Every time February and September roll around, we quickly revert back to being kids in a candy shop. From the shows to the streets, the sheer number of awe-worthy trends that come across our plates during the bi-annual fashion week runways can make soaking them all in a little daunting. But if there's one trend worth getting a jump on this season, it's the new-and-improved raincoat. Spotted on show attendees dodging the elements and models debuting them down the catwalk, raincoats, specifically of the transparent variety, were everywhere.
Where we once thought of raincoats as nothing more than a gross weather accessory, these updated versions are a ready-to-wear force to be reckoned with. Between the oversized pockets seen at Fendi to scribbled-on designs courtesy of Moschino, you're about to see a whole new side of wet-weather gear. So say goodbye to the utilitarian raincoats you used to know and welcome a fresh take on this previously blasé essential. Ahead you'll find our favourite raincoat runway moments and 17 shoppable picks to swap your umbrella for this autumn.
At Refinery29, we’re here to help you navigate this overwhelming world of stuff. All of our market picks are independently selected and curated by the editorial team. If you buy something we link to on our site, Refinery29 may earn commission.
Rains Ltd. Long Overcoat, £149, available at Rains
Topshop **Vinyl Raincoat by Boutique, £120, available at Topshop
Kassl Single Breasted Long Patent Cotton Blend Coat, £990, available at Browns
Topshop Vinyl Mac Trench Coat, £55, available at Topshop
ASOS TALL Oversized Mac in Vinyl, £66, available at ASOS
Zara Semi-Sheer Raincoat, £49.99, available at Zara
Photo Courtesy of Zara.
Walk of Shame See-Through Raincoat, £406.85, available at Need Supply
Photo Courtesy of Need Supply.
Mira Mikati Scribble Coat, £705, available at Net-A-Porter
Photo Courtesy of Shopbop.
Rains Glossed-TPU Raincoat, £150, available at Net-A-Porter
Photo Courtesy of Net-a-Porter.
Calvin Klein 205West39NYC Transparent Coat, £717, available at Stylebop
Keratin blow dries differ everywhere. While some treatments only last for a few weeks, many take months to grow out, with some people reporting that certain formulas have the ability to change the nature of their hair completely.
The latter is true for me, but since giving up the smoothing treatments, I've been in limbo when it comes to styling my hair. There are days when I wholeheartedly embrace my frizz, flyaways and waves (well, what's left of them) and others when I want to channel the poker-straight, glass hair trend that's all over Instagram. In other words, I just don't want to commit fully anymore.
One thing I do miss, though, is how my hair feels after a hefty dose of keratin: healthier, softer and a hell of a lot stronger thanks to its ability to repair and reinforce rough, split and fragile strands. So when US haircare brand Virtue landed on my desk, claiming to provide hair with a keratin hit minus the wasted hours and dedication, I was pretty intrigued. Even more interesting? The brand's unique keratin, Alpha Keratin 60ku™, which is the mainstay ingredient in each product, is derived from ethically sourced human hair.
"Virtue’s exclusive technology is a truly unique protein for haircare," Adir Abergel, hairstylist and Virtue's creative director, told R29. His clients include the likes of Emma Watson, Emma Roberts and Jessica Biel. "Other forms of 'keratin' currently on the market are derived from animal products such as feathers and sheep’s wool and are harshly broken down, leaving little more than amino acid fragments," he continued. "This protein is extracted from ethically sourced human hair and maintains its natural structure, making it highly functional and effective. In all my years in the industry, I’ve never seen anything like it."
Like most bestselling US brands new to the UK, the 14-strong product line has been snapped up by Cult Beauty and consists of shampoo, conditioner, masks, serums and other styling products. The only thing is, most hairstylists would argue that keratin is only effective when hair is subjected to heat and other substances which have the power to deliver it into the hair shaft. So how do these particular products work?
According to the brand, Alpha Keratin 60ku™ is virtually identical to keratin in its native form. It is therefore "accepted by the hair as a natural extension of itself" and is clinically shown to restore the structural integrity. "Other forms of keratin need glues or polymers or some other process to bind to the hair shaft, but Alpha Keratin 60ku™ is a whole, fully functional human keratin protein that is recognised by the hair as its own," added Abergel. "Independent third-party testing has shown that it is able to locate the damaged spots on the hair and adhere to them naturally, repairing those spots to give you your healthiest, most beautiful hair possible. It’s like a GPS system for damage, going only where it is needed," – and the best part is that it's compatible with all hair types. "It doesn't discriminate or 'see' hair by texture or ethnicity. It just sees hair – specifically damaged hair – and goes where it’s needed to rebuild," said Abergel.
I went away armed with the Smooth Shampoo, £34, and Smooth Conditioner, £36, sceptical that one quick wash would tame my frizzy bits and make my thick hair feel like silk, but I needn't have been. The shampoo is rich but lathers up a treat, while the conditioner is more like a buttery mask and instantly feels like it's doing your hair some good. Unlike in-salon treatments, this type of keratin is undetectable on hair. There isn't a strange smell nor a heavy, greasy feel or dreaded itchiness. After a month of consistent use (I wash my hair one to two times a week), I can safely say that my lengths have probably never felt softer, stronger or looked healthier, despite the amount of heated tool abuse I often subject them to. And although the price points are higher than your usual shampoo and conditioner duo, in comparison to keratin treatments, which can cost anything up to £250, it's a good deal.
If I had to pinpoint the moment I realised communal living isn’t for me, I might tell you about the evening I came home from work to discover my housemate had binned my (new, expensive, not remotely soiled) running shoes in a blind decluttering frenzy... Or the time I found myself on the kitchen floor – dishcloth in one hand, Dettol in the other – scrubbing at the shit of a cat I neither own nor particularly care for... Or the time another housemate suggested I "lose the glasses and start wearing makeup if I ever want to get a man"... Or the time I stuck an arm down the toilet to clear a blockage and pulled out huge, glistening chunks of unchewed bacon...
I know, I know; been there, done that, got the stomach ulcer, right? Bunking up with a bunch of crackpots and oddballs – the kind of people you’d steer clear of on the night bus, let alone share a toothbrush mug with – is part and parcel of going through your 20s. If you were lucky enough to go to university, you may even look back fondly on the experience as a rite of passage; a first bite at the cherry of adulthood, where lifelong friendships were forged and you learned that partially defrosted fish fingers do not a post-pub snack make.
It is an entirely different matter however when you are in your 30s and have tasted the sweet bliss of sharing a home you own with someone you love.
Divorce can suck for any number of reasons, chief among which is the upheaval – emotional, physical, financial – of closing the door on a home you may have spent years building. I left my husband at the beginning of 2015 and while I have never regretted the end of our relationship, every now and again I pine for our tiny, draughty two-up two-down. It is not that I loved that house: the toilet reeked of sewage and there was dark, oppressive wood at every turn; we found a dead pigeon behind the fireplace and the desolate estate it lay on made headlines when a 12-year-old girl's body was found, hidden there by a family member. Location, location, location? You’re having a laugh, mate.
No, more than the house itself, I miss what it gave me. The freedom to walk around naked. An entire fridge, all to myself. Breakfast in bed as a luxury rather than avoidance strategy (I would rather watch Piers Morgan present Good Morning Britain in his Y-fronts than sit through another YouTube montage of "HilARioUs feminnist FAiLZ!!!!!!" over my cornflakes). When we reminisce about our student days, we forget how young we were; how we couldn’t quite believe there were no adults around to tell us to turn the music down or wash that stack of dirty dishes and so, because we had no real idea what to do with ourselves, we ran around like Kevin McCallister in Home Alone, eating massive bowls of ice cream and trashing each other’s bedrooms.
