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Ladies First: Essence Fest 2018 Took Over NOLA, and We Had FOMO
We wanna be down! While The Root’s own Danielle Young made her way to New Orleans from July 5-8 to party with our sister-girls at the 2018 Essence Music Festival, alas, The Glow Up stayed home to attend to other pertinent business. But that didn’t keep us from catching a major case of FOMO. After…
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Love Is the Message: Janet Mock Makes Her Directorial Debut—and Television History—With Pose
(Editor’s note: spoilers of the Sunday, July 8 episode to follow.) If you’re not watching Pose yet, you’re missing out on one of the most groundbreaking moments in television, as the largest cast and crew of LGBTQIA+ talent, especially trans women of color—both on screen and behind the cameras—have been assembled to revisit the ballroom…
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Lookbook: The Glow Up's Guide to Fall-Winter Paris Haute Couture Week 2018-2019
If we could’ve been anywhere this past week to escape the summer heat (and increasingly hypocritical patriotism here in the States), it would’ve been Fall-Winter Haute Couture Week in Paris. From July 1st through the 5th, the City of Lights once again played host to fashion’s greatest connoisseurs (when does it not?) as 34 designers…
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Dystopian by Design: Costume Designer Deirdra Govan Isn’t Sorry to Bother You
Just watching the trailer for Boots Riley’s Sorry to Bother You is like taking a mini psychedelic trip. The rapper-turned-director’s dystopian fever dream may be set in present-day Oakland, Calif., but explores alternate dimensions as an allegory of the dangers of assimilation. The satirical comedy, which stars Lakeith Stanfield, Tessa Thompson and Omari Hardwick, among…
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Uncensored: Alexandra Shipp Attempts to Clarify Those Colorism Comments for Glamour Magazine
Alexandra Shipp will not be censored. The 27-year-old actress was best known for her roles in the 2014 biopic, Aaliyah: The Princess of R&B and 2015’s Oscar-nominated Straight Outta Compton before being cast as Marvel superhero Storm in 2016’s X-Men: Apocalypse; but Shipp sparked a storm of her own on social media last year when…
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Great Lengths: Do You Know Where Your Bundles Come From?
Remy. Virgin. These are words familiar to anyone who has even mildly experimented with wigs, weaves or extensions. But how many of us really know where the hair we’re wearing actually comes from? When Chris Rock visited India to investigate the source of the American hair trade for his 2009 documentary Good Hair, he only…
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She Slays! Adut Akech Bior Shuts Down Paris Couture Week
It’s Fall-Winter Couture Week in Paris, which means designers are showcasing their most elaborate custom-made looks for the clamoring fashion crowd. And for legendary French fashion house Chanel, the annual runway event always ends the same way: with a bride. This year, that bride was Sudanese (by way of Australia) model Adut Akech Bior, handpicked…
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Behind the Seams: Are Black Designers All Dressed Up With Nowhere to Go?
With the recent runaway (and runway) success of black designers like Virgil Abloh, Olivier Rousteing, LaQuan Smith, Kerby Jean-Raymond of Pyer Moss—or even Kanye West’s Yeezy—it might be easy to assume we’re experiencing a “post-racial” fashion moment. But as Julee Wilson, fashion and beauty director of Essence magazine, recently wrote for industry site Business of…
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Interviewing the World's Most Famous Interviewer: Vogue UK's Edward Enninful Talks with Oprah
How do you interview the best known interviewer in the world? Editor-in-chief of British Vogue Edward Enninful found out when he sat down for a chat with his August cover star, Oprah. Oprah—who looks snatched for the gawds in the magazine’s spread—reprises the made-to-order, belted, green jacquard gown and jeweled shoes by Erdem she also…
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As Usual, Beyoncé Is Living Her Best Life While We Contemplate Her Fertility on This 4th of July
While you were wondering which auntie would be bringing the potato salad to the Fourth of July cookout this year (or whether you would be celebrating this MAGA-ass holiday at all), Bey and Jay were taking a break from the European leg of their On the Run II tour to dip to Cannes, France, for…
