Latest / Mini Scroll / MINI SCROLL: Chloe Malle style backlash, Jaden Smith x Louboutin nepo baby criticism + Christian RaptureTok
Transcript
- 0:00Hi everyone. Welcome to Mini Scroll, the
- 0:03daily Internet culture podcast bringing you the biggest stories
- 0:07from social media, the creator economy and the digital space
- 0:10every Monday through Thursday and sometimes Fridays.
- 0:14I'm your host, Lauren Meissner, the founder of the youth digital
- 0:17media brand Centennial World. Welcome back to Mini Scroll
- 0:22everyone. OK this is the second time that
- 0:25I'm recording this episode. I just finished recording.
- 0:28I went to take the memory card out and it was full and it
- 0:31stopped recording after 2 minutes.
- 0:33The 1st 2 minutes of the episode.
- 0:36Unwell, that doesn't happen a lot, but when it happens when
- 0:39it's like not recording or something like that technical
- 0:41happens, it is so devastating. So before I get into it, Please
- 0:45remember to rate, review and subscribe.
- 0:47Please Spotify star rate US. We're still trying to get to
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- 0:56subscribe to us on YouTube, buy us a coffee if you feel so
- 0:59inclined, all that good stuff. All right, the first story that
- 1:02I have for you guys today, I wasn't sure if I wanted to cover
- 1:06this. I thought maybe it was like a
- 1:07very specific moment in time, but the discourse has kept
- 1:10going, so I thought it was worth talking about.
- 1:13There's so much discussion online right now about Chloe
- 1:15Mall and her personal style coming off the heels of New York
- 1:19Fashion Week or what some people believe is lack of personal
- 1:23style. So over the past couple of
- 1:25weeks, there has been so much discourse online about Vogue's
- 1:27new head of editorial content, Chloe Mall, and how she dressed
- 1:31at New York Fashion Week. Chloe is a Neppo baby.
- 1:34Her mother is Candice Bergen and her father is the late French
- 1:37film director Louis Malle. Chloe went to university for
- 1:39literature and writing, and she joined Vogue in 2011.
- 1:43So Chloe was recently appointed to this new role as Anna Wintour
- 1:47will be taking a step back from her editor in chief duties,
- 1:50allowing for Chloe to kind of like usher in this new era for
- 1:53Vogue. First of all, people had a lot
- 1:55to say about this role going to a neppo baby.
- 1:57And I don't agree with the backlash at all, actually.
- 2:00Like, yes, being a Neppo baby, I am sure helped her get her
- 2:04initial role at Vogue. But at the end of the day, she's
- 2:07been at the publication now for a full decade, over a decade.
- 2:10And she is actually the exact age that Anna Wintour was when
- 2:14she was appointed editor in chief of American Vogue.
- 2:17So, you know, she's kind of at that level in her career, that
- 2:20seniority level where it makes sense for her to step into a
- 2:23role that big. Anyway, there were tons of eyes
- 2:25on Chloe at New York Fashion Week now as she was only pointed
- 2:29to this role obviously, and so much discourse online about how
- 2:33she had bad style and Vogue has chosen the wrong person.
- 2:37This is kind of a one off video, but I really want to talk about
- 2:40Chloe Mao, Specifically the discourse around Chloe Mao and
- 2:43what she's been wearing to events during Fashion Week.
- 2:46And I fear that some of you need to just like touch grass.
- 2:49People are truly enraged that this is what she wore to a
- 2:52Fashion Week event a couple days ago.
- 2:54This isn't even a bad outfit, it's just that you don't like
- 2:56the outfit so you feel the need to tie that to her ability to do
- 2:59her. Job.
- 3:00I think we're pretty brain rotted when it comes to what we
- 3:02expect of someone's personal style.
- 3:04I see this when I go to Australian Fashion Week.
- 3:07There's this kind of like underlying belief that
- 3:10maximalism equals like serious about fashion and that wearing
- 3:14something more casual or understated means you don't have
- 3:17style. So you'll see a lot of people
- 3:20show up to at least Australian Fashion Week and I'm sure
- 3:22Fashion Week all around the world.
- 3:24I've never been to any other ones where people just literally
- 3:27throw like every single micro trend on their body and they're
- 3:30so colorful and there's feathers and there's just like the most
- 3:33going on and they get snapped first St. style.
- 3:36And it's like, Oh my God, they're serious about fashion.
- 3:40But the trends that we see on social media do not equal
- 3:43personal style. And I mean, I think that should
- 3:45go without saying. I actually think Chloe does have
- 3:48personal style. I think her style gives
- 3:50effortless. I think it gives like French
- 3:52kind of it's a bit boho inspired.
- 3:55I feel like she does have personal style.
- 3:57It's not the personal style that people I think necessarily
- 3:59expect from her, especially next to Anna Wintour, who is always
- 4:03in these very like structured pieces.
