Categories
Culture

American Crime Story Season 3: Everything We Know About Impeachment

American Crime Story, the Emmy-winning FX series that gave audiences a closer look into the trial of O.J. Simpson and the assassination of Gianni Versace, will be tackling a new, eerily-relevant topic in its third season: the impeachment of President Bill Clinton.

The season, appropriately titled Impeachment: American Crime Story, will explore the case against Clinton, which infamously involved his sexual relationship with White House intern Monica Lewinsky. Clive Owen will play the role of Clinton, while Beanie Feldstein will take on Monica Lewinsky. The season, originally set to begin filming in March before the pandemic hit, will now begin filming on October 13, per Deadline.

John Landgraf, chairman of FX Networks and FX Productions, said when the season was announced in August 2019, “Impeachment: American Crime Story will…explore the overlooked dimensions of the women who found themselves caught up in the scandal and political war that cast a long shadow over the Clinton Presidency.”

Here, all we know about season 3 so far.

When will it be released?

American Crime Story season 3 was originally slated to premiere September 27, 2020 at 10 P.M. EST, less than two months before the 2020 presidential election. But in January, FX announced the premiere date was changed to accommodate a shifting production schedule. At the Television Critics Association press tour on January 9, Landgraf said, according to Deadline, “We won’t make it by September. We can’t start [production] until March 21 of this year and we won’t physically be done until October. So it’s a long production.” Landgraf attributed delays to creator and executive producer Ryan Murphy, who is currently working on Prom for Netflix.

However, those plans were scrapped once more when the pandemic hit and filming could no longer take place. Production will now begin in October, the very month it was originally meant to conclude. It’s unclear at this point when the season will air—but a 2021 date seems likely.

Who’s involved?

Beanie Feldstein (Lady Bird, Booksmart) will play Monica Lewinsky.

face, hair, eyebrow, lip, hairstyle, skin, nose, chin, facial expression, head,

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ACS alum Sarah Paulson will play Linda Tripp, the woman who secretly taped Lewinsky confessing to the affair.

Face, Hair, Hairstyle, Blond, Nose, Eyebrow, Chin, Head, Lip, Cheek,

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Annaleigh Ashford (Masters of Sex, Bad Education) is set to play Paula Jones, the woman who accused Clinton of sexual harassment and sued him in 1994.

Face, Hair, Eyebrow, Hairstyle, Nose, Blond, Chin, Forehead, Beauty, Lip,

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Clive Owen (Closer, Gosford Park) will play Bill Clinton.

Face, Facial expression, Chin, Nose, Forehead, Skin, Head, Cheek, Eyebrow, Wrinkle,

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Billy Eichner (The Lion King, Difficult People) will play conservative blogger Matt Drudge, who first reported the existence of a Newsweek story about Clinton and Lewinsky’s affair.

Hair, Facial hair, Face, Beard, Eyebrow, Chin, Forehead, Nose, Head, Hairstyle,

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Betty Gilipin (GLOW, Isn’t It Romantic) has been cast as conservative political commentator Ann Coulter.

Face, Hair, Eyebrow, Blond, Chin, Nose, Hairstyle, Lip, Skin, Forehead,

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Does Monica Lewinsky approve of the project?

Feldstein, who plays Lewinsky, will be a producer on the show, along with the real-life figure herself. The show will be written by playwright Sarah Burgess, who will also be an executive producer, alongside Ryan Murphy, Paulson, and others. In early September, Michael Uppendhal (Fargo, Mad Men) stepped in to helm and executive produce the series after previous director Richard Shephard exited due to the filming delay, per Deadline.

In the past, Murphy said he would only feel comfortable working on a season about the Clinton impeachment if Lewinsky, who has become an anti-bullying activist after receiving intense scrutiny and press, was involved. He once told The Hollywood Reporter, “I told [Monica Lewinsky], ‘Nobody should tell your story but you, and it’s kind of gross if they do. If you want to produce it with me, I would love that; but you should be the producer and you should make all the goddamn money.'”

Lewinsky recently gave Vanity Fair an exclusive statement about how she came to work on the project. She wrote:

I was hesitant, and truthfully more than a little scared to sign on. But after a lengthy dinner meeting with Ryan, I came to understand even more clearly how dedicated he is to giving a voice to the marginalized in all of his brilliant work. I’m privileged to work with him and the other talented people on the team, and I’m privileged to have this opportunity.

People have been co-opting and telling my part in this story for decades. In fact, it wasn’t until the past few years that I’ve been able to fully reclaim my narrative; almost 20 years later.

But I’m so grateful for the growth we’ve made as a society that allows people like me who have been historically silenced to finally reintroduce my voice to the conversation. This isn’t just a me problem. Powerful people, often men, take advantage of those subordinate to them in myriad ways all the time. Many people will see this as such a story and for that reason, this narrative is one that is, regretfully, evergreen.

Former White House intern Monica Lewinsky(C) is es

Lewinsky in Washington, DC, in 1999.

CHRIS KLEPONISGetty Images

How can I learn more?

According to Variety, this third season will be based on Jeffrey Toobin’s book A Vast Conspiracy: The Real Story of the Sex Scandal That Nearly Brought Down a President, if you want to dive further into the story before the show’s premiere.

A Vast Conspiracy: The Real Story of the Sex Scandal That Nearly Brought Down a President

Touchstone
amazon.com

$28.95

$23.45 (19% off)

Toobin’s book The Run of His Life: The People v. O.J. Simpson also inspired the show’s season about the O.J. Simpson trial.

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Beauty

5 Benefits of Waxing You Probably Didn’t Know About

Side View Of Seductive Woman Lying On Poolside Against Cloudy Sky During Summer

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Few things feel as luxurious as having incredibly smooth skin—100% cashmere and silk pillowcases are up there—but achieving it by shaving is time-consuming and often causes bumps and ingrown hairs. If you haven’t started a head-to-toe waxing routine yet, now is the time to start: The benefits are tenfold.

“Because the hair comes out by the root, it grows back in much slower than shaving, so you stay nice and smooth longer,” says New York-based dermatologist Angela Lamb, M.D., director of Westside Mount Sinai Dermatology Faculty Practice.

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Not convinced? There are other reasons to wax besides the obvious. Before you book your reservation, though, be sure to check online to make sure that your local European Wax Center location has reopened. EWC is doing so much to keep its clients safe—you can read more about their new safety protocols (so important right now) here, but think: additional deep cleans, wax specialists wearing face shields and/or masks, and no more product-testers at the front of the store.

Read on for five dermatologist-confirmed benefits that will have you making a reservation faster than you can say “razor burn.”

Waxing is an exfoliator

When wax is applied to your skin and then removed, it peels away any excess dead skin cells with it. The results are like a two-for-one wax and exfoliation treatment. “Waxing can actually simultaneously remove some of the top layers of dead skin cells, which can make your skin feel smoother,” explains Dr. Lamb.

To additionally get rid of dull skin between your waxes, use an exfoliating product at home a few times a week (though it’s gentle enough for daily use). Try European Wax Center’s Reveal Me® Body Exfoliating Gel, which uses natural fruit extracts from pineapple and papaya that scrub away dead skin gently but effectively to prevent ingrown hairs by helping keep hair follicles clear after waxing.

It saves you time and money

When your hairs are pulled out by their roots, it takes way longer for hair to grow back in than it does when you shave because the hair has further to go when growing back. You’ll have softer skin for much longer than the day or so it takes for hairs to start showing up again on your skin after shaving, giving you back precious minutes formerly spent wielding a razor in the morning.

Plus, by making the switch, you’ll no longer have to keep replacing your razors and shaving cream, which can really add up. To go as long as possible between waxes, slather on a moisturizer that can help keep hair from growing back quite as quickly. European Wax Center’s beloved Slow It Body Lotion uses a proprietary Hair Growth Minimizer to help visibly reduce the appearance and thickness of hair re-growth in between waxes.

Thick hair may grow in more finely when you wax

Waxing can actually change the texture of hair when it grows back: “Sometimes the hair is finer because of damage to the hair follicles,” says Lamb. And although waxing doesn’t prevent your hair from fully growing back in, it’s an ideal solution if you’re not ready to make a pricey commitment to laser hair removal.

Waxing can prevent ingrown hairs

What exactly is an ingrown? It’s simply when a hair grows back down into the skin instead of up and out, creating a little bump.

To help prevent ingrown hairs, Lamb recommends doing a gentle exfoliation after each wax or using an over-the-counter antiseptic. A product with alpha and beta hydroxy acids, such as European Wax Center’s Smooth Me® Ingrown Hair Wipes, will help support cell turnover, keeping skin clear. Plus, the single-use pads are easy to swipe across skin and are perfectly portable.

The experience improves over time

The more consistent you are with your waxing routine, the less painful it feels—because your hair isn’t as thick as it once was, and finer hair is easier to remove from the skin. So you’re essentially rewarded for keeping up with your regimen.

Making sure you prep properly for each visit helps, too. Exfoliate 48 hours before you go, and stop shaving at least five to seven days prior to ensure your hair is the size of a grain of rice.

Want more info about waxing? Head to European Wax Center’s website to get waxing 101 info on Brazilian bikini waxes, brow waxes, and facial hair waxes.

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Categories
Women's Fashion

My Story: Actress Bahia Watson on The Handmaid’s Tale, BIPOC Representation and More

Image courtesy Bahia Watson. Design by Kayleen Dicuangco.

Welcome to My Story, a weekly series dedicated to creatives of colour and their paths to success. By championing these diverse stories and backgrounds, we hope that our cultural conversations will expand and that respect for our differences will flourish.

“The stage is the actor’s domain,” Bahia Watson was once told by an acting teacher, and the Winnipeg-born actress decided to make it her home, playing roles like Queen Elizabeth I in Kate Hennig’s The Virgin Trial and Masha in Anton Chekhov’s The Seagull for audiences in Stratford and Toronto. Of late, you’re more likely to spot her on screen. Watson just began filming her fourth season playing Brianna on the Emmy-winning series The Handmaid’s Tale, and also recently appeared on several episodes of Star Trek: Discovery. Last week, The Archivists—a short film she co-starred in with Noah Reid about a dystopian world in which art and music are illegal—premiered at the 2020 Toronto International Film Festival.

We caught up with the actress to hear about her various screen roles, the need for greater diversity behind the scenes in the entertainment industry, and more.

On how she got her start as an actress…
I kind of stumbled into acting. I’d grown up doing dance and choir singing in Winnipeg, and when they started shooting films there and began casting for extras, I just decided to go. I was probably 16 and didn’t know anything about the film industry at all. But I started going on auditions and took some acting classes, and realized I really enjoyed the challenge of acting and how personal it was. I moved to Toronto to work as an actor and kind of stumbled into theatre. I ended up working with this one teacher who said ‘you learn to act on the stage, that is the actor’s domain’ so I was really encouraged to do that. Once I got that adrenaline rush of being on the stage, I pursued it. I also write and create my own shows for the stage as a playwright.

On her short film The Archivists… 
A lot of the projects I end up working on are kind of futuristic and dystopian and they all paint a very different picture of what the future might look like. But the story [about art being made illegal] is definitely not out of the realm of possibility. I remember in 2012 when music was banned in Mali. They have beautiful musicians and music but because of the political situation, music was banned there for a period of time. So it is a real thing that happens and it’s a scary thing. I wouldn’t say the film is a cautionary tale but it does make us think about governing and what it’s capable of in terms of limiting our access to the arts. Also, the role of music in the film was interesting to me. I write my own music so I was interested in having the chance to bring that part of myself into my work as an actor. 


