Let 'Em Say We're Crazy

On 90s icons and doing what you want

Personal branding is starting to feel like an itchy sweater.

Do you feel this too?

People are investing their time, money and energy into building theirs. It’s an alluring concept — like inbox zero, or having a morning routine. “Do this to be better!" Do this and be more successful, gain more followers, and just…shine brighter!!” A company needs a strong brand, agreed. But it feels like people (ok, women) both famous and civilian, are starting to grow tired of it on a personal level. This isn’t a criticism of those who use this tool with mastery, but for those of us who could never quite get the hang of it, I’d say the tides are turning. An identity that’s allowed to evolve feels like a quiet revolution. Something, as the song goes, in the air. It’s a refusal to be told who we are, but perhaps more importantly, it’s an embrace of all the many, many different (and sometimes contradictory) things we want to be.

My personal brand? I Do What I Want….

90s Baywatch icon Pamela Anderson is having a renaissance. This is due, in large part, to her makeup-free appearance at Paris Fashion week. I’m a huge fan of her general “less is more” social media persona as well as her gorgeously un-done SubStack. (Note: I believe it’s archive-less, meaning you can only read her posts if you subscribe to receive emails — an interesting and transient move in and of itself.)

When asked why she was going bare-faced (as reported by Allure) she said it was to ‘bring the focus to the clothes.’ Didn’t work. The focus was on her, naturally. Her makeup free image was suddenly everywhere. For a minute, she was this makeup free fairy godmother. But then, (GASP) she arrived at the 2024 Met Gala with the kind of glow that only highlighter and mascara can give you, courtesy of superstar-makeup artist Pat McGrath. And while the Internet was mostly kind, people definitely had stuff to say. “Pamela Anderson breaks her makeup free streak!” they said.

Uh. Pamela Anderson can do what she wants. And she should.

In Bazaar last month (April 2024), Christy Turlington, a 90s icon a of an entirely different sort, did an interview to promote her charity Every Mother Counts. She brought even-handed commentary to the firestorm we’re hearing around the fight for reproductive rights. She also added “I don’t want to put myself out as the face of aging beauty.” Noteworthy: she didn’t say “please” or “sorry.”

….And so just as it feels exciting to see women lean into different aspects of their own identities, the reversal of this— “no I’m not that” feels just as refreshing.

Companies need a strong brand

But I am not a company.

I’m bigger and more complicated and more awesome than any company I can think of…aren’t you?

(Talk honestly, no one else hears you, and I stay only a minute longer.)

Do I contradict myself?
Very well then I contradict myself,
(I am large, I contain multitudes.)

-Walt Whitman, Song of Myself, Leaves of Grass

Some delightful media + consumerism of note:

• A masterclass on breaking up with your identity.

• I love Catt Sadler, and this might be my favorite episode yet.

• Summer air conditioning is perfect for a chic grey sweatshirt benefitting Every Mother Counts.

• Sarah Creal on her new line (from Vogue) “In an industry actively built around courting, desiring and selling youth, it’s a strategy that seems positively audacious. But Creal is unconcerned. “I couldn’t think of a single luxury brand specifically creating products for women like me. So this brand is about me saying, right, fuck it,” she says with a laugh. - I’ll be purchasing the sunscreen and the mascara.

• “If you were coming of age in the 1980s…” The trailer for BRATS gave me goosebumps on my face. Andrew McCarthy was my first crush. This premieres on June 13th. 7 days if you’re counting (I am).

• I find myself googling these weird, nostalgic and beautiful shoes daily.

• The only thing better than this bangle would be a few of them, stacked.

• I am coveting this trinket to an almost-unhealthy degree

• This cutie is sitting in my cart- something to stash into a larger bag OR something to wear the bejesus of on its own.

• JCrew + USA Swimming. 13 year old me wants ALL OF IT.