Leandra Medine's Blog, page 642

Musician to Know: BANKS

Music lovers are no different than those who consume fashion. In fact, aren’t we often one and the same? We search endlessly for new sounds, voices, words (styles, colors, shapes) in the hopes of finding something — a song, a dress — that has the ability to cause us to pause, even if only for a moment, and escape reality. It seems both industries are currently pausing for singer/songwriter , and with good reason: she’s not your typical sugar coated pop star. In fact, she’s not your typical anything, really.

Allow me to show rather than tell:

Based in LA, BANKS is currently doing press in New York for a few days. She recently appeared on Letterman, and this week she’ll perform at IRO’s Soho boutique (see! music + fashion) to celebrate the brand’s 10 year anniversary — which we seized as a perfect opportunity to ask a musician about style, beauty, wardrobe must-haves and, hello, music.

BANKS On style:

Style isn’t something you need to think about. It just happens. Clothing, fashion, what you wear — that’s all a part of who you are. If you’re feeling like a badass one day, you can dress like a badass. It’s all based on your mood. I think fashion is a perfect way to feel the most yourself because it’s a way to express your mindset.

On music:

Music is air for me. It’s like a cleanse. I’ve been touring for a long time and just started writing again, and it feels like 100 bricks were lifted off my back. Writing is the most grounding thing in my world for me. It’s the most essential nutrient that I have.

I discovered I loved writing around the same time I discovered that I was a song writer. I was probably 15, and I taught myself how to play piano. I never had lessons — same with my voice. For ten years I didn’t tell anyone that I was doing this, but I needed to [write and make music] so badly. I felt helpless and unheard in my real life — I felt insane. I felt caged in, like no one understood me. Music was this secret life of mine, and when I wrote, it became…air.

It was scary to share my music, but I always wanted to perform. It’s empowering. It’s like, This is me, so fuck off if you don’t like it. I was reclusive [growing up], so it was a process. I was very patient with myself.

On beauty must-haves for the road:

“I don’t wear makeup. I like my skin to breath, and I think freckles are pretty. I’ve gotten really into oils. Lavender is incredible to put on your temples and wrists when you’re flying. It’s calming.

I have this mineral oil from Decleor that I apply every night before I put on makeup and go on stage. It’s so good for your skin. It doesn’t break you out no matter how much you use, and it’s hydrating.

To wash my face, I’ve been using a foaming gel cleanser from Chanel. But you know what’s funny? The lotion I use every day is a CVS brand oil-free moisturizer. It’s the only one that doesn’t make me feel like oily.

On the 3 wardrobe must-haves:

1) A really dope hat. Gladys Tamez makes my favorite. She’s made my hats from day 1, before anyone knew who I was. She’s the best.

2) A sick black trench. It’s so easy. I had to change hotels last night and I walked from one to the other in pajamas. I threw my trench on, and it looked like a full outfit.

3) It’s important to have something special. My mom gave me a ring – I told her I wanted to travel with something personal if I got homesick. I think it’s cool to have at least one thing touching your skin that feels so you.

Follow Banks on , , , and .

Blonde at Heart

I have a complicated relationship with my hair. A technical towhead since birth, the platinum shade held on through early adolescence enough to solidify my identity as a blonde. As I got older the roots began to grow in darker, but I never noticed, because long and blonde is really blonde, right?

As an angsty preteen who wanted to be anywhere but in her own body, I focused all of my positive energy on my hair. I internalized positive comments about how lucky I was to be a natural blonde, and how people spend a lot of money to get my color, “so never change it!” But as I got older, I found a new type of discomfort: that I was using my hair as a security blanket. And so, I chopped it off.

It felt like the mature thing to do, but suddenly, short and blonde didn’t seem so blonde.

This was terrifying. I missed my childhood blanket.

More terrifying than having lost what had long comforted me, however, was admitting that it might take a bit of, you know, “chemical help” to return to the color that made me feel most confident. I spent a few months in this mindset: I wanted the blonde I was born with, but I didn’t want the (self-assigned) stigma that comes with admitting, “I dye my hair.”

So yes, I had a complex. But then I realized this was just another form of insecurity. Doesn’t self-acceptance and maturity also means embracing choice? After talking with enough friends who said that yes, it does, I realized that having the freedom to experiment with my hair as I would with clothes is just as powerful as leaving it alone.

