Serving from 2011-2014 in the Obama White House as Deputy Chief of Staff — the youngest woman to ever hold that position — Alyssa Mastromonaco ran the nomination of cabinet secretaries, the White House Military Office (i.e. anything pertaining to Camp David, Air Force One, or the White House grounds) and coordinated the President’s foreign visits, among other duties. She’s written two bestselling memoirs, Who Thought This Was A Good Idea? and this past March’s So Here’s the Thing. She’s also Senior Advisor to NARAL Pro-Choice America and a Contributing Editor at Marie Claire

As serious and impressive as all that sounds (and is), Mastromonaco still has opinions on other stuff. Like My So-Called Life, Jared Leto, Frances McDormand (huge fan), Law & Order: SVU, lost ‘80s show Greatest American Hero, The Wire (never seen it)…and Bachelor in Paradise.

Yes, the right-hand woman to the former leader of the Free World is a BiP fan, and she’s not ashamed. “I have always found Bachelor franchise to be a real barometer for what’s going on in America,” Mastromonaco says on this week’s UnStyled podcast. “This season, Demi came out as bisexual on the show, and everyone on the show applauded her, the whole cast. And I was like, A Democrat’s gonna win! Because if Bachelor in Paradise is letting this storyline unfold, then the gut of America has shifted.”

But, as Mastromonaco tells Refinery29’s global editor-in-chief and cofounder Christene Barberich, not everyone applauded her tweets about ABC’s reality juggernaut. “The number of people who tweeted at me like ‘You’re smarter than this.’ I’m like, ‘No, I’m not.’ Everyone’s gotta be mad about something.”

She’s also gotten feedback — of the positive sort — for her work with Obama, as she described in Who Thought This Was a Good Idea? In fact, admirers, particularly women, have stopped Mastromonaco in the street to tell her “‘You book changed my life. I got into public service because of your book. I am involved in politics,’” she reveals. But not everyone has capsized their lives to contribute, she says. “Part of what I wanted people to understand about being involved in politics: You don’t have to quit your job and go work on a campaign to be involved in politics. You don’t have to quit your job to help change the world. The most important thing any of us can do is support ourselves and be financially independent, and make sure that we have the flexibility to make those changes when we want to. Go every Monday night from 7 to 8 to volunteer. Make people start to see how reliable you are, how engaged you are, and that they can count on you.” 

The 2020 election is understandably top of mind of this political insider, who worked for Bernie Sanders in the ‘90s and has interacted with many of those in the still-crowded Democratic field. If Mastromonaco is endorsing any of them yet, she’s not telling.

“I wanna support someone I know is gonna just run into fire for me,” she says. “If that was your litmus test: Who would save me in a burning building? I know Barack Obama would’ve. I know Hillary would’ve. Donald Trump certainly wasn’t going to.”

Of Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, Joe Biden et al, she hopes the contenders can stay civil during primary season: “I was sworn in minutes after the President took the oath of office; and when he came and addressed the staff, either later that day or the next morning, his message was that we serve the American people, all the American people. ‘We are not here for ourselves, we are here for them,’ I believe it.”

Hear the rest of Mastromonaco and Barberich’s chat by listening to UnStyled and subscribing via Apple Podcasts today.

Like what you see? How about some more R29 goodness, right here?

Molly Ringwald On Her True Coming Of Age

Alyssa Milano On Child Stardom, Activism, & Trolls

Aminatou Sow On Friendship, Cancer, Menopause

Shailene Woodley On Jane's Big Little Lies Bangs

Like what you see? How about some more R29 goodness, right here?

What a time for the culture! What a time for black talent! Did anyone else feel the shift in conversations about black empowerment this year? Because I can hear black British voices, I can see our experiences and I can feel our presence more than I have before.

Though it’s at this time of year that we’re invited to look back at the archived contributions of black Britons – at our allocated point of reflection, about which I’ve long had mixed feelings – we should also recognise that we needn’t look too far back to see black history in action.

The incredible Dina Asher-Smith just took home silver in the 100m and became the first British woman to win a World Championships sprint medal in 36 years, and the first black British woman too. Over the summer, Stormzy was once again hailed as a beacon of black excellence with his headline-making Glastonbury performance and game-changing initiatives to support young black people in higher education and creative industries. Some of the most exciting, in-demand names on the literary scene right now are young black British women whose writing speaks not just to those of us who have gone unheard, but to people beyond our communities as well. With a recently announced black history series A Quick Ting On on the horizon, next year looks even more exciting for black British authors on the come up, too.

Twenty-one-year-old rapper Dave won the Mercury Award for his debut album Psychodrama. Top Boy was given a global platform and took an aspect of black British experiences from Channel 4 over to Netflix and Malorie Blackman’s Noughts & Crosses, the first book I felt spoke directly to me as a young black British teenager, is soon to hit TV screens across the UK.  

It’s exhilarating and it’s eye-opening. It’s also just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the incredible things that the black British community has given to society over the years. Our influence on culture has never been so impactful. We’re seeing it on screen, on the radio, on Twitter and beyond. And while these accolades are of course noted in the media as they come – yes, the fact that diversity and representation are still considered buzzwords definitely plays a part – it’s almost too easy to overlook the collective and continuous impact that a group so historically dismissed is making to society as we all know it now.  

This October Refinery29 is using Black History Month to play the movement forward. Be it music and television or motherhood and education, we’re highlighting the strength, beauty and power in black Britain’s recent history, and how it’s shaping black Britain’s future.

Thanks to the effort and hardship endured by generations before us, the UK’s black community continues to grow and thrive. There are two sides to this coin, though. We’re still living in a period of ‘firsts’, which means that we’re not where we need to be just yet. There are the obvious systemic frustrations, like the government’s wildly misguided use of chicken boxes in its #knifefree campaign, or the fact that the BBC opted to discipline presenter Naga Munchetty for calling out Donald Trump’s racism. But there are also overlooked realities such as the Black Cultural Archives in Brixton being the only national heritage centre dedicated to Britain’s African and Caribbean people. So we’ll be speaking to the women taking it upon themselves to archive their experiences and document black British history in a way that we’ve not previously been afforded.

You can look forward to hearing from some of the UK’s most beloved black men about the black women they admire, because although black British visibility is certainly on the up, there’s still an unhealthy attitude and important conversation rumbling within the community about the erasure of black women in particular. We’ve already asked where the black romance is hiding in British TV and penned a love letter to the ‘token’ black women in our favourite ’90s and ’00s TV shows, but there’s a lot more to unpick in how black women do (and don’t) feel represented.

A few young women will be having frank conversations with their mothers about race, what black womanhood means to them and how their experiences have shaped who we are and who we hope to become. Elsewhere we’ll be doing a deep dive into one of black Britain’s greatest exports: music. Black British voices are all over the charts and the genres we’ve led have entered the mainstream in a big, exciting way so we’re going to take a look at the monumental albums that got us there.

It goes without saying that black history is crucial, and its impact is far more expansive than one month of the year can possibly account for. But our black heritage is an ongoing journey from which we have to look up and forwards, just as we turn back to it. It’s complex and multifaceted, as is the concept of black Britishness itself. But it’s also beautiful, powerful and shaping the world we live in every day. Join us in celebrating the people using the foundations laid before us to champion the things that make us unapologetically black and distinctly British in 2019.

