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- Dirt's 2024 Overrated List
Dirt's 2024 Overrated List
"Toni, it's so hot." "It's the takes."
Dirt editors and friends on what’s hot and what’s not
At the beginning of the month, a photo of “GQ’s 1995 Overrated List” made the rounds online. For an almost 30-year-old piece of magazine writing, their batting average was remarkably high, with the inevitable few exceptions—AbFab, Björk, and vine-ripened tomatoes, each of which I’ll defend with my dying breath. Of course, GQ themselves tried to capitalize by firing off their own 2024 edition. It’s fine, but let’s be real babes: we’re not living in the golden age of magazines anymore.
No single editorial staff is perfect, so in now-classic Dirt fashion, we did some outreach to a bunch of cool people from the internet and beyond whose names I will not list here so you have to scroll down and see for yourself. —Walden Green
When, during faculty orientation last August at the school where I teach, the administration announced that, for the first time in its 54-year history, male teachers would no longer be required to wear neckties, I was overcome with an elation so primal it bordered on cringe. I felt like Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer dancing at the launch of Windows 95; I felt like Howard Dean ending his political career with a scream.
As a fashion statement, the necktie has outlived its Puritanical origins—my senior year and well into college, under the influence of the Strokes’ first album, I paired an assortment of skinny ties with even skinnier jeans in a misguided attempt to lure the attention of female classmates, and I would never put on a suit without one—but as a status symbol, it has not. What once belonged to white-collar workers, festooning the halls of power with strips of pattern and color, has been handed down to the frayed-collar class, and to hang straps in solidarity with the vestiges of leashed society—security guards, doormen, caterers, applicants, varsity athletes on game day (who have often asked my help in fastening a knot)—is a superfluous reminder of the devaluation of education, livelihood, dignity, and freedom of expression in our empire’s flop era. Let the elites, who can afford to, noose themselves in unwashable fabric; for the rest of us, the right to bare throat must be inalienable.
Alo Yoga, not working for yourself (sorry Terry), Baja Blast, The M Train, apple picking, Annie Ernaux, hypergamy, the cast of Challengers, talking about your mental health, flats (the shoe and the wing...drumsticks forever), post post alt lit, parasociality
- French bulldogs - Taylor Swift - Jacquemus - Sabrina Carpenter - Memecoins - All the Kardashian's - Love Island - Bad Bunny - Gen-Z - Cronuts - Nepo Babies - Stanley Cups
Daniel Spielberger's hot takes, self-deprecation.
Generational warfare, It Girls (including but not limited to Charli XCX), the word “yapping,” going to the Hamptons, prequels / sequels, dark chocolate, viral brand collaborations, restaurant pop-ups, vests of any kind
Downtown hot girl coquette literary parties; Pivoting to communications for your mental health & a better paycheck; Being “bicoastal” (grow a backbone, pick a side); Ruminating; Freelancing sporadically; Stream of consciousness tweeting; Adopting a pet; Fantasy leagues; Resy; Getting a nonfiction book deal; Book deals, period; Mushroom chocolates; Upcycled fashion; Tarot & astrology; Sabrina Carpenter; “Old money aesthetic”; Posting your Ls; Giving people the benefit of the doubt; Bottega Venetta quilt purses; Marc Jacobs “The Tote Bag” bags; Being drunk all summer; Pleats
Music produced by Jack Antonoff, "preventative" botox, Raising Canes, podcasts, Crumbl Cookies, putting salt on cookies, Pedro Pascal, backpacking across Europe, thinkpieces, Apple Watches.
Dragons; AIPAC; AI Integration; Golden Goose Sneakers; Crowdwork; Hot Coffee; Tomatoes; Deep Breaths; "Economic Headwinds"
- Adaptogens - The Venice-based fashion brand ERL - Dining alone (people act like having penne arrabbiata by yourself in public will unlock self-knowledge so transformative you will know eternal peace) - “Are men okay?”
