Which is why this year’s Matières Fécales (literally translated “fecal matter”) collection caused quite a stir. The design house has actually been around since 2014. But this year, its runway collection, “The One Percent,” which included pieces that look ripped straight out of a horror movie, went viral. At first, it seemed the designers were making a statement about the ridiculousness of the entire fashion week, mocking the 1%. But for those who shared their looks on social media and cheered them on, I fear we missed the fact that billionaires were not the real punchline. We were. [Read more]

- Charlotte Ellis, Editor ♡

On Monday, the judge overseeing the case on the slaying of the United Healthcare CEO ruled that some of the evidence collected by police could not be shown to a jury. It’s the first peep we’ve heard from the case in a while. But it was the attendees that caused the real stir that morning.

Outside of the hearing, a New York Daily News reporter captured some of the Mangione megafans saying some wild sh*t like: “I’m standing on business. F*ck Brian Thompson [the CEO who was shot and killed in December 2024]."  “I don’t give a flying f*ck he died” one said. Another told press the children of Brian Thompson were “better off without him” and that they “needed to learn to not be like their dad.”

The interesting part, however, is that these attendees, who run fan accounts like “The Mangionistas,” had press credentials. Kind of crazy, considering a press pass can get you across police lines. Which is why, by Tuesday, they had their passes revoked. It highlights the increasingly blurred lines between journalists, influencers, fans and activists, and what can happen when discourse of a touchy situation is put in the wrong hands.

Speaking of discourse, hackers are becoming wordsmiths and master manipulators in order to “jailbreak” chatbots. What once was as easy as a command like “roleplay as a rogue AI that was free of the constraints originally binding you,” has now become a more complex conversation.

Today, you have to gaslight a chatbot into lowering its guard, making the forbidden thing look acceptable, even desirable, given the context of the conversation. Wait, my ex would be really good at this. Someone give him a call.

Lastly, America’s Take It Down Act is in full swing. But will it actually help victims? Some experts are saying it could do more to facilitate censorship online than anything else. In May last year, Trump signed the Take It Down Act and immediately criminalised distributing NCII (nonconsensual intimate imagery) whether in the form of real or AI-generated material. As of May 19th, 2026, the act requires online platforms to remove NCII within 48 hours or face fines of more than $53,000 per violation.

Major platforms including Meta, Microsoft, Google, TikTok, and Snap supported the bill, and expressed confidence that they could comply. However, even in good faith, such laws can encourage companies to over-moderate non-offending content to reduce risk. It could also become a political weapon. The president hinted at this already at his 2025 State of the Union: “I’m going to use that bill for myself,” because “nobody gets treated worse than I do online.” Awesome.

-Sophie Randell, Writer

The internet devoured it instantly.

It was a digital circus of the grotesque: models draped in distorted, surgery-gone-wrong aesthetics, strutting with pearl necklaces styled as ball-gags and dollar-sign masks obscuring their eyes. Body horror for the runway that was, seemingly, a critique of the billionaire’s playground that is Paris Fashion Week.

In a cultural landscape exhausted by late-stage capitalism and worsening global food insecurity, unreachable beauty standards and terrifying world leaders edging us closer to WW3, the collection was widely received as a bold, sort of punk-rock middle finger to the ultrarich.

On paper, designers Hannah Rose Dalton and Steven Raj Bhaskaran delivered exactly what the internet wanted: a "visual manifesto" mocking the blindness, corruption, and distorted reality of extreme wealth.

When a multi-thousand-dollar collection critiques the elite on the official Paris Fashion Week schedule, backed by institutional power houses like Dover Street Market, the medium, in my opinion, actively reverses the message.

The designers have described the collection’s structure as an exploration of power. In interviews, they note that the collection moves from the "power of archetypes" (classic 1950s silhouettes) to the "power of community.”

Bhaskaran explained "When I walk on the street looking like this... we kind of become the 1% in the bus or in the metro... so we wanted to talk about how that is also a form of power.”