On the themes she’s drawn to as a playwright…
I’m interested in identity. One of the projects I worked on with a friend, Liza Paul, was all about Caribbean identity and womanhood and sexuality. My mom and my mom’s side is from Guyana and my sister was born there too. So with my own solo projects, there’s a lot about being a Black woman and identity and nuance. I’m always looking to make space for marginalized bodies to be understood as nuanced individuals.  

On what needs to change in the entertainment industry…
The biggest changes will happen when inclusion happens in the writers room, and among the directors and the producers. It’s easy to just add colour to the actors and what’s shown on screen, but I think the biggest space for growth would be behind the camera or offstage… all the way to agents, managers, all that stuff that you don’t see, that’s where a lot of the power lies and the decisions are made.

On the problem with tokenism…
Even on crews on set, all of those arenas are very white. There needs to be more of everybody else. If there’s just one or two people, you get locked into your identity. You have to be a representative of your identity and you don’t get to just be a human being. Because there aren’t as many Black people, Indigenous people and people of colour in these spaces, there’s a lot of burden on the people that are there to do a lot with their work, to solve a lot of problems, and to speak for a larger community. My mom’s Black, my dad’s white, I grew up in Winnipeg in the Prairies… that’s a very specific experience, very different than if you’re Jamaican and grew up in downtown Toronto. 

On being typecast as an actor…
Earlier on in my career I definitely did get [stereotypical] audition requests. The team I work with now filters out a lot of those things but they’re still there. One of my projects, this play I wrote called Shaniqua in Abstraction, started in response to being asked to audition for this character of ‘Shaniqua from the hood.’ That was the first time I said no to an audition and it really fuelled my writing because I felt that that was a way that I could create characters and language that I could connect with. There’s still a lot of biases that exist. I think that there’s a lot of well meaning people who see Black people, Indigenous people and people of colour as fundamentally different kinds of humans or something. I think there’s work to be done there.

On her on-set experiences as someone with textured hair
I always felt like I had to do my own hair because I just have a general distrust of most people, like ‘oh they’re not going to know how to do it or they’ll be overwhelmed unless I do all these things to prepare my big hair and make it easier.’ That’s been my experience across the board in any show, theatre and everything. Every so often you find someone who gets it and is not afraid of your hair and it’s like ‘this is amazing, I can just come in here like these other girls and just have my hair done?’ It’s unfair. And the increased voicing of that is important. Now people can’t act like it’s not happening. It shows how important how all the [Black Lives Matter] protests are because they’re pushing things in all these little ways. All the little ways in which we’re diminished or othered or excluded. 

On the surge of Black Lives Matter protests in 2020…
It’s been an intense time. I’ve had some difficult conversations with people. I’ve also been inspired by some people and their willingness to step in to the arena of the race problem in our society for the first time and, however imperfectly, start to do the work. It made me step back and reexamine a lot of my relationships to power—the times when I was giving up my power and leaving parts of myself behind, brushing off certain things and not letting the microaggressions bother me. So it was really stressful but strangely empowering, that collective voicing of everyone’s pain.

On one of the shows I work on, The Handmaid’s Tale, the lead started an email thread amongst the main cast and started the conversation about how things could be better on set and why our crew was lacking diversity. We discussed what the barriers were and what kind of mentorship opportunities might facilitate a more equitable environment that looks like the world around us. It was nice to talk about the actual world we’re in outside of just our show. Those kinds of conversations give me hope. 

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Categories
Fitness

Simone Biles Just Did a Triple Backflip, and I’m Rubbing My Eyes in Disbelief

Saturday, Sept. 19, was National Gymnastics Day, and the GOAT of GOATs herself, Simone Biles, shared something she’s been cooking up at practice: a triple backflip. That’s three flips in the air without stopping, and Biles even did it in a piked position as opposed to with her knees bent (that would be a triple tuck instead of a triple pike).

For those of you wondering, yes, that’s an incredible feat for a gymnast. In fact, a triple backflip does not currently exist in the Code of Points for women’s gymnastics. It does, however, exist in the men’s Code of Points — it’s called the “Liukin,” named after Olympian Nastia Liukin‘s father and coach, who was the first athlete to perform it correctly at a major competition.

Biles did this awe-inspiring flip into a foam pit, but she has enough height here to keep working up to the floor. She may be a ways away from adding it into her floor routine, but if anyone can do it, she can (after all, we’re taking about the most decorated gymnast in world championship history who has four skills named after her).

Biles has been using the extra time before the postponed Olympic Games next summer to play around with more difficult skills. There’s her triple-double dismount off beam, which is an upgrade from her name-bearing double-twisting double dismount in that event, and high-flying tumbling passes like this new one she shared and others. Because, so far, only she can outdo herself — and we love to watch her try!

Categories
Culture

Yara Shahidi’s Barbie Is Being Re-Released, Complete With ‘Vote’ Accessories

Exciting news: Yara Shahidi’s Barbie doll is finally available for purchase, complete with its iconic “Vote” t-shirt. The doll’s re-release was announced Tuesday in honor of National Register to Vote Day—not only to highlight the importance of registering to vote, but also to teach younger generations that no matter their age, they too, can make a difference.

Last spring, Barbie honored the Grown-ish star with the doll to celebrate the company’s 60th anniversary as well as International Women’s Month. The Yara Shahidi Barbie was one of the brand’s new line of inspiring “Shero” dolls, which also featured well-known badasses like model and activist Adwoa Aboah and tennis champion Naomi Osaka.

Mattel, Shahidi, and Shahidi’s mom worked together to design the doll, working together to find the right hair texture and skin tone and pick the perfect outfit. The actress’s choice? A gray suit paired with a colorful limited-edition Tory Burch “Vote” t-shirt and a black backpack adorned with an “I Voted” sticker. Consider this my outfit from now until Election Day.

Yara Shahidi Barbie Shero Doll

Barbie
amazon.com

$34.99

Last year, Shahidi discussed the process of how the doll came together with Marie Claire: “[My mom] and I were walking around with parts of dolls for quite some time because we were mixing and matching, which was fun because you could tell that it’s really important to Mattel to make sure that the doll authentically represented me in a way that I really liked, and a way that I felt is genuine to who I think Yara really is. Everything from my outfit to my curls to my eyebrows were all things that we discussed.”

When asked what advice she has for young girls who feel like their voices don’t matter, the Black-ish actress reflected on her own experience and how she learned to push through.

“I think the one thing that has been crucial for me to know is that there have been support networks in place, not only for us personally, but people who are dedicated to help in our success,” she said. “People who have been dedicated to knocking down barriers. The freedom that we do experience is from other women who have invested their time, their money, their energy, their being into making sure that we have that we have space.”

Isn’t she just the coolest? To learn more about the collectible dolls, head over to Barbie.com. After you’ve registered to vote, of course.

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Categories
Beauty

How Black Salons Are Coping With COVID-19

The natural instinct is to hug. But Shirley Paul, a salon regular in her forties, offers her stylist, Ursula Stephen, a hesitant elbow bump instead. “It’s my COVID hug,” Stephen says through a protective mask bearing her initials, “US,” of the now socially acceptable greeting. “I miss hugging people,” Paul says. It’s mid-June, and three months have passed since Ursula Stephen The Salon, a seven-year-old beauty mecca located in Fort Greene, Brooklyn, was last open. Stephen—best known as the celebrity stylist to Rihanna, Zendaya, and Serena—suspended business on March 21, when most of New York City was ordered to stay at home, save for essential workers. What qualifies as “essential” is something Stephen has thought a lot about since then. “The one thing white girls were stressed about was mostly their hair color,” she says. “Well, a brown girl, we need everything. We need a conditioner. We need cuts. We need trimming and a relaxer.”

ursula stephen the salon

Celebrity stylist Ursula Stephen outside her Fort Greene, Brooklyn, salon.

MIRANDA BARNES

Also, we need time. Because of the intricacy of Black hairstyles—box braids, Senegalese twists, a good press—and the hours it takes to execute them correctly, family-level relationships naturally blossom in this intimate environment. For me, the 12-plus hours in the salon chair with a stylist allowed me to relish my Blackness. Box braids down to the floor at the tender age of seven? Yes, please! Or chatting with my stylist-turned-friend about the woman who asked to touch my hair at work, and the affirming “Can you believe?” that followed. The salon has long been a pillar of the Black community, a place where the most important events are hashed out. Even in the absence of a physical meeting place, Stephen and her stylists continued to meet regularly on Zoom while the salon was closed. “We’d talk business at first, and then we’d gossip,” she says.“‘Girl, you seen that?’ It’s like how we would normally be at the salon.”

ursula stephen the salon

Stylists Trennace Gallatin (left) and Shanice Battle style clients Aurora (left) and Latoya Hankins.

MIRANDA BARNES

Given that COVID-19 has disproportionately affected Black and brown communities, Black salons have had all the more incentive to reopen, as safely and as soon as possible. At Stephen’s, clients now sit six feet apart, blue disinfectant Barbicide can be found at every station, appointments are staggered, and temperatures are checked at the door. All calendars, everywhere, are very, very full. And why wouldn’t they be? For women of color, the salon has long been regarded as a sacred space. “I possess a great affection for the cut and thrust of Black hair salons, the gossip and the drama,” Emma Dabiri writes in her new book, Twisted: The Tangled History of Black Hair Culture. “The hair salon is a site where we can observe a microcosm of national issues, witnessing how, once again, Black hair proved a battlefield on which cultural and racial tensions were reproduced.”

Twisted: The Tangled History of Black Hair Culture

Harper Perennial
amazon.com

$14.67

Black hair is inherently political. In 2019, California became the first state to pass the CROWN Act, which outlaws discrimination based on hair type (at press time, it had been enacted in seven states). The legislation was long overdue, inspired by high-profile microaggressions directed toward children at school and women at work. Research shows that Black women’s hair is 3.4 times more likely to be deemed unprofessional in the workplace. In the beauty and fashion worlds, we see our trends stolen and presented on runways without credit, and we can’t help but notice that our physical traits (in some cases, lips or skin tone) only seem to become trendy when a white person chooses to appropriate them via makeup, injections, or even surgery—aka Blackfishing. And yet we prevail with our community—best exemplified by the salon. “The salon is a release from the world,” explains Mika “Constance” English, a stylist at Stephen’s salon. “I’m a therapist, stylist, and friend all at the same time.” Yene Damtew, the owner of Aesthetics Salon in Arlington, Virginia, agrees: “We do more than just hair.” For Black women, she says, the salon represents “a place where clients can come to a communal space and meet new people, make new friends, and build a support system. There are a lot of conversations about racial equality, politics, leadership.”

ursula stephen the salon

Stylist English treats client Ericka Powell.

MIRANDA BARNES

Just weeks before Stephen’s reopening, and mere blocks from her salon, thousands took to the streets in Brooklyn to protest the unjust murders of Ahmaud Arbery, George Floyd, and Breonna Taylor, and countless other Black lives lost. And, too often, the killers remain free without arrest. At this moment in time, Black Girl Church—a space where most people in the room have seen and been affected by racism, in stark contrast to the number of Americans just waking up to its reality—feels more needed than ever. “When you’re in a hair salon, honey, we’re all sisters,” Stephen explains. “This is where we do it, this is where it is, honey.” It’s a safe haven for Stephen and her stylists, who have already had countless discussions over the years about the murders of Black individuals at the hands of law enforcement. They’re back together in person, talking about activism, police brutality, and loved ones who’ve been lost due toCOVID-19. In person, at least for now.