Like what you see? How about some more R29 goodness, right here?

My Difficult Relationship With Black History Month

8 Podcasts For Black Women By Black British Women

How Slay In Your Lane Became A Movement

For many years, home hair colour and salon hair colour were as diametrically opposed as the proverbial chalk and cheese. The former was affordable but unpredictable, with a margin for error the size of the Grand Canyon. The latter offered peace of mind and a professional finish but with a price tag to match.

Now though, a new middle ground is emerging, giving you the power to refresh and revitalise your colour without the need for those six-week touch-ups. Meet the colour deposit mask.

You might be wondering how they differ from traditional colour care products, which contain ingredients to help shield your colour or perhaps have sulphate-free formulas to stop colour fade. These masks contain pure hair dye pigment suspended in a nourishing mask formula to noticeably lift and freshen up your colour as they treat strands. What’s more, they work on both box-dyed and salon-dyed hair, and in some cases, can even add lustre to virgin hair. In other words, they’re pretty innovative.

“In salon, we give a gloss treatment to almost everyone whose hair we colour, so that was a natural starting point,” said Josh Wood, a salon supremo who recently launched a collection of Shade Shot Glosses – think creamy, sun-kissed blondes and rich, textured brunettes. Applied like a mask, actual hair dye pigments in the blend boost colour in next to no time, saving you from having to whip up a box dye or book a freshen up appointment. “They are a mixture of conditioning agents and something called ‘direct dyes’ which offer the pigment part of the process,” explained Josh. “About half of our customers who buy them don’t even dye their hair otherwise, they just use these to really brighten and refresh their hair and make it look healthy and glossy.”

Josh Wood isn’t the only brand to get on board the colour deposit mask trend. For blondes, brunettes, those with candy coloured hair and other shades in between, the new Moroccanoil Color Depositing Masks, £6.85, use the brand’s signature argan blend to deliver a colour wake-up to platinum, pink, blue, rose gold and red lengths. If you have a so-called ‘fashion colour’ like pink or blue, you’ll know firsthand just how difficult it can be to keep those tones bright between salon visits, and that’s exactly where these masks shine.

If you’re nervous about compromising the artistry of your salon colour with a haphazard DIY session, heed Wood’s wisdom. “The porosity of the hair dictates how much the direct dye will colour the hair. So if you have, say, a full head of highlights with a bleach and two shades of tinted highlights, the colour will adjust accordingly to those tones as they all have different porosity levels on the hair. It’s not going to mask or cloud anything, just help revitalise it,” he explained. Wood offers four shades – two blonde and two brunette – which give a beautiful, radiant finish to the hair.

Legendary Parisian colourist (and I mean legendary – Kylie Minogue and Tilda Swinton are regulars) Christophe Robin calls his version Shade Variation Masks, £39. There are two blonde and brunette shades, as well as one copper hue, all infused with buriti and apricot seed oil to condition the hair. As well as providing a hit of hydration, each one is fine-tuned to deliver a specific result, such as toning down brassiness, neutralising greys or adding warmer undertones.

They can even be used as a way to ‘try out’ a new shade. Just like a box dye, which you otherwise have to mix yourself, the longer they’re left on, the stronger the result, meaning they can be anything from a quick refresh to a temporary colour change. More of an icy girl? No problem. Anna Short, senior colour director at Daniel Galvin said her go-to for Nordic-haired clients is Kérastase Blond Absolu Masque Ultra Violet Treatment, £35. “It really prolongs the life of those really crisp, almost grey blondes,” she explained. “I advise clients to use it once a week and then they don’t need to come in for toning treatments as much. The purple pigment takes away any brassiness that might have accrued and really brightens the hair without actually shifting the colour. It’s really common to get fade or unwanted orange tones with blondes, just like how wearing a white T-shirt around London all day will mean you come home looking a little bit grey and grimy. The pollution and the mineral build-up can really dull blonde hair.”

And there’s one more bonus. While these masks are working their magic, you can load up Euphoria, have a glass of wine and absent-mindedly scroll through Cult Beauty while wearing your cosiest PJs. Which no salon I know of will let me do. Yet. Your move, Wood. 

Like what you see? How about some more R29 goodness, right here?

The Lob Haircut Is All Over Paris Fashion Week

Afro Hair Shops Are Failing Black Women

My Bob Haircut Is More Maintenance Than I Imagined

Like what you see? How about some more R29 goodness, right here?

The Street Style Looks From Fashion Week You Won't

Milan Street Style Is All Class, All The Way

The Internet Loves Margiela Model, Leon Dame

If the last year or so has taught us anything about Generation Z – the age group born post-1996 – it’s that they’re environmentally woke. While millennials’ memories of adolescence might consist of MySpace and MSN, for today’s teens and early twentysomethings, school strikes and climate marches to protest the state of the Earth they’re set to inherit are just another Friday. Then there’s 16-year-old Greta Thunberg, an emblem of Gen Z climate-consciousness, who in the past month has dominated headlines for her carbon-neutral yacht expedition across the Atlantic to speak at the UN’s climate conference. Millennials may have been the first group to grow up with an awareness of the climate crisis but it’s their successors who are collectively taking action.

And yet when it comes to fashion – one of the most polluting industries on the planet – Gen Z presents something of a paradox. As the first cohort of digital natives, their coming-of-age has coincided with the height of social media and, subsequently, the advent of ultra-fast fashion brands that target young people online with enticing discounts and influencer partnerships. If sales are anything to go by, the strategy works: Boohoo PLC (which owns Boohoo, Pretty Little Thing and Nasty Gal among others) is expected to hit £1.9 billion in revenue by the end of this year. Environmentally engaged yet seduced by what’s new and ‘now’, it’s tricky to tell whether fashion in the hands of the youngest generation is moving towards a more sustainable model – or bound to be faster than ever.

Journalist and author Lauren Bravo, whose forthcoming book How To Break Up With Fast Fashion tackles the adverse impact of our shopping addiction, has been encouraged by the greater conversation around sustainability; Oxfam’s #SecondHandSeptember campaign generated significant media coverage, and fast fashion giant Zara has pledged to make its processes more eco-friendly. However, while Lauren is optimistic about the future of sustainable fashion, she understands why fast fashion is still so attractive to young people. “The cost of living has rocketed so much over recent years and everything feels so uncertain; it’s hardly surprising that today’s teens and twentysomethings are buying cheap clothes as small pick-me-ups,” she says. “When expensive holidays, home ownership and other experiences are off the table, what do you do? You buy a £20 dress.”

Lauren’s friend and “slow fashion frugalista” Caroline Jones certainly has clarity on whether sustainable fashion appeals to Generation Z. The 51-year-old mum of three attracted press coverage back in 2015 when she committed to wearing only charity shop outfits for a year, later sharing the story of her quest in the book Knickers Model’s Own. She has two teenage daughters, 16-year-old Mary and 14-year-old Connie, and can relate to that youthful frenzy when you’re discovering new trends for the first time and developing your own style identity. “For me, in my 50s, I’ve seen all of these trends, they’ve been around the block,” she says, “but when you’re young, you don’t know that, so everything’s shiny, new and exciting.”

