Black News and Black Views with a Whole Lotta Attitude

representation matters

Beauty + Style

About a Boy, a Bey and a Devil Who Wears Prada: What's Really Good With Vogue's September Issue?

They can’t let us have anything. In tandem with the debut of Beyoncé’s historic September 2018 Vogue cover, an expected flurry of scrutinizing think-pieces have ensued—along with a very uncomfortable debate over the relevance of Beyoncé’s cover story, and who’s entitled to claim credit for Vogue booking their first black photographer to shoot the cover…

By

Maiysha Kai

Published

August 8, 2018
Beauty + Style

What About Your Friends? Reflecting on the Lily-White Legacy of Sex and the City

Fun fact: For a full decade after Sex and the City went off the air, anytime I heard the telltale static that preceded any HBO original show, I fully expected to hear the opening chimes of Sex and the City’s theme song. That’s how iconic the brand was, and how much I missed my weekly…

By

Maiysha Kai

Published

June 8, 2018
Beauty + Style

Rolling Solo: Thandie Newton Made a Stylish Statement About Representation at Cannes

Fun fact: Thandie Newton collects Star Wars action figures. Well, only the black ones. How do we know? Because she incorporated them into the Vivienne Westwood gown she wore to Tuesday night’s European premiere of Solo: A Star Wars Story, which opens May 25 in the U.S. That’s right: Newton, who plays explosives expert Val…

By

Maiysha Kai

Published

May 17, 2018
Beauty + Style

‘Around the Way’ Barbie, Is That You? What’s Really Going On With This Black Barbie’s Hair?

It all began so innocently—just like a child’s toy should. Just three Barbies (or two Barbies and their black friend?), preparing to watch a documentary about … themselves. Actually, to be specific, they were preparing to watch Tiny Shoulders: Rethinking Barbie, a new Hulu documentary chronicling the recent diversification of the most iconic doll in…

By

Maiysha Kai

Published

May 2, 2018
Beauty + Style

‘The Body Is Not an Apology’: Sonya Renee Taylor Is Leading a Revolution of Radical Self-Love

With six words, Sonya Renee Taylor accidentally started a movement. When a friend with cerebral palsy confessed that her disability made it difficult to be sexual—so much so that she didn’t even feel entitled to ask a casual partner to use protection—Taylor quickly responded, “Your body is not an apology, and it’s not something you…

By

Maiysha Kai

Published

March 26, 2018
Entertainment

‘I Denied Myself That Dream’: Barry Jenkins Finally Gives That Best Picture Acceptance Speech

More than a year after that infamous mix-up at the Oscars, on Sunday at the SXSW conference, Moonlight director Barry Jenkins finally delivered the best picture acceptance speech he would have given. “I’m going to read something that I never read out loud before,” Jenkins opened: [Moonlight writer Tarell Alvin McCraney] and I are Chiron.…

By

Anne Branigin

Published

March 12, 2018
Entertainment

Michelle Obama Meets Little Girl Who Thought She Was a Queen and They Have a Dance Party, Naturally

What happens when royalty meets royalty? Well, you have to throw a little dance party, of course, as is only fitting. Queen Michelle Obama and Princess Parker Curry—the little girl who thought that Obama was a queen upon viewing her portrait at the National Portrait Gallery—got to meet each other Tuesday. The first lady shared…

By

Breanna Edwards

Published

March 6, 2018
Royalty, Royalty, Royalty: Adorable Little Girl Entranced by Michelle Obama Portrait Thought the First Lady Was a ‘Queen’

By now you’ve likely seen the image of a 2-year-old black girl in a pink-and-red parka, her hair separated into two precise puffs, looking up in awe at a portrait of Michelle Obama at the National Portrait Gallery. That girl was little Parker Curry. And her mother, Jessica Curry, told CNN on Saturday that Parker…

By

Anne Branigin

Published

March 4, 2018
Beauty + Style

#28DaysOfBlackCosplay: Seeing Yourself in the Positive

I’m one of those people who visibly twitch at those supposedly clever online posts about how technology is killing our ability to socialize. You know, “We live in a society, dang nabbit, and you kids with your darn tootin’ Facebooks and Tweeters have forgotten how to hold proper conversations.” Let’s be real. It’s not as…

By

Briana Lawrence

Published

February 22, 2018
Beauty + Style

Don’t Play With Our Emotions: Black Panther and Queer Representation

It’s been a while since I was so excited for a movie that I saw it twice in its opening week. While waiting to prepurchase tickets for Black Panther, I developed an unhealthy obsession with Fandango, and my wallet wept when the Funko POP! figures were released. I was excited to go to Wakanda, y’all,…

By

Briana Lawrence

Published

February 17, 2018