The veteran stylist welcomes change. “Everything happens for a reason,” Stephen says as she sits outside her salon waving to neighbors in the community. And her community—resilient, creative, and essential—can weather any storm.

This story appears in the September 2020 issue of ELLE.

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Categories
Women's Fashion

Jordan Daniels Isn’t Going Anywhere

jordan daniels

Bustier bodysuit, belt, leggings, earrings, bracelet, handbags, slingbacks, all Saint Laurent by Anthony Vaccarello.

Matthew Kristall

Jordan Daniels is on the ferry when we speak, the tooting of tugboats and sound of rushing water punctuating our conversation. Doing an interview while in transit seems appropriate for the model, who has spent her life moving between continents. Born in South Africa, Daniels grew up in New Zealand, where she enrolled in college and took a retail job. It was “a normal life,” she recalls. Then she upended that normalcy, jettisoning her studies to head to L.A. in hopes of taking her modeling career to the next level. “I didn’t ask my parents for permission or anything—I just did it,” she says.

jordan daniels

Matthew Kristall

jordan daniels

Jacket, belt, Tod’s. Gown, Erdem.

Matthew Kristall

jordan daniels

Dress, Oscar de la Renta. Earrings, Bulgari. Boots, Proenza Schouler.

Matthew Kristall

The risk paid off. After she notched an exclusive booking for Prada’s spring 2019 show, Daniels has since walked a marathon’s worth of runways, from Dior to Marc Jacobs to Thom Browne. All that travel helped spur an interest in international cuisine. “It was one of the ways that I would get to know a city,” she says. Her dream is to have her own Anthony Bourdain–style travel show someday, focused on food and culture.

jordan daniels

Dress, belt, Etro. Earrings, pumps, Saint Laurent by Anthony Vaccarello. Ring, Dries Van Noten.

Matthew Kristall

In self-isolation, Daniels has been getting creative with remote shoots. “I’ve glued crystals on my teeth,” she says, and incorporated her dogs and cats into the background of her shots.

jordan daniels

Matthew Kristall

jordan daniels

Matthew Kristall

jordan daniels

Tank, skirt, Salvatore Ferragamo. Earrings, ring, Bulgari.

Matthew Kristall

jordan daniels

Matthew Kristall

She’s been staying politically engaged, working with Starfish Greathearts Foundation, which supports children in HIV/AIDS-affected communities in South Africa, and she’s been active in the Black Lives Matter movement, helping to provide supplies to protesters. And she’s given thought to how the fashion industry can be more inclusive when it comes to Black models like herself. To Daniels, that means investing in their careers long-term. “At the end of the day, new faces are, unfortunately, disposable,” she says. “It’s all about longevity.”

jordan daniels

Blouse, pants, Ralph Lauren Collection. Gloves, $350.

Matthew Kristall

jordan daniels

Dress, Alberta Ferretti.

Matthew Kristall

jordan daniels

Skirt, shorts, earrings (worn in hair), necklace, handbags, all Chanel.

Matthew Kristall

jordan daniels

Jacket, Bermuda tuxedo shorts, blouse, bow tie, clutch, all Celine by Hedi Slimane.

Matthew Kristall

jordan daniels

Dress, bra, brief, Dolce & Gabbana.

Matthew Kristall

jordan daniels

Top, Max Mara. Bralette, panty, Love Stories. Boots, Halpern x Christian Louboutin.

Matthew Kristall

jordan daniels

Top, tights, bracelet, handbags, pumps, Prada.

Matthew Kristall

Hair by Nicole Nelms; Makeup by Chao-Li for Chanel; Produced by Hillary Foxweldon.

This story appears in the September 2020 issue.

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Categories
Women's Fashion

Exclusive: Fashion Meets Function in Mackage’s Debut Footwear Line

Photograph courtesy of Mackage

You no longer have to choose between style and performance.

Montreal-based outerwear brand Mackage is expanding its offering this winter, with the launch of its debut line of footwear.

Approaching the design of the footwear in the same way that they approach their coats, co-chief creative officers Eran Elfassy and Elisa Dahan set out to design a line of shoes that spoke to the brand’s overall mission to “design avant-garde fashion boasting exceptional craftsmanship and performance.”

Photograph courtesy of Mackage.

Speaking with FASHION about the launch (FYI, pre-orders are now officially open), Eran says the ultimate design goal behind the boots “was very simple: we had the same philosophy going into this project and that was that we knew we could contribute to what was in the market.” Elisa agrees, adding, “For us that means that we will not compromise style for warmth and comfort. Just like our outerwear, [the boots are] a finishing touch to your look.”

mackage footwear
Hero boot. Photograph courtesy of Mackage.

The marriage of fashion and functionality is music to our ears – and the brand hasn’t skimped on either. Available in four styles, including one unisex boot (more on these in a minute), and three colourways (black, neutral and army green), the boots – all of which are handmade by artisanal shoemakers in Italy – have been specifically engineered to withstand North American winters. A range of statement rubber soles provide excellent grip when you’re walking through the snowy streets of Canada in January, water-repellant finishes mean you’ll never be left with cold, wet feet and shearling lining delivers an additional layer of warmth. And speaking of warmth, the boots are engineered to perform in temperatures down to -25 degrees celsius.

The unisex style in the collection is, fittingly, called the Hero boot. The upper of the shoes has been crafted using the same performance fabrics that feature in Mackage’s outerwear offerings, and the style is available with interchangeable laces so you can customize your look depending on your outfit (the brand notes that the one small difference between the men’s and women’s Hero boot is that the women’s style features an insole with a slight lift). “Our Hero boot to me is the ultimate weekender boot,” says Eran. “It can be worn with a cool hoodie or jeans – a nice casual look with edge.”

Elisa also notes the versatility of all styles in the line-up (the Rebelle boot, for example, can be worn three ways) when it comes to completing a winter wardrobe. “They can be dressed up or down, with a midi dress or a more casual look but you won’t have to compromise on being stylish.” For once, we’re glad winter is coming.

Categories
Beauty

10 Fall Candles for Cozy Nights In

Keep it comfy as heck with one of these made-in-Canada scents

Like ankle boots and comfy sweaters, candles are one of our favourite things about fall—and we’re not just talking about the standard pumpkin spice. From musky notes inspired by falling leaves and crackling fires to the sweet aroma of cardamom and vanilla, these Canadian-made candles prove that fall can smell like just about anything.

best fall scented candles: mala the brand

best fall scented candles: lohn

Lohn

Categories
Fitness

No Weights? No Problem! 16 No-Equipment EMOM Workouts You Can Do at Home

With so many of us still preferring to keep our workouts within the home right now, it can get a little bit boring. So, it’s a great time to add some variety to your exercise mix. Perfectly complementing your Saturday yoga flow, and your Tuesday core workouts, EMOM routines are everything you didn’t know you needed in your life. EMOM is a type of HIIT that targets fat, easily burning calories through its system of short bursts of maximum-effort, followed by short rest breaks. Standing for “every minute on the minute,” EMOM means you have a minute to complete the assigned number of reps, using the remainder of the minute to rest. However, if you take the whole minute, you have to go to next exercise with no break (ah, there’s always a catch . . . ). The good news is, these workouts are super-effective, and can be done at home with zero equipment. Swipe through to see our favorite EMOM at-home, no-equipment-needed workouts, and try one out for yourself.

Categories
Culture

Watchmen’s Emmy-Winning Cord Jefferson Has Seen Your Thirst Tweets About Him

Cord Jefferson, who took home an Emmy Sunday night for co-penning episode six of HBO’s Watchmen with Damon Lindelof, made a big splash online with his brief but effusive speech. While many winners made sure to express gratitude to their families and their teams, Jefferson was the only person to give a shoutout to their therapist. “Therapy should be free in America,” he added, correctly. The writer, who previously worked on The Good Place, Master of None, and Succession, ended his speech with a callback to his nostalgia-filled episode, saying “this country neglects and forgets its own history at its own peril often.” He spoke to ELLE.com about remembering and working through the past, his big night, and, of course, people’s tweets about him.

Congratulations on your win. The episode and the series are incredible. One of the things that I’ve been wondering is what happens after a socially distanced Emmys. Did you have a house party?

So, everybody got rapid COVID tests on Saturday afternoon; we all tested negative. And then we were all watching at Damon’s house. So [after the Emmys] we hung out in Damon’s backyard and ate pizza and drank some champagne. That was about it. It was lovely. All of us haven’t been together for over a year now, since we wrapped the room, so it was nice to all be together and celebrate.

That seems really cozy. Was this your first Emmys?

It is the first one.

walt disney television's coverage of the 72nd annual emmy awards

Jefferson, right, accepts his Emmy with Damon Lindelof.

ABCGetty Images

Congratulations again. I’m sure the next ones will be very different. So, I have to ask: During the broadcast you got a lot of response online from people when they saw your acceptance speech. A lot of people were very taken by what you said and by your shoutout to therapy, but also by your attire, your whole aesthetic.

[Laughs]

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Are you aware that there’s a proliferation of thirst tweets about you?

I was not aware that that’s happening until the publicist told me this morning, but, you know, very much appreciate it.

For instance, author Brandon Taylor, who is short-listed for this year’s Booker prize, tweeted—and I am going to quote here—“Cord Jefferson is hotter than the sun.”

[Laughs]

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So the thirst is literary.

Amazing! He wrote Real Life, right?

He did.

That book is on my list. So, I’m a fan of his as well. Well, I mean, I haven’t read the book yet, but I’ve heard amazing things. So, I’m very honored.

He’s expressing, again, in a Booker-nominated way, the way that it seems a lot of people were feeling online. Is that something that you ever anticipated as you were preparing to show up on camera?

No. No. When that episode premiered, I talked to my manager the day after and he said, “You should get your tuxedo ready for the Emmys.” And I said, “I’ll get a tuxedo, but if I’m not nominated, then you’d have to pay for it.” That was our deal. So, I ended up paying for it myself, but we won. I was like, I have this tuxedo, it’s going to be in my boss’s backyard but I should wear the tuxedo, just because I went to the trouble of getting it. So I wore it anyway. I wanted to look nice and presentable. I had no idea we were going to win, but I’m happy that I was wearing it. I’m happy I looked my best.

I’d be remiss in my job if I didn’t ask you who were you wearing.

It’s an Australian menswear brand called P. Johnson. I believe their only store in America is in New York, but they have outlets in Sydney and I think Europe, maybe London also, but they do trunk shows occasionally here in L.A. So I’ve had a couple of suits made by them before.

So I have a very serious question. As a writer, you’re largely behind the scenes, you’ve written for The Good Place and Succession, and of course Watchmen, among many other things. You’re usually in a writer’s room and not on camera. And so last night was very different. How does it feel to come out as hot on national TV?

[Laughs extremely hard] You know, it feels great. I’m a writer for a reason. It’s because I like to be alone in my room with the computer and just working by myself. I’ve never been prepared for the spotlight. It makes me incredibly nervous. So, something that people couldn’t see, thankfully because of the tuxedo, is how much my armpits were sweating as I was standing up there and reading and giving the speech. So, it is not my forte, we’ll say, but I do appreciate you saying that I’m hot. That’s very kind of you.

You’re welcome! So, I really want to talk about the substance of what you said. You know, one of the things that excited people was that you’re a very intelligent and talented person who was also talking about the positive effects of therapy. Do you feel like therapy has helped your artistic practice?