Eventually, though, we grow up and figure out a way of doing things that suits us. Inevitably it is a little calmer, a little tidier. It may involve a home-cooked meal, eaten at a table that isn’t strewn with unopened post and empty cans and bottles of nail polish. It may involve a bucket of fried chicken, eaten in the bath at the end of a long, exhausting day. Whatever it is, once we’ve figured it out, it becomes incredibly frustrating – even damaging to our mental health – if our living situation prevents us from indulging it.
I used to look forward to going home from work in the evening; these days, not so much. I make excuses to stop at the supermarket en route, notice my footsteps slow as I approach the front door, hoping I can let myself in and slip upstairs to my room unnoticed. Because while I struggle to love my new surroundings, I struggle to love my new housemates more.
For a single girl in her early 30s, the housing scene is a lot like Tinder – most people are happily ensconced with their significant other and those who aren’t, probably aren’t your cup of tea. Right now, I find myself now cohabiting with the overseas representative of Canada’s alt-right, cunningly disguised as a primary school teacher with bouncy curls and an angelic smile. Perhaps if I were younger I would relish the challenge to my worldview but again, I have figured out what suits me and it does not involve repeated explanations of why the English Defence League is racist and Tommy Robinson is not 'misunderstood'.
Worse than all this, though, is the sense that I have somehow failed; that I am going backwards instead of forwards. We have a stubborn preoccupation in this country with home ownership, to the extent that it has become synonymous with success. When I tell people that I used to own a house, they look at me with a mixture of pity and incredulity – and who can blame them? One third of our generation will never get that opportunity. It feels reckless to have thrown it away.
Still, I think, you can’t take it with you. I have reconciled myself to the fact that I will probably never again own a home. All I long for these days is solitude – and somewhere to put the wanky fruit bowl I bought in a flash of headless indulgence, now gathering dust in my stepfather’s garage alongside all my other worldly possessions. I’ll take a studio flat in Zone 2 that doesn’t eat up half my monthly salary. Anyone?
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Whether they're polishing off your yoghurt without asking, helping themselves to your best party dresses or letting their freeloading SO "just hang out" at your place 24/7, at its worst, living with flatmates can be a serious drag. And it's often more troublesome to get rid of them than to just grin and bear their shoddy behaviour until your lease runs its course.
At least bad flatmates provide an endless source of entertainment (who doesn't love hearing others' tales of passive-aggressive notes and raucous sex sessions?), and films and TV shows are ripe with dreadful roommates who will make you feel slightly happier about your own ghastly houseshare tales.
Here, we've chosen some of the most terrible onscreen flatmates, whose creepy, selfish and downright weird behaviour we wouldn't wish on anyone. We've also included some of the best examples, because they make us believe the perfect roomie is out there, somewhere...
WORST: Eddie from Friends
When Joey moves out to live alone, Chandler gets a nasty surprise with Eddie (Adam Goldberg) who replaces him in season 2. They have nothing in common – he hates Baywatch, foosball and sports, and dehydrates fruit for fun – and he's creepy AF. The final straw? Chandler catches Eddie watching him sleeping, and even then he repeatedly "forgets" that he's been ordered to move out. Nightmare.
BEST: Winston from New Girl
Sure, he’s a little bit “off the wall” and his relationship with his cat Furguson is um, an interesting dynamic, but if it’s good intentions and laughs you want, Winston Bishop of the New Girl loft is your man. From pranks that aren’t pranks, to remembering meaningful moments from Nick’s childhood, Winston is the friend we wish we all had. Thrilled he ended up with Aly, who unexpectedly turned out to be as much of an oddball as him.
WORST: Jeremy from Peep Show
Mark (David Mitchell) and Jeremy (Robert Webb) are another pair of grown men sharing a flat who couldn't be more different. "Jez", an unemployed "musician", lives in Mark's spare room in Croydon, stealing his food, turning the boiler up and, er, poisoning Mark and locking him away while he holds a magic mushroom party. As one does.
WORST: Spike in Notting Hill
All Will (Hugh Grant) wants to do is woo a gorgeous movie star (Julia Roberts) but his flatmate – the slobby Spike (Rhys Ifans) – doesn't exactly help him make a good impression. He eats expired mayonnaise with a spoon, parades around the place in his dirty pants and alerts the paparazzi to the couple's whereabouts. But he's loyal and his heart's in the right place, so it's not all bad.
WORST: Gil and Brynn in Bridesmaids
Annie's (Kristen Wiig) life is going badly enough as it is, what with her business failing, boyfriend walking out and her having lost all her savings, without the annoying behaviour of her outrageous roommates Gil (Matt Lucas) and Brynn (Rebel Wilson). The brother and sister duo are annoying, read her diary, and eventually end up evicting her.
BEST: Heather in Crazy Ex-Girlfriend
Rebecca Bunch (Rachel Bloom) has more than her fair share of, er, issues, so thank god for her roommate and friend Heather (Vella Lovell). The wisecracking, perpetually chilled out Heather may only be fresh out of college and have her own quarter-life crisis to deal with, but she's the perfect sounding board for Rebecca's relationship woes. And it helps that she's always up for taking part in the show's impromptu musical numbers.
WORST: Paris from Gilmore Girls
Rory (Alexis Bledel) and Paris (Liza Weil) start out as high-school academic rivals and eventually become friends, but this isn't enough to ensure everything runs smoothly when they live together at Yale University. Paris means well, but isn't the most considerate roommate and often takes over the space. She's a drama queen, throwing out Rory's things in an act of spite when her friend replaces her as editor of the Yale Daily News.
WORST: Melody and "Bevers" from Broad City
Abbi's roommate Melody is rarely anywhere to be seen in their apartment – unlike her slovenly boyfriend, Matt "Bevers". Whether he's eating Abbi's food straight from the fridge, letting it all hang out, masturbating in the living room, or throwing out her "expired" bath products, he's making his presence as a godawful pseudo-flatmate very much felt.
WORST: Hedy in Single White Female
When Allison Jones (Bridget Fonda) splits from her fiancé Sam and welcomes a new roommate, Hedra "Hedy" Carlson (Jennifer Jason Leigh), she gets a lot more than she bargained for. Hedy grows jealous as Sam comes back into the picture and so she tries to become her flatmate. If you find your roomie dressing like you, seducing your partner and killing your pet, it might be time to think about moving.
BEST: Bertie From Love
This may sound harsh but I really hated Netflix’s series Love. However, there was one ray of sunshine amongst the joyless Mickey and Gus’s of the world - and that was ebullient, effulgent flatmate Bertie. Bertie is the kind of person you want to live with (until she starts bringing Randy home) fun, caring and considerate but kudos to the writer for not just making her the supportive BF. she’s got grit too, and some of the best lines ("Free is my favourite flavour.")
WORST: Sherlock Holmes in Sherlock
He may be able to deduce what you had for breakfast this morning based on a stain on your collar and a palpable air of dissatisfaction but my god, is Sherlock Holmes (Benedict Cumberbatch) a terrible flatmate. Pity poor Watson, who comes home to find Sherlock firing his pistol at the wall – because he’s "bored" – then goes to the fridge for a snack and is greeted by a severed head. We pity Mrs Hudson too, his sweet, kind landlady, who does nothing but cater to Sherlock’s demands and receives only sneering disdain in return. The piles of dirty cups and plates all over their bougie central London pad are evidence that the great detective is just too high functioning to function.
