a few minutes, vol. 7 — scaling back, preparing for summer, and cultivating cool
Kicking off the unofficial start of summer (Gemini season) by getting back to my roots: a curated journey through articles, podcasts, clothes, and tastemaker insights.
I started this newsletter a little over a month ago with one intention: to share my favorite articles, podcasts, and clothes. However, I fear I’ve strayed too far from my roots.
I sometimes cringe at the disorganization and chaos when I revisit my previous posts. However, my goal is to improve as a writer and editor and to create an outlet where I can unpack the compelling content I encounter each week. While I acknowledge that not all A Few Minutes posts are perfect and may have occasional typos, I am pleased with my somewhat chaotic but mighty efforts to grow and refine my work. I’m blessed to share my voice.
I’ve shared mini-essays, interviewed friends, and written some articles, but I want to return to why I started A Few Minutes in newsletter form. Many of us are on a journey to be well-read, not just to buy clothes but to have PIECES to have richer conversations at dinner and eventually be invited to our favorite podcasts or asked to a shoe collab with our favorite brands (jk). I try to stay curious and reflective about why I like the things I like, all while willing to learn, read, listen to, and try new things. I want this newsletter to be a gateway for that journey for myself and others.
To honor this intention, I’m reformatting each week’s edition. You can expect a selection of articles, podcasts, social media posts, and items on my current wishlist, with a side commentary — no substitutions allowed. Some weeks, there may be a theme like my first post on Cowboy Carter, while others, I’ll share the best of the internet. My hope is that once a month, I can feature an interview with tastemakers about what they are reading, watching, and shopping for.
A Few Articles + Pieces of News (Links In Header)
What Is a Magazine Now?
In April, the NYT wrote about Highsnobiety and the state of magazines in 2024. Is Highsnobiety a magazine? A brand with a store in Berlin? A creative agency that partners with Champion? Or something else, a third space in the content ecosystem?
The founder, David Fischer, spoke of his “why” behind the brand: “I was mostly interested in finding exciting new things and putting those things in front of the audience. And I suppose I was always excited about building a brand, more than anything.” Nowadays, everyone is, or at least trying to cover “emerging talent,” and cultivate “cool,” I will say Highsnobiety does it well.
The Bear Made Ayo Edebiri a Hollywood Darling. Now She’s Making Hollywood Her Playground.
The photos flirted with me, as anything shot by Renell Medrano would, and the article fucked me (I purchased two print editions). This is a good profile, not one riddled with Ayo convincing us to watch The Bear or subtle hints at having the perfect relationship with social media or fame. But an honest profile kudos to Ayo Edebri and Leah Faye Cooper (A Black woman who is the digital style director of Vogue.com) for this effort.
We get a peak into talk about her relationship (NOT ROMANTIC) with Jeremy Allen White and what she's learned from Jamie Lee Curtis. There's a bit on how moving to New York changed her views on being Pentecostal, which I loved. Leah's observations of Ayo weren't too on the nose about her career or how she shows up on the screen, but the small tidbits about her style, how she takes a selfie on the writer's phone, or what she observed after they met for dinner and over zoom told me so much more about her taste, her humor, and her cleverness than any a Q&A could. Manifestation moment: I want to write like this one day.
I appreciate how full the article felt. In an earlier Substack, I wrote about how many publications have not covered Tyla with depth or substance. This profile is a lesson on how Black (and colored) women in the industry should be covered.
Here’s a favorite quote:
I have a lot of taste,” she says of her hobbies, which include scrapbooking and 3D sushi puzzles. “I don’t know if I have good taste or bad taste, but I have a lot.”
Do We Really Need More ‘Creators’?
I don’t have an answer to this, and neither does this article from GQ, but the following quote got me thinking about the aesthetics of creativity or being a “creative” and how Rick Rubin’s book is a criminally overrated version of The Artist’s Way:
[Rubuin’s] 2023 book The Creative Act: A Way of Being, a collection of aphorisms and anecdotes designed to help readers cultivate and nurture their creative selves. Which is fine. Why shouldn’t everyone have access to an over-the-counter version of the same insights Rubin offers to high-end collaborators like the Red Hot Chili Peppers? But this book has become the ultimate signifier. It can be seen on the corporate desks of finance guys and project coordinators wanting to appear creative to their friends and coworkers. You see people reading it on the subway. It is the gift du jour. TikTok creators have it proudly displayed on their coffee tables. Its beige cover looks excellent next to a Byredo candle.
Identity, Tradition, Resistance: The Keffiyeh Explained
At the Cannes Film Festival, Bella Hadid wore a red Palestinian "keffiyeh" dress. Click the link in the header to read data journalist, illustrator, and writer Mona Chalabi on the layers of meaning and misconception behind the keffiyeh scarf. The Cut also covered the moment here.
Fashion archivist and curator Nygel Simmons dug up Eve’s 2001 keffiyeh dress moment in Details Magazine.
Nobody knows how to be friends anymore
A beautiful quote from (Black) writer Halima Jibril: “Life is too short for us not to touch, hold, and even kiss our friends as much as we can.”
I Want More Of You In Here: A Guide to Interiority In the Personal Essay and Memoir
As I mentioned earlier, a lifetime goal of mine is to become a better writer, and one specific aim is to publish a personal essay by the end of 2025. I'm unsure what it will be about yet, as I don't often write about myself outside of personal journals, but I'm up for the challenge. Alexander Chee's piece is a great starting point if you're interested in this topic or want to incorporate “more interiority” into your writing.
Is “Love Is Blind” a Toxic Workplace?