Oh God. Absolutely. I meant what I said: Therapy has changed my life. Very frequently Black people and other people of color in this country are taught that they need to be stoic and keep a stiff upper lip and not let anything affect you, or at least, you shouldn’t show emotion if something affects you. And I tried to live my life like that for many, many years. It really wore me down. I felt this hollowing out of myself. Being able to lean into my emotions and understand why I’m doing things that I’m doing and understand things from my history that perhaps shaped my behaviors nowadays has helped me artistically, it’s helped me personally and professionally. It’s been huge for me.

Your episode begins with Agent Laurie Blake saying, “You shouldn’t take your grandfather’s nostalgia,” which is a really loaded phrase. And I wonder if you find that a therapeutic process can help you to have a better relationship with the past and putting nostalgia in its right place.

Absolutely. You know, the thing that we wanted to portray in that episode is that nostalgia is very toxic when you’re not a straight white man in this country. Nostalgia for the past doesn’t really exist. Looking back in the 1930s, that was a much worse time to be alive for everybody that wasn’t a straight white man. If you’re a woman, if you’re a person of color, if you’re queer, the 1930s were terrible. And so this longing for the past is not something that exists for people who look like me. But whereas therapy is concerned, it’s helped me negotiate details from my past and helped me navigate the world better based on unearthing trauma and discussing that trauma and trying to move past it in the best way possible. We’re products of our past and we’re products of the people who raised us and the situations that raised us. So sifting through the details and understanding why we do the things that we do and trying to move past, it’s made all the difference for me.

I wonder what you are taking with you from this point in your personal history and in our time, but particularly in light of your great night last night and what you’ve got coming up. What are you taking with you into the future?

Oh man, just a ton of gratitude. My father was with me last night. He was my date to the ceremony and he is 78 years old. My grandfather was a butler and my grandmother was a maid at a rich white person’s estate in Ohio and they had middle school educations. They worked hard their entire lives to give my father a better life. And my father worked hard his entire life to give me a better life. And so being able to be at this award ceremony with him was a true honor. I was already incredibly grateful to work on Watchmen so the winning was the cherry on top. I just have incredible gratitude for everything.

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Beauty

The Best Nail Looks from New York Fashion Week Spring 2021

kiss products at rebecca minkoff fw 2020 during new york fashion week, tuesday, sept 15, 2020   diane bondareff for kiss products

Diane Bondareff for Kiss Products

At the start of the pandemic in March, it was difficult to envision what New York Fashion Week would look like with everyone sequestered to their humble abodes—or if there would even be a #NYFW. But in the city that never sleeps—even in the middle of a global pandemic—the show must go on.

Designers traded in packed fashion show benches with splashy front row guests for intimate, socially-distanced audiences of friends and select editors; physical invitations turned to Zoom links; and beauty editors’ backstage access to finding the new season’s hottest trends were sent via email—lots of emails. While the excitement that makes NYFW a must-see spectacle every year was hard to convey behind tablets, laptops, and phone screens and faulty home WiFi, backstage beauty gods didn’t skimp on the WOW-factor, even if only a select few of spectators would see. Ahead, the best nail looks from the Spring 2021 runway shows.

Rebecca Minkoff

kiss products at rebecca minkoff fw 2020 during new york fashion week, tuesday, sept 15, 2020   diane bondareff for kiss products

Courtesy

Inspired by David Bowie’s ethereal aura and glam rock aesthetic, Rebecca Minkoff went to task to bring Bowie’s signature rocker vibe to life through statement-making nail art. Stars, studs, and, of course, the color black, is synonymous with the rockstar lifestyle so celebrity nail artist Gina Edwards reached for the Kiss Halloween Salon Color Nails in Bonfires, which come in a long stiletto nail shape. Edwards trimmed the nail down to a short coffin and added silver stars and accents from the Kiss Salon Secrets Nail Art Starter Kit to drive the “rocker vibe for the on the go woman” theme home.

KISS Salon Secrets Nail Art

kissusa.com

$9.99


Christian Cowan

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Christian Cowan upped the ante on his usual quirky aesthetic by collaborating with fellow wildchild Lil Nas X that celebrates the lively spirit of underground culture. The duo teamed up with Loveland Foundation to create a fund that directly benefits Black trans youth. With punk influences peppered throughout the collection, lead manicurist Mar y Soul created 22 nail looks that married Cowan’s unique edge and Lil Nas X’s vibrant personality using Swarovski crystals, Apres Gel X, and Defy & Inspire nail polish in varying shapes and sizes.

“To create each nail look, I personally custom fit over 300 Aprés Gel X nail extensions and filed many into a unique shape that resembles a tanto tip Japanese knife,” she explained on Twitter. “Depending on each outfit I then paired colors from defy & INSPIRE to compliment each look.”

Defy & Inspire™ Nail Polish Confessional- 0.5oz

Defy & Inspire
target.com

$6.99


Wiederhoeft

wiederhoeft

Paul Simon

When you’ve dressed the Mother Monster Lady Gaga, we expect nothing less than the brand’s otherwordly whimsical aesthetic—and Wiederhoeft delivered in its Spring 2021 presentation Mother Goose and all her Silly Little Friends. Wiederhoeft translated its signature whimsy to the nail art, designed by nail artist Ada Yeung. Yeung created a slew of nail looks, including looks with orange ombre, outlining, and metallics.

Essie Sunny Business Nail Polish Collection

Essie
ulta.com

$9.00


Tom Ford

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Tom Ford wants you to go crazy with color this upcoming spring. (Doesn’t that just feel right?) Bright orange and neon pink nails, as seen on the latest model’s fingertips, are a great place to start Let this be a reminder, no ballerina pinks or muted nudes for spring.

CND Vinylux Long Wear Nail Polish – 0.5 fl oz

Revlon
target.com

$5.99

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Women's Fashion

Schitt’s Creek Made History With Its Emmy Wins Last Night

Frank Ockenfels/ABC via Getty Images

We’re absolutely glee-ridden!

Schitt’s Creek swept the Comedy category at the 2020 Emmys last night so first things first—a toast!

via GIPHY

The 72nd Emmy Awards were unusual in many respects right off the bat. Due to the coronavirus, all the nominees—spread out across 10 countries and 20 cities—stayed home (or got together in small, socially-distanced groups), Jimmy Kimmel hosted the event alone in an empty room, and winners were handed their statues by presenters in hazmat tuxedoes. But amid even these most unusual circumstances of the 2020 Emmys, the Schitt’s Creek team managed to make some history of their own.

The Canadian series became the first show to win all four of the comedy acting categories—Best Actress (Catherine O’Hara), Best Actor (Eugene Levy), Best Supporting Actor (Dan Levy) and Best Supporting Actress (Annie Murphy). It also won the awards for Best Writer (Dan Levy), Best Director (Dan Levy and Andrew Cividino), and Best Comedy Series, making it the first show to sweep the entire comedy category (and which basically meant the 2020 Emmys turned into The Schitt’s Creek Show for the first hour).

The winners ripped off their masks and made impassioned speeches from their little gathering in Toronto, where many of the cast members, including Noah Reid and Karen Robinson, were present.

“Our show at its core is about the transformational effects of love and acceptance, and that is something we need more of now than we ever needed before,” Levy said as he and his father accepted the best comedy series award.

Earlier in the week, the show also took home the Best Casting and Best Contemporary Costumes prizes, bringing its total to nine and breaking the record of eight that The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel won in 2018 and 2019. The 2020 Emmys mark the first acting wins for comedy legends O’Hara and Levy, who had previously won writing Emmys for their work on SCTV.

“I will be forever grateful to Eugene and Daniel Levy for bestowing upon me the opportunity to play a woman of a certain age, my age, who gets to fully be her ridiculous self,” said the 66 year-old actress during her acceptance speech.

Other standout winners from the night included Zendaya who, at 24, became the youngest person ever to win the Outstanding Lead Actress prize for Drama. HBO’s Watchmen took home the maximum number of awards last night—a total of 11—including Outstanding Limited Series, Lead Actress (Regina King) and Supporting Actor (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II). See the full list of winners here.

Once again, let’s give it up for the Roses. They always did know how to thrive under strange circumstances.

Categories
Fitness

Confused About the Testing Guidelines For COVID-19? Here’s Who Should Be Swabbed

Shot of a young woman wearing a mask and suffering from throat pain in a doctor's office

There’s been a lot of uncertainty around COVID-19 testing in the US. Recently, the Centers For Disease Control (CDC) seemed to soften its testing guidelines — explaining that people who had been exposed but hadn’t developed symptoms no longer needed to be tested — only to reverse course when it was reported that the changes had come under pressure from the White House. If you’re feeling a bit overwhelmed by all the back and forth, you’re not alone — but experts want Americans to know testing is essential, especially with cases expected to climb this fall.

“The most effective approach to fighting the pandemic is widespread testing,” Natasha Bhuyan, MD, a family physician and regional medical director at One Medical, told POPSUGAR. “It allows us to isolate cases and to contact trace in order to quickly identify other cases.” However, politics aside, the line public health experts are trying to toe is a challenging one. “When faced with limited resources, we have to consider testing prioritization,” Dr. Bhuyan explained.

In other words, when the demand for testing begins to place a strain on the healthcare system — as it has at different times throughout the pandemic — difficult decisions have to be made in order to ensure that the most critical cases have access to testing and that results can be turned around quickly enough to curb the spread. So, who should be tested? We asked experts to break it down.

Who Is a Priority For COVID-19 Testing?

“The highest-priority groups to test are those who are hospitalized,” Dr. Bhuyan said. That’s been true since the pandemic began, but with testing more available now, the pool has widened. That said, “testing capacity is quite regional,” she said. “So it’s important to understand what is happening with labs in your area.” If you believe you need testing, you should call your primary-care provider, who can assess whether you’re a good candidate, but generally speaking, anyone who falls into these categories is likely to be considered, Dr. Bhuyan explained:

  • People experiencing COVID-19 symptoms.
  • Members of or caretakers for a vulnerable population, such as the elderly or immunocompromised.
  • Essential workers.
  • People who have reason to believe they could have an active infection, because they were exposed to an infected person or traveled to a high-risk area, for example.

That last category is significant. “We know people can be infectious after exposure before they become symptomatic. That is a proven fact,” David Cutler, MD, a family medicine physician at Providence Saint John’s Health Center in Santa Monica, CA, told POPSUGAR. “Now, if they stay isolated for 14 days after exposure, and infect no one, there is a good chance the infection will pass with no harm done. But if they do infect other people after exposure, and those people go on to infect others, that is how pandemics perpetuate.”

That’s why the change in the CDC’s guidelines was so controversial. “Because of the risk of asymptomatic and presymptomatic spread of SARS-CoV-2, we recommend testing for all close contacts of persons with COVID-19,” Daniel Devine, MD, a dual-board certified internist and geriatrician and cofounder of Devine Concierge Medicine, told POPSUGAR. Dr. Cutler explained that you’re considered to have had an exposure if you were less than six feet away from someone who has tested positive for COVID-19 for more than 15 minutes.

When resources aren’t limited, even those who may have been exposed while traveling can be considered for testing, regardless of whether they’ve developed symptoms. However, “the best option right now is to avoid travel to an area where COVID-19 is prevalent,” Dr. Bhuyan said. “Of course, getting tested four to seven days after your return is still an option. The issue is that labs are increasingly facing capacity issues. By testing people who travel, we might be limiting resources for those who have symptoms or a known exposure.”

