This week, I’m thinking about Calvin Klein. Last week, the latest campaign was released with Jeremy Allen White and I have not seen such a flurry of activity in the group chats and IG stories in a very long time. To put it mildly, the photographer, Mert Alas and JAW, really gave the people what they wanted. I thought about ranking my own personal top five campaigns but then realized it would be much more fun to include some experts. First stop: Nichole Perkins, writer and former host of Thirst Aid Kit (can someone please pay to bring this back ASAP?), photographer and Loyal Nana’s founder Amanda Saviñón, longtime LITL advisor and Senior Culture Editor, Erin Evans, Mathew Rodriguez, a Brooklyn-based writer for whom the underwear aisle was a very important part of growing up gay, and Danielle Henderson, TV writer and absolute genius behind Feminist Ryan Gosling. The format is inspired by the old US Weekly’s Fashion police, but with more of a thirsty focus.

And here comes the newsletter’s first ~NSFW~ warning. If you’re in an open plan, perhaps it’s time to do a search for “this week in reading” and skip all the way down? You’ve been warned!

NP: I was 15 when this ad came out and i remember studying it very closely, but Marky Mark was never my thing. However, there’s no denying the iconic nature of this one, even if he is… who he is.
LM: The sweet smile versus the aggressive grab vibe is really playing to all sides of the market. I cannot fault them for going for it.
AS: I was 3 years old. How do I still remember seeing this?!
EE: That smile is actually brightening my day. I had a thing for Mark in “Fear,” even though his character was actually terrible. . .
MR: I’m just saying if I saw that smile on a hookup app, he’d get into my Calvins!

LM: So sad what has become of Antonio Sabato Jr. (he’s MAGA) but I am pretty sure at least one of these photos was on my collage wall in high school. Which, upon reflection, seems deeply inappropriate. .
NP: the anti-bulge protector is weird. 
EE: The veins in his arms are doing something to me.
DH: I can’t believe his dickhole is just OUT there, forever.

NP: An absolute fantasy come to life
LM: Chiseled from a slab of stone. 
AS: It’s giving GLOSS honey!
EE: I distinctly remember this because the way the light reflects off his smooth, dark-chocolatey skin is just perfection.
MR: I know this is about underwear but his legs look 10 miles long and I’m very into it.
DH: The most classic of the bunch for me. The photos are straight up artistic, and those LEGS! Iconic images.

NP: I might be the only person in the world who still gives him a third and fourth glance but yes. 

LM: Oh, extra glances are being given from over here.
AS: This is prob CK’s best angle yet! 
EE: Who is this? 
MR: Oh say can you SEE that leg muscle!!!!

LM: I feel very uncomfy looking at this. Like was the direction. . .grab your junk?! I know it’s an homage to Marky Mark but why?
AS: Looks like he doesn’t do that very often 
EE: Now why would he do this to himself? Like, this had to be the fun pose he did when the shoot got started just to loosen himself up a bit, RIGHT?
MR: I’m more of a Joe Jonas type and something about the jeans here in the shot are distracting.
DH: I hate everything about this. Very jock-in-the-hallway-about-to-push-me-into-a-locker energy.

LM: I have never seen it for the Biebs, since I am #anold and I do not see it here. But I am not trying to yuck anyone’s yum. 
NP: never seen it for him, never will (also #anold) but i think the editing on this is so distracting. Did he ever really look like this irl?
AS: I liked it better when his wifey was included.
DH: Was his head photoshopped onto someone else’s body? Distractingly incongruous.
EE: Hate his posture here. The end.
MR: .:Extreme Randy Jackson on American Idol voice:. It’s a no from me, dawg.

LM: My all-time fave. 10/10 perfection. No notes. Never been so jealous of a basic leather chair more in my life. I’ve never wanted to BE a basic leather chair more in my life.
NP: FANTASTIC. He looks like he stopped by my loft for a quick lunch but i had to get in an afternoon delight and now he’s in love with me.
AS: I will volunteer for whatever needs to be done here.
EE: That smile! Those abs! 
MR: One of the best and I will personally volunteer to eat a bowl of Lucky Charms and milk out of the natural indentation in his abs. 
DH: He looks so relaxed. The middle ab separation is freaking me out a bit (did not know stomachs could do that) but the ease of this photo makes it the sexiest.

LM: Maluma, baby, I feel like this is ~aggressively~ trying to be sexy in a way that doesn’t work for me. I don’t feel great about saying that.
NP: i don’t really know who this person is, but also yes.
AS: He got hoes… garden ones that is.
EE: I guess I like tattoo sleeves now. Yes. I do.
MR: I love wet.