"Keep Honking!..." ironic bumper stickers; "Plant dads"; Kybella (jawline standards are very fucked rn but if you must, then do something that actually works, like lipo); Saying "yes chef"; New Goldendoodles (if you already have one thats fine)
Graza olive oil, being thin, books where there are no quotation marks when people are talking, tiny sunglasses, Elena Ferrante, designated closers, Sour Patch Kids, lined notebooks, Glen Powell, being in a book club, Deux Moi, the opinions of men on the WNBA, The Eras Tour, trucker hats, dinner reservations before 8:00 p.m., election polling, every vape, clothing rental services, lattes, cardio, the Resy app, flying on any plane, The New York Times, pitchers not batting in the National League, color tattoos.
deleting your dating apps, leaving twitter, gift guides, video podcasts, discord (i can’t figure out how it works), logging off, brand collabs, the duolingo bird, waiting to text back, wearing all black
Tank-tops, porn staches, dressing down, work-life balance (life is work; collapse the two), giving af about "AI “art”", nu-disco (especially if you're 4'11"), Fred Again dot dot (sucks), tech house, (suckkkkks), melodic techno (SUCKKKKKKSSSS), venues larger than a few thousand people, TikTok (ontologically uncool), online (it isn't real), Venmo (halt the IRS-ification of friendship), the monoculture (you are your niche), frivolity (take yourself and your work seriously)
writing, hotness, coolness, olive oil drizzles, panna cotta, sneakers, cultural criticism, the intersection of art and technology, the atlantic, The New Yorker, the nytimes, and the 3 people I muted on twitter.
95-99 percent of concerts, relationships with a lot of "emotional processing", cookies (yes, all of them), pretending you're too cool to ever engage in something cringe (polygamy, bisexuality, etc), most recently-launched publications, most not-so-recently-launched publications, the current conceptualization of lesbianism in popular culture, "discourse", saying "I'm just a girl" when someone criticizes your habit of conspicuous and irresponsible consumption (and the "reappropriation" of being a bimbo as a feminist stance (not that there's anything wrong with being a bimbo but we don't have to pretend it's feminist), relatedly: pretending things/people/shows/books are politically relevant or morally right because you personally like them, podcasts with high production value and lots of "acclaim", the idea that TikTok has politically radicalized a generation, running, the Makita brand of home improvement tools, candles (they're pretty much all cancerous and bad for you), 90-95 percent of all skincare recommendations and products, making fragrances your identity, identity, cocktails with more than three ingredients, "smokey" anything (eyes, cocktails, mountains), New York City, criticizing New York City, European vacations, Delta Airlines.
brand merch, Drew Barrymore, cat cafes, dinner hopping, Austin, TX, Carbone (overpriced buca di beppo), personal brand sites, biscotti, Catan, kawaii office supplies, party hopping, forming opinions, glamping, Weezer, atheism, lo-fi, foxes, sandalwood, klackity keyboards, Oreo collabs, island hopping, cozy videogames, BOPIS (buy online pickup in store)
-indie rock -trying to convince everyone you don’t care about anything -“punching up”/“punching down” discourse -james blake dating jameela jamil (it’s my turn) -scapegoating -being scared to hard post on your insta grid -cognitive dissonance, hypocrisy, obvious contradictions, unintegrated shadows -any podcast that isn’t subtle urban sex appeal -hating camila cabello -non-dairy milk -fawning -gift guides and recommendations…idc
explainers, live drums, matcha, hating jeff koons, hating as a personality, cheeseboards as dinner substitute, TestFlights as growth marketing hack, hinoki scent
I've been fortunate enough to make a career out of writing cultural criticism, but I don't like what it's done to my brain. Specifically the part of my brain that actually relishes culture, which has been violently annexed by takes. Hot takes, thoughtful takes, left-field takes, I've got them all in droves. I was stoked to leave the world of customer service in order to write for a living, but I didn't realize I'd feel obligated to maintain a running internal monologue of takes on every little thing I see. An annoying ad on my subway car morphs into "America Used To Put More Effort Into Its Advertising" in my head. The forty minutes of previews I sat through before Furiosa are now a pitch on the failures of the chain movie theater, and a pushy restaurant server has become a treatise on something I'll either call "anxious hospitality" or "a supposedly good restaurant I'll never eat in again," I haven't decided yet. I almost never actually write the pieces — I just germinate these useless ideas, dozens of them every day.