Besides, it’s just hair. Any change made to it eventually grows out. Once I felt comfortable with that knowledge, I decided to bleach my short bob back to its O.G. blonde.

Amelia and Kate connected me with the duo responsible for their hair, dream team Roxie Darling and Wes Sharpton (masters of color and cut, respectively). They put me at ease as we talked through my anxieties: did this mean I wasn’t a “real” blonde anymore? What if I didn’t like it? What if I’m not even supposed to be blonde, and I’ve been fooling myself about my hair identity my whole life? These worries were swept away the moment I saw it.

My hair — in all of its brand new, platinum, California skater/surfer glory — was shades lighter than the reality that my adult head grows. But it enforced a new kind of pride within me: this was my decision. It’s my style.

Now that I’ve lived with this hair for a few days, I’ve gotten over the initial shock of seeing myself in a mirror. I’ve learned how to care for it (highly recommended: Perfectly Perfect Hair Cleanser to keep the color from changing and the hair from breaking), and I’ve stopped questioning whose white hair is in my peripheral vision. (It’s mine!) I’m happy I took a chance, took action, and trusted my instincts.

In addition to a newfound feeling of oneness with my hair, I feel hot and cool and all of those other confident temperatures. I feel like my hair is finally back in its rightful state.

Images Shot by Patrice Helmar. Edited by Amelia Diamond. Thank you to Hairstory Studio for the color and cut!

The Late Night Deli

It’s 4 am —

Where do I go?

To find my dream,

My brisket beau.

The smell of meat,

Will flood my nose.

Will cloud my mind,

And curl my toes.

But then I see —

That swirling line!

It’s between me,

And pickle brine!

I shuffle straight,

To join the heap.

And miles to go before I eat…

And miles to go before I eat…

Words by Emily Siegel, Illustration by Gabi Anderson. Follow them both at Urban Ditty.

Everything I Know, I Learned From a Man in a Waistcoat

As the longest-serving employee of a geriatric theater publisher, librarian/archivist Malcolm Henkel guarded his trove of play scripts, cassette tapes and performance memorabilia like a bearded Sybil in an Angela Lansbury t-shirt. On his electric typewriter he tapped out orders for rare programs and signed posters, which he dispatched – by fax – to an auction house in Paris. He spent patient hours in phone queues for returns at the Donmar, the coil of receiver wire wrapped round an elegant little finger. Lunch acquired artform status under Malcolm’s watch, and he was seldom to be located in the office or its vicinity between the hours of midday and two-thirty.

Despite his reservoir of knowledge, Malcolm’s best life advice was imparted not verbally but by example. The rewards for following such example were clear: You, too, can make your hobby into your work. You, too, can incorporate a discretionary forward-slash into your job title. And you, too, can be paid to indulge a near-maniacal hoarding compulsion.

Here’s what I learned from Malcolm:

1.) Waistcoats will be worn.

They will also be assertive in hue, labyrinthine in pattern and several in number.

2.) Denim cut-offs are workplace-appropriate.

Unless you are ruled by the type of regressive management that considers playful commentary sufficient preamble to an outright ban, meaning April’s approach no longer heralds the promise of septuagenarian thigh-glimpse, but only the usual tax returns and rain.

3.) Five decades before it was a song by The Clash, “London Calling” was the title of a Noel Coward musical.

And as the subject line for an internal e-newsletter, it lacks both wit and originality.

4.) An all-over body tan, and the precise manner by which it was acquired, should preclude a gentleman from sharing his holiday snaps of Sharm el-Sheikh.

5.) Well-thought-out facial hair is worth a thousand words.

Including “kindly psychoanalyst,” “distracted academic” and “rehearsing Chekhov.”

6.) There will always be someone who knows how to replace the toner cartridge.

So back away, look sideways, and whistle.

For past Writers Club entries, click here.

Image via GQ. 

ICYMI: This Was the Best Week Ever

Roses are red, violets are blue

Tasya Van Ree likes fedoras

and you should too.

They help in the rain

That shit’s a pain.

It’ll flush your white suede shoes

Right down the drain.