LM: I don’t know why this looks like AI and I do not like it.
NP: i know they have to keep The Area smooth to avoid offense but what is this, honey?
AS: That hand around the shoulder is giving AI 100% but he is PRETTY BOY FLAKO as he calls himself.
EE: Better with clothes on.

LM: I only know him as the young man who married the older director. Now I know him as this very very very nice specimen. 
NP: I cannot wait for that lil superhero movie where he’s all animalistic. That’s all I’ll say on that. 
AS: I do not know this man, but I want to see him more
EE: Something about his proportions makes me think he has a nice little booty back there. Please turn around, sir.

LM: Yes, And also, yes. 
NP: i’ve got a cut-out of a bare-chested MBJ in my office. 
AS: Someone once shared a true and spicy sex story featuring MBJ and I believe this is exactly how it went. 
EE: Someone put this on a body pillow and send it to me.
MR: This is the first one where the man has some really incredible thiddies and I love that.

LM: Top 3 for sure. Tiny Greek God status has been solidified. 
NP: definitely top 3. Changed me. Made me whole. Gonna write a short king romance based on him. I want him on that orange sofa the rest of my life.
AS: I have been crushing on this man for 11 years! All I needed was this CK ad to help push my imagination a little further.
EE: It’s always hard to explain my attraction to JAW, but Lip Gallagher fans get it.
MR: Til the room stinks.

This week in reading. . .
I liked People Collide a lot - it was so interesting, but I found the pacing and shifting from perspectives to be irritating. It made my brain itch, in a bad way. I found My Husband EXHAUSTING to read, but had to keep reading so I could know where, exactly, the author was going with this. The ending delivered, but I was still absolutely spent by the time it was all over. I am still on the hunt for the first book of 2024 to really make me swooooon.

This week in listening. . .
At the end of Saltburn they play Sophie Ellis Baxter’s Murder on the Dancefloor, a song that was such a huge part of my study abroad experience that I immediately spiraled and put together a playlist of all the songs that shaped that spring. So if you hear Italian rock blasting from my airpods for the next few weeks, that’s why.

This week in TV. . .
The latest season of What If? has been a lot of fun (minus the Guardians-heavy first two episodes)

A new, final season of Good Trouble. It’s been an entertaining run, I hope they stick the landing.

This week in a gif. . .

This week in movies. . .
Ruth Negga was so good in Good Grief which was a perfectly fine film. I do not love Dan Levy any less. It also made me want to run off to Paris tomorrow. . .which, to be fair, I never need a movie to make me feel that way.

This week in a newsletter. . .
Laura Read is going to answer all of Carrie Bradshaw’s questions - good luck ma’am.

This week in google searches. . .

This week in one good thing. . .
The entire archive has officially been migrated from Tinyletter to Beehiiv, thanks to Ali F. for taking on such a fiddly, nitpicking project. I now have to go through and decided what will live on the landing page.

This week in a quote. . .
“This idea that we have to demonstrate what we think in public for it to be valid is so misguided.” - Roxane Gay

This week in artsy stuff and photo things. . .
Love this woman’s gorgeous home and art collection.

This interview with artist Bianca Nemelc (who I am obsesssssed with) which introduced me to this Nueva Yorkinos archive, which is incredible.

Speaking of brilliant campaigns. . .Diana Ross’ Saint Laurent photo!

This week in someone I was told I look like. . .
Given how often someone tells me that I look like someone, I’ve decided I’m going to share with you all and you can weigh in.

This week, it was Esti Yerushalmi. She is my doctor’s cousin and he says that every time he sees me he is reminded of her. Nothing like getting a three inch needle jabbed into your heel while your doctor says you look like the cousin they grew up with.

This week on the internet. . .
This kid broke Tetris in their quest to win. They are my hero.

This piece by Stephanie H. Murray didn’t say anything new about the state of parenting in America, but it didn’t stop me from feeling utterly nauseous by the end.

On the good and bad of intergenerational living.

Naomi Osaka went back to training 15 days after giving birth.

Should I pivot and become a wedding content creator? (No.)

My fantastic colleague and friend Reyhan got the brilliant Anna Holmes to do a work advice column and it is very very good.

I keep jumping into a New Girl rewatch, so I am very excited that Jake Johnson has a new project and is doing press.

me, forever chasing this feeling, 
Leonor

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