+ Shake Shack’s White Truffle Menu Has One Item Worth the Price (The Takeout): “… beginning February 10, the White Truffle Menu will be available nationwide. It includes: White Truffle Burger … White Truffle ‘Shroom Burger … Parmesan Fries with White Truffle Sauce … This is not the Shack’s first time blending a luxury ingredient into its lineup. Back in 2021, the brand offered a Black Truffle Burger and Parmesan Garlic Fries with Black Truffle Sauce as a limited-time promotion.”
+ We Tried The New Shake Shack White Truffle Menu. Here’s What You Need To Know (Tasting Table): “All three dishes use virgin olive oil flavored with real white truffles from Regalis to make a creamy sauce. Although both recipes incorporated parmesan, this sauce is not just a replication of the previous black truffle version … Instead, the new sauce plays to its differences with lighter supporting flavors: Madeira and marsala wines, for starters. White button mushrooms enhance the fungal flavor and body unobtrusively, while shallots and garlic bring a much less demure taste.”
+ They’re Over Being Real (The New York Times): “If Instagram had become a catalog of cosmetic enhancements and painstakingly arranged tableaus, BeReal’s feed full of limp salads, messy apartments and unflattering selfies appeared an attractive refuge … Some users have discovered that seeing the monotony of their own lives reflected back at them is compelling for only so long … The number of people who use the app daily has dropped 61 percent from its peak, from about 15 million in October to less than six million in March, according to Apptopia … BeReal faces a dilemma … Doubling down on so-called authenticity risks making the app more monotonous. But doing the opposite — breaking the platform’s rules to generate more interesting pictures — risks turning BeReal into the very platforms it was supposedly a reaction against. BeReal may alienate users if it becomes awash in the kind of highly produced content that influencers and advertisers typically post on Instagram and Facebook.”
+ Cool People Accidentally Saved America’s Feet (The Atlantic): “… I developed plantar fasciitis, a common, nagging injury to a band of connective tissue in the foot that most acutely afflicts people who spend a lot of time on their feet … It is also possible to acquire plantar fasciitis by being a dumbass who loves traipsing around in terrible shoes, which was my method … over the past decade, ultra-comfy sneakers, cushy clogs, sandals with arch support, and all manner of quasi-orthopedic footwear haven’t just become more abundant than ever; they’ve also become cool. Like, for young people.”
+ How Vulnerable Is LVMH? (The Business of Fashion): “… there’s always a reminder that the good times might not last: rising interest rates, sinking consumer confidence, and the abrupt collapse of the post-pandemic stock market rally last year have put the industry’s growth streak in question … LVMH’s first-quarter revenues for fashion and leather rose 18 percent — comforting hopes of a rapid coronavirus rebound in China … LVMH said China’s domestic market is already back to its 2021 peak and high-spending individual Chinese travellers are popping back up in international shopping hubs … As France’s (and the world’s) richest man, Arnault and his company are certainly potent symbols of rising inequality. In recent years, discourse has ramped up in France (as in the US) regarding raising taxes on billionaires for projects including fighting climate change, funding pensions and more.”
+ What Are ‘Millennial Gray’ Homes and Why Are They Making Millennials Cringe? (The Wall Street Journal): “… house flippers and property managers tend to like inexpensive furnishings in safe, neutral, durable colors, which means many millennial renters and first-time homeowners signed a dotted line on a space that already had gray in its bones: the floors, the cabinets, the counters, the walls … the ‘take it or leave it’ gray of choice is often particularly numbing and middle-of-the-road … Impatient millennials want things fast. When it comes to major design purchases like sofas from mass-market outlets, neutral colors like gray are often what’s in stock, no ordering required.”
+ A.I. Is Coming for Lawyers, Again (The New York Times): “Law is seen as the lucrative profession perhaps most at risk from the recent advances in A.I. because lawyers are essentially word merchants. And the new technology can recognize and analyze words and generate text in an instant. It seems ready and able to perform tasks that are the bread and butter of lawyers … New A.I. technology will change the practice of law, and some jobs will be eliminated, but it also promises to make lawyers and paralegals more productive, and to create new roles … The work of humans … will increasingly be to focus on developing industry expertise, exercising judgment in complex legal matters, and offering strategic guidance and building trusted relationships with clients.”
