It was everywhere, then it was the enemy, then it was in a thrift store chaos pile waiting to ruin someone's afternoon. And then it fit perfectly. The story of the low-rise jean isn't really about denim at all. It's about how a garment can get so tangled up in the culture around it that people stop seeing the clothing and start seeing everything it represents. Today we're looking at how one of fashion's most controversial silhouettes just came back, and what it says about how we recycle trends when the baggage finally wears off.

- Devin Pike, Copywriter

Adweek reports that the backlash centred on a new complementary slab serif font called "Better With," used alongside Coke's signature red and white colour scheme. Posts comparing the two brands went instantly viral. "Am I the only one seeing Marlboro soda?" asked one X user. "Any person over 40 realises that this is the Marlboro font," added another.

For the record, it is technically not the Marlboro font. Experts say the real issue is the deep psychological bond consumers form with iconic brands. Change something as familiar as Coke's visual identity, even slightly, and people react like you've moved the furniture in their childhood home. Better With actually debuted briefly in Coke's 2023 holiday campaign and nobody blinked. Apparently red and white in summer hits different.

Meanwhile, Google has a new way to verify you are who you say you are, and it involves your face. TechCrunch reports that Google has launched a selfie video sign-in option. The feature lets users record a short guided video with head movements to set up facial verification for account recovery. Google says it uses deepfake detection and liveness checks to prevent AI-generated video spoofing.

The privacy implications of handing Google a biometric video of your face are, shall we say, a topic of ongoing discussion. Google says videos are encrypted and can be deleted at any time. Whether you believe that is entirely up to you.

And finally, the Hall H announcement that Comic-Con had been building toward for years has landed. Variety reports that Ryan Gosling will play Ghost Rider in a standalone Marvel film directed by Shawn Levy, hitting theatres in 2028. Gosling has been publicly pursuing the role since 2022. When Feige brought him out on stage, Gosling told the crowd: "As you know, this is a character I've wanted to play for a very long time."

Levy and Gosling are already deep into Star Wars: Starfighter together, releasing May 2027, making Ghost Rider their second consecutive major franchise. Two enormous movies back to back. Ryan Gosling is having the career of his life right now and he knows it.

- Devin Pike, Copywriter

I have never ever once thought I could pull off a pair of low rise skinny jeans. That style has always been exclusively reserved for the off-duty model of the early 2000s.

But I thought f*ck it, I’ll try anything once. Found a pair that looked like it roughly resembled the size of my hips and took them to the change room.

When I tell you, I let out an audible “f*ck.”

Never have I thought my butt was so well complimented (by a pair of jeans that were probably the same age as me, mind you). And despite being on university/ freelance wages, I knew they had to come home with me. Because under no circumstances were these being left to die at the chaos denim table.

You’re probably wondering why I’m even telling you this. And that’s totally fair.

No, I’m not just gloating about my first experience in 29 years of finding the most perfect pair of jeans EVER MADE that feel like they were designed specifically for me and nobody else.

I’m telling you because it had me thinking about trends. And about how grateful I am these jeans weren’t thrown in the trash, and that I’m actually surprised they weren’t.

Their fall from trend heaven needs to be studied.

Because the jean that once reigned supreme seemingly did a 180 overnight. And now they’re back. Sort of. So what does it all mean?

The death of the low rise jean wasn’t really about the jeans at all.

It was a rejection of the body standards linked to them.

The bare midriff, the hip bones, the sparkly belly button ring on tanned, washboard abs. This was the main event, the actual fashion. What better a garment to then come along, than tight jeans that showcased all these “assets” in the most perfect way? The heroin chic aesthetic never had a better partner in crime than a teeny tiny pair of low rise jeans.

Thus, the rise of the trend directly coincided with the ultra-thin movement of the late 90s and early 2000s.

(That would be, skinny af.)

I’m sure growing up you heard your mom or your aunt talk about having a “muffin top.” Yeah, that phrase came directly from this era, used as a way to shame anyone who had body fat spilling over these ultra-teeny, super tight waistbands. Denim waistbands, mind you, so one of the least forgiving fabrics in rotation.

You can see where this is going, I’m sure.

As the body positivity movements exploded into the late 2000s, the low rise jean was rejected, as was the pressure, discomfort, and body dysmorphia associated with the style.

Like taking off your bra after a long day and changing into an oversized tee. The style offered comfort, coverage and inclusivity.

BUT. The story does not end there.

The smear campaign wore off. The low rise jean is back. And at first glance, completely unchanged, which is rare, for the trend cycle.

There are a couple minor tweaks; slightly less skinny, a more forgiving 7 inch rise instead of an unforgiving 4. They’re also not often paired with teeny tiny crop tops like they once were.

Gen Z rescued the silhouette from the trend landfill.

Don’t get me wrong, the 20-year trend cycle be cycling; so naturally, the Y2K aesthetics have hit the runway once more. But the reason modern wearers view the jeans as "perfect the way they are" is because younger generations have decoupled the clothing item from the toxic body standards of the past.

For a generation that didn’t experience the OG tabloid culture and aggressive public fat shaming (although, they have their own, internet version) low rise jeans are just a cool, structural silhouette. One that reminds them of the main characters in the movies their older sisters watched growing up.

Obviously, the timing is a little… ominous. Of course the rise of GLP-1 culture has brought back these kinds of silhouettes. They do, after all, pair perfectly with a pair of hip bones.

However, I’m choosing to take this cultural rebrand and run with it, as fast as I can in my new pair of thrifted skinny low-rise beauties (so, not that fast, but it's the thought that counts).

-Sophie Randell, Writer

The sound comes from the music video for Beyoncé's "If I Were a Boy", where she plays a police officer defending her close friendship with her work partner to her husband, before realising exactly how that landed:

"It's not like I'm sleeping with the guy."

"What?"

"What?"

Creators are lipsyncing Beyoncé's part and adding whatever they accidentally exposed - before immediately trying to play completely innocent. Some of my favourite examples:

Film yourself lipsyncing to the sound and add whatever you accidentally let slip - then act like nothing happened - as your on-screen text.

A few ideas to get you started:

- Devin Pike, Copywriter

Hey Priya!

Getting your message right is going to come down to your brand positioning. How do you want your audience to see you? What makes you different from all the other businesses that do the same thing yours does? This can't just be that you have the "best" product because pretty much everyone thinks they're the best. It has to be some kind of value your audience can get behind. Once you know what this is, it will be your core message.

Then you need to figure out how you're going to get this across in your content, because this is the thing that your audience will be able to connect with. So focus on figuring out your positioning, then let your content stem from that!

- 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.