A gusty wind

Can ruffle the smoothest of feathers

Unless you’re Chloë Sevigny,

In which case, you own the weather.

So put on some blush

And comb out your hair

Oh, you don’t know how?

Toast can help you there.

You learn something new

Everyday

Here’s 15 weird “facts”

and one cute food babay. 

Is anyone thirsty?

Good, me too

Drink a bottle of water

Please recycle when you do.

Take another sip

It’s about to get sweaty

Miles Teller just rolled up

Looking camera ready.

OH MY GOD

Your clothes disappeared!

You look really dope though

In that panty and brassiere.

It reminds me of something

I may have seen in Australia

Or maybe it was Instagram

Viva nail-Valencia!

To have a good weekend

Take my advice:

Don’t cheat via Ashley Madison

That’s not very nice.

See you on Monday

I’ll be out of touch

Doing some shopping

And eating a kick ass brunch.

The Gloating Auto Away Message

On Thu, Apr 23, 2015 at 1:24 PM, Rumara wrote:

Hey! When are you back from London again?

On Thu, Apr 23, 2015 at 1:26 PM, Cumberlina wrote:

OUT OF OFFICE: Hi! Thank you for your e-mail, I will traveling internationally through April 30th with limited e-mail access. If this is urgent, ask yourself why.

On Thu, Apr 23, 2015 at 1:34 PM, Rumara wrote:

SEMI-STILL IN OFFICE: Hi there,

I am currently out of the office until May 1. I will be working remotely, in and out of frequent meetings. Thank you in advance for your patience, and I will aim to answer all e-mails in a timely manner.

Have a great day.

On Thu, Apr 23, 2015 at 1:36 PM, Cumberlina wrote:

OUT OF OFFICE: Hello! Thank you for reaching out. I will be spending the next 72 hours seaside with enough e-mail access and free WiFi to answer your timely response in a timely response but will likely not do that.

If this is urgent, please contact 911.

On Thu, Apr 23, 2015 at 2:10 PM, Rumara wrote:

OUT OF OFFICE: Hi there. Thanks so much for your e-mail. When I said “working remotely, in and out of frequent meetings,” what I meant was that I’m actually going to be away on a family vacation, which means that I don’t have to pay for anything — especially not dinner — but I will be frequently scolded if I’m seen with my phone. So, while I will be *checking* e-mails, I’ll be doing so infrequently, and I’ll only answer the easy ones.

Have a great day!

On Thu, Apr 23, 2015 at 2:49 PM, Cumberlina wrote:

OUT OF PATIENCE: Hello,

Thank you for your e-mail. I am not out of office but have managed to figure out how to set up automated replies for e-mails I wish to ignore, yours ranking very high on this growing list chiefly because what self-respecting adult gloats about free-loading on family vacations? If your intention was to “up” me with your automated reply, consider this: I ordered the lobster last night.

Whether or not this is urgent, there is 82% chance I will not get back to you.

Thanks!

On Thu, Apr 23, 2015 at 3:15 PM, Rumara wrote:

LIVING LIFE IN THE EASY LANE: Good evening,

I say “good evening” because mine sure was… Last night, on vacation, my friends and I (oh, when I said family vacation, I meant I’m on vacation with my boyfriend’s family — they have a compound in Bermuda — and he has 3 brothers who are all conveniently dating three of my friends so we’re essentially having our own personal Yacht Week, lol) anyway my friends and our boyfriends and I just had so much to eat and drink at dinner that we were completely spent this AM, and therefore had to nap on the beach all day while systematically rotating so as to ensure even tans once we return back. On May 1.

Which is why I can’t actually answer your e-mail.

Have a great whatever time it is there!

On Thu, Apr 23, 2015 at 3:21 PM, Cumberlina wrote:

MY DAY IS BETTER THAN YOURS: Thanks for getting back in touch! While traditionally, these away messages are meant to serve as automated replies to respond prior to any real human reading, I am assuming there is at least one spelling error in your version of an auto-reply and it is for this reason that I will be unable to answer your e-mail until I return for a trip overseas to an Aman resort that is not yet open but has welcomed myself and my boyfriend, who I think is about to propose. In the event he does, you can assume that I will be unable to answer your e-mail for a longer period because, hello, I’m engaged (and the ring is big).

