Update (16 November 2017): London Mayor Sadiq Khan has said Uber's appeal to renew its licence to operate in London could take years, the BBC reported. The taxi app's licence expired in October but Londoners can still use it while it pursues an appeal.
Original story: If you live in the capital, chances are you're currently engaged in multiple WhatsApp conversations about today's big news (aside from, y'know, the prime minister's critical Brexit speech): Uber has been banned in London.
In a bold move, Transport for London (TfL), which hands out licences for taxis in the capital, has refused to renew the company's licence. TfL said it's not "fit and proper" to hold a private operator licence due to numerous concerns over security and public safety, BBC News reported. The Met Police had accused Uber of failing to report serious crimes, including sexual assaults, to protect its reputation.
TfL has today informed Uber that it will not be issued with a private hire operator licence. pic.twitter.com/nlYD0ny2qo
Announcing its decision this morning, TfL said Uber showed "a lack of corporate responsibility" and referred to its approach to reporting serious criminal offences, among other factors. London Mayor Sadiq Khan said he backed TfL's decision, adding: "It would be wrong if TfL continued to license Uber if there is any way that this could pose a threat to Londoners' safety and security."
Uber has already said it will appeal, citing the "3.5 million Londoners who use our app, and more than 40,000 licensed drivers who rely on Uber to make a living." It has 21 days to make appeal the decision.
As you can imagine, people have a lot to say about the news. Black cabbies and Addison Lee drivers are overjoyed.
Black-cabbie Chris says he's "over the moon" at Uber news. Thinks people will fully ignored sexual assault claims for cheap fares. pic.twitter.com/snW1J38c2C
But – and it's a big but – despite the celebratory tone of some people's reactions, a large portion of Londoners are very annoyed.
Suspect Sadiq Khan is going to rapidly discover that Londoners aren't anywhere near as anti-Uber as almost all London politicians seem to be pic.twitter.com/CGRYpa6BfF
Did we forget that when the terror attack in London Bridge happened, Uber took anyone that needed them for FREE, black cabs where were u?! pic.twitter.com/6blFtbOco2
Some pointed out the potential safety risks of there being one fewer mode of late-night transport, and others highlighted the potential impact on the 40,000 Uber drivers who already had to endure poor working conditions.
If TFL are playing hardball to make Uber clean up their act that's great, but you're mad if you think London will be safer without uber.
Some believe it's unlikely Uber will be completely banned forever in London and that it's more likely the company will have to sort itself out and ensure customer safety, in which case, great. But if not, it might be time to reacquaint yourself with the night bus. And thank god for the night tube.
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The Story of The Face, writer and curator Paul Gorman's homage to the iconic youth culture publication, couldn't come at a more interesting time. The magazine industry is at a turning point: British Vogue is entering an exciting new era with Edward Enninful at the helm just as women's publications across the board close down in the face of a growing digital content landscape; meanwhile, the independent zine scene continues to thrive.
Gorman's book traces the highs and lows of The Face, the first magazine that truly captured youth culture. Running from 1980 to 2004, it showcased world-class photography from industry giants such as Nick Knight, Corinne Day and David Sims; era-defining graphic design from the likes of Neville Brody; and faces including Kate Moss, Boy George and David Bowie. Whether or not you've ever picked up a copy, you'll recognise the aesthetic of The Face – perhaps you've Pinned a photograph from one of the editorials, or seen a feature headline referenced online.
Earlier this year, the magazine was acquired by Wasted Talent Ltd., gearing up for a relaunch of the brand in 2018. We spoke to Gorman about its lasting legacy on popular culture, the boom in indie publishing, and what The Face might look like in the age of Instagram.
Tell me why you wanted to create this book on The Face.
Most of my work involves assessing things in visual culture that are either misunderstood or haven’t been recognised. The Face was such a big part of the '80s and '90s, particularly in Britain, but when [founder] Nick Logan sold it in 1999, it wasn’t digitised and then it sort of slumped and closed. It was still pretty good, but there was so much competition that the circulation couldn’t hold within a corporate structure.
Less than seven years later it had disappeared, but it popped up on Tumblrs, Pinterest and Instagram, so there was a generation of people who were used to the digital world but couldn’t really comprehend this analogue beast. One of the things that made me realise this was when I was going to the initial meetings for this publication, I used to bring copies of the magazine with me. I sat on the Tube when everyone was reading books on tablets, these grey objects, and I’d open up the pages of The Face, which was this kaleidoscopic explosion, and it would kind of blow people’s minds that you were doing this eccentric, old-fashioned thing. Which only 12 years before would have been the norm. So I was being a missionary for it, saying, "Look, fuckers, this was actually a really important thing that altered the way we look at and experience visual culture and how that's communicated today."
Despite the photography and design being circulated online now, I wonder how aware people are of its origins. How would you describe The Face to someone who has never seen a copy?
To use an old-fashioned term, it was a 'general interest' magazine, because it was never a pure fashion magazine. Generally, it would have stories about social issues. In the last issue that Nick produced in 1999, there’s a really great seven- or eight-page feature on the arrival of Eastern European immigrants in Leicester. There are pieces on the miners' strike in the '80s, there were pieces on the government versus acid house, and the clampdown on rave culture in the early '90s. So you got writers talking about how our basic human rights were being clamped down on, but in that same issue you would have a great fashion shoot by Corinne Day of Kate Moss, as well as a really great music interview, and each would have an individual angle. So it wasn't like this segregated, atomised world that we now work in, everything had its niche.
But at the same time it was a general interest magazine that appealed to young people and presented the best across those worlds from media, architecture, design, interiors, fashion, music. There’s a really great quote at the end of the book by [editor] Sheryl Garrett, the second most important person in the story of The Face. She says, "If you come from Mars, or even from 2017, and you want to know what was happening in popular culture in the 1980s and 1990s, pick up The Face and it'll tell you all you need to know".
You talk about the survival of printed media. Today's most successful publications seem to be the most niche. Do you think there’s anything more all-encompassing out there right now that reflects youth culture as well as The Face did?
Look at NME, one of the great loves of my life when I was a kid in the '70s: it's now given away as a music paper on the Tube. That’s because the cost of production and the corporate environment aren't actually the right place for this type of expression, which is quite niche and needs its own audience. And that’s why right now is interesting, because as the corporate structures fail, the independents really start to build an alliance of really exciting activity and I’m really, really positive about it.
I think magazines like gal-dem and Burnt Roti do what The Face did then – they're led by a lot of young women, which I think is really exciting. I think Sheryl and Nick would be very proud. Nick, starting with Julie Burchill in the first issue, gave loads of strong, opinionated women an arena to express themselves in The Face. And I think today to survive in media, in the digital age, one has to be niche. At its height, it only sold 126,000 copies, which is nothing – it was quite niche itself, it was for tastemakers and people who were ahead of the pack. I think in terms of 'We've made our statement, now what are we going to do with it?' Penny Martin at The Gentlewoman has done that incredibly well. She's done what Nick did in assembling this great editorial team and having the highest standards.
With The Face 's recent acquisition, what do you think it needs in order to survive – is a digitally focused youth going to engage?
I see that the most successful magazines, Monocle and The Gentlewoman for example, are multi-platform. They’re alive and well in the digital age, but the physical manifestation of the title isn’t just an afterthought, they’re making it the focus of it all. These are actually books and collectables, things of value. You may be able to only sell them to 10,000 people where you used to be able to sell them to 100,000, but if you can get the business model right, it will work for you.
Do you have a favourite shoot or feature at all?
The "Love Sees No Colour" issue. There’s a whole chapter dedicated to it in the book, about how the chips were down because of the Jason Donovan court case [the singer took The Face to court for implying his homosexuality in a feature], and Nick was facing ruin. During that, he and Sheryl came up with this image which really resonates today because it's about the rise of the far right, it’s about our ties to Europe, and about protesting for tolerance, inclusivity and diversity – all about the great things that made popular culture great at that period. They sent out a brief that simply said "Love Sees No Colour" to everyone from David Bowie, to footballers, via Paul Smith and Boy George. It’s just a great collective outpouring of positivity, and, without being too hippy about it, it’s really beautifully realised.
Exactly. And we must always have time for that, especially in these benighted times. Really I think one of the areas independent magazines have used culture and pop culture is in approaching topics like Brexit. Look at American magazines; journalism in America right now is just among the best it's ever been. They're really on their game at trying to hold that wretched creature in the White House to account and I think that if The Face was around today, for sure they'd be addressing Brexit, but they’d be doing it in that inclusive, quite rousing and celebratory, British way. We’ve always been accepting – scratch us and we’ll say ‘My granny is from Ireland’. We‘re sons and daughters of immigrants, we’re not from where we live now, we’re a great diverse nation and that’s really the challenge for independent magazines today because it's the greatest issue that faces us all.
Click through to see our pick of the photography, covers and features from The Face archives.
Don't panic, but that risky WhatsApp message you changed your mind about and "unsent" via the app's new feature? Yeah, it may still have been read. According to new reports, the messaging app's "unsend" mechanism isn't as foolproof as you may have hoped or assumed.
The long-awaited feature, known as "Delete for Everyone", was added to the app last month and purportedly allows WhatsApp users to make messages disappear from a conversation, making them invisible to both the sender and recipient. However, it turns out there are still ways to read these deleted messages.
The team at Spanish blog Android Jefe have discovered two ways that Android users can subvert the mechanism and read the regrettable text-based messages they weren't meant to see. The first is via the Notification Log on Android – simply hold down the Settings icon, tap the Widgets symbol that shows up at the top of the pop-up window and drag the Settings Widget to the home screen before scrolling down to Notification Log and selecting the relevant message on the list.
The other method is by downloading an app called Notification History and giving it permission to access the deleted messages. When a user receives a message, the app shows a notification log along with the text-based message – some devices show up to 100 characters while others display the whole message – even if it's subsequently deleted.
"What we found is that the messages are stored in the notification register of the Android system. So, it's just a matter of entering that record to see the messages that the other person deleted," the blog concluded.
However, some claim users can only read the deleted messages if they've already interacted with them, i.e. that they've already read (and been hurt/shocked/outraged by), rather than ones that were deleted before the recipient saw them. The deleted messages also reportedly disappear from your Notification Log when you restart your phone, so you won't have access to them forever, which may provide some reassurance.
