween 2021, McCombe Thompson Furniture & Social Media Update

Tourist Trapp

Oct 31, 2021

Clockwise from Top.

Fendi x Skims

New besties Kim Kardashian and Kim Jones are releasing a Fendi x Skims collection next week. Kardashian’s shapewear line has turned into a billion dollar brand for her, but all at an approachable price point. Jones, creative director for Fendi Womenswear, loves a good high-low collab. He previously orchestrated Louis Vuitton x Supreme, and Dior x Stüssy, and this feels like its right in his wheelhouse.

The price point here, unsurprisingly, is Fendi: think leggings for $1100, and ranging up to $4K for a leather dress.

Kim has been busy sending out care packages to her friends - Gwyneth Paltrow, Heidi Klum, Chantel Jeffries. Like most collaborations these days, Fendi x Skims seems to exist to generate buzz and sales. If this works, and it will, I would expect to see more luxury brands catering to the whims of Kardashian/Jenner clan.

Kylie Jenner Swim

Not to be outdone by big sis Kim, Kylie Jenner released her own swimwear line last month. In case you weren’t sure who was behind the brand, it’s called “Kylie Swim”.

It’s currently being savaged in the comments on the Kylie Swim IG account:

Customers are saying the quality is terrible: namely poor fits, and cheap materials. Apparently the swimsuits are basically sheer, with one customer saying they be marketed as lingerie not swimwear.

This goes to show that even billionaires like Kylie Jenner can market a cheap, poorly executed product to their following. Producing swimwear that is actually wearable is a technical endeavor, something that Jenner did not have time to manage. Contrast with Kim Kardashian, who has been extremely successful in managing her Skims brand.

Halloween 2021

This is our first Halloween in the suburbs since…the early 2000’s? It’s been so long that we forgot how big of a holiday it was outside of the city. In our neighborhood, almost every house is decorated with something. It seems that this girl on a swing is this year’s Home Depot skeleton. We’ve seen two houses within a few blocks of us with the exact same item. Also, this dragon is all over the place out here.

We’re all for holiday decorating, but something tasteful like this is more our speed:

(from our friend’s IG). This is NYC but more us than an animatronic dragon.

And PS we’re making this recipe tonight. Happy Halloween everybody!

McCombe Thompson Furniture

One silver lining of moving? Getting to shop for new furniture! We have been following designers Sarah Thompson and Stephen McCombe for some time now. Their Riverhead, NY studio is steps away from our fave Briermere Farms, the place to go for peach slushies on the east end of Long Island.

This cherry coffee table is the object of our desire:

Garage did an in depth interview that the design duo here.

Social Media Check In

With brands like Prada flocking to TikTok, what’s the state of social media fashion?

Brands see Gen Z consumers as the future, and increasingly Gen Z is on TikTok:

In the US, TikTok is said to have around 80 million monthly active users, with 60% being between 16 and 24 years old. 26% are between 25 and 44, meaning that the app's main pool of users is Gen Z – a group that is currently being targeted by brands worldwide.

Meanwhile, Facebook’s platform is toxic enough that brands are abandoning it completely; Snap is trying to offer creators monetization tools found on other platforms; and the D’Amelio family now has their own Hulu series - a 2020’s version of Keeping Up with the Kardashians.

Instagram and the fashion industry were really perfect partners. The fashion industry has always prized perfection and exclusivity, and early Instagram had this in spades. But everything eventually fades, and it feels to us like Instagram, still popular with millennials, is beginning to wane. TikTok is where the engagement is, but it’s a trickier place for brands to operate. It’s more of a bottoms up social media app, with the all-powerful algorithm surfacing obscure content for short lived viral boosts; contrast with Instagram, where posts frequently comes from the big brands you follow, and not your friends and family, and probably not strangers. And yet, brands have found success in working with TikTok influencers (who even have their own paparazzi!), as the platform seems to be more a more authentic place for individuals vs. brands.

Having said all that, we probably don’t really understand TikTok. We rarely use it (Chris, Raquel), other than a short lived cooking phase. Just look at the view counts - from 162 to 2324! We wonder what social network coronials are going to be on come 2035.

Links.

This livestreamer did an astonishing $2B in sales in one day.

Lost hiker ignored phone calls from rescuers because the caller was unknown.

Has fashion reached peak minimalism.

For 7 years, a man ate at 6 Flags Theme Park for every lunch and dinner using his park pass to save money for a down payment for his house.

There’s someone out there meticulously documenting Timothée Chalamet outfits on Instagram.

The Glossier Blanket.

Susan Alexandra’s new store.

Raquel & Chris

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