While Mary and Connie occasionally accompany their mum on her thrifting trips, they’re not quite as charmed by charity shops, preferring the usual high street haunts which, come Saturday, are packed with teenagers spending their pocket money. Connie is a fan of Brandy Melville and Urban Outfitters, although their slightly higher price point compared to, say, Primark, means she’s more considered in her purchases. Mary’s keen on Topshop, particularly its trousers, which are sized by waist and length – something that’s rare to come by in secondhand stores ­– and admits she’s “a sucker” for Pretty Little Thing and Boohoo, both of which sell clothing for as little as a Pret lunch and boast social media followings most brands would kill for. “You see it all the time on Instagram and you see what these influencers are styling up and they’re tagging [these brands],” she says. “Every 10 swipes or so you scroll down and it’s a Pretty Little Thing advert.”

Fast fashion certainly isn’t a recent phenomenon, but it’s these online-only retailers that are giving new meaning to the term, churning out low-priced dresses, bikinis and bodysuits at breakneck speed. And unlike traditional high street stores, their digital-first business model translates to much lower overheads, allowing them to slash prices and dedicate budgets to targeted marketing campaigns. Mary watches Love Island, which this year was sponsored by Insta-led fast fashion brand I Saw It First, and follows contestants such as Molly-Mae Hague, who recently launched a collection with Pretty Little Thing. She’s also a fan of Kylie Jenner – perhaps the ultimate Gen Z pin-up – who has over 145m Instagram followers. Kylie’s billion-dollar fortune means her stream of brand-new outfits often come from the likes of Balmain and Fendi, but stores such as Boohoo and Missguided are attuned to the tastes of their shared audience, and whip up imitations of her and her sisters’ looks for a fraction of the cost.

View this post on Instagram

That’s me…. on a billboard… in Times Square…😩🖤 @prettylittlething

A post shared by MOLLY-MAE (@mollymaehague) on Sep 8, 2019 at 11:39am PDT

Even more so than millennials, Gen Z are not only constant consumers of social media but also the curators of their own feeds. Dubbed “the most photographed generation in history” by Gen Z expert Jason Dorsey, there’s an unwritten rule of not being seen in the same dress over and over again, especially once it’s been immortalised online. Connie says she often swaps clothes with schoolmates to avoid this, but with the staggeringly low cost of items from certain outlets, it’s increasingly viable to purchase a new outfit for every event, should you desire. For festivals, there’s the temptation to stock up on new looks exclusively for those two or three days; Mary recently attended Reading festival and checked out “My Reading Look” hauls on YouTube beforehand for outfit inspiration.

The throwaway attitude of the younger generation is both baffling and disheartening to Caroline, who grew up pre-online shopping, when it was “a real treat” to head to the high street with her mum. “It worries me on a wider level, this disposing of clothes, because it’s a lazy option, it’s like buying a coffee, isn’t it? [You think] I’ll spend three pounds or five pounds [on a dress], I’ve got it, I’ll wear it [and then] it doesn’t owe me anymore.” According to Oxfam, the carbon footprint of new clothes bought each month in the UK is greater than flying a plane around the world 900 times, while a recent article in The Guardian pointed out that simply doubling the length of time we keep our clothes would cut emissions by 44%.

Among Gen Z, an awareness of fast fashion’s environmental impact is certainly there. “I remember watching this show by Stacey Dooley all about fast fashion and how cotton is drying up areas of the world, and then just feeling really guilty any time I ordered clothes online,” says Connie. Yet it’s not quite enough to totally transform their spending habits. “I do love fashion, so for the environment, I’d much rather make sure I’d turned off all my lights, not buy plastic water bottles…” Connie admits. “I wouldn’t say I buy loads of clothes, but I feel like that’d be the one thing I’d most want to cling onto.”

With endless encouragement to shop from all corners of the internet, giving up fast fashion can require considerable willpower. “It took me a few years until I was completely free of the chains of fast fashion and reached the point where I am now, shopping almost entirely secondhand,” says Tolmeia “Tolly” Gregory, a 19-year-old sustainable fashion blogger and activist. It was the Rana Plaza tragedy that really sparked her interest, and she’s since become an active member of Extinction Rebellion, while also sharing snaps of her stylish outfits on Instagram. While Tolly’s commitment to the cause would be impressive to most, she doesn’t see herself as the exception. “I’ve actually been pleasantly surprised by the Gen Zers around me that shop secondhand or even upcycle and make their own clothes,” she says. “I think it’s becoming normalised now.”

What’s more, where thrifting once meant heading to the local Oxfam, secondhand shopping has been given a digital refresh by apps such as Depop. According to the company, 90% of UK users are under 26, while it’s estimated that a third of 16-24-year-olds are registered on the site. Like Instagram, the platform allows its users to express themselves by curating their own profiles ­– but more importantly, it’s a quick and easy way to earn cash. “Resale sites like Depop have grown to mammoth proportions because of this generation’s interest in streetwear and ‘drop’ culture,” says Rhiannon Mcgregor, a foresight writer at The Future Laboratory. “Even at a young age, they’re business savvy and are approaching the resale market not only as a means to access the latest coveted item but increasingly so that they can become curators and independent retailers in their own right.” Caroline worries that selling clothes on Depop simply fuels the appetite to buy more – but that Gen Z is at least open to buying pre-worn is promising.

View this post on Instagram

Say it louder for the people in the back. Tap to shop hand painted jeans from save the future on Depop.

A post shared by Depop (@depop) on Sep 9, 2019 at 6:01am PDT

Rental fashion is on the rise too, with US-based startup Rent the Runway, which allows members to hire high-end pieces, recently earning a billion-dollar valuation. But is Gen Z on board? “I feel like it’s a little far-fetched for some people for it to catch on in the mainstream,” says Tolly, “but I’m obviously not against it and I think in the occasion-wear and luxury sector, there’s a real market for it.” Mary considered the option for her Year 11 prom (where, in a perfect embodiment of the Gen Z paradox, one classmate showed up in a bin bag to protest throwaway fashion, while another spent hundreds on a dress unlikely ever to be worn again). Although she eventually opted for a dress she found for £45, she admits she probably won’t rewear it and would “100%” consider renting in the future.

Despite these promising strides, social media is still king among this age group and right now the fast fashion brands are dominating those platforms, offering pieces that are affordable, on trend and influencer-endorsed. “Gen Z do care about sustainable fashion but they need brands to step up and offer them support to ensure they can purchase sustainably without having to compromise on the look, feel and functionality of products,” says Rhiannon.

Eco-friendly fashion brand Reformation (which recently opened a store in Notting Hill) has nailed that Insta-friendly aesthetic and personable tone of voice; it’s a lot more expensive than Boohoo but its highly covetable items, worn by the likes of Kaia Gerber and Bella Hadid, are perfect candidates for “co-sharing”. Meanwhile, emerging YouTubers whose niche is sustainable fashion or streamlined capsule wardrobes are an antidote to the endless hauls, while Connie and Mary admit that if eco-friendly brands and secondhand sellers partnered with their favourite influencers, their interest would be piqued.

For those advocating a slower approach to shopping, there’s an exciting opportunity to find fresh ways to tap into Gen Z’s interest in sustainability, taking to the online platforms they live on and learning to speak their language. But as scientists warn that we have only a few years to halt irreversible environmental damage – and fashion continues to be a key contributor – it’s a matter of getting it right, fast.