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As we sit in the middle of what feels like a never-ending monsoon of victims coming forward to accuse powerful men of sexual assault and harassment, Angelina Jolie is making sure the world knows why this reckoning is so important. In her keynote address to the U.N. Peacekeeping Defence Ministerial Conference in Vancouver on Wednesday, People reports that the actress reminded the room that "sexual violence is everywhere." Hollywood isn't the only industry that's doing some serious reflecting, and Jolie emphasised that just because this movement is happening now doesn't mean these instances of violence weren't occurring before — they just weren't taken seriously.
"All too often, these kinds of crimes against women are laughed off, depicted as a minor offence by someone who cannot control themselves, as an illness, or as some kind of exaggerated sexual need," she said. "But a man who mistreats women is not oversexed. He is abusive."
While Jolie hasn't gone into much detail about her own experience with the issue, she did come forward following the allegations against Harvey Weinstein.
"I had a bad experience with Harvey Weinstein in my youth, and as a result, chose never to work with him again and warn others when they did," she told the Times. And while this decision didn't stop her career, other women who take a stand against their predators aren't so lucky. In her speech, Jolie describes sexual abuse as "cheaper than a bullet," and one of the biggest obstacles for women working to achieve equal rights.
"Even if we accept that sexual violence has nothing to do with sex, that it is a crime, and that it is used as a weapon, many people still believe that it is simply not possible to do anything about it," she added, but she wants to make clear that that's not the case. "We have the laws, the institutions, and the expertise in gathering evidence. We are able to identify perpetrators. What is missing is the political will."
Now, at least, it sounds like the tides are turning.
If you have experienced sexual violence of any kind, please visit Rape Crisis or call 0808 802 9999.
As much as I love sharing my dating stories, there are a lot of experiences that I haven't had. That's why I'll be talking to people with a broad range of experiences to see how things are different — and how they're the same. Of course, these individuals don’t speak for entire demographics, but they do provide some insight into the nuances of the very human search for love and connection.
This week, I spoke with Hannah, a 32-year-old trans woman who identifies as bisexual.
Tell me about yourself. “I’m a trans woman. I do identify as sexual. I’ve been doing a lot of advocacy work and speaking out on trans issues lately. I was in medical school two years ago, but because of an administration that was hostile to my transition, that kind of fell by the wayside. So now I’ve been writing and doing public speaking which has filled that gap.”
Are you currently in a relationship? “No, but I am dating. Sometimes. Dating is complicated.”
That’s true for many, but I’m sure your complications are different than my complications. “Yes and no. I’m confident about being trans, and my philosophy about dating as a trans woman is I bring up my trans status as soon as possible. And sometimes it will be as simple as mentioning, ‘Oh I just got off a Lifeline call. ’ Because I was a volunteer coordinator for them. Or I’ll say, ‘Oh I was working with this youth person and they’re trans,’ and then I can segue into saying that I’m trans, too. I feel the person out about it, and I do that quickly. It’s not a dominating conversation when you’re dating somebody, but if they’re not fully on board and aware of what’s going on, they’re not worth my time.”
I’ve spoken to trans individuals who don’t like feeling like they “need” to disclose something like that upfront. Does it bother you that you feel like you have to disclose your trans status so early in a relationship? “I think it’s the reason why I do it. I don’t put it on a dating site directly. Now, some will give you the option to list a trans status, but I don’t believe it belongs there. That said, when I’m meeting the person, I believe it’s about my time and my feeling this person out. I pay attention to what they know, what they’re willing to learn, and what kinds of questions they ask me immediately. If I don’t think they’re worth my time, then that’s fine. I have plenty of other people who want to date me.”
My philosophy about dating as a trans woman is I bring up my trans status as soon as possible.
Why don’t you like listing your trans status on your profile? “There’s a level of prejudice that comes with putting it on the dating site in black-and-white. On certain sites, like OkCupid where you’re able to write in longer profiles and descriptions about yourself, I’ll put it in the actual profile description. But it’s not the first line, and it’s not the last line. It’s in the middle. It’s a good barometer for me of who actually reads my profile, because if you read it all the way through, you would have found it.
“I firmly believe that with dating apps especially — and that’s the only way people date these days that I’m aware of — you get out what you put in. So if someone just says, ‘Hey baby,” and expects me to go on this diatribe about myself where I reveal everything, that’s not who I am. And when I’m with the person, in person, I’ll put them on the spot with it and see how they react. Although that depends on the partner I’m with and what circles they travel in.”
Why do you mean? “So I’m bisexual. If I’m dating someone who identifies as a female, then they are already generally identifying as queer, or else they wouldn’t be dating me. So they’re already into queer circles, and there’s a lot less exposition that I have to do about what trans is. It’s when I’m dating guys, the majority of whom are straight, that I have to give that exposition. So there is a gender bias, but it comes from the fact that one population is usually in the queer community, and the other isn’t. And I’m trying to weave in and out of those, because I belong in both words, and I deserve to be seen as a woman in both words. It’s not like I’m a guy in straight world and a woman in gay world — I’m a woman everywhere.”
And you date mainly online? “Yeah — I’ve tried a bunch of them. I have profiles on most of them. I try to ask out people I meet in synagogue and in social places, too. Online dating levels the playing field a lot, but it kinda sucks. And that’s part of the reason why I’m 32 and I’m not in a relationship. I’m not getting married or starting a family. And that weighs heavily on me. Even as a trans woman, [I feel like] my biological clock is ticking.”
Even as a trans woman, [I feel like] my biological clock is ticking.
Did the weight of wanting to start a family pop up for you once you transitioned, or is it something that you’ve always wanted? “I wanted to be a daddy or a parent even before I transitioned. But I knew I never wanted [my transition] to destroy a partner’s life. I wanted to transition before I became a partner or a parent. I never wanted to do that first, and then transition and have it affect all these other lives. That was the narrative I’d read when I was younger, because that was the only path afforded to a lot of people.
“That being said, the practical reality of having children is all the more difficult now. I did freeze sperm before I transitioned. That was something that was very important for me to do. And it depends now whether my future partner has a uterus — whether it’s a cis woman or a trans man — and we use it.
"The other possibilities are that my partner and I will adopt children one day together, or that I may end up being a stepmother to children who he or she brings to the relationship. That’s already something that scares me, in terms of those power dynamics. How do I come in as a first-time parent to a situation when these children already have both parents? I’m forever sharing these children, whom I want to be fully invested in, because I do want to be fully invested in them. You’re Italian, I’m Jewish: You know what it’s like to be that fully invested mother in a child’s life. [Laughs] ”
Oh yes, I totally do. “But even though I took into consideration the family I might have in the future, I transitioned for me. The burden of satisfaction in my body and my life doesn’t shift to somebody else. If it did, I could have just found a partner who was fine with me having a penis. But it’s not about having a penis, it’s about having a vagina, and being who I am. So any partner has to take me as I am, and they have to want to face the realities of my life with me. And the right person is going to want to do that with me.”
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
Related Video:
Let's Talk About Gender vs. Sexual Orientation
Gender and sexual orientation are both highly personal and constantly evolving. So, in honour of Transgender Awareness Week, we're talking about the importance of language and raising the voices of the LGBTQIA community.
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In the trailer for Cold Blooded: The Clutter Family Murders, SundanceTV’s two-part documentary special airing this weekend, an announcer says, “Discover the murders that made true crime an American obsession.” While usually that kind of pronouncement might come off as a cheesy marketing ploy, in the case of the Clutter murders, it’s actually true. The senseless, horrific murder of an entire family in Holcomb, Kansas, occurred in the year 1959 — and we’re still talking about this crime today because of Truman Capote’s book, In Cold Blood.
Along with the rest of the nation, Capote read about the Clutter murders in the newspaper. Intrigued, the author traveled to Kansas to begin research on what he sought to be the first nonfiction novel. He ingratiated himself into the small community, interviewed the murderers, compiled 8,000 of pages of notes, and ended up writing the first true crime book in publishing history.
The SundanceTV special, airing November 18 and 19, is set to add to the legend by featuring archival footage of the Clutter family, as well as first-ever interviews from their relatives. Here’s what you need to know before watching.
Pictured: Herb and Bonnie Clutter, far left, at their daughter Eveanna's wedding
The brutal murders occurred in the early morning of November 15, 1959.
Herb Clutter was a well-respected farmer who lived with his wife, Bonnie, and two youngest children, Nancy (16), and Kenyon (15), in a two-story house surrounded by seven acres of farmland. The two other Clutter daughters — Beverly and Eveanna — were not home that evening.
The morning after the murder, two of Nancy’s classmates walked into the house, and discovered what had happened. TheNew York Times ran an article about the quadruple murder on November 16, which read, “A wealthy wheat farmer, his wife and their two young children were found shot to death today in their home. They had been killed by shotgun blasts at close range after being bound and gagged. The father, 48-year-old Herbert W. Clutter, was found in the basement with his son, Kenyon, 15. His wife Bonnie, 45, and a daughter, Nancy, 16, were in their beds. There were no signs of a struggle, and nothing had been stolen. The telephone lines had been cut.”
This article was enough for Truman Capote, who was made famous by the book Breakfast at Tiffany ’s, to book a flight to Kansas. No one knew what had happened.
Pictured: Nancy Clutter
What happened?
Six weeks after the murder, two ex-cons, Richard “Dick” Hickock and Perry Smith, were arrested. They confessed to the crime, and were sentenced to execution.
Here's what happened. While serving time at the Kansas State Penitentiary, Hickock and Smith had heard from a cellmate, who had been a farmhand for the Clutters, that Herb Clutter kept a safe in his house containing thousands of dollars.
Hickock and Smith drove 400 miles to the Clutter farm, and invaded with the intention of robbery. They woke up all four members of the Clutter family and demanded they turn over the safe. But there was no safe. In fact, there was only $50 cash in the house. From there, the home invasion turned grisly. Seeking to leave no witnesses, Smith slit Herb’s throat. The three other family members were then shot.
Where does Truman Capote come into this?
After hearing of the Clutter murders in 1959, Capote and his friend Harper Lee, author of To Kill a Mockingbird, traveled to Kansas to research an article for the New Yorker. Instead, he spent years flying between Kansas and her home, compiled 8,000 pages of notes, and wrote a 350-page book.
