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We Love Us: #BlackExcellence Met #BlackElegance at the 2018 Oscars
While there were no big upsets like last year’s last-minute turnover of the award for best picture, the Oscars also weren’t so white this year, as proved by the red carpet of the 90th Academy Awards Sunday night in Hollywood, Calif. Indeed, we made history Sunday night: Mary J. Blige was the first person in…
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All the Stars: The Essence Black Women in Hollywood Awards Made Oscar Week Much More Beautiful
Just when we were longing for last year’s heavily melanated Oscars red carpet, the 11th Annual Essence Black Women in Hollywood Awards luncheon reminds us that our next surprise win may be much sooner than we think … and we can’t wait. The delightful and dynamic assemblage of some of our best and brightest female…
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‘I Am Mirroring Women’: Viola Davis Gets Real in Porter Edit
It’s Oscar weekend 2018, so it’s no surprise that we’ve been seeing a lot of Viola Davis. The three-time Academy Award nominee, who won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for 2016’s Fences‚ is a regular on the awards circuit and is often called the “black Meryl Streep”—to which she rightly responds, “[then] pay me what…
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The Great Motivator: Tonya Lewis Lee Is One Multifaceted Mama
Tonya Lewis Lee wants me to take my vitamins. Specifically, she wants me to take her vitamins, which is why a month’s supply of multivitamins from her company, Movita Organics, sits on my desk. The glass bottle boasts that they are made with organic fruit, vegetables and herbs, whole-food vitamins and minerals, and are gluten-free,…
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Dressing the Onion: Whitney Mero and the Comfortable Couture of Onion Cut & Sewn
Walking into Onion Cut & Sewn’s East Harlem studio is walking into a world of very pretty possibilities. A spectrum of vibrant fabrics are stacked to the ceiling, while dress forms stand half-draped in fabric, soon to join the rack of garments hanging along one full wall. In a corner beneath dozens of spools of…
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Before There Was Wakanda: Viola Davis and Lupita Nyong’o Will Take Us Back in Time With The Woman King
We know, we know: You’re exhausted by the seemingly never-ending references to Black Panther and the Dora Milaje and black excellence and … this is your cue to exit stage left. You know, to someplace that’s not The Root. For the rest of you, we heard some Women’s History Month news Thursday night that has…
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Knowing Your Place: Why Amandla Stenberg Bowed Out of Auditioning for Black Panther
In the weeks since Black Panther premiered, much has been made of the revelatory experience of seeing such a melanin-rich cast on-screen. Specifically, while the fictional world of Wakanda gave us a glimpse at what black civilization might have been like without European colonization, it also represented a world in which the systemic rape that…
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Going Once, Going Twice, It’s Beyoncé!
Here’s a treat just in time for Women’s History Month—and #ThrowbackThursday, come to think of it. Do you call yourself a true Beyoncé stan? Do you think you know the entire trajectory of the megastar from her being a child of destiny to being Queen of the Beyhive, including the details of her pre-Lemonade cornrow…
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The Gap Gets It: In Its New Campaign, the Retailer Takes the Taboo Out of Breast-Feeding
If you haven’t already, now might be a good time to fall (back) into the Gap. The American-based worldwide clothing-and-accessories retailer, long known for its diverse casting and fresh, fashion-forward campaigns featuring basics like jeans, khakis and tees, just gave us another reason to love it with a sweet and subtle nod to breast-feeding moms.…
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The Bald and the Beautiful: Is There Any Better Time to Take It All Off?
Admit it. Sitting there in the theater, gazing up at the gorgeous Dora Milaje, the thought occurred to you at least once: Could I pull off a bald head? Maybe your answer was an immediate and unequivocal “No,” but if there was even a glimmer of curiosity, let’s dig into it. While women have been…