Like what you see? How about some more R29 goodness, right here?

Extinction Rebellion Takes On London Fashion Week

5 Activists On Making Your Wardrobe Sustainable

Where Is The Sustainable, Size-Inclusive Fashion?

This time two years ago, something happened. The air crackled latently as many of us fired off tweets, DMs and WhatsApp messages not just to our friends but to other women who, finally, were saying “Me Too”. 

It woke us all up from the ennui that comes with the summer fading away. Suddenly the beginning of autumn felt less like a seasonal no-man’s land, where all there is to look forward to before Christmas is Halloween, and became a time when it felt like game-changing, epoch-making stuff could really happen. The news felt relevant in a way it hadn’t done before. 

For decades – no, centuries – women had, as Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey (the New York Times journalists who broke the Harvey Weinstein story) put it in their new book She Said, “been harassed with impunity” and we weren’t going to put up with it anymore. 

And so, what began as a harrowing story about the hubris of and harassment committed by one man who, outside of Hollywood and media circles was reasonably little known, turned into a historic moment and became a movement. 

Of course, Me Too was actually not at all new. The two-word phrase came from activist Tarana Burke but it was only when her words were (perhaps unconsciously?) echoed by the actor and producer Alyssa Milano on Twitter on 15th October 2017 that these two words became international shorthand for describing experiences where, all too often, language falls short and fails us.

If you’ve been sexually harassed or assaulted write ‘me too’ as a reply to this tweet. pic.twitter.com/k2oeCiUf9n

— Alyssa Milano (@Alyssa_Milano) October 15, 2017

What happened next was astounding. Within a week, Twitter confirmed to CBS News that there had been 1.7 million tweets including the phrase and that it had reached 85 countries. By that point it wasn’t even really about Rose McGowan, Gwyneth Paltrow or Harvey Weinstein anymore. Me Too had become a radical viral feminist campaign and men – regardless of whether they held professional positions of power or just inhabited the relative power of being a cis male – were taking notice.

The possibilities of Me Too seemed endless. It was messy, not yet fully formed and, day by day, consisted of women’s private stories – and many lumps in dry throats – now shared in public. At once individual and collective, it felt like the perfect antidote to the nascent neoliberal #GirlBoss feminism we were being fed, the antithesis of sanitised branded activism and something, finally, more accessible than a two-day summit at which already powerful women espoused their views on feminism in front of an audience who had shelled out hefty wads of cash for a seat in the crowd. 

Like anyone who grew up after the late 1960s in a post-second-wave feminism world, I had long been familiar with the phrase “the personal is political” as a rallying cry and maxim to live your life by when the Weinstein story broke, lighting a furious fire that burned with the anger of thousands of women underneath Me Too. And like so many women, I had a story to tell. 

It was one that I’d never told anyone because I had never really even told it to myself before Me Too. It wasn’t the hashtag that gave me the language to finally articulate what had happened to me; the words – rape and assault – had always existed. The problem was that I didn’t think they applied to what I had experienced until I read other women’s stories, using that terminology. It was like a light, though not an entirely welcome one, had gone on at the back of my brain and lit up a mottled memory I had worked hard to archive. 

I finally told my own story of what happened on a high summer night in 2010 as I wrapped up the final weeks of university. Though I spoke it out loud to my friends, some of whom were there at the time and saw it happen, I stopped short of sharing it online. Still, to this day I have not tweeted, Instagrammed or written a Facebook status update about it and, honestly, I’m not sure I ever will. 

Looking on as other women from all walks of life, all over the world shared their angry, sad, brutal and visceral stories, joining the dots of their experiences was like seeing a thousand pins drop at once, lighting up as they marked the location of an abuse of power. But I felt I was on the periphery of it all, significant as it was. Why? Because, deep down, I knew I would never report the incident because my chances of getting justice were so slim. 

Something didn’t sit comfortably with me. Was Me Too really a sustained shift towards a new era, one where men and women would finally be more equal? Or was it something more reactionary, which could only ever be ephemeral as long as a man who had once said “grab ’em by the pussy” sat in the White House? 

Almost exactly a year on from Me Too, Christine Blasey Ford stood before the world and forced us to ask those two questions again, sparking another movement: #WhyIDidn’tReport. Long dormant stories about power and assault erupted like hot lava, coagulating around a hashtag once again. 

Were women, once again, doing the emotional labour of trying to effect change only to find that the system would not support them?

Now, two years on in Britain, that third question is still worth asking. In July, new Home Office data analysed by The Guardian revealed that just 1.5% of all (886) rape cases reported to the police in the year 2018-19 led to charge or summons. For context, that’s only one in 65. In the year 2015-16, 14% of (4,908) cases reported resulted in a charge or summons.

Then the London Rape Review, a report from Claire Waxman, the capital’s Victims’ Commissioner, found that only 3% of rape allegations looked at in 2016 resulted in a conviction.

By the same token, post-Me Too there is now arguably, more than ever, an awareness of misogyny, sexism, lad culture, consent, sexual harassment and assault. There is more scrutiny, too. Nonetheless, the gender pay gap persists. And a recent report from the Young Women’s Trust found that 32% of young women don’t know how to report sexual harassment at work, while 24% said that they would be reluctant to do so for fear of losing their job. 

Two years on from Me Too – in the era we call ‘post-Me Too’ as though we experienced a true historical turning point – it’s actually very hard to tell whether we are progressing or regressing when it comes to equality.

Perhaps that’s the wrong question to ask ourselves. In her 1991 book Backlash: The Undeclared War Against American Women, Susan Faludi said that any push back against women’s liberation is “set off not by women’s achievement of full equality but by the increased possibility that they might win it. It is a preemptive strike that stops women long before they reach the finish line.”

So, perhaps the glaring signs that Me Too has not yet succeeded do not mean it has failed but that it is as necessary, two years on, as it ever was. 

Some lament that Boris Johnson has become prime minister despite the events of the last two years. Those same people decry Brexit as proof that progress is being undone, rolled back. But what if we are living through a backlash – an uncomfortable moment of reckoning in which we figure out what a new order might look like?

If the prime minister doesn’t recollect the incident then clearly I have a better memory than he does https://t.co/pbcLJThkqP

— Charlotte Edwardes (@chedwardes) September 29, 2019

Women are still telling their stories. Women like Annie Tisshaw, who is currently campaigning to stop the counselling notes of rape survivors being used against them in court, or Jenn Selby, a rape survivor who is running for election as a Women’s Equality Party candidate against Mark Field – the Conservative MP who grabbed a woman protestor by the throat – to make a point about the lack of justice for women. 

The two-year anniversary of Me Too is really the anniversary of one viral moment that makes up part of a movement started by Tarana Burke in 1997. In turn, what Burke tapped into two decades ago was just another moment in centuries of women telling each other their stories. If the last two years have taught us anything, it’s that they will continue to tell them, getting louder and louder until things do change. 

As time goes by, we find we are bound together not by shame and silence but by the stories we have in common.

Like what you see? How about some more R29 goodness, right here?