In Cold Blood was published in 1966, and called a “masterpiece” by the Times. “Put simply, the book was conceived of journalism and born of a novelist,” wrote Kate Colquhoun ofThe Independent, indicating that Capote achieved his goal of writing the first “nonfiction novel.”
Capote never finished another novel.
Photo by John Downing/Express/Getty Images)
How accurate was In Cold Blood?
There’s debate as to how much of Capote’s book is true. For an 1966 Esquire article, journalist Philip K. Tompkins followed Capote’s trail in Kansas, and interviewed many of his sources. Tompkins found discrepancies between what the sources told him, and what appeared in the book.
At the article’s conclusion, Tompkins wrote, “Capote has, in short, achieved a work of art. He has told exceedingly well a tale of high terror in his own way. But, despite the brilliance of his self-publicising efforts, he has made both a tactical and a moral error that will hurt him in the short run. By insisting that ‘every word’ of his book is true he has made himself vulnerable to those readers who are prepared to examine seriously such a sweeping claim.”
Still, the lead investigator of the Clutter case, Alan Dewey, said that most of the book was accurate, save for some misquotes and dramatic flourishes.
You can watch Capote for more.
The 2005 film Capote focuses on Capote’s time investigating the murders and writing In Cold Blood. The film pays special attention to the relationship which forms between Capote and Smith during his visits to the prison. Despite knowing what Smith did, Capote develops feelings of attachment to the prisoner.
Philip Seymour Hoffman won an Academy Award for his portrayal of Capote.
What makes the In Cold Blood: The Clutter Family Murders special different from other movies?
The tragic Clutter family murders have been brought to the screen before. In 1967, a film adaptation of In Cold Blood depicted the murders in full. Capote(2005) and Infamous(2006) both focused on Capote’s perspective.
Until now, no definitive true crime documentary has ever been made about the murders. The Sundance documentary will air never-before-seen archival footage of the Clutter family, and feature first-ever interviews with their living relatives.
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Looking at beautiful hotel rooms online is our favourite way to virtually escape: For some reason, photos of marble baths, king-sized beds, and towering chandeliers feel like the perfect daydreaming vessel. We might not have the funds to live it up in a presidential suite just yet, but one can exercise the power of imagination, right?
When it comes to luxury stays, there's your executive suites with all your standard niceties, and then there's the properties that are so exquisitely designed, you'll want to add them to your bucket list immediately. From a Chanel-approved suite to an imperial summer palace, we've rounded up the most incredible spaces offered by hospitality brands around the world. We've also thrown in the nightly rates, so you know how much that #suitelife is really going to cost.
Literary buffs will love this gem of a hotel suite: It's rumoured to be the very spot where Rudyard Kipling wrote much of The Jungle Book. Designed by Olga Polizzi, the sumptuous suites feature an Italian marble bath, hand-painted wallpaper, and antique bust sculptures.
The bright colours of Jaipur can be seen throughout this palatial hotel, formerly the official residence of British colonial officers. This magnificent private residence is decked in vibrant wallpaper with royal motifs. Magnificent interiors aside, the property also comes with a heated pool, and a private butler.
Iniala Beach House is the type of place that's made for Instagram. The beachside resort features a collection of wildly individual villas dreamed up by some of the top designers of the world. The most visually striking suites can be found at Villa Siam, outfitted with cocoon-shaped beds, traditional sculptures in technicolor, and a golden spa room inspired by Thai temples.
It's hard to find a view more epic than this: The Alpina's chalet-style suite is surrounded by a sweeping view of snow-capped mountains and expansive meadows. Just imagine taking a bath while looking out to the Alps.
Coco Chanel famously lived at the Ritz for over three decades. The iconic couturier had a hand in designing the interiors of this suite, imbuing her signature monochrome aesthetic. Her impossibly chic decorating touches reflect her love ornate mirrors and lacquer furniture.
Udang is Indonesian "shrimp," and you'll be seeing plenty of that at the suite. The eco-conscious hotel has built a suite above a shrimp pond with tempered glass flooring. The hut itself is more than a century old, and was once used for food production. This is definitely a steal compared to the rest of the suites on the list.
Formerly a summer retreat for the Chinese imperial family, the luxury hotel juxtaposes the traditional architecture from the Ming and Qing Dynasty with calligraphy and ceramics by modern-day artists. This elegant suite grants you access to the private courtyard, as well as a exclusive entrance to Yiheyuan Summer Palace, the largest royal park in the country and a popular tourist destination.
From £917/night
Photo: Courtesy of Aman.
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One thing I never expected to worry about is how daunting it can be to dress for a photoshoot. Even though I wasn’t the one being photographed, the pressure of being so close to watching how an image is made was enough to make me take a hard look at my closet. Dressing my body in transition is a challenge in general, but today there were higher stakes — it was a fashion shoot after all. Ultimately, I showed up to my first shoot in a friend’s Hood By Air sweatshirt and my own torn jeans, feeling terminally uncool, especially since I would be in the presence of other trans and non-binary artists and models I’ve admired from a distance — influential creative people like Devan Díaz, Nar Rokh, Pierce Hughes, and Merlot. Cast by rising photography star Lia Clay, the shoot I was attending — the one you'll see here — is a rarity in the industry.
It’s not that fashion hasn’t been supportive of trans people. If you’ve been following along, you might believe that the industry is a stalwart ally to the trans community. Publications likeVogue andThe New York Times, and major design houses like Gucci and Marc Jacobs, have boldly recognised trans talent in recent years. Models of trans experience have become fixtures on runways and in major campaigns. Somehow, fashion has made “trans” a trend.
Yet, there is a big difference between celebrating the cool-factor and cachet of transness and actually supporting the community. When people of trans experience are only hired when they're singled out for their gender identity, or fashion magazines and designers conflate transness with the aesthetic of gender-fluidity (like Gigi Hadid wearing a pair of boyfriend jeans), it becomes clear that fashion's acceptance of trans people is almost always skin-deep, no matter how well-meaning it is. But what does it look like when trans people are given the power to tell our own stories? How can fashion support trans creators and models without reducing us to a trend?
Kenzo La Collection Memento Dress, available at Opening Ceremony; Model's own shoes.Merlot; Photographed by Lia ClayKenzo La Collection Memento Dress, available at Opening Ceremony.Merlot; Photographed by Lia Clay
And so, today’s shoot is more than just a celebration of trans identity and fashion by those within the community. It’s a chance for me to get an up-close understanding about something I’ve only considered from a distance: How can an industry that’s been so supportive of trans individuals over the years also be so tone deaf?
Clay’s shoot is taking place on the forested grounds of a farm in New Jersey. The kitchen has been transformed into a makeshift beauty parlour by hairstylist Sean Michael Bennett and makeup artist YuuiVision. Devan Díaz, the 25-year-old Queens-based writer has been gamely posing for Clay’s camera in a patch of woods wearing a cream blouse of her own tucked into a floral-print Kenzo skirt. Díaz’s work has appeared in Rookie, Nylon, DIS, as well a series of profiles for a collector’s edition issue of trans-focused style magazine Candy guest-edited by her friend, Hari Nef. This time, she’s in front of the camera. On set, Díaz brings levity, joking about boys and books. When she’s talking about her career, though, she is measured and thoughtful.
“The opportunities for trans people are so few and far between, you just say yes before you even consider, 'What's the long game of this?'” Díaz says. Assignments for trans writers can put them in a position where they’re the token trans person, and they’re often expected to prioritise their transness for the benefit of the publication. “When I was younger, I was taking anything that was coming, and I think it has a lot to do with trans people not being respected or loved or taken care of or nurtured.” As far as modelling opportunities go, she explains, “I've sat for other photographers where they just direct every moment, and I feel like an outline of a person. With Lia, I can be in my body.”
Vejas Elasticated Puff Sleeve Dress, available at La Garçonne.Pierce Hughes; Photographed by Lia ClayVejas Elasticated Puff Sleeve Dress, available at La Garçonne.Pierce Hughes; Photographed by Lia Clay
Clay and Díaz have worked together before, including on Nef’s issue of Candy magazine. The 2017 issue was a unique moment in trans representation in fashion: It bridged gaps between generations of creatives within the trans community for an audience with a more mainstream understanding of the trans experience than ever before. For Candy, fashion writer Maya Singer wrote, “Feminism’s work to open up a space for many kinds of beauty and many kinds of womanhood is worthy, and the discourse now should be around opening up enough space that trans women, too, can feel safe occupying a non-conventional femininity. On the flip side, I think that cis feminists can take a lesson from the trans community, and rejoice in the possibilities of self-invention.”
Six months later, Singer penned the cover story for Vogue ’s August issue, which read as a surprising misstep: “Gigi Hadid and Zayn Malik Are Part of a New Generation Who Don’t See Fashion as Gendered.” The article mentioned brands like Eckhaus Latta and Chromat that help bring New York nightlife’s gender non-conforming dress code to larger markets, and included industry titans like designer Marc Jacobs and agender poet and activist Tyler Ford. But, the article not only equated being trans with being gender-fluid, it also showed a deep misunderstanding of the economic and institutional factors that make trans people a particularly vulnerable population.
Singer’s piece for Vogue quickly became controversial. Pull quotes like Hadid’s claim, “It’s not about gender. It’s about, like, shapes,” began to circulate on social media. A tweet roundup of critical reactions on Buzzfeed received over a million views. Genderqueer and non-binary writers also had their say onCosmopolitan andFashionista. They lamented that by using two cis, heterosexual celebrities who liked to share clothing as the faces of gender fluidity, the article fell short of its potential for real representation. A spokeswoman for Vogue toldEntertainment Tonight, “The story was intended to highlight the impact the gender-fluid, non-binary communities have had on fashion and culture. We are very sorry the story did not correctly reflect that spirit — we missed the mark.”
Pierce: Women's History Museum top; Eckhaus Latta Side-Zip Skirt, available at Totokaelo. Nar: Kenzo top; Model's own pants.Left: Pierce Hughes; Right: Nar; Photographed by Lia Clay
Clay, who did a stint at Vogue.com during Fashion Month explains why the story was so contentious: “A collection being more feminine for menswear is a completely different issue than what we as a trans community are going through.” To conflate an aesthetic with a human condition revealed a misunderstanding about the core issue. But for Clay, there’s a constructive way to treat these roadblocks, even if it’s not the easiest. “You can't just automatically lash out at something, because it's not going to help change it, and that's really hard sometimes,” she says. "I am critical. Sometimes it's not necessarily about being outright with it, it's about being subversive.” In other words, Clay believes it’s easier to change minds and policies when you’re already on the inside, and those in power trust your work.
