Mind the queue
Rona's lingering social hangover
The pandemic transformed many social behaviors, but perhaps none more bizarrely than our collective tolerance for waiting in line. What was once a mundane necessity has morphed into a performative status symbol that signals both perceived exclusivity and questionable judgment.
During COVID-19, socially distanced lines became a visual marker of safety and compliance. Now, they've transformed into something else entirely—a performance of desirability. Waiting hours for an artisanal croissant or limited-edition sneakers isn't about the product; it's about being seen waiting.
Sample sales epitomize this phenomenon. Crowds snake around city blocks, and people sacrifice entire days (or pay line sitters to wait for them via Spotblaze or Same Ole Line) for discounted designer items. The queue becomes more memorable than the purchase itself—a testament to our collective need for belonging and status.
Why do we do this, though? Time is a non-renewable resource, after all, a fact that doesn’t sink in until a certain point in life, so twenty-somethings are somewhat excused from this. That aforementioned belonging and status is validated through the shared experience, the sense of community most people lack these days, of being together with like-minded individuals. Extensive queueing scratches a very primal urge these days. This shared experience also extrapolates out into the digital space, where every single NYC “sample sale” gets its own hashtag and video coverage. This adds a second wave of validation and community to the spectacle.
The most important point to be made about queueing these days is twofold. For one, brands have understood that having people lined up in front of their stores signals scarcity and subsequently drives the perceived value of the brand and its products. This validation of product exclusivity is a much more potent trigger than being reminded that many brands turnover hundreds of millions every quarter, and in the case of Louis Vuitton, Gucci, and Hermès, the quarterly revenue is in the billions.
This artificially manufactured demand prioritizes brand mythology over actual product quality and turns the purchase of goods into a consumerist spectacle. Whether this has been driven by rebranding the sale of excess inventory as “sample sales”. Which 99% of them are not, because a sample sale would feature one of one item that never made it into production, not full-size runs of last season’s boots. Or, if it’s just a line caused by people visiting a city once and falling for another tourist who knows just as little about local cuisine and retail as them, but proclaimed in full confidence that this is THE BEST (insert subject) they have ever had. That fashion jewelry store in Florence is a great example, because the brand’s stores have 0 in other cities.
What began as a public health measure has become a cultural quirk. Queueing now represents more than waiting; it's a performative act of consumption, a bizarre ritual where the wait becomes the primary attraction.
In an era of instant gratification, the queue paradoxically signals both desperation and desirability - a social phenomenon that says more about our cultural moment in time than any product ever could.
Jamieson's of Shetland
Jamieson's of Shetland is a historic textile company rooted in the rich knitting traditions of the Shetland Islands, located off the northern coast of Scotland. Founded on a deep commitment to preserving traditional craftsmanship, the company has become synonymous with high-quality, authentic Shetland wool products.
Thank you to everyone who has pre-ordered their acitura cashmere sweater. There are only three left that can be tagged onto the production. This means that the first batch has almost entirely sold out before it was supposed to hit the website in January.
Talarico
An "obsession" with creating unique objects lead Talarico’s founder to continuously create new designs, with a focus on micro patterns
A timeline of events
For the past couple of years, wider pants, or “big pants,” have seen a resurgence in popularity, at least according to the algorithm and media outlets. As a holdover from the comfort-driven 2018-2022 period, and reaching its stylistic peak, in my opinion anyway, when J Crew launched the Giant Fit Chino Pant, which found its women’s equivalent in barrel jeans about a year later - that trend is now seemingly over. At least the NYT and NPR have been out-trend-hindcasted by The Cut - within a nine-month timeframe. So which way is it fashionphiles ?
NYT article - NPR article - The Cut article - Watch the video
Kujten
Founded in 2017 by Marie Thoumelin and Kim Porte in Paris, Kujten emerged from the founders' shared passion for high-quality cashmere and sustainable fashion. The brand was born from a transformative trip to Mongolia, where they witnessed the traditional cashmere production process firsthand.
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