Shortly after the publication of my first essay collection, I ran out of money and had some decisions to make. Did I want to enter freelancing overdrive until I'd tossed off enough pop culture takes to refill my bank account, or did I want to return to restaurant work? I picked restaurant work, partly because I trusted this bistro's payroll process more than I trusted Redacted Media Conglomerate's, but also because I wanted to give all my theories and positions a chance to quiet the fuck down. In a restaurant, that's not "a sign that well-heeled New Yorkers' tastes have once again calcified into dreary predictability" — that's an espresso martini. Either you bring it to your customer and collect a tip, or you don't, and don't. But no one expects you to have an 800-word opinion about it, and once you set the drink down, you never have to think about it again.
most strawberries, the social benefit of being catty online, having complete sexual confidence, staying relevant, going braless (my boobs are a weird shape), cleanliness, this one girl I’m jealous of, le labo, gallery walls, knowing exactly what you want, the angel emoji
traveling constantly, shrimp, most of the “good” tv shows airing rn, dogs, country music, weed, shrooms, any drug that makes you more introverted, the clean girl aesthetic, complaining, having plants, therapy, AI, golden retriever boyfriends, pedicures
bushwick, ketamine, the y2k aesthetic, scene reports, dating app screenshots, girls who look like deer
Bushwick Basic, mean-as-personality, soft-as-personality, ironic-as-personality, Charli XCX, cultural criticism, dressing like a randomized Sim, oyster bars, tiny glasses, essays that use the reflexive “oneself,” perfumes that cost more than $300, internet speak in fiction, internet speak in public, “girl” everything, any event I get invited to.
Men in finance, working for yourself (sorry Daisy), working on yourself, going out every weekend, nostalgia as an aesthetic, cultural criticism
oh oh oh also NYT cooking - give us the same 5 ingredients 100 different ways and condescendingly explain what ramps are to us one more time please!! grow up!!
Radishes with butter, clear skin, the word “journey” (As in “my acne journey has been so hard but it's taught me so much”), being totally over your ex, geotagging your location in an Instagram story, the TikTok ad I keep getting that encourages me to “replace scrolling with micro learning,” when a man has too many esoteric interests, framing the art in your home, flossing, fake humility, the way white people use Venmo
-“Is this what it felt like seeing Gaga in 2010?” -Good references vs bad references discourse -Phones at concerts (SILENCE YOURSELF) -Bone-in whole fish -Any romantic comedy made after Set It Up (2018) -High-resolution images -The Cut-style guest essays done by any other publication (and also, sometimes, The Cut-style guest essays done by The Cut) -Thinking the internet is an accurate microcosm for trend forecasting (we must retvrn to “three and one in Chicago”) -Reviews that turn into indictments of the medium at large. Sometimes a review can just be a review! -The following writer-isms; went long; some personal/professional news; ICYMI; for the weekend crowd -In/out lists where the words don’t actually mean anything (ex. “In: Joie de vivre.) -Second-wave social media platforms -The concept of “having a sugar daddy” (as opposed to actually having a sugar daddy, which is underrated) -Thoughtlessly going against “things that grow together, go together” in menu planning -Butt rock reappraisal -Dating someone “at the same place in their life as you” -Substack-as-diary
threesomes, vindication, “researched-based,” Ottesa Moshfegh, Biologique Recherche, Tadao Ando