Clay has had plenty of opportunities to do this in 2017. Since her Candy cover shoot, she has worked for mainstream publications like Teen Vogue, The New York Times, and Glamour. “It's difficult, because I'm the only [trans photographer] who is working with any sort of commercial success,” she says. “I hate that. I want there to be more.” She points to fellow trans photographers Leah James, Serena Jara, and Maria Jose as inspirations, and artists she would like to see better recognised by the fashion industry, who still largely employs white and cisgender male photographers.
For Clay, rising through the ranks meant having to work within the system — even if that meant she had to compromise. “I said yes to a lot of the trans stories in the beginning when I was the only one saying yes. It pushed my career a little forward, but now I'm trying to say no,” she says. “I want to be regarded as not just a trans photographer.”
Opening Ceremony Oversized Cable Turtleneck, available at Opening Ceremony; Women's History Museum headpiece.Nar; Photographed by Lia ClayKenzo La Collection Memento Puff Sleeve Blouse, available at Opening Ceremony.Merlot; Photographed by Lia Clay
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This sentiment illustrates the bind many trans creatives in the fashion industry find themselves in: They’re initially singled out for their gender identity, and then pigeonholed for something that’s both intimately personal and has little (if nothing) to do with their craft. Still, it’s a method that has led Clay on a clear path towards steady, fruitful work. But it remains to be seen if others can find long-term material resources or artistic opportunities by sacrificing their privacy to break into the industry.
Clay’s mission today is to make people feel comfortable on a commercial shoot. This isn’t always the case on other sets where photographers are less interested in the comfort of their actual subjects than the thrill of their perceived viewers. “When I'm doing fashion [shoots], I always feel like I'm doing something wrong, like I shouldn't be seeing what I look like while I'm shooting,” Torraine Futurum says, a major New York-based model who’s worked with everyone from Carly Rae Jepsen to Diane von Furstenberg, Shiseido, and W Magazine. Speaking with her over the phone, Futurum relays that it’s small gestures that can make all the difference. “Lia makes a point to show me photos while she's shooting, which makes me comfortable. It makes me perform better.”
Producer and DJ Nar Rokh points out that the flip side — repeated gestures of disrespect — can discourage people from participating altogether. “I've been trying to avoid shoots where I'll possibly be misgendered or my preferences won't be respected, because they don't know how to cater to trans bodies and experiences,” Rokh says, alluding to when stylists can be willfully lazy or insensitive on set. Many trans models are frequently asked to pose topless on set, and unaware stylists may not pick undergarments that are comfortable to wear. Working with trans-friendly stylists like Marcus Cuffie and Cruz Valdez, who understand how loaded wardrobe adjustments can feel on a body in transition, can make all the difference.
Respect and sensitivity for trans models isn’t just shown through the clothing used in shoots. In between being photographed, artist Merlot sits down with me at a kitchen table, every surface of which is currently commandeered by the day’s beauty supplies. Merlot points out that the absence of a professional hair and makeup set-up can be an insult: “There have been lots of times that I've been asked to come to shoots and there’s been no styling, no makeup people there. It's like, ‘Oh, we want to talk to you raw.’” For makeup artist and designer Pierce Hughes, it's affirming to have a trans team involved in the creation of trans images and conversations: “Sometimes it comes across like [brands are] not comfortable styling a trans person, because they're not sure how you would want to look.”
Nar: Opening Ceremony Oversized Cable Turtleneck, available at Opening Ceremony; Model's own pants. Devan: Vejas Peasant Yoke Dress, available at Garmentory.Left: Nar; Right: Devan Diaz; Photographed by Lia Clay
Hughes and Clay are friends and frequent collaborators (Clay recently shot Hughes for Refinery29), and when it comes to how many trans women are photographed versus how many trans women are photographers, Hughes notes the difference: “The person being photographed is a commodity, but the person behind the camera is in a position of power. That's something that maybe the industry doesn't want to give a lot of space to.”
And when you prioritise representation both in front of and behind the lens, the combination can be magical. This means going beyond hiring trans models for one-offs — it’s about creating space for people of trans experience to touch all parts of the creative process, from photography to styling to editing.
“I think we're in a time of experimentation,” Díaz says. “I don't know if any of us know what the long game is. I think we're just trying to do what feels good, but I think that question should be asked of the gatekeepers in fashion. They’re the ones that can give the opportunity, or can't.”
What’s preventing many within the industry from providing these opportunities can be economic. Most trans models do not have agents, are unfamiliar with pay structures, and are willing to do more for less. “[Brands] started doing street casting, getting people who were popular on the internet. With that, they undercut people,” Futurum says, pointing out that increased diversity in fashion may also be a product of greed. But looking to cast “trendy” talent on the cheap, brands have not had to pay trans models a fair rate. The consequences of this norm extend beyond pay disparity, though. Not only are trans subjects often expected to share their private lives in order to be featured in mainstream publications, but in doing so they end up more vulnerable to discrimination, harassment, and violence.
Figuring out where to go from these conversations is more daunting than deciding how to dress for a photo shoot. That’s not to say that what the fashion industry has done to make the trans experience more visible goes unnoticed or unappreciated. Though overdue, major strides have been made in a relatively short amount of time. Change might have started through celebration, but it is sustained by enacting a system of fair hiring practices for people of all gender identities — which would help transform the unwelcoming culture on set for anyone who’s trans or gender non-conforming. In practice, this means that brands will have to treat trans models as unique individuals, rather than spokespeople for their communities writ large. The rules and norms are changing, and it’s time for the fashion industry to show that it has a vested interest in making sure they’re caught up.
Gender and sexual orientation are both highly personal and constantly evolving. So, in honour of Transgender Awareness Week, we're talking about the importance of language and raising the voices of the LGBTQIA community.
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Drake has become an undeniable force in music, and the hearts of the millions of fans who find themselves attracted to him. He’s handsome in an attainable and non-threatening way. He allows himself to be extremely open and vulnerable in his music about his feelings towards the women in his life. He really knows how to rock a fall sweater. And his perfect image comes with a hint of danger — his crew was involved in a brawl with Chris Brown’s crew, presumably over Rihanna, and there were rumours that he sent goons to the home of a woman whom he felt scorned him — that makes him interesting. He is arguably hip hop’s James Dean. If you’re into that kind of thing, he is easy to love. I, however, am decidedly not into that kind of thing. So the rise of Drake as a national heartthrob went right over my head.
I found myself shaking my head at some of my feminist friends, like Refinery29’s Arianna Davis and Ariana Romero, for being so enamoured by the textbook, guy code romance vibes that the rapper gives off. I was ready to leave 2017 still unconvinced that Drake was really the man that women need… until I heard about him calling out a man who was groping women during one of his club appearances. It was the moment that saw Drake putting his ass on the line for woman whose number was not in his cell phone, and that meant something. Now, I am ready to publicly state that Drake is alright with me.
Before Team Drizzy (or my two wonderful coworkers) flood my mentions, I am fully aware that my ambivalence about what Drake means to women says more about me than it does about him. My relationship goals are Amber Rose and Wiz Khalifa being able to party at the strip club after their divorce because they're such good friends, not Stephen and Ayesha Curry’s family photos. I won’t judge you if you won’t judge me. But despite what men on Twitter ready to condescendingly call me "beloved" have to say about it, I don’t think there’s anything wrong with not falling for every rich dude who doesn’t express an outward hatred of women.
When Drake released “Hotline Bling,” I agreed with the critics who thought it was kind of shady that the Toronto native was so bothered that a girl he liked was having fun. And I, like this writer at The Establishment think that he has a good girl/bad girl complex that is super reductive and well… basic. When I heard that he was collecting Birkin bags for the woman he eventually settles down with, I rolled my eyes. It’s a lovely dowry (Roxane Gay was smart enough to call this what it is) idea, but sheesh, have the class to not talk about it in an interview with the Hollywood Reporter. It’s your wife, not one of five lucky golden ticket winners for Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory. I have always thought of Drake as the same figure in pop culture as Lawrence is in the lives of women on Insecure: a fuck boy that thinks he’s a good dude.
And that is absolutely not what women need right now. With all of the issues facing women, I am unmoved by anything other than solid action on our behalf. When Drake stopped his own show to hold another man accountable for how he was treating women, he did it. And for that alone, I’m willing to give him a chance. This is the Drake I can believe in.
Facebook is making a strong bid for your brand with its latest releases, an app and website built specifically for creators. It's part of the social media giant's continuing push into video: Earlier this year, Facebook launched Watch, a place to discover and stream original shows.
The creator app, which is rolling out today on iOS and on Android in coming weeks, includes tools for learning about your audience and building more engaging content. A "Live Creative Kit", offers ways to add intros, outros, and custom live stickers to your live broadcast. On the business side, an insights tab provides in-depth analytics about your page's reach and overall performance.
However, the most exciting tool is the Community Tab, which seems to address a common challenge facing creators in 2017: Reaching audiences on every social platform. If you want max influence, you need to build material for YouTube, Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat, and, ever since Watch was launched, Facebook. Facebook owns Instagram, but until now, it's largely kept what you do on one platform separate from the other. Community Tab is one of the first real integrations of the two: Comments from Facebook and Instagram, as well as messages from Messenger, will all be centralised in one unified inbox. It sounds like a much easier way to keep track of your responses. Plus, it promises to decrease the amount of toggling you need to do between apps.
Currently, the link to the creator app takes you to Facebook Mentions, an app only available to those verified with the little blue check. However, Facebook, says the App Store should be updating shortly.
The new website for creators, Facebook for Creators, sounds similar to the sorts of resources YouTube has long offered its creative community. In a blog post announcing the news, video product manager Chris Hatfield describes the site as "a new portal where creators can find resources and tips on how to create great videos, connect with fans, and grow on Facebook." Joining that online community also gives you access to new features before they launch to the public.
If you have a Facebook profile, you count as a creator. However, if you want to expand your reach beyond your immediate group of friends, Facebook says there are two ways to do so. First, make sure your videos are labeled "Public." Second, create a Page by going here, selecting "Artist, Band, or Public Figure," and choosing "video creator" from the dropdown menu.
And for those who are content to sit back and watch all the #content fill their feeds, get ready for a lot of it.
