OVERWORLD:
-How scared millionaires & billionaires are preparing-

ONE BETWEEN:
-Gen-Z has a weird relationship with wellness-

THE DEPTHS:
-4 stolen masterpieces that were never found-

“The best ideas come as jokes. Make your thinking as funny as possible.”
— David Ogilvy

✦TREND PICKS✦

Economy

Scared millionaires & billionaires are getting multiple passports.

Old news: Things are bad, people are scared.

A great way to see how fearful times are is by looking at what billionaires are doing. And besides building suspiciously bomb-safe bunkers, the elite is getting more passports. Interesting.

In the US, wealthy American families are getting not two... not three... but up to four passports in different countries, per CNBC. They’re seemingly preparing to bounce, just in case shit gets sour.

It's a whole trend, according to Henley & Partners, a law firm with a specialty in citizenships for rich motherfuckers.

Yepp, wars, government crackdowns on wealth, and political uncertainty are shaking wealthy residents. So, rich Americans are building "passport portfolios":

Alright, it's not like they're renouncing their American citizenships. That's not reality. Even if they wanted to, exit tax doesn’t make that easy.

If you didn't know: Exit tax is when some countries make you pay if you decide you don't want to be a citizen of that country anymore. It works kinda like a divorce.

Still, 2024 is set up to be the biggest year of millionaire migration worldwide. Here are some numbers:

✦QUICK HITS✦

A Monopoly movie is in the works. It’ll be produced by Margot Robbie's LuckyChap, who also did Barbie. After Barbie’s success, Hasbro is getting some cinematic universe ambitions. Cool, as long as we get a Nerf movie after.

Fast Retailing, owner of Uniqlo, reported a 28% increase in net profit to ¥195.91 billion for the first half year, beating estimates. Much thanks to strong sales in the U.S. and Europe, it raised its full-year net profit forecast by 8% to ¥320 billion. Good shit.

Instagram will blur nude photos in direct messages, aimed at protecting teens from emotional harm and sextortion. The feature, on by default for teen accounts, offers safety tips and reminders about the legality and risks of sharing such images.

Peloton is seemingly mutating into a media company. CEO Barry McCarthy, said Peloton's strength is in its content, so they’re transforming from being just a hardware company to a media empire. Speaking of, have you seen Butthole lipstick?

Apple Watch could revolutionize Game Boy emulation, now that Apple are allowing emulators in the App Store. Redditor R3V3RB_7 posted a video showing off the potential with a $35 Apple Watch knock-off.

Play: An open-source game real-time about learning Git repositories.

Listen: AI-generated sad girl with piano performs the text of the MIT License, and it’s very good.

🤨 Gen-Z has a weird, halfway relationship with wellness
Gen-Z is funky. Even if they drink less, train more, and have less sex; they’re also more open to psychedelics, marijuana, vaping, and doomscroll a lot.

This is different from Millennial’s “detox”-culture, where cutting everything to zero was the thing. No sugar, no alcohol, no wheat - they were more extreme.

For Gen-Z, it’s more about balance and finding which vices suit you. They’re practically trying to have the cake and eat it too.

For example: “California sober,” is a TikTok term coined by Gen-Z, referring to those who eliminate alcohol but still use cannabis recreationally. There’s also “boysober,” used when referring to girls taking a break from dating apps.

For brands, this means figuring out how to sell wellness to a generation that doesn’t buy into glossy ideals of bailing on addictions fully.

And that’s why “better for you”-products are doing so well. For example, Poppi, which calls itself “a modern soda for the next generation,” prides itself on providing a sweet soda-pop experience, but with real lemon and less sugar. It’s also why vaping and nicotine pouches have seen such a crazy boom.

It’s nihilistic, but Gen-Z transcends the idea of killing addiction fully, so they opt for a milder poison. Which is good? Bad? Who knows.

This Between was based on this great BoF article.

THE DEPTHS

Fashion

Remembering Roberto Cavalli

Roberto Cavalli, the “King of Bling,” passed away at the age of 83 in Florence last Friday. What a guy we just lost.

Everything he did, he did it big. Whether it was hitting the beach in the world's smallest swimsuit, or getting another kid at the age of 82, the man did not have fucks.

And he knew the liberation of lacking fucks so well that he wanted to provide the world with that feeling. That's why he built a fashion universe for us lay people to step into.

Draping us in his furs, animal prints, and exotic Italian swagger, we too were invited to what he called the "Cavalli World."

✦Drama, opulence, decadence✦

The guy was epic. He lived in a 15th-century Tuscan farmhouse, a 40-acre estate filled with luxury cars, a custom-painted helicopter, and a home adorned with runway-inspired decor and exotic animals.

He didn't exclusively make clothes. A true mogul lends his golden touch to everything. "Cavalli World," was an actual world - he designed nightclubs, mega-yachts, helicopters, and had a vodka brand.

Cavalli’s life and design ethos could be summed up as fearless, opulent, and dramatic Italian excellence.

His style made waves through the decades, constantly reinventing itself while staying true to the "molto sexy, molto, molto Italiano" soul.

From patchwork denim in the '70s to luxury sandblasted jeans in the '90s, Cavalli was a pure source from whence everything luxury has drawn inspiration.

✦Cavalli after Cavalli✦

In 2014, Cavalli sales peaked at $250 million, and he then sold a majority of Cavalli to Clessidra, a private equity fund, in 2015.

After that, Cavalli had trouble grasping its identity. Creative directors came and went, and they couldn’t get the brand to stick with modern audiences.

A bankruptcy in 2019 led to all its U.S. stores and operations closing. This led to Dubai-based luxury real estate developer Hussain Sajwani buying the company. Since then Fausto Puglisi has worked the creative director role, and it’s… well it just is.

✦Sleep tight, Rob✦

For decades and decades, celebrities like Jennifer Lopez and Beyoncé have lit up red carpets and concert stages with Cavalli creations.

His designs weren’t just clothes; they were Cavalli bleeding individuality into the world, a celebration of life lived at full throttle.

Good job, Roberto.