Leandra Medine's Blog, page 594

Who’s Next at Dior?

Raf Simons is leaving Dior, news that is causing many to stare at their phones in disbelief and others to audibly ask, “What?” No one really saw this coming.

Cathy Horyn said as much in her report after Sidney Toledano, Dior’s chief executive, made the statement of Simons’ intended departure. Remember that hers is an opinion built not only on tenured experience alone but ears that keep close to the industry’s inner circles. She gets the good (or shocking, or foreshadowing) word first.

But for the rest of us — those who don’t personally know Simons beyond a documentary about him, who aren’t privy to conversations that happen backstage or in some Parisian atelier — asked “What?!” with such convicted confusion because Raf Simons at Dior made so much sense.

The house of Dior is old world glamour and high design and game-changing shapes, a history-creating standard-setter that successfully caused sartorial amnesia in many women who truly could not remember: what even came before Dior? Raf Simons brought something similar thanks to his respect for those who held the spot before him, an appropriate level of nostalgia for the brand in its early days and at the same time, a command of his own personal vision. If you were ever a fan of Jil Sander when Simons designed and remember your fashion 101 homework (see: the New Look era of Christian Dior), then you know that every item of clothing to walk since his first collection in 2012 was a healthy dose of both. For at least a few years, Raf’s eye under the house’s roof produced consistent beauty.

Why he’s leaving remains formally unknown. (Though of course, the gossip had its leash in mouth before Simons has even had a chance to put on his sneakers.) What’s more interesting is where he will go. To focus on his menswear label? Somewhere else? Something new? He’s an artist, so it won’t be nothing. The man has to create.

But the other question, of course, is who will fill Raf Simons’ shoes?

Will he or she “just” fill them, or will this be the kind of young blood (like Demna Gvasalia at Balenciaga) who shakes up the system and shocks us all, even more so than that first bit of audible-gasp-inducing news?

Images via Vogue Runway

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Honk If You Watch YouTube for the Comments

The very first piece of advice I received before dedicating my career to the internet was a threat:

DO NOT READ THE COMMENTS!!!!

Everyone I knew, from print friends who’d gone digital to celebrities in interviews, promised me that nothing would ruin my day faster than a mean comment or worse — a negative comment that was true. 

They were right. Comments can suck. But comments also routinely make my day. Yours are my favorite, obviously, but they tend to follow a certain train of thought; they’re typically related to the content. With the exception of spambots who talk about wizards and spell-casters (while earning money from home!!!), you guys make sense.

Not on YouTube. On YouTube, the commenters run wild and free. Sometimes they’re mean, and sometimes they’re spell-casters, too. But if you search and scroll and do a really great job avoiding all your work, amid the slew of trolls, you will find a few bellybutton gems.

Aw.

So, I figured I should stop picking at lint alone and share my favorites with my favorite crew. (You.) The process: scour trending YouTubes, barely watch said Tubes (just because they’re trending does not mean they’re good), find the best comments, then hope and pray that you guys leave yours below so that I don’t do anything productive until we can all go fishing on Mars.

1. Sting, is that you?

You can’t see him, but Jack Smith is watching you.

2. The Great Canadian Rodent Let-Down of 2015

You need to watch :38 for this comment to “make sense,” so I apologize. But I also think the illustrator of the below cartoon owes someone an apology, too.

3. The One Time in the History of Comments Ever that Everyone Agreed:

4. To Quote Justin Bieber, “What Do You Mean?”

Society has singled me out my whole life for being left-handed, yet no one thinks it’s weird these people write with their feet.

5. The Karen Smith of Appendage-Related Questions

No one introduce Jimmy Nguyen to the above 2 commenters. He will not know WHAT to do.

6. Elephant in the Room

So technically this wasn’t a trending video on YouTube but before I select the next post’s batch of comment winners, I felt I had to clear the air: Yes, Zions Sister. There is.

Feature photograph by Krista Anna Lewis

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What’s the Best Way to Apply Eyeliner?

Already mastered eyeliner?  Time to move on to contouring!  

Have you ever heard of the panda smudge? Or what about the double flick and dropped flick, which sounds more like varying degrees of high school foreplay than anything else?You might be familiar with the soft smoke or classic bar.  I’m best-versed in the cat eye but I say that hastily because I have pretty poor vision in my right cornea so whenever I’m applying a coat of liner on my left lid, it looks much more like a distorted valley in the midst of a flood, but I digress.