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We know which wedding trends are overplayed — looking at you, Mason jars, burlap, and chalkboards. There are a few on our "sooo over" list from earlier this year that we're still fond of, though: Naked cakes will always beat out buttercream-heavy concoctions in taste and price, and we're still seeing flower crowns everywhere.
But what's next in weddings? Now that the Chevron and chalkboards are (mostly) behind us, what trends are we going to be seeing throughout 2018 and beyond? If you ask the team at WeddingWire, who recently put together a trend report for the upcoming year, we're going to see a major swing back to formality.
"The return to formality is the pendulum swinging back from the super-relaxed and laid-back weddings we’ve seen over the past five years thanks to the rustic and Coachella-style that has inspired couples," WeddingWire trend expert Anne Chertoff tells Refinery29.
But there's a caveat: While budgets are still sky-high, couples are inviting fewer guests. "That's because couples want to ensure a memorable and fun day and night, and putting more of their money towards the menu, the music, entertainment, and interactive elements," like specialty bars and welcome bags, says Chertoff.
Ahead, see what other trends you'll be seeing all over weddings in 2018.
Formal Is Back
"We are anticipating a stronger presence of uber-elegant weddings in 2018," wedding planner Nora Sheils of Bridal Bliss in the Pacific Northwest told WeddingWire. "We are seeing cleaner florals, classic tuxedos, and a hint of sparkle." Chertoff says she's seeing a return to formal wedding dresses in the fall 2018 collections.
Couples are also bringing back the traditional wedding cake and the dinner-party-style reception. "Wedding cakes are back, and the cake-cutting ceremony is coming back. Couples want that photo in their album, the same one their parents have in theirs," Beth Bernstein of SQN Events in Chicago told WeddingWire.
Navy Is The New Black & Silver Is The New Rose Gold
Bernstein said navy is becoming a popular neutral shade in colour palettes for formal weddings. "Instead of a classic black-and-white engraved invitation, couples are opting for a deep midnight-blue letter-pressed invitation," she said. As far as metallics go, silver and chrome are coming back to replace the ubiquitous rose gold.
A Pop Of Cake Colour
Neutral cakes with just one standout tier are becoming a hit. It's the edible version of the accent-nail trend from a few years ago, if you will.
Woodsy Is The New Rustic
Greenery will be as big as ever, but not in a Mason-jars-and-twine way. "We'll also move away from burlap and see more wooden details," Taylor Green of Taylor Elise Events in St. Louis told WeddingWire. "Wooden details can include the invitation, table numbers, seating cards, tags, chargers, signage, chairs, and tables."
Flower Ceiling
Forget flower walls; in 2018 it'll be all about flowers cascading from the ceiling in the most dramatic and unexpected ways.
Forget The Old Photo Booth
Good-bye, fake moustaches and paper kissy lips. Couples are finding new ways to entertain guests with new interactive elements, like a "no-booth booth" and creative food stations.
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As Health & Living Editor of Refinery29, I get a lot of emails about weird and wonderful things claiming to “cure” mental health problems. From specific diets to supplements, apps to homeopathic treatments, the list is never-ending.
As someone who struggles with mental health issues (who doesn't these days), I know it’s not possible to “cure” anything. What you can do, is learn how to manage it and, hopefully, learn more about yourself along the way. Sadly, there’s no magic app that’s going to teach me how to do that, no matter how many emails I receive about it.
So it’s safe to say I’m a little sceptical when it comes to kooky-sounding treatments. But one thing I got totally wrong? Dance movement psychotherapy.
For starters, dance movement therapy is legit. It’s available on the NHS and has been proven to be an effective tool for helping to treat everything from dementia to depression, schizophrenia to anxiety. It’s helped children who’ve been abused and people suffering from psychosis and addiction. The studies on it are numerous and varied. It's recommended by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence.
From reading about it, dance movement therapy sounded pretty cool. So I decided to go and check it out for myself.
I meet Kimberley Pena, a Dance Movement Psychotherapist who works both for the NHS and privately. She's just about the smiliest person I’ve ever met which, considering how awkward I’m feeling (my last attempt at public dancing was probably in 2008), is a huge relief.
"People always think you come to a therapist for guidance,” says Kim. “But ultimately the client is the expert in their life. I’m just providing the vessel for that exploration to unfold.” That exploration, she explains, uses movement to help with a number of things – it might be difficulties in expressing oneself verbally, it might bring unconscious issues to the surface. Some clients, she says, might not even understand the cause of their anxiety until they bring their body into the dialogue.
As a nation of awkward stiff-upper-lippers, Kim understands why there is stigma surrounding dance as therapy. “We are rigid in terms of free expression,” especially compared to some Eastern or African cultures where dance is a part of life. “In our day-to-day existence, everything around us is shutting our bodies down," she says. “We sit at computers predominantly, the way we generally move is in cars or trains, we are held and bound. We move more through tech, where everything is accessible without having to introduce our bodies. We’re shutting off from the neck down, everything is in our heads.”
It’s something that rings true to me and probably to you, too. We control our bodies tightly – even those of us who exercise do so in a controlled manner; lifting weights is most effective when you have impeccable form, yogis strive to shape their bodies into the perfect uttanasana. Free, unconditional movement of our bodies is rare for most of us. Allowing our bodies to act out our brain's desires is rarer still.
“We think about our brains being complex like a computer and when we start noticing a computer slow down, we need to turn it off and turn it on again," says Kim. "We’re at the place in society now where we need to do that – to reset by reintroducing our relationship with our bodies.”
Dance movement psychotherapy (DMP) isn’t new. It’s been around in some form since the first half of the last century. In the 1970s and '80s, people began to experiment with it in a scientific manner and eventually, DMP was categorised as a form of psychotherapy.
So what happens in a session? For starters, no dance experience is necessary. In fact, Kim says it’s sometimes harder to engage people with a dance background because again, they’re so used to using their body within the confines of their discipline. Comfortable clothes are encouraged. To give me a taste, Kim decides to do two experiences with me. The first, she informs me, is a mirroring experience. She will do movement, I will copy, then we will switch.
If you’ve ever been to dance class and found yourself looking longingly at the elegant movements of the instructors and realising that you probably look like an uncoordinated sloth next to them, be assured this isn’t the case in dance therapy. The type of movements Kim does aren’t pirouettes and pas de bourrée (thank goodness), they’re stomps, hand waving and jumping up and down. She goes and I copy. I look pretty silly but actually, I don’t care, because Kim does too.
Afterwards she explains to me that this mirroring experience is very useful for children with traumatic upbringings. For a child who was neglected, having their therapist mirror their movements is often one of the first forms of validation they get – visual proof that they exist, that they matter.
Next up, Kim sits in the corner and invites me to sit or lie down with my eyes closed. She puts on music and asks me to move whatever part of my body I feel an impulse to move. She is non-judgemental and super friendly but, all of a sudden, I feel myself cringe; I feel heavy under her watchful eyes. I sink lower and lower into the floor, desperate not to be seen, desperate to take her attention off my awkward body.
Afterwards she gives me crayons and a pad of paper. I draw and write while she notes down what she sees. I draw a tightly wound ball of dark colours, I write “sorry”. I feel like a prize fool. I feel exposed. I feel naked.
When it’s all over, she comes to talk to me about the experience. To my surprise, I find myself crying and mumbling about how I don’t think I deserve the attention that she gave me. She tells me she saw my body as a mountain that turned into an iceberg which began to melt all over the floor. That, I tell her, is exactly how I felt.
I am mortified but Kim thanks me for sharing and says it’s good that I’m able to keep my emotions close enough to the surface to experience them like this. By the end of our chat, which I won’t delve too much into, I’m feeling much better. It’s like I’ve just had a big cry to exactly the right kind of nurturing friend and been able to voice exactly what I was feeling with eloquence, even though I’ve done nothing of the sort. It’s cathartic. I can’t even imagine how valuable a properly administered course of therapy like this would be to someone in the midst of a seriously dark struggle. At least the dark struggles I've been through.
So how do you know if DMP is the way to go? “It’s about figuring out what feels right for you,” Kim says. “A lot of low states are triggered by having to figure out what other people want you to feel – we really struggle with just being.”
“CBT (cognitive behavioural therapy) for instance, is very structured," she continues. "It can work for some people but sometimes it’s masking underlying difficulties and the triggers that cause that mental health decline.”
For me, using my body without judgement was hugely liberating once I got through the strains of doing so, although I’ve had CBT in the past and also found that helpful. There are plenty of other options too and, as Kim says, only you will know which path is right for you.
Ask your GP about dance movement therapy or take a look at Kim's website, Moving Through Life.
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Sustainability is a buzzword that many people are sick of hearing. It’s been overused and virtually lost its meaning (although trying to define it in practical terms is actually pretty hard, but more on that later.)
But with the news that the V&A will curate a huge new exhibition in April exploring the relationship between fashion and nature, and initiatives from the likes of LVMH, Kering and even high street giants such as Inditex (Zara's parent company) and the H&M group (owners of Arket, & Other Stories, Cos, etc) getting on board, are we finally seeing a significant shift in how clothes are produced around the world? Is this a watershed moment for sustainability?
Tamsin Blanchard is a freelance journalist who was writing about sustainability long before it was really a thing, and is now heading up the Open Studios initiative for Fashion Revolution (which will launch next April). “I started writing about fashion in the early '90s and I suppose it was a time when Primark had just started and fashion just seemed to be getting much faster,” she says. “But I don’t think the word 'sustainable' was even used then.”
It wasn’t until the early noughties, says Blanchard, that the idea of ethical and sustainable fashion was even considered. And even then, it was sidelined to one particular show: Orsola de Castro’s Estethica. That was when people began to talk about ethical fashion and eco fashion. “They were the real buzzwords,” says Tamsin. “But you hated yourself saying it because it immediately sounded like bad fashion.”
And while the words 'eco fashion' have slipped from our vernacular, sustainability and ethics are very much in vogue. But the words themselves still pose problems. Maybe not so much with the hemp sack connotations, but certainly in our lack of understanding what they actually mean. As The Washington Post recently highlighted, there is no one set of guidelines for what constitutes sustainable and ethical production.