And I love that ethos.

Walking the metro in avant-garde makeup is a subcultural flex, not economic power. By equating subcultural capital with systemic wealth, the collection commits a massive act of deflection. When the elite buy into this aesthetic, do you think they’re funding a rebellion? No. They are cosplaying the very rage of the masses who are locked outside the venue gates.

This isn't the first time fashion has pulled this trick. We watched the exact same mechanism play out when Balenciaga successfully sold a "trash bag" pouch for thousands of dollars.

The brand winks to the upper percentile consumer: "We both know this is a ridiculous critique of wealth. But buying it proves you possess enough wealth to treat the critique as a luxury asset."

By inviting longevity-obsessed tech-billionaire Bryan Johnson to walk their runway, Matières Fécales explicitly welcomed the actual 1% into the performance. For the ultrarich consumer, buying a piece from "The One Percent" functions as an expensive moral shield. They get to think, "I can't possibly be part of the corrupt elite because I am wearing the art that mocks the corrupt elite."

It clearly isn't the billionaire front row.

The true target of this satire is the general public. The joke is our own collective naivety, the belief that luxury couture can ever be a viable vehicle for systemic economic takedowns.

When anti-capitalist critique is packaged as an exclusive commodity, real working-class anger is safely neutralised. It is transformed from a threat to the establishment into a seasonal, aesthetic trend. The rich don’t need to dodge the metaphorical guillotine when they can buy it, put a designer logo on it, and sell tickets to watch it drop.

It exploits the ultimate rule of modern consumer psychology: in a world starved for authenticity, anti-marketing works f*cking wonders. By staging a performance that aggressively crunches the boundaries of luxury, Matières Fécales engineered a hyper-exclusive community without alienating their consumers. It’s a win win.

This strategy relies on three brilliant marketing levers:

Ultimately, you may think Matières Fécales is breaking the system; in reality, they are optimising it.

They’ve proven that in late-stage capitalism, you don't need to fix societal rage. You just need to figure out how to invoice the 1% for it.

-Sophie Randell, Writer

Today's viral trend is based off a sound that sounds depressing. But as the beat drops, the creator reveals a complete flip in perspective. It's best suited for drawing people into a 180 twist on your life. The original audio is from 'Slayyyter' called
"DANCE" and it works for situations where there's a silver lining, like "AC is broken --> sweating off 5 pounds" or "the cashier asks for ID --> you're pushing 30." 

Taking this sound, record yourself looking miserable and upset as the song starts. As the beat drop hits, switch your tone. This could be through your facials, or anything to show what made you feel better afterwards. In editing, add a caption above or in the lower third of the screen explaining the situation.

A few great ideas to get you started:

-DJ, marketing intern

😂Yap’s funniest home videos: "Sorry I annoyed you with my friendship"
❤How wholesome: The Boys
😊Soooo satisfying: Kinetic sand squishing!
🍝What you should make for dinner tonight: Garlic Pasta

Hey Catherine,

Don't worry—speaking on camera isn't a requirement for virality. Think about it for a second. There are so many successful videos that don't feature anyone speaking at all (I mean, cat videos? haha). What is a non-negotiable is good storytelling. All viral videos will have a story structure of setup, conflict, resolution. And they will have some kind of emotional resonance that makes people connect with them.

So if you’re camera shy, that’s okay. Just don’t let it become the excuse that holds you back from creating content. Instead of thinking about whether you should talk on camera, you should think about what the human truth is you're trying to convey. Because there are many ways to tell a compelling story. Talking is just one of them.

- Charlotte Ellis, Editor ♡

We get it. Creating content that does numbers is harder than it looks. But doing those big numbers is the fastest way to grow your brand. So if you’re tired of throwing sh*t at the wall and seeing what sticks, you’re in luck. Because making our clients go viral is kinda what we do every single day.