Take care!

On Thu, Apr 23, 2015 at 1:24 PM, Rumara wrote:

I DON’T HAVE TO WORK, IT’S A LABOR OF LOVE: Hi there!

Though my fingers are as free and light as a feather due to the fact that I took all my rings off (wouldn’t want to lose diamonds while paddle boarding on the Amalfi coast… we just spent a few days sailing/PJ-ing here from Bermuda, btw), I can’t answer any of your e-mails either. At all. Even though our PJ has better Wi-Fi than your NYC office. The perks of not being tied down by Time Warner!

While I typically refrain from using the obnoxious addendum that all-too-often accompanies e-mail signatures — something to the effect of, “Please excuse typos. Written from an iPhone on the go.” — it appears that adding such a line is necessary in the case of Out of Office messages. I was simply trying not to brag, you see, but here it goes:

*Please excuse the typos. I’m not giving a fuck from my iPhone.

On Thu, Apr 23, 2015 at 1:25 PM, Cumberlina did not write:

Delivery to the following recipient failed permanently.

By Leandra Medine and Amelia Diamond,

Illustration by Elizabeth Tamkin

MR Round Table: An App that Facilitates Marital Affairs?

Leandra Medine: Ashley Madison is an app that facilitates affairs. It’s currently newsworthy because it’s pursuing an IPO on the London Stock Exchange. Important to define is the word ‘affair,’ which tends to insinuate that both parties in a relationship are unaware of the other’s infidelity. I think the question that immediately comes up for me is how far is too far to go with your genius app idea? I think that by all definitions of immoral, adultery is high up there.

In Judaism, one of three sins you are commanded to favor is death over committing adultery. But my point is not only whether or not it’s okay that such an app exists, but that it is thriving. The app currently supports over 34,000,000 users.

Amelia Diamond: I think there’s something to your point about, “How far is too far to go with your genius idea.” It’s almost like digital cigarettes or something. Just because there’s a hole in the market doesn’t mean it needs to be filled. I prefer monogamy, personally, but back to our round table, “You Do You,” I think if a couple who identifies as polyamorous want to swing to spice up their sex life, or have a threesome, that’s cool. Great. As long as it’s consensual and agreed upon by all parties, who cares?

In the Sex and the City movie, I remember Miranda saying, “It’s not so much the cheating, it’s the going behind my back that bothers me,” when talking about Steve’s infidelity. That’s what I find troubling about this app. If it was, invite others into your sex life, I’d be like, “Good for them. I hope everyone’s been tested.” But Ashley Madison is basically saying, “Lie to the person you’ve legally, financially, and emotionally committed yourself to.”

Esther Levy: Well that’s the problem with it right? The site is encouraging lying. It’s encouraging secrecy. The photo on the website is of a woman with a finger over her mouth as if to say, “Shh.” That’s the main issue with it. It’s not like it’s an open forum to be communicative with your spouse and experiment together. It’s advocating affairs.

I think that for generations, people have had affairs, it just wasn’t so openly spoken about. We’re in this new generation where we’re questioning whether or not marriage and monogamy for life is sustainable.

LM: I often tell people that what you look for in a partner ends up running counter to what you need in a marriage, and I think that’s exactly what you’re talking about. The passion versus the safety, or the lust versus the loyalty. The thing is though, it’s not really called an affair if it’s an agreed upon, polyamorous relationship, right?

EL: It’s okay to ask those questions. And I think that you should be having that conversation with your partner. These are things that people think about and they’re grounded in a lot of truth. We should be open and honest — it’s that transparency that defines our generation. This app does not advocate that. That’s the difference. Ashley Madison runs counter to what our generation is about, which is being open and honest and asking questions and speaking about things that maybe make you feel a little bit uncomfortable. The fact that this is rooted in lies and moreover, secrecy, is what makes it feel so wrong.

LM: One of the huge selling points is that your information is so incredibly safe that nobody will find out that you’re using the app. It would be one thing I guess, if they were marketing themselves as a swingers app, right? I keep coming back to the question of, why is it okay? Why is there no conversation on the app’s immorality? Or maybe there is one that I just haven’t found it — I read somewhere that the founder doesn’t tell people what he does. But it’s about to go public, right? What does this mean for future generations of humanity?

