From the Group Chat: Hate-Watching "And Just Like That...", JoJo Siwa's New Relationship, and Nepo Ducks

EDITOR’S NOTE

Happy Sunday. Not to be dramatic, but I nearly cried when I found out my all-time favorite summer nail polish was back in stock thanks to…Wishbone Kitchen?? Which means, no, I will not be partaking in the “Jersey Shore” mani trend (sorry, Snooki). A few other Very Important Discoveries™ from this week:

• The moody makeup I wore religiously as a teen is making a comeback — but this time, with a 2025 glow-up. 

• Dakota Johnson took Vanity Fair’s lie detector test and casually confessed to one of the dirtiest pranks I’ve ever heard. (Reminder: Do not cross Dakota.) 

• Alexa Chung and Michelle Monaghan were spotted wearing these aggressively Y2K shoes (nope, not wedges or platform flip-flops) and honestly, I’m unwell. 

• Sabrina Carpenter dropped what’s been declared the “song of the summer” and annihilated her ex in one breath (someone check on Barry). 

• The lead singer of one of my favorite high school bands launched…an OnlyFans. A full-circle moment no one asked for.

— Taylor Trudon / Writer, Culture & Lifestyle / Brooklyn, NY

👀 Time to break up with summer linen (and its wrinkles) and say hello to the easy, breezy return of this 2010s J.Crew-core staple. 

👙 Somewhere between a pool party and a personality crisis lies the “transitional swim cardigan.” Please hold while we process this. 

🍸 Another week, another Gen Z vs millennial debate. This time? How to handle a bar tab. And spoiler: Gen Z chose chaos.

👵🏼 There’s a polarizing new event ruining family group chats everywhere: baby showers...for grandmothers.

👜 The hottest bag of the summer? It’s not leather. It’s not designer. It’s not trying hard — and that’s exactly the point. Bonus: You probably already own it.

A question for the room: We’re all hate-watching And Just Like That… yes? Honestly, we should’ve known the moment we saw Sarah Jessica Parker wearing that certifiably nuts Strawberry Shortcake-like hat that we were in for a doozy this season. So far, we’ve been forced to endure Carrie and Aidan ruining phone sex for couples everywhere (even SJP wasn’t a fan of the scene), set props so obviously fake it makes Emily in Paris feel like a docuseries, and Miranda sleeping with a virgin, nun, and Wicked merch-wearing tourist played by Rosie O’Donnell (obviously, the internet had a field day). All of that would be bad enough, but then you add in: did-ChatGPT-write-this? dialogue (no wonder this X post got so many likes), the still-gaping Samantha Jones-shaped hole (not helped by Kristin Davis and Cynthia Nixon’s recent comments), and, most devastatingly, fashion that is downright criminal. Case in point: This feathered, Big Bird-coded ensemble or this cartoonishly large necklace made from decorative balls you’d find in an Airbnb. 

While some might have you think otherwise (*cough* Harper’s Bazaar *cough*), there’s no denying that the show — to put it mildly — is a mess. Yet, week after week, we keep tuning in. Naturally, we can’t help but wonder: What gives? Is it because our brains are permanently rewired to associate Carrie Bradshaw voice-overs with comfort? Or maybe we’re clinging to a collective delusion that’s as delicate and tulle-thin as Carrie’s iconic skirt. Obviously, we’ll be unpacking this in therapy. But in the meantime, our (highly unscientific) take is that despite AJLT’s cringe attempts to modernize itself, it hits a nerve for millennial women who once pored over SATC DVDs like sacred texts, remain haunted by that Post-it note breakup, and actually believed they could find a rent-controlled one-bedroom in Manhattan. Besides, if we survived what is arguably the worst product placement of all time and Che Diaz’s objectively awful comedy career, we’re clearly in it for the long haul — no matter how painful it’s sure to be.

Even if you couldn’t pick JoJo Siwa (and her intensely bedazzled outfits) out of a lineup, chances are, you’ve seen her name pop up more than once this week. On Monday, the 22-year-old Dance Moms alum turned shockingly successful hair-bow entrepreneur hard-launched her relationship with Chris Hughes, a 32-year-old professional reality TV star, who is “famous for just sort of being around.” The announcement wasn’t exactly news — since the night before, Hughes posted a not-at-all-staged photo of the two in bed on Snapchat, igniting the internet (as one X user perfectly put it, it’s “the type of selfie moms take with their newborns in the delivery room”). Now, the obvious question: Why exactly do people care? We’ll (briefly) explain: Siwa and Hughes first connected on Celebrity Big Brother UK, where Hughes publicly defended her after Mickey Rourke made homophobic comments. From there, they got, shall we say, cozy — even though Siwa was dating Australian actor Kath Ebbs. That is, until April, when Ebbs posted an Instagram video, saying Siwa dumped them at the Big Brother after-party. Siwa and Hughes denied that their budding connection caused the split, calling their relationship a “soulmate friendship” — which sounded questionable at first, and then deeply suspicious after a few very couple-y Instagram dumps. Fast forward to this week, and…congrats to the happy couple, we guess.

Demi Moore and her famously tiny sidekick, Pilaf are now co-parenting ducklings. That household just got a whole lot quackier.

Travelhouse 6 Piece Hardshell Luggage Set

Caroline, senior commerce editor, here. When I innocently opened an email from Walmart last week, I expected the usual flurry of deals on water bottles and gadgets I admittedly don’t need. But then I saw this: A $600 six-piece set of hard-shell luggage on sale for — drumroll, please — $130. Now, this is probably where I should remind you that a single hard-shell suitcase from certain status brands can cost upwards of $300. And this set includes four rolling suitcases, plus a toiletry bag and a duffel bag — all with that undeniably chic camel-colored trim, which instantly  reminds me of the golden age of travel (think: when people wore full suits to get on a plane). While I’ve not yet tried it myself, the set has an almost-perfect rating and hundreds of reviews raving about its durability. So if you like it, away you go.

This new rom-com has a few ideas. Materialists is a sharply self-aware film from Past Lives director Celine Song. It follows Lucy (Dakota Johnson), a pragmatic matchmaker who’s made a career out of treating love like a business deal. But when she finds herself torn between a suave, wealthy stranger (Pedro Pascal) and the ex she never got over (Chris Evans), her rules about love just don’t hold up. So…who will she choose? Grab your movie night crew and catch the rom-com of the summer in theaters June 13 (aka this Friday) to find out.*

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Unleash your competitive side with today’s games and puzzles. Choose from an anagram word search, digital jigsaw puzzle, or crossword (with a twist). Better yet: Try them all.