WORST: Titus in Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt
There is a hell of a lot to love about Titus but sharing a cramped New York basement apartment with him is not one of them. The flamboyant but not-so-successful actor is a moving melodrama and maudlin in the extreme (remember when he momentarily decided life was too much and he was going to live as a bed?). He's also self-obsessed, vain ("I'm pretty but tough, like a diamond. Or beef jerky in a ballgown."), likely to burst into shrieking song at any moment (if you haven't heard season 1's "Peeno Noir " drop everything NOW). He's lazy as hell, never shares pizza and his perfect night in involves "listening to Diana Ross albums alone, while I do stretches to alleviate my gas." He's still the best thing about the show though.
WORST: Mark Zuckerberg in The Social Network
Yes, Mark Zuckerberg (Jesse Eisenberg) may have ended up making his roommates a few bob but he really screwed them over on his way to the top. After being dumped by his girlfriend, Zuckerberg starts Facebook in his dorm room, recruiting his roommates and friend Eduardo (Andrew Garfield) to work on it. Sure, everyone ended up a hell of a lot richer, but several lawsuits didn't do much for the friendships.
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Watching TV shows about people who live in cities, you'll notice a lot of inaccuracies. Like the fact they're able to get the entire friendship group to meet up for brunch at least once a week. Or that they have time for sitting around in coffee shops in the middle of the day.
Another TV world/IRL difference is that all their flats appear to be remarkably clutter-free. Where's the pile of bad eBay purchases that they'll totally get around to reselling one day? Where's the stack of paperwork that they should probably get a filing system for? Where's the stuff that just sits on top of the coffee table because, well, where else would it go?
Either TV is (shocker) not real life or our television friends have employed some clever storage hacks to make sure they've made the most of their small city apartment.
Click through to see some of our favourite storage hacks...
Suspending things from the ceiling or walls can be a great way to make use of space which otherwise would go unused because of furniture getting in the way.
To hang things from the ceiling with no DIY skills and without annoying the heck out of your landlord, look for screw-in hooks like this (£6.99 for 80; don't know why you'd need 80 but there you go). These will hold light storage organisers (depending on the integrity of your ceiling) like these gold baskets from H&M (£19.99) or these from Feather & Nest at Trouva (£25). Don't put anything heavy in, but they could be a great way to store scarves, makeup, knick-knacks and the like. The small hole in the ceiling left by the hook is easily filled with grout when you move out.
To use the wall as a hanging space without purchasing a hammer and/or nails, invest in some Command hooks, which come in all shapes and sizes – from clothes hooks (£4.49) to super mini fairy light holders (£3.38 for 20). Command hooks are great as they stick on with adhesive (good adhesive, not Pritt Stick) and they come off without leaving any mess. Use to hang lightweight small hanging shelves like this one (£8.95) or use the wire hooks to hang something like this (£12, IKEA).
You know what's annoying? The space behind a door. Not big enough to fit any useful furniture in but too big to be ignored as a potential storage goldmine.
To make use of this little nugget of space, the design world has a few tricks up its sleeve. Notably, over-the-door storage, which can be everything from a simple coat rack (£3.99) to an entire six-foot organiser, which can probably hold half your wardrobe and your accessories too.
If you have enough space, get yourself a freestanding shelving tower to nestle right in the corner like this. These shelves are just £26.99. If you need something slimmer, take a look at these ladder shelves (£48.99).
Otherwise, a swivel towel rail can be a great behind-the-door tool. Stand in the corner and use to hang scarves, necklaces, belts – heck, even towels (Houzz, £280).
Another area of dead space in your bedroom/living room/kitchen is that strip of wall that starts at the ceiling and extends down to your doorframe. That foot or so of wall space is perfect for shelves that run all around the room (if you want) which are great for storing things like books that you don't need every day.
Obviously, installing a room's circumference worth of shelves to carry heavy things like books is not going to be DIY-free. Make sure you get someone who knows what they're doing – someone with a drill, rawl plugs, a spirit level...the works (if that person is already you, bonus). Oh, and ask your landlord before you start installation if you rent; fingers crossed they might even send someone to do it for you.
These shelves absolutely don't need to cost the earth. This example uses a simple IKEA shelf (£5).
If your bed is too close to the ground to store things underneath then that needs to change – there are nearly 29 square feet under a double bed, which could accommodate plenty of stuff given half the chance.
Bed risers are normally reserved for older people who can't bend down as far as they used to and struggle to sit on an armchair or get into bed. These risers are blocks which essentially give your bed an extra six inches of height – which should be plenty of space to get an under-bed wardrobe (Habitat, £35) situation going on.
Many bed risers are a little erm, medical looking. There are however a few slightly less abrasive options. These (£14.93, eBay) for instance. Or these (£20.83). Or you could just arrange a quilt/blanket thing to cover them up.
Getting one of those fold-down beds is probably going a little bit too far, unless you're certain of your long-term residence in a place that's actually smaller than a buttonhole, but that's not to say fold-down furniture couldn't be helpful in other areas.
This desk (£399) looks just like a wall cabinet when it's not in use and is big enough to hide all your crap. This kitchen table (£99) looks like an innocent chalkboard when it's folded up and out of place.
Even your alcohol cabinet (£109) can be cleverly used to hide a bar surface which you can use to prepare drinks. Cheers!
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All eyes were on Dr. Christine Blasey Ford and Judge Brett Kavanaugh Thursday, as both testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee about the sexual misconduct allegations brought against him.
At times, Ford's voice broke as she described her assault and the fear she had of coming forward. But she also held her own, as she was questioned by the Democrats and Arizona-based prosecutor Rachel Mitchell, who confronted her on behalf of the Republicans in the committee.
Kavanaugh, on the other hand, aggressively defended himself from the allegations against him. On occasion, he raised his voice at the Democratic senators questioning him. Republican Sens. Lindsey Graham and John Cornyn were the first GOP officials to speak Thursday, eventually replacing Mitchell in the line of questioning. None of the Republicans in the committee — all men — questioned Ford.
After the hearing ended, President Donald Trump tweeted: "Judge Kavanaugh showed America exactly why I nominated him. His testimony was powerful, honest, and riveting. Democrats’ search and destroy strategy is disgraceful and this process has been a total sham and effort to delay, obstruct, and resist. The Senate must vote!"
The Senate Judiciary Committee is set to vote on Kavanaugh's nomination on Friday at 9:30 a.m. ET. Depending on the result, then the full Senate will proceed with the confirmation vote.
Ahead, the key takeaways of this historic hearing.
Ford consistently talked about specific details of her assault and offered corrections when needed.
In her testimony, Dr. Ford said one of the most striking details she remembers is the "uproarious laughter" between Kavanaugh and his friend Mark Judge having fun at her expense while they allegedly assaulted her. She recalls hoping that Judge — who she remembers being in the room, alternatively egging on Kavanaugh and being ambivalent — would come to her aid. "A couple of times I made eye contact with Mark and thought he might help me," she said. "But he did not."
When asked by Senator Klobuchar what about the night she would "never forget," Ford responded: "The stairwell. The living room. The bedroom. The bed on the right side of the room ... the bathroom in close proximity. The laughter. The uproarious laughter. And the multiple attempts to escape. And the final ability to do so."
She was simultaneously a witness and an expert, due to her line of work.
Ford has a master’s degree Clinical Psychology from Pepperdine University, a PhD in Educational Psychology from the University of Southern California, and a master’s degree in Epidemiology from Stanford University School of Medicine. She is a published scholar. During her testimony, she used her expertise to put the details of her assault into context.
About Kavanaugh and Judge’s "uproarious laughter,” she said: "Indelible in the hippocampus is the laughter. The uproarious laughter between the two and their having fun at my expense... I was, you know, underneath one of them while the two laughed"
When asked if there were other factors that could have contributed to the anxiety she experienced she responded the “etiology of anxiety and PTSD is multifactorial” — adding that she may have had a “biological predisposition” to these symptoms.