The Most Shocking Things We Learned In She Said

#MeToo Sparked The Next, Great Sexual Revolution

Why Gwyneth Paltrow Spoke Out Against Weinstein

John Galliano is known for casting models with outlandish runway walks, from slow stumbles at his ’99 haute couture show for Christian Dior to exaggerated poses at the Maison Margiela’s fall/winter ’19 Artisanal Co-ed show. But while those OTT walks used to stick out like a sore thumb, now more and more designers are instructing their models to stomp down the runway.

Last winter, NYFW show-goers watched in awe as Vaquera sent stomping models (Walter Pearce, in particular) down a debris-covered catwalk. As the show went on, the stomping got more and more intense; by the finale, attendees didn’t know whether to laugh or clap at what they’d just witnessed. Likewise, at Collina Strada’s SS20 outdoor show, a model stomped heavily on the concrete catwalk, all whilst carrying the world’s most unlucky dog.

But when it comes to runway theatrics, Galliano still holds the crown. His latest presentation included all the flourishes that make Maison Margiela special: political undertones, an over-the-top set, artful designs. But it was the lone finale walker that made the show a viral sensation.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by PAT BOGUSLAWSKI (@pat_boguslawski) on Sep 25, 2019 at 11:54pm PDT

That internet-breaking walk was the work of Leon Dame, a 20-year-old German model hand-selected by Galliano and trained by former runway model, Pat Boguslawski. His carefully-planned performance included heavy stomping, one hell of a withering stare, and a painful-looking hunchback, according to GQ.

And from the reactions we’ve seen over the last week, every ounce of hard work that went into his roughly 30 second routine was worth it. Not only did he get a smile out of Anna Wintour and an Instagram follower in Rihanna, Dame also became the talk of PFW (and the entire Internet). Check out some of the best reactions to Leon Dame’s finale walk ahead.

omg leon dame’s popularity is increasing by the hour, rihanna followed him on instagram and his followers count is increasing pic.twitter.com/BAscNSDWMU

— gallianosmargiela (@gallianosdior) September 25, 2019

cultural impact:

███████
███████
███████
███████ ______________
leon dame jlo closing
closing for margiela for versace pic.twitter.com/VBNipa8SKD

— i just took a dna test turns out im a 100% rat (@mahogvilia) September 26, 2019

I’ve seen dozens of Leon Dame slander on my TL today do yall have worms for brain pic.twitter.com/dYXarkGCP4

— kevin (@saintsible) September 25, 2019

Leon Dame is the model we’ve all been waiting for since the Trinity. pic.twitter.com/NFOUNDiEkB

— Coffee & Cocktails (@CoffeeCocktail) September 25, 2019

Leon Dame is my spirit animal.

— Rocío Diestra (@rociodiestra) September 26, 2019

imagine if sunmi or taemin recreated leon dame’s walk in their own way pic.twitter.com/kgdiwe56CB

— ana` (@bestboytae) September 27, 2019

View this post on Instagram

The accuracy here. If only we could all be as graceful as @naomi. #parisfashionweek RT: @chuuzus

A post shared by The Cut (@thecut) on Sep 26, 2019 at 1:50pm PDT

Like what you see? How about some more R29 goodness, right here?

We're Spotting Mismatched Prints All Over Paris

... And The Bride Wore MM6 Maison Margiela

Milan Street Style Is All Class, All The Way

I have spent much of the last three years in camps originally built to house those displaced by the fighting between Iraqi forces and the Islamic State (also known as ISIS). While many families who fled their home have been able to return to their towns and villages, one group remains stuck in these camps with no clear future in Iraq: the families of accused ISIS fighters and sympathisers.

Here’s how we got here. In 2003, US forces invaded Iraq, getting rid of Saddam Hussein, president of Iraq for 24 years and a Sunni Muslim who targeted different minority populations with his brutal regime, including Shia Muslim groups. After 2003, these Shia groups who had been victimised rose up and, in some areas, took their revenge for years of abuse out on the Sunni population, leading to a brutal sectarian war in 2006 to 2008. Some within the Sunni community, angered by this new period of abuse and complete impunity for crimes committed by the mostly Shia state, formed extremist groups that eventually became the Islamic State or ISIS. ISIS took control of major cities across Iraq in 2014, and continued to control territory in the country until the end of 2017, brutally governing hundreds of thousands of people.

Now ISIS has lost most of these areas, with the Iraqi government back in control. The government and local communities across Iraq have now embraced revenge themselves, taking it out on thousands of captured men and boys, prosecuting them for ISIS affiliation in deeply flawed trials that frequently  employ torture and often end in the death penalty. They are also punishing the families of these defendants—women and children .

Authorities are preventing the families from renewing ID cards, birth certificates and other documentation every Iraqi needs in order to get access to a job, healthcare, welfare, or enrol in school. Without these documents, families are unable to even safely leave their home or tent, and walk down the street; without documents, they could get arrested at any of the hundreds of checkpoints across the country.

The state has effectively rendered these families prisoners, with many stuck in the camps that had initially provided them refuge from conflict. Not only are these practices illegal — you can’t punish a child for the acts of their father — but they also jeopardise Iraq’s future stability. In my three years here, I have seen the cost of these policies up close.  These families are being further marginalised and pushed into a corner. It won’t be long before the remnants of ISIS morph into a new extremist group, and I worry that they will prey on the children from these families, children without access to education or employment, and recruit from their ranks.

Like what you see? How about some more R29 goodness, right here?

George Clooney Has Concerns About Amal's ISIS Case

It's Official: Nancy Pelosi Wants To Impeach Trump

My Body, My Work

Like what you see? How about some more R29 goodness, right here?

Trudeau's Blackface Pics Shows Us Who He Really Is

Robyn Doolittle On Her Me-Too Manifesto

Hydrogen Cyanide Found In Bootleg Vaping Products

The effects of the housing crisis are vast and varied. Right now, there aren’t enough affordable homes (leaving millions of people living in often unsuitable and unsafe conditions) and the houses that are available often come with extortionate living costs, meaning a third of millennials are unlikely to ever own their own home.

Women, in particular, are hit hard by the crisis, suffering the consequences of a gender housing gap. Not only are they less likely to be able to afford rooms of their own (nowhere in the UK has affordable housing for women to rent right now, according to the Women’s Budget Group), but the way in which domestic violence and abuse intersects with the housing crisis means that it is putting many women’s lives at risk.

Housing is one of many reasons why women can’t “just leave” an abusive relationship. Rent costs combined with a dwindling supply of social housing has created a perfect storm for women being forced to remain with a perpetrator, according to upcoming research by Shelter.

If victims, especially those with children, are living in a council home that they fear losing, for instance, they may feel they have little choice but to stay put. Those who flee risk homelessness – putting themselves in danger of further abuse and exploitation – because of the shrinking number of refuges for domestic violence and abuse victims and survivors (one in five women are being turned away because of a lack of spaces). Research by Crisis in 2014 found that 61% of homeless women and 13% of homeless men had experienced violence and/or abuse from a partner.

The charity is working with the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Ending Homelessness and calling for the government to prioritise people who are homeless because of domestic abuse, guaranteeing them a safe and settled home. At present, nearly 2,000 domestic abuse survivors in England are put at risk of homelessness a year. 

Domestic abuse also worsens the impact of existing welfare reforms, including the bedroom tax, the benefit cap and the local housing allowance freeze, which disproportionately affect women and children, Shelter says. Then there’s the fact that housing benefit doesn’t cover the average rent costs, the difficulty of getting out of tenancy agreements and the impossibility of taking charge of your money and upping sticks when an abuser has ruined your financial records.