The reason I’m talking about this at all is because on Saturday night I set out to do my makeup for the first time since, I don’t know, I wrote this piece on why I don’t wear makeup. I spent a lot of time appraising the way Alexa Chung wears liner over her lids and wanted to go in for a similar kill (I ended up with one flooded valley and one kind of regular eye, which together looked pretty Clockwork Orange-y). This then turned into a YouTube video search where I learned that there is pretty much an underworld dedicated solely to eyeliner application — both above and below the lid; enter the panda smudge (a smokey eye?) or those high school foreplay flicks.

A thin flick is probably my best bet given how thick my eyebrows are (what I’ve learned from my cat eye is that the liner comes out too thick, practically touches my brows and just like that, I’m George Whipple).

But I wanted to ask you: are there any surefire eyeliner application tricks that you’ve picked up? Like a sort of universal method that works for everyone? Or more easily, just for you? Krista in our office looks pretty cool in her cat eye and so does Elizabeth, while Amelia, who is more prone to wear mascara — hold the liner — will sometimes sketch a classic bar into her upper lid and come out looking like a movie star (Tiffany, the doll from Bride of Chucky). I’m still trying to figure it all out, so from a purely user-interest point of view, I ask: what have you found to be the best way to apply eyeliner?

And if you have actual eyeliner recommendations (I think the liquid liners of Eyeko and Dior are pretty great, so is this Charlotte Tilbury pencil), I’ll take those too.

Illustration by Amelia Diamond, GIF by Krista Anna Lewis

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How To DIY Spring’s Split-Bell Sleeves

For the Spring 2016 season, designers seemed obsessed with covering our arms in eccentric ways: there were leg-of-mutton sleeves the size of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s biceps at J.W. Anderson, fluffy bonbon sleeves at Roksanda, bristled fringe sleeves at Valentino and off-the-shoulder balloon sleeves at Proenza Schouler.

If I could, I’d just go naked from here on out and wear nothing but sleeves. They win the leading part in this season’s fashion cast, and for us DIY fabricants, I see great times ahead because sleeves are easy to make yourself.

Take the split bell sleeves we saw at Derek Lam and Trademark.

How did I live for so long without without them? They are talented multitaskers, simultaneously acting as fake wings, cover-ups for un-manicured hands and dusters. (Yes, dusters. Just walk around your apartment in a bell-sleeved blouse stroking your furniture à la Charlotte-mid-break-up-with Trey. The sleeves will do all the dusting for you.)

Now back to crafting! Here’s what you need to buy to make your own bell sleeve top, which you can add to whatever feels right to you: shirts, blouses, jackets, coats, your fridge, your friend, your dog. The possibilities are endless.

What you’ll need:

1) An item to add the sleeves to (I used this blouse)

2) 60in x 25in of light fabric in a matching color

3) Greedy scissors to attack your top

4) Sewing thread, needle and pins

5) A pattern for the bell sleeves you’ll learn to make in step #1

Step #1: Make the sleeve pattern

Draw the pattern as pictured on a piece of paper, then cut it out. The length of the pattern’s short (right) side should be adjusted to the diameter of your top’s sleeves. The top I used has sleeves with a diameter of 11.2 inches, so my pattern’s short side had to measure half of it, ergo 5.6 inches.

Step #2: Cut the fabric

Fold the fabric and pin the pattern along the fold line. Cut out the sleeve with an added seam allowance of 0.5 in. Repeat this step three times so that you have 4 sleeve pieces in the end.

Step #3: To button or not to button

Step #3 is optional! The blouse I used had three little buttons with loops on each cuff which I decided to save for my bell sleeves.

Step #4: Make sleeve No. 1

Take two of your sleeve pieces and place them on each other, right side on right side. Pin the pieces together along the edges and leave the short edge open. If you want to use buttons, pin the button loops between the two sleeve pieces on the right edge just above the open edge (the loops are now hidden between the sleeve pieces).

Step #5: Sew and turn over the sleeve

Sew along the pinned edges. Make sure the button loops remain in the correct place. Then turn over the sleeve and iron it. Repeat steps #4 and #5 with the other two sleeve pieces to make sleeve No. 2.

Step #6: Time to attack the top!

Cut off the cuffs/lower sleeves of your top just where you want to add the bell sleeves. Place the bell sleeves right side on right side on the top’s sleeves. The bell sleeves’ open edges meet the top’s sleeves open edges. Sew along the pinned edges.

Step #7: Almost there!

Flap down the bell sleeves. If you want to add buttons, sew them on the bell sleeves’ long edges just “across” from the button loops.

TA-DA! Now show me your sleeves.

Follow Claire on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. Go check out her website C’est Clairette, too. Photographed by Julien Barbès.

Runway images via Vogue Runway.