And ironically, despite their lack of practical definition, they also present a totality which makes them difficult to buy into. As Blanchard says of the origins of the movement, it can create something of a “them and us” situation, where fast fashion is the devil and ethical fashion its unattainable and perfect counterpart. It’s a totality that makes us feel bad and puts people off thinking about it when it shouldn’t: it’s almost impossible to buy sustainably all of the time. In some ways, acknowledging the nuances of sustainability has contributed to moving the conversation forward.
Consumer pressure, social media and the imminent arrival of the supposedly altruistic Gen Z as the world’s largest purchaser group have also contributed to this progression, and now it’s not unusual to walk into a high street store and see a ‘sustainable’ line. There’s Zara’s LIFE collection, Mango Committed, and even brands like Arket who put transparency upfront; informing shoppers exactly which factories have made the garment they’re looking at on their website. This would have been unimaginable even five years ago. That said, it’s hard to know what to do with this information, other than sleep a little sounder in the knowledge that you might have bought something that’s doing good rather than bad.
Speaking of bad, former Burberry employee, Agatha Lintott has recently set up an online store called Antibad. The concept behind the platform is to sell only products from ethical, sustainable and vegan sources. For many, the answer to fashion’s sustainability problem is for everyone to simply cut back on our consumption (recent figures show that the amount of clothes produced globally has doubled since 2000). Lintott takes a slightly more pragmatic approach. “It’s not about buying less,” she says. “I don’t feel like that’s a realistic target, I don’t think it’s the right thing to change. It’s about giving people another option.”
And these other options are increasingly available to us, from both large corporations and startups. But the brands who’ve been successful at pushing sustainable products are the ones who’ve put design, not ethics, at the forefront of their messaging, says Lintott: “I think Reformation has done a really good job of doing that so far. It’s about creating lifestyle brands that are inspiring.” Essentially, we need more than moral reasons to buy better – we need convincing of the argument, of the sort that changed the course of the food industry: fast food was made to look cheap and unhealthy, and it became aspirational to buy better. And as for food, for fashion. (Whether you can afford to, and whether fast fashion is a class issue or not, is another story entirely.)
Illustration: Marina Esmeraldo
The word ‘mindfulness’ is thrown around a lot now but it's part of a wider movement that's taking us in the right direction. Radio 4 presenter Claudia Hammond recently wrote a book called Mind Over Money: The Psychology of Money and How To Use It Better, examining our relationship with our bank accounts and why we put so much effort into making money and often very little into how we spend it. And as Hammond urges us to consider who we give our money to, so the likes of Jon Alexander’s New Citizenship Project envision a world where we see ourselves not just as passive consumers but as active participants in society: as citizens.
Obviously, this doesn't just apply to fashion. The rate of our consumption is not healthy for either us as individuals or the planet. Whether it’s your phone company trying to flog you a new handset or another subscription service demanding your loyalty, we live in a world where spending mindlessly is as much a part of our daily routine as brushing our teeth.
Someone else who’s got behind the idea of shopping with considered awareness is the cofounder of Studio British, Ben Bailey, who hopes that one day everyone in the UK will have one British-made item in their wardrobe. “I think a lot of it is messaging and education,” says Bailey. “I think people will genuinely be happy to be ignorant about something if it makes their lives easy or more convenient.” Bailey and his cofounder Annabel Calvo visit all the factories which make the clothes they buy, and have strict rules about what they sell through their online platform.
But is it too late to regain some self-control over what we buy and not give into impulsive last-minute sale-shopping? “I”d like to think it is possible,” Blanchard says with caution. “I think it’s become unhealthy. I think it’s like saying that it’s ok to buy lots of food because everyone does it. But I don’t think it makes people feel better to go on a mad shopping binge.”
There might not be one single solution to solving the industry’s ills. But by acknowledging the many nuances of the challenges sustainability presents, and taking some responsibility for our own individual consumption, we’re at least starting to have a more grown-up conversation. And that surely will get us one step closer to finding long-lasting solutions.
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The ongoing avalanche of sexual assault claims being made against powerful men has been a depressing reminder of the impunity that many enjoy, and a damning indictment of a patriarchal culture that let them get away with such behaviour for so long.
But there has at least been one positive thing to come out of it: more women are realising the power of calling out sexism and recognising that they won't necessarily be ignored. Tapping into this feeling, one Twitter user has gone viral with a list of nine important statements women should remember.
Gem Short's numbered list of “good statements for women to practice” has clearly struck a chord, having garnered close to 100k retweets, more than 260k likes at the time of writing and a retweet from the doyenne of Twitter that is Chrissy Teigen.
good statements for women to practice: 1) you interrupted me. i’m not finished talking. 2) no 3) that isn’t funny 4) that isn’t appropriate 4) i already know that 5) that won’t be necessary 6) leave me alone 7) you’re making me uncomfortable 8) stop ignoring what i’m saying
To the mansplainers and overly confident male work colleagues, Short would likely recommend having the phrases "You interrupted me. I’m not finished talking", "I already know that" and "Stop ignoring what I'm saying", in your back pocket.
While some of her other statements would provide useful ammunition when dealing with unwanted male attention: "That isn’t appropriate", "That won't be necessary", "Leave me alone", "You're making me uncomfortable" and a simple "No".
Teigen recognised the power of the list, saying in her retweet: “Aside from ‘no’, I honestly don’t think I have ever uttered these other statements and I kind of cringe even thinking about saying them. That is not right. Good post good post.”
Aside from "no", I honestly don't think I have ever uttered these other statements and I kind of cringe even thinking about saying them. That is not right. Good post good post. https://t.co/0kbBXhX9HL
Many others appear to have taken Short's advice similarly to heart, with one woman even printing off the tweet and hanging it above her desk and others suggesting statements for men to practise.
good statements for men to practice: 1) Sorry. Pls continue. You weren't finished talking. 2) Do you agree? 3) that isn’t funny 4) that isn’t appropriate 4) you must already know that 5) that won’t be necessary 6) I'm sorry. Let me leave you alone 7) I'm making you uncomfortable
While, of course, women shouldn't need to carry around an armoury of statements with which to assert themselves, repeating them is likely to make a dent – however small – in the patriarchy.
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A beauty blogger has apologised for a makeup look that critics claimed "mocked" people witih the skin condition vitiligo, including the Canadia model Winnie Harlow.
Instagram user Golgiknowsbest shared the image earlier this week, which featured white patches around his eyes and mouth. His followers and others soon called him out for the look, with many saying he appeared to be trying to mimic people with vitiligo, including Harlow.
see what we're NOT gonna do here is mimic skin conditions and make them a makeup trend. She's cancelled. pic.twitter.com/NunrXfcryo
"See what we're NOT gonna do here is mimic skin conditions and make them a makeup trend. She's cancelled," wrote Twitter user @ESHAXQ" as a caption to Golgi's photo. She wrote in a follow-up tweet: "Really don't understand why people are comparing vitiligo to the freckles makeup trend. Freckles are most definitely not a skin disorder."
Many others joined in by condemning the blogger's makeup choice. "This makes me LIVID. My beautiful cousin has vitiligo and was severely bullied her whole life over this condition. She herself is a work of art. This is not art," said @Behbeh.
Following the backlash, Golgi removed the photo and published an apology on Instagram. He claimed he was in fact inspired by Valentina from Ru Paul's Drag Race, who last week shared a makeup look on Instagram which featured sections of silver around her eyes and on her arm.
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"I deleted the post," Golgi wrote. "I didn't expect for this to get NEARLY a much attention as it did, so I was shocked when I came from work to see so many fighting and negativity in the comments. To clarify: this was inspired by a photo of @allaboutvalentina in which she had grey splotches on her face and running down her arms. This look was just a way for me to have more fun/experiment with my makeup."
He continued: "I in NO WAY intended for this to represent vitiligo, and I sincerely apologize that it offended so many people. I do admit I could've clarified some of that a bit more, but we all learn from our mistakes! At the end of the day, no one is immune to controversy and we can all grow from it!"
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As the festive season looms and the party invitations stream in, working out how to style your hair quickly and easily (particularly if you're racing out straight from work) can induce a last-minute panic. How can you add volume to your Day 3 – okay, Day 4 – hair? What's a simple up-do that you can hastily recreate in the work loos? How do you get those perfect curls or add a bit of bounce to your limp locks?
Fret not; Sam McKnight, one of the most renowned hair stylists in the world, is here to save the day. With 40 years in the business, working with everyone from Kate Moss and Naomi Campbell to Princess Diana, no one knows hair quite like McKnight. Earlier this year he launched his own product line (aptly named 'Hair') of dry shampoos and sprays, bottling a bit of his magic into colourful cans to help us transform our hair at home. Below, McKnight exclusively shares his secrets on how to achieve a host of party looks with the revitalising products from his own range.
The Best Way To Do An Up-Do
The quick route… If you don’t have curling irons, hair clips or hair rollers at your disposal, that’s fine. The Lazy Girl Dry Shampoo, £19, is all you need for a quick deskside fix. The ultra-light powder mist refreshes hair but is a styling product in its own right. It gives the hair bite, texture, hold and volume – essentially priming your hair so it’s ready to be pulled together and turned into an up-do. Dry shampoo has always been a staple in my kit bag, but I really wanted to move the idea on – take the product from a quick refresher to a styler / texturiser, which is how I use it. Lazy Girl is my dream dry shampoo, ultra-light and minus any leftover residue. It’s perfect for fine hair, just adding that bit of body and oompf.
Simply spray Lazy Girl in the roots and through the lengths. Add serious height to the look by backcombing the roots and then pull the hair smoothly into a French pleat. Use a brush to smooth down most flyaways – but avoid an overdone, sleek look. Keep the ‘last minute’, textured feel in. It keeps the look cool. Gives it that edge.
The long route… Those more glamorous up-dos are easier than you think. The trick is to have the right tools – the right styling products, the right curling irons – that prep the hair to create a look that lasts.
You want to set the hair first. Use a medium-barrel curling iron and taking the hair in segments, wrap the section round and hold for a few seconds. When you remove the iron, clip the curl in place until it’s cool. This will really lock the curl into the perfect shape that will add some hold to the up-do.
Once the hair is set, remove all the clips and rollers, spray the Easy Up-Do, £25, into each section and backcomb. Do it at the root and lock in the volume with a light spray of Modern Hairspray, £22. Use a flat bristle brush to smooth over top of hair.