The answer is yes, lol.
The Dumbphone Boom Is Real
This guy is onto something 😂: “When I want to escape from my iPhone, I pop the sim card out (which, unfortunately, is not possible on some newer iPhones) and install it in a red Nokia 2780 flip phone—the closing snap of which brings me back instantly to my high-school days, when flip phones were cutting edge. After the surprisingly easy switching process, I take the simple device with me on my daily walks with my dog”
A Few Things to Listen To
Kaytranada's new album, Timeless, is out on June 7th. I’ve been playing the single Lover/Friend with Rochelle Jordan on repeat.
This week on the podcast, I chatted about this season of Bravo's Summer House Martha’s Vineyard and what needs to change, featuring commentary from TikToker @yaaasays!
I want to hear this song in every yoga sculpt class I take this summer.
I watched/listened to Mina Le’s video essay: Erewhon hauls, Ozempic, and influencers, and I loved her commentary on why it’s hard to believe conventionally attractive people are ~that~ obsessed with pizza.
A Few Things on Social
Someone tweeted Gunna was dressed like Che Guevara in Tyla’s ‘Jump’ video, and I can’t unsee it.
It got me thinking about how revolutionary figures (see Eldrige Cleaver or Huey P. Newton) have become style icons to a generation obsessed with the aesthetics of their politics and belief systems. I just started watching The Big Cigar on Apple TV (by force during the 6-hour stitch braid appointment from hell), and it’s pretty clear that Hollywood wants to make Huey P. Newton a sex symbol. Back in 2023, AD released a piece on how the peacock chair became a symbol of Black power and liberation.
Where are the girls getting nail inspo?
Nail art accounts are by far my favorite to follow on the platform. My favorites? @nail.sucre, @nana_nanail, @nailbandida, and @phreshnailss are all great if you’re looking for funky minimalism. My birthday is around the corner, and these are the designs I’m drawn to — neutral/natural colors, hints of shine, not glitter, and subtle embellishments.
The days when a level of uniqueness, whether in how you style your home, cook, or even critique culture, was required to be considered an influencer are sort of gone. Successful content creators DO have influence; that’s why they plague our FYPs. Yet, I don’t think their persistent presence is always due to the uniqueness of their voice, story, content, or way of going about their lives.
There’s a content creation formula that works: consistency + a level of relatability + good storytelling or editing + a conventionally attractive face/body + selling an aspirational lifestyle = successful content creator. And this takes hard work, there’s no denying that. Their videos are still good, valuable, and important. Yet, whether intentional or not, I see a lot of copycats and regurgitated talking points, outfits, and even homes on my for you page coming from this large community of creators.
TikTok and the general attention economy conflate the former with cultural influence, allowing "content creators" to be held in the same regard as authentic influencers. Although nothing is new under the sun, an influencer compels people toward new behaviors or perspectives, whether tied to direct sales or not; it could be a trending sound, a catchphrase, or even a way of tying a sweater around your waist. They're unique. Although both influencers can and do sell products, today's content creator ecosystem is full of attractive or algorithm-gaming people who happen to have trusted voices, not necessarily because of their content, way of dressing, or way of putting on makeup is noteworthy.
Think about it like this: we write about the success, whether monetary or the number of followers, of “content creators,” but the impact, legacy, and taste of “influencers” matter. I don't think there's a right or wrong way to exist on TikTok or any other app, but I miss it when everyone wasn't an "influencer." My biggest takeaway from this? Although not to pit the girls against each other, Monet McMichael is a content creator, and Toni Bravo is an influencer.
A Few Things From My Wishlist
This summer, I’m prioritizing crisp white tops, anything I can move freely in, oversized bags for travel, and funky but still delicate jewelry.
I’ve also been thinking about the ASICS x Wood Wood GT 2160 (pictured above) from back in March, which has NOT sold out!!!!
I ALWAYS get asked where I got my “Mean People Suck” necklace from. The answer? The Sage Vintage. They have a 35% off Memorial Day sale on their “Ready to Ship” items. If it were within my budget, I’d buy this tiny dancer necklace and their silver vacation necklace.
What’s the 411 on Mango jeans? I’m a Levi’s girl.
Everyone screams about the SSENSE sale for good reasons, but I’m equally excited about the Net-A-Porter sale. If you’re looking for elevated basic tanks, little black sunglasses of all price points, lots of Coperni (like these cool wide-leg shorts), funky vacation pieces, or gray mini dresses, this is the sale for you.
A Few Closing Thoughts
I already know I'm going to sound anti-Black, but I don't want to go to any function, party, or event this summer where people under 30 are doing the Electric Slide, there is swag surfing, or where Dreams & Nightmares is playing.
It's not to say that Black music and party traditions are necessarily bad or make a party bad. But DJs and event hosts rely on them to get crowd engagement, and I want to have party experiences that are new, different, and interesting and don't rely on the same archaic formulas.
I didn't go to an HBCU, so I could be wrong, but I have been to my fair share of homecomings. I feel like a lot of these Black party series. DJs are trying to capture the community and liveliness of that experience and take it to every city with a sizable black population and their venues instead of curating unique events.
Some people find comfort in knowing what to expect when they go out, but I don't want formulaic social experiences. And lately, I feel like I'm in a simulation at these black parties' event series.
That’s all for today, folks.
If you have any news, trends, or phenomenona that you think I write about or want to chat, email me: ellisellice@gmail.com.
so so good!! love reading everything you have to say & share because it is clearly so intentional yet seems so effortlessly cool. thank u for sharing ur thoughts!!