When Sophia*, 39, was being sexually, emotionally, psychologically and financially abused by her ex-husband, she was living in a house in East Anglia, for which she was solely responsible for paying the mortgage. During their seven-year marriage, he also abused their children physically, emotionally and psychologically until 2017, when he was arrested. The economic and emotional abuse, including stalking and harassment, continued after the relationship ended and he was arrested. 

Sophia’s housing situation made it difficult to escape. Her responsibility for the mortgage, coupled with her lack of financial independence, left her trapped with her three children in constant danger and dread. Ahead, she shares her story.

The years of abuse broke me. I felt worthless, I didn’t feel like a person, I was just a part of him. I considered suicide as the only escape until I was referred to a domestic abuse organisation for support. I’m still on antidepressants and have had regular counselling for the last two years. Physically, I still operate in fight or flight mode, meaning I’m constantly on edge and my body doesn’t cope well with adrenaline and stress. Financially, I feel stuck. My credit rating is very poor because of huge debts my ex-husband left in my name. 

He refused to work, so I worked while he controlled all the money. My personal financial situation was strong before I met him, but he constantly increased overdrafts, opened new bank accounts, destroyed my debit cards, opened credit cards and mobile phone contracts, and applied for loans in my name. By the time our relationship ended, there were four credit cards with a total balance of £10,000, two loans with a balance of £15,000 and two current accounts overdrawn by £2,000. He also took £5,000 from our children’s bank accounts and racked up £700 in water charges in the space of six weeks while the children and I were away from the house, and in excess of £3,000 gas and electric in less than a year, while I was working.

It was my house and because I had no money and three children, I had nowhere to go. I couldn’t afford to run to another property. I was constantly scared he would trash the house or burn it down. I knew he wouldn’t leave. Rent was more than any mortgage and I couldn’t get another mortgage due to my poor credit rating. I was stuck. Social housing wasn’t an option because I owned my property. At the time, I didn’t think refuge was an option either because I didn’t fully understand how abusive he was being.

The final straw came when he knocked our son’s tooth out with a door and he needed hospital treatment. I called the non-emergency police when he was out of the house and they said they wanted to visit, but I was convinced my abuser had intercepted the call and that he was going to turn up and kill us all. The police came and we were escorted out of the house at 2am and told we could either go to the local police station for the night for safety or go to live with family. I chose the latter.

The police arrested my husband two days later for child cruelty and we were told we weren’t allowed back to the house. We ended up spending six weeks with my family until a non-molestation and occupation order could be served on my husband. We had a police escort home and a marker placed on the house. He visited and broke the order several times, but it could never be proven.

My options were to enter a refuge or get my house back. I opted for getting the house back, as it was mine and the only place my children and I had ever known. I got up every day, even though some days felt impossible, and carried on working. The children were back in school after two days off. I drove 100 miles each day to get them to and from school. This normality kept us all alive. 

I needed my family’s support to function, so I’d hoped to move closer to them, but I was told that if I sold my property I’d be making myself homeless and therefore wouldn’t be entitled to support from the council. An ideal situation would have been a pause on the mortgage and for my bank and utility providers to have understood economic and domestic abuse. Like council tax relief if a property is empty, for example, if you’ve had to escape your house for domestic abuse, a relief on these outgoings would have been welcomed. 

Housing is a safe way out for domestic abuse survivors. It’s a future. It’s an escape. It’s a plan. It’s the ability to start over. Knowing now how unsafe, scary, draining and financially crippling leaving can be, a safe roof over your head is crucial. It gives you something to build from. I was more concerned about my children. I knew I couldn’t leave them in the house with the abuser, their father, but I couldn’t leave them with nowhere to sleep, eat, wash, etc. 

The children and I are stronger and happier now. We all have tough times, triggers and bad nightmares, but we’re learning they’re in the past. We’re safe and together. I feel vulnerable because of the abuse I’ve experienced since we left, including stalking, harassment, fraud and considerable economic abuse around divorce, child maintenance and debt. I feel strong and vulnerable in equal measure.

For more information about economic abuse, visit Surviving Economic Abuse’s website. If you or someone you know is experiencing domestic violence, please call the National Domestic Violence Helpline on 0808 2000 247.

*Name has been changed to protect the interviewee’s identity.

Like what you see? How about some more R29 goodness, right here?

Like what you see? How about some more R29 goodness, right here?

Money Diary: A Wildlife Conservationist On 32k

Money Diary: A Flight Attendant On 26k

A Week In Los Angeles, CA, On A $41,000 Salary

Like what you see? How about some more R29 goodness, right here?

Jonathan Van Ness spoke out about being bullied for his gender expression and sexual orientation as a child in a powerful new interview with The Trevor Project. Van Ness, who is non-binary and uses he/him pronouns, explained that growing up, he was shamed for his gender expression. 

He explained, “I wanted to wear tights, and I wanted to wear [off-the-shoulder] sweatshirts, or thigh-high boots, or a velvet evening gown with big gold puffy sleeves that my cousins had that they would play dress-up with. I didn’t understand people’s intense visceral reaction to my wanting to express myself in this way.”

Van Ness’ father had “an intense negative reaction” to his child’s love of makeup and dresses. “It made me feel like my gender expression was something I needed to hide from a very early age,” Van Ness said. Later, when Van Ness began to realise he was attracted to boys, there was even more that he felt he needed to hide.

During middle school and high school, Van Ness was bullied. “It was very pervasive, and it had a verbal element to it, and it had a violence element to it,” he said. “It was a feeling of having your safety stolen, constantly feeling like you have to look over your shoulder for your safety, for your space, and that is something that is kind of second nature to me. Even as an adult, that has never really left me.” 

Learning how to develop tools to process his anxiety and depression in a healthy way has been vital, Van Ness said, as has been his passion for both his career and for his hobbies, like gymnastics. However, he added, joy is not enough. “Depression is not as easy as saying, ‘Just find your joy and you’re going to become happy.’ That was never my experience,” he said. “When we’re identified fully with our depression, it will say, ‘You have no joy, you have no way out.’ There will be a negative, internal critic in our mind that we need to be able to dissociate from and pull ourselves away from.” 

He added that having someone to talk to about what you’re going through is so important — for him, it was his mother. “When we’re able to share with someone who we do feel safe with, we can realise that these things that are happening to us don’t make us unloveable and aren’t anything to have as a huge secret and don’t make our future dark and dreary,” he said. “Actually, we have a really gorgeous future and we deserve love and safety.”

Watch the full interview below. 

The Trevor Project is the world’s largest suicide prevention and crisis intervention organisation for LGBTQ young people.

If you are thinking about suicide, please contact Samaritans on 116 123. All calls are free and will be answered in confidence.

Like what you see? How about some more R29 goodness, right here?

Jonathan Van Ness Comes Out As Non-Binary

Jonathan Van Ness On Healing From Trauma

Jonathan Van Ness Reveals He Is HIV-Positive

A heart-shaped box of Russell Stover’s chocolates is a dangerous thing. Some items lurking in the packaging are delicious. Some are fine. Some are so appalling you consider spitting them out in public. You’ll experience a similar assortment of emotions when you binge through Amazon Prime’s upcoming Modern Love, a series bursting with love and celebrities. Anne Hathaway, Tina Fey, Ed Sheeran (yes, that Ed Sherran), and Fleabag’’s Hot Priest (Andrew Scott) all appear, along with a dozen other famous faces. 

