Month: February 2021

Imagine teleporting into one of your favorite movie universes, and you’ll have some idea of how KiKi Layne feels right now. “It hasn’t fully hit me,” the 29-year-old actress says of playing opposite Eddie Murphy in Coming 2 America, the sequel to his 1988 comedy. Her eyes widen behind her glasses. “Like, ‘Yo, this is the sequel to Coming to America, and you are Prince Akeem’s daughter. What is this?’ ” Layne, who describes herself as a “huge fan” of the original, found great pleasure in watching Murphy at work. “It was incredible to witness the level of mastery he has over his craft,” she says. “He wasn’t super over-the-top or anything like that; it was just these little faces he would make or a one-liner he would improvise, and it would send everybody on set into laughter.” Layne, who modestly claims, “I’m no comedian,” says she was relieved to play the even-keeled stooge to Murphy’s funny man in the film, which premieres March 5 on Amazon Prime Video.

Micaiah Carter

Micaiah Carter

• BEAUTY TIP: Keep a bold style strong all day with Flawless by Gabrielle Union Repairing Edge Control

Despite downplaying her abilities, Layne definitely has range when it comes to crossing genres: She’s quickly become a hot Hollywood commodity on the strength of her turns in Barry Jenkins’s period drama If Beale Street Could Talk and Gina Prince-Bythewood’s action hit The Old Guard. Olivia Wilde tells me that those performances are what drew her to cast Layne in her upcoming film Don’t Worry Darling, a psychological thriller centering on a 1950s homemaker. “I was moved by how much she can communicate nonverbally, and how boldly vulnerable she is in front of the camera,” Wilde says. “I was just so struck by her presence. What I look for above all else is fearlessness, and she clearly has that in spades.” Layne appears alongside Harry Styles, Florence Pugh, and Gemma Chan in the period piece, clad in era-appropriate restrictive clothing. “I mean, sometimes a girdle is just what you need—smash it all in!” Layne jokes. “But I’m glad we don’t have to do it every day.” While the movie’s plot is as tightly wrapped as one of those ’50s silhouettes, Layne has one of the most challenging roles in the film, Wilde says, adding, “she plays a woman embodying completely opposite ends of the emotional spectrum. I am blown away by her ability to be so vulnerable in one scene and playful in the next. KiKi is clearly a movie star.”

Micaiah Carter

She’ll also be a first-time producer with the upcoming Ring Shout, a series based on the novella by P. Djèlí Clark, which follows Maryse Boudreaux (played by Layne) as she forms a monster-hunting trio with two friends. “The monsters that they hunt are called Ku Kluxes, which are essentially white folk who have turned into monsters, because they’ve become so enveloped in the hatred and violence that they enact on persons of color,” Layne says. The project came to her in the midst of last summer’s protests over the killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis police. A friend had shared a video of James Baldwin comparing racists to “moral monsters.” “I was like, ‘Wow, this is what he was saying—when you are that inhumane, that immoral, you become a monster,’ ” she says. “And when you witness that type of trauma and hatred, what type of hatred does it put into you? How does that start to manifest itself and turn you into a monster as well?”

Micaiah Carter

Layne appreciates that the project centers Black people in science fiction, something Hollywood does all too rarely. “I don’t know if they think that we don’t like that shit or aren’t invested,” she says. “We love it!” Layne has also made it a priority to work with female directors, and women of color in particular, like Kasi Lemmons (Eve’s Bayou, Harriet), who will be Ring Shout’s director and showrunner, and Prince-Bythewood, whose The Old Guard became one of Netflix’s biggest hits of the summer, drawing 78 million viewers in its first month. “People [were] surprised that this action film, directed by a Black woman, was one of the most successful Netflix films ever, but a great director is a great director,” Layne says. “And being a woman, being a person of color—if anything, it adds to the depth of creativity that this person is able to bring, a depth of perspective that has been lacking in the industry.”

