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Jack Antonoff Slams Dimes Square

For those not in the know, Jack Antonoff is a pop music producer best known for collaborating with artists like Taylor Swift, Lorde, & Lana Del Rey — statistics suggest that his deft musical handiwork is responsible for millions of upper middle class white women crying themselves to sleep every night. 

Aside from producing, Antonoff is also part of a band, Bleachers, that has an album coming out. While giving an interview promoting the album, he left some scathing commentary on the area that internet people to refer as Dimes Square, particularly with regards to its lack of “cultural exports”:

“Antonoff says he “was interested in writing about [Dimes Square]…Antonoff feels that the NYC scene  “finally just is over”. “Any [NYC] scenes going on, there’s no real centre to them,” he argues.  “There’s no great artistic export. Like, say what you want about downtown in the early-2000s, but goddamn, those first few Strokes albums! Say what you want about the Brooklyn moment in Williamsburg, you could roast it to hell and back, but Jesus fucking Christ, some of that music is just absolutely timeless. [Dimes Square] still falls under this thing where it’s like, well, what’s the export? What’s the book, what’s the band?”

I really do believe that not everything in life needs intellectualizing, and that’s how I feel about Jack Antonoff’s bizarre Dimes Square monologue. Like, I’m so confused: do people actually care about Dimes Square in a serious, non-ironic way? The same Dimes Square where people religious wear Carhartt despite never having known manual labor a day in their lives? Like yeah, no shit it has no “cultural exports,” everyone who goes out there is busy moonlighting as a Creative Director and taking artsy pics of themselves smoking cigarettes. 

I obviously don’t really go out in Dimes Square on a regular basis, but I thought we were all on the same page that the area has some cute bars/restaurants and it’s funny to poke fun at the influencers and trust funded individuals that flock to the area…and that’s pretty much it.  Like, as meme fodder it’s lovely, but I did not realize that anyone legitimately had any expectations for  “Dimes Square” to serve as some sort of cultural utopia or what have you. It’s not a breeding ground for art, it’s Murray Hill for men wearing Vivienne Westwood necklaces & Eckhaus Latta jeans. 

Ariana & Her Men

In an amazing day for home wreckers fans of true love everywhere, Ariana Grande has officially finalized her divorce with Dalton Gomez and is reportedly shacking up with Ethan Slater (SpongeBob). 

As part of her divorce settlement with Gomez, Ariana will pay $1.25 million and he is prohibited from giving interviews about their marriage, writing any sort of tell-all about his relationship with Ariana (pity because I would have definitely read that) etc. etc. We made a meme about this settlement and a lot of people pointed out that $1.25 million isn’t THAT much for a superstar like Ariana Grande, but tbh I think he’ll be fine. He can go buy a nice condo somewhere and then continue selling real estate or whatever it is he does all day. Also, I believe he gets to split the sale of his and Ariana’s big ass LA home equally, so I won’t be shedding any tears for Dalton today.

As for Ariana & Ethan — where do we think they’re living? I know Ariana used to live with Pete Davidson (what an era omg) in that uber-expensive Zaha Hadid building on the High Line in Chelsea. Her house in LA matches that luxury modern aesthetic, so I guess that’s kind of the ‘vibe’ that she searches for in real estate (not my taste, but fair). With this in mind, I could totally see her going for the Jenga building in Tribeca or some other new development. 

Sidebar: does Ethan Slater’s child even live in New York? God, I can’t believe a GDS theater alum is living like this…

Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show 2023: The Aftermath

Many of you all will recall that the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show was cancelled (literally and figuratively lol) a few years ago under criticism that the brand enforced a narrow standard of femininity asn’t inclusive enough of different types of bodies (e.g. they only worked with tall, statuesque supermodel types). 

Anyways: unbeknownst to me, the VSFS actually returned this year about a month ago — it was very much a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it event that came and went without a great deal of fanfare. This iteration of the show was clearly a response to the criticism that the brand received years ago: this time around, VS did away with the wings (and the entire angel imagery) and hired models of all body types. 

To read the rest of our thoughts on The VS Fashion Show, sign up for the full version of our newsletter for a mere $5 behind the paywall below. We appreciate you! (Plus, this week’s commentary was a little too toxic to not put behind a paywall lmao). Xoxo

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