Mercifully, no episode of the romance anthology, premiering Friday, October 18, is as terrible as any strawberry cream candy. Instead, Modern Love is, on average, as good as caramel crunch — if not better.

The eight-episode streaming show is an adaptation of the New York Times’ iconic “Modern Love” column, which has run since 2004. That explains why Amazon’s Modern Love takes place in a hazy mid-aughts milieu where cell phones exist but don’t rule people’s lives, no one brings up swipe-right dating apps, and Facebook notifications are a desire instead of a punchline. Rather than grapple with the difficulties of modern, modern dating, the anthology is a warm blanket of Obama-era optimism.

Since Modern Love is so focused on some form of comfort, whether that be in the arms of another or through a brisk downtown bike ride, that you may follow your heart when choosing an episode. This is a true anthology series, so each half-hour-ish episode is a contained little story. Personally, I first threw myself into the Andrew Scott-led “Hers Was A World Of One,” which co-stars Brandon Kyle Goodman and Thoroughbreds’ Olivia Cooke. It’s an instalment involving queer love, a nearly infuriating woman, and very cute dogs — aka a complete delight. 

However, “World of One” will also leave you reaching for the tissues during its momentous final act. Anne Hathaway’s “Take Me As I Am, Whoever I Am,” which gives viewers a fearless look at dating with bipolar disorder, will likely shatter you multiple times. Dev Patel as the most perfect New York boyfriend in “When Cupid Is A Prying Journalist” is so good, his character will warm even the iciest heart. Most episodes are built for tears (the happy kind, the sad kind, or both), which is why Modern Love will be unable to outrun comparisons to television’s greatest highwire tear-jerker, This Is Us. Both series are fixated on the tiny ways human connection, above all else, can save us. 

Modern Love goes about that aim very differently than NBC’s family drama blockbuster. This Is Us has an obsessive working class streak running through its teary DNA. Modern Love, on the other hand, luxuriates in beautifully appointed apartments and the kinds of sleek lives that usually hide universal issues such as relationship decay and surprise pregnancies. Even when Modern Love gets painfully serious — as it does in stand-out episodes like “World of One,” “Take Me,” and Cristin Milioti-starring premiere “When the Doorman Is Your Main Man” — it would rather have that conversation in a beautiful brownstone than dilapidated public housing. In fact, the latter kind of residence doesn’t exist in Modern Love‘s New York. 

The West Elm-y glow of the series can usually lull you into a sense of warm complacency. That is, until you arrive at “So He Looked Like Dad. It Was Just Dinner, Right?,” starring newly-minted Emmy winner Julia Garner and Homecoming’s Shea Whigham. 

As the title suggests, “Dad” follows a young woman as she falls into a complicated relationship with a father-like figure. Specifically, a powerful older man in her workplace. In a post-#MeToo society, it is already doubtful viewers are clamouring to see that story brought to life through a multi-million-dollar production. That fact that “Dad’s” Amazon-penned summary involves the words “daddy issues” only makes the narrative more cringeworthy. Unfortunately, the Garner vehicle never feels like it’s running on all cylinders. Instead, the episodes comes off as a flimsy best case scenario in a deeply terrible and unsettling series of events. 

At least Shameless’ Emmy Rossum, who directs the instalment, uses “Dad” to prove she can excel at suffocatingly good close-ups that filtering two complex emotional perspectives into one frame. 

Take a bite out of Modern Love. All you have to do is eat around the metaphorical pieces of stray coconut. 

Like what you see? How about some more R29 goodness, right here?

The Politician Review You Need To Read

Rachel Brosnahan's Emmys Makeup Is So Unexpected

Why Is The CIA After A Teenager In This Show?

Update, November 2, 2019: Delta has announced it will restore same-sex love scenes to Booksmart and Rocketman. A spokeswoman for the airline told Variety it had been given an “edited” version of Booksmart by the studio and was unaware it censored a key moment.“Studios often provide videos in two forms: a theatrical, original version and an edited version. We selected the edited version and now realise content well within our guidelines was unnecessarily excluded from both films. We are working to make sure this doesn’t happen again,” Emma Protis told Variety.

“The studio has agreed to provide a special Delta edit that retains the LGBTQ+ love scenes in both Booksmart and Rocketman that will be on our flights as soon as possible,” she added.Booksmart director Olivia Wilde responded to the news on Twitter, writing, “Thank you, @delta.”

Thank you, @delta. https://t.co/V4rk2loBV3

— olivia wilde (@oliviawilde) November 2, 2019

This article was originally published on October 30, 2019.

Director Olivia Wilde is calling out airlines for censoring key moments of “female sexuality” from her hit high school comedy Booksmart.

Booksmart, which came out to rave reviews in May, tells the story of seniors Amy (Kaitlyn Dever) and Molly (Beanie Feldstein) who vow to spend their last night of high school making up for all the fun they didn’t have over the last four years. Amy is a lesbian, and during the film, she hooks up with Hope (Diana Silvers), another girl in her graduating class. On October 26, journalist Michaela Barton tweeted that Etihad Airlines censored the kiss between the two women, as well as the rest of the  hookup scene. She noted that other sexual encounters in the film, specifically those between men and women, were not removed. 

The next day, Wilde replied to Barton’s tweet, shocked at the exclusion of such an important scene, especially since there was no nudity. On October 30, Wilde tweeted that  she had a chance to view Booksmart on a plane as well, though did not specify which airline she flew. Not only did the airline edit out Amy and Hope’s hook up, but she claims numerous other aspects of the film had been altered. 

Wilde noted that the film cut out or muted the word “vagina,” but kept explicit language in the film, including f-bombs — sometimes, she claimed, even in the same scene where they muted vagina. The edit also removed the word “genitals.” 

Wilde added that the airline’s version cut a scene featuring naked dolls even though these toys are “made for children” and have “no genitals,” as well as a masturbation scene, a scene in which Molly deals with a UTI, and a moment in which the girls watch porn for research in the back of a Lyft, which Wilde stated was the movie’s chosen Oscars clip. 

Wilde confirmed that the Amy and Hope love scene was indeed edited, despite it involving “zero nudity” and having “an essential plot point for a lead character.” 

“What message is this sending to viewers and especially to women? That their bodies are obscene? That their sexuality is shameful?” tweeted Wilde. “I urge every airline, especially those who pride themselves on inclusivity, to stop working with this third party company, and trust the parental advisory warning to allow viewers to opt out if they choose.”

On the red carpet for the Academy’s Governors Awards Sunday, Wilde told Variety that the sex scene between Amy and Hope is “such an integral part of this character’s journey” and that her heart “broke” upon hearing about the edited version being fed to first-time viewers. 

“I want people to experience the entire film,” she told the outlet. Refinery29 has reached out to Wilde for further comment.

Feldstein, also at the awards, shared Wilde’s thoughts on the censorship. 