Micaiah Carter

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Micaiah Carter

• BEAUTY TIP: Paint lips in a shiny, deep hue, like Dior Rouge Dior lipstick in Daisy Plum

Ultimately, Layne wants the projects she produces and acts in to activate the same feeling in her audience that she had as a kid after seeing Brandy pirouette onscreen as Cinderella. When considering a project, she asks herself, “How does it make the little Black girl in me feel?” She also tries to increase representation with her fashion choices. As excited as she is for what’s next, Layne, an ardent fashion fan (Pyer Moss and Christopher John Rogers are two of her favorite designers), is a little bummed about having to promote Coming 2 America via Zoom. She and her stylists Wayman and Micah had been choosing pieces from up-and-coming Black designers for her to wear on the press tour. “This was such an iconic film for the culture, so we wanted all of my press looks to be for the culture as well,” she says. She’s hoping she’ll still be able to serve looks on the red carpet for Don’t Worry Darling, whose release date is TBD, though she admits she may have some competition: “Harry’s going to be the true star [there],” she jokes. In the meantime, she’s excited to get back on set—an environment where she clearly feels at home. When a car drives by, blotting out our exchange with the roar of its engine, she apologizes reflexively, and then, in true movie-star fashion, playfully yells, “Holding for sound!”—VÉRONIQUE HYLAND

This story appears in the March 2021 issue of ELLE.

HAIR BY LARRY SIMS FOR FLAWLESS; MAKEUP BY REBEKAH ALADDIN AT PR COLLECTIVE; MANICURE BY THUY NGUYEN AT A-FRAME AGENCY; PRODUCED BY MEGHAN GALLAGHER FOR CONNECT THE DOTS INC.; SPECIAL THANKS TO MASERATI FOR THE MC20 SUPER SPORTS CAR.

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Despite it being New York Fashion Week when we speak, Kaia Gerber has all the time in the world. “It’s crazy to hear that it’s even fashion week right now,” she says, when I point out that digital shows and presentations are already going live. Pre-pandemic, she would normally be hopping from plane to hotel to show, and back again, but instead, the nineteen-year-old model is at home with her family in California.

The daughter of industry veteran and ’90s supermodel Cindy Crawford, Gerber is now a super in her own right. Starting her career a mere four years ago, she has gone on to work with every major brand you’ve ever heard of, walking for Prada, Valentino, Chanel, and Saint Laurent, for starters. With runways going virtual, she’s working from home like many of us, something she’s incredibly grateful for. Gerber is lucky, as she says, for “being able to create… I’m so glad that people are finding ways to still make art.”

She’s starring in the second edition of Coach’s “Coach Forever” campaign, a collection that aims to incorporate pieces from seasons past. Coach creative director Stuart Vevers is celebrating easy-to-wear, instantly shoppable pieces that are meant to stay in your wardrobe for years. To amp up their outerwear offerings, Coach joined forces with leatherwear heavyweights Schott NYC to make their leather jackets. Coach also tapped Juergen Teller, a frequent collaborator, to photograph the campaign via Zoom. “It’s so great because Juergen is sitting in his home and still directing you, but it’s definitely a sign of the times,” says Gerber, who was delighted to hear I couldn’t tell the look-book was shot over video chat.

ELLE.com caught up with Gerber on Zoom to talk about all things fashion, her digital book club, and what she has been catching up on during this unexpected downtime.

Juergen Teller

What makes working with Coach, and specifically Stuart, so special for you?

What I love about Stuart is that he’s always evolving, and Coach is always evolving with the times. To be able to still work with Coach safely and to see how they’ve done such a great job creating new things given the state of the world in a safe way is really appreciated by everyone. I was just really happy to be a part of that.

Juergen Teller

What’s something you don’t miss about traveling for fashion month?

It’s crazy to even hear that it’s fashion week right now because normally I’d be working nonstop and traveling. I’m appreciating slowing down. I think in our industry, you travel constantly and don’t really have a chance to stop and reflect, so I’ve been grateful to use this opportunity to stay home and to spend time with my family and do things that we don’t have the time for when you are working a lot. My fashion month schedule is nothing compared to what it normally would be, but I’m pretty grateful that I don’t have to be living on a plane right now.

How has your style changed during quarantine?

I think I’m in the same boat as everyone— I’m living in sweatpants and workout clothes. I do think it’s nice to have a break and I think everyone wants to appear more human now. I think we all feel very connected because we’re all going through this together. The world feels less pressure to get dressed in the morning, which I think is a good thing. Being able to feel confident in sweatpants is one of the greatest gifts. I mean, even putting on pants is a win for me.

What did you finally get around to doing during this time at home?

I’ve been putting off Harry Potter for my entire life until I decided to watch every single movie in order, all the way through for twenty hours, which was a commitment. I don’t regret a single second of it and I’ll do it again and again for the rest of my life. I finally got around to reading the first Harry Potter book, and I’m onto the second now. That’s something that I’ve been putting off but I finally conquered.

Juergen Teller

I am a big fan of your book club and I love that you just did Slave Play. If you had to start a book club with your fellow Coach collection stars, what book would you choose and why?

