Notes on the Culture

Short essays on assorted trends and phenomena.

We’re Entering a Joyful New Era of Lesbian Fashion
Pairing silky garments with butch suiting, women are pushing back against stereotypical ideas about dressing, on the red carpet and beyond.
By Colleen Hamilton
How Female Bodybuilders Became Fashion’s Latest Muses
An industry long known for revering willowy bodies is taking a new interest in muscle.
By Evan Nicole Brown
Missing the Gay Best Friend
In film and on TV, he was a sign of cultural progress. Then he was a tired stereotype. Then he disappeared. So why do we want him back?
By Mark Harris and RF. Alvarez
How Contemporary Artists Are Taking Papier-Mâché Out of the Classroom
A new wave of self-taught craftspeople are using the medium to make playful, thought-provoking works.
By Alexa Brazilian
When a Job Becomes a Literal Hell
In an era of continual burnout, artists and filmmakers are now imagining what it looks like when workers finally explode.
By Beatrice Loayza
Why Wellness Culture Has Cozied Up to Leeches
The bloodsucking worms might conjure an era of vampiric pseudoscience, but their powerful jaws are inspiring new applications.
By Zoey Poll
Aliens Have Never Been More Alluring
Why pop culture now flirts with extraterrestrials as much as it fears them.
By June Thomas
How Artists Are Breaking the Taboos Around Depicting Birth
For centuries, labor was deemed too messy a subject for gallery walls. A growing canon of feminist work is challenging that perception.
By Julia Halperin
When Women Artists Choose Mothering Over Making Work
Why does the act of stepping away from a creative vocation still have the power to shock?
By Ligaya Mishan
Slowly and Steadily, Snails Have Overtaken the Runway
In an era of expediency, gastropods are oozing into fashion and design — and reminding us that we, too, can take our time.
By Ella Riley-Adams