Would you buy this dress if you could never wear it...and other burning questions

Hello! You're reading the CBC Arts newsletter, and if you like what you see, stick around! Sign up here, and every Sunday we'll send you a fresh email packed with art, culture and a metric truckload of eye candy, hand-picked by our small and mighty team. Here's what we've been talking about this week.

Hi, art lovers!

What are we clicking?

As influential as Jem and the Holograms might have been during my most impressionable years, I am not, admittedly, on top of the virtual fashion beat. So hearing that the world's first "digital only" dress sold at auction last month sent me down more rabbit holes than most stories this week. Whether you'd pay $9,500 US for an unwearable pastel kaftan aside, this'll explain what defines digital fashion — and this'll unpack a few reasons why the concept could be so much more than the Emperor's New Clothes IRL. (Slowing consumers' fast-fashion habits is just the beginning.)

Google recruited Feist (and other musicians) to whisper about old paintings. Art history ASMR? I can only assume an algorithm came up with that concept. Or maybe my mom. Either way, it's very enjoyable and informative.

RuPaul's Drag Race is coming to Canada — and I sincerely hope that their casting directors are scouring the last two seasons of Canada's a Drag for inspiration. (Also required reading: this insightful feature on the evolving drag scene from Canadian Art.)

Danny Boyle's latest movie, Yesterday, is getting middling reviews — so maybe you'll like this 2011 graphic novel better. (Featuring a similar Beatles/alternate universe premise — and the exact same title — the author, David Blot, made it free to download earlier this week.)

Has anyone seen a big golden egg? What will become of the "flossing" kid? Could you survive a day as Beyoncé's assistant? (I didn't.)

And because we promised you eye candy

The first Canadian exhibition devoted to Nick Cave (this Nick Cave, not that Nick Cave) opened at Calgary's Glenbow Museum June 29. There are only a couple photos of his famous Soundsuits on their website — so take a deeper dive into the work via PBS series Art 21. They're wildly colourful and completely fantastical, for sure, but the wearable sculptures are more like armour than costumes, obscuring a person's race, class and gender. As Cave says in a bonus clip from the series: "I don't ever see the Soundsuits as 'fun'; they're really coming from a very dark place."

Remember Tumblr? How about Izumi Miyazaki's Tumblr? A few of her internet-famous self-portraits will be appearing around Montreal this summer as part of the contemporary art biennale Momenta.

Wear your favourite novel. (Or maybe you'd prefer a physiology textbook?) Jeremy May turns books into jewelry.

Watch this Art 101 episode about memento mori, and then check out the latest paintings by Vancouver's Kathy Ager.

You've got to see this

Unlocking the secrets to a long life, one comic at a time - Exercise, love...vodka: based on the research, any one of those things could unlock the fountain of youth. Rebecca Roher is collecting advice from seniors around the world as part of her latest comics project One Hundred Year-Old Wisdom. (She's still looking for folks, too! Know any interested centenarians? Hit her up.)

Landscape art is SO not boring - And Alex McLeod is just the person to prove it to you. Visit a Toronto park that inspired him to conjure impossible worlds like this one.

Super Queeroes: But wait, there's more! - Who are the LGBTQ heroes of Canadian art? Last week, we paid tribute to 69 pioneers, and according to readers like you, there were plenty more artists who deserved a spot on the list. Discover their stories. (And feel free to keep telling us who we missed, BTW.)

Follow this artist

Holly M. Chang (@holly.m.chang) - After seeing Holly's photos of Iceland on Instagram, I had to include her in last week's article about Canadians on artist residencies. If you can bear the FOMO, give her a follow.

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Last call for "I He(art) My City" tips! Really appreciate all of the emails that have been coming in, but I can never have enough.

• What's the most magical spot in your hometown?
• What's the best place to see art where you live?
• Who's your favourite local artist?

TELL EVERYONE WHO READS THIS NEWSLETTER.

You know how to get in touch.

Until next week!

XOXO, CBC Arts