rachbabe2008 is online

u make me delirious

discussed:

• paper doll clothes

• forgotten moments in swag history

• y2k after school activities

Hey, girlies! I’ve missed ya <3 The weeks in between new issues of Internet Bedroom are starting to feel like forever. It’s hard being a Real Girl out here in an AI World, so I’m happy to be back here in our bedroom together.

I’ve been thinking a lot about personas lately. Maybe it’s all the girls online who are pointing out how the trend cycle is speeding up to an off-the-rails-pace. (And, as some argue, it might be better for the environment and our general brain matter to just be ourselves). Or maybe it’s the ever-present collective fear of artificial intelligence one day taking over. Or maybe it was just combing the Internet for It Girls for my last issue.

I have to admit, I’m kind of tired of the eras, the microtrends, the use of “aesthetic” as a blanket term signaling a well-curated Instagram feed. As this girlie highlights, there is a rapid repackaging of anything original, personal, and stylish as an easily consumable good/product. And this has effectively transformed subcultures, which used to be difficult to curate and commit to, into trends or viral aesthetics:

@cinnagalI do like certain aesthetics but I find their existence is very transient in comparison to established subcultures. #subculture #gyaru #scene #emo #altfashion #ギャル #jfashion #aesthetics #fashiontiktok

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And when everything is readily available, it seems, nothing is really all that sacred. I could write endlessly about the collusion of content, consumerism, subcultures, and style, so let me know if y’all would like these thoughts in a more organized form.

For now, let’s get into the rest of the newsletter.

obsessing: The Marc Jacobs Spring 24 Show

The Marc Jacobs Spring 24 show seems to be a logical extension of the conversation we were all having last summer about the bimbogirlification of feminism (or, something like that. We all watched the Barbie movie).

With shrugging oversized shoulders and too-big broaches, boots that seemed ready to flip off the feet at a moment’s notice, and skirts and shorts that sat off-kilter from the model’s body, the thesis of the collection seems to be that if we must live like dolls, we should have clothes like dolls. But dress-up should be fun, right?

I haven’t paid much attention to any recent haute couture or ready-to-wear collections because I’ve found most of them to be boring or else gimmicky in the extreme. All the ideas seem to have evaporated as fashion houses have become bloated by wealth and virality. So I’ve been content to rewatch Alexander McQueen runways from the 00s every season.

But this Marc Jacobs show finally offered something new and playful that is just as timely as it is iconic. I’d love to see how girls take these looks and try to recreate them without access to thousands of dollars or followers. I’m so dying to see how these off-kilter, undone looks would translate to larger bodies. And I now really want a pair of huge oversized shorts for spring.

listening: Vistoso Bosses

For the nanosecond that swag was trending earlier this year, the girls failed to touch on this crucial piece of cultural history: the short-lived alt girl group, Vistoso Bosses.

Blending alt pop punk style (ties over t-shirts, knee-high socks, pins) with girly rap bars and hard pop hooks, when the Atlanta-based duo emerged in the late 2000s, it seemed like Taylah P. and Kelci were poised for pop stardom. They weren’t even one-hit wonders as both singles from what was supposed to be their debut album — “Delirious,” which was remixed by Soulja Boy, and “Tatted,” featuring Waka Flocka Flame — both charted.

And yet, their debut album, Confetti, was quietly shelved sometime in 2009.

But look at the small body of work we do have from Taylah and Kelci and it’s impossible not to see 2010s Nicki Minaj, Azealia Banks, or even the more recent pop punk revival band, Meet Me @ the Altar.

Vistoso Bosses carved out a space for alternative Black girls in the mainstream. And they were innovators as pop stars with their ability to tap into the Myspace-era social Internet, producing vlogs before vlogs were really a thing and even pioneering the cut-and-paste style of music video that would give Lana del Rey her mythos a few years later (see below). It’s actually criminal that Vistoso Bosses have been lost to time, only to be sampled by the girls who know their pop history.

I think we can all agree that the world does, indeed, suck without Vistoso Bosses.

remembering: AOL Instant Messenger

The first time I called another girl a bitch online, her mom printed out a copy of our AOL Instant Messenger log and showed it to my parents. This is a true story. My dad drove me over to this girl’s house in the suburbs to apologize to her.

As we pulled up to her cul-de-sac, my dad glanced at me through the rearview mirror and asked: “Was she being a bitch?”

“Yes,” I replied, glaring out the window.

“Then she probably deserved it. But you can’t just call girls bitches online.”

Anyone who lived through the 2000s and 2010s knows that you can, in fact, call anyone a bitch online. But my dad was right in the sense that I needed to put an end to my short-lived career as something of a cyberbully on AIM. But the years I went as rachbabe2008 and spent the hours after school signing onto the family computer, posting angsty away messages, and messaging all 10 of my crushes were some of the best moments of my adolescence.

What was your AOL Instant Messenger screen name? Let me know in the comments plz plz plz.

Well, the power just went out at the coffee shop I’m working at, so I think that’s my cue to sign off for now! Thank you for reading, as always. TTYL <3

xxx r.m.