Given the number of cases the US has had and the possibility that the numbers will only increase during the colder months, “it’s truly best to stay at home when you can and especially to avoid travel to places with high rates of COVID-19 cases,” Dr. Bhuyan told POPSUGAR.

Remember too that testing isn’t the only (or even the most effective) way to protect your community when you do need to travel. “Many states recommend self-quarantine for 14 days after visiting a high-risk state and returning home,” Dr. Devine said. He explained that a person can become sick with COVID-19 at any point during that window, and it’s possible to get a false negative if you’re tested too soon. “Thus, the safest route is to follow social-distancing guidelines while traveling and completing a full 14-day quarantine upon return,” Dr. Devine said.

In fact, regardless of the circumstances that led to your testing, “you should be in quarantine until the results are known,” Dr. Cutler said.

The Bottom Line

Testing guidelines continue to evolve, and that’s likely to be the case until the US has sufficiently flattened the curve. The best thing you can do is seek medical advice. “At this point in time, I recommend contacting your doctor if you are exposed to an individual with known or likely COVID-19, regardless of the presence of symptoms, to discuss getting tested,” Dr. Devine said.

This is especially true if you or a loved one are considered high risk. “Older adults and those with certain acute or chronic diseases are at increased risk for severe COVID-19 and should certainly be tested after exposure, even if they are asymptomatic,” he explained, adding that your doctor can also talk you through the steps you’ll need to take to properly self-isolate at home.

Dr. Cutler agreed. “My personal advice is that if you have COVID-19 symptoms, get tested. If you have had a significant exposure, then get tested,” he said, noting that a call with your primary-care physician is a good first step. “And if you are in some special, vulnerable population or are required to test for work, travel, school, or another administrative reason, then get tested.”

If you have the misfortune of being turned away because testing supplies in your area are low, “it is important to remember that most mild cases of COVID-19 will self-resolve without intervention from the medical community,” Dr. Devine said. Your doctor can explain how to best manage your symptoms at home and when to seek care.

POPSUGAR aims to give you the most accurate and up-to-date information about the coronavirus, but details and recommendations about this pandemic may have changed since publication. For the latest information on COVID-19, please check out resources from the WHO, CDC, and local public health departments.

Categories
Culture

Who Is Nurse Mildred Ratched? Everything to Know About the One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest Villain

On Oscar night 1976, Milos Forman’s drama One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest cemented its place in the zeitgeist. An adaptation of Ken Kesey’s powerful novel about patients on a 1960s psychiatric ward, the film swept all five top categories at the Academy Awards, a feat which no other movie had managed in more than forty years.

One of those top five categories was Best Actress, which went to Louise Fletcher for her performance as the coolly sadistic psychiatric nurse Mildred Ratched. Ratched’s power struggle with Jack Nicholson’s Randle McMurphy is the core of the movie, and Fletcher’s performance is indelible. But less than two years before that Oscars ceremony, when One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest was being cast, the role of Ratched was a hot potato. Angela Lansbury, Ellen Burstyn, Anne Bancroft, Geraldine Page and Colleen Dewhurst were among the A-list actresses of the day who reportedly turned it down, considering the role too monstrous.

Now, 45 years later, Sarah Paulson is bringing new life to the character in Ryan Murphy’s Netflix origin story Ratched. Before you delve in, here’s a primer on the history of Nurse Ratched on the page and onscreen.

louise fletcher as nurse ratched in one flew over the cuckoo's nest

Louise Fletcher as Nurse Ratched

Getty Images

sarah paulson as nurse ratched

Sarah Paulson as Nurse Ratched

Netflix

She is based on a real person.

If you’re remotely familiar with the character, this is a pretty unsettling factoid. In writing his seminal 1962 novel One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest—which the critic Pauline Kael once called a “nonconformists’ bible”—author Ken Kesey was inspired by his real experiences. After graduating from college, Kesey worked as a night orderly on the psychiatric ward of the Menlo Park Veterans’ Hospital in California. The character of Mildred Ratched, the cruel and tyrannical nurse who oversees the fictional ward, was inspired by the real head nurse on the ward where Kesey worked.

In the novel, Ratched is often identified by her Orwellian nickname, “Big Nurse,” and she’s described as physically imposing and almost supernaturally frightening. Her nails, according to the novel’s unstable narrator, are “funny orange, like the tip of a soldering iron. Color so hot or so cold if she touches you with it you can’t tell which.” She runs the ward with an iron fist, and favors lobotomies as a means of keeping disruptive patients under control.

ratched l to r sarah paulson as mildred ratched in episode 106 of ratched cr saeed adyaninetflix © 2020

SAEED ADYANI/NETFLIX

Ratched represents the way society treats those with mental illness.

Ratched is depicted, both in the book and film, as an authoritarian who takes great pleasure in the power she wields over her vulnerable patients. She restricts their access to medication, freedom, and basic necessities in a way that sometimes seems to be part of a legitimate treatment regimen but more often seems sadistic. Her behavior encapsulates the dehumanizing way psychiatric patients were treated, both in the 1960s and, in some cases, still to this day.

One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest

bookshop.org

$9.19

Ratched meets her match in Randle McMurphy, a naturally rebellious and disruptive new patient who bristles at her arbitrary cruelty. Played by Jack Nicholson in the movie, McMurphy gradually begins to turn the patients on the ward around to his way of thinking, encouraging them to question Ratched’s authority and stand up for themselves against her. The power struggle that ensues is gripping—and, ultimately, stacked in Ratched’s favor because of the institutional weight behind her.

“Nurse Ratched’s soft, controlled voice and girlishly antiseptic manner always put you in the wrong; you can’t cut through the crap in her—it goes too deep,” Kael wrote in The New Yorker. “And she’s too smart for you; she’s got all the protocol in the world on her side.”

What’s even more chilling is that Ratched does not see herself as a villain. “I slowly started to realize that it will be much more powerful if it’s not this visible evil,” Forman has said, per Vanity Fair. “That she’s only an instrument of evil. She doesn’t know that she’s evil. She, as a matter of fact, believes that she’s helping people.”

louise fletcher and jack nicholson in one flew over the cuckoo's nest

Getty Images

Ratched is ranked as one of the all-time great movie villains.

The American Film Institute ranks Nurse Ratched, as played by Fletcher, as the fifth greatest movie villain of all time, behind The Silence of the Lambs‘ Hannibal Lecter, Psycho‘s Norman Bates, Star Wars‘s Darth Vader and The Wizard of Oz’s Wicked Witch of the West.

One of the things that makes Ratched such a memorable villain is just how subtly Fletcher plays even her cruelest moments. A larger-than-life performance would make Ratched’s behavior easier to swallow, heightening her behavior to the point where it doesn’t feel grounded – but Fletcher downplays, forcing the audience to confront just how real the Ratcheds of the world actually are. “Louise had the strength to do it subtle,” Forman told The New York Times. ”She didn’t go for cheap exaggeration. It was the most difficult part in the picture. I was afraid that, surrounded by all those spectacular performances, she would get lost.”

Netflix’s Ratched aims to bring more dimension to this iconic villain.

Though Sarah Paulson’s younger version of Mildred Ratched is certainly an antiheroine—if not an outright villain—she’s a far more nuanced character than in either the page or screen versions of One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest.

“I feel like Nurse Ratched is sort of a shorthand for barbarism. She became almost like a catchphrase for any sort of institutional abuse of power,” Murphy told Vanity Fair. “What was interesting was trying to create an emotional character from a reputation that’s very cold.”

Fletcher, though, filled in Ratched’s backstory in her own mind to help understand the character’s motivations. “She had sacrificed her life for other people. She hasn’t married, hadn’t done this, hadn’t done that, and was self-sufficient on her own leading this life, because she dedicated her life, her earlier life, to other people who needed her,” she told Vanity Fair. Even more intriguingly, she also said that in her mind, Ratched was a 40-year-old virgin who was “very turned on” by McMurphy.

Ratched takes place several years before One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest, so the Ratched-McMurphy power struggle isn’t a factor in the show—or at least, not in its first season. But to deepen your enjoyment of the show, we highly recommend watching One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest either before or after your Ratched binge–both are available on Netflix right now.

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Beauty

The Best Spring 2021 Fashion Week Hair Trends

New York Fashion Week went virtual this year, but that didn’t stop designers from presenting their latest innovations for next season, complete with some stunning hair looks. From brands like Oribe to Bumble & Bumble, the industry’s best hairstylists kicked off fashion month armed with personal protective equipment and lots of hairspray, ready to make models runway ready—or in this case, camera-ready.

Ahead the best hair trends for Spring 2021.

Cinq à Sept

cinq a sept

Johnny de Guzman

To compliment the romance and femininity of Cinq à Sept’s collection, Oribe educator Mandee Tauber created effortless tousled waves with a large barrel curling iron. First, she prepped the hair with Oribe’s Mystifying Restyling Spray, then blow dried using a flat brush. A few inches from the root, Tauber curled 2-inch sections with a 1 1/2 barrel curling iron, making an S-wave pattern. Finishing off the look, she applied texturizing spray to tousle the waves and anti-humidity spray to set.

Christian Siriano

In one of the few live shows of NYFW, Christian Siriano presented his Spring 2021 collection at his home in Connecticut. The hair look was a polished take on messy buns—or as Sebastian Professional artist Anthony Cole calls them, “abstract buns.” To get the abstract look, Cole prepped the hair with clay before separating it into two ponytails. Twisting the hair in a upwards motion, Cole pinned the bun periodically and used hairspray to lock in the hold.

christian siriano

Sara Kerens

Christian Cowan

For Christian Cowan’s 70s inspired collection, Bumble and Bumble hair lead Evanie Frausto referred to history. “At face value, you see a lot of 70s punk-glamour, but the foundation is a lot deeper than that,” Frausto said in a release. “We’re living through a historical movement, and people are no longer being silenced. They’re speaking up and being loud—and this hair is speaking the same language. So, there’s nothing subtle—it’s bold and loud and in your face; colorful and glittery with big, spikey moments. The vital part was to make sure each talent had their moment to shine and felt empowered in their own skin.”

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Rodarte

Editorial hairstylist Rachel Lee created two looks for Kate and Laura Mulleavy—romantic soft waves and a chic chignon. “The hair this season was about organic feminine strength,” she said in a release. “The wave and texture was created with the idea that softness is powerful. Allowing elements of nature to alter the looks throughout the day; a texture that sun can shine through and move freely with the wind and layers that can become one with florals.”

rodarte

Daria Kobayashi Ritch

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Women's Fashion

Molly Goddard Collaborates With UGG for Spring 2021

Due to COVID-19, London Fashion Week is almost unrecognizable this year. Still, designers are proving that the show doesn’t stop and some have even surpassed all expectations. Molly Goddard, known for her cheeky take on taffeta princess gowns beloved by Rihanna, Zendaya, and Killing Eve fans alike, delivered a spring-summer collection worthy of a couch-sitting ovation. But our attention went beyond falling in love with her signature ballgowns. Alongside her socially-distanced presentation of voluminous dresses, neon checkerboard knits, and ruffled gingham, she premiered a collaboration we didn’t know we needed: Goddard is teaming up with UGG.

UGG isn’t new to the collab game. The brand most recently announced a buzz-worthy partnership with Telfar. Now its teaming up with Goddard for three new styles that marry the best of both houses while simultaneously speaking to our current cozy needs. Goddard took the Aussie shoe’s sheepskin and whipped them into whimsical, yet throughly modern styles. There’s the classic mini boot decorated with contrast florals, a shaggy slipper, and a platform mule we’re bound to see on all your favorite influencers.

molly goddard ugg

Backstage at Molly Goddard’s intimate spring-summer runway show.