+ Until 05/02/2023, shop J.Crew‘s Midseason Sale and take up to an extra 60% off select sale styles with code SALEONSALE. My picks:
+ AI Marketing Stunts Are Here. Is Fashion Ready? (The Business of Fashion): “… as AI content gets easier to create, it’s debatable whether an ocean of memes and mashups filled with brand signifiers will be helpful or harmful … For one thing, many consumers are distrusting or fearful of AI, and their expectations around the technology are being set at the same time brands and others are experimenting with the tools in public.”
+ They’re Selling AI Nudes of Imaginary Women on Reddit — and It’s Working (Rolling Stone): “According to Sensity, an AI firm, nearly 96 percent of all deepfakes are pornographic in nature and feature a woman’s face being used without their consent … such content is fairly easy to find online, with some Discord communities selling deepfake porn of ‘personal girls’ — meaning non-celebrities — for as little as $5 a pop.”
+ Turns Out, ChatGPT Is Pretty Good at Planning Your Next Vacation (Bloomberg): “ChatGPT … has limited knowledge of the world and events after 2021. It’s not connected to the ‘live’ internet. So that new, cool hotel or restaurant you want to check out and casually brag about on your Insta? Yeah, you won’t find it here. It’s like using an out-of-date Frommer’s or Rough Guide to plan a trip … AI’s tendency to pick grand, legendary items for my itinerary which is perfect for someone hoping to experience the greatest hits.”
+ Is There Life After Influencing? (The New York Times): “For more than a decade, social media has carried with it the implicit promise that with some combination of luck and incessant posting, a user with no connections, no experience, and sometimes no discernible skill can become rich and famous. In 2019, a Morning Consult report found that 54 percent of Gen Z and millennial Americans were interested in becoming influencers … But the dream … comes with its own costs. If social media has made audiences anxious, it’s driving creators to the brink.”
+ Inside Rupert Murdoch’s Succession Drama (Vanity Fair): “Murdoch built a $17 billion fortune out of a small newspaper company he inherited from his father. The only thing that mattered was profit. But amassing that wealth required Murdoch to destroy virtually anything he touched: the environment, women’s rights, the Republican Party, truth, decency—even his own family.”
+ Taylor Swift and the Sad Dads (The Atlantic): “… Swift may have pushed the men of The National in new directions too. On the band’s latest album, First Two Pages of Frankenstein, out in April, Swift’s influence feels pervasive. It’s not just her voice … she seems to have taught them something about the mode of candid self-expression that she has mastered. In so doing, The National and Taylor Swift have become one of the unlikeliest and most productive synergies in contemporary music—the cross-pollination of a gloomy indie-rock fraternity and proudly sentimental, stadium-charming pop.”
+ Gourmet Dog Food Has Pet Owners Sending Kibbles Back (The New York Times): “Dog ownership boomed during the pandemic … Sales of dog food surged to around $25 billion last year, up nearly 39 percent from $18 billion in 2019 … as inflation has driven up the prices of even conventional kibble, the options in the dog food aisle have become increasingly bespoke and expensive. There are holistic, plant-based varieties, and those with freeze-dried goat and wild boar. Some options are frozen and raw … One of the fastest-growing and most competitive categories is human-grade dog food … According to … a nongovernmental organization that provides guidance to the industry on animal feeds, human-grade dog food contains fresh ingredients — like meats or vegetables — that are fit for human consumption, and is manufactured in a plant that is federally regulated and inspected. Although humans can technically eat human-grade dog food, it may contain nutrients that are not suitable for people … Veterinarians and animal nutritionists say many of these new brands are targeting wealthier consumers who treat their animals as if they were children — so-called fur babies — and want to match their dogs’ diets to their own eating habits. Some are selling the food directly to consumers, through subscription services.”
+ Recently purchased: Reformation Tagliatelle Dress, Madewell The Saige Double-Strap Sandal, Everlane The Rib Soft Knit Scoop-Neck Dress, Roiii A-Line Loose Dress, STAUD Mini Landry Dress, Jeffrey Campbell Pearlesque Sandal, Loewe Basket Small Bag, and J.Crew Menorca Slingback Sandals.
Have a great week, everyone!
