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In Case You Missed It, Michelle Obama Is Anna Wintour's #ForeverFirstLady, Too—and Melania Who?
I take a couple of days away from The Glow Up, and look at what happens: Megan Thee Stallion attempts to brand “hot girl summer,” a white woman loses her edges by laying claim to the invention of the hair bonnet, and earlier this week, Vogue Editor-in-Chief Anna Wintour blessed us all with a high…
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Big Beauty Tuesday: What Makes a Beauty Boss?
“We Gloss, We Floss, We Boss”—it’s a little known fact, but that’s The Glow Up’s motto and our founding ethos, as we report on all things beauty, fashion and black women’s empowerment here at The Root. But when it comes to encompassing all three of those principles, no one does it better than black beauty…
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'Brown Skin Girl' Was Bound to Be Our New Anti-Colorism Anthem…But It's Also Blue Ivy's 1st Writing Credit!
Bow down, Simba…because we already know who the real star of The Lion King reboot is. The CGI-fueled film opens in U.S. theaters today, but all week we’ve been ramping up, first falling for the fashion-fueled extravaganza that was the “Spirit” video release, and now getting our Afrobeats on with Thursday night’s release of The…
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Serena Williams Tops the 4th Annual Sports Illustrated Fashionable 50
Is it just us, or is Serena Williams everywhere as of late? Just last week, we were in awe of the tennis phenom in all her unretouched golden glory on the cover of Harper’s Bazaar, and now she’s once again killing the game, covering Sports Illustrated’s fourth annual Fashionable 50 issue. The tagline for the…
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It's Official: Michelle Obama Is the Most Admired Woman in the World—and Keeps Paying It Forward
Confirming what most of us already know, a new poll places Michelle Obama atop its list of the most admired women in the world. As reported by the Hill, an annual study by global market research company YouGov places two black women in the top spots; Obama is followed by close friend Oprah Winfrey in…
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As Part of a $3 Million Investment, Serena Williams Adds Her Power to the Fight Against Maternal Mortality
What does it mean when the most recognizable female athlete in the world can’t get the attention she needs when suffering complications after giving birth? For Serena Williams, it meant becoming intimately familiar with the crisis currently facing so many black expectant mothers—the threat of a life-or-death outcome. Williams, who documented her own harrowing journey…
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The ‘Baby-Faced Assassin’: Tennis Star Naomi Osaka Scores Allure’s August Cover
She may not have managed another Grand Slam at the French Open or Wimbledon (that Australian Open, though), but Naomi Osaka is still a tennis phenom on the rise—with a rising profile that now includes the cover of Allure’s August issue. It’s the Japanese-Haitian athlete’s first American fashion magazine cover, and while I personally wish…
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The Second City Turns Complex Community: ComplexCon Brings the ‘Cultural Super Bowl’ to Chicago This Weekend
Real talk? I’m not terribly prone to FOMO—I’m grown, respectably connected and have done my share of thangs, so to speak. Nevertheless, I must admit to feeling some significant event envy last fall when my press invite to ComplexCon once again got lost in the mail (and I may or may not have sent a…
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‘Barbie Dreams’…of Fendi: Is a Nicki Minaj Luxury Collab in the Works?
It’s no secret that Nicki Minaj and late luxury designer Karl Lagerfeld had a deep mutual admiration for each other, with the two joining forces on a cover shoot for Elle last year and Minaj frequently fawning over Lagerfeld’s designs for Chanel. But if suspicions are correct, it may be Fendi, another formerly Lagerfeld-designed label,…
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With a New Amendment, New York State Quietly Joins California in Fighting Hair Discrimination [Updated]
New York City passed amendments to ban hair discrimination in February, but now the state has followed suit, lending its legislative weight to the ongoing conversation around hair bias. Prompted by the CROWN Act (SB 188), proposed by Sen. Holly J. Mitchell (D-Calif.), California became the first state to pass anti-hair discrimination legislation on July…
