PicoBlog

Temperatures hit -4 at the Kansas City Chiefs - Miami Dolphins game last weekend, so naturally, Taylor Swift had to show her support for boyfriend Travis Kelce with the warmest fan gear possible. 

All eyes have been on Swift when she’s shown up at Chiefs games this season. Her red and gold team apparel has been one to watch, too, and searches surrounding where to snag your own versions of the vintage and custom Chiefs merch Swift wears surge every time she attends a game.

The coat she wore this weekend went viral, in part because of the great story behind it. It was custom-made by Kristin Juszczyk, whose husband Kyle plays for the San Francisco 49ers. She previously made one for Simone Biles, too. (Her husband, whatever his name is, plays for the Green Bay Packers.)

Swift and Biles aren’t the only high-profile women whose relationships have brought new eyeballs to the NFL as of late. 23-year-old influencer Alix Earle has amassed nearly 6.5 million TikTok followers through “get ready with me” vlogs, where she fills viewers in on her life while doing her makeup. 

She’s dating Miami Dolphins wide receiver Braxton Berrios, whom she lovingly refers to in videos as “NFL Man.” Back in September, she sparked a new viral game day fashion trend when she cut a Berrios jersey down the middle in the front, effectively creating an unbuttoned Hawaiian shirt look. Scores of her followers did the same.   

There have been calls in wake of this jersey fashion boom for the NFL to do more to support their female fans who want to show team spirit by offering products like Juszczyk’s. While that undoubtedly could be both super profitable and a great PR move for the league, it’s also ignoring two big ideas. One, that tons of women are already involved in the sports world and that reducing female football fans to fashion-lovers is super diminishing.  

And more importantly, it ignores that the NFL still has a major problem when it comes to supporting women, from the way it responds to women who have experienced domestic violence, to numerous allegations of sexual harassment and workplace misconduct. 

Meghan Rienks is a longtime influencer with over 2 million YouTube subscribers who I’ve previously interviewed because of how candidly she talks about the influencer industry and how being transparent with viewers and staying true to her morals has allowed her to last so long in the realm of digital fame. 

She previously shared a story about being invited to the NFL’s Women’s Summit, an event that she was paid to attend and create content about. But Rienks, who’s known for being very outspoken about the political issues she cares about, was allegedly told that she wasn’t allowed to talk about “feminist” issues in relation to the event. She decided to donate her profits from the partnership to Planned Parenthood, which the event sponsors asked that she do privately. 

Spoiler alert: She didn’t. 

Rienks tweeted afterward that she didn’t care if it was the last brand deal she was ever offered — she wasn’t going to offer positive promotion to an organization that wanted to appear on the surface as though they were supporting a group without doing real work behind the scenes to actually do so. 

So sure, make more cute official league gameday wear for those who want to wear it. But don’t use fashion as a bandaid over the NFL’s bullet holes.

Gypsy Rose, Natalia Grace and the girlboss-ification of trauma victims // The Washington Post: People knew who Gypsy Rose Blanchard was years ago, but it was over the last month that she became an actual celebrity. She has 8 million Instagram followers and counting. She’s been on Good Morning America, The View and got her own Lifetime docuseries. Interested parties are allegedly flooding both her and her husband’s DMs. And we thought the woman who just got out of prison after years of endured trauma would make for a totally normal icon to follow? This is a great dive into the weird way we as a collective culture make people celebrities who didn’t necessarily ask for fame. 

Is Joe Biden Still a Blockbuster in Hollywood? // The Hollywood Reporter: I’ve previously done reporting on what having someone like Biden back in charge has done for celebrity presence at the White House. This was an interesting dive into whether the LA support that came out in huge waves for his inauguration is still supporting him. 

The Stanley Cup: A 40-Ounce Bully? // The Cut: Stanley Cup discourse has reached new heights and garnered a thousand think pieces. I loved this one for the way it pulled the curtain back on what it feels like to be a tween girl trying desperately to fit in by any means necessary — a phenomenon we’re also talking about a lot right now in the context of Sephora tweens. “I wouldn’t say any of them are actually my friends,” one 13-year-old said of the newfound popularity she scored by bringing a Stanley to school. “They only talk to me in the morning when I’m holding my Stanley.”

Malia Obama’s Sundance debut: I’m admittedly having some FOMO not watching along at Sundance this year and am very excited to see Obama’s (credited as Malia Ann) short film whenever it winds up on streaming. Reviews aren’t very plentiful yet, but one Letterboxd user called the film, about a lonely man grieving the loss of his mother who leaves an odd request in her will, “actually pretty amazing.” 

The resurgence of King Kylie: Kylie Jenner seemingly re-dyed her hair pink, and all of a sudden we were transported back to the simpler vibes of the mid-2010s when Coachella was the height of the fashion scene and Instagram pictures were filtered AF. Can we bring back Tumblr while we’re at it?  

Tiny Moves by Bleachers: Led by Jack Antonoff, Bleachers has an impeccable knack for writing anthemic, nostalgic songs that feel like they should be in the tunnel scene of “Perks of Being a Wallflower.” (Further proof that 2010s Tumblr culture is impossible to escape.)

The Emmys: Petition to keep the Emmy Awards as a part of awards season from now on? Having them as a palate cleanser post-Golden Globes bomb was a welcome change. Between fun scenery changes, odes to TV shows past and so many speeches that made me ugly cry (thank you especially to Ayo Edebiri, Quinta Brunson and Carol Burnett), award shows are so back. Sarah Kate Ellis, the president of GLAAD who frequently works in and weighs in on pop culture matters, accepted the Governors Award for the organization and had a great quote about the power of on-screen representation: “What the world sees on TV directly influences how we treat each other and the decisions we make in our living rooms, schools, at work and at the ballot box. … When you don’t know people, it’s easy to demonize them. Visibility creates understanding and opens doors, it’s life-saving.”  

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