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What’s in Your Fridge: Gail Simmons

She’s the only foodie deserving of that title and a woman who truly needs no introduction (although very important and worth noting is that she refers to herself as a “professional eater” — a woman after our own hearts); ladies and ladles, we proudly present the inner workings of Gail Simmons fridge:

1. Produce. “My daughter right now is on a two-peach a-day minimum, so we are getting lots of peaches and plums. We keep the produce in this basket which I bought in Vietnam on my honeymoon. We have a ton of bamboo stuff.”

2. Unconventional Baby Food. “My daughter loves zucchinis; it’s one of her favorite foods. We roast them for her. She is also obsessed with mushrooms, so we make her a lot of sautéed mushrooms. I found that once I became a mom — and I am sure this happens to tons of moms — I go grocery shopping and buy a bunch of stuff but forget to buy groceries for myself. I spend $200 at the grocery store and all I have done is buy things that I can cook for her. Then my husband will be like, so, did you buy anything for dinner tonight?”

3. Repurposed Leftovers. “I believe in leftovers. I think people think I am a lot fussier than I am. When I know there are good leftovers in the fridge I can eat them for like, four days straight. I repurpose them. If I make a big quinoa salad, I will make them into quinoa cakes and eat them for breakfast. Last night we had corn on the cob, but now it’s a corn salad.”

4. Roast Chicken. “In New York, roast chicken is the easiest thing. This particular roast chicken is from Dirty Bird in Tribeca.”

5. Canadian Maple Syrup. “This is my favorite thing in my fridge. I am from Toronto and my husband is from Montreal. I put maple syrup kind of on everything.”

6. Baby Probiotics. “I put a half teaspoon in her milk at night. They are specifically for children.”

7. Pickles. “There are always pickles in my fridge. My father was pickling before Brooklyn was pickling! Mine are pretty good, but I don’t have the patience to let them sit as long as he does. He used to keep them in our basement upside down for 3 or 4 months. I want them sooner than that, so they aren’t as sour. Sahadi’s and Damascus, which are two very old middle eastern bakeries and provision stores, are four blocks away. We replenish from there weekly.”

8. Sour Cherries. “These were for a recipe.  Now I have to figure out what else to do with them. Sour cherries are a very traditional Middle Eastern ingredient. I’ve been told the best place to get them is in Brighton Beach but I couldn’t get out there, and I was testing a sour cherry mignonette for oysters, so I got the tart, dried cherries. I ended up doing two versions: one with dried cherries, one with these jarred sour cherries.”

9. Beauty Products. “I keep eyepatches in the fridge. They have been in here for about a year. They are a depuffer. Everyone looks in the mirror and has their one thing. My thing is that I feel like I always have puffy eyes. So when there is a puffy eye emergency, I slap them on. They are orange patterned and I believe have some citrus in them.”

10. Mustard. “There is nothing you can’t put mustard on.”

11. Spreads/Sauces. “My condiments fall into themes, it makes life easy. I always buy this one maple spread when we go to Canada that I put on toast. The Ottolenghi is a passion fruit jam. Tahini is another staple in our house, we make salad dressing, hummus…then there’s Red Boat fish sauce — a really amazing quality that my friend introduced me. They actually do a collaboration with Bliss, which is a maple syrup company. They age the fish sauce in bourbon barrels. There’s also sambal they serve with those noodles that I am obsessed with right now. This was made and sent to me by Mei Lin, the winner of Top Chef, season 12.”

12. Verjus. “This is some verjus (an acidic juice made from unripe grapes) which has not been opened. It’s for cooking. It’s been there for a year. We will get to it one day.”

Images by Lauren Levinger of The Food Life. 

Interested in other fridges?  Check here.  Remember that time Amelia and Leandra (sort of) cooked?  Check here.

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Neck Scarves Are Great but Cravats Might Be Better

One of the reasons I love fashion so much is because women really do get to have all the fun. We get skirts and dresses in varying lengths, sometimes incorporating several different lengths in one and blouses rendered in essentially any fabric we can dream up. We get pants that look like skirts. And shorts that could be pants. We get culottes. Bell jackets and fitted blazers and leather numbers and anoraks.

In 2015, if executed properly, a woman could wear a helium balloon over her person and call it a dress. That’s awesome. But it doesn’t stop at womenswear. If we want it, we get menswear too. The pinstripes, the double breasts, the pleated slacks, the leather belts. It’s all under our jurisdiction of possibility. The best part, though? The shoes. Because nothing punctuates a pinstriped suit that is possibly too large for a woman like a pair of kick ass heels.

Lately, I’ve been thinking about the cravat (a short, fat tie that men wrap around their neck. See: Chuck Bass).

