Leandra Medine's Blog, page 611

Who’s Running Fashion?

In June, Alexander Wang announced that he would be releasing 10 garments from the last decade of his recorded work in celebration of the ten year anniversary that the brand is currently celebrating. Last week, photos of the pieces were released for public consumption (they’re also available on web for pre-order) and on Monday (as in, Labor Day), the garments will be for sale at the Alexander Wang shop. The pieces are fine — they’ve all been rendered in black and seem to indicate a lot of loyalty to 2009 (more than half the redacted pieces hail from the year), but what’s interesting and most impressive about this reprisal is how the pieces were selected.

A group of executives didn’t sit in a room and decide together which stories from which seasons deserved to be retold. Rather, with the announcement in June came a corresponding call-to-hashtag (#WANG10) to engage fans who would independently select the very garments that are now back up for purchase. It was a democratic, group effort — a true nod to crowdsourcing — that frankly and honestly took into account the opinion of the consumer thus moving the needle on a theory that has been permeating this industry for the past several months.

With the extensive customization within design that has been on display among fashion brands in the favor of the consumer — last winter, Prada unveiled a customization program for their foam-sole brogues, Jimmy Choo and Manolo Blahnik regularly offer the opportunity to customers and the recently-closed Tinker Tailor was built on the tenets of fashion by the people for the people — the question of whether fashion is actually on the brink of radical change is coming up more prominently. Among media platforms, focus has started to shift from the words we (at Man Repeller) scribe to the thoughtful comments you do, and just last year, J.Crew reissued a bathing suit after an open letter to the house was written in defense of the scoop back one-piece.

So I ask: is it that fashion is actually on this brink of radical change? Are the decision makers among us actually those who stand among us as opposed to the he’s and she’s who sit upright and with poise in the thrones among laurels within the upper echelons of this world?

I’d hypothesize an answer on the question, but didn’t you hear me? Your opinion has become far more telling than my own.

Lookbook images via Alexander Wang.

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Want to Know What “Real Bodies” Look Like?

It doesn’t matter how many times we’re told a bikini body is just a body in a bikini — the thought of wearing one causes anxiety.

The list of “flaws” one could have is endless and ever-growing: no thigh gap, cellulite, arm flab, belly pooch, saddlebags. What exactly are saddlebags? I don’t know, but lots of YouTubers can tell you how to get rid of them.

(Hasn’t worked, in my experience.)

However, I have mastered the shortcut to body confidence. Go to the beach.

The beach is a welcome wake-up call, a sobering reminder of what bodies actually look like outside the pages of magazines. Of course we tell ourselves that nobody really looks like Beyoncé or Candice Swanepoel, not even Beyoncé or Candice Swanepoel. Rationally, we know there is nothing wrong with us, that our bodies deserve their annual airing like anybody else’s.

But there is a new insidious pantheon of comparison that gnaws further at our self-confidence. Social media, particularly the flesh gallery that is Instagram, convinces us that non-celebrity normal people — girls next door and guys who work at Target — are all lithe and lovely; that this kind of beach body is the only beach body; that we stand alone with our pinchable inches and summer bacne.

We fall short when our scale measures only from Miranda Kerr doing backbends to T-Swift’s toned squad jumping for joy. We perpetuate unrealistic goals by stalking before-and-after fitness hashtags with fervor. We forget that our own friends blur and crop. We forget we do it too. And while the celebrations of so-called “real” women, like plus-sized model Ashley Graham or a lightly wrinkled and heavily badass Helen Mirren, are very welcome — necessary, in fact, these examples are totemic. Many women don’t have the smooth, perfect skin and beautiful proportions Graham boasts, and while Mirren may be 70, she has clearly never sunbathed until her skin peeled off or eaten donuts for breakfast.

The beach, however, confirms that most digital personas are likely well-lit, often Photoshopped and wholly unrealistic. People at the beach, like you and me, have flab and scars and cellulite and other evidence of a life well lived, a life where bills have to be paid and tequila seems like a good idea at 2 a.m. and the line at the salad bar looked a bit longer than the one for burritos.

Post Labor Day, take it to the streets while folks are still wearing shorts. Be discreet in sweaty locker rooms; FaceTime your grandmother. Observe in grocery stores and laundromats — anywhere you can see regular people doing regular things unfiltered and off-line. Remind yourself that the majority of us weren’t born under the shade of Valencia with kohl-rimmed eyes and a six-pack. If you were, that’s so cool.

But if you weren’t, come on down. Bring your camera. It’s beautiful out here.

Photographs by Martin Parr.

The post Want to Know What “Real Bodies” Look Like? appeared first on Man Repeller.

Goodbye, “Bye, Felicia”: The Objectification of Black Women in ‘Straight Outta Compton’

F. Gary Gray’s recent film Straight Outta Compton was met with much critical acclaim and big box office numbers, earning praise and over $136 million dollars since its August 14th release. However, the film has also been met with backlash for its treatment of women of color.

There are many instances of standard objectification in the film — women are mainly featured as background flesh at pool parties or groupies — but writer Allison Davis was specifically drawn to a scene built around the much meme’d phrase, “Bye, Felicia.” If you haven’t seen the movie, the scene depicts Dr. Dre, Ice Cube and Easy E hooking up with a bunch of women until a man comes looking for his girlfriend, Felicia, pounding on the door to start a fight. The NWA members scare him off, but they then kick Felicia out half-naked, closing the door in her face and saying, “Bye, Felicia.”

On its own, this scene did not, to my eye, appear particularly offensive. The mistreatment of a cheater has been something widely represented in mainstream culture: Nick Cassavetes’ The Other Woman is an entire film about getting revenge on a cheater, and the final scene of that film is gratuitously violent towards the male cheater in question. However, as Davis pointed out in her piece for The Cut, what matters in Straight Outta Compton is the context, both on a historical and personal level.

Historically, rap culture and music has not always been kind to black women, and Dr.Dre, a member of NWA and a producer on the film, faced charges for slamming a journalist and TV host named Dee Barnes against a wall in a nightclub in 1991. Davis, speaking on the subject for an NPR interview, noted that it was “insensitive” and “thoughtless” for the team behind Compton to not “contextualize a history of degradation of women.” She saw the film as symptomatic of a larger issue: the way society “treats black women in general…we’re throwaways.”

When I reached out to writer Ashley Ford over email, she furthered Davis’ point about disposability. “Black women’s lives and issues are mostly considered disposable in service to the reputations of black men,” she said. “Women don’t report being assaulted because they don’t want to put another black man in prison, and this behavior can be encouraged in different communities.”

No one backed up Davis’s comments on black women being treated as “throwaways” more than F. Gary Gray himself. When Davis reached out to bring her concerns to Gray, he seemed to take offense at her line of questioning, noting that you can’t always be politically correct in comedy or entertainment. “We should be focusing on how the police are treating innocent American citizens,” he said. “Let’s talk about something as important, if not more important, if you really want to go there.”

What Gray seems to be insinuating is that sexism / combating sexism isn’t a part of the NWA story or Gray’s vision for the film, and that it’s nit-picking to attack a film for being sexist when it’s raising a lot of awareness about racism and police brutality. This may be true: it may have compromised the NWA story to include stronger female characters, or to reference Dre’s history of violence. But that still leaves black women behind, positioned as sacrifices to a larger artistic vision — and to what Gray sees as a larger cause.

In my conversation with Ford, she pointed out that directors and artists have a right to be “able to put out there whatever [they] want to create,” and endure criticism as such. While she agreed that “the way black women are portrayed in this film isn’t exactly responsible,” she noted Compton was yet another example of what happens “when a biopic is made by the people whose lives it’s based on,” or, in other words, when men make movies about men.

This is a complex topic and I do not endeavor to find a solution — for me, this discussion created more questions than it did answers, and filtered my own view not only of Compton, but many other male-dominated films I’ve enjoyed. However, Davis’s point about a male director’s prerogative reminded me of a topic much addressed in the entertainment industry world I work in: we need more female directors, and more than that, we need more female directors of color. We need their voices shining spotlights over the kinds of issues that have long been swept under the rug of patriarchal artistic vision; we need them to populate the mainstream media so that black women’s lives can no longer be case aside.

But obviously, adding more black, female directors to the mix is not a blanket solution. Ultimately, this needs to not be a question of male vs. female perspectives in film — throwing a “versus” between sexes only poses a greater divide. If the most baseline definition of feminism means a belief that men and women of all colors should have equal rights, then in its most ideal manifestation, humanism would replace the word feminism, and there would be no need for competing representations and narratives in film, media and entertainment. So we turn to you (and us) as the next generation with that larger goal in mind, and this even larger question: how can we accomplish this?

Photograph via Forbes.

The post Goodbye, “Bye, Felicia”: The Objectification of Black Women in ‘Straight Outta Compton’ appeared first on Man Repeller.

Goodbye, “Bye, Felicia”: The Objectification of Black Women in ‘Straight Out of Compton’

F. Gary Gray’s recent film Straight Outta Compton was met with much critical acclaim and big box office numbers, earning praise and over $136 million dollars since its August 14th release. However, the film has also been met with backlash for its treatment of women of color.

There are many instances of standard objectification in the film — women are mainly featured as background flesh at pool parties or groupies — but writer Allison Davis was specifically drawn to a scene built around the much meme’d phrase, “Bye, Felicia.” If you haven’t seen the movie, the scene depicts Dr. Dre, Ice Cube and Easy E hooking up with a bunch of women until a man comes looking for his girlfriend, Felicia, pounding on the door to start a fight. The NWA members scare him off, but they then kick Felicia out half-naked, closing the door in her face and saying, “Bye, Felicia.”

On its own, this scene did not, to my eye, appear particularly offensive. The mistreatment of a cheater has been something widely represented in mainstream culture: Nick Cassavetes’ The Other Woman is an entire film about getting revenge on a cheater, and the final scene of that film is gratuitously violent towards the male cheater in question. However, as Davis pointed out in her piece for The Cut, what matters in Straight Outta Compton is the context, both on a historical and personal level.

Historically, rap culture and music has not always been kind to black women, and Dr.Dre, a member of NWA and a producer on the film, faced charges for slamming a journalist and TV host named Dee Barnes against a wall in a nightclub in 1991. Davis, speaking on the subject for an NPR interview, noted that it was “insensitive” and “thoughtless” for the team behind Compton to not “contextualize a history of degradation of women.” She saw the film as symptomatic of a larger issue: the way society “treats black women in general…we’re throwaways.”

When I reached out to writer Ashley Ford over email, she furthered Davis’ point about disposability. “Black women’s lives and issues are mostly considered disposable in service to the reputations of black men,” she said. “Women don’t report being assaulted because they don’t want to put another black man in prison, and this behavior can be encouraged in different communities.”

No one backed up Davis’s comments on black women being treated as “throwaways” more than F. Gary Gray himself. When Davis reached out to bring her concerns to Gray, he seemed to take offense at her line of questioning, noting that you can’t always be politically correct in comedy or entertainment. “We should be focusing on how the police are treating innocent American citizens,” he said. “Let’s talk about something as important, if not more important, if you really want to go there.”

What Gray seems to be insinuating is that sexism / combating sexism isn’t a part of the NWA story or Gray’s vision for the film, and that it’s nit-picking to attack a film for being sexist when it’s raising a lot of awareness about racism and police brutality. This may be true: it may have compromised the NWA story to include stronger female characters, or to reference Dre’s history of violence. But that still leaves black women behind, positioned as sacrifices to a larger artistic vision — and to what Gray sees as a larger cause.

In my conversation with Ford, she pointed out that directors and artists have a right to be “able to put out there whatever [they] want to create,” and endure criticism as such. While she agreed that “the way black women are portrayed in this film isn’t exactly responsible,” she noted Compton was yet another example of what happens “when a biopic is made by the people whose lives it’s based on,” or, in other words, when men make movies about men.

This is a complex topic and I do not endeavor to find a solution — for me, this discussion created more questions than it did answers, and filtered my own view not only of Compton, but many other male-dominated films I’ve enjoyed. However, Davis’s point about a male director’s prerogative reminded me of a topic much addressed in the entertainment industry world I work in: we need more female directors, and more than that, we need more female directors of color. We need their voices shining spotlights over the kinds of issues that have long been swept under the rug of patriarchal artistic vision; we need them to populate the mainstream media so that black women’s lives can no longer be case aside.

But obviously, adding more black, female directors to the mix is not a blanket solution. Ultimately, this needs to not be a question of male vs. female perspectives in film — throwing a “versus” between sexes only poses a greater divide. If the most baseline definition of feminism means a belief that men and women of all colors should have equal rights, then in its most ideal manifestation, humanism would replace the word feminism, and there would be no need for competing representations and narratives in film, media and entertainment. So we turn to you (and us) as the next generation with that larger goal in mind, and this even larger question: how can we accomplish this?

Photograph via Forbes.

The post Goodbye, “Bye, Felicia”: The Objectification of Black Women in ‘Straight Out of Compton’ appeared first on Man Repeller.

“September is Going to Be Okay, Promise.” – Your Horoscope

Hi and welcome to September 2nd. It probably took you one entire day to recover from the shock that is September 1st. I’m not sure why we are always so shocked seeing as this happens every year, but ask me how many times I’ve been surprised that it hurts when I shove hot pizza into my mouth, then ask me how many times I’ve repeated this action anyway. Who else just got hungry from that sentence? Eat your horoscopes instead; they’re home cooked by Astrology Zone’s Susan Miller, reheated with extra crazy sauce by me.

Virgo

Happy Birgo, Virgo. You’re probably the only dude not bummed about month numero nine, especially since you’ve got Jupiter in your sign for the next 12 months — something you’ve been waiting 12 years for, apparently. Desper…anyway! But why do we care about Kel Mitchell’s favorite planet? Because it makes everything golden like a flash tat aftermath.

As for love? Yes please. Coming your way today (omg) and again on the 12th and 13th. That’s fashion week, so it could mean falling for a pair of shoes, too. If you’re reading this on the proposed Wednesday, take note: With Mars in the hood, Cupid may hit you where the good lord split you (Uranus jokes are possible even without the planet present!) and cause you to crush on someone who is definitely a bad idea. Be choosey — someone better will be close around the corner.

Libra 

Can you even beLibra it’s September?! Me eitha. I actually can because I own a calendar despite hating the picture that corresponds with my own birth month. The early part of Sept. is going to be quiet for you. This is good. It probably means you won’t do anything weird over Labor Day Weekend to cause Tuesday Terrors. You could potentially have a creepy recurring dream or psychological breakdown around the 13th (who couldn’t, though) to which Suzy Roo just wants you to see a therapist. The usual.

Your big day is the 27th, when a total eclipse of the moon will arrive in Aries and really shake shit up with your alliance in love or business. The relationship may change dramatically (Susan Drama Miller for you) but thanks to other planets doing planet stuff, the results will be ever in your favor. You know what they say: lint is a shell’s best friend. And things happen for a reason.

Scorpio

Nothing like starting a horoscope off with an old-fashioned pickup line: “If you were a stock on the Stock Exchange,” writes Susan Miller as she leans casually against the bar, “the evening news anchor would be reporting that your stock is currently climbing through the roof.” Dow ow! Things are going from good to better for you. You’ve been killing it at work too, and you still will, but this month is also going to bring much-needed balance, meaning more time for friends and romance.

Speaking of! You’re going to shed some old friends and make room for new comrades. And new friends come with their friends, and you remember what Isaac said about meeting potential hook-ups-n-beyond, right? Throw a party. I’ll invite myself.

Sagittarius

I think you’re about to become famous, or at the very least, become the Oprah of your own career field. Everything you’ve ever dreamed of when it comes to makin’ bacon is going to come true — partially thanks to the planets of course, but stop being bashful: you’ve worked hard. It’s at least 60% thanks to you, too! Make sure you’re dedicated to getting the payment you deserve along with the limelight, of course. Speak up, lean in and demand that byline.

Now’s the ideal time to go on vacation — a final hurrah while the planets are beefing up good aura vibes in your favor. You’re literally sneezing magnetism (you should get that checked, could be mild lead poisoning) but it also means you just might meet someone at the cruise ship’s magic show even though you’re sitting right between both your parents.

Capricorn

I hate the word “horny,” if you were wondering why I’ve never made a pun using your sign in that way. Anywho!

Though your career and finances are on the uptick, it’s travel that Suz focused on for you: “You are excited about taking off on your magic carpet to experience the sounds, tastes, colors, and scents of new cities, towns, and hamlets, very possibly based abroad,” she writes. Let’s take a moment to appreciate her use of the word hamlet then cogitate below about where the hell you’re going.

Now, if you can’t get away but you’re feeling the itch, you should first see a dermatologist, then set up a few international calls or meet French people on the subway and call it a damn day. Oddly enough, she didn’t mention love — but I think we can all assume it’s implied when travel is involved. Something about those altitudes.

Aquarius

Here is the Susan I know and love: today you will receive a “highly romantic and rare vibration…these two cosmic lovers will meet in your marriage sector. Both planets will be found in your opposite sign of Leo, and both will be in ideal angle to Uranus.” Vibration, cosmic lovers, Uranus: it’s where the magic happens.

Because Mercury — which rules your love sector — is going retro on the 17th, you may find yourself falling back into a leg tangle with someone you previously danced with. Horizontally. You know. But for once in your life, this will actually be a good decision. People mature, old dogs learn new tricks, and when stars align, bullshit fades. You may have to recite the old “He’s changed and I’ve changed” speech once or twice to your friends, but they’ll come around. They’re just being good lighthouses and looking out.

Pisces

“This will be an extraordinary month to be a Pisces,” says Thriller, though I have to be honest — she doesn’t go into a lot of detail. Your horoscope is shorter than usual (she probably was on vacation) but she didn’t give me a lot of her typical weird to work with. Still, no one said fabrication is a crime so long as the pattern’s pretty. Therefore:

A) Venus and Leo will have a positive conference call regarding your career, highlighting your LinkedIn page with so much neon yellow that recruiters will be rendered unable to miss it.

B) Mars is making a money stew in your sign. The pasta is shaped like this: $$$.

C) The solar eclipse on September 12-13 will make you feel ready to settle down. The uptick on dating apps once everyone finally stays put for a fall weekend means your likelihood of matching with a total star-studded banner is high. What? Exactly, because nothing says love like the sound of crunched leaves and confusion.

Aries

Susan Miller is being ca-razy. Total MOAC. Last night was a Tuesday and she wanted you to go out because if you’re single, you could have met someone. If you are tethered, you two would have had a romantic evening and consumed a normal amount so as not to avoid a coma upon “bed time.” The good news, in case you’re reading this and sobbing at your missed opportunity (technically my fault since you’re getting this a day late, but I wasn’t the one who stayed in) you can replicate the evening tonight.

In fact, the whole month is looking promising. Make sure you hit the town (#endlesssummer — don’t let September stop your groove! You’ll sleep in February! That month sucks!) because no matter where you go, you might meet the human of your dreams.

Now here’s a weird and fun September Susan Miller prediction: you may change your hair this month. If not your hair, then definitely your name. The artist formerly known as…

Taurus

Our love life is literally improving by the hour. You may have felt a bit of the flirt last month, but in September more than ever, our wheels are really kicking into high gear. We’re like Carrie Bradshaw with so many dates and less annoying questions. An important piece of advice: be open to different types. No need to close yourself off just because the potentially cute person who asked for your number is wearing shoes you’d rather chuck at a loud chewer’s head. (Also important advice: this whole swoon-y business may also pertain to an actual partner in business, as in, you and your boss could just start getting along better. But even so: it’s a month for romance!)

Kindly note that the power of baby making is also sitting pretty in our sign. This is so nice for anyone with a birth plan or a couch that is used for sitting as opposed to magazine storage, but for those of you who are unprepared to make proper use of your nips — JUST BE CAREFUL! Sounds like a lot of action is in the air. You never know. I once read that you can get pregnant from an awkward pause.

Gemini

I am going to take a wild guess that you just heard great news about your job. Am I right? If not, then just sit on your damn hands and wait — it’s coming.

For all your early Halloween planners (who else already knows what they’re going to be?) this is your ‘scope: Susan wants you to start planning a Halloween party now because Venus and Mars will be hooking up again (they just did last night, in case you missed the first love boat) and I guess hosting them incentivizes them to bring their cute friend that you keep asking about.

Also, while love is super important, so is friendship. Two things: one, you may feel like a friend is bowing out around the 27th. Don’t take it personally — you two will get back in the groove once she’s out of her funk. (I repeat: it will not be about you.) Two is courtesy of Suz, live and direct: “Friends will have exceptional ideas on September 8 – check your email!” What’s my password again?

Cancer

Are you reading this from the airport? Susan Miller thinks you might be, or should be. She also thinks you should buy a car because she is totally reasonable. (If you actually are in the market for a vehicle, don’t sign anything from 9/17 — 10/9 because of Mercury’s little trip to Club Retrograde that it’s planning. Hopefully you guys won’t be on the same flight.)

Meanwhile, Mars is “entering a conversation with Venus” on September 8. Back in my day, we called this a Booty Call. The difference here is that this conversation will be good for your career.

But what about that booty call? Glad you asked. Saturn is going to leave your love sector on 9/17 — same day Mercury’s peacing out too, don’t you planets have jobs? — but Saturn’s departure is, like Martha Stewart would say, “a good thing.” All obstacles that have previously stood in the way when it comes to love (money, location, an inability to look beyond his idiosyncratic ticks) will disappear. You’ll be able to see clearly now that the rain is gone, and it’s gonna be a bright, (bright), bright, (bright) sun-shiny day.

Leo

Hey Leos, I sure do hope you like being rich! Susan predicts a “financial bounty” this month for your sign. Be careful at the beginning of the month — have your lawyer/mom look over any important money-related documents and try not to finalize anything until around the 13th. Then you can play super soakers in your money-rain.

Regarding romance, yesterday was supposed to be your best day. However, today’s outlook isn’t so bad, either. Not sure what your work to love-life ratio looks like, but if it’s less than that of the newest dating app, then get your butt out of your swivel chair and hoof it to your nearest salad store. You never know who you could meet in line. You also never know who could like chopped hard boiled eggs and raisins like you. It’s possible, too, that you could meet someone on September 6th, proof that life is just one big rom-com plot: you won’t recognize this stranger as someone-someone. Not until a few weeks later, at least, in which case, what a funny story.

*

Oh, and a note to all: Mercury’s going retrograde on the 17th. Hang on to your cellphones, kids. Or at the very least keep a bag of rice handy.

Illustration by Cynthia Merhej.

The post “September is Going to Be Okay, Promise.” – Your Horoscope appeared first on Man Repeller.

Ask Isaac: My Fiancé’s Ashley Madison Profile Was Leaked

Wow that sucks.

Ok. First, let’s give him the benefit of the doubt – the two of you have only been together two years; is it possible that he signed up/was active on the site before your relationship began?

If not, then it would seem your man has been paying to use a service that actively seeks to hook him up with a partner in extra-curricular sexual activities, and that is dishonest, unfaithful, and all kinds of effed up.

I had a friend whose parents went through a similar thing (the dad had a purely physical affair before the two got married), and guess what? The dad kept on having purely physical affairs throughout the marriage, until he met a woman he decided he liked better than his wife, so he divorced the first one and moved on to number two without a second thought.

And guess what else? He cheats on number two, too.

Obviously, you’ve gotta do what works for you. I’m not a psychologist, I don’t know you, so take my advice with a grain of salt: I really do not see how you can stay with someone who signed up for a service to create cheating-on-you opportunities for himself. If you confront him then stay with him, it’s almost like you’re saying, “That sucked, but we’re good.” How will you ever trust him again? How will you not spend the next x-amount of years of your life snooping around after him, or hiring private detectives to follow his every move?

Like my dad always says, “When somebody shows you who they are, believe them.” This guy has shown you that he’s a dude who’s quite happy to behave one way to your face, then turn around and brazenly go behind your back if the right opportunity presents itself.

In other words, he’s not safe marriage material.

Follow Isaac on Instagram here, Twitter here, and check out his website here. If you have a relationship question for our Ask a Guy series, email write@manrepeller.com with ASK ISAAC in the subject line. 

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Oh Boy Episode 2: Rebecca Harrington

Welcome to the second episode of Oh Boy, hosted by Jay Buim and featuring intimate conversations with women who are so g-dang cool, it makes you reconsider your get-of-town policy in conjunction with New York’s winter.

Was that trying too hard?

I’m sorry. With my wit, which incidentally is falling flat, I’m just trying to impress Rebecca Harrington, this week’s guest. She once wrote about wrinkle cream for us and is known as the resident dieter for The Cut (you may remember when she tried the Liz Taylor diet on for size, or only ate aphrodisiacs for a day…or that time she consumed more Pumpkin Spice lattes than a SoulCycle-to-brunch enthusiast does while on the Taylor Swift diet) and the prolific writer of such books as “Penelope” and the recently-released “I’ll Have What She’s Having.” Hopefully after today, she’s also willing to take on the title, “Leandra’s best friend.”

Tune in as she and Jay discuss what it’s like to wear an eyepatch (not to be confused with iPatch, a new smart vision-blocker that shows you a better version of reality than the one you live in) as a kid, why 19th century archaeologists make sense within her narrative and how a website dedicated to William Howard Taft’s sleep apnea and subsequent diet led to her second book, “I’ll Have What She’s Having.”

OH! AND HERE’S A COOL PIECE OF INFORMATION FOR YOU! The Man Repeller Podcast is officially on iTunes (and currently holding the #1 spot in the Fashion and Beauty vertical), so subscribe, rate us and if you missed last week’s episode, featuring me, listen to that one too. We are so excited my nipples are literally going to fall off. Like just hit the ground running.

The post Oh Boy Episode 2: Rebecca Harrington appeared first on Man Repeller.

Peter Piper Picked a Pair of Shoes

It’s been a while since this girl’s been on Tinder — not because I have so many boyfriends but because the app got super weird — but I will never forget the five universal truths:

1) You have to swipe forever until you see a good one.

2) Just because you find a good one doesn’t mean it’s a match.

3) Sometimes you DO match with a good one and then there’s a major caveat, like living in different states despite setting the appropriate filters.

4) Guaranteed, every time you think, “This person looks mostly awful and is not my type at all but I’m sick of swiping left,” this person will match with you, message you first, and make you regret that gamble-right.

5) If you keep playing, you eventually will see a good one, it’ll be a match, there will be no caveat, and one week later, you’ll find yourself on a date.

Shoe shopping online is exactly the same. You scroll FOREVER. Scroll, scroll, scroll. Your heart stops for a few — but they’re a billion dollars. Or not in your size. Or not available. Sometimes you’ll buy a pair you didn’t really love just because you needed nude-something to go with a bridesmaid’s dress, then never wear them again.

And of course, you know if you keep searching, you’ll find yourself in love. You may have to make a few compromises, sure, but that’s a relationship for you.

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Lift your eyes then, if you’d be so kind, to find the shoes of my right-swipe affection. Some are too much money, some are do-able with a little saving and street performing, some get the job done and one may or may not be on its way to my apartment as I type.

You only really need ONE pair, right? It’s just gotta be a good one. Share yours below. And happy Shoesday.

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Vogue Runway Has Officially Launched

Bid Style.com farewell in this previous post Mattie wrote. She’s the same writer who offered tips on how to spot a feminist. She’s also been known to analyze the deeper meaning of Shoshanna’s accessories in GIRLS.

Style.com posted a virtual “Closed for Business” placard on Monday, telling readers that the site would no longer publish content. It would soon redirect to Vogue Runway, which will follow fashion news and show reviews on a new section of Vogue.com.

In a goodbye-to-all-that letter the (now former) executive editor Nicole Phelps wrote, she looked back on what Style.com created, contending that that the “sole constant” of fashion coverage since it launched over 15 years ago is Madonna, “who was wedged into the front row at Versus and continues to be a presence at the collections today.”

Cheeky, yes. But not true. Because while so much has been transformed and so much of what we cherish now wouldn’t have been possible a decade ago, more than Madonna has remained a fixture. Vogue Runway proves it. The site is a testament to what I love about the shows. Even pressed into screens, it cheers three-dimensional fashion.

Despite my weakness for minimalism and navy and discreet hardware, I have always known fashion to have noise. The intensity of it, the vibrancy of beautiful clothes and gorgeous people and stunning creativity — it could run you over. It could blast your eardrums. No matter how understated the silhouettes, great clothes are explosive. At the site, they have found a new target.

Photos are bright. Some move, proving that GIFs are Hogwarts portraits IRL.

At the moment, every September issue of Vogue since 1893 is available at the Vogue Archive to fete the launch. Spy Kate Moss and Amber Valletta (and puppies!) front the magazine in 1996, and I swear your Tuesday will be better. Yellow taffeta has that effect on people.

A calendar, which I assume will update in time for a new season next week, outlines show schedules in New York and Paris. An app and mobile site will update in real time. And while features are still few, Phelps promises that Lynn Yaeger, Sarah Mower, Luke Leitch and Maya Singer will soon pen more.

Already, Mower has explained the return of ’90s fashion, celebrating the men and women responsible for its resurrection. The story is a proxy for the platform. Like Style.com was, Vogue Runway is a love letter to all the people who show us how we want to get dressed. It adores Phoebe Philo. It is glossy and informative. It is made for fashion nerds.

It is not perfect, of course. Launches never are. Not even the kickiest music can distract from a belated debut and too little of the geeky archival research that I know it can produce. But a Vogue inauguration is like that pair of underwear you spent a little too much on. It’s sexy and sophisticated. It looks seamless.

Welcoming the masses to the site, Nicole Phelps makes her intentions explicit.

“Bookmark VogueRunway.com now,” she commands.

And I do.

I am not really nostalgic. I liked high school, but I do not pine for it. I only miss The O.C., like, twice a week. But I loved Style.com. Which is why I take a last reverent glance at that alphabetic icon when I replace it on my bookmarks bar. And yet for all my dramatics, I’m sure I won’t mourn it for very long.

Do not let bad pantsuits and grunge makeup and Miley Cyrus fool you. While decades and trends may be cyclic, fashion always moves ahead. Right now, the future looks good.

And may I say: very intuitively designed!

**

Vogue is offering readers one week of free access to their archive to view every September issue Vogue has created. Here’s how: Visit vogue.com/archive from your desktop or tablet and select “Archive Login” at the top of the page. Click “Magazine Subscribers and Registered Users” and log in with the following info (Username:  Runway@vogue.com,  Password: runway).

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The Rules of Style by ‘Saved by the Bell’

Theory: if Saved by the Bell were still on air today, there is a 0% chance it would be on tomorrow. During this day of abundant political correctness — a unique time wherein Jerry Seinfeld won’t even crack a joke if he’s not acutely familiar with his audience — it is inconsistent to assume that Jessie Spano could plausibly call her on-again-off-again boyfriend a “male chauvinist pig” while she conforms to the sartorial and societal constructs that make one Kelly Kapowski so profoundly alluring as a viable mate.

Those characteristics, of course, are informed by her tight jeans, crop (bikini?) tops and that sense of overarching subservience on crude display every time Zack Morris proclaims her, “his.” She retorts with a charmed smirk and like that, we’re conditioned to believe it’s suitable that such a totem of post-modern femininity should plea an unflinchingly lackadaisical approach to what is hers. And what about Screech! The most manipulative of them all, with his seemingly-innocuous romantic lust for the fringe jacket and cowboy boot-wearing Lisa; he’s no better than the rest of the gang. “My pet,” he calls her!

Lest we forget one seminal scene wherein the damsel Ms. Spano shows herself to be excited, excited, and OMG, now scared.

Instead of confiding in one of her female comrades, though, she’s left to be puzzle-pieced back together by the consoling, rock-hard shoulder of Zack Morris.

I croon.

I kid.

Because realistically speaking, the show was arguably nothing more, nothing less than rules of style on display to be later encapsulated on the Internet. So consider the following a junior-varsity level handbook.

1. Bikini tops can be shirts. They can boast subliminal messaging thus allowing you to call your boyfriend a male chauvinist pig while you wear one. Isn’t it, after all, fashion that sets us free?

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2. The recently-omnipresent Baja print need not apply exclusively to the hoodie; consider it for a button down. Wear it to the office.

3. Lifting your arm to show off your bicep while wearing a shirt unbuttoned cancels out the messaging, because, hello, we’re a generation of self-deprecators. Choose a new way to share your abs. If, however you’d like to keep your sneaker tongues on display, be my guest.

3a. Thou shall not emasculate your male counterpart for wearing a unitard. (And neither shall you reprimand his curls or accompanying mullet.)

4. Thou shall celebrate your female contender for selecting a hue as bright as orange for her unitard debut.

4a. Ye shall replicate with a floral denim jacket.

4b. Ye shall not omit a matching pair of jeans for a later date — and ye shall absolutely redefine the power suit using the aforementioned tools.

5. Belts are like semi-colons: useful and respectful about maintaining attention to detail but never actually vital. Wear them often.

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6. Give tie-dye a chance.

7. Remember that ankle socks add a dimension of personality to your chosen footwear. Like a saddle on a horse only less expensive.

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8. If your t-shirt is going to say a lot about you, make sure it says something cool, like a one-eyed woman with red hair, for example.

9. Bad denim is always a good idea.

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10. Srsly though.

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