Then pull the hair together from all the sides and back of the head and twist up from the nape of the neck. Fold it neatly into a French pleat (secure with pins – but the Easy Up-Do gives you enough grip and hold that you won’t really need many) and then brush smooth the top section of the hair and fold it back and neatly together into the pleat.
Cool Girl Hair
This is quick. This is my signature look in a can. It’s the rock and roll, sexy hair everyone wants. And it’s simple – we need more simplicity in our lives. Just spray Cool Girl through the crown, mid-lengths and ends. Or just throw your hair upside down and spray liberally through the hair and into the roots. Whatever. There’s no secret to this one. It just works. Throw the hair to one side and spray it into the roots, mid-lengths and ends. Throw hair over to the other side and repeat, creates great volume and texture.
Modern Curls
You need to get the hair super straight before adding in these curls. And build the texture bit by bit. First blow-dry through the lengths with a hairdryer set to medium heat. Use a pure bristle brush to really smooth the hair (but please always avoid holding the hairdryer too close to the hair). Use the Modern Hairspray liberally throughout the hair and brush thoroughly for a lived-in texture and a quick way to build a base for styling.
Then taking the hair in small segments, spray each section again from root to tip. Wrap it around a curling iron – a medium size / 19 mm – to create a tight coil. Repeat all over the head and clip each curl in place, allowing it to cool. Once cooled, remove the clips and break up the curls with your hands. A light mist of Modern Hairspray will give definition to each curl.
I love a side-parting with curls – it feels more modern. Whichever parting you go for, keep it clean and defined with the tail end of a wide-tooth comb.
Watch our Facebook Live interview with Sam McKnight for more styling tips and to learn all about his prolific career below:
It’s never been easier to keep up with what’s going on in the world. The news is everywhere – in our Facebook feeds, on the morning commute, during that lazy half hour before you switch off the TV and go to bed. But the tide of global affairs is often more upsetting than uplifting and it can be tempting to bury our heads in the sand. As the saying goes: a picture is worth a thousand words, so to offer a different perspective we've rounded up some of the most memorable images of the week's events, captured by the best photojournalists on the planet.
A Palestinian protester carries a burning tyre during clashes with Israeli forces following a weekly demonstration against the expropriation of Palestinian land by Israel in the village of Kafr Qaddum, near Nablus in the occupied West Bank, on 10th November 2017.
Photo: Jaafar Ashtiyeh/AFP/Getty Images
99-year-old World War II veteran Les Cherrington attends the annual Armistice Day Service at The National Memorial Arboretum on 11th November 2017 in Alrewas, England. Armistice Day traditionally marks the end of WWI when Germany and the allied forces signed the armistice, signalling the end of hostilities on the Western Front. The cessation of the war officially took effect on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month and is marked annually by services of remembrance for all those who have fallen in wars and a two-minute silence.
Photo: Christopher Furlong/Getty Images
Five thousand people perform exercise following a fitness video at Datian County to challenge the Guinness World Record on 12th November 2017 in Sanming, Fujian Province of China. The Guinness World Record of the most people exercising to a fitness video was achieved by 4,814 people at Datian County on Sunday in Fujian.
Both serving and former commandos gather during the Commando Memorial Service to commemorate and pay respect to the sacrifice of servicemen and women who fought in the two World Wars and subsequent conflicts on 12th November 2017 in Spean Bridge, Scotland. People across the UK gathered to pay tribute to service personnel who have died during conflicts, as part of the annual Remembrance Sunday ceremonies.
The First Baptist Church of Sutherland Springs is turned into a memorial to honour those who died on 12th November 2017 in Sutherland Springs, Texas. The inside of the church has been painted white with 26 white chairs placed around the room. On each chair is a single rose and the name of a shooting victim. The chairs are placed throughout the room at the location where the victim died. The memorial will be open to the public. Devin Patrick Kelley shot and killed the 26 people and wounded 20 others when he opened fire during Sunday service at the church on 5th November.
Photo: Scott Olson/Getty Images
A Christian girl wearing a dress for prayer as Apostolic Christians conduct a religious service on a piece of open land in the capital city of Harare, Zimbabwe on 12th November 2017. The faith has converted many people in the country with promises of deliverance, magic and wish fulfilment. On a Friday and Sunday, members can be seen conducting services in the open fields where they practise their rituals. However some Zimbabweans view the faith as a cult that takes money from already impoverished people.
Photo: Belal Khaled/NurPhoto/Getty Images
Protesters are soaked as they clash with riot police as they march the streets of Manila during the start of the ASEAN meetings between heads of state on 13th November 2017 in Manila, Philippines. Thousands of Filipinos protested in Manila as US President Donald Trump attended the ASEAN meetings in the Philippines, a stop included in his 12-day Asia trip.
Photo: Jes Aznar/Getty Images
Aermacchi MB-339 trainer aircraft of the United Arab Emirates' Al Fursan [The Knights] aerobatic team perform at the Dubai Airshow 2017 international aerospace event.
Photo: Marina Lystseva\TASS\Getty Images
Aerial view of policemen and fishermen helping a humpback whale stranded at the beach on 13th November 2017 in Qidong, Jiangsu Province of China. The whale is about 7.6 metres in length and returned to the sea when the high tide came on Monday afternoon.
Photo: VCG/VCG/Getty Images
People in the crowd celebrate as the result is announced during the Official Melbourne Postal Survey Result Announcement at the State Library of Victoria on 15th November 2017 in Melbourne, Australia. Australians have voted for marriage laws to be changed to allow same-sex marriage, with the Yes vote defeating No. Despite the Yes victory, the outcome of the Australian Marriage Law Postal Survey is not binding, and the process to change current laws will move to the Australian Parliament in Canberra.
Photo: Scott Barbour/Getty Images
Young women walk past an armoured personnel carrier stationed by an intersection as Zimbabwean soldiers regulate traffic in Harare on 15th November 2017. Zimbabwe's military appeared to be in control of the country on 15th November as generals denied staging a coup but used state television to vow to target 'criminals' close to Zimbabwe's president.
Photo: AFP/Getty Images
Syrian kids play outside their tent in Hatay's Reyhanli district, Turkey on 15th November 2017. Thousands of people including kids have fled their countries due to ongoing civil war and settled in Turkey over the last seven years. Some Syrian refugees stay in rental houses whereas others stay in tents.
Photo: Cem Genco/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images
A visitor takes a photo of the painting "Salvator Mundi" by Leonardo da Vinci at Christie's New York Auction House, 15th November 2017 in New York City. The coveted painting was auctioned off on Wednesday night for a record-breaking $450 million.
Photo: Drew Angerer/Getty Images
Indonesian farmers work in a field as Mount Sinabung volcano spews thick smoke in the background in Karo, North Sumatra on 16th November 2017. Mount Sinabung roared back to life in 2010 for the first time in 400 years, after another period of inactivity it erupted once more in 2013, and has remained highly active since.
Photo: Ivan Damanik/AFP/Getty Images
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Many people, trapped in the rat race that is city life, like to fantasise about giving it all up, chucking their belongings in storage (or escaping the trappings of material possessions altogether) and moving to a remote island far, far away.
While for many of us this is a mere pipe dream, some people are determined to make it happen. Two such visionaries are Patrick and Hannah Canavan, who fled south London with their three children for a new start in Bali and are documenting their adventures on their blog, Adventure Travel Family.
Hannah, 28, and Patrick, 31, left Caterham for the Indonesian island a month ago with Esmae, six, Eira, five and Elfie, two, and Hannah's retired mum Jayne Davies, 55, who “came along for the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity" – and seem to be having the time of their lives. Having left London with £5,000 savings, they are now living comfortably on a shoestring budget of just £1,000 a month, reported the Evening Standard.
Patrick, who quit his 9-to-5 job as a personal trainer, and Hannah, who is working as a freelance travel and parenting writer from the island, also have a YouTube channel where they will be documenting their new idyllic life. The pair eventually hope to find "a charity they believe in to work for full-time". Don't we all.
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“Patrick and I knew we wanted to do this for nearly eight years… going away means that we get to spend more quality time together and Patrick gets to spend time with the girls, which is important,” Hannah told the Standard.
They are homeschooling their children, as they did in London, as they considered travel to be a more valuable education than what the capital had to offer. The low cost of their new lifestyle is also a much better deal than what they were getting in London. "People think you have to be super rich to do this but it actually costs a lot less to live and explore here than it does just to live in London," she continued.
Their rent on a house with a swimming pool that's five minutes from the beach is just £300 per month. "We will have lived for £1000 for the whole month, by eating local food and cooking at home on our one small gas hob ring. Lots of people could do this, but they don’t realise.”
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An average day for the couple, who were inspired by a backpacking and volunteering trip they took to Thailand a decade ago, also sounds pretty dreamy. Patrick takes the kids to the beach in the morning while Hannah writes, before they spend the afternoon relaxing as a family or volunteering with charities.
“We have always lived a calm lifestyle, but now we take things really slowly,” Hannah said, and the family don't have any plans to return to the UK any time soon. After spending a few more weeks in Bali, they're heading to Thailand for two months before travelling to Vietnam, Cambodia and Sri Lanka.
“We will miss the people, but we don’t miss anything else about London. We don’t miss rushing around and the hectic lifestyle and the keeping up with the Joneses aspect of life, or the house cleaning – or the weather.”
A post shared by Adventure Travel Family (@adventuretravelfamily) on
Hannah continued: “We are not special – if we can do this, lots of people can.” And indeed they are. Alex Holder, a freelance writer and contributor to Refinery29, spent a month in Bali with her husband and young son, Cass, last year and is leaving Dalston, east London, in December to spend another four months on the island.
"It’s just so easy to live there. Within two days of arriving we’d found a wonderful English speaking nanny for our two-year-old son, which meant we could work for a few hours a day while our son played with local children," Holder said.
"There are loads of families living in Bali and working into London remotely so the place feels set up for that – great internet and laptop cafes. After a couple of hours working, we’d pile the family onto the back of a motorbike – Cass strapped to my front – and 'ped it to a beach for the afternoon. It’s basically a reason to go freelance; the ultimate respite from Dalston!"
Looking after your microbiome may not necessarily be top of your self-care to-do list, but 2017 has seen the wellness industry (currently worth around $3.72 trillion worldwide) extol the importance of gut health, and with good reason – it has a surprisingly underrated effect on our overall wellbeing.
