Recommended Reads: 12 Substack Posts You Should Bookmark
Here's your 3-day weekend reading list. Grab a drink, pull up a chair, and get into it.
The Cult Brand Formula: Decoded
By
“Few grocery stores double as social hubs, but Erewhon isn’t most grocery stores. With curated shelves of raw nut butters, biodynamic kefirs and anti-inflammatory tonics, it has become a wellness mecca: part boutique, part café, a place to see and be seen. Stop by any of the Los Angeles locations, and you’re guaranteed to find preternaturally beautiful young people milling under bougainvillea-covered awnings with a $20 USD smoothie in hand or browsing the supplement aisle like it’s a concept store in SoHo. Those who don’t ‘get it’ could never fathom paying $19 USD for a single strawberry from Japan, but luckily enough for its founders, plenty of people do. Once a niche health food co-op, Erewhon has morphed into a lifestyle monolith…”
is AI dating the new frontier of impersonal connection?
By Jillian Angelini via
“Brian Fitzpatrick, a single 27-year-old engineer in Queens, was doing everything you're told to do while online dating. He was on every app, swiping constantly, and sending message after message. Yet, despite the efforts, he barely got any dates, making him feel beyond frustrated. After a situationship with someone he met on an app fizzled out, he realized he wasn't dating enough "high-quality women," as he called it. His solution? Turn to AI for help….”
True Tea, Beyoncé and Tyra Banks Revolutionized the Wig Game
By
“Listen, before we had TikTok girlies teaching us how to melt our lace and YouTube tutorials breaking down every baby hair, (I hate baby hairs on wigs, btw) we had two queens showing us what real scalp-tea looked like. I'm talking about none other than Beyoncé Knowles and Tyra Banks — the original architects of the flawless hairline movement. When I tell you these ladies had us questioning everything we knew about wigs in the 2000s, baby, I mean EVERYTHING….”
The Unlikely Rise of Mormon Mom Culture
By of Matriarchy Report and of
“I live in New York City, a place where moms are 40+, where only children abound, and where it seems babies are made in a doctor’s office with IVF just as often as not. That’s the world that I live in, but it’s not where I’m from. If you’re newish here, you might not know that I was raised Mormon, in Salt Lake City, and I often write about patriarchy through the lens of Mormonism. I grew up in a majority-Mormon neighborhood surrounded by big families, driving big Chevy Suburbans, and making very big Costco runs. All of my early ideas about family and motherhood were shaped in this community, one that famously emphasizes big families and traditional gender roles. If you had told me when I was younger that Mormon moms would become a pop culture phenomenon, I would have laughed out loud and spit out my Diet Coke. And yet, here we are: some of the biggest social media influencers of our time are Mormon moms, and perhaps stranger yet, their brands are largely built on being Mormons and moms….”
Gen X Will Never Escape Diet Culture
By of
“I recently saw a SlimFast ad from a few years ago that brought back for me the chalky, chemical-tasting shame that’s imbued in the product I used to buy it in high school with my fast food job money. In the ad, a cheery lady, complete with a perm wig from the ‘80s, says, ‘Radical!’ and meets up with a modern woman. Modern Lady informs her that SlimFast is still here, but there are also cool new diet words like ‘intermittent fasting’ and ‘keto’! At the end, Modern Lady says to Inaccurate-‘80s-Perm Lady, ‘Welcome to the future, or, uh, the present.’…”
Crowned In Meaning: A Love Letter To The Language Of Hair And Headwear
By of
“If you read our last log, you’ll know this piece was inspired by the 2025 Met Gala, themed Superfine: Tailoring Black Style, where Black Dandyism took center stage. The hairstyles on the carpet told powerful stories, from Tems’ swirled edges and Megan Thee Stallion’s copper ponytail to Doechii and Lauryn Hill’s afros. The buns, pixie cuts, bobs, curls, finger waves, locs, durags, ichafus, crowns, and hats were all a nod to cultural continuity and creative expression. It got me thinking about how trends today come and go quickly, often losing their meaning. But hair and headwear have endured across ages, cultures, and geographies, communicating our identity, belief, and origin before we say anything….”
The Millennial redemption arc
By of
“For some time now, a Millennial was one of the worst things you could be online. As soon as a younger generation came in to skewer our mannerisms—saying “doggo,” pausing, making coffee a personality trait—it was game over. “Millennial cringe” compilations racked up hundreds of thousands of views on TikTok. TikToks with Millennial energy elicited comments like, “Post this on Reels.” Even I got rid of my bangs and started rolling my eyes at myself for things like “enjoying The Office.” But there’s recently been a vibe shift….”
The RealReal's Chief Creative Officer on the Stories Inside Our Closets
By of
“This week, for my latest edition of ‘Styled & Crafted’, Kristen Naiman, Chief Creative Officer of The RealReal, a pioneer platform in the luxury resale game, is our guide to the art of sartorial reinvention. You know how it is when you meet that person at an event and you just know they’re cool? After watching and listening to her at a recent RealReal gathering, I had to get to know her better. I was not disappointed, and it wasn’t just because of her résumé, as impressive as it is….”
The Impulsive Bangs Survival Guide
By of
“You know you’re on the brink of a breakthrough when you have the sudden urge to change your hair. I do, at least. See: The time I chopped my waist-length hair into a middle-parted bob when I started my first editor job at a major fashion magazine. Barely out of college, riddled with imposter syndrome, and desperate to look the part, I wanted a sleek and serious style. As hairstylist Harry Josh chopped off my ends into a blunt, shoulder-grazing length, he told me, “You’ll look really expensive, like you work for a high-end magazine.” Bingo. It made me feel like a grown-up for the first time….”
The U.S. Obsession with the French Pharmacy
By of
“It’s the American way to adopt (some may say steal) trends, ideas, and fads from other countries—especially in the beauty world. The country that first comes to mind is France, as the French girl beauty has been the desired look of many for years. From claiming the look as effortlessly chic to dedicating an entire season (French girl summer) after the stylish women of France, it’s apparent they’re the minimalist icons of the beauty world….”
37 somewhat productive things to do instead of obsessing over how to get a “summer body”
By of
“I can’t escape #SkinnyTok. No matter how frequently I press the Not Interested button, I stumble upon videos about how to fast and ignore your hunger cues and suppress your appetite. Because nothing tastes as good as skinny feels. It’s giving 2005. I thought we were done with that nonsense. Unfortunately, like with all trends, it’s back in style. As someone who grew up in a time when 2007 Britney was considered fat, I was on more diets than I can remember. I starved myself, went to bed hungry, denied myself treats. I exercised on an empty stomach and wondered why I felt like shit. I told myself you have to suffer in order to be pretty. It took me a long time to accept that it wasn’t going to happen for me. The skinny part. Even now, my relationship with food isn’t 100% healthy. Occasionally, food is emotional comfort, or enemy, or source of shame. Once you learn how many calories are in each and every single thing you eat and drink, the knowledge lingers. And I consider myself to be one of the lucky ones. I know I could have done more damage….”
The Next Big Thing in Facials?
By of
“A reader curious about a new kind of facial wonders if it’s the next big thing in rejuvenation.
Q: I just got an email from a good, well-informed friend; she’s recommending a facial using a product infused with stem cells from human placentas. It’s supposedly developed from a revolutionary technology that restores youthfulness. What do you think?
The answer to this Q&A sits quivering with excitement behind a paywall.”
A little shoutout from Allure? Say less. We’re flattered.
🥹🥹🥹 thank u for including us in such great company!