Leandra Medine's Blog, page 56
January 1, 2020
When Self-Care Fails, Try Self-Parenting
I had been reprimanding myself for not changing the sheets for three weeks when, one day, in a fit of frustration, I furiously stripped the bed on my way to work. A little motivation for Future Me. Fifteen hours and two shifts at different jobs later, I returned home and collapsed on my couch for my usual palliative care of clean-the-fridge ramen and Dr. Who. And when I finally decided to curl up in bed, lo and behold: Past Me was a dick.
I would love to report that I went downstairs to get the nice clean sheets out of the dryer and treated my exhausted self to a beautifully made bed, but no. Instead, like some terrible mix of a petulant teenager and an apathetic house cat, I just made a nest of blankets and laundry and shut my eyes, cursing my past self and her ill-advised attempts at forced responsibility.
The truth is, when I’m left alone too long, I tend to go a little feral. My sleep schedule becomes erratic, my screen time flies off the charts, my meals become… creative. My strategy for mitigating this behavior is to invite people over so that I have to do things like clean the bathroom and migrate the collection of bras from the back of my couch back into my dresser. On one such night, after the cleaning was done and a friend came over to order takeout, said friend described her own self-care persona as “Cool Single Dad.” “It’s how I think of myself when I have to do adult-type things,” she explained. “Cool Single Dad does laundry on Tuesday so he can play video games with the kids on the weekend. Cool Single Dad keeps a box of granola bars by the door so the kids don’t leave the house without breakfast. But the family is all me: I’m the dad and the kids.”
If I’m being honest, most of my self-care strategies feel pretty adversarial.
She was half-kidding, but I was taken by the framing: I liked the idea of self-care as self-parenting. Maybe I needed that, too. As much as I try to take care of myself in a loving way—to set Future Me up for success—if I’m being honest, most of my self-care strategies feel pretty adversarial. Like I’m just trying to trick Future Me into making good decisions. Sometimes I succeed, like when I make extra soup and freeze it for lunches. Sometimes I fail, like every time I say, “I’ll just get up early and finish it in the morning.” (This has never worked. Not once.) But what if instead of casting myself in the role of Permanently Flailing Adult, I could think of myself as a kind and capable parent to my own inner child?
Berating myself for skills and knowledge I don’t have, not giving my body proper fuel, leaving myself too little time to complete a project—this is not good self-parenting. A better self-parent would have a soothing playlist ready for when her inner child feels panicky and stressed. She would stash some healthy(ish) frozen meals in the office freezer for when her inner child forgets to pack lunch. She might even actually use that Bedtime feature that showed up on the iPhone a while ago to help her kiddo say no to the just-one-more-episode trap. (Or maybe I should just give up on that one, parenting fail or no.) In other words, I would have more compassion for myself in cases of Failures of Adulting, like forgotten produce rotten in the fridge, late credit-card payments, procrastination on job applications. Instead of self-flagellation and trickery, the focus would be on learning from my mistakes.
Doing a friend’s dishes in a stressful week feels like a gift I can give, whereas doing my own is just another chore.
Truth is, I find it easier, sometimes, to show love to others than to show it to myself. Especially when it comes to the nitty-gritty business of caregiving. Doing a friend’s dishes in a stressful week feels like a gift I can give, whereas doing my own is just another chore. But if I shift my perspective to see caring for myself as caring for my inner child (who is doing her best, I think) then maybe I can be less resentful of the work of self-care, and find ways to take care of myself in a style that is more kind. Or at least be more forgiving of my failures along the way.
I will likely never achieve the mythical state of ready-for-the-week-ness that I so often dream of (meals prepped, home tidied, self relaxed) but I’m starting to view the practice of self-care as a working meditation. The better I care for myself, the more I show myself love, the more I understand the worth of that love and the strength of it. And sometimes, like a parent would her child, I can even love myself enough to finish changing the sheets before I leave for work.
Graphics by Lorenza Centi.
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Unconventional Life Hack: Pick a Resolution You Can Complete in One Day
Last year, on the first day of 2019, I didn’t exactly have a “new year, new me” skip in my step.
In the months leading up to January 1st, a variety of big life events had occurred. First, on the day before Thanksgiving, my dad died. I had four years’ warning that this was an inevitability, and yet, like a lifeguard pointing at a shark before its jaws clamp down on your leg, it turns out a warning doesn’t really doesn’t make much of a difference. More things happened: another tragedy, this time much less expected, then the arrival of two big pieces of good news, all of which challenged my ability to metabolize the outside world. I crossed my fingers for nothing else of note to happen.
It was a perfect New Year’s Eve because it required exactly the amount of energy I had to give it.
By December 31st, I was tired. I rang in the New Year on my friend’s couch in L.A., where, at midnight, she dozed beside me as I polished off a slice of pizza and the last 15 minutes of Swingers. It was a perfect New Year’s Eve because it required exactly the amount of energy I had to give it.
Then it was January 1st, and a whole day stretched out in front of me. I hadn’t prepared (or thought at all about) a resolution, but then an idea arrived late that morning: My New Year’s resolution would be to eat Nora Ephron’s favorite hot dog. I realized instinctively that this was a perfect resolution because it solved two immediate practical problems: what I’d be doing that day and what to have for lunch. But more importantly, it was set up so that my New Year’s resolution—that particular brand of goal-setting that seems to nag, fizzle, and disappoint over the course of a month or two—would be accomplished before the end of the day.
And it was. The all-beef frank from Nate ‘n Al’s Jewish deli in Beverly Hills was grilled perfectly—so that there are little marks but no detectable char—and when its paired with sauerkraut, steak fries, complimentary pickles, and a mimosa, you have a very pleasant first lunch of the year on your hands.
I made a note in my phone that I’d like to try it sometime.
I chose to make eating Nora Ephron’s favorite hot dog my New Year’s resolution for the simple reason that she’d mentioned it being her ideal last meal in the director’s commentary on You’ve Got Mail and I made a note in my phone that I’d like to try it sometime. But if I were to do a little soul searching, I think there’s a deeper reason for it too, which borrows from the familiar idea that you should break down big goals into smaller ones, both for the sake of practicality and to build up nerve and confidence along the way. Doing something Nora Ephron did was just a half-step toward doing other things she’s done that are priorities for me: being in New York (and, I guess, LA) in a more curious, thorough way; experimenting with writing in different forms. So while it may have just felt random or a little clever at the time, it does, in its way, connect to some deeper things about how I’d like to move around in the world.
This year, as 2020 has approached, I’ve thought back to January 1st, 2019, and how much happiness my New Year’s resolution gave me and how nice it felt to just get it over with in one day. Each time I’ve told someone about the idea since then, I’ve noticed the way their eyes light up, too. I think our collective joy can be attributed to the acknowledgment that, simply, New Year’s resolutions suck. They almost never last. And you are not obligated to have one, but if you wanted to participate, you could just do something fun and do it fast.
Graphics by Coco Lashar
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January’s Theme Is “Consumption”—What Do You Want to Read?
Longtime readers, I know what you’re thinking: “Consumption Month? Pretty sure they already did that.”
And to you I say: Yes, you are absolutely correct. In November of 2016, it was Consumption Month on Man Repeller.
However! As we batted around ideas about what we should focus on this January—what’s been on our minds; what kind of mood we’d be in—the word “consumption” came up again and it appealed in a new way.
First, there’s our evolving understanding of sustainability in fashion, and in particular, how we can embrace it more fully in ways that feel both effective and fun. It’s a topic that everyone on the MR team has explored this year, both on the site and IRL—in September, Harling even took a trip to Zara’s HQ in Madrid to better understand how massive retailers are updating their practices. We shared our favorite sustainable brands. Profiled a sustainability-minded stylist. Asked for your input on the topic. Leandra made a “list of questions to ask yourself before you shop.” We published that last one during holiday shopping prime time, and I’ve turned back to it multiple times since then. And this month, you can expect more genuinely useful stories like that one, such as…
-Ideas for tailoring clothes you don’t l-o-v-e love anymore
-How to create a capsule wardrobe when you’re a maximalist
-What’s the smartest way to use a clothing rental service?
-Secrets to finding the best stuff on Etsy
-The one pair of black pants Harling’s obsessed with right now
And then there’s another really simple way to look at the subject of consumption and how it feels to us right this minute. All you have to do is ask yourself two questions: 1. What do you want more of in your life? And 2. What do you want less of? Then: Which of those things can be swapped for one another and which ones are at odds?
A few things we’ll be mulling over…
-What happens when you take out your Airpods and start listening again?
-Why are there so many types of cereal?
-How many coffees are sold (and what kinds?) during a cafe’s rush hour in New York?
-When you lose something, how hard is it to get it back, really?
-Which purchases promised to change our lives and then, sadly, did not?
Then, of course, we’ve left some space for your consumption-related desires, too. What do you want more of on MR this month? What do you want less of? Let us know in the comments and we’ll do our best to give it to you… or, you know, not give it to you.
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December 31, 2019
How Will We Remember 2010s Fashion?
In 2010, the name “Tavi Gevinson” appeared at the very top of Cathy Horyn’s rundown of key fashion moments for The New York Times. She was recounting the moment at Dior‘s January couture collection show when old guard attendees realized one of the coveted front row seats was, in fact, occupied by a 13-year-old girl wearing an enormous bow-shaped hat (“the stares were openly hostile“). In hindsight, this incident could assume the role of harbinger for the seismic change that swept the fashion industry over the course of the decade that followed–an encapsulation of the friction that would crackle between the power of incumbency and the power of captivating attention. The sway of the latter is, perhaps, a clue to solving the question that has loomed large in my mind as the new year approaches: What does the 2010s’ style legacy look like?
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A post shared by Phil Oh (@mrstreetpeeper) on Apr 26, 2017 at 6:19am PDT
The answer is somewhat murky by default because we’re still inside the age in question (close enough to smell the red pepper flakes on our avocado toast!), but also because of how varied the decade’s most notable aesthetic movements have been. The indistinguishable jeans and Patagonia fleeces of normcore. The unflinching, “photograph me!” maximalism of fashion week street style. The Ugg boots and infinity scarves of “basic bitch” mania. The bodycon dresses and spandex bike shorts of Kardashian imitators and Fashion Nova shoppers. The tie-dye sweats and pool slides of the scumbro set. The coveted sneakers and Supreme T-shirts of hypebeasts. The designer leggings of athleisure.
It’s a hodgepodge that seems random at first glance, but look closer and you’ll find a common thread–a phrase that is as equally emblematic of the past decade as “LOL” and “mood”: good content. In other words, each and every memorable fashion phenomenon from the 2010s has accrued and maintained cultural significance because of its easy translation into headlines, Instagram posts, tweets, and think pieces.
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A post shared by Kim Kardashian West (@kimkardashian) on Dec 4, 2017 at 7:07am PST
Lauren Sherman, whose career writing about fashion has quite literally spanned the decade (she started as an editor at Fashionista in 2010 and is now the chief New York correspondent at Business of Fashion), remarked that this ability to captivate the internet has proved to be a distinguishing factor for success among designers, too: “[Fashion] is further away from art and creation than ever before: The most genius ‘designers’ today are the most genius marketers.”
Their impact is such that it doesn’t really matter what they’re creating, it just matters what stories they are telling about it.
To her point, when I think about the designers who have stamped this decade of fashion with the most “2010s” kind of influence, I think of Alessandro Michele, Virgil Abloh, and James Jebbia–people who don’t just design clothes, but who also engender cult followings. Their impact is such that it doesn’t really matter what they’re creating, it just matters what stories they are telling about it.
“Designers who just make nice clothes don’t succeed,” Sherman added. “It has to be about more than that, now.”
This development–this necessity for “more”–has changed the way we metabolize fashion in the zeitgeist. “This is the decade that fashion—and beauty, actually—became like music to the ‘youths,'” Sherman said. “Because most forms of expression are now digital, not physical, it is no longer about acquiring record albums or CDs or DVDS and showing off your collection. Instead of waiting in line outside Tower Records for the latest Dave Matthews Band album to come out (yes, I did that in 2002), high school and college kids are waiting in line for Off-White and Supreme and Yeezys and Kylie’s Lip Kit and Glossier.”
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A post shared by Gucci (@gucci) on Oct 1, 2019 at 1:00am PDT
Genius marketing has certainly helped propel these brands to fame, but over the course of the decade, online algorithms have become simultaneously responsible for meting out recognition and therefore success, whether for a brand or a trend or an individual. As a result, while defining 2010s style is difficult, defining my own personal style is perhaps even more so. Both are inextricably tied to the whims of the algorithm–Instagram’s in particular–which has been powerful enough to popularize absurdities such as wedge sneakers and prairie dresses (eagerly coopted at various points by yours truly). On the cusp of a new decade, I’m having a uniquely hard time getting dressed, grappling with whether I like something because I genuinely, authentically like it or because my social media feeds decided I probably would.
Fashion and costume historian Shelby Ivey Christie found this fine line similarly inscrutable the more she turned to Instagram for fashion inspiration, so she made a decision to look elsewhere with greater intention: “I have made a conscious effort to consume more art, design, architecture and literature as a way of building up a visual database,” she told me. “I personally want my style to express who I am individually, so I try to only wear things I like because I truly like them, not because the algorithm forced an image on me repeatedly.”
Fashion icons like Rihanna, Tracee Ellis Ross, and Chloë Sevigny are heralded for their unique style while visual evidence of it is proliferated across the internet at a rapid pace.
She pointed out that while the 2010s have seemingly prized individuality, they have also made it nearly impossible to maintain. Fashion icons like Rihanna, Tracee Ellis Ross, and Chloë Sevigny are heralded for their unique style while visual evidence of it is proliferated across the internet at a rapid pace. Likewise, a trend that might seem distinctive at its outset can become homogenous within the course of a month if enough influencers share photos of themselves wearing it, or enough fast fashion retailers reproduce it en masse.
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A post shared by Christopher John Rogers (@christopherjohnrogers) on Oct 12, 2019 at 3:39pm PDT
There’s a major upside to this unprecedented reach, though: It has provided a platform where style is much more accessible than it was in decades past, allowing it to connect with and amplify a range of voices and perspectives. When reflecting on her experience covering and commenting on fashion over the last decade, Christie remarked on how much Black culture has contributed to what its legacy will look like: “We saw #BlackLivesMatter printed across millions of tees and hoodies. We saw more and more Black women embracing their natural hair and openly embracing our Black features and Black bodies,” she said. “We led conversations around naturally curly hair and the lack of products catered to darker complexions and tightly-coiled texture, which coincided with all sorts of ‘melanin’ stamped wear, from Rihanna’s Fenty line at LVMH to the fashion in Pose to Christopher John Roger’s CFDA win.”
Indeed, another reason the crux of 2010s fashion is hard to articulate is because fashion is more expansive than ever before, stretching to include everything from activism to new forms of technology to meat dresses. The decade’s aesthetic footprint doesn’t look as linear as it might have historically, with ideas trickling down from runway to wardrobe in uniform alignment; instead, it looks like a gigantic, sprawling web, with inspiration and feedback coming from every imaginable direction. I can’t tell where or even if it all coalesces–not yet, at least. But I can say without a hint of hyperbole that it has irrevocably changed the way we use style to spin the narrative of who we are.
Feature photos via Getty Images.
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8 Beauty Editors Share the Products They Think Are Totally Underrated
It’s no secret that beauty editors get a lot of mail—think Santa Claus on December 1st or former Major League Baseball player Hank Aaron in 1974 amounts. These packages of products arrive on a daily basis, ready to be sniffed, swiped, and smeared. As circumstantial as this degree of access (and excess) may be, it is also useful when it comes to making thoroughly vetted recommendations.
Not only has experimenting with lots of different products taught me that expense does not necessarily beget value, it has also introduced me to some incredible hidden gems–i.e. products I might have overlooked if they hadn’t literally landed on my desk. Since hype isn’t the only good metric for judging a beauty product, and can actually be misleading on occasion, I asked my fellow beauty professionals to tell me about their underrated favorites, too.
Scroll down for a roundup of unsung beauty heroes that deserve more credit than they typically get. I’ll go first!
The $5 Mascara That Will Give You Fawn-Like Lashes & the Nipple Cream You Can Use Everywhere
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What If Astrology Hadn’t Gone Mainstream?
Below, the winner of November’s Writers Club prompt: The sliding-doors moment of the 2010s.
I can thank the 90s and The Craft for a fashionable foray into goth fashion, and for planting the seed that perhaps, yes, actually, I am a witch. But while Sabrina and Practical Magic had me entertaining the idea that a dormant sorceress reside within me, it wasn’t until the latter half of this decade that I officially began courting the world of woo-woo. As life served up a series of forks in the road, from oyster- to dinner-sized, I turned not just to my ladies in waiting, mom, and Google for advice, but to the spiritual realm, too. Maybe even first.
So what if, god(dess) forbid, astrology hadn’t gone mainstream? What would’ve happened to me and my fellow horoscope heads sans the scapegoat of a Mercury Retrograde? When my iPhones slipped out of my back jean pocket and into their watery porcelain graves, would I have had to take personal responsibility for my irresponsibility? Would this have led me into a shame spiral that only served to make me doubt my own maturity? Would I have been so easily able to write off a basic mishap as the collateral damage of being human with the same ease and nonchalance as my male counterparts? If I’d never begun to profile my lovers, bosses, and parents through various spiritual modalities of choice, would I have become so accepting of my loved ones’ “flaws”? #SuchAGemini
And what if I never upgraded my iCal to the Lunar Cycle? Seriously, would I have set (and occasionally met) as many monthly goals? As each New Moon rolled around, would I have truly taken the time to “call-in” my purest wants and desires; a doting partner, Loeffler Randall flats, a love-love relationship with my anxiety? Without Co-Star’s morning pep talk (and/or ominous forecast), would I have faced Chiberia’s commuting challenges with such aplomb? And at the end of a verifiably shitty week, devoid of Palo Santo to smudge the pain away, would I have simply taken my ego to bed angry?
For many of us in the last decade, spending some time pondering life “according to the zodiac” was a welcome conduit for self-reflection. Others wandered even further into the mystical waters, exploring Human Design, feng shui, and their own intuitive powers. So, if pop-mysticism, astro-memes, and an entire genre of new-age podcasts hadn’t “come into our awareness,” would we still have found a deeper sense of self-trust, self-care, and self-love?
There’s only one way to find out. *Consults Neo Tarot Deck.* Okay, the cards say probably yes, but it wouldn’t have been nearly as much fun.
Graphic by Lorenza Centi.
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December 30, 2019
Review: The Buzziest Junk Food on the Internet in 2019
As brands battled it out for our attention many companies turned to publicity stunts. Consider Disney+’s 600-tweet birth announcement for its new platform, or performative collaborations like the Adidas x Arizona Iced Tea 99-cent sneakers. This strategy flourished especially in the snack world—where the wares are inherently graphic and enticing (mayo swaddling a soft-boiled egg so sensually it’s basically NSFW) and the appeal is truly universal (everyone has to eat).
In 2019, snack enthusiasts could have elected to spend August at The Bell, a Taco Bell pop-up hotel in Palm Springs, where rooms sold out in two minutes. They could have screened Reese’s 82-minute feature film about all the ways to eat its cups, plus, bizarrely, ASMR. They could have visited Earth’s first silent Burger King drive-thru in Helsinki, or watched chicken sandwich purveyors volley incendiary tweets back and forth like tennis balls. And they were spoiled for choice, with what felt like a record number of new novelty snacks emerging all year long in a parade of loud packaging and louder social media reveals, each carefully constructed to create buzz.
Some went viral, some did not. Accordingly, I took a long, hard look at eight novelty snack releases from 2019, ranked them in order of least to most experimental, and have attempted to examine whether each gamble was worth its weight in corn syrup. To the guy who recently gave me side-eye for eating dry Twinkies Cereal on an airplane, this one goes out to you.
8. The Milk Chocolate Emoji Bar
In May, Hershey’s announced that, for the first time in its 125-year history, it would be changing the look of its iconic chocolate bars. The big revamp? Engraving each one with popular emoticons. Which I suppose could have been perceived as experimental for the snack magnate had the company suspected a large part of their customer base harbored a deep-seated fear of the ghost emoji. But as far as brand boldness goes, these chocolate bars were about as adventurous as a dad joke.
How it actually tastes: The Emoji Bar presents exactly as Hershey’s milk chocolate has presented since 1900: smooth, a little cloying, and gratifying despite being unremarkable, like when anyones’ college roommates give a joint wedding toast.
Did the degree of experimentation pay off? They launched this summer, but I, a consumer who actively reads about snacks at least three times a day (unless you’re my editor and I’m on deadline, in which case my internet is still broken), didn’t hear of them until December. Low risk, low reward, bottom ranking.
Suggested experiments for 2020: Whoppers the size of the moon, a Heath bar except it’s also a boyfriend, a Peppermint Pattie you can use to brush your teeth.
7. The Reese’s Peanut Butter Lovers Cup
Who among us eating Reese’s cups is not already a peanut butter lover? The PBL varietal was released in April alongside a fraternal twin, the Chocolate Lovers iteration—and both presented a mere doubling down on features customers already treasured. Which is to say: The Lovers Cups are no more experimental than showing up to a blind date having already Google-stalked your companion, or gifting a close friend cash. The only true risk: making the PBLs “limited edition.”
How it actually tastes: The PBL is similar to a standard grade Reese’s, with slightly more body and legs (a.k.a. peanut butter). Blindfolded, I’m not confident I’d know the difference.
Did the degree of experimentation pay off? A cursory Twitter search reveals only a handful of mentions—and, damningly, that the PBLs first emerged briefly in 2009. Apparently, the 2019 Lovers Cups spawned spinoff Krispy Kreme x Reese’s doughnuts, also limited run, a collaboration so up my alley I’m surprised I’m not currently living inside one. Yet, none of these products landed on my radar until way after the fact. A mild but undeniable failure, from a stunt perspective. (Though I have since followed The Reese’s Guy.)
Suggested experiments for 2020: Reese’s made completely of kale, but which still taste exactly like Reese’s.
6. The Popeyes Chicken Sandwich
On August 12th, Popeyes took to Twitter to announce their new chicken sandwich. Almost immediately, Chick-fil-A lashed out, touting their “original” version. Popeyes replied “… y’all good?” With that, 2019’s chicken sandwich war had kicked off. Hour-long lines outside Popeye’s ensued. Someone tried to sell one on eBay for $7,000. And by August 28th, the sandwiches were officially sold out. It’s no wonder: people love an internet fight, they love fried chicken, and this time, said chicken came on a still-warm brioche bun without a side of moral outrage. Still, for Popeyes, the experimentation was nominal, lest they feared a last-minute, nationwide poultry recall, or worse, a Twitter blackout.
How it actually tastes: Yes, the Popeyes chicken sandwich is worth the hype, with meat so tender it seems to burst out in song, gloved by bracingly crispy breading, and sandwiched between a bun soft enough to make Bread Face cry.
Did the degree of experimentation pay off? Justin Bieber posted a video of himself trying a Popeyes chicken sandwich, Helen Rosner proclaimed that it was here to save America, and I’m going out for another one as soon as I file this piece. In other words: yes. (Before you @ me in the comments over whether it’s a snack, the sandwich itself is small enough that you could easily consume two in one sitting. Stoners will have my back on this.)
Suggested experiments for 2020: Keep up the good work, Popeyes.
Despite Mars’ February declaration that Starburst Duos were “its latest flavor innovation,” there’s nothing inherently experimental about issuing much-adored candy in couplet form, even if the paired flavors are “unexplainably juicy.” That is, until you consider the pairings. One of the two is a strawberry-watermelon chew—a Starburst fruit salad–and the other is a blue raspberry and lemonade chew, and it is sheer chaos. They come lovingly alternated in each metallic sleeve, a subtle reminder that pandemonium lurks beneath all serenity, just waiting to be unwrapped.
How they actually taste: The strawberry-watermelon flavor is chapstick-y on the nose, and generically pink-tasting on the mouth, all in all pleasant. The blue raspberry and lemonade variety tastes like an Italian ice hurled itself into a glass of Crystal Light.
Did the degree of experimentation pay off? Despite little-to-no-internet ruckus, one might infer that the launch was something of a success, with Mars subsequently releasing both Starburst Duos jelly beans, and Starburst Duos gelatin.
Suggested experiments for 2020: You shed a single tear and, suddenly, Starbursts are there.
4. The Kit Kat Duo Mint + Dark Chocolate
If you’ve ever unwittingly brought mint-chocolate brownies into your workplace, you’ve probably attested to the flavor’s divisive qualities. Hershey’s late November release of Kit Kats with a minty veneer was moderately experimental in this regard—and in the regard that there are so many types of mint (peppermint! spearmint! nonspecific chemically mint!), it would’ve been easy to go astray.
How it actually tastes: Those who stock Thin Mints year-round might enjoy Kit Kat Duos Mint + Dark Chocolate, though the wafer’s not a totally welcome textural addition to the flavor pairing, like when you add alfalfa sprouts to a turkey melt just because you already have them in the fridge.
Did the degree of experimentation pay off? This is candy known for its compelling variations. In Japan, one can eat an Apple Vinegar Kit Kat and a Wasabi Kit Kat at the same damn time. So the bar is already high in terms of creating a brand spectacle. And while it’s still early days for these Duos, it’s tough to imagine a great deal more buzz will materialize.
Suggested experiments for 2020: Bring us the Apple Vinegar Kit Kats.
3. The Stuffed Cheez-It Pizza
Nobody asked for this, and by “this,” I mean cheese dough stained Trumpian orange, caressing a rectangle of low-moisture mozz as if the dough were an envelope and the cheese were a hastily scribbled note. Barely bigger than an iPhone, these handheld devices subverted expectations in every way. The September release, courtesy of Pizza Hut and Kellogg, was highly experimental.
How it actually tastes: As much as the internet primed me to hate it—“Soggy,” said Aimee Levitt; “Greasy to the touch,” said Irene Jiang—I liked the Stuffed Cheez-It Pizza, with its marinara dipping sauce reminiscent of Lunchables. Let the record show that it’s no greasier than a ham and cheese croissant.
Did the degree of experimentation pay off? Multiple people texted or Slacked me about it days before the product even launched, which is more than I can say for any other product on this list and also my three most recent birthdays.
Suggested experiments for 2020: Cheez-Its stuffed with more cheez-its, and baby Yoda’s at the launch party.
2. Twinkies Cereal
Conceptually, Hostess’ Twinkies Cereal doesn’t present as all that fraught—if there exists some monster who wouldn’t want to float several Twinkies in milk, I don’t want to meet him—until you encounter the actual product. Sized and shaped like the pellets you might feed a non-cherished hamster, Twinkies Cereal kernels are actually pretty much not comparable to Twinkies at all. There is no “creme” filling. The exterior is crunchy, not lush, pillowy, and existentially affirming. Which is not to say that Twinkies Cereal has no merits. But it’s hard to see how Hostess was playing it safe when it stripped a beloved snack of all of its lauded features, Honey-I-Shrunk-the-Kids-ed it, and marketed it as a breakfast food.
How it actually tastes: Mysteriously powdery to the touch, fragrant as a Duncan Hines cake mix, and tasting uncannily like Fruit Loops, Twinkies Cereal is an enigmatic addition to the world of boxed breakfasts.
Did the degree of experimentation pay off? Twinkies joined the ranks of Claire Saffitz in securing a Grub Street spotlight from Nikita Richardson, the 2019 novelty snack equivalent of looking up while walking through Times Square to realize it’s your face on that billboard. Which, for the avoidance of doubt, is a pretty big pay-off.
Suggested experiments for 2020: A bed made of Sno Balls! Placed inside a room with walls padded by Sno Balls, in which my cell phone is unable to attract a signal.
Carrot Cake Oreos, released in January, are as experimental as the time I got a bowl cut with bangs despite having a round face, which is to say, extremely. Very few people would choose carrot cake over other cakes to begin with. And the common Oreo is milk’s favorite cookie. Taking a cult classic and flavoring it artificially to imitate a cake filled with shredded vegetables, nuts, and raisins is reckless enough to warrant the “most experimental” placement on this year’s novelty snack retrospective.
How it actually tastes: Curiously, Carrot Cake Oreos have heady funfetti vibes more than anything else, a destabilizing effect given the lack of neon sprinkles.
Did the degree of experimentation pay off? Unlike my bowl cut, Carrot Cake Oreos got a fairly decent reception, if not much of a clamor. Unlike the bowl cut, my mom hated them.
Suggested experiments for 2020: Aperol spritz Oreos.
Have a hot (or cold) tip for our snack critic? Leave a comment or send her a note at contactellaquittner@gmail.com.
Photos by Jessica Pettway.
Prop Styling by Sara Schipani.
Art Direction by Lorenza Centi.
The post Review: The Buzziest Junk Food on the Internet in 2019 appeared first on Man Repeller.
’Tis the Season for Contemplating Marriage
Holiday engagements, prying questions from uncles, spring wedding planning… love is up in the air and, like clockwork, so are my feelings about the institution of marriage.
On the one hand, I’d like to marry my boyfriend.
On the other hand, that sounds kind of stupid.
On the one hand, it seems sweet to declare my love for someone publicly—to give my relationship a sense of permanence my friends and family will cherish and respect!
On the other hand, that sounds like something a middle-aged dude came up with in a Hallmark pitch meeting to sell wedding invitations.
On the one hand, it sounds fun to throw a party for everyone I love, and to do it in honor of finding someone I want to be with forever.
On the other hand, forever is a myth, a savings account is arguably more fun, and why should monogamy be the milestone we celebrate more than any other? ISN’T THAT KIND OF EMBARRASSING?
On the one hand, tax breaks.
On the other hand: wedding hashtags, Mason jars, the phrase “I married my best friend.”
On the one hand, my boyfriend and I cry at almost every wedding we attend, then spend the next day talking about planning our own. Also, I feel like the vows and speeches would kill?
On the other hand, we cry at bad movies and talk about getting a dog; everyone I know who has planned a wedding has pled temporary insanity; and recent statistics show most married people become less happy in their relationships over time (this happens sooner for women) and one third of people do indeed part before death. Maybe my loved ones can give speeches about me for a different reason? Mom? Dad??
On the one hand, maybe it’s nice to participate in a tradition; not all organizing principles are necessarily evil. Can’t they serve as a kind of connective tissue among communities, which are dwindling every year?
On the other hand, most of the “traditions” surrounding the wedding industry—proposals, rings, gowns, planning, name changes, aisle-walking, wedding parties—were either concocted by marketing teams to sell us shit or a direct result of oppressive, patriarchal structures. Won’t be putting *that* in my gratitude journal.
On the one hand, the near-psychopathic, college-like “getting ready” energy prior to a wedding appeals to me on a freaky, nostalgic level.
On the other hand, I’m not sure even the most casually “alt” outfit and ring and beauty look could untangle the weird logic of needing to look the hottest (and most feminine?) I’ve ever looked on the day someone pronounces me worthy of love.
On the one hand, our parents would be so happy if we got married.
On the other hand, questioning old traditions would probably make the next generation happy.
On the other hand, I’d remember it forever.
On the other, I’d rather marriage not be the apotheosis of my whole dumb life.
On the one hand, ugh.
On the other hand, fuckkk.
Graphics by Coco Lashar
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December 27, 2019
What to Watch This Month, In Theaters and on Netflix—From ‘Little Women’ to ‘Bling Ring’
Even before I knew I wanted to become a writer, I fancied myself a Jo March, the self-decided spinster and Louisa May Alcott stand-in from Little Women. Growing up, I was obsessed with Gillian Armstrong’s 1994 adaptation, and with Winona Ryder specifically, and the way she blew off Christian Bale’s Laurie will always be both heartbreaking and… relatable. (Bale’s puny stache in the latter half of the film makes it just a little bit easier to get over him, though.)
This one still hurts.Now that I’m older, I’ve come to realize that I’m probably more of a Meg March than I’d like to admit (many others are having the shattering reality check that they’re Amys pretending to be Jos). These realizations come on the heels of the new Little Women in theaters now, envisioned by Greta Gerwig, and while in my opinion Armstrong’s version still reigns supreme, Gerwig’s does have some undeniably lovely moments, like a joyous waltz scene birthed from rehearsals set to more modern musical cues, like The Cure and David Bowie.
I also can’t get over Timothée Chalamet’s furrowed, lovelorn brows and disheveled hair, his delicate blouse billowing in the hillside breeze, as he (Laurie) desperately tries to convince Jo (Saoirse Ronan) they should be together. Thankfully Timo doesn’t get patchy facial hair in the later years, but I almost was like “Timo WHO?” when Louis Garrel appeared as the hot prof that catches adult Jo’s eyes. There’s a scene where Professor Bhaer rips apart Jo’s writing and can I just say… Louis Garrel can criticize my writing ANY TIME.
No New Year’s Plans? Watch a NYE Movie to Match Your Mood
How’s this for brutal honesty: I gave this sweater to my mother as a Christmas gift last year and she told me I could keep it. At Metrograph wearing Maje.Anyone else have anxiety about going out on New Year’s? For me, finding affordable—let alone functioning—transportation back home on a cold night poses too many risks. Join me in staying home and putting on something through which you can celebrate vicariously. Here are some suggestions for whatever mood you may find yourself in…
If you’re in the mood to get pretty scared: Black Christmas director Sophia Takal has a New Year’s-themed horror movie called New Year, New You on Hulu as part of the horror studio Blumhouse’s “Into the Dark” series. This one is of the so-bad-it’s-kinda-fun variety, incorporating the dark side of social media (#relatable). Watch it if your new year’s resolution is to decrease time wasted on Instagram or you’re trying to leave behind bad-vibe friends in 2019 (as you should!).
If you’re in the mood for a cult fashion film, go for one that I wish was more widely available: 200 Cigarettes. It’s a New York City-set indie comedy about different groups of friends out and about on New Year’s Eve, and the cast alone is pretty bonkers: Paul Rudd, Courtney Love, Kate Hudson, Dave Chappelle, Gaby Hoffman, the Afflecks, and more.
Google ‘200 Cigarettes’ for NYE outfit inspo. There are so many good looks but I’m gonna have to go with Martha Plimpton’s green hostess-with-the-mostess number.If you’re angry in a do-we-really-still-live-in-a-capitalist-society??? kind of way, hop aboard Bong Joon-ho’s train with Snowpiercer, an even more dystopian class warfare thriller than the director’s newest, Parasite, featuring New Year’s scenes you wouldn’t want to attend. (A happy coincidence: Film and Lincoln Center is doing an extensive retrospective of Bong’s films in January, including a selection of favorite films Bong programmed himself.)
For something on the lighter, more romantic side, you can never go wrong with a wintertime rewatch of Bridget Jones’s Diary (maybe you too are looking for “a nice, sensible boyfriend to go out with”) or Phantom Thread, with a more poisonous take on love (I went long on why it’s a perfect holiday movie over at Metrograph).
Bling Ring Is Coming to Netflix and So Are Some Other Top-Notch Petty Dramas
If I learned anything this year it’s that grifter season is evergreen (can you believe the Elizabeth Holmes doc came out in 2019–I know, long year). Then there was Hustlers, about a posse of swindling strippers. But before that there was a band of teens who wanted to robbbbb. Yes, ring in the new year with The Bling Ring (coming to Netflix on January 18), or, uh, The Lord of the Rings movies, also coming to Netflix in January, also about a bitch who wants to robbbbb (Sauron).
Lately I’ve been in the mood for petty teen drama, which might explain my recent rewatches of Gilmore Girls and Gossip Girl. My sudden Gossip Girl kick has blended seamlessly with the second season of You dropping on Netflix (is Penn Badgley now typecast as the pining stalker?). But I digress. Two of my high school staples are coming to Netflix next month: 1) A Cinderella Story, the Hilary Duff and Chad Michael Murray vehicle that’s not just an update on the fairy tale but also kind of a teen version You’ve Got Mail, and 2) New York Minute, the Olsen twins movie in which the “tomboy” one (Mary-Kate, duh) is obsessed with Simple Plan (I was too—welcome to my life). Confession: I rewatched this pretty recently and it’s quite problematic, but the nostalgia flooded back and I couldn’t stop it.
Way Too Cold Where You Are? These Movies Feel Like Vacation
For a summertime film, ‘The Talented Mr. Ripley’ impressively has not one but TWO perfect winter looks.The cold winter is best for hibernating and escaping as a cinematic voyeur, imo. One of the best vacation movies, which also happened to turn 20 this Christmas, is coming to Netflix: The Talented Mr. Ripley. That movie is a masterclass in blazers as well as a study in effortless resort style (I recently wrote about its fashion for i-D). Jude Law, with his golden spiral of hair, is a sight to behold, while Gwyneth Paltrow and Cate Blanchett romp around the film’s coastal town of Italy looking impossibly chic.
Not going on a European vacation, just going to the movies again. At BAM in a Ralph Lauren blazer, Sandro scarf, and jeans from Urban Outfitters.Though nothing like Anthony Minghella’s Ripley, there’s another Italian fashion film worth seeing that came out this year. The Disappearance of My Mother, directed by Beniamino Barrese, is about the filmmaker’s mother, the iconic fashion model Benedetta Barzini (the first to graze the cover of Vogue Italia), who, since her ’60s modeling days, has become a bit of a camera recluse. As the title suggests, she wants to disappear—from the spotlight. A stubborn, strong-willed feminist educator, Barzini disagrees with the way still images “freeze” reality, and the way they become commodified; her aversion to being photographed makes this documentary about her—in which her son often dangles a camera in front of her—strange, contradictory, and confrontational. Fascinating watch.
Take your getaway to the interstellar extreme by watching a ton of space movies. This year has seen quite a few (High Life, Ad Astra, Apollo 11, and now the new Star Wars), and I might kick off the new decade with a few more, including John Carpenter’s satirical Dark Star, coming to the Criterion Channel early January. Criterion has also gathered seminal ’70s sci-fi classics that shaped New Hollywood—classics like George Miller’s Mad Max and George Lucas’s THX 1138 included but also so many personal blind spots I’m eager to cross off, like Larry Cohen’s God Told Me To, about an alienesque cult leader, and David Cronenberg’s parasitic Shivers.
