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The Dress Code Is Discrimination? First Grader Denied His First Day of School for Dreadlocks
Imagine this: You escort your son to his first day of first grade, all buttoned up in his brand new uniform and eager to begin the school year, only to be turned away because your child has dreadlocks. That’s what happened to Clinton Stanley and his son, Clinton Jr., when they arrived for their first…
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Colorism, or Complete Makeover? Disney's Princess Tiana Has a New Look, and We Have Questions
Disney, who dis princess? That’s what fans of The Princess and the Frog’s Princess Tiana wanted to know after seeing the latest round of trailers for the upcoming Ralph Breaks the Internet: Wreck-It Ralph 2, which features a reunion of pretty much every Disney princess imaginable, reincarnated through the magic of CGI. For those who…
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Zoom In: Vogue Brings Us Behind the Scenes of Beyoncé's September Issue
“I’m going to zoom in for you guys, okay?” six-year-old Blue Ivy Carter, clearly a future Oscar-winning filmmaker, says at the open of Vogue’s behind-the-scenes video of Beyoncé’s September cover shoot. Blue, Sir and Rumi are all on hand for Beyoncé’s “bring your kids to work” day, watching firsthand as she makes history with photographer…
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She Really Does Care? Omarosa Says Melania Trump Is Trying to 'Punish' Her Husband With Fashion
Fun fact: There is currently an exhibit called Why They Wore It: The Politics and Pop Culture of First Ladies’ Fashion on display at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum in Yorba Linda, Calif. It’s the first exhibit to display a garment from the current first lady, Melania Trump. But at least one person…
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'Queen': Serena x Virgil Abloh x Nike Is a Grand Slam
You don’t have to be a tennis enthusiast to appreciate the power of this matchup. For her return to the U.S. Open later this month, Serena Williams’ Nike uniforms will be designed by none other than Virgil Abloh. As reported by Vogue, the 23-time Grand Slam champion—already known for her on-the-court style—will be wearing a…
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Dancing Through the Pain: 'A Mother's Rite' Moves Us Through a Parent's Worst Nightmare
When we think of ballet, we may think of tutus and pointe shoes, The Nutcracker and Swan Lake—and hopefully, of Misty Copeland and the other rare black ballerinas who have risen to prominence in the genre. But while we celebrate the accomplishment of seeing black and brown faces take center stage, rarely do we consider…
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Whose Black Don't Crack? O Magazine's Creative Director Raises Eyebrows—and Questions—With a Shirt
What a difference a week makes: Last Friday around this time, The Glow Up posted a story about a black man who’d conducted a clever (and sadly revealing) social experiment by wearing a T-shirt that riffed on the Washington Redskins logo by reworking it to say “Caucasians”—and a heated debate ensued. Some (like myself) thought…
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Time Traveling: For BlacKkKlansman, Costume Designer Marci Rodgers Took a Full Circle Journey
If you ask Marci Rodgers how she became a costume designer, her answer is simple: “God.” To the believers, it’s a perfectly credible answer, while the more spiritually skeptical might raise an eyebrow. But there is something undeniably divine in Rodger’s career trajectory, which began as a style-obsessed teenager in Evanston, Ill., just north of…
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'Sadly, It Did Not Make the Mark': André Leon Talley Critiques Paul Manafort's 'Wearable Art'
Real talk: When I grow up, I want to be the type of grande dame fashion editor who wears caftans while holding court on a chaise on some impossibly elegant veranda somewhere, tossing off witty observations and pithy quips. (Who am I kidding? I’m doing that right now—minus the veranda and chaise. Okay, so just…
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This Is How We Do It: Essence's September Issue—Starring Naomi!—Is a Study in Black Excellence
Leave it to Essence to remind us what black excellence looks like on both sides of the camera. Making their contribution to a season of intense black girl magic—where we are covering a full 50 percent of the 2018 fall fashion issues—the legendary black women’s magazine shows us exactly how excellent a product by a…