Medication, stress and poor diet can all take their toll on your gut. One way to maintain a healthy one could be with probiotics, which are live, healthy bacteria that are intrinsic to a tip-top digestive system. Foods and drinks like kefir, kimchi, sauerkraut and unpasteurised miso are all good sources of the stuff, but one drink in particular has seen huge market growth: kombucha.
For the uninitiated, kombucha is a fermented tea that originated in the Far East around 2,000 years ago. While everyone in LA has been glugging it since the ‘90s, the past year has seen its popularity in the UK rocket. You can now find entire fridge sections at health food supermarkets dedicated to kombucha; some branches of Planet Organic are even serving it on tap. Made by fermenting black or green tea with a S.C.O.B.Y. (Symbiotic Culture Of Bacteria and Yeast), it’s a tangy, sour and sweet tonic.
As it’s naturally fermented, kombucha is a great way of upping your probiotic intake, which could help provide benefits such as improved digestion, immune support, mental clarity and mood stability. It’s also a great source of antioxidants and vitamin B12.
While consuming alcohol isn't ever going to be classified as "healthy" (no amount of real fruit, natural sugars or other health food ingredients is going to magically turn your alcohol into a health tonic, no matter what fancy cocktail bars are saying), using kombucha in the cocktails that you're already drinking this Christmas can't hurt, can it? So allow us to introduce you to komsecco – a drink I first discovered at eco-hotel Forsthofalm in the Austrian Alps. Yes, it is exactly what you think: the genius pairing of kombucha with prosecco. Much like prosecco, kombucha is tart, delicately sweet and fizzy, so when combined, the two taste surprisingly excellent.
The sweetness of kombucha can vary so if you’re not familiar with it, sample a few different flavours to find a taste you really like. There’s the unflavoured variety, and others which contain fruit, spices and herbs – everything from ginger to pomegranate, chai and even lavender. When trying out any kind of probiotic for the first time, you might want to build up slowly to allow time for your body to get used to it.
If you want to be really smart about it, opt for an organic prosecco, which is less processed and contains fewer sulphites, meaning your chances of getting a hangover are whittled down. On to the recipe...
Komsecco
Ingredients
100ml kombucha of your choice 50ml prosecco Raspberries, to garnish
Instructions
Pour kombucha into a champagne flute. Gently add prosecco and stir. Add one or two raspberries and enjoy!
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Titanic premiered in the UK 20 years ago today, which potentially will make you feel old. Very old. But it's as good a time as any to ask: "Is it actually any good?"
The Best Picture winner has a lot of numbers on its side. It won 11 Oscars. It made over $2 billion (£1.5 billion). And in an unofficial study, it has caused at least 50 billion wistful sighs worldwide. It does have its fair share of critics, however, who point to Rose's lack of self-awareness, the sheer speed with which the lovers fall for each other, and the size of that damn piece of wood. Still, die-hard defenders continue to hold on and, more importantly, somehow work "I'll never let go" into everyday conversations.
I asked Hunter Harris, a colleague on the entertainment team, to join me for a civil disagreement. Hunter provided the con arguments, pointing out all the reasons why Titanic is a terrible movie, and I stood up for the film. Read through our thoughts in this slideshow, and decide for yourself if James Cameron's great love story was worthy of your teen devotion, or if you were blinded by the swelling music and Leo's dapper grin.
Con: Titanic glamorises poverty. "Half of the supposed thrill of Jack and Rose’s romance is that they’re from two different worlds. He’s the scrappy artist, she’s the refined aristocrat. In nearly every scene, Rose revels in this unfamiliar low-class world: poor people can hock loogies, dance all night, are free to drink beer and fall in love. Jack talks up the simple privileges of his bohemian lifestyle — friendships with one-legged sex workers, taking 'each day' and living it to the fullest — and Rose eats it up. Of course she would — who wouldn’t want a simple life in which your only concern is finding and falling in love?
"Titanic is a melodrama, so it’s understandably unrealistic. But its depiction of poverty as something fun and hip is dangerous. If you only see poor people as honest workers and poets, then it’s easier to support policies that keep them poor. This wrongheaded thinking — that a low-income person’s greatest indignity is that they’re treated as second class — isn’t just perpetrated by these two characters, it’s reinforced by the whole production."
— Hunter Harris
Photo: Moviestore Collection/REX/Shutterstock.
Pro: Jack and Rose have more than a shared interest in Rose being naked. "Rose and Jack don't have much time together, but even the little they share isn't all about making out and engaging in erotic drawing sessions. They dance and spit and talk about what they want out of life and who they want to be. It's true their interest in each other starts out superficially — Rose is the beautiful, unattainable girl Jack stares at from the lower deck. Jack is the kind of free spirit Rose has always wanted to be. But it also becomes clear that they enjoy each other's company as people, not just as ideas."
— Molly Horan
Con: Why are we pretending Rose and Jack have good sex? "I know very little about the logistics of having sex in a Ford Model T. And after whatever that is between Jack and Rose, I’ll pass. I get the logic that it's (ostensibly) their first time, I get that they're young, I get that they're working with limited means on the RMS Titanic. But I’m genuinely confused as to what all the fuss is about. Even grading on a curve, nothing about that scene looks particularly sexy. There’s nothing all that hot about their lovemaking. It’s all very vanilla: sweaty, not steamy; tame, not tantalising. There’s not even a hint of real sex happening, just a shot of them staring into each other’s eyes and then Rose kisses Jack on the forehead — which feels a little weird and maternal, but like, do your thing.
"One thing I will say: You know Billy Zane in 1997 laid it down in the bedroom. Zane could, as Rihanna says, 'homicide it.' It’s a truth universally acknowledged that Bad Gal RiRi is having the bestsexonplanet Earth. Somehow I’m certain that 1997 Billy Zane might have been a close second."
— Hunter Harris
Photo: Moviestore Collection/REX/Shutterstock.
Pro: That car scene, though. "Rose and Jack doing it in the car is so sexy you don't even notice how funny the scene is until you watch it a few times. They are (probably) losing their virginities in the same place where generations of future movie teens will, but on a giant boat where there are literally hundreds of places that would probably be more comfortable. But it doesn't matter, because that horror-movie hand on the glass somehow manages to be more erotic than any actual sex they could have shown."
— Molly Horan
Photo: Moviestore Collection/REX/Shutterstock.
Pro: The power of the tin whistle. "Whether you feel that the scourge of '90s music isn't 'The Macarena' but Céline Dion's omnipresent Titanic ballad, you at least have to admit that 'My Heart Will Go On' evokes emotion in the listener. It instantly lends weight to the couple's romance, as they come to represent every doomed pair whose love continues on in their memories (or in the words of elderly women hanging out in submarines). The song, even more than Rose's ultimate return to an afterlife with Jack, convinces audiences that she never really let go of her first love (her poor actual husband, btw)."
— Molly Horan
Con: This is all so fake woke. "Throughout Titanic, James Cameron reminds his viewers that he didn’t write another movie about a woman being saved by a man. Really, he promises, this is so not that style of meet-cute canned romance. 'It’s not up to me to save you,' Jack tells Rose. 'Only you can do that.'
"Except that’s exactly what happens, more or less. Rose gets a few scenes of teenage rebellion, but there’s not much there. She wields an axe, exhales a puff of smoke in her mum’s face, tells Cal she’d rather be Jack’s wife than her fiancé’s whore. And still, this relationship is just an extended montage of these two people saving each other from sticky situations. Rose has the richest interior life, but it's assumed her greatest adventures will occur sometime after she escapes the Titanic."
— Hunter Harris
Photo: Moviestore Collection/REX/Shutterstock.
Pro: Yes, technically, she let go...but! "I get it, internet, they both could have fit on the board. Even if they couldn't, why didn't they take turns? I believe there are two main reasons for this, and while they both make our intrepid couple seem kind of dumb, they're both terribly swoon-worthy. First, let's get the sharing-the-board logic out of the way — have you ever been so cold your brain seems to freeze, too? Yes, from the warm comfort of our couches we wonder why they couldn't have tried a few more times to puzzle-piece it out, but they were tired and frostbitten. Give them a break.
"So, Jack, being street smart and nature smart and generally being able to feel his body ice over, pretty quickly figures out he's going to die. But he keeps up a positive front for Rose because he loves her and doesn't want her to be afraid. Jack's love is selfless, which is the most romantic type of affection.
"Rose isn't dim, but she's definitely oblivious sometimes. She doesn't worry about her beloved becoming a human popsicle because she doesn't believe it's possible; she believes their love is too strong to be defeated by some chilly water. Her love is idealistic, and while that would have taken some adjustment were they to actually create a life together, it's very romantic in the moment."
— Molly Horan
Photo: Moviestore Collection/REX/Shutterstock.
Con: Titanic is a turducken. "In case you don't know, a turducken is a meal that involves a chicken stuffed into a duck stuffed into a turkey. I imagine it’s as much of an abomination as it sounds. Titanic is a turducken: It’s a melodrama stuffed into a disaster movie stuffed into a history lesson, never making good on any one of these genres. The first time I watched the film at 13, I was intrigued but unimpressed. This time, I was mostly bored. Titanic’s most compelling footage is when Cameron’s camera is free to zoom through the ship’s lower decks, imbuing the heavy machinery with a kind of upstart sense of character. Jack and Rose’s relationship is pretty boring — I’m not fundamentally interested in either one of these people. The narrative regularly switches between this yawn-worthy romance and the story of the boys' club that built and sails the Titanic (and is too arrogant to take the iceberg warnings seriously). The visual of the ship sinking is fantastic to witness, but we have to go through an hour of contrived romance and intrigue to make it there.
"Being a turducken isn’t necessarily a bad thing, it’s just boring. Jack and Rose’s romance is really just a gimmicky pretence to introduce a much more intriguing story: shipbuilder Thomas Andrews."
— Hunter Harris
Photo: Moviestore Collection/REX/Shutterstock.
Pro: They have the most intense meet cute of all time. "So, there's obviously nothing romantic about mental illness and actually being suicidally depressed, and it's wrong when pop culture tries to romanticise that. But. BUT. I don't think Rose was ever going to kill herself. Is she in a great spot? No. But she is also being kind of a drama queen. The fact that Jack instinctively knows how to talk her off the ledge, never being condescending or too dramatic himself, shows they have a solid connection from the start."
— Molly Horan
Photo: Moviestore Collection/REX/Shutterstock.
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