Courtesy

molly goddard ugg

Courtesy of Ugg

Communicating via email, Goddard shared her personal history with the iconic boots, her inspiration for the collection, and what designing in lockdown looked like for her and her team.


What is your first memory of UGG boots?

I desperately wanted a pair of tall black ones when I was a teenager to wear with the velour Juicy Couture that I wanted too.

What elements from your ready to wear collections did you want to bring to this collaboration?

I love shoes to either complement or contrast with collections. This season it was great to work with UGG and with their range of materials and play with texture and colour which is so key to all my collections.

ugg molly goddard

Courtesy of Ugg

ugg molly goddard

Courtesy

With fashion week completely dismantled, what is one thing about a traditional fashion show you won’t miss?

I love all elements of a show. After six months of hard work, for me, it’s the cathartic release me and my team all need – I think shows are the best way of presenting a collection and communicating what you are about each season. The opportunity to work with professionals in all elements at the top of their game, in hair and makeup, production, makers and craftspeople, all working towards putting on a show. It’s exhausting and in some ways frivolous but so much fun.

What has been the most challenging thing about designing during this time?

I didn’t enjoy lockdown, working at home can be pretty uninspiring. I like to be around people, to hear what they have been doing, see what they are wearing and share opinions. I am so happy to be back in the studio, it has its challenges working at a distance and with PPE on but it’s so much better than staring at a screen.

The UGG x Molly Goddard collaboration drops in March 2021. We rounded up equally great styles to tide you over until then.


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Women's Fashion

Mario Dedivanovic to Launch Namesake Beauty Brand in Sephora Next Month

Swatch photography courtesy of Sephora. Design by Kayleen Dicuangco.

You’ll want to make a calendar note for October 1st.

The passion that celebrity makeup artist Mario Dedivanovic has for makeup artistry and products is palpable – even through a Zoom screen and some 350 miles away. Today, Dedivanovic presented the first drop in his namesake beauty line, Makeup By Mario, to a group of press from Canada and the US ahead of its official launch next month. And as you would expect, it’s good.

The line has been in the making since 2017, Dedivanovic shares, noting that the Master Mattes palette was the very first product he started working on. As for his inspiration, Dedivanovic shares a rather unexpected source: the shades are inspired by the colours found in our bodies on a microscopic level.

The brand will launch with an eye collection, comprised of 21 products in total, with Dedivanovic confirming more products are on their way and that “there is a full brand coming” whilst staying quiet on further details. Products in the first drop include several eyeshadow palettes (separated by texture: mattes, metallics and metals), a primer palette, pencils (which Dedivanovic says for him are “one of the most transformative things in makeup), five brushes (though he notes at several points during the call that many of the products can be applied with just your fingers), a liquid liner that has an impressive 15-minute dry time so you can adjust as needed, a product called the Master Crystal Reflector which has a global exclusive formula and is available in three shades, each of which beautifully reflect the light, a nourishing translucent highlighter called the Master Secret Glow, and biodegradable makeup wipes made with 100 per cent cucumber water so there’s no oily residue left behind.

The products are housed in beautiful sleek white packaging. On choosing the hue for the line, Dedivanovic said that white “felt like the future. It felt pure and my process of making this line come to life has been with such pure intentions so this felt like [the right choice].”

At one point, Dedivanovic, who said he’s been “dreaming of this for 20 years,” teared up when talking about the work that has gone into the brand – including the R&D and product development processes which were made infinitely more difficult because he wasn’t working off a ‘benchmark’ product (i.e. another product he was trying to replicate for his own line). Noting that the line is entirely self-funded with no investors (he joked that if it fails he’ll be moving back in with his parents), Dedivanovic shared, “I put my life and soul into this. I wanted it to be affordable and not just for artists – I considered the everyday woman and want to make things easier for them.” For example, those of us that struggle with perfecting a winged eye might finally be able to nail the elusive look as the pencils have been designed with a custom brush specifically to address the challenges associated with creating a winged eye.

Dedivanovic is also quick to stress that whilst he has an association with glam makeup, he loves a natural look, too. And many of the products in this first drop have been designed with that approach in mind. There’s an ease to the products, a grab-and-go quality to them that is impressive given the level of effort and input that’s gone into creating them. “I wanted to present these core products and formulas and leave it up to whoever is using it to dip in and play and use their own judgement with their own style of makeup,” he says of the line.

Makeup By Mario will launch on October 1 in Canada exclusively at Sephora.

Categories
Beauty

I Lost My Job to COVID—But Found My Personal Style Again

Scrolling through an iPhone camera roll is the 21st century version of flipping through the pages of a metal ring-bound photo album and romanticizing times that felt much simpler. In 2020, a miserable year that feels more and more like a literal epoch, waxing nostalgic about The Before—a period that I can’t help but refer to as “when things were normal”—has become an international pastime, and at this point, looking back at snapshots of life pre-pandemic can feel borderline masochistic. We had places to go inside, lower halves of faces to see, and things to do (and touch) without fear of spreading disease as easily as melted margarine. 

I’ve embraced this digitized pursuit of nostalgia, especially when I’m distraught by small but nevertheless frustrating battles that remind me of The Now. For instance, my inability to write this essay from the comfort of my favourite hipster café’s air-conditioned interior, the routine of having another cotton swab stuffed up my nose to confirm I’m COVID-negative, or the challenge of inventing fun things to do on a Friday night that don’t involve getting drunk or stoned for the third weekend in a row. So, in such bursts of avoidant behaviour, I wind up on my bed, thumbing away at years of memories that map a montage of my every self. There’s Academic Syd, the one who graduated college with a journalism degree and a satisfactory B average. Good Time Syd, tipsy and smize-ing, scantily-clad with old friends outside nondescript music venues. And Independent Syd, the one who captured mischievous mirror selfies in her tiny, first studio apartment paid for by her first job out of school. 

The author before her first corporate adult job inspired a style identity crisis (Photos: Sydney N. Sweeney)

Throughout my virtual travels through time, I’ve realized that I’m not just wistful about what I was doing in these corona-free moments. I also pine after how I appeared in them: colourful and audacious. I was That Chick a little over a year ago, an undeniable cool girl whose eye-catching outfits, always spiked with provocation and alt-girl attitude, loudly communicated that I knew what was up without my uttering a single word. At the start of quarantine, when I began remembering these past lives, it hit me that I longed for that specific Syd to make a comeback. And only then did I realize (and deeply resent) that my change in wardrobe directly concurred with a significant life transition: starting my first Very Adult Job, from which I was laid off at the start of the pandemic.  

Read this next: Fall Jacket Trends That Make Sense For Right Now

To be fair, this job—an editorial role at a non-profit—wasn’t actually my first real, post-college job. Before this corporate gig, the backbone of my wardrobe was Polly Pocket-sized crop tops, grimy Dr. Martens, and mom jeans that made my butt look as juicy as Janet Jackson’s in Poetic Justice. I loved it that way—and I suppose the universe did, too, as it gifted me a copywriting job in fashion immediately upon graduating college. “Oh, and by the way, we don’t have a dress code here—feel free to wear whatever you want,” my then-boss kindly informed me after I’d aced my in-person interview, as if she knew my 21-year-old spirit belonged in a Joy Division tee, gym socks, and iridescent Air Forces instead of a black turtleneck and Chelsea boots.

I pushed my stuffy interview clothes (you know the ones—stiff blazers with padded shoulders, “sensible” closed-toe heels, and a leather handbag that felt way more adult than my go-to American Apparel cotton tote in all its stained glory) to the back of my closet and embraced my right to dress. Nearly every day for 14 months I reported for duty as either a life-sized Bratz doll or quasi-skater boi, and in a photo studio environment of nearly all millennial creatives, no one thought twice about my carrot-coloured Dickies paired with metallic platform hiking boots or my barbed wire necklaces and enormous bamboo hoop earrings. Half of the time, I was simply revelling in my generous employee discount and rocking the same looks my company sent to hundreds of  influencers for free. (R.I.P. to all the I.AM.GIA merch I resold to Buffalo Exchange during a low point of broke girl living—I needed gas money, but such 2018 artifacts will be dearly missed.)

Read this next: WTF Do You Wear to WFH? One Writer Finds Out

The fun ended when I decided I needed more from a big-girl job than a chill workplace and cheap designer clothes. Increasingly often, I found myself lamenting my paltry salary, monotonous workload, and the window-less workspace that triggered my seasonal depression. So as my one-year anniversary at the company approached, I began looking for a role elsewhere that paid better and, more importantly, actually utilized my journalism degree. It was during this months-long job search that I decided to start buying “real lady” clothes. All of a sudden I was infatuated with the Instagram feeds of Reformation, Oak + Fort and Everlane. My newfound lust for achieving the look of contemporary woman minimalism via culottes, leather mules, and neutrals was entirely out-of-character, but oddly visceral. To this day, I still shudder at the thought of my purchasing a pair of tiny hoop earrings, knowing full well—and not too deep down—that I still favoured the ostentation of hoops big enough to stick one’s fist through.

The author after shelving her flashier clothes for a more demure wardrobe (Photos: Sydney N. Sweeney)

In retrospect, I realize that most of this wardrobe metamorphosis was related to the notion that dressing like an “adult” would help me feel more professional and put together—and therefore more deserving of a swankier job with older people, real rules (remind me why I wanted those again?) and the dreamy possibility of career advancement. Much of this belief was rooted in internalized ageism, which convinced me that performing an act of treason against my youth would shuttle me further along as an ambitious early-20-something. Some of it was also due to my awareness of everyday sexism and the fact that as a young woman, it’s far too easy to be perceived as “less serious” based on dress rather than resume or performance. I played into these philosophies, and my aspirations came to fruition when I landed a communications coordinator gig, copyediting theatre programs and writing byline-free PR features all day while wearing neatly cropped wide-leg jeans, thrifted Ann Taylor sweaters, and woven faux leather block heels (that gave off major Madewell vibes, but were actually from Old Navy). 

This was my first experience in a truly professional work environment, a normie office where my somewhat unconventional wardrobe of Clueless-inspired co-ords, torn fishnets, oversized faux fur coats, and clout goggles was too weird to subsist without detection. It’s not that folks at this company were un-fun or uptight. In fact, my laidback department’s unofficial uniform was more blue jeans and sneakers than pencil skirts and kitten heels. Still, the office was a business-casual space, and my personal style—a coy amalgamation of Black aesthetics and skate-punk nuances with a liberal dash of trendy, it-girl spice—could be interpreted as inappropriately doing the most. 

Read this next: How to Build a *Realistic* Capsule Wardrobe in 2020

But the joke was on me when I was fired after seven months and left awkwardly with nothing but a closet that belonged to someone else. Grown Syd, the one who had a “better” job, a new apartment with a full-sized fridge, and no interest in bright colours, appeared older, but lackluster. And she divulged very little about the person I continued to be on the inside: someone who studied youth culture and was obsessed with music and the history of fashion dolls; someone whose biggest dream was to finally ollie properly on a skateboard; someone who got a thrill from wearing outlandish outfits to the drugstore and getting stared at by chafed baby boomers in line to get their arthritis meds. 

Now, without a 9-5, I mourned the death of my former wardrobe, believing that if only I had as much closet space or coin as Hannah Montana, I could have had the best of both worlds. But I wasn’t a pop star with a Malibu mansion—my reality was a studio apartment and unemployment. So as I stood in front of my closet that looked like the clearance rack at a GAP store, I decided to suck it up and appreciate Miss Rona’s silver lining: she was a disaster that allowed me to make room in my closet for myself. 

