In Pursuit of Hotness & Wellness
Lululemon says we're all burned out from chasing after Wellness
It began as a soft rustling amongst the leaves. In its infancy, finding footing in the form of sunlit yoga studios and three-quarter Lululemon tights; manifesting and transmuting itself into the all natural Glossier Girl, flowing shiny hair, skin bright with an ever sought after glow (created with the help of a few choice make-up products).
The meticulously effortless, highly commercial sheen of wellness.
Alo Yoga was the Official Wellness Partner at London Fashion Week last month, treating guests of its ‘oasis’ to an intriguing round-up of wellness offerings: Vitamin C IV-drips, cryotherapy (exposure of skin to sub-zero temperature nitrogen to depuff and increase collagen production), guided sound baths and meditations.
Excellent market-penetration strategy from Alo, a brand that presents itself as a “movement at the intersection of fashion and wellness”, and who opened its first London flagship this August.
The partnership left me wondering what it means to be Well.
Jen Lee sent her models down the runway with red acupuncture needles styled across their faces (all models had received bespoke acupuncture treatments backstage). The intended and resulting visual impact: ‘serene yet dramatic’ (which btw I think model Sabrina Spirolazzi embodied to perfection in the above editorial shot).
Dramatic, you know, is the word for where we are at in commercial Wellness culture today. Has there ever been any other point in time when we’ve needed as many tools, products, or practices as is available now to maintain mental and physical wellbeing? (silly question, ofc not).
All of the below are marketed under the Wellness or adjacent umbrella:
LED face masks, tanning beds
Lymphatic drainage facial and body massage tools
Vitamin D Magnesium Lions Mane Mushroom etc Supplements
Guided sound baths meditations cold showers sensory deprivation tubs
Pilates yoga running spin HIIT
Lululemon Alo Yoga Vouri Adanola
Matcha (lol the fucking pilates fashion matcha girlies) ((( i’m one of them )))
(and btw I (and my sister and my mom) have tried all of these things at one point or another - LED tanning bed? yes even that)
Lululemon found that people are getting too stressed out from trying to be Well 😭 The report gave me a laugh, because we always have to take a good thing and make it just not good anymore, don’t we?
Wellbeing Burnout is a thing now, it is when succumbing to the constant pressure to improve our wellbeing instead makes us less well than ever.
If I allow myself to play anthropologist for a bit, I’d venture a guess that this pressure climaxed at the height of TikTok’s Clean Girl-era (c. 2021 - 2022).
She gratitude journals, meditates, matcha-not-coffee, 6am HIIT class, from-scratch organic meals, nails done hair perfect skincare elaborate and make up minimal (thanks to perfect skin). Wardrobe immaculate too, body and face of course snatched to high-heaven. Unbothered. Moisturized. Happy. In Her Lane. Focused. Flourishing. (hehe, remember?)
It doesn’t really come as a surprise to be honest, that the girls and boys are starting to get a bit tired of aspirational lifestyle content and marketing. No doubt all of the products / practices do make you mentally and physically healthier, but
The problem is that the wellness industry is not worth over a £150billion because we are all in pursuit of greater inner health - the problem is that what we’re actually in pursuit of is enhanced physical attractiveness hotness. Have we confused wellbeing with vanity?
Go back to Alo Yoga’s British Fashion Week wellness ‘Oasis’, right, the treatments on offer (Vitamin C drips, Cryotherapy) are aimed at giving you brighter skin and a more contoured face. They make you look better - there’s your wellness.
Kendall Jenner & Hailey Bieber (the mother of the Tik Tok Clean Girl)’s NDA IV drips - Hailey flat out said she was getting these treatments because she wants to stay and look young forever. And Kendall echoed that these types of treatments make her happy, supports her emotional and mental wellbeing.
I get it - anything that makes me look better makes me super happy to do too - but that’s the problem: Our happiness - and our very expensive pursuit of Wellness - is still at its core driven by a very shallow and insecure need to meet a beauty standard.
Fact of the matter is, you’re truly happy when you’ve learned to let go of your neurotic need to be more or less of anything. Wellbeing means less, not more. Unfortunately, less is more is not a sentiment that rakes in the billionzzzz.
Thanks for listening,
I still think the only wellbeing product that’s come out over the last decade that is worth your $ is Headspace.
btw, reporting to you from:
