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Stage Presence: The Stars Show Out for the 2019 Tony Awards
Feathers, tulle, velvet, yards of train and even more star power; the theatrical community celebrated its biggest honors Sunday night at the 73rd Annual Tony Awards at Radio City Music Hall in New York City. While black talent didn’t take home all the Tonys we’d hoped, we nevertheless made a major showing on the red…
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Inclusivity? Just Do It. Nike Adds Plus and Para-Sport Mannequins to Its London Store
When it comes to acknowledging that the athletically minded can come in all shapes, sizes and abilities, it’s really not that hard to just do it. That’s what Nike’s London stores are proving, with the inclusion of plus and differently-abled mannequins, which debuted at its flagship store on Wednesday, as CNN reports. “To celebrate the…
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‘I Can’t Stop’: With Ms. Blakk for President, Moonlight Writer Tarell Alvin McCraney Campaigns as an Unlikely Candidate
“The most transparent way is the truth.” Tarell Alvin McCraney is telling me about the circuitous journey that led him and longtime collaborator Tina Landau to the real-life character of Ms. Joan Jett Blakk. That’s “two t’s, two k’s,” as she reminds us during her run for president at Chicago’s famed Steppenwolf Theatre, where McCraney…
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Tarana Burke Says Ava DuVernay Was ‘The Only One’ of Many Prominent Black Women Who Would Go on Record Against R. Kelly
As I write this, there is still a debate waging in one of our comments sections over whether filmmaker Ava DuVernay is obligated to embrace the term “auntie” or not (for the record, we think everyone should embrace whatever term they want). But as #MeToo creator Tarana Burke revealed on Tuesday night, DuVernay took an…
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‘The People Are the Real Power’: Tayari Jones’ An American Marriage Wins the 2019 Women’s Prize for Fiction
There is grace, and then, there is the kind of grace that unconditional, enduring love requires; the kind of love Tayari Jones’ Celestial and Roy are struggling to keep alive in her celebrated novel, An American Marriage. Already published in several countries and on pretty much every recommended reading list of 2018 (including Oprah’s, the…
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'Life Is a Carnival': The World According to Angélique Kidjo
Angélique Kidjo is an African icon. A musical masterclass. A woman of the world. She speaks and sings in five languages—no, six, if you count her recent foray into the native Spanish of the late Celia Cruz for her 17th album, released in April and simply titled Celia. Kidjo’s Wikipedia page alone is a dizzying…
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This Is Not a Drill: Beyoncé’s Teasing New Merch—and Will Still Check the Hell Out of You for Invading Her Space
Yes, life comes at you fast … but not as fast as a celebrity drop. The Hive caught some new buzz yesterday, as the @ShopBeyoncé account suddenly appeared on Twitter, cryptically beckoning her legions of fans with a hypnotic graphic (did she just implant a microscopic shopping device in my brain?) and drop date: June…
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Luxury Comes Home: At My City, 4 Ways, Law Roach Helped Celebrate the Undefeatable Style of Chicago
With the sometimes troubling narratives spun about Chicago, it can be easy to forget that America’s third largest city is also deeply rich with culture, beauty, style and great taste. But in all its complexity, Chicagoans intimately know how beautiful our city is, which is why even the expats always manage to come home, one…
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But Will It Make Me Look Like Beyoncé? Bey’s Makeup Artist Sir John Collabs on Lion King-Themed Beauty
I knew The Lion King was going to find a way to get in my pocket. Real talk? I’ve never been the biggest fan of The Lion King—apparently, I’m one of a handful of people who were deeply traumatized by seeing it at the ripe old age of 19, and I’ve never quite gotten over…
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Big Beauty Tuesday: Got Pride?
I’m smiling in this picture, but just before writing this, I learned of the murder of yet another black trans woman in Texas. Last night, I went to a hilarious but poignant play starring Moonlight writer Tarell Alvin McCraney, commemorating the little-known first (and to date, only, to best of my knowledge) drag queen to…
