Welcome Digest [12.8.25]
Rick Owens toothpaste, 2026 Color of The Year, Libyan Battle Trucks, and more
Welcome To December 8th
Today’s Important Headlines
🪥 Rick Owens launches toothpaste collaboration
In an unpredictable yet somehow expected crossover, Rick Owens has announced a four-piece collab with Selahatin, the artisanal toothpaste brand for people who read design theory in bed. The blend: verbena, vanilla, Sichuan pepper, dark citrus, rosemary, pepper, peppermint. Owens says he joined the project because he liked the font.
💫 People keep posting that “2008 Emma Watson would listen to Fake Mink,” sparking oddly sincere nostalgia discourse
What started as a meme spiraled into a full-blown Tumblr-core renaissance as people debate whether Hermione-era Emma Watson would have Fake Mink on her iPod Nano. What do we think?
🎨 Pantone names “Cloud Dancer” 2026 Color of the Year and everyone hates it
Pantone’s pick, a “billowy white imbued with serenity,” is triggering everyone. Designers are calling it tone-deaf, Instagram users say it shows a “disconnect from actual creativity,” and that “white is actually the absence of color.” Meanwhile, Pantone insists the shade “invites renewal and vision,” which somehow is making everyone angrier.
📻 Recommended listening: Montez Press Radio
Broadcasting a blend of niche theory, experimental mixes, ASMR Marxism, and 3AM readings of emails that could’ve stayed in journals, Montez Press Radio is the most gloriously confusing cultural hub downtown. Recent collaborations include Carhartt for the 50th anniversary of the Active Jacket, a book launch with Dorian Electra, and custom menus from experimental LES restaurant FOOOD. Listen for yourself.
👀 Artist @loladementmeyers’s design makeover of her Spotify Wrapped proves provocative
Garnering 3.1 million views, X was angered by @loladementmeyers’s stripped-down Spotify Wrapped post, which features a white page with her Wrapped info in a highly aestheticized all lowercase. Common replies included “stfu” and “who do you think you are.” Lola responded by saying, “you don’t have to post ugly people,” rightfully critiquing the cluttered and very corporate vibe of Spotify’s UI.
🔁 “Originality is at an all-time low” people now praising Plaqueboymax for not paying homage
The discourse factory has produced an intriguing idiosyncrasy: stans praising Plaqueboymax for not referencing anything. While it is impossible to know whether this is actually true, the approval does reveal the state of reference-exhaustion some corners of underground rap music are experiencing.
Headline curation and words by Mikail Haroon (@mvkail)
Moodboard 004
Today’s inspiration supplement. Click through to view.
From The Archive
An extra piece of content from the Welcome Archive for Magazine subscribers only.
Libyan Battle Trucks, by photographer James Mollison.
Shot in 2011 near Ajdabiya, James Mollison photographed the improvised pickup trucks used during the uprising against Gaddafi.
With limited access to armored vehicles, fighters relied on civilian trucks that were rebuilt in workshops and fitted with heavy machine guns, anti aircraft cannons and rocket launchers, a practice that traced back to the earlier Toyota War.
If the trucks appear dented and derelict, it’s because they were modified quickly for desert combat, often marked with brigade names, slogans and the new Libyan flag instead of standard military equipment.
