#nostalgiacomeback

#nostalgiacomeback

Streaming hasn't killed physical media. It's made us crave it more. CDs are back in rotation, showing up in record stores, apartments, and design studios with a renewed sense of purpose.

"A lot of you don't know what being here with a brand takes. Sorry, I'm not political," comedian Chris Burns deadpanned to his more than 443,000 followers on Instagram. "Yeah, I posted about boycotting Starbucks, but that was like two months ago."

American Girl was acquired by Mattel for $700 million and drifted steadily away from what made it special. The historical characters were retired, replaced by contemporary dolls reflecting girls' lives today.

Wearing a Playboy bunny sweatshirt at 7... and the 3 generations of women were like, 'it was $1, it's fine.'

Digital typewriters are carving out a niche for a more focused writing experience, stripping things back to the essentials: just you, a keyboard, and your words.

I call it the tsunami of stuff. It's cresting. There are a lot of baby boomers. America's over-65 population reached 55.8 million in 2020, and an additional 42.4 million are in the 55-64 age group. This adds up to nearly 100 million people who have amassed a large amount of possessions - stuff they bought, stuff they got from their own parents, stuff their kids stuck them with.

Usually, my handbag is a medley of digital devices and life essentials my phone, iPad, chargers, keys, tampons. But lately, you're likely to also find a half-done newspaper crossword, a ton of stationery, the book I've restarted three times, and whatever scraps and trinkets I've picked up throughout the day to put in my scrapbook. Analog is back, and it feels like we need it more than ever.

What telling people to touch grass ignores, in part, is that grass is not all that good to touch. It's itchy and sticky - there could be bugs in there. There's a far more profoundjoyin touching machines, as is shown again and again in Albert Birney's Obex, which functions as both a shrine to and warning about our reliance on technology.

Beleaguered Louvre president Laurence des Cars quits after a historic heist under her watch. The next morning, a new leader is announced. It's Christophe Leribault from the Palace of Versailles, a true museum animal who ran a few during his career.

My father kept manuals for products we hadn't owned in years, filed alphabetically in a cabinet. When I asked why, he looked at me like I'd suggested burning money. "What if we need to look something up?" The concept of finding any manual online in seconds just doesn't compute for a generation that had to rely on these paper lifelines.

A dark gel base creates depth, layered with a silver cat-eye polish that's magnetized so the shimmer pools toward the center like a glowing orb. On top, an iridescent chrome powder creates that signature color shift. Of course, none of these techniques are new - chrome powders and cat-eye gels have both been trending on their own recently - but paired together, they deliver a nail design that feels surprisingly fresh.

The past decade has seen a surge of new ways of self-expression online, but somehow, netizens reminisce about the grainy selfies with dog ear filters, old movies, and less AI-generated content.

We photograph people obsessively, but we rarely capture the everyday spaces where life actually happens. And when those spaces disappear, something profound goes with them. The furniture was never just furniture—it was the stage where decades of family life played out. Every scratch, stain, and worn patch told a story.

We might be exposed to more ads and commercials today than ever before in human history, but the idea of advertising itself is certainly not a new concept. According to Instapage, the first signs of advertisements actually appeared in ancient Egyptian steel carvings from 2000 BC. Meanwhile, the first printed ad was published in 1472, when William Caxton decided to advertise a book by posting flyers on church doors in England.

As technology distracts, polarizes and automates, people are still finding refuge on analog islands in the digital sea. The holdouts span the generation gaps, uniting elderly and middle-aged enclaves born in the pre-internet times with the digital natives raised in the era of online ubiquity. They are setting down their devices to paint, color, knit and play board games. Others carve out time to mail birthday cards and salutations written in their own hand.