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(Do) Touch My Hair? 2 White Brits Specialize in Celebrating the Artistic Potential of Black Hair
A funny thing happened on our way to the royal wedding this weekend: We got waylaid by something else exciting on the other side of the pond. Namely, some of the most striking black-hair portraiture we’ve ever seen, courtesy of British photographer Luke Nugent and award-winning hairstylist Lisa Farrall. But there’s a twist: Nugent and…
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The Edge of 17: For Ahkeem Is a Coming-of-Age Story in the Age of Ferguson
Fun fact: I was expelled from preschool at age 4 during a brief stint when my mother and I had moved to Dallas. From the little I recall, I was one of very few black students at my private day school. My expulsion came after I defended myself against another little girl—not black—who’d been harassing…
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Yes, We Cannes: The Lens Is on Equality at the World’s Most Fashionable Film Festival
Liberté, egalité, fraternité (“liberty, equality, fraternity”) is France’s motto, and equality has appropriately emerged as the theme of the 2018 Cannes Film Festival, taking place May 8-19 on the French Riviera. This year’s nine-member Main Competition Jury boasts five women, including Ava DuVernay, Burundian singer-songwriter Khadja Nin and this year’s jury president, actress Cate Blanchett.…
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Henrietta Lacks: The Immortal Mother of Modern Medicine Will Be Honored in the Smithsonian
Here’s a fitting Mother’s Day tribute: A portrait of the woman responsible for some of the greatest research of the 20th and 21st centuries—including polio and in vitro fertilization—will now be featured in the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery. Henrietta Lacks was a Virginia woman who was diagnosed with and died of aggressive cervical cancer in…
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Becoming Royalty: Actress Parisa Fitz-Henley Talks Transforming Into Meghan Markle
On May 19, the most publicized wedding of the year will be telecast worldwide, and millions will tune in to watch as the British royal family openly accepts its first member of African descent, Meghan Markle. Of course, for royal-watchers, no contemporary marriage of this magnitude would be complete without the attendant Lifetime movie to…
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My Mother’s Daughter, a Multigenerational Talk About Motherhood, Part 3: Moji
Editor’s note: This year, to celebrate Mother’s Day, The Glow Up interviewed four generations of mothers within a single Harlem family that recently welcomed its fifth generation. We’ve asked these mothers, ages 19 to 83, the same 12 questions about motherhood, daughterhood and matriarchy. These are their stories. Full disclosure: Moji Alawode-El and I have…
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Savage x Fenty Is Here, and Our Bodies Are Ready: Here’s What to Expect
Leave it to Rihanna to finally find a good use for a hologram. Our good girl gone bad stunned guests Thursday night at the Brooklyn, N.Y., launch of her Savage x Fenty lingerie line with larger-than-life holograms of herself modeling pieces of her highly anticipated collection, which went on sale to the public at midnight…
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#TBT: You Can Now Call Tyrone (Biggums) at Your Local Banana Republic
Here’s a #ThrowbackThursday we didn’t see coming: Reliably preppy retailer Banana Republic inspired some laughs worthy of a Chappelle’s Show episode Thursday with a hilarious in-store styling choice in its BR Men’s collection. We’re not sure if it was intentional (we’re guessing not), but the pairing of a navy blue hooded sweatshirt under a khaki…
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My Mother’s Daughter, a Multigenerational Talk About Motherhood, Part 2: Lemuria
Editor’s note: This year, to celebrate Mother’s Day, The Glow Up interviewed four generations of mothers within a single Harlem family that recently welcomed its fifth generation. We’ve asked these mothers, ages 19 to 83, the same 12 questions about motherhood, daughterhood and matriarchy. These are their stories. I first met Lemuria Alawode-El in 1994…
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In Living Color: Danielle Brooks Brightens Up Essence Magazine
Brown, body-positive and beautiful in brilliant hues—that’s Danielle Brooks inside the pages of May’s Essence magazine, where the Orange Is the New Black actress models a spectrum of vibrant looks styled by Fashion and Beauty Director Julee Wilson. While Kerry Washington wows on this issue’s black-and-white cover, Brooks gives us a color rush inside, flexing…
