i know what you did last summer
you guys went on a lot fewer dates than we'd hoped
A few weeks ago,
and I asked our readers to let us in on how they were spending their summer. We’d spent the last few months writing about summer trends and summer predictions, and thought it would be fun to see how many of those were actually making their way into your lives.What we found was that a lot of them did, but not as many as you’d imagine—which was kind of our assumption going in.
I personally came out of this fun little exercise with more questions than I had going in, and will be spending the next few months digging into the why behind some of your answers.
Thank you to everyone who contributed to this 💙
Comment, Hit Reply, and let us know your THOUGHTS!
WHERE YOU WENT ✈️
Europe dominated travel, but a lot of you kept it domestic.
...which makes sense, considering all the spritzes I saw on my feed. Europe will always be a go-to summer destination—Paris, London, Berlin—but I’m more interested in the 38.7% of you who traveled within the U.S. to Chicago, Seattle, Austin, Miami, New York, etc. I took my own mini domestic vacation to Chicago in June and had the time of my life. The balance of newness and familiarity made me feel excited but not out of my depth. I ate delicious food, saw art, walked endlessly, and spent time with amazing people. Isn’t that what vacations are for?
80% of you spent between $1-5k on vacation.
… but I’d love to know the 2% of you who spent over $20k!
More people stayed in hotels than Airbnbs. I’d love to know why.
My favorite friend trips I’ve been on are when we rent an AirBnb in a town we can drive to, and explore the area for a few days. Most recently, we went to Athens, New York, where we swam in the lake, window-shopped, and finished a puzzle. It was perfectly simple. You don’t need to spend a ton of money to have a great vacation. I even think that the more extravagant you go, the less original the experience is. And if you have a travel agent planning out every luxurious detail, there’s no room for spontaneity- Arden
WHAT YOU DID 🪩
A lot of restaurants, shows, and concerts.
I wished we asked what kinds of shows/concerts you guys went to, but more importantly I wish we asked how much you spent on said shows/concerts.
A good number of you also found out about events through Substack.
Not a lot of clubs, not a lot of partying. Very few brand events.
In summary, not a brat summer?
The best way to find out about live events is to be friends with someone who is a vibe curator. Someone who genuinely enjoys following all the right Instagram accounts, subscribing to all the right newsletters, and most importantly, knowing all the right people. I sort of loathe the amount of effort it takes to be a purveyor of social capital so I'd just prefer to be adjacent to these kind of people. But ANYWAYS, if I didn't have vibe curator friends to simply tell me what the plan is each week, I would probably find out about events through: partiful invites (aka word of mouth), following my favorite local venues on instagram (concert venues, comedy clubs, bars, restaurants), newsletters/groups dedicated to the types of events I'm interested in (curation!), and lastly, good ole fashioned word of mouth- anon
Concerts and sporting events, saw on Instagram and via email marketing- anon
Lots and lots of live music! my favorite artists concert in boston, posters for live music events while in Switzerland and also just wandering around until I saw something interesting. My hometown has a little dive bar that does live all ages shows, and another bar that has live music. I’m not 21 so I just sit on the seawall and people watch listen from afar. Also some live theatre which I get from just being part of that community and having friends in shows and recommending shows- anon
Readings, concerts, comedy, parties, plays, films, panels and lectures Heard through friends, substack, group chat, and instagram- anon
I saw 8 musicals, including Broadway and local theaters. I've gone to the same theater in Yellowstone since I was little so we go every year. I wanted to see Jeremy Jordan and Aaron Tveit, so I saw Great Gatsby and Moulin Rouge in NYC. We have some family members who perform in local theaters, so we go often. I also went to James Taylor's concert and am going to Tyler Childers next week. Pretty sure Spotify sent me emails about them because they know who I listen to- anon
WHAT YOU SPENT 💳
Most of you funded your summer plans through savings
… while a few of you had mysterious “sponsorships.”
We asked if the ~vibesession~ affected your summer plans.
a few people said it did, but most of you remained unscathed
I’m too old and too pregnant, that’s what affected my summer plans- anon
I didn't take any summer trips, but everyone in nyc mysteriously has money and so most of my friends did take trips, and therefore it feels like the vibecession almost exclusively affected me (womp womp)- anon
I'm old and rich- anon
There was for sure more hesitation and restraint when it came to planning trips and events. The summer seemed to have lacked a bit of spontaneity- anon
Maybe five people mentioned getting laid off right before summer, but faring okay because you had savings and an emergency fund 🙏🏾
PARTY CORNER 😆🥬🍷💨🍄😌
People are still getting drunk
… but a many of you had a sober summer
Tbh I feel like I’m too old and tired for brat summer these days. My ideal night was smoking a joint, bar hopping across Brooklyn, ending up at some live music, going home and sleeping by 12:30. I feel like I’m turning into an old woman- anon
Alcohol is (and has for a long time been) the most socially acceptable way to party. Even with the rise of non-alcoholic or low-ABV drinks, a ton of people are still drinking, just not as much. Sobriety is up. Some responses even cite going to raves in Berlin and Brooklyn sober. People are getting older, or more tired. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that we started this summer with Charli and ended it with “shiver” so cutesy, so demure.