There was a significant difference in how the Republican and Democratic men in the committee treated Dr. Ford.
All the Republicans in the Senate Judiciary Committee are men. Because of the bad optics, reminiscent of the Anita Hill testimony, most of them were yielding their time to prosecutor Rachel Mitchell. But at the same time, this structure precluded them from being kind and compassionate towards Dr. Ford as every Democratic man in the committee was able to be.
For example, Sen. Richard Blumenthal from Connecticut told Dr. Ford “I believe you” and added that, regardless of what happens after her testimony, her coming forward is a "profound public service" that has inspired survivors to speak up.
Kavanaugh’s friend Mark Judge should have testified.
Throughout Dr. Ford’s testimony, it became increasingly clear that the Senate Judiciary Committee should hear from Kavanaugh’s classmate and friend Mark Judge. Ford sustains that he was present in the room when Kavanaugh sexually assaulted and attempted to rape her.
Despite being the only witness who could clear Kavanaugh’s name, Judge chose not to testify Thursday. “I did not ask to be involved in this matter, nor did anyone ask me to be involved,” he told the Senate Judiciary Committee, adding, “I have no more information to offer to the committee, and I do not wish to speak publicly regarding the incidents described in Dr. Ford’s letter.”
Kavanaugh’s testimony was petulant and angry, a stark contrast to that of Dr. Ford who was apologetic and even attempted moments of levity. Kavanaugh’s opening statement lasted just over 40 minutes. By comparison Dr. Ford's was about 20 to 25 minutes long.
He wouldn't answer whether he would like a FBI investigation to clear his name.
Kavanaugh refused to answer every time Democratic lawmakers asked him whether he would ask the Trump White House to order the FBI to re-open his background check and investigate the claims.
"I'm going to ask you one last time," Sen. Kamala Harris of California told Kavanaugh. "Are you willing to ask the White House to conduct an investigation by the FBI?"
She added: "Say yes or no and we can move on." Kavanaugh deflected and Harris took it as a no.
Kavanaugh stressed his respect for women.
Kavanaugh tearfully and angrily, noted all the women who have come to his defence. He mentioned the letter sent by 65 women who knew him in high school.
Kavanaugh repeatedly referred to the number of female friends he has, mentioning the parties he attended with them which were on his calendars that he has given to the Senate Judiciary Committee.
He touted his record of hiring female law clerks. The Yale Law professor, Amy Chua, known as Tiger Mom reportedly instructed female law students to exude a "model-like" femininity if they wanted a highly coveted clerkship with Judge Brett Kavanaugh.
One of the 65 women who signed a letter in defence of Judge Brett Kavanaugh right after he was accused of sexual assault was the butt of a cruel joke on his 1983 yearbook page, where he used her name and implied she was promiscuous. Reports say the name of Renate Schroeder Dolphin, then a student at a Catholic girls’ school, appeared more than a dozen times in the yearbook, including a group photo of football players, including Kavanaugh, under the description "Renate Alumni. ”
Kavanaugh says the "Renate Alumni" message was "intended to show affection, and that she was one of us," but "the media" made it about sex.
He said his 10-year-old daughter Liza told his wife Ashley that “We should pray for the woman” referring to Dr. Ford. He also mentioned coaching his daughter’s basketball team.
Sen. Kamala Harris of California asked Kavanaugh: "Do you agree that it is possible for men to both be friends with some women ... and treat other women badly?" He agreed with Harris' sentiment, but then deflected and talked about the women who have defended him.
Kavanaugh tried to argue the allegations are politically motivated.
In his opening statement, Kavanaugh tried to say the claims against him were a political conspiracy dating back to the 2016 presidential election and "revenge on behalf of the Clintons."
But Sen. Cory Booker reminded the body that Dr. Ford brought up the allegations against Kavanaugh when she was speaking to her therapist in 2012 and 2013, and that they are not simply conjured up of the eve of the confirmation vote.
"She is not a political pawn. She is not orchestrating. She is not part of the Clinton's efforts," Booker said. "She is a woman who came here with corroborating evidence to tell her truth."
Sen. Harris also made the point that Justice Neil Gorsuch — who has a remarkably similar pedigree to that of Kavanaugh and was nominated by Trump last year — never faced any sexual misconduct claims and was successfully confirmed to the bench. This would disprove Kavanaugh's conspiracy theory that the claims against him are a political sham.
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Emergency contraception is easier to access than ever before in the UK – high street pharmacies including Superdrug and Boots cut the price last year and it's still available free via the NHS and at sexual health clinics. However the stigma surrounding it remains and it's women who are bearing the brunt – we're being judged, patronised and made to feel ashamed for something that's a) very often an accident, and b) resulted from the actions of two people. Not us alone.
Recent research on nearly 1,000 18-35-year-old women by the morning after pill brand ellaOne found that 57% feel awkward and embarrassed when making the purchase, while just 10% feel confident. In another survey, three-quarters of women admitted to not seeking emergency contraception after having unprotected sex, due partly to embarrassment and factors like misinformation (only 17% of women learn about it in school). ellaOne's new campaign, #MyMorningAfter, seeks to tackle the taboo and the sexist tropes surrounding the morning after pill and encourage women to share their experiences of emergency contraception. Here, six women share their stories of morning after pill shaming with Refinery29.
Jennifer, 25
I've taken the morning after pill more than five times in my life. The first time I was 20 and at university – I was so rubbish at taking my contraceptive pill and often forgot when I had a boyfriend. A friend told me the morning after pill was free for under-25s.
After asking to see ID and proof of my address (I have no idea why), a female pharmacist took me into a tiny little dark room away from the counter (which made me feel like I’d done something wrong), and asked me some really intrusive questions: when and how exactly it happened (I lied and said the condom slipped off because I felt a bit stupid and ashamed for being what some would probably call "reckless"), the ins and outs of my last period and some health questions. She also made me take the pill there and then and literally stared at me while I swallowed it, which made me feel uncomfortable.
The next time I went to get the morning after pill it was from a male pharmacist, and when I asked for it, his face completely dropped. His reaction made me feel so unbelievably awkward and guilty, so from then on, I always asked to speak to a female pharmacist. Other times, I’ve just walked into a pharmacy and bought it on the spot in about five seconds, with hardly any questions asked. Every time has been quite different, actually.
They always say that if you’re sick within 12 hours, to come back and get another one, then they brief you on the side-effects, like an early or heavy period. Now I’m older and wiser (lol), I make sure my contraception is all in order. I have no idea what the long-term side-effects are but I try not to think about it. I hope I haven’t mucked up my ovaries – there needs to be more education on it, I think. Google isn’t helpful…
Jess, 31
My GP gave me a pop quiz about my reproductive system because I dared to come for the morning after pill two months in a row. He asked me what the fallopian tubes were and I was like "erm, I dunno". Then he said: "Well I'd have thought you'd have known that if you were coming for the morning after pill twice in a row." He gave it to me but I went home and cried.
I had slept with two people at that point and had been using condoms – with my boyfriend, not that it matters – that the university had given out in freshers' week. They were shit and broke both times. Seriously fuck that guy, I wish he'd said that to me now – I would be livid. But at 18, and not very experienced, I felt like I was a) a "slag", and b) not being responsible with my own body for not being able to name the function of the fallopian tubes off the top of my head during an unforeseen pop quiz.
Kaitlyn, 23
I've taken the morning after pill three times in my life, the most recent time being a few months ago. My boyfriend came with me to the pharmacy and I felt less judged because I was with him, which was weird. It was as if it was okay for me to be taking it because it wasn't a one-night stand and I was in a stable relationship. Often I'm probably judging myself too, due to the social stigma around it. I paid for it because I couldn't be bothered to go through the conversation with a doctor to talk about it.
A friend of mine takes it quite regularly and she says her doctor is brilliant and knows what it's like to be a young woman, so gives it to her (while recommending that she goes on to a form of contraception).
Charlotte, 27
I was once refused the morning after pill because I'd taken it 48 hours before (after very unfortunate condom-breaking situations). I felt panicked and lost because I wasn't sure what my other options were. You go into those situations assuming you'll be helped, so to be turned away felt pretty scary – it's like my autonomy had been taken away and I couldn't help but blame myself: 'Well, you shouldn't have got yourself into this situation.' I'm not sure if they intended to shame me, but that's definitely how I felt.
Then I went somewhere else and I disclosed that I'd taken the pill very recently but that the condom had broken so I needed it again, and they were very reluctant to give it to me. She seemed unsure if it was safe or not and implied that this was a really unique situation, not one she had heard before (again, implying shame), and essentially said she couldn't. I ended up going to a walk-in clinic instead and they were super nice about it, even giving me a spare one to take away with me.
Katy, 37
When I lived in Ireland and was packing to go to a music festival I pulled the pill out of my wallet and realised, despite having had lots of sex, that I hadn’t taken it for the past four days. I panicked. In Ireland we don’t have the NHS (which is part of the reason I would lie down and die for it now I live in England), so I had to book an appointment with a doctor. He was not my GP – he was older, male and in a very bad mood. He made me feel so witless for what had been a total accident. His tone and the unhelpful questions he asked throughout ("Why haven’t you been taking the pill every day like you are supposed to?") made me feel like a piece of shit scraped off the sole of a shoe. He also asked if I had a boyfriend, which last time I checked, has sweet fuck all to do with anything. I’ll never forget it.
Marianne, 28
I’ve had a lot of mixed advice and experiences when going for the morning after pill. In one pharmacy I was left standing like a tool for 30 minutes before I had to approach the counter again and remind them I was still waiting (they could see me clearly and just chose to leave me waiting, which wasn't ideal when I was already clearly anxious). Once I did see the pharmacist he took me into a dirty back room with his lunch on the table and asked me when the "accident" happened. Overall it was not a pleasant experience.
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Mulberry’s SS19 collection may have been presented in Paris, but this season creative director Johnny Coca took us back to London’s Swinging Sixties. "I was looking at a defining moment in British culture," Coca told Refinery29 at the brand’s showroom yesterday. "The collection is very playful. I wanted to protect Mulberry’s history and show where the brand came from." Mulberry so often reimagines codes from its British heritage, whether through the flair of aristocracy or the rebellion of punk, and this season, the key elements of the decade of liberation have been employed to create a collection that is at once nostalgic and contemporary.
Think matching scallop-hemmed jackets and skirts, 3D geometric earrings and vinyl raincoats in pop-bright hues; all the '60s signifiers are there. Sure, the decade is oft-referenced, to the point that a mini skirt and block heel can feel like fancy dress, but what sets this apart is Coca’s ability to make cuts and colours which are intrinsic to British fashion’s DNA feel totally fresh.
How? It’s all in the coats, prints and accessories. Checked coats are all-pervasive this season, but Mulberry’s oversized cocoon shape and orange and navy palette makes for an instant classic. The leather coat, made up of scalloped circles in autumnal tones, will also be a hit, nodding to the '60s while seamlessly sliding into our wardrobes alongside black rollnecks and flared denim.
The showstopper may just be the marble print, which Coca explained was manipulated by hand and computer. "We worked with new fabric because we couldn’t use the same fabric from the '60s. The marble wasn’t a print we found. Instead, we found flowers in colours pervasive during the decade and twisted them on a computer to create the effect. It feels really impactful." With tights, cut-out flared dresses and boxy jackets in the print, we intend to wear it head-to-toe.
The devil was in the details for this collection, too, as a closer look revealed shift dresses with vintage mismatched buttons, go-go boots with geometric plates, and metallic Mary Janes with perspex block heels – an homage to the space age, Barbarella -esque fabrics of the time. Of course, Mulberry’s bestselling items are its bags, and this season didn’t disappoint. From oxblood woven check holdalls to big leather totes with chain detailing, via paintbox-bright iterations of the brand’s Amberley and marble-effect top-handled pieces, the bag selection was a masterclass in creating 'It' items and an accessories collection as strong as your ready-to-wear.
With other luxury houses still fawning over the streetwear and athleisure trend, it feels good to come back to a more fanciful and playful approach to dressing up. And while us Brits may find it hard to escape the long shadow of the Swinging Sixties, Coca thinks the decade feels more relevant than ever.
"As I trawled through London's archives, I was inspired by the women in the photographs," he explained. "The power of women really started in the '60s. Women stopped being traditional and started having fun, being cool, and fighting for freedom. It really was the beginning of female power."
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There's a very familiar sight as a straight woman on dating apps in 2018: mirror selfies of well-oiled, buff, stereotypically hot men sucking in their bellies to reveal a set of perfectly sculpted abs. But new findings suggest they needn't bother – looking "average" could serve up better results in their online quest for love.
In the biggest piece of research of its kind, Oxford University's Internet Institute analysed 150,000 heterosexual online dating profiles and a decade’s worth of communication data from dating site eHarmony, and found that "average" looking men receive more messages from women.
Straight women are more likely to message men who rate themselves as 5/10 for attractiveness than men who believe they're a solid 10, likely because they're perceived as being more faithful and reliable. However the study, "Computational Courtship: Understanding the Evolution of Online Dating through Large-scale Data Analysis", found that men aren't as forgiving and looks matter more to them. Men are more likely to message women with a self-rated attractiveness score of between 8-9 out of 10.
One of the academics involved in the research, Taha Yasseri, professor of computational social science at the University of Oxford Internet Institute, explained the finding thus – people may think they stand little chance messaging someone they consider a 10/10 for attractiveness because they lack confidence, so instead plump for someone they consider good looking but not intimidatingly so.
It "has to do with the self-esteem of the person who is checking the profile," he said. "They might think 'I am not that good looking, and if I take someone who is much better than me, I might have issues, I might be a bit worried about the faithfulness of my partner'."
Another of the study's standout findings was also pretty dispiriting, given the rise of dating apps like Bumble (and now Tinder) which let only women initiate the conversation. Traditional gender roles and expectations still dominate modern dating, with men still 30% more likely than women to make the first move – a figure that has increased from 6% in 2008 to 30% in 2018. Even more dishearteningly, when women do pluck up the courage to make the first move, they receive 15% fewer messages than men.
Cheeringly though, single straight people seem to have become "more tolerant" and progressive over time. Men and women are both less likely to care about a partner's income or education level than they were in the past.
The study also looked at the variables that predict online dating "success", namely, the number of messages received. For women it's most important to show yourself to be athletic if you want a date. Presenting yourself as romantic and altruistic are also likely to increase your chances, while suggesting you're anxious or clever (yes really, despite how far feminism has come!), could actually count against you.
Meanwhile, men fared better the more photos they included on their profile, and scoring highly on athleticism, agreeableness and altruism also helped them in their journey towards finding love.
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As Judge Brett Kavanaugh and Dr. Christine Blasey Ford testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee Thursday, a name keeps coming up: Mark Judge.
Judge is a former classmate of Kavanaugh and one of his closest friends. Ford says he was present in the room when the Supreme Court nominee sexually assaulted and attempted to rape her at a house party in the early 1980s. (Kavanaugh has denied the allegations.)
In her opening statement, Ford said: "Both Brett and Mark were drunkenly laughing during the attack. They both seemed to be having a good time. Mark was urging Brett on, although at times he told Brett to stop. A couple of times I made eye contact with Mark and thought he might try to help me, but he did not. During this assault, Mark came over and jumped on the bed twice while Brett was on top of me. The last time he did this, we toppled over and Brett was no longer on top of me."
She added that she saw Judge at a Potomac Village Safeway about six to eight weeks after the attack. She told lawmakers she said hello to him, and "his face was white and very uncomfortable saying hello back." She claimed he seemed nervous and like he didn't want to speak with her.
Despite being the only person to rebuke Ford's allegations before the Senate, and make sure President Trump can get his conservative nominee confirmed, Judge chose not to testify Thursday.
“I did not ask to be involved in this matter, nor did anyone ask me to be involved,” he told the Senate Judiciary Committee, adding, “I have no more information to offer to the committee, and I do not wish to speak publicly regarding the incidents described in Dr. Ford’s letter.”
In his memoir Wasted, published in 1997, Judge wrote about a pact he made with his Georgetown Prep classmates: Drink 100 kegs of beer before graduation. This is something Kavanaugh also referred to on his yearbook page with the phrase "100 kegs or bust." Judge, a conservative, also has written about the character "Bart O’Kavanaugh," who was such a heavy drinker that once he vomited in someone’s car and afterwards "passed out on his way back from a party."
When it came to the topic of consent, Judge has written that there's an "ambiguous middle ground, where the woman seems interested and indicates, whether verbally or not, that the man needs to prove himself to her. And if that man is any kind of man, he’ll allow himself to feel the awesome power, the wonderful beauty, of uncontrollable male passion."
Kavanaugh's third accuser Julie Swetnick alleges that he and Judge conspired to drug girls and gang rape them at house parties in the early 1980s; she also said both men were present while she was victim to one of these gang rapes.
This is consistent with what his ex-girlfriend Elizabeth Rasor told the New Yorker, which reported on the allegations made by Kavanaugh's accuser Deborah Ramirez. According to the magazine: "Rasor recalled that Judge had told her ashamedly of an incident that involved him and other boys taking turns having sex with a drunk woman. Rasor said that Judge seemed to regard it as fully consensual. She said that Judge did not name others involved in the incident, and she has no knowledge that Kavanaugh participated. But Rasor was disturbed by the story."
She sent a letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee this week saying she's willing to testify before the elected officials and also speak with FBI agents. Meanwhile, Judge remains in hiding at a beach house in Delaware.
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Since scaling back from her role at Vogue, where she now serves as creative director at large, collaboration is the name of game for Grace Coddington. "I’m not running away from Vogue, because it has opened so many doors," she told Business of Fashion in 2016. "But it will be nice to collaborate, and nice to go out [and] give talks to people. It’s just another approach. I’m certainly not going into retirement. I don’t want to sit around." Since then, the visionary has made major moves as a free agent, including turning a Louis Vuitton runway into an actual catwalk, creating her first fragrance with Comme des Garçons, and most recently, a charming six-episode talk show Face to Grace, which debuted on Wednesday on Made to Measure (M2M), the streaming fashion network backed by IMG.
"I felt like putting on record, life as it is today," Coddington tells Refinery29 of her new show. "You know, as soon as today is gone, there is no record of it. There’s much more record because of Instagram and all that, but an interesting interview? I thought to record would be kind of great."
Coddington follows in the footsteps of the late Glenn O'Brien, whose M2M talk show Tea at the Beatrice, had a similar format. "I said yes to the show," she explains. "[I said] 'I’d love to do it but I have to make it mine so, it can’t be at the Beatrice and there isn’t going to be tea. And we started from there." Coddington also only wanted guests with whom she had an existing relationship. "I’m a shy person, and the idea of having to drive a conversation [with a stranger] made me feel uncomfortable and nervous," the legendary creative director tells Refinery29.
Take, for instance, Nicolas Ghesquière, Louis Vuitton women’s artistic director and one of Coddington's first guests. "Nicolas is an extraordinary designer and he’s a very close friend, so he was probably the very first person that I asked and his response was an immediate yes," Coddington says. "I was trying to dig into his childhood, because if I Googled him, and I know him pretty well, but I know nothing about him growing up. So I tried to get him to talk a little bit about how he began in this [industry] and ultimately became the best, most extraordinary designer."
And, of course, Coddington had to ask her most well-known Vogue colleague, Anna Wintour, to appear on the show. "She would really be missing if she weren’t there, and I really hoped that I could get her," she tells Refinery29. "The only thing is she wouldn’t take her dark glasses off. It’s hard to interview someone with dark glasses on, because you can’t see someone’s reactions. I guess I’m used to her with dark glasses, but still, if you want to dig deeper, if you feel the reaction. But she was pretty good. She said yes, right away. And that was a surprise."
So it seems Coddington is on to something with her magical pairings. But it's not the only time she subscribes to doing things in twos. "I usually buy everything in twos when I’m shopping. It’s so hard to find to find something that fits my body," she says, noting that Celine has the best pants. "I always buy those in two." Coddington also has buys in multiples from Prada. "I always try to get them to make me in twos, threes, fours," she says, specifically citing a shirt that they made for her 15 years ago. "Every other year, they make me a whole new lot."
"Working with a team, if it's the right team, can be incredibly rewarding and creative," Coddington says; it's what made so many of her triumphs, including Face to Grace, possible.
See a clip of the show below.
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Gaga (Stefani Germanotta) and Cooper have already gotten rave reviews for their performances in the upcoming romantic musical about a washed up musician who gets a second chance at life when he discovers a new talent. That talent is, obviously, played by Gaga.
Speaking with Apple Music's Zane Lowe, the singer said "Shallow" could not have been possible without her work with Mark Ronson for her 2016 album Joanne, saying, "I think things come in sequence and artists, you know, I think that we move them to a certain cadence in a sequence in the way that we want to put things into the world that we believe in."
Produced by Gaga and Benjamin Rice, and written by Gaga with Andrew Wyatt, Anthony Rossomando, and Ronson, the song is a crucial moment in the film. "It's two people talking to each other and talking about the need and the drive to dive in to the deep end and stay away from the shallow area," Gaga says.
Listen to your new favourite song, below.
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On a recent fall morning, I spent $6.15 on a vanilla soy latte. It’s a staggering number, especially when you consider that there was nothing particularly special about this latte. It did not contain premium ingredients, nor did it hail from a trendy coffee shop. It was not artfully crafted by a stylish barista with an enviable Instagram following. It was from Starbucks. It was just a latte, with some vanilla flavoring and soy milk. And I spent $6.15 on it. This is a lot of money to spend on a coffee beverage and yet, some do it regularly. Alongside $20 salads and $10 pre-packaged sandwiches, coffee drinks that inexplicably hover in the $7 range have become commonplace. You might even be drinking one right now.
Lattes are, according to data shared with Refinery29 by the app Square, the most popular coffee drink in the US. Last year alone, we drank more than 67 million of them, at an average price of $4.16. Coffee companies may want you to think this number signifies what it actually costs to make one, but there’s a lot more to it. “The price of coffee [beans] has not changed in 30 years,” says Erin Meister, coffee professional, and the author of New York City Coffee: A Caffeinated History. “There have been fluctuations, like at one point in the 2000s, it hit $3 a pound for green coffee and then, you know, a couple of weeks ago it dipped below a dollar a pound. But it's really been relatively stable.”
That’s because the cost of a latte — much like that of a cocktail or a meal at a restaurant — is about more than just the sum of its ingredients. While add-ons like flavored syrups and non-dairy milks tend to jack up the cost of a drink because they’re expensive, as a customer, what you’re really paying for are things like rent, utilities, employee wages, and insurance for the business. Hence why coffee, like so many other things, tends to cost more in big cities and swanky suburbs.
And it’s not just Starbucks. You can easily find yourself paying $5+ for lattes with add-ons at places like Panera Bread, Pret-a-Manger, Peet’s, or Caribou Coffee. Earlier this year, for example, Starbucks quietly raised its prices at over 8,000 of its US locations by anywhere from 10 to 20 cents per drink. The coffee behemoth cited inflation as the primary reason for the hike. While it made headlines — and the rounds on Twitter — the company’s profits have still surged in the third quarter of 2018.
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, prices for coffee were 26.95% higher in 2018 versus 2000, which means a $5.39 difference in value. As the Official Data Foundation notes, this means that between 2000 and 2018, coffee experienced an average inflation of 1.33 percent per year. The overall inflation rate during this same period was 2.11 percent, meaning coffee has actually been affected less by inflation than other goods. “If prices for lattes and coffee beverage have changed dramatically, then there is probably some other explanation besides the rising price of coffee,” says a spokesperson for ODF.
“You might not even realize what you’re paying,” says Kara Nielsen, vice president of trends and marketing at food and beverage marketing firm CCD Innovation, who says it’s possible that thanks to innovations like Apple Pay, in-app ordering systems, and credit cards an often masks costs. “There have been articles written about how, when you’re paying in cash, things seem more expensive,” she explains. “I think part of it is an invisibility of the cost.”
In its most basic form, coffee mixed with milk has been a thing in both European and Asian cuisine as far back as the 17th century, and the term ‘caffe latte’ was, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, first used in English in 1867 by the writer William Dean Howells. It is widely thought to have first been introduced to the United States in 1957 by Lino Meiorin, a Italian emigrant and the proprietor of Caffe Mediterraneum, a popular bohemian hangout in Berkeley.
"Americans were not used to the strong flavor of Italian espresso, so Lino would keep saying, 'more latte'," Craig Becker, who owned the cafe before its closure, told the Daily Californian in 2009. "Finally, he decided to put a latte, a bigger drink, on the menu." According to the menu site Zomato, before Caffe Med closed in 2016, it was charging $3.75 for one of its lattes.
While the drink made its stateside debut in California, it gained widespread popularity thanks to coffee culture in Seattle in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Meister credits David Schomer, co-founder of Espresso Vivace, for popularizing the latte (and also latte art) among coffee cognoscenti in the Pacific Northwest. But, of course, it was Starbucks, founded in Seattle in 1971, that is chiefly responsible for popularizing lattes and other “fancy” coffee drinks around the country. By the end of the ‘90s, lattes were an integral part of the pop cultural lexicon. The Friends gang sipped them at Central Perk. In Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me, a simultaneous parody of both ‘60s and ‘90s culture, the character Dr. Evil hides his “evil lair” inside the Starbucks tower and gets foam on his face while sipping a latte sans plastic lid. A 2004 article by CNN Money bemoans the company’s decision to raise their prices for the first time in four years, noting that they’re banking on “loyal customers already willing to pay more than $3 for a tall latte will stick around.”
Bryant Simon, a professor of history and director of the American Studies program at Temple University, began doing research for his 2009 book Everything but the Coffee: Learning about America from Starbucks in the early aughts. He spent time in Starbucks locations across the country, hoping to gain insight into just what it was that had become so relevant about this place and the milky, flavored concoctions it sold.
“It was basically an affordable status symbol,” he says. “You’d walk down the street with a cup of coffee from Starbucks in 1998 or so and people thought you were discerning and sophisticated and had money and maybe even a BMW parked out back.”
While Starbucks and its imitators even at the outset charged more than most Americans had ever paid for a cup of coffee, people were willing to get on board because, well, it looked cool and it seemed like everyone else was. “I think that there's also something about the solidarity of participating in something, even when maybe it doesn’t meet your expectations,” Meister says. “You know, how many people pay $100 for a gym membership and then just phone it in?.”
By 2005 or so, as celebrity tabloid culture reached a fever pitch, we were bombarded by paparazzi pictures of stars drinking an enormous cups of coffee, usually from Starbucks. But once the economic recession hit in 2008, the days of thoughtlessly plunking down what was then about $3.55 for an oversized coffee drink came to a screeching halt as consumers cut back. In 2009, Starbucks closed more than 300 stores, citing direct impact from the recession, which was also felt by other chains and by the owners of independent coffee shops and stands.
Starbucks did several things to win back customers, including selling prepaid gift cards at a twenty percent discount at Costco. They introduced breakfast meals and grab-and-go lunch options, and perhaps most successfully, deployed limited-edition and seasonal drinks — things like Unicorn Frappuccinos and Peppermint Mochas and, famously, the Pumpkin Spice Latte, which dropped in 2003. Simon also credits the comeback to a kind of inadvertent rebranding on the part of Starbucks: While it’s no longer seen as particularly sophisticated, it has other sources of appeal. It’s familiar, it’s comfortable, it’s default. It’s a safe space of sorts. Just like a classic vanilla latte.
Since you’re going to be parting with a decent chunk of change regardless, it’s worth remembering that you have options. After all, if you’re willing to pay $6 for Starbucks, why not set aside a few dollars more for coffee that supports a local business, or at the very least has more enticing ingredients?
“One of the things that consumers can do is [recognize that] money is of kind of political and you're sort of voting with your dollar to a certain extent,” Meister says. “Do you have a bad experience somewhere? It's really easy to support another business that is doing authentic work that you actually appreciate and enjoy. If you're going to make a latte a part of your [everyday] ritual, then I think that everybody deserves a good latte.”
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Right now, most of America is watching Dr Christine Blasey Ford testify in front of the senate about her accusation that Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her in high school. Over the past week, in solidarity with Dr Ford, people have shared their own stories of unreported and reported sexual assault (an echo of the enduring #MeToo movement), including author and host Padma Lakshmi. Now, actress Busy Philipps has revealed on Instagram that she, too, is a survivor.
In a post on Thursday, Philipps shared a school photo of herself at 14 years old, the same year she says she was raped.
"This is me at 14. The age I was raped," Philipps wrote. "It's taken me 25 years to say those words. I wrote about it in my book. I finally told my parents and sister about it 4 months ago. Today is the day we are silent no more. All of us. I'm scared to post this. I can't imagine what Dr. Ford is feeling right now."
Questioning for Ford has included recounting specific, sensitive details that have haunted her from the alleged incident, including: "The stairwell. The living room. The bedroom. The bed on the right side of the room ... the bathroom in close proximity. The laughter. The uproarious laughter. And the multiple attempts to escape. And the final ability to do so." These details have been met with both sympathy and scrutiny as she undergoes questioning from both Democratic senators and prosecutor Rachel Mitchell, who often spoke for the majority all-male Republicans in the Senate Judiciary Committee.
A rep for Philipps had no further comment to add to her post, but a larger account of the incident reportedly appears in her upcoming memoir This Will Only Hurt A Little, out 16th October.
If you have experienced sexual violence of any kind, please visit Rape Crisis or call 0808 802 9999.
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This morning, Dr. Christine Blasey Ford, the first of at least three different women to come forward and say they experienced sexual misconduct at the hands of Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee about her allegations. The process of Dr. Ford even getting to tell her ordeal was fraught, with Republicans claiming her story wasn’t credible and instead just an attempt by Democrats to obstruct a GOP Supreme Court pick. The result was inevitable: A tense hearing focused on scrutinising some of the most traumatic moments in Dr. Ford’s life.
Watching the first 90 minutes of Dr. Ford’s hearing unfold, there was a lot to be appalled by, from Republican Senator Chuck Grassley’s opening statement — where he tried to paint Kavanaugh, the alleged assailant, as a victim — to the fact that Republican men didn’t even plan to lead the questioning of her, opting for female prosecutor Rachel Mitchell to do so instead. But one series of actions left me particularly unsettled. It began when Dr. Ford made a joke about needing caffeine just as the hearing started and after Senator Grassley said the first of many unkind remarks towards her, including questioning her timeline and motives for coming forward.
Then Dr. Ford began laughing nervously once the opening marks concluded. And next, after being told to read through evidence presented to her and swear under oath that all of her statements were true, she told the committee that she could “read fast” so as not to slow down the hearing and the five-minute time limits Senator Grassley imposed. Towards the end of the first round of questions, as Senator Grassley said that they were going to give Dr. Ford a break, she asked him a question: “Does that work for you?” followed by an explanation of trying to be “collegial.” She followed up more than a few questions with an “I’m sorry.”
What I found so difficult about watching Dr. Ford’s dutifulness to the senators — the moments of levity, the politeness — had absolutely nothing to do with her or her story. She’s beyond courageous and incredible. Instead, what left me heartbroken was that I saw myself and practically every other woman in those moments of deference where she felt the need to apologise and almost play “hostess,” even though she was the brave person telling her story to the world and putting everything on the line.
Ask any woman you know if she’s nervously laughed, apologised repeatedly, or made endless accommodations for others at the expense of her own feelings and I guarantee you most will say yes. After all, it’s just one of the many costs of womanhood: In particular, the “rule” that men — and specifically white men in power, at that — always need to be the most comfortable people in the room and that women need to be the ones making them feel comfortable. And in exchange for playing your assigned role as a woman, you may be spared utter destruction by those same men. There’s no better contrast to this theory than how Kavanaugh conducted himself during parts of his portion of the hearing — angry, loud, and aggressive. At one point, spit practically flung out of his mouth as he vehemently defended himself.
Yet for women, this politeness, even when we’re the aggrieved party, is still a gamble. And it’s a gamble that women routinely lose. We watched, after all, as Senator Grassley continued to try and spin the narrative of Dr. Ford’s testimony as some sort of Democratic hit job. Her attempts at lightening the load for Senator Grassley in the hopes of him lightening hers didn’t pay off. Worse still, if women don’t play this role of polite mediator, if they don’t accommodate others, their physical, mental, and psychological safety are in jeopardy.
And in trying to be ever-accommodating, women also deal with the fact that they may have to compensate in other ways if deference isn’t enough. Dr. Ford herself juggled between apologising for being “collegial” while also talking about topics within the realm of her academic expertise, such as epinephrine and neurotransmitters. It wasn’t naïveté; like many women have had to do in the past, it was likely in the hopes of striking the right tone and making the right impression. Kavanaugh had to do none of this as he called the mere existence of the allegations against him a “national disgrace,” and lamented the effects of them on him and his family. (Never mind that Ford and her family have had to hire private security and leave their home since going public with her story.)
Even if the public does end up feeling like Dr. Ford is “credible enough” — an entirely different travesty where she needs to prove herself and yet Kavanaugh somehow doesn’t — the fact still remains that she had to go through emotional gymnastics to be seen that way. And therein lies a common experience of womanhood.
In order to counter this, we need to support one another. That means standing up for those around us in our daily lives. In personal situations. In the workplace. At the ballot box. What Dr. Christine Blasey Ford is doing — standing up on her own to tell her terribly traumatic story — is nothing short of heroic. She’s not only standing up for herself; she’s standing up for all of us and the sanctity of the Supreme Court.
But imagine a world where women could stand up for themselves and others without feeling the need to accommodate people — especially men — in the process. And imagine a world where a woman who is called upon to speak about a traumatising experience of her life can feel free to object or say "no," and others in the room would have to accommodate her.
If you have experienced sexual violence of any kind, please visit Rape Crisis or call 0808 802 9999.
Lily Herman is a contributing editor at Refinery29. Follow her on Twitter. The views expressed are her own.
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Not long after the hearing began, Twitter users noted that Dr. Ford chose to wear a blue suit, in what they believed was a nod to Anita Hill. 27 years ago, Anita Hill testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee that her former boss, Judge Clarence Thomas, had sexually harassed her. Thomas was confirmed anyway, and today he sits on the U.S. Supreme Court bench. Still, Hill held her own as a Black woman in a bright blue suit, surrounded by a crowd of white men in black and navy suits in 1991.
Sen. Feinstein "Anita Hill, attractive woman in a blue suit". Dr. Ford, attractive lady in a blue suit. Must just be coincidence,; no one would have done that deliberately would they?
Though it's admirable to think Dr. Ford is wearing blue in tribute of Anita Hill, who underwent similar proceedings, Hill actually wore a bright blue linen suit that leaned closer to teal. In fact, protestors in D.C. are wearing teal to celebrate Hill. The National Organization for Women wrote on its website, "WEAR TEAL to support Dr. Blasey Ford," in preparation for Thursday's rally. "Anita Hill wore TEAL when she testified in 1991. Summon the courage and strength of Anita Hill when you support Dr. Blasey Ford this week."
If anything, Dr. Ford's navy blue suit illustrates the burden of proof needed to be a believable accuser testifying during a sexual harassment hearing — and there isn't anything honorable about that.
When it comes to sexual assault, what a woman is wearing is often given too much attention — what she wore before or during an assault is often used to discredit the victim. Dr. Ford's muted, conservative suit was an attempt at giving her words the spotlight, and it's time the world lets her speak. Because if this was a man in her position, no one would be thinking twice about the blazer and trousers he'd no doubt be wearing.
If you have experienced sexual violence of any kind, please visit Rape Crisis or call 0808 802 9999.
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After a report claimed that actress and Harvey Weinstein accuser Asia Argento paid off her own rape accuser Jimmy Bennett, Argento's friend Rose McGowan issued a public statement supporting Bennet's claims. The former Charmed star claimed that she viewed text messages from the person she was dating, Rain Dove, which confirmed McGowan's belief that Bennett was telling the truth about Argento having sex with him when he was 17 and a minor in the state of California. The statement also questioned other details of Argento's relationship with Bennett, which included Bennett sending her naked photographs.
Now, via Twitter, McGowan has released a second statement, apologising to Argento for "misinterpreting" certain things in Dove's text messages with Argento.
"On 27 August I released a statement about Asia Argento, which I now realized contained a number of facts that were not correct. The most serious of these was that I said that the unsolicited nude text messages Asia received from Jimmy Bennett had been sent since Jimmy was 12 years old. In fact, I had misunderstood the messages that Asia exchanged with my partner Rain Dove, which made clear that Jimmy had sent Asia inappropriate text messages only after they met up again when he was 17 (still legally a minor in California, but notably different from a 12 year old)," wrote McGowan on Twitter.
She added:
"In my statement, I challenged why Asia had not acted as I think any responsible adult would if they received sexually explicit messages from a 12 year old, which of course do not apply in the same way as when the situation involves a 17 year old, who had admitted harboring misguided fantasies about their mentor since they were 12... I deeply regret not correcting my mistake sooner and apologize to Asia for not doing so."
Upon reading McGowan's message, which McGowan tagged her in, Argento responded.
"Although I am grateful to @rosemcgowan for her full apology following her groundless allegations about me, if she had issued it earlier, I may have kept my job on X-Factor and avoided the constant accusations of paedophilia which I have been subjected to in real-life and online," Argento wrote, referring to the fact that she was cut from the Italian version