Wow, great question. What I love about Stuart are his movie references. I think they’re so iconic, and he really has this appreciation for Old Hollywood. Maybe something by Eve Babitz or, I mean everyone who knows me knows how much I love Joan Didion so maybe her. For the next Coach campaign we’ll do a book club!

I’m saying! Coach can sell books, sell clothes.

I think everyone should have a book club. That’s why we’re doing Slave Play this month because it ties back into culture. There are so many things happening in the world right now and for me to focus on these issues and to be able to discuss them in-depth [through literature] is a nice break. It deals with all these issues, and most of the time it ties into things that we’re still going through today. That’s what literature is. That’s why I love it.

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“I didn’t grow up seeing someone like me on billboards and in mainstream advertisements, even in India, my own country.”

“I wasn’t trying to be a colourism advocate,” says Nidhi Sunil over a Zoom call. “But once I started modelling, I was faced with so many professional roadblocks that I had to combat it and stand up for myself.” The model, actress and philanthropist, who grew up in South India and went to school in Bombay, has just been announced as L’Oréal Paris’ new Global Ambassador. Sunil worked in environmental law before signing with Elite Model Management in Bombay at age 22. In the last 10 years, she has graced the pages of international magazines, appeared in films, and starred and fashion and beauty campaigns. Today, she becomes the first Indian model to be signed as a Global Ambassador for L’Oréal Paris.

“In India, it’s a huge deal to be a L’Oréal spokesperson,” says Sunil. “One the first Indian L’Oréal spokespeople was Aishwarya Rai [actress and the winner of the Miss World 1994 pageant]. I remember her advertisement being blasted all over when I was a kid.” Sunil hopes that her new role with the beauty brand will “open the gates for other girls who […] aren’t fair-skinned and have green eyes,” which is the ideal beauty standard in India, she says.

“Mainstream aspirational beauty in India is very fair — very white — and considering it’s a country full of brown people, it’s kind of a colonial hangover,” says Sunil. “You have a self-loathing for your own skin colour. I had to fight to create space for myself in the modelling industry, even in India, because we actually had a lot of models [working in Bombay] from England, South Africa, Russia, and I had to push my management agency to make space for Indian girls [like me] — in an Indian market! That’s why I feel like this collaboration is pivotal, because I didn’t grow up seeing someone like me on billboards and in mainstream advertisements, even in India, my own country.”

Sunil’s hope is that her partnership with L’Oréal Paris will speak to young boys and girls who, like her, grew up feeling “unrepresented, unseen and collectively barred from feeling beautiful. [Now I’m] in a position to talk about a large and collective shared experience as a dark-skinned Indian person.”

In her 10 years in the modelling industry, Sunil has witnessed the evolution of social media and the way that models, and anyone in the public eye, can use it to take control of their own stories. She has tried to leverage the power of social media to change the messaging around beauty standards. “Before the internet and social media, whatever you saw on TV was truth,” she says. “So if a brand was advertising that something was true, then [we assumed] it must have been true. There was a collective brainwashing. Today, it’s up to us to reach out to our communities and share what we feel, what we believe, and to shape our own collective narratives instead of giving someone else the power to brand your own perceptions in their favour.”

The first L’Oréal Paris campaign that Sunil will appear in will be under the shampoo category. “My relationship with hair is so deep,” she says. “I grew up with my mom shoving coconut oil onto my head and making me sleep with it against my will so I’d have long beautiful when I grew up. Hair is such a huge part of my identity.” Because of her emotional ties to her long hair, Sunil jokes that “at this point, because it’s such a huge part of my identity, I would cut it off just to see what it’s like. That’s what 2020 has done to me. After this past year it’s like, ‘Oh, you want me to destroy my identity and come out the other side? Fine.’”

Justine Carreon remembers the first pair of sneakers she latched onto. “I wore the same pair of slip-on Vans every day of my sophomore year in high school,” ELLE’s senior fashion market editor shares. The combo she wore on repeat: a pair of workman jeans, a studded belt, and “not-so-vintage” band tees sourced at the mall. “My sneakers were so worn down that I could stick my entire foot out through a four-inch hole that ripped at the seam where the fabric meets the rubber sole,” she recalls. Today, that nostalgic skater aesthetic remains an influential part of her wardrobe.

These days, Carreon’s still wearing Vans but with a slightly less tattered vibe. And with spring around the corner—a season she dubs as “goldilocks sneaker weather”—she’s lending her California-cool sensibilities to help you find your perfect pair of sneakers and plan some looks around them. (She’s originally from the Bay Area and is currently spending time at home with her parents and brothers, who also happened to photograph this story.)

