The Whimsey Index
How whimsey is too whimsey?
I am hearing about Mercedes more than someone in my tax bracket should. It all started earlier this year with their launch event at Villa Miani in Rome where a somewhat off-beat list of celebrities and influencers — fashion darlings Isabelle Allain and Alexander Roth, quirky contemporary artists Gustaf Westman and Kid Super, as well as a scandalous celebrity duo Ice Spice and Central Cee — got to check out their newest CLA model and pose in front of a shamelessly large Mercedes logo at the photo op. I later learned it was a kick-off of the company’s “Class of Creators” project that invited a selection of artists to produce “visions and content inspired by the all-new CLA as a creative platform.” Someone must have gotten a fat check for this.
So far, the project has materialized into a series of expensive activations and campaigns. In April, Mercedes unveiled a molted chrome CLA draped in diamonds that spelled “Princess” for the self-proclaimed hip hop princess Ice Spice, as well as a co-branded merch capsule at a party in NYC. In May, Gustaf Westman got to dream up a bubblegum pink Mercedes wonderland in London filled with goopy side mirrors, logo plates, and a chunky CLA centerpiece — perhaps the most tasteful and effective activation in the lineup that doesn’t feel like a cash grab. And finally, this past Men’s Fashion Week, Kid Super installed a CLA designed to be his take on a dream superhero getaway car at his show in Paris that also featured a couple of pieces with Mercedes branding.
Taking a page out of LVMH’s playbook, Mercedes is letting the whimsey into its otherwise conservative luxury universe in attempt to position itself as a player in the culture at large rather than just a car manufacturer. The press moments are less about how fast, efficient, or even luxurious the CLA model is, and more about the imaginative world it inspires — and even if you can’t afford a Mercedes, you can still have a piece of it in form of an Ice Spice keychain or a TikTok viral chunky plate. My gut tells me it’s a bad sign when a strategy can be easily distilled into a deck, especially when that deck feels severely outdated and has proven to lead fashion brands, like Burberry and Louis Vuitton, astray — but perhaps, this is just a reflection of who an average Mercedes customer really is and their level of taste.
There is certainly an appetite for whimsey and even a place for pop culture IPs in the luxury world that has skewed towards stoic minimalism and lowkey branding for the past few years. Louis Vuitton revisited their collaboration with Takashi Murakami. Gucci welcomed Demna as its new creative director. Tory Burch released a capsule of colorful sandals, sugary bags, and charms with a Swedish candy brand BonBon. Simone Rocha made Crocs, Coperni hosted a show at Disneyland Paris, and Rick Owens made an OnlyFans for his feet. Meanwhile, luxury customers are decorating their bags with Pop Mart toys, prize ribbons, sashes, and brooches are catching on, and funky neckties and bootleg graphic tees are finding their way back into everyone’s wardrobes.
The collective wish to stand out, find small pockets of joy in otherwise bleak socioeconomic landscape, and of course, ride the wave of attention created by publicity stunts into commercial success have created a lot of delightfully playful as well as grossly commercial moments both on the design and consumer side. The line between the two is intuitive, but if we were to try and rationalize it, it boils down to two things — access and intellectualism. Low access — limited stock, high price point, fringe origin — protects products and creatives from quick market saturation and dupes as well as manages the crowd associated with them. Intellectualism can mean everything from literal ties to arts and sciences to analogue research and execution.
Labubus, the product of a social media trend, quickly flooded the market due to an affordable price point and mass supply and therefore, skew heavily towards faux pas although they are intellectualized by their creator artist Kasing Lung whose career trajectory is starting to resemble that of Brian Donnelly. Coperni’s Disney pieces are a modern take on analogue nostalgia, inaccessible to the masses due to the higher price point, limited sizing and stock — think less Disney adults dripped out in souvenir shop swag and more Addison Rae wearing a Björk puffer jacket in front of the Magic Castle.
It’s not as straightforward as cheap and trendy equals faux pas and exclusive and expensive equals chic though. Random gift shop finds are much coolers than designer bag charms. Fun cufflinks are endearing while fun socks are cringe even though both are prevalent in the white collar corporate world. A tabi shoe with its ties to Japanese culture and Margiela’s creative genius is timeless while a jelly shoe with its nostalgic yet commercial background skews towards trendy and gimmicky. At this point, the only acceptable way to acquire a pair is to buy it at a random local store for under 30 bucks (unless you are on the PR list for these).
Outside of product, things get even trickier. Status-wise, everything digital is inherently inferior to anything analogue. For example, even though Gucci’s latest Marmont bag ads stirred up a brief intellectual discourse as the off-beat creative marked the beginning of Demna’s reign at the house for many, the execution looked a little too digital for comfort. The perception would have likely been different if the desserts were inspired by an 18th century painting the same way Rick Owens’ OnlyFans project is based on Contessa de Castiglione’s photographs of her feet.
The only caveat is that reverse-engineering the whimsey by hiking up the price, limiting the stock, or engaging in performative intellectualism is much worse than any genuine attempt to be playful, even the ones that accidentally slip into faux pas. With a heavy heart, I have to say that carrying a Truman Capote Dior tote is a worse offense to the field of literature than Kendall Jenner reading Joan Didion on a luxury vacation. Given Jonathan Anderson’s genuine passion for the arts, I suppose they could have landed differently in a cultural climate where brands and celebrities didn’t already lean into literature for validation, but ultimately, it’s hard to unsee Dior’s business folks salivating at the commercial potential here.
The best kind of whimsey emerges naturally as a byproduct of a genuine pursuit. Similar to “passionate,” it’s an adjective you are supposed to embody rather than use to describe yourself — making impulsive brushstrokes that feel right but are impossible to fully comprehend. Even though the stakes are high and so is the temptation to feed into the appetite for something different, if that is your starting point, you’ve already lost. The whimsey that’s worth striving for can’t be reverse-engineered or distilled into a deck, so perhaps, it’s a sign to stop holding onto our seats and let the road show the way.
IN THE MARGINS
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My dream came true — I’ve been posting consistent videos on Busy Corner’s IG. I did one on talent trips, one on
’s piece about the dire state of celebrity interviews, and one on Kevin Carpet - the man that people online are stirring up a moral panic about. My hands are itching to make a companion something for this newsletter, but for now, I am still figuring out the lighting situation.
25+ new additions to Busy Corner’s Talent Rolodex and Reference Bank this week!
The popularity of of whimsical/ childish trends reminds me of something that Kyle Raymond Fitzpatrick has been writing about recently, which is that due to the traditional markers of adulthood being lost/ inaccessible (eg. low birth rates, difficulty getting on the property ladder, increasing ideological gap between men and women which makes it more unlikely that heterosexual ppl will partner up/ cohabit/ procreate), there's a new generation of people who are stuck in this sort of kidulthood limbo. Maybe this is why we are all turning to Labubus for emotional support? The 'I'm baby'-fication of trends...
The Gucci jelly bags are cute, but exactly like the jelly bags that Dead Hungry did for Bottega Veneta's first zine around 2021 (I don't think DH was behind the Gucci ones as he hasn't posted it on his IG). https://www.instagram.com/p/CNFObsdgxEV/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
"With a heavy heart, I have to say that carrying a Truman Capote Dior tote is a worse offense to the field of literature than Kendall Jenner reading Joan Didion on a luxury vacation." - made my morning! Haha. Enjoyed reading this.