Edition 74
All things whimsical, also, everything on the internet is fake and here’s why
I come to you this week a happy little Vegemite with all my children under one roof for once — Milo and Iggy have come home (from Melbourne and Canberra respectively) for the weekend, and we’ve spent it cosied up out of the rain drinking Baileys and playing Push, a card game my husband and older boys discovered at a board game bar in Canada a couple of years ago. Yes, that’s exactly what it sounds like: a cocktail bar with hundreds of games and hosts to help you choose the right one for your group. My idea of heaven. It’s taken us this long to buy the game and now I finally understand why they’ve been going on about it ever since. Highly engaging, low on cognitive load, easy to play while still having a proper conversation. Highly recommend.
Earlier in the week I spent a gorgeous afternoon with Steve Cordony and the chic, affordable Singaporean homewares brand Castlery, eating savoury scones and lemon dream cake in a home filled with his favourite pieces. I was influenced — how can you not be, the man is deeply convincing — and am now the owner of the Olwen side table. I seemed to be in a generally influenceable state of mind: I also attended a breakfast for Canadian jewellery brand Mejuri, was seated next to another very chareming person, co-founder and CEO Noura Sakkijha, and spent the whole time distracted by the most stunning pair of diamond huggies she was wearing, now firmly on my list. At a PR appointment later I was convinced to swap my beloved Charlotte Tilbury Pillow Talk mascara for the Full Fat Lashes version; now I like them both for different reasons (FFL for everyday, PT at night). Mecca hosted a beautiful candlelit evening celebrating Diptyque, where I fell for the new Ortie scent — inspired by nettles and citrus, designed to evoke “the bohemian neighbourhood of Saint-Germain-des-Prés, 1963” — a sentence that was always going to get me — and the weather finally convinced me it was winter and time to switch to Augustinus Bader’s The Rich Cream, the legendary skincare icon and my absolute favourite for nourishing my skin when it goes through a dry patch.
On to the links…
Whimsy is to Gen Z and millennial culture what irony was for Gen X: a coping mechanism that gives a sense of control in anxiety-fuelled times. From the NYT:
…sending postcards and doing activities one’s 10-year-old self might have enjoyed are considered “whimsy hobbies.” There is a whimsy lexicon — those who use it might say “saunter,” for example, instead of “walk.” At a glance, the style is a few steps away from being twee.
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“We really can’t control what our leaders are doing,” [whimsy enthusiast and podcaster Lisa] Plank said, adding, “but you can control what kind of mug you’re going to choose, what cute outfit you’re going wear and what beautiful thing you can do in your morning.”
And here’s a perfect example: If you, like me, were very partial to Cicely Mary Barker’s Flower Fairies of the Garden and Enid Blyton’s Book of Fairies as a child, good news — Bustle, reporting on a sudden rise in fairy-related content and searches on TikTok and Pinterest, predicts this is going to be a “fairy summer”. Aside from embracing fairy-inspired clothing and nail art (none of which I can confidently recommend if you’re over the age of seven), ways to embrace the movement include “following a bumblebee as it lazes its way from flower to flower, going on a scavenger hunt for tiny treasures (like pinecones and rocks), searching for fairy ‘portals’ in nature (like holes in a tree), keeping a ‘field notes’ journal of sketches, cloud watching.” You’ll need to BYO shrooms, obvi.
This is the essence of Fairy Summer: touching grass, following your fancies, noticing the little things, and embracing nature. “There’s so much strife and uncertainty in the world, I think it’s fun to engage in that fantasy and a little bit of playing pretend,” she says, noting that channeling fairy vibes is basically a form of hopecore.
Fairycore is almost like a more niche offset of the cottagecore before it, and the analog trend of this year that has people setting down their phones in favor of screen-free fun. When you talk about fairies, everyone immediately understands the assignment, Chandra says. “There’s also just the aesthetics of this very organic, fun, natural magic that is kinda the complete opposite of tech and AI culture. So [being into fairies] also feels extremely human and alternative, in a sense.”
The whimsy uniform is the babydoll dress, which Olivia Rodrigo (someone I feel weirdly parasocially protective of) has been wearing and getting slammed in the media about. As US Bazaar points out through, the babydoll dress has a verified feminist, punk lineage and is a look designed to “cater to girly sensibilities, not to a male gaze.” Which is probably why they hate it so much.
The outfit that has drawn the most fire is a floral puff-sleeved top embellished with ribbon and crystals by the French brand Generation78, which Rodrigo paired with peekaboo bloomer shorts and knee-high Doc Martens for a Spotify Billions Club Live performance in Barcelona. This latest round of controversy is reflective of the consistent misdirection of moral panic that tends to entangle young female artists (especially those with Disney backgrounds). The impulse to police Rodrigo’s self-presentation reads as a reflection of powerlessness in an era where those complicit in very-real violence against girls go unpunished.
The very definition of whimsical escapism: Cosmo reports on the rise of hobbycations — trips taken not to see the sights but purely to lean into your hobbies the whole time.
… don’t think a hobbycation has to be a big production. The best part of them is that there’s no pressure; it can look really any way you want it to. Sure, can you plan a real trip and pack all your crafts to do at the beach or poolside? Of course. You can also keep it pretty lowkey. Think, finally getting to that home project you’ve been wanting to knock out, learning a new board game, or finishing an 1,000-piece puzzle. Reading retreats, where you just hole up somewhere of your choosing and power through your TBR, are also considered a hobbycation. All of these can also be done solo, with one friend, or with an entire group. Dealer’s choice!
Or, a way to embrace whimsy from the comfort of your sofa: According to the newsletter As Seen On, “The Nintendo game Tomodachi Life is the hottest new obsession for the young “cool girl” beauty enthusiasts in our cohort. Tomodachi Life scratches the nostalgic itch, reminiscent of the Sims, mostly unscripted dramas and interactions in realistic storylines.” I hope a version comes to iOS — “cosy gaming” is a secret guilty pleasure of mine but I’m not shameless enough to take over my kids’ Switch.
Below the paywall:
The biggest wedding trends of 2026
Live-in dog nannies are a thing (and possibly my dream job)
Everything you ever wanted to know about what Choupette, Karl Lagerfeld’s cat, has been up to since his passing
Why everyone is freaking out about the global birth rate decline and what it means for the world we know
The book everyone is reading (or rereading) right now
More about Andrew whatever his name is Sarah Ferguson than you could possibly want to know
Typos as evidence of humanity and effort. It’s a low bar out there these days.
WTF is clipping and why is everyone suddenly talking about it (aka everything on the internet is fake and here’s why)
Everyone is psychic now
Jazz clubs are back