AD: Businesses do shitty things every single day for the sake of making money. People deal drugs that kill people in order to make money.

LM: That also presents the question of, “What happens in the wake of such blinding self-awareness?” We were talking about this when we spoke about political correctness, and how The Fat Jewish gets away with things that others wouldn’t because he presents himself knowing full well that what he says is often offensive. He provokes for the sake of comedy, and we will still listen. This app is not trying to market itself as anything but a home wrecker. It’s not hiding anything. Does it get a free pass for that?

AD: But it also goes back to our conversation, does “You Do You” perpetuate narcissism? In this case, 100% it does.

LM: How do you mean?

AD: If your friend is on this app because, “I’m gonna do me,” in no way is he or she considering their partner. When you’re in a relationship, you’re half of a whole. When you cheat, you completely disregard the other person.

I have friends that have cheated and I hope that I wouldn’t, but it happens. However, to actively seek it out — I can’t wrap my head around that. Did you guys watch that show The Affair? It’s definitely a good example of how two people who love their partners are — for whatever reason — seeking something external. And maybe you don’t feel like you can tell your partner that you’re seeking something external for fear of hurting them.

From a human nature perspective, I can understand it, but not in this way, where an app is facilitating it.

EL: If you’re in a relationship and you have these feelings — well, it’s very easy for a 23-year-old who’s been married for one year to sit here and say, “I can’t understand why people would do this” — but these are feelings that most people grapple with at some point in their lives.

AD: I know this is weird but in Downton Abby — 

EL: You are always quoting Downton Abby.

AD: It’s the only TV show I watch! But Lady and Lord Grantham got into a huge fight because Lady Grantham was engaged in a very serious flirtation with this art dealer, and Sir Grantham caught them in the same room together right before something could have happened. But meanwhile, two seasons before he was kissing the maid! He was so mad at her and refused to come to bed and so she confronted him and said something along the lines of, “If you can honestly tell me that you’ve never engaged in even a mild flirtation with someone then fine, stay in this room. But if you can’t tell me that then you better come to bed.” He got up and went to bed with her.

EL: Right. But this is something entirely different.

AD: King Louis XV was famous for having made a woman, Lady Du Barry, his side piece. He went so far as to get someone to marry her so that she’d have a title and would be allowed to be at functions. That was an affair that was in his wife’s face — nobody could say anything about it. It just goes to show how a) it’s not necessarily tethered to our culture (this is to what Fallon was saying about our culture giving us the tools to act out) and b) that there is a power play involved.

EL: I think it’s also worth noting that we do live in the age of transparency, so I’m not surprised that an app exists to exploit that. The idea is wrong. It advocates lying and cheating and setting people up to get hurt. But from a business perspective, is it so wrong for someone to try to reap rewards from a condition that already exists? I mean, the guy didn’t invent cheating. People have been cheating forever. He’s giving them a platform to do it.

LM: This is the problem with living in a capitalist country, right? Everything is fair game if you can monetize on it meaningfully. I do wonder, though, even if he is operating his business with the utmost honesty and paying his taxes on time and sometimes overpaying, does that make it an honest and honorable business man? A benchmark to look up to?

The content of the app reminds me of what we’re cautioned against as kids with marijuana. You know when your parents tell you, “You’re going to get used to it and then you’re going to move on to cocaine and before you know it you’ll have a needle in your arm.” It does feel very much like social media has been a gateway drug: Facebook became a place for trolling, Jews called it “the new J-Date,” then along came Tinder in its various permutations and now that those resources have been exhausted, we’re talking about affair apps? If this guy does make huge money on it, number one: who is buying its stock and why (can you really look at it as a viable business model from that point of view without batting an eyelash?), and number two: will his wealth incite the next generation of sinister business handling a la Wolf of Wall Street.

You know what I mean? It’s like, you get high off of someone else’s success and then you think, “I can do this too, but I have to one up the one that came before.” Can you imagine if quick-pay apps turn into quick-steal apps?

AD: To your question on morality. Humans are immoral. We fuck up all the time.

LM: But fucking up and being moral are two different things.

