Substack Beauty Is Boring
Substack Beauty Is Boring
The “Top 25” Is More Of The Same
In today’s post:
Q (not) A Beauty & Pop Culture Questions
The Full Beat Substack Beauty Is Boring: The “Top 25” Is More Of The Same
Did Shannen Doherty’s final act of petulance inspire me? If it’s true that she has a list of people who are barred from her funeral, then absolutely yes. According to her friends, this act seems very in line with her sense of humor.
Who is in charge of social media at Rainbow? Because they have been letting Fashion Nova defenders have it for the last 24 hours. Costume quality?? The girls are fightiiing.
Is Blake Lively launching a beauty brand? I hope not.
Corinne Fay’s review of Substack’s Top 25 Fashion & Beauty newsletter’s, critiqued the list’s thin, white, and expensive item bias. Fay set out to quantify the percentage of linked items, in posts from the list, that would fit her plus size body. Not surprisingly the results were dismal. Fay describes the experience as “...dull and repetitive and made me crave something exuberant and huge and bizarre. Something unexpected and delightful—what we always hope for when we click through, right? But I knew I would never find it here.”
While my Substack interest leans away from fashion and emphasizes Black women’s experiences in beauty and pop culture, I was interested in the diverse perspectives that lie in the top 25. I can describe my experience by echoing Fay, it was “...dull and repetitive and made me crave something exuberant and huge and bizarre. Something unexpected and delightful—what we always hope for when we click through, right? But I knew I would never find it here.”
At the top of the list is The Review of Beauty, written by queen of subversive beauty takes, Jessica DeFino. This is not shade. I am a happily paid subscriber who shares similarly cynical views of beauty culture. See Beauty Chemist Cosplay and The Age of Accessories as recent examples of my frustration with beauty marketing. Nearly all of the other newsletters that explicitly cover beauty are run by thin white women, although the authors do vary in age which is cool.
These newsletters primarily approach beauty as product focused. Rather, they present little more than affiliate link roundups. I know that not everyone wants to write about beauty as critically as DeFino, which is fine. And, there is nothing wrong with having affiliate links available in your posts, get your coin. My issue is that on such a short list, the lack of diversity in how writer’s approach beauty, and fashion for that matter, undermines Substack's alleged variety.
Fay also discussed this issue, “I think the fact that the top two fashion & beauty Substacks feel a bit more inclusive (Big Salad) and subversive (The Review of Beauty) means there is widespread interest in and support of something different when it comes to style and beauty content. It’s worth noting, though, that both publications are still helmed by white women wearing straight sizes.”
I agree with Fay that there is an interest in inclusive and subversive approaches to beauty writing. Shout to my incredible subscribers I follow a number of incredibly talented writers who regularly offer their readers new ways to think about the products and services that inform how we see ourselves.
’ The Powder Room, ’s Face Value, of You’ve Got Lipstick On Your Chin, and ’s A Sunday Journal are just a few of the incredibly smart and engaging beauty and culture newsletters that would break up the monotony of Substack’s Top 25 list.It was not difficult for me to locate these newsletters, many of them reference the others as sources of inspiration. However, as with similar lists in other publications, the diversity that drives readership on Substack are overlooked and/or under-reported.
Had this list been more inclusive of race, gender, approaches to beauty/fashion, and follower count, it would have shown what makes Substack so great. Instead, this collection of the top 25 best in beauty and fashion mimics the familiar thin, white, and wealthy beauty legacies that drove us to build our own corners of criticism in the first place.
Thanks for sharing your insights -- I so agree with you about this being what drove us to build our own corners of criticism in the first place!