- 4:05You know, she looks very polished.
- 4:07I think Chloe comes off as a lot more effortless, like a lot more
- 4:11thrown together. And I get how that might look
- 4:14jarring next to Anna Wintour, but Anna Wintour has a very
- 4:17specific iconic look. I think those are just
- 4:20differences in their personal style.
- 4:22Like Anna looks the way she does, puts herself together the
- 4:25way she does, because that is her personal style.
- 4:27And obviously same with Chloe. I would liken this to a chef who
- 4:32cooks themselves like, the most basic meals at home but can
- 4:36make, you know, gourmet meals all day at work.
- 4:39Or like social media people, like people who work in social
- 4:42media who can grow brand accounts can manage all of
- 4:45these. You know, big projects can
- 4:47create amazing content, all of this stuff.
- 4:50And then you look at their personal social media and it's
- 4:53like private with 100 followers. I think just because something
- 4:55becomes your job doesn't mean that you always want to express
- 4:58that as well in your personal life.
- 4:59And you know, Chloe is coming up behind Anna, who, like I said,
- 5:03has become such an icon for her. Look, like, at the end of the
- 5:06day, those at the top of honestly, any industry are
- 5:10there. They're put in those positions
- 5:12to execute a vision for the future that will make the
- 5:15company money. Chloe was put in this position
- 5:17because her vision for whatever the future of Vogue should be
- 5:20will be profitable for the magazine.
- 5:23And like, that's the bottom line.
- 5:24OK, But something else that has had the online fashion community
- 5:28upset this week. My second story is that Jaden
- 5:30Smith was appointed to men's creative director at Christian
- 5:34Louboutin. Jaden Smith, son of Jada Pinkett
- 5:37Smith and Will Smith, has been appointed Men's Creative
- 5:40Director for Christian Louboutin, where he will oversee
- 5:434 collections a year across footwear, leather goods, and
- 5:47accessories. He'll also be responsible for
- 5:49the visual and emotional identity of the brand's men's
- 5:52line, including campaigns, events, immersive experiences,
- 5:55all that kind of stuff. Now, unlike other celebrity
- 5:58creative directorships, it seems like Jaden's actually going to
- 6:01be like working for the brand, which I know sounds really
- 6:05shady, but we see this all the time, right?
- 6:07Where a brand's like, Oh my God, we have pointed this a Lister as
- 6:09a creative director, but you know that they're not clocking
- 6:13in like they're not going to an office.
- 6:14They're not actually like working for the brand.
- 6:17But Jaden is moving to Paris for this role.
- 6:19So I feel like I don't know if he's going to be like full time
- 6:21with the brand, but he's definitely going to be working.
- 6:24It seems according to the Business of Fashion, the brand's
- 6:27men's line accounts for only 24% of the brand's sales.
- 6:31So I kind of see this as like maybe a relaunch of this
- 6:33vertical to see if it can become a bit more relevant within the
- 6:36brand. OK so this is really upset the
- 6:38fashion community online. Jaden Smith just got the job you
- 6:42went to fashion school for. This is where the true
- 6:45frustration comes in. People go into debt for fashion
- 6:48school, spend years in turning freelancing, chasing unpaid
- 6:51opportunities just for a chance to work in one of these houses,
- 6:55and then you see actual leadership going to a
- 6:58celebrity's kid. And I understand why people feel
- 7:01that way, for sure. I do think that like
- 7:04celebrities, when it comes to nepotism, they get a lot of
- 7:07Flack because it's so visible. Like there are so many
- 7:11industries that are run on nepotism, like law, medicine,
- 7:14media, just like corporate in general, there is like nepotism
- 7:18running rampant. But obviously when it's a
- 7:21celebrity, we can see that it's much more public and therefore
- 7:24it's visible. So there's a lot of, I think,
- 7:27mixed emotions wrapped up in that.
- 7:30And you could argue in the case of Jayden that like, yes, a
- 7:33creative director role at like such a big fashion house,
- 7:38there's so few of those jobs. So it may not be comparable to
- 7:41nepotism in other industries. But a big part of being a
- 7:44creative director is not actually designing.
- 7:46Like there's a lot of creative directors that have no design
- 7:49background at all, but more about like bringing visibility
- 7:53to the brand, which obviously a famous Neppo baby has.
- 7:56So my opinion on the Neppo baby discourse, I do think it makes
- 8:00total sense that a child has similar interests and talents to
- 8:04their parents, like from both a nurture and a nature
- 8:07perspective. Of course, what your parents do
- 8:09for a living and what they're skilled at, what they're
- 8:11talented at, like that could be passed down to you.
- 8:14And I also understand that as a parent, you probably want to use
- 8:18every resource at your disposal to help give your children, you
- 8:23know, the life that they want to leave.
- 8:25So that could be connections which leads to nepotism, but
- 8:28that could also be other resources at your disposal, like
- 8:31if your parents paid for your college or if you got to be on
- 8:34their healthcare till you know, you were 25.
- 8:36Like whatever it is. I think this is just like
- 8:39nepotism is another example of parents using the resources that
- 8:42they have to give their kids more of a chance in their adult
- 8:46life. Where I do think this
- 8:47conversation does go wrong, especially with these famous
- 8:50nepo babies, is like when they won't admit or recognize that
- 8:54nepotism played a in their success by being able to skip
- 8:58the line. Like yes, I do believe that
- 9:01neppo babies, if they are in the public eye, if they have a
- 9:04thriving career, if they're talented.
- 9:05Like I believe you are working incredibly hard.
- 9:08I believe that it probably is hard to live in your parents
- 9:11shadow and to try and make a name for yourself outside of
- 9:14that. I believe those things.
- 9:16But I think it is very like on self aware to not also be able
- 9:21to recognize the privileges that you were given.
- 9:23And in the case of Jaden Smith, something like this, it's not
- 9:28that I don't think he has fashion industry experience,
- 9:31because I do believe he does. And it's not that I don't think
- 9:35he wouldn't be right for the role.
- 9:36I just don't think he has enough experience yet.
- 9:40Getting a position so prestigious and visible does
- 9:44require a certain level of experience, like hands on
- 9:47working experience in the industry, which is what I was
- 9:49saying about Chloe Mal in that whole discourse.
- 9:51Like, you know what? I actually think she does
- 9:54deserve this, even though she's a neppo baby.
- 9:55Like she cut her teeth at Vogue for over a decade and she's
- 10:00almost 40. Like, she is at that stage in
- 10:02her career where it makes sense from her experience and her
- 10:05seniority level to step into a really big role like that.
- 10:09Jaden Smith is 27, you know, And I don't know if he's ever had a
- 10:14full time job in the fashion industry, but I'm going to
- 10:16assume no. And I do think the concept of
- 10:19experience has been really diluted, especially kind of like
- 10:22in the social media age. But the longer that I do
- 10:26Centennial, which was like an example of me literally jumping
- 10:29in the deep end to having no idea what I was doing, I knew
- 10:31like 1 little part of what I would do here.
- 10:34You know, I'd worked in media in one little tiny area.
- 10:37So yeah, sure, I had experience in editorial, but I had no
- 10:41experience in running a business, in managing a team, in
- 10:45finances, in sales, like whatever.
- 10:47And it's like, you have no idea how much you don't know until
- 10:52you're trying to do all the things you don't know.
- 10:54And I still have no idea what I'm doing.
- 10:56Like, you still don't know anything.
- 10:57OK. And don't get me wrong, I
- 10:59understand the other side of the argument, which is like, we
- 11:03don't want to have all of these people who are like, really
- 11:05senior, I don't know, like, for example, the politician
- 11:08discussion, right? Where it's like we don't want to
- 11:10have politicians who are like in their 80s because they're so out
- 11:12of touch with reality. Like I understand that too, but
- 11:16I also think we're kind of at this place where there's this
- 11:19belief that after like a couple years in the workforce, like we
- 11:22should be C-Suite. I think social media has really
- 11:25changed our expectations of like how successful we should be at
- 11:29what ages and like what kind of money we should be making and
- 11:32like where we should be at in life.
- 11:33And it's just not realistic. That being said as well, I also
- 11:37understand that when it comes to the workforce, so many
- 11:40industries have just completely decimated the middle, right?
- 11:43So it's like you have a bunch of entry level roles that you have
- 11:47to have like 5-10 years experience to do and you will
- 11:50like never move up into anything in the middle.
- 11:52And then there's just like senior roles, right?
- 11:54So I also understand that the middle is disappearing.
- 11:58But I still think at the end of the day, like, some of these
- 12:01roles, like a creative director role, like Jaden Smith having a
- 12:04creative director role at a giant fashion house, that
- 12:08carries a lot of weight. And I do think that should
- 12:11require extensive experience. I saw somebody say, like, what
- 12:15happened to these celebrities just being used as, like, muses,
- 12:19Like, why do we need to pay the millions of dollars and appoint
- 12:22them into these roles that, you know, people who are working in
- 12:25the fashion industry would kill to have?
- 12:26And I was like, that's actually a good point.
- 12:28Can he not just be like, Christian Louboutin's, like,
- 12:30official muse? Is that a thing?
- 12:32I don't know. OK.
- 12:33And the last story that I have for you guys, I couldn't not I
- 12:37have to talk about Christian Rapture TikTok.
- 12:40OK, so TikTok is currently flooded with videos of people
- 12:43who believe that the world is ending because of the rapture,
- 12:47which I guess is technically supposed to be happening today,
- 12:50at least today for me because I live in Australia.