The author now, after losing her 9-5 job but finding her personal style again (Photos: Sydney N. Sweeney)

Regression has a bad rap, but self-reflection shouldn’t. For me, the latter guided me to the former, reminding me that my inimitable personal style—which I’ve always considered to be an art practice—shouldn’t be squandered at the hands of a cultural ideology that likens maturity to clothing that makes me yawn. Today, as a full-time freelance writer with no office to report into, or external expectations to meet, my wardrobe has, for the first time in a year, truly harmonized with my spirit. One of my recent purchases? A cropped, bubblegum-pink T-shirt that snarks “It’s not me, it’s you” in the classic Barbie typeface. I bought the shirt because it’s completely on-brand with That Chick Syd, but it’s also a double entendre that covertly claps back at a society quick to denigrate the value of doing you in spaces of professionalism and productivity. I pair the tee with a chain belt, baby pink utility pants, and platform combat boots. I look like me, and it’s exhilarating to be back.

Categories
Fitness

What Being a “Fat” Figure Skater Taught Me About Being Confident in My Own Skin

Closeup of unrecognizable girl holding figure skates over shoulder leaving ice rink after sports training, copy space

I started taking figure skating lessons when I was only in kindergarten. Like every other parent with a skater that age, my mom’s biggest concerns revolved around making sure that I wore a helmet in case I fell, that my rental skates were tied tight enough that I wouldn’t get blisters, and that my jacket was zipped up all the way to the top to keep me warm.

I received that same type of support from my mom throughout my skating career. But I was really lucky. Eventually, my friends’ moms seemed to stop worrying about those kinds of things, and started to focus instead on their daughters’ appearances, from their perfect hair buns to the gap between their thighs. By the time I was 10, the competition had started, both in terms of skill and who looked better in their skin-tight bedazzled dresses. Group lessons were replaced by private coaches, girls switched to homeschooling so they could dedicate more time to skating, and we were constantly comparing ourselves to each other. At least that’s what my “friend” group was like.

When I was a tween, I switched to a new skating club and rink with pretty much the same vibes as my old one. On my first day of practice, my mom got acquainted with the moms of the other skaters in my level. As I tied my laces, I listened to them chat about their daughters. Unsurprisingly, the conversation was all about body measurements and dieting. “She’s big for her age,” one of the moms said to mine, as if I wasn’t within ear shot.

Instead of defending me in a way that would make me feel self-conscious, my mom turned it into a compliment. “Yes, she is! Look at these beautiful thighs,” she said, as she gave one of my thighs a loving squeeze. So, naturally, I took the other moms’ snobby remarks as compliments, because that’s how my mom framed them. I’m gonna do so well here, I thought to myself confidently. It’s only now that I realize what those comments could’ve done to me had my mom not been there. At an age where I would be susceptible to self-esteem issues, especially in a competitive individual sport like figure skating, my mom made sure that I maintained a healthy attitude about my body.

If it weren’t for her, I’d have extremely poor body image, because even though my mom never said anything negative about my weight, my coach was very vocal about it. That’s considered normal in figure skating.

My coach put so much emphasis on losing weight, even over my ability to master certain skills. I could land a double axel perfectly, but if I would just lose 10 more pounds, I could jump even higher.

When I met my coach for the first time, she promptly put me on a weight-loss regimen. After our first lesson, she handed me a thick packet filled with diagrams and lists of workouts I needed to add to my routine — which, by the way, was actually nonexistent, because all I did was go to the rink for practice and show up to off-ice conditioning, and I never considered that as “working out,” because I was a kid. “Thirty extra minutes a day and the pounds will melt off,” my coach said enthusiastically. I remember wondering, Is 30 minutes a lot or a little? How many pounds am I supposed to lose? It wasn’t so much the workouts themselves that threw me for a loop, as it was the goal behind them. To my coach, the goal wasn’t getting stronger and performing better. It was making the numbers on the scale go down. After I was introduced to this mentality of “working out,” I began to think of myself in terms of pounds and body fat percentage.

My coach put so much emphasis on losing weight, even over my ability to master certain skills. I could land a double axel perfectly, but if I would just lose 10 more pounds, I could jump even higher. It didn’t matter that the weekly powerskating sessions strengthened my crossovers. If my legs — or “tree trunks,” as my coach called them — were skinnier, I’d look more graceful. My self-consciousness got to the point that I stopped stretching where other skaters could see me, I stopped changing openly in the locker room, and I stopped doing warmup laps with my friends, because my coach always compared me to her other students, and I was the fattest one.

During freestyle sessions, I would practice my skills in one corner or stay behind the hockey net. My mom always asked, “Why don’t you use the whole rink, or skate in the middle where there’s more space?” My excuse was that I didn’t want people getting in my way, but the truth was that I didn’t want to get in theirs. I felt more comfortable practicing where people couldn’t see me, because my coach made me feel unworthy of occupying the space of the “real” skaters.

Portrait of unrecognizable girl tying skating shoe in dressing room before practice, copy space

Thankfully all the fat-shaming my coach did during private lessons was undone by my mom’s body positivity and encouragement. Despite my constant complaining about my body, my mom never once told me I needed to lose weight.

After I said I was too fat to look graceful on the ice, my mom signed me up for ballet classes at the rink, which are known to help figure skaters with flexibility, balance, and ultimately, gracefulness. Then on my first day, when I refused to take off the heavy sweatshirt that I believed was covering my (nonexistent) muffin top, she forced me to remove it, insisting that I would feel more comfortable without the hindrance of an extra layer. She sternly told me to focus more on ballet and less on how my stomach looked. I was so angry with her that my anxious, insecure tears blurred my vision throughout the class. In hindsight, I should have been grateful to her for reinforcing that I didn’t need to cover up my fat out of shame.

When I came back from my nightly run once and cried about being too fat to eat the dinner my mom had prepared, she didn’t tell me to eat as much rice as I wanted or that she would fix me a healthy salad instead. She simply portioned out my food so I could still eat my favorite dinner without worrying that I had overeaten.

All the times I said I was fatter than the other girls, my mom would say, “Maybe. But you also have a fat heart, and a fat personality. What’s so bad about being fat?” Instead of lying and saying that I was just like everyone else, or feeding into my fat-shaming by agreeing that I needed to lose weight, my mom turned “fat” into a normal descriptor, not something negative or shameful.

I’m so glad I took her words to heart more than my coach’s. The day I got a concussion after a bad fall was one of the happiest moments of my figure skating career, because I had a valid excuse to skip my dreaded private lessons. It was around that time that I finally told my mom all the toxic things my coach had been saying to me for years, and I never took lessons from her again.

Being away from figure skating while I was injured made me realize how toxic it was for me and people like me. I started to understand why I never saw other figure skaters who shared my body type. But I couldn’t let that get in the way of my love for being on the ice. So I started playing hockey. It was a cultural reset. There was so much emphasis on building both mental and physical strength, and empowering other players as much as ourselves. It wasn’t about who looked prettier or jumped higher; our parents cheered when anyone on the team scored a goal.

Being away from figure skating while I was injured made me realize how toxic it was for me. I started to understand why I never saw other figure skaters who shared my body type.

I did have good moments in figure skating, too, but as someone who was considered fat in a sport that revolves around conventional beauty standards and slim figures, those moments were hard to come by. The only reason I got as far as I did was because of the persistent body positivity perpetuated by my mom. I never had to conform to the beauty or body standards upheld by figure skating, yet I still excelled in the sport, which helped me excel in another one. That’s the power of learning to love the body you’ve been given.

I only came to fully understand this after asking my mom if she thought I had wasted too much time figure skating. She said no, that it was an investment. She knew that if I was discouraged by my weight, I might end up quitting and losing something that I really loved, and it would be an unfair trade. Instead of feeding into the nitpicking of my coach, my skinny friends, and myself, my mom focused on supporting my love for being on the ice. I’m so glad she did.

Being a fat figure skater-turned-hockey player showed me the importance of both body positivity and body acceptance, awareness that I carry with me both on and off the ice. I know that buying into the BS of fat-shaming doesn’t get you anywhere. It’s our personal goals and the love and support of people that really care about us that empowers us mentally and physically.

Categories
Culture

New York Nico Is Helping Save New York City, One Instagram Post at a Time

Reports of New York City’s demise are greatly exaggerated. That’s the truth for millions of people who are still living in the city, which was ravaged by the COVID-19 pandemic this year when more than 23,000 New Yorkers died from the virus and thousands more moved out. Among the remaining inhabitants is Nicolas Heller, better known across the city and the internet as New York Nico.

Heller, a native New Yorker and filmmaker, serves as the “unofficial talent scout of New York City,” interviewing and profiling NYC’s most interesting characters. Pre-pandemic, you would find Nico out in the streets, meeting local fixations like Brooklyn’s Green Lady and rapper-turned-congressional candidate Paperboy Prince, or popping into mom-and-pop stores to chat up business owners. With 442K followers and counting, Heller’s Instagram page became the destination for New York’s best and brightest—a rolodex of who to know and where to go. Then, the pandemic hit.

“The first two weeks or so [of quarantine] I was really depressed,” he told ELLE.com over the phone, while unpacking boxes at his new Bed Stuy apartment. “I’m like, what the hell am I going to do? This is what makes me happy. This is what makes others happy.”

In true New Yorker form, Heller got back on his feet and hustled. “I had the idea to do this Best New York Accent contest and it went viral,” he says. “I had no idea that that would happen. I had to beg a few of my friends to submit and then celebrities started getting involved. Then the New York Times wrote about it, so it really reached the mainstream. It was like, what can I do next and how can I add a charitable element to it?”

This content is imported from Instagram. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.

With subsequent contests like Best New York Mask, Best New York Photo, and Best New York T-Shirt, Heller has raised nearly $300,000 for charities like God’s Love We Deliver, Color of Change, and The Campaign Against Hunger. “I was just like, let’s keep going. This is my new calling for as long as I can’t interact with people on the streets. God forbid there’s a second wave [of the virus], I already have my ideas ready to go.”

Ahead, Nico talks helping small businesses, Black Lives Matter, and the relentless spirit of New York City.

How did you start helping small businesses in New York City?

About a year and a half ago, I started a hashtag called #MomNPopDrop, just to give free ad space to local businesses. It started out being a self-submit type of thing, where the business owner would [record themselves]. As I got more and more submissions, I realized it’s easier said than done to make these mini commercials. I needed to give them a little direction.

I started out with businesses that I had been going to for quite some time, like Astor Place Hairstylists and I Need More Vintage. It was different from the usual stuff I was posting. People follow me for the quirky New York characters and interviews, so it didn’t get as much love at the time and fizzled out. But when COVID hit and all these businesses shut down, I told myself that when they started to reopen, I would do everything in my power to help them. So, I decided to bring back the hashtag about a month and a half ago.

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Did the response surprise you?

I didn’t think that it was going to explode the way it did, but I think it’s just the time that we’re living in. New Yorkers are really concerned about these small businesses closing down, so people kicked into action. I brought the hashtag back with Henry from Army & Navy Bag on Houston Street. He’s super held up on rent and one of his customers started a GoFundMe. I went there and took his photo, learned a little bit more about the situation and then I posted it.