For the past two years, we’ve been experimenting with neck scarves in several different permutations: twill bandanas, silk squares, cashmere blocks and so forth — but why haven’t we ventured so far as to attempt the original gangster of neck-shielding?

When I was in London for fashion week, I walked into a shop right next to an artisanal mustard stand tucked into an arcade on Piccadilly Road that had the most beautiful robes in the window. They were colorful and constructed in the most lavish thread count (which was ultimately reflected in the extravagant prices). Men came in and out, updating their robe-de-chambres, and I could totally envision them sitting on velvet arm chairs with pipes in their right hands, a copy the Evening Standard to their left. I wanted to be that person, too. Even if just marginally — so I pica-dilly-dallied around the glass display where every polka dot and check in every color combination under the sun was set upon a cravat. My way in! They punctuated a new spin (tie over) on an old idea (instead of under) that made wearing a trend I have long supported feel a little more fresh.

Now paired with a brown plaid suit and satin green mules, where gender feels considered but also kind of irrelevant, I feel like it’s my obligation to tell Hillary Clinton this is how she should dress.

Fin.

Photographed by Krista Anna Lewis

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Contouring for Dummies

Among the top three most terrifying inventions of our time (the Shake Weight and Egg Cuber in second and third place, respectively), contouring is number one.

I gave in to it during the first wave of contour hoopla. How could you not when the proof was in every miraculous before and after photo on Instagram? I once bought a makeup palette with more interpretations of beige than a Nancy Meyers kitchen. It came with a half eaten croissant and a note hand written by Meryl Streep that was like, “LOL, GOOD LUCK.”

But it doesn’t have to be complicated. In fact, it can be easy — so long as you simplify your tools.

Before we begin: Ditch the 200-shade color palette that someone on a late night infomercial tricked you into buying.

Choose a mini palette that literally has just two colors to avoid hue-related stress. For the below GIFS — oh yea, GIFS are coming — I used Estée Lauder New Dimension Shape + Sculpt Face Kit. (Do I sound like a beauty vlogger?!)

That’s not me, by the way. That’s Elizabeth. Her face is gonna model for us today.

This stuff rules for a few reasons: 1) It’s designed to work on a variety of skin tones and 2) it’s super lightweight. I tried it this summer during the sweatiest day of the year and everyone was like, “Oh my god, Amelia, your cheekbones just sliced my hand open!” And I was like, “Don’t touch my face!”

Step 1 — Go Streaking: Make a fish face and, using the darker color in your palette, draw a line from sideburn to right under the apple of your cheek.

Step 2 — Optional: If you want to give the appearance of a more-narrow nose, add a line on either side. Your nose is a great nose as is, but I understand that sculpting is therapeutic.

Step 3 — Trust Me: Add some stuff to the side of your forehead.

Step 4: Draw under your jaw.

Step 5: Now blend, because you look insane.

Step 6: Using the lighter color, highlight the area above your unibrow, below your eyes, under the arches of your brows, your chin and the tops of your cheekbones. Or add it anywhere you went overboard with the darker color.

Step 7, Bonus: Use an actual highlighter (I used the shimmer eyeshadow from Estée Lauder’s Shape + Sculpt eye kit), and dap a little bit anywhere the light would naturally hit, including the dip above your lip.

Step 8: Step into natural light then blend again to avoid a bit of what we have going on in the above GIF, which is known as Too Much Makeup. (That was my fault. I just got so excited! #Butthosecheekbonestho.) Note: when you do blend, blend up. I learned that bit from Leandra. What a gal.

Now just one more thing you have to do…

Step 9: Flaunt the curves…in yo FACE.

But try to not cut anyone with your new cheekbones, k?

In partnership with Estée Lauder.

Photographed by Krista Anna Lewis

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The Chatroom: Lena Dunham & Jenni Konner

When Gloria Steinem wants to feel like “the queen of business and a rad bitch,” she wears the following: “Boots, pants, a sweater or a T-shirt. A concha belt. Something that’s Native American or Indian, or something that has a resonance from the past before patriarchy came along.” She feels affection toward her hands. Her favorite way to curse is to put the f-word (that’s “fuck,” not “feminist“) between syllables. She’s superstitious.

Such important trivia comes courtesy of Lenny, the newsletter brainchild of Lena Dunham and Jenni Konner. In the span of a three-minute read, this very letter made me feel like I was reading an email from my best friend — a copied-then-pasted conversation with history-making feminist icon Gloria Steinem that I was somehow lucky enough to be privy to, as though it came with a subject line that read something along the lines of, “FOR YOUR EYES ONLY. DO NOT FORWARD. SRSLY.” That’s the thing about Lenny: it holds the weight of a secret club.