“We’re on the case to get this rectified. Our movie is a beautiful representation of the queer experience as young people,” the actress said. “I’m a queer person. So we’re getting to the bottom of it, don’t worry. If you can watch me and Skyler [Gisondo] kiss, you can watch Diana and Kaitlyn kiss.”

This isn’t the first time that someone has accused an airline of censoring sexual content. A writer at SlashFilm, Ben Pearson, accused Delta of removing a key subplot in Love, Actually which depicted two characters as stand-ins in a porn film. Delta also reportedly edited out a love scene between two women in Carol. A fan noted on Twitter that Delta removed the Booksmart Amy/Hope scene as well. 

A spokesperson for Delta told Variety that the airline uses a third party company if an unedited version of a film does not meet its content guidelines. Delta will use the third party’s version even if it removes extra material, per Variety.

In a statement to Refinery29, a representative for Delta claimed that their “content parameters do not in any way ask for the removal of homosexual content from the film.” 

“We value diversity and inclusion as core to our culture and our mission and will review our processes to ensure edited video content doesn’t conflict with these values,” a representative for the airline added. 

Refinery29 inquired in a follow-up whether the original film, or a differently edited version, would be added to future Delta flights. 

Refinery29 also reached out to Etihad Airlines for comment. 

One third party that company that edits films for flights, Encore Inflight Limited, claimed it does so only by the standards set by the airlines. Jovitah Toh, CEO of Encore Inflight Limited, explained how it works to The Points Guy blog. 

“Each airline will provide the distributors with their censorship guidelines and distributors will work with them on the edits — for example, nudity, implicit sex scenes, religious representations, plane crashes, competitor airlines’ logos, swear words and images or mention of pigs or pork for Muslim carriers are the general items that are edited,” Toh said. 

A representative for company Global Eagle echoed the same sentiment to The Points Guy, stating that when they edit films for airlines, they are “required to obey local laws and local religious sensitivities” and that each “airline has its own requests and we respect our customers’ wishes.”

The controversy has opened up a conversation about what content can and should be censored — but if you want to watch Booksmart, your best viewing experience likely won’t involve in-flight entertainment.

Like what you see? How about some more R29 goodness, right here?

On Sunday, Business of Fashion introduced its seventh annual BoF 500, “a community of people shaping the global fashion industry that grows stronger over time.” In an article announcing the list, BoF shared how it determines who should be considered: “Each year since 2013, we have been sourcing and discovering new names to add to our community of people shaping the global fashion industry based on nominations from existing BoF 500 members.” People like model Adut Akech, Valentino’s creative director Pierpaolo Piccioli, Chicago rapper Chika Oranika, Dapper Dan, and of course, the designer behind Pyer Moss, Kerby Jean-Raymond, made the final cut. Only, Jean-Raymond says the sourcing came at a cost.

In an article published to Medium, Jean-Raymond explained exactly where and how Business of Fashion got him fucked up. It all started when the designer was offered a chance to speak during BoF Voices, a conference in London 2018. He told the publication that he did not want to participate in group panel discussions but rather preferred to give his version of a fashion “Ted Talk” on stage with Bethann Hardison. Mid-flight to the conference, he was told that despite his initial request, the speaking engagement would be a group panel: a conversation between Bethann Hardison, Patrick Robinson (the former creative director of Gap and Armani Exchange) and his friend and designer LaQuan Smith, moderated by Tim Blanks. Jean-Raymond says he felt insulted by the last-minute switch — and he assumed the group panel was their plan all along — but nonetheless agreed to take a call with BoF’s editor-in-chief Imran Amed some months later.

“He said he’d seen the work I’d been doing with Pyer Moss and in the community and I’d been selected to be on one of the 3 covers of the BoF 500 magazine,” Jean-Raymond writes. “Big oh ‘shit’ moment for me [..] So this now began a series of phone calls between him and I and meetings in Paris.”

What transpired from there, Jean-Raymond explains, is a series of calls where he allowed Amed to pick his brain for other names to include on their September cover series — as well as a list of “diverse” people to include on the BoF 500 list. Because he was under the impression that he’d be featured on the cover, Jean-Raymond shared news with the BoF staff that he hadn’t made public yet. But that cover never materialised. When the covers were released Monday, Jean-Raymond was not featured on them (Chika and Dapper Dan each have solo covers while Akech and Piccioli share one together). The designer is mentioned only on the BoF 500 list.

The straw that broke the camel’s back, he says, was arriving to the BoF 500 gala, and seeing a Black gospel choir. “This man, Imran, turns into Kirk Franklin and starts dancing on the stage with them and shit. To a room full of white people,” Jean-Raymond recalls. “What motivates someone to feel that they have the right to do a Kirk Franklin dance on the stage? Because ultimately that level of entitlement is the core issue. People feeling like they can buy or own whatever they want … if that thing pertains to blackness. We are always up for sale.” Some of the black attendees present felt so “terrible” and “helpless” that they left the event in “tears”, Kerby explained.

He also took the opportunity to speak directly to Amed. “I think your brand is exploitative, you proved that it’s fueled by corporate interest and shitty business practices. I understand that you have to make money, we all are selling something, but dawg, not your soul. And not ours.”

Jean-Raymond has never shied away from standing up for himself or his community — and he hasn’t wavered even after winning the CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund and gaining Anna Wintour’s admiration. After his fashion show at Weeksville Heritage Center last September, he corrected those who claimed he failed to bring awareness to the historic site, which preserves the history of the first free African American community. He didn’t hesitate to address white journalists who described him using coded racist language to diminish his career accomplishments. In an interview with Refinery29, he spoke out about being “ostracised” and treated “like a pariah in the industry” after staging a New York Fashion Week show around Black Lives Matter in 2017.

It’s clear that Jean-Raymond isn’t going to hold his tongue, no matter how successful he becomes. Nor should he. As he said in his medium post, “me getting checks is not going to stop me from checking you.”

We’ve reached out to BoF for comment and will update this story if/when we hear back.

Like what you see? How about some more R29 goodness, right here?

Pyer Moss Spring 2020 Celebrates Black Women

Milan Street Style Is All Class, All The Way

5 Activists On Making Your Wardrobe Sustainable

While Korean skincare gets most of the recognition in the American beauty market, nail art is another element of K-beauty that deserves your attention. Some of the hottest manicure trends to come out of Seoul — like glass nails and wire nails — were created by Eun Kyung Park, the owner of the salon Nail Unistella. Park is also the regular artist for a host of celebs, from Bella Hadid to K-pop group Blackpink.

While in Seoul, I visited Nail Unistella to ask Park what nail trends were on her radar. Two hours later, I left with the cloud-covered jelly manicure of my dreams and a piece from Park’s line of nail jewellery. See it all unfold in the video above.

Like what you see? How about some more R29 goodness, right here?

You Have To See Dua Lipa's Blonde Dye Job

Black Nail Art Is The Edgiest Autumn Manicure

Dree Hemingway Shares Her Ultimate Beauty Tips

Like what you see? How about some more R29 goodness, right here?

Gigi Hadid Interrupted Chanel’s Runway Crasher

PFW Street Style Is All About Coats

Mismatched Shoes Were Huge During Fashion Month

Like what you see? How about some more R29 goodness, right here?

You Have To See Dua Lipa's Blonde Dye Job

Camila Cabello's Surprising Hair Secret

The Lob Haircut Is All Over Paris Fashion Week