- 12:53So the rapture is an end time belief held especially in some
- 12:57evangelical Christian circles, that at some point Jesus Christ
- 13:00will return and his believers will be saved and raptured into
- 13:04heaven. Over the past several weeks,
- 13:06people all over TikTok have been prepping for the rapture and
- 13:10some in some fairly extreme ways.
- 13:12There have been people selling possessions.
- 13:15Some people have stopped paying major bills like their
- 13:17mortgages. There's many parents like
- 13:20prepping their children basically for death, I guess.
- 13:24One of the most famous viral videos to come out of this is
- 13:27from a woman named Sonya who is giving rapture trip tips, like
- 13:32tips on what to do to prepare to be raptured into heaven.
- 13:35For example, she says when you start moving up into the air,
- 13:38don't look down. She also says make sure you're
- 13:41wearing clean underwear. Rapture Trip tip #5 When you
- 13:45finally start moving up into the air, I recommend that you don't
- 13:48hold on to anything. I definitely don't recommend
- 13:51looking down. I think we learned that lesson
- 13:53from Lot's wife. OK, Just keep calm, take a deep
- 13:57breath, slowly release it and keep your face looking upwards.
- 14:03And I'm gonna be honest, some of these videos that are going
- 14:05really viral, it is hard to tell if it's satire or not.
- 14:09But there are at least, like, I'm gonna say, thousands of
- 14:11people that do believe that the rapture is like, basically gonna
- 14:14happen today. OK, so this is obviously not the
- 14:16first time that people have thought the rapture would
- 14:19happen. And it's not even the first time
- 14:20that people have talked about this online.
- 14:22But I would say it's definitely the first time it's gone viral
- 14:25and had mass reach beyond, you know, the niche corner of like
- 14:30Christian TikTok. So how did this happen?
- 14:33This is from a new piece in the cut quote.
- 14:35The date September 23rd appears to stem from a sermon delivered
- 14:39by the South African pastor Joshua Malakala.
- 14:42In the clip, which was posted on a very official sounding YouTube
- 14:45channel Scent Wins TV, Joshua claims to have received a direct
- 14:49vision from Jesus Christ himself, telling him that the
- 14:52end of the world will occur on September 23rd or 24th.
- 14:56He was telling me that by June 2026, the world is gearing up
- 15:00towards the World Cup, he said in the clip.
- 15:02But after the rapture of September 2025, the chaos will
- 15:05be in the world. The destruction and the
- 15:07devastation that will occur with the rapture, there will be no
- 15:10World Cup 2026. Now, this was actually spread
- 15:15across TikTok largely by an Australian creator named
- 15:18Tillahan Dessaline, who posted about the pastor sermon back in
- 15:22July and then kept posting about this in the months to follow.
- 15:26OK, so there's a lot of people saying that we are witnessing
- 15:30like mass religious psychosis through this whole situation.
- 15:35And there are also people pushing back saying even if the
- 15:37rapture is meant to happen at some point in the Bible, it
- 15:40apparently is very explicit that nobody will be aware of the
- 15:44dates. The biggest concern however,
- 15:46amongst those who don't believe that the rapture will happen is
- 15:49that all these people have basically banked on dying and
- 15:53have prepared their children to die.
- 15:55And when they wake up tomorrow, like what will happen?
- 15:58How will they emotionally cope with this?
- 16:02Will their children be safe? Will their families be safe?
- 16:05Not to mention in general, just like the psychological effects,
- 16:09I guess, especially to the kids of going through something like
- 16:12this and then it not coming to fruition.
- 16:14I don't really have a leg to stand on because if you guys
- 16:16follow me on TikTok, then you'll know that yesterday I literally
- 16:18cast a spell on my office because TikTok was telling me it
- 16:23was a good day to manifest money for my business.
- 16:25So I was like, all right, so I literally got a cinnamon stick,
- 16:28I got a coin, I got some like manifestation spell and I fully
- 16:32cast a spell on my office here. So I literally have no leg to
- 16:37stand on. I see how this happens to people
- 16:39because the world fucking sucks. And like we're all just hanging
- 16:43on by a thread. Any little bit of hope you're
- 16:46like, all right, I'll latch on to that.
- 16:48Like, might as well fucking try. Might as well believe in that, I
- 16:51guess today. But yes, I can tell you living
- 16:53in the future, being in Australia, like it is the 23rd.
- 16:56It's the afternoon of the 23rd for me and no one has been
- 16:59raptured so far. Alright guys that's it for mini
- 17:03scroll today. Thank you so much for listening.
- 17:05I love you guys. Please remember to rate, review
- 17:07and subscribe. Please Spotify star rate US and
- 17:09I will talk to you for mini tech tomorrow.
- 17:12Bye.