On the wing

The Wing is dead, it seems. If you missed it, the Wing was a women’s club with multiple venues, offering workspaces and other luxe facilities. It rode in on a wave of #girlboss vibes and venture capital, hit the (inevitable?) skids with complaints about how staff were treated, and finally was swept away by the economic shift of the pandemic.

Photo by Simon Maage on Unsplash

According to this story, “At its height, the Wing was reported to have some 12,000 members, with another 9,000 on its wait list.”

I never used the Wing. But the image promoted seemed to be less of a sorority and more like a first-class airport lounge: an exclusive space to be paid for and used, but not so much a community to join. The name “the Wing” also evoked travel, as much as one end of a fancy building. It promoted an instagram activism of a #slayqueen type, but also luxury consumption.