“I’m a big fan of comfort, but I don’t let that stop me from getting weird with my style,” she shares. She adheres to a pick-your-shoes-first methodology for planning outfits, which works like a charm. “To me, sneakers are always the foundation for creating a look that doesn’t compromise who I am, or my foot health.”

Above all else, Carreon views the perfect sneakers as a comfort choice. “It’s more of a feel than how it looks,” she says. “It doesn’t try too hard and comes across as authentic to your true style.” Though she jokes that her early days of sneaker-wearing were spurred by a desire to earn street cred with the sneakerhead skaters, Carreon’s current collection of sneakers complement her confident, don’t-take-yourself-too-seriously style.

Ahead, find out what all the fuss over sneakers is about as she puts three statement pairs from DSW to the test for spring.

Jeremiah Carreon

Court Vision Low Sneaker

Nike
dsw.com

$69.99

If you’ve been putting outfits together long enough, you know that neutrals are the easiest color palette to build an outfit around—particularly white sneakers. “They give you ample wiggle room to experiment,” Carreon explains. “These Nikes are the clean slate that lets me get a little strange with silhouettes or wild prints.”

She paired hers with a chunky knit and pleated midi skirt, an unexpected duo. “I’ve been streaming a series lately and there’s a character who wears sneakers with literally everything—tweed business skirt sets, suits, mini dresses, everything. She’s been a major source of inspiration when it comes to balancing sporty shoes with more feminine silhouettes,” Carreon says.

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Jeremiah Carreon

311 Sneaker

New Balance
dsw.com

$64.99

You’ve probably grown tired of hearing how to wear your sweatpants well over the course of the pandemic—the internet’s efforts to link stay-at-home orders to loungewear sometimes feels like overkill. However, if you’re up for one more suggestion, Carreon has a solid idea: a pair of New Balance sneakers. “Wearing sweats with a fresh pair of sneakers makes me feel a lot less like a slob,” she says. “Hint: bright white tube socks instantly freshen up an athleisure look, as does adding gold hoop earrings (a trick I stole from an ELLE cover star).”

Beyond the sweats, Carreon also deviates from the expected head-to-toe cozies and adds in a few statement pieces. “I’ll contrast my sweat set with more street style pieces like a statement jacket or a puffer vest,” she adds.

Jeremiah Carreon

Ward Platform High-Top Sneaker

Vans
dsw.com

$74.99

“As a Californian and an avid surfer, skate culture has always influenced how I dress, even though I consider myself to be more of a skater groupie than an actual skater,” Carreon says. So it’s no surprise that professional skaters are serving as her style inspiration these days. This aesthetic translates to Carreon’s spring looks via slouchy silhouettes and a pair of high-top Vans.

“Lately, I’ve been gravitating toward baggy ‘menswear’ pieces—the differentiation of menswear vs. womenswear is arbitrary, IMO—so this argyle cardigan is unisex,” she notes. “I stole these trousers from my dad, and these Vans are sneakers you can see on literally anyone.”

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Will, Jada, Jaden and Willow are launching the gender-neutral brand Hey Humans this month.

The Smith family is making their way to the beauty aisle. Power couple Will and Jada have teamed up with their kids, Jaden and Willow, to launch an eco-friendly personal care brand called Hey Humans, WWD reported today.

The Smiths have collaborated with beauty-brand incubator Maesa (which has also partnered with celebs like Taraji P. Henson and Priyanka Chopra Jonas for their own lines) for the project. According to Maesa, Hey Humans is 99 percent plastic-free, packaging their vegan formulas in aluminum and paper containers. The name speaks to the family’s overall mission, a call-to-action to treat both our bodies and planet well.

“For me, personal care is a practice that represents self-love,” Pinkett Smith, who is also the brand’s creative director, told WWD. “COVID-19 has made us all, myself included, pause and think about our daily routine, the values we live by and the ingredients in the products we use. From self-care rituals to natural, nuanced beauty, we’re all seeking ways to enhance our lives and incorporate a more holistic approach to a healthy lifestyle from the comfort of our homes.”

Hey Humans is launching with four products: a foaming body wash enriched with moisturizing jojoba seed oil; a lightweight body lotion formulated with soothing aloe leaf juice and Vitamin E; a natural deodorant that contains sweat-absorbing arrowroot powder; and a minty fluoride toothpaste. Each of the body products also come in multiple, gender-neutral scents, like calming lavender vanilla, and use upcycled fragrance ingredients.