And while it’s not a secret, it definitely is a sisterhood. The October 13th issue featured an essay by Jennifer Lawrence who asked, “Why do these dudes make more than me?” On October 9th, Amy Poehler asked me what day it was interviewed Sydney Lucas of Fun Home about reincarnation. There have been stories about periods and important conversations about abortions. One morning, my inbox boasted an interview with Hillary Clinton. Another introduced me to Michele Roberts, the first woman to hold the title of executive director of the National Basketball Players Association — the first woman to lead any major professional-sports union in the country. Without sounding like a cliché advertisement, it is not your typical newsletter.

That’s because Lena Dunham and Jenni Konner aren’t your typical anything. In fact, the only thing they’ve done thus far in their careers that could possibly count as conforming is accidental: they both showed up in the same outfit as Leandra for this very special episode of the Chatroom. Coincidence, I guess. Best friends are weird like that.

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Oh Boy Podcast Episode 9: Amelia Diamond

At the time of this scripture, I have not yet listened to the newest episode of Man Repeller’s podcast, Oh Boy, wherein Jay sits down with universally familiar (at least by the rules of this website) Amelia to have her answer a string of provocative questions.

He probably starts with, “What was it like growing up?” to which I am sure she replies, “I was baptized because I wanted to fit in.” (I’m not making that up, ask her for the details if they’re not enlisted).

The conversation might then take a turn for the psychotherapeutic after Amelia confesses that she wears cable knits without irony and only when paired with pearls and Jay asks, “But why, Amelia, cool girl from San Francisco, have you resided yourself to a life of boat shoes and lobster bibs and men with first names that sound like last names or plural nouns?

While we might not hear a reply in the form of English words, the alarming and loud thump that transpires will indicate that she’s thrown something at Jay. He’s now on the floor. She has turned the progressive conversation into a one-man-monologue, detailing a horse jump at a ranch in Florida that is interesting to exactly nobody but the narrator.

Which I guess means, save yourself the effort of listening to this podcast and just rewind to last week’s conversation with Whitney Cummings.

Update: I retract my final sentence. I listened. It’s great.

Follow Amelia on Instagram and Twitter

Follow host Jay Buim on Instagram or visit his website here; l ogo and feature illustration by Kelly  Shami

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[Updated] Mind the Gap: the Jennifer Lawrence Essay Asks if Your Pay Check is Fair, Bradley Cooper Answers “No, Let Me Help”

Last week, Jennifer Lawrence wrote an essay for Lenny Letter that bluntly and pointedly called Hollywood out on its sexism and its antiquated habit of paying female actors woefully less than their male counterparts. In response to it, Leandra and Amelia published a text message conversation (featured below) that begged the question: what now?

Though Lawrence wasn’t the first person to make a point about the wage gap, her message was delivered with the kind of inspiring grit and rigor that makes you want to get involved.

The media’s response was swift and predictable, but would the moment produce an action element?

Cue Bradley Cooper.

Faster than you can say, “I volunteer as tribute,” Bradley Cooper announced that he would join his female co-stars at the negotiating table so that they’d know how much he’s getting paid before they ink their own deals.

Initially, my reaction was “You go Bradley Cooper!” Leandra says her underwear practically came undone when she realized the most attractive man in America is also a feminist. But what quickly and almost simultaneously followed, for me at least, was this feeling that his pledge maintained an element of knight-in-shining-armor-comes-to-rescue-the-princess. Is the problem really being solved because someone who allegedly wields more power based on his gender is going to join you at the negotiating table?

I know it’s not that simple and it’s definitely commendable that Cooper would use his status to enact change where he can, but I feel a little conflicted.

Jennifer Lawrence’s piece exuded bad-ass, no-holds-barred independence. We all need help in doing something for the first time, but I’m feeling like this is a “teach a person to fish” type of thing.

Salary transparency needs to be the status quo, but so too does making sure young women (really, all women) have the necessary skills to not only recognize and speak up when they are being paid less for equal work but to also broach the question of asking for a raise.

I feel incredibly lucky to have benefited and continue to benefit from amazing female mentors who have helped me learn how to “lean in.” But it shouldn’t come down to luck.

With all the things we learn in school under the guise of life skills (we’re literally taught how to boil water), is it crazy to think that “How to Talk to Your Boss 101” should be incorporated somewhere along the way?

Celebrity endorsed social change is great and gives a powerful springboard to vital yet overlooked issues. But we’re all responsible for action.

If nothing else, don’t forget, your vote speaks loudly, and I hear there’s a pretty big election coming up…

–Rachel Zuckerman

***

Collage by Krista Anna Lewis

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