When I was young, I took malls for granted. They seemed as much a part of the nation’s infrastructure as highways and sewer systems. Where else could you have your ears pierced with a glorified staple gun, challenge strangers to Street Fighter matches in dim arcades, consume untold quantities of Orange Julius and brood over […]
Donald Trump’s «strong economy» is a fake economy, one based on disjointed factoids and zero analysis. A month and a half ago I warned in this space that the corporate news media’s obsession with nailing Trump for a conspiracy with Russia was setting themselves and the rest of the country up for his re-election. I presaged […]
UBS Group AG analysts are sticking by a prediction that a fifth of shops in French shopping centers will be empty by 2023. Vacancies in French malls have reached 11.2 percent and are on a pace to meet UBS’s prediction from January 2018 for 20.6 percent by the end of 2023, analysts led by Charles […]
Late capitalism may be having a banner year. According to data from document research company Nexis, the term “late capitalism” appeared 274 times in popular English-language news in 2018 through Nov. 15, and looks set to end the year with more than 340 mentions. That means the term’s use is on track to surpass its 2013 […]
In this monthly column by Eugene Rabkin, the founder of StyleZeitgeist shares his opinions, observations, and insights about the world of fashion. For this installment, Eugene explains why bad taste could be a symptom of late capitalism. In recent years we have seen the rise of a certain type of a fashion designer who traffics in the ostentatious, […]
Irony poisoning aesthetic as a music genre. 14 If you clicked this title you either have no idea what Vaporwave is or are so strung out on irony poisoning that you click anything that’s written with spaces and Japanese Katakana in it. If you have no idea what Vaporwave is, you are probably also unaware […]
BoJack Horseman and Rick and Morty’s impact on an entire aesthetic Many of the modern cartoons that have connected with audiences are melancholic and beautifully tragic, focusing on characters’ deepest issues and turning away from traditional narrative storytelling to explore their personal beings. Now, a rising movement on YouTube is collecting these doleful, animated moments, […]
More than 4,300 stores are expected to close in 2019. Gap, JCPenney, and Victoria’s Secret announced more than 300 store closures over the course of 24 hours this week. Payless has said it plans to close all of its 2,500 stores in what could be the largest retail liquidation in history. The staggering rate of store closures that has rocked the […]