The Smiths are no strangers to working together. In 2015, Will and Jada helped Jaden launch Just Water, a sustainably sourced spring water brand housed in plant-derived cartons.

The brand is now available exclusively at Target, and nothing costs more than $6 (USD). There’s no word yet on when Hey Humans will be available in Canada, but we’ll update this post with the latest info.

Here, the JUNO Awards rising star talks about self-acceptance, fighting the urge to seek external validation, and what it was like to go viral with “Princesses Don’t Cry” on TikTok.

Aviva Mongillo, a.k.a. CARYS, had been acting in projects like CBC’s Workin’ Moms, Long Shot with Charlize Theron and Seth Rogen, and Family Channel’s popular TV series Backstage, and working on her solo music career for several years when, in 2019, she planned on overhauling her image as a musician and creating a new stage identity.

That plan was thwarted when the Markham, Ont. native’s 2017 song “Princesses Don’t Cry” suddenly went viral on TikTok, two years after its initial release. (It has since racked up a mind-blowing 71 million-plus spins, and counting, and peaked at #2 on Spotfiy’s Global Viral Chart.) This unexpected exposure forced CARYS to embrace who she was instead of trying to create a character for herself.

In the JUNO Awards latest installment in its RisingPresented by TD series, a series of mini-documentaries profiling up-and-coming Canadian talent, the 22-year-old To Anyone Like Me musician talks about relinquishing control, embracing her identity and learning to no longer seek external validation. Here, CARYS dives deeper into her personal journey to self-acceptance — and the joys of TikTok.

In the RisingPresented by TD video, you talk about choosing between breakthrough and setback. How have you learned to get out of your own way?

Very slowly, haha. I think it’s a process. I don’t think I’m 100% out of my own way yet. With each new experience or opportunity I challenge myself to do the most loving thing I can do and be as loving as I can. Sometimes my fear of possible outcomes stops me from just going for it in the moment but I try to cheer myself on for every time I do choose to push through.

How did you react when the sudden TikTok success around “Princesses Don’t Cry” threw a wrench in your plan to recreate your identity? How did you deal with that lack of control? 

When anything doesn’t go to plan for me I kind of freak out, even if it’s something as small as not doing my laundry at the time I said I was going to do my laundry. So on this much larger scale, I was scared to let go of my plan. It’s been super vulnerable for me because I wasn’t aware that I was trying to play a character until I didn’t want the character to go away, but this experience has taught me a lot about letting go and trusting the process. I was trying to write music for a character and now I’m continuously discovering parts of who I truly am through writing music and I find that much more fulfilling.

You talk about feeling like sharing your work is like opening up your diary to the world. What advice do you have for people putting themselves out there in similar ways? 

I always ask myself, “When I’m old and grey and I’m looking back at this time, what do I want the story to be? That I let my fear stop me from going after what I wanted or that I took that leap of faith?” And the answer for me is always obvious, but it’s never easy!

@itsari.aleisePOV: you’re my younger sibling and you are scared for your first ball but I got your back❤️♬ Princesses Don’t Cry – CARYS

How do you feel today when you hear “Princesses Don’t Cry” on TikTok — does the excitement ever wear off?

I feel like I get more and more excited as time goes on. In a generation where it only takes 15 seconds to move on to the next trend, I feel overwhelmingly grateful that so many people are still supporting and loving that song! I’ll never get sick of it.

What’s your favourite thing about TikTok? 

TikTok makes me feel less alone and makes me laugh so much. I love seeing people share their stories; it’s made me feel more confident to do the same. I find myself going “Other people feel this too?! Thank GOODNESS” a lot. And I love stealing recipes from TikTok. I learned how to make fettuccine alfredo in quarantine and it was restaurant quality.

What was the experience of being in a bigger Hollywood movie production like Long Shot compared to a TV production like Workin’ Moms? 

I have always been a big Seth Rogen fan so the idea of being on set with him intimidated and excited me! Once I was there, it was super calm and fun and I just remember running my lines 600 times trying to be as prepared as possible, obviously wanting to make a good impression. I channeled my nerves into the work all day and as soon as I wrapped I had a “holy crap” moment where I just fan-girled to myself.

Is not seeking external validation something you still have to work through at times? If so, how do you deal with that urge?

Yes, of course. I think it’s human nature to want validation from other humans. I deal with it by giving it to myself! I realized that I can be someone who needs validation and someone who can validate me at the same time.

Finally, what’s your all-time favourite karaoke song? 

I don’t have an all-time favourite but I almost always choose a One Direction song.

Watch the full RisingPresented by TD mini-doc about CARYS here: