Welcome Digest [1.19.26]
A watch that lights cigarettes, AI-art-eating student arrested, Aphex Twin overtakes Taylor Swift, and more
Welcome To January 19th
Today’s Important Headlines
🧥 Prada’s Fall 2026 show signals new anti-trend sentiment in high fashion
The exaggerated French cuffs, square necklines, utilitarian fabrics, and visible decay on shirts shift attention toward quality and wear rather than aesthetic or cultural signaling. The collection feels politically relevant as fashion in 2026 continues to move away from fast trend cycles toward longevity. Many online praised Prada’s collection as a standout among other Italian menswear shows, including Dsquard2’s loud and confusing mess and Dolce Gabanna’s controversial all white model lineup.
💿 Aphex Twin now has more monthly listeners than Taylor Swift on YouTube Music
A viral resurgence of Aphex Twin’s 2001 track “QKThr,” widely used in hopecore edits, animal videos, and meme-driven Shorts, has pushed his monthly YouTube Music audience past Taylor Swift’s. Aphex Twin now reaches 448 million monthly listeners compared to Swift’s 399 million. This ascendance highlights how the avant-garde can now seamlessly move into the mainstream through short-form video consumption.
✏️ This acclaimed anime’s end credits were entirely hand-drawn with colored pencils
The closing sequence of Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End Season 2 was fully hand-drawn using colored pencils by artist Mimei Aoume. Online reaction praised the ending as one of the most technically impressive in recent anime history, with comparisons drawn to Mob Psycho 100’s paint-on-glass end credits. The technique has also appeared in other recent work, including a music video by the same animator, Ave Mujica, released earlier this year.
🔥 This new $80k skeleton watch can light cigarettes
The Master Lighter is the first collaboration between Franck Muller and S.T. Dupont, combining haute horlogerie and goldsmithing into a functional lighter. The piece includes a skeleton watch with power reserve and took more than two years to develop. Priced from $56,000 to $80,000, it’s a luxury object designed more for display than for a night out.
🖼️ MoMa is hosting an Arthur Jafa ‘Artist Party’ on Thursday
Arthur Jafa’s exhibition in MoMA’s Artist’s Choice series assembles over 80 works from the museum’s collection. Thematically, the exhibition riffs on the phrase “less is more,” challenging binaries such as minimalism vs. maximalism, or the individual vs. collective. The opening event is on Thursday, January 22 from 7–10pm. Tickets are $15 and free for MoMA members.
🤨 Art student arrested for protest-eating another student’s AI art
A University of Alaska Fairbanks student was arrested after he ate Al-generated artwork from a fellow student in protest. The incident happened at the UAF Art Gallery, where the installation Shadow Searching: ChatGPT psychosis was on display. Police estimate more than 50 of the 160 pieces were damaged, and the case is being treated as a class B misdemeanor.
Headline curation and words by Mikail Haroon (@mvkail)
Moodboard 021
Today’s inspiration supplement. Click through to view.
From The Archive
An extra piece of content from the Welcome Archive for Magazine subscribers only.
The eerie “Doll Heads Trail” located in Georgia
The Doll Heads Trail is a walking path inside Constitution Lakes Park where discarded doll heads and broken toys are arranged by visitors along the forest floor and trees.
The installations began in the early 2010s when local carpenter Joel Slaton started using objects found at nearby illegal dumping sites,and gradually transformed the former brick quarry area into an evolving community driven art project.