To be clear, I only partake in alcohol (and even then, sparingly), but I'm happy to share some insight into the substance use of my peers. First off, nicotine prevails. Cigarettes specifically are so fucking chic right now (at least in NYC). The tide is turning on vaping, although many people still clutch their vapes 24/7 because addiction. The prevailing culture around afterwork unwinding rituals has shifted away from having a glass or two of wine and towards having a hit or two of the dab pen.Alternative acceptable sources of week night weed include gummies or cannabis drink, but do not include joints, blunts, or bongs (these would be uncouth!). Skiing is very pervasive right now and I'm sure there's a substack article out there somewhere connecting the dots between brat summer and rising cocaine use, but coke has always been around (just ask your parents) and maybe always will be. Psychedelics really hit it big time last year, and while I feel like the hype has died down, I think shrooms are here to stay
- someone who understood the assignment 💙
LOVE, FRIENDSHIPS, PEOPLE 👩❤️💋👨
People are meeting through hobbies: run clubs, book clubs, work out classes, dancing class
… but the real tea is why some of you entirely ditched your old friend groups!
26 people fell in love, and 8 people think they may have…
…but most of you went on only one date, which has me worried!
For reasons beyond me, we didn’t think to collect quotes for the dating section. So unless you care to enlighten us in the comments section, I guess we’ll never know why our readers aren’t dating.
Thankfully, we asked how you met new people…
I've had the highest success rate with meeting new people that I'm compatible with through events hosted by friends or friends-of-a-friend. I guess the most common example of this would be a house party; I myself once threw a party where the only requirement to attend was to bring someone that no one else invited to the party would already know. A normal person with hobbies might answer this question with something like intramural sports or running clubs but I don't do those things so I wouldn't know- anon
I wanted to try out pickleball and all my go-to people were busy, so I called up a friend to bring his friend group and really hit it off with them- anon
Through my Substack and through other friends- anon
In the clurbbbb- anon
Work! We can’t WFH so I get a lot of social connections at work, go on nice lunches or walks- anon
Bumble bff and book club lol- anon
work and or outside bars/concert venues. I literally could make a best friend with a person i bummed a cig from outside a bar and this did in fact happen several times this summer- anon
BRANDS, BRANDS, BRANDS 💄
Most people didn’t participate in beauty trends, but when they did it was BLUSH ☺️
… specifically, the Rhode beauty blush sticks.
The most mentioned brands were…
Glossier, Merit, Saie, Rhode, Kosas, Milk Makeup, Charlotte Tilbury, Clinique, and rhode. Clean beauty is in.
People care about what’s going on their face. Minimalist beauty (or no makeup at all!)
Our readers love to shop second hand, but they also love…
Brandy Melville, Sandy Liang, boxer shorts, basketball shorts, sporty everything, ballet flats, adidas sambas, linen, skirts of every kind, fisherman sandals, low waisted skirts, and lots of jewellery
These were the vibes…
Vintage Dior, heart of sun swim, Frankie’s bikinis, inamorata swim, sezane, buck mason, j crew, only hearts
Lemaire, Uniqlo, Uniqlo for Lemaire, Acne Studios, Asics, Salomons, Comme des Garçons, Yohji Yamamoto, misc Depop purchases tagged "coquette" (shamefully)
Beams+, Birkenstock, Sci-Fi Fantasy, McNairy & Co, Ray-Ban, Woodwood, adidas, adsum, asics, OOFOS, converse, Alden, Bass, Duffer of St. George, Parages, Manastash, J.Press, Garbstore, Shrits, Garrett Leight, Pilgrim Surf Supply
ANIMAL PRINT !!!! THIS ONE’S FOR THE WHORES !!!
SOCIAL MEDIA 🤳
I found this one super interesting, and probably the most telling of who our readers are and where they spend their time online.
Unsurprisingly, Instagram was the number one place where people documented their summer activities.
… what did surprise me was how many of you documented your activities on Substack as well.
We also asked what influencers you guys were following, but the answers were all over the map, so instead, we pulled out the Substackers you mentioned.
, , Camri Hewie, Kit Keenan
, Daisy Edgar Jones,
Only Substack… , Anna Newton
, , , , and foodie influencers@reltubatokad,
, @essayism on Instagram
Lots of you said me (Ochuko), or some variation of my name like ochoko or ochoku. GUYS!!!! 😩
WHO YOU ARE 🤷♂️
Rookie mistake, we forgot to ask for information to do a gender split.
… but looking at the answers, it's obvious that most of our readers are women between the ages on 20 and 30, AKA, the best demographic there is!
To the teenagers reading this, know that you’re a lot smarter than I was five years ago.
Most of you work corporate jobs, a lot of you are students, and none of you are influencers.
MISTAKES AND REGRETS 🛑
Most of you had zero regrets, which we respect.
… but more people regret NOT doing things than doing them.
THINGS YOU REGRET DOING
Buying a new vehicle
Working too hard
Spending too much money on overpriced mediocre cocktails
Staying with my in laws for too long
Drinking too frequently
Getting COVID
THINGS YOU REGRET NOT DOING
Not enough cardio
I didn’t get tan
Not enough rooftops
Not being out in the sun more
That I didn’t go on a date
Not making more lighthearted plans!
This was fun xo
 | A guest post by
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Hotels > AirBnBs, maybe because fees have gotten outrageous!
I also have a lot of questions after reading this! I’d like to give extra love to Viv Chen who is really one of my favorite people on SS. I wonder what it means that I’m in an older demographic 🤔 in any case, I’m happy to be here!