Finally: Let us Disappear Into J.Lo’s Fur Coat
It’s not on J.Lo’s level, but feel free to climb inside my coat (hand-me-down from my grandma). Worn with Versace turtleneck and Laulhère beret.Arguably the best place to hibernate is the inside of J.Lo’s fur coat, the one she invites Constance Wu to climb into in Hustlers. I’ve been dreaming about that scene ever since I saw it. The Oscar-deserving actress is getting a retrospective at Nitehawk in January (the Prospect Park location is just showing Selena). J.Lo January is henceforth a very important, month-long holiday. If you can’t make it out, there are many ways to stream them. Before “Jenny From the Block,” J.Lo had her breakout playing another Latina pop star, the mononymous Selena, and watching the 1997 biopic now is especially interesting in how it chronicles both singers’ legacies.
J.Lo going for a leather vixen look in ‘Out of Sight.’Nitehawk is showing her rom-com classics like The Wedding Planner and Maid in Manhattan, but if you want smoldering, screen-steaming, sizzling cinema, Steven Soderbergh’s Out of Sight will leave you HOT, even in this cold. Lopez plays a Federal Marshal whose professional pursuit of an ex-con who broke out of jail (George Clooney) turns into a more, umm, personal pursuit. Name a sexier movie—I’ll wait.
Featured photos courtesy of Sony Pictures.
The post What to Watch This Month, In Theaters and on Netflix—From ‘Little Women’ to ‘Bling Ring’ appeared first on Man Repeller.
December 26, 2019
5 New Year’s Eve Outfit Ideas, Inspired by the Best Runway Moments of the Decade
As apathetic as I tend to be about New Year’s Eve, I know the transition from 2019 to 2020 is an especially big one. After all, it’s the start of a new decade! And therefore a uniquely good excuse to go all out when dressing up for the night in question, right? In the spirit of being as festive as I can muster, wardrobe-wise at least, I’m also using it as an opportunity to celebrate my favorite looks from the 2010s. Below, I’ve selected five of what I consider to be defining runway moments of the decade, looks that proved essential to my style but were also catalysts for trends that spanned far beyond my personal purview, and recreated them for a night on the town or festive fashion show you could put on for your pets–whatever’s more your New Year’s Eve speed.
#1: Alexander Wang S/S 2010
Hardly a week goes by when I don’t think about the football-inspired show that launched Alexander Wang to fame. If you ask me, this collection just might be the single point of origin for the athleisure craze that came to define this decade. The sweatshirts, athletic socks, and ultra-pointy cat eye sunglasses still look as fresh as they did when Karlie Kloss first leapt across the bleachers in them in Teen Vogue. I’ll likely want to ring in the new year in sweatpants anyway, so I’ll make the most of this predilection with a Wang-style sports bra and a utilitarian coat for when I run out to the deli–I mean, the club.
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#2: Louis Vuitton F/W 2011
Remember how much of a stir this show caused? The New York Times called Marc Jacobs’s late-night-at-a-hotel production both “racy and saucy.” I hardly think anyone would bat an eyelash at fetishwear on the runway these days–proof of just how much has changed over the course of the 2010s. Still, the contrast of primness and debauchery in this show remains one of my favorite of all time. I can’t even come close to capturing the beautiful print on the Louis Vuitton dress here, but I’ve approximated the look with a leather harness that I actually purchased for a New Year’s Eve outfit in 2016.
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#3: Christopher Kane Resort 2011
Okay, so this isn’t exactly a runway moment, but I’d argue it was still one of the first viral collections of all time. I’m basing this assertion solely upon a memory that the day Facebook added a “Cover Photo” feature, I raced to my family’s desktop computer to upload a photo from this collection’s lookbook as mine. That and the fact that it seemed like every stylish celebrity was wearing the dresses on red carpets and street style blogs alike. While the galaxy print feels a little dated to 2011, I’m still obsessed with collecting other T-shirts that Kane designed around this time.
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#4: Saint Laurent F/W 2016
No matter where you stand on Hedi Slimane, there’s no denying that the designer’s grunge riche aesthetic has become definitive of 2010s style, and if there was ever a time to put on your faux-furriest coat and your shortest dress, heck, it’s New Year’s Eve. I found this miraculously convincing outerwear dupe at a vintage store, but really anything fluffy would work! Consider keeping the outfit on for all of 2020 and speaking with a French accent to curate an air of eccentric mystery.
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#5: Gucci F/W 2019
I have to end this year right where I began it: with Gucci. The brand has undergone a dramatic transformation over the course of the past decade, reaching an apex of frenzied popularity in the past few years. Will the craze last into 2020? My maximalist heart says yes, but my mind, with its knowledge of trend cycles, says no…. Give it one last hedonistic hurrah by piling on all your favorite items in your closet at once. Parting is such sweet, pattern-on-patterned sorrow.
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Looking back on these runways of yore makes me so deeply nostalgic. When the 2010s began, I was a moody teenager who would skulk off to the computer lab during lunch to livestream fashion shows, and now I am someone who is lucky enough to get to write about them for a living! (Though I suppose my penchant for recreating the looks from said shows with the clothing I have lying around in my room remains unchanged). The clothes feel so full of yearning and hope, each trend emblematic of some point in time that led me to where I am now–but my perspective is just one small corner of the zeitgeist. With the bit of hindsight we have now, what has 2010s style come to mean to you? What runway shows will play in your personal highlight reel of the decade? And, most importantly, what are you wearing New Year’s, New Year’s Eveeeeee?
The post 5 New Year’s Eve Outfit Ideas, Inspired by the Best Runway Moments of the Decade appeared first on Man Repeller.
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