I didn’t realize that he was such a beloved New York business owner. There were so many comments like, “Oh my God, Henry’s the sweetest guy ever. Best customer service.” For the next week or so, there were lines out the door to get into his shop. Prior to the post, he told me he would be lucky if he got one customer every few hours. So when I saw the response to that, I was like, holy shit. These posts are making a huge impact.

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Is there criteria you keep in mind before posting a business?

Right now, I’m kind of focusing on Manhattan, specifically below 14th street, because rent there is astronomical compared to anywhere else in the city. A record store isn’t going to sell enough records to make enough money to cover their $17,000 rent in East Village.

I grew up in Union Square. I went to school in the Village and these are all spots that I remember from when I was a kid. So it holds a special place in my heart. I get hundreds of DMs a day from people suggesting places. I can’t help every business recommended, but I will glance and remember the name, and if I hear about it again, or if I’m walking down the street and I see that business, then I’ll pop in and introduce myself.

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Obviously, the pandemic has affected small businesses across the country. Is there a way to take your model and apply it on a larger scale?

I had this idea to get universities to give their students assignments to help struggling businesses using the skill sets that they’re being taught in school, like eCommerce, social media, marketing, photography, videography. Old school businesses don’t understand marketing in 2020. So I put a call out on Instagram and one guy commented like, “Hey, I’d be happy to help.” And he ran with it. Today, he went live with this website called The National Assignment, where he is able to match up universities with businesses to do exactly what I proposed.

Also, there’s legislation that can be passed. There’s an organization called Save Our Storefronts that is really pushing for rent forgiveness for businesses. But at this point, I just don’t trust any of our politicians to do the right thing. So I feel like we need to supplement that by putting in the legwork.

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There’s a common misconception that New Yorkers are rude. In your own words, what are we really?

I think that we’re hustlers. We’re always on our grind. We move fast. We don’t really have patience for people who try to get in the way of that. After college, I lived in Los Angeles for half a year and that was the only time I’ve lived somewhere else and really experienced another city. LA was just so much more chill and laid back. Everyone just wanted to get lunch meetings and not really achieve much. I feel like in New York, we live three lifetimes, as opposed to anywhere else because we’re doing so much.

You’ve been very outspoken about issues like Black Lives Matter and saving the USPS on your account. What’s your response to followers commenting, “I don’t come here to see politics”?

First of all, I don’t consider any of those things to be political. Black Lives Matter is just human rights. The postal service is just common sense. I actually don’t get political on my page at all. I don’t think I’ve ever… Don’t quote me—or quote me, I don’t care—but I don’t think I’ve ever even mentioned Trump’s name or Biden or any politician really. The only time I get political is when I criticize politicians for not doing their job and I rarely do that. So, when I was posting about Black Lives Matter, other human rights issues, I was getting a lot of pushback from it and like I said, its human rights. This is not political. If you don’t approve, you don’t have to follow me.

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Categories
Beauty

Hermès New Lipsticks Give Fall A Warm Welcome

hermès beauty launch

Courtesy of Hermès Beauty

This past March, the Birkin bag of lipsticks arrived and sold out almost immediately—full of the promise that you would win best beauty on your full Zoom social calendar.

If you didn’t have the chance to snag the first collection, pout no longer, Hermès hive—the brand is launching its Fall/Winter 2020 Rouge Hermès Limited Edition collection. Three new rose-colored shades in matte and satin finishes arrive just in time for socially-distanced patio dining and nightly strolls through the autumn air. All three hues were inspired by the shift from fall to winter and iconic art from Charles Sheeler, John Register, Arduino Cantàfora, and Jean Hélion, per a press release.

Rouge Hermes, Satin lipstick, Limited Edition, Rose Pommette

hermes
hermes.com

$72.00

Packaged in their signature refillable, color-blocked tubes, the drop includes the vibrant, satin Rose Pommette (reminiscent of sunlit wild rose); the deep, matte Rose Nuit (includes a velvety pink finish and hints of blue); and the subtle, satin Rose Ombre (made with rosewood and waxed palisander).

    Rouge Hermes, Matte lipstick, Limited Edition, Rose Nuit

    hermes
    hermes.com

    $72.00

    The brand touts their latest release as a call to those who’d prefer to leave summer behind. Hermès Beauty describes the lush lipsticks as “evoking nights as black as ink and the glimmer of dawn, the vision of a clear, backlit sky, the dry cold of the outside world, and the cozy warmth of an interior.” Consider our fragile souls sold.

    The trio of new shades will be available in select Hermès boutiques and Hermes.com today. The lipsticks are $72 and refills are $42, although they can only be used on existing Rouge colors—not the limited edition hues.

    Rouge Hermes, Satin lipstick, Limited Edition, Rose Ombré

    hermes
    hermes.com

    $72.00

    If you’re resistant to swapping out your strappy sandals and sundresses for ankle boots and cardigans, consider this your first dip into seasonal dressing.

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    This content is created and maintained by a third party, and imported onto this page to help users provide their email addresses. You may be able to find more information about this and similar content at piano.io

    Categories
    Women's Fashion

    The Best Moments From the 2020 Emmys

    ABC via Getty Images

    A mini Friends reunion, several Schitt’s Creek speeches, Zendaya’s historic win and more.

    The 2020 Emmys were definitely one for the books. To discourage large gatherings, the Television Academy rolled out an elaborate virtual ceremony, with nominees in 20 different cities tuning in to the live event via video feeds set up in their homes. But despite the physical distancing (and different time zones), the “Pandemmys” went down as a historic night to remember. Read on for some of the highlights and best moments from the 2020 Emmys.

    Jimmy Kimmel enlisted some heroes to help with the ceremony
    While there were some Hollywood A-listers on hand to introduce or present awards (like Sterling K Brown, Laverne Cox and Jennifer Aniston, who literally put out a fire on stage while presenting the first super-sanitized prize of the evening), the real stars of the evening were frontline workers. Several essential service workers who’ve been working tirelessly throughout the pandemic—from school teachers to UPS workers to doctors—tuned in to the ceremony virtually to hand out awards to “those who are much less essential than they are.”

    Schitt’s Creek swept the Comedy category
    Making history as the only show to ever win all four of the acting awards in the Comedy category and breaking the record of the most wins by any comedy show in a single year, Schitt’s Creek went out with a bang in its final season. The show’s four leads—Catherine O’Hara, Eugene Levy, Dan Levy and former FASHION cover star Annie Murphy—all gave emotional, impassioned speeches about the power of love and kindness, with the younger Levy also encouraging viewers to vote because “that is the only way we are going to have some love and acceptance out there.”

    Zendaya became the youngest person to win Best Actress in a Drama
    For her role as Rue on HBO’s Euphoria, Zendaya took home the prize for Best Actress in a drama series, beating out industry veterans like Jennifer Aniston and Sandra Oh to become the youngest-ever winner at 24. The actress (and former FASHION cover star) accepted the award surrounded by her friends and family, and wearing a Giorgio Armani Privé gown. “I know this feels like a really weird time to be celebrating, but I just want to say that there is hope in the young people out there,” she said. “I know that our TV show doesn’t always feel like a great example of that but there is hope in the young people. And I just want to say to all my peers out there doing the work in the streets, I see you, I admire you, I thank you.”

    There was a mini Friends reunion
    Up for an Emmy for her work on Apple TV’s The Morning Show, Jennifer Aniston took viewers into her home where she was getting ready for the evening with none other than Courteney Cox and Lisa Kudrow. “We live together… We’ve been roommates since 1994, Jimmy,” Aniston reminded Kimmel. “Where else would I live?” quipped Kudrow.

    Regina King took home her fourth Emmy
    Regina King accepted an Emmy award for Outstanding Actress in a Limited Series last night for her role as Sister Night on the acclaimed HBO series Watchmen. This prize marks her fourth Emmy award, which means she is tied with only Alfre Woodard for the most Emmy wins ever for a Black performer. Wearing a Breonna Taylor t-shirt under a hot pink suit, the actress said, “Gotta vote. I would be remiss not to mention that, being a part of a show as prescient as Watchmen.” She also took a moment to shout out the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, saying “Rest in power, RBG.”

    Reese Witherspoon and Kerry Washington ushered in 2021
    Kerry Washington and Reese Witherspoon, who were both nominated for their work on Little Fires Everywhere (Washington as Lead Actress and Witherspoon as a producer), watched the ceremony outdoors in a garden dressed in glittery party hats and giant 2021 sunglasses. “We’re having a New Year’s Eve party,” said Washington. “Because we’re ready for this year to be over,” explained Witherspoon.

    Ramy Youssef showed viewers what it’s like to lose an Emmy in 2020
    With nominees spread out across various cities either in their homes or at mini gatherings in their hometown, Emmy presenters were tasked with appearing at each nominee’s home dressed in a hazmat suit, ready to hand out the statuette in case they won. Those who didn’t win had to watch the presenter turn and walk away. In one of the best moments of the 2020 Emmys, Ramy Youssef—who was nominated as both actor and director for his show Ramy—captured the moment when a hazmat-suited presenter waved and walked away from his house.

    Celebs shared a peek of what they’ve been up to during quarantine
    “Many of us have been cooped up at home for months now,” said Kimmel. “So we asked some of our favourite TV stars what they’ve been up to since everything went to hell.” Cut to clips of Mindy Kaling (who’s been doing embroidery), Bob Odenkirk (“I’ve been living inside my garden shed to avoid my family”), Tatiana Maslany (who’s been making wine in her bathroom toilet) and more.

    Categories
    Fitness

    Yep, There’s a Reason Your Feet Are Always Cold

    Some people just have cold feet, in the literal sense. Are you most comfortable wearing UGGs, even in the spring? Does your partner complain about your ice-cold toes brushing up against their shins during the night? If your feet are always cold, there’s an explanation. We talked to Danielle DesPrés, DPM, a board-certified foot and ankle surgeon and podiatrist, to learn more.

    Dr. DesPrés told POPSUGAR that it’s not uncommon to have cold feet some of the time, but if it’s constant, there may be an underlying condition that’s causing it. She suggested speaking with your doctor if cold feet is a recurrent problem for you.

    What Are Some Common Causes of Cold Feet?

    Dr. DesPrés said that poor circulation is one of the most common causes of cold feet. “As the arteries move away from the heart and into the legs and feet, they progressively become smaller and more easily blocked with fatty plaque,” she explained. “Since the arteries going to the feet are the smallest, they are often affected first, thus causing cold feet.” She listed smoking, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and age as risk factors for poor circulation.

    Diabetes and hypothyroidism can also cause cold feet. “Often, in diabetes, if the blood sugar remains consistently high, it can damage the nerves, causing neuropathy, or feelings of an icy-hot burning, which can make the feet cold,” Dr. DesPrés said. “With hypothyroidism, the body doesn’t produce enough hormone, affecting the body’s metabolism, which controls body temperature.”

    Lastly, iron deficiency can lead to freezing feet. Dr. DesPrés said that low iron leads to anemia (decreased red blood cells), one of the side effects of which is chronically cold feet.

    What Can You Do About Chronically Cold Feet?

    Warming up your toes is possible, and how to do this depends on why they’re cold in the first place. If you’re suffering from an underlying disease, you need to treat that particular issue. Dr. DesPrés also suggested a few home remedies to try. She recommended wearing thick socks or slippers while indoors and not walking around with bare feet. And since poor circulation can lead to cold feet, daily exercise is a must. “Simply walking will help improve blood flow and circulation,” she said. “If you’re sitting for long periods, even doing ankle circles and wiggling your toes [is a good start].” Lastly, getting a massage is a great way to increase blood flow to your feet and keep them nice and warm.