 | | | | The best thing an influencer has ever inspired me to buy was a block of cheese. I'd recently interviewed the woman behind the Instagram account That Cheese Plate, who told me her current obsession was anything truffle-y. Naturally, I immediately went out and bought a triangle of truffle goat cheese. Reader, it was one of the best things I've ever tasted. But because influencing as a career gets more bonkers by the week, now in addition to diarrhea tea and hideous sunglasses, Instagram influencers are selling us medical devices. Suzanne Zuppello dove into this phenomenon for The Goods last week, and found that everyone from former Bachelor contestants to fashion bloggers has shilled products like Botox, the psoriasis medication Celgene, and ReSensation, a surgical technique that may help women undergoing breast reconstruction retain some sensation in their breasts. How to regulate these types of advertisements — and whether that's the FTC or the FDA's responsibility — still occupies a pretty big grey area. But the most insidious part may be that when an influencers' job is to sell a lifestyle, it has the ability to make a drug (or a surgical procedure) look glamorous. "In selling Celgene, Roe is also selling a life — her life — but what she does not tell you is Celgene does not work for everyone," Zuppello writes, "and it certainly won't give you her life." At least a block of truffle goat cheese promises no such thing, and only is what it is: delicious. —Rebecca Jennings, reporter for The Goods | | | | | | | The world of consumer culture is changing faster than ever. We're here to help you understand it. To make sure we're delivering on that mission with this newsletter, we want to hear from you. If you have a minute, we'd appreciate you taking this short survey. | | | | | How to dress for cold weather, explained by an arctic researcher | | | |  | | Getty Images | | If you live anywhere that experiences even occasional chilly weather, it will almost certainly have an agreed-upon philosophy of layering. In San Francisco, for instance, it's usually the sort of weather that requires a cardigan or light jacket. In the UK, you're probably going to want an outer layer made with some serious moisture-shedding material. Growing up in Vermont, for me the layering credo was something to the effect of, "turtleneck, sweater, parka, scarf, hat, two pairs of gloves, and a T-shirt underneath in case it suddenly switches 60 degrees." But when a polar vortex brought extreme sub-zero temperatures plus windchill to enormous swaths of the United States in late January, in many places the philosophy was the exact same: If you have to go outside, put on as many layers as you possibly can, and then add some more. These were the kind of temperatures — from the negative 30s to the negative 60s — that few have ever experienced in their lives. After a reported 21 people died during the polar vortex, it's more important than ever to be prepared. For some, brutally cold environments are just part of the job: Namely, people who devote their lives to studying the coldest places on the planet. To find out how to deal with extreme temperatures, I called Cathy Geiger, a professor at the University of Delaware (and a fellow Vermonter) who's been studying the behavior of sea ice at both the arctic and Antarctic poles for more than three decades. | | Read the rest of the story >> | | | | | | Karl Lagerfeld shaped what we think wealth looks like | | | |  | | Patrick Kovarik/AFP/Getty Images | | The fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld, who brought a flagging brand called Chanel back to life in the early 1980s and turned it into one of the most powerful luxury brands in the world, has died at age 85. Famous for his dark sunglasses, snowy ponytail, and black suits, Lagerfeld was prolific, seemingly indefatigable. At the end of his career, he was simultaneously the creative head of Chanel, the Italian fashion house Fendi, and his own eponymous brand. In addition to producing multiple collections per year for each label, Lagerfeld was a photographer, shooting many of Chanel's advertising campaigns himself, and a book publisher. Lagerfeld had a keen sense for the spectacle of fashion: His Paris Fashion Week shows for Chanel involved set pieces like icebergs and towering cruise ships, which were just as much a testament to the brand's financial muscle as they were to its designer's inventiveness. Celebrities like Rihanna, Marion Cotillard, and Keira Knightley packed the front row. Chanel's most intricate, handmade couture dresses invariably wound up on the red carpets of the Oscars and Golden Globes, worn by A-listers like Nicole Kidman and Emma Stone. It can feel like an understatement to say that Lagerfeld was a titan in the industry. He took Chanel's classic designs and reworked them over and over, turning them into enduring products for the modern era. Instead of setting the fashion agenda by starting specific trends that trickled down widely into the fashion ecosystem, Lagerfeld established items like Chanel's quilted bags and two-tone shoes — indeed, anything bearing Chanel's interlocking C logo, which he used liberally — as the ultimate markers of luxury and status. He shaped what we think wealth looks like, and it looks like Chanel. | | Read the rest of the story >> | | | | | | More good stuff to read today | | | | | | |
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