AD: Right. But businesses are not humans, and they do immoral things regularly. I would argue that companies — especially ones that are about to rake in so much money — do have moral obligations. That’s why giant conglomerates are required to perform community service or give back in some way. We talk about companies’ moral obligations all of the time in fashion, like when we talk about sustainability and recycling and treating your employees well. I think that if the question is, “Is it okay for a company to put out something that is immoral?” I would argue that the answer is no.

It’s a company’s job to better society.

EL: But the fashion industry has that responsibility. Ashley Madison does not pretend to have that responsibility. It’s like the tobacco industry.

LM: This is such a direct jab at morality. Tobacco is one thing and it took years of control tests and medical and scientific research to learn that it kills and we’re seeing this happen now across the sugar industry — more and more researching is pointing towards the sugar causing the obesity and the disease and ultimately the deaths. We’re killing ourselves, yes, but that’s still technically inference. Whereas with an affair, we all know — because we experience human emotion — that to feel betrayed by someone who we’ve sworn our lives to in front of a tenured, religious, ordained figures, is soul-crushing. It’s almost worse than dying.

I don’t know what the point is, and I don’t know what the conclusion is. Maybe there’s a P.O.V that I’m not seeing here. Maybe this really is a great release for some people. Maybe this brings relationships closer together in some cases. I can’t wrap my head around it, but that doesn’t mean that no one else can.

EL: I think everyone can agree that the most important thing in a relationship is honest and open communication. If you feel like you need a release and that it might help your relationship, that’s something that you should communicate to your partner.

AD: I wonder how the CEO would react if he found out that his spouse was on the app. Would he be like, “Thanks for the download!”

EL: I bet he’s not married.

AD: Let’s look it up. [Reads founder’s bio.] Married. Says he hasn’t cheated, “yet.”

For more Round Tables, click here. 

Illustration by Kate Worum. Visit her website here, and follow her on Instagram here. 

MR Writers Club: That Time You Shopped ‘Til You Dropped

It wasn’t a matter of want. It was a matter of pure, absolute, life or death NEED. A few girls I knew had one. A few settled for fakes. But “everyone” did not have one — yet. And I had to get to the finish line before yet.

My dad was my emotional hostage until Stockholm syndrome kicked in, then he became obsessed with the mission, too. I couldn’t drive, so with Eric at the wheel and my ass buckled into the seat, we drove to every. Single. Store. That might have it. Operative word: might. This was before people tipped off shoppers on Twitter.

The search took weeks. We were on multiple waiting lists and bribed more than one clerk trying to fend off every other parent/child duo in search of the same treasure.

Fights broke out. People were trampled. Hearts were wounded and tears salted the air for days.

Then finally we got the call: “It’s here.” My Tamagotchi.

The adult Tamagotchi — the Apple Watch — comes out today, only it’s fancier and sleeker and doesn’t (I don’t think) involve an alien who poops emoji. Maybe some of you lined up at 12 a.m. for it. Maybe some of you have already sold your soul in order to get one.

Or maybe you don’t give a funk about a tech watch, and instead you’re saving up, breaking windows and taking names for a new pair of Prada shoes. Doesn’t matter. What we want to know is your story about the time you went to infinity and beyond for The Thing you had to have.

Same page? Great! Submit your story of the hunt to write@manrepeller.com, keeping the word count as close as possible to 500 max. Illustrations are always welcome but never required.

Need inspiration? Bored at work? Check out past Writers Club entires here. 

Image via Racked.com.

All The Cool Stuff that Just Happened in Australia

You know what they say, right? If you look hard enough, you can always find a fashion week in progress. The fall ready-to-wear shows, which occur in what mainstream media calls “the four major cities,” wrapped in March but since their conclusion, Istanbul, Tokyo, Seoul, Kiev, Russia, Sao Paolo and most recently, Australia, have put on their own versions of the venerated marketing event.

Observing different takes on fashion week is refreshing, it frequently adds an opinion to a city’s larger narrative. But then again, that opinion comes through only the access granted by a computer screen. This then begs the question of how long fashion month will remain just fashion month. As additional fashion weeks begin to earn momentum, it might very well be that the month long rallies become quarter long — or worse, half-year long rallies. Australia, which already facilitates a growing necessity to be there in order to be there seems like a proof of this hypothesis.

Kym Ellery of Ellery showed at least two fuzzy coats for a season that calls itself spring, a duo of strapless, gilded ornaments that resemble a regal bird and his bathrobe and enough skirt pants, double breasted vests and flamenco sleeves to ensure delivery across the Northern Hemisphere. Tome teased Pre-Fall with neck adornments in poplin — not knit — that harkened back to their Fall 2015 collection, enough lace to free the nipple in sophisticated elegance and the kind of all white ensembles that make a solid good case for a career in nursing. Christopher Esber showed three bands of leather as a blouse and slightly Grecian-inspired blue and white stripes that could be mistaken for a prayer shawl or sari worn elaborately and well outside of their intended usages.

Kate Sylvester plus-ed on the case of nipple freedom, exploring the female form within the boundaries of various sheer silks and lace, not discounting the power of a striped trouser or, you know, high waist under-thing. Big-ups, too, for the cameo by a fanny pack shown as a three-tier side-belt where a hair stylist might keep her tools. And where bodies are but a tool to express art-in-motion, Romance Was Born recreated the wearable layer cake and shied not away from ebullient color, calling to mind past references of the recently shut-down Meadham Kirchhoff, but doing so in a way that reads both consumable and practically viable. And then there’s Maticevski, where the head-to-toe gold (carry-on suitcase included!) shined like a powered flashlight in a black-out, lucite ball filled with orchids notwithstanding.

And in case you’re wondering, this is totally my look.

Of course, the question still remains: do we get it, or did we have to be there?

Images via Style.com.

Is Challenging Entertainment Still Entertainment?

I have tried to read Anna Karenina for six years. Since I think you and I can be honest with each other, I admit: the effort has been inconsistent. I picked it up twice in high school and again a year after graduation. A friend I admire insisted that I would love it: “As soon as you get into it, you will not be able to stop.”

I got into it. I stopped.

I’ve bought copies of it in two states and two airports. I have checked it out of four libraries. One time, I stayed in bed and read the first two hundred pages. Later, I packed it in my precious carry on cargo, skimmed the first few paragraphs, and lost it somewhere in London. I own it on my Kindle. A month ago, I brought it to Mexico. Through it all, the book has looked very nice on my bedside table.

This month, I swear I am finally going to do it. Graduation is imminent, my mother once told me that Kahn women do not quit, and I like what I’ve read so far. I like the plot — the frustrations and the anguish and the complexity. I like how the book makes my mental muscles ache.

But such intellectual gymnastics can be intricate and demanding and exhausting. And so as I do on my way to the gym, I procrastinate. Chances are, you do, too.

New Yorker television critic Emily Nussbaum took to Twitter earlier this week to ask over 72,000 people, “Is there such a thing as difficult TV?” That is, is there such a thing as entertainment that poses a challenge?

According to her followers, mhmm, there is: The Leftovers and Mad Men and Breaking Bad. Girls and Louie, which “both undermine narrative momentum.” The Affair. Ulysses. Bleak House. Jazz music.

So many of the cultural commodities constructed to amuse us do not “satisfy [and] clarify every step” they take. They force us to do some of that work ourselves. And it hurts so good.

You can blame the appeal of difficult television and severe literature and hard sounds on social machismo. Like dumb boys with dumbbells and devotees of watery elixirs, humans want to compare what they can endure. It’s Darwinian. We stare into ruptured eardrums on Girls and the bleak landscapes of New Orleans on Treme in order to say: We can survive that. But when I am in the mood to be generous, I know the attraction is more complicated.

There is a reason we watch and read and listen to that which challenges us. We seek out the narrative torture on purpose. Not only because we like to flex our aesthetic muscles for friends and enemies, but also because these sights and sounds are practice. Real life does not have a plot. Sexual tension is seldom so neat and tidy. Lena Dunham knows that. And she makes it almost impossible to watch.

But do you stare anyway? Do you watch difficult television or read books that make you sweat? Which ones? And when do they become chores? Do we need to finish what we start? Is worthwhile entertainment the new boiled vegetables? Should I bother with Anna Karenina? Will I win a Fitbit when I do? Let’s talk about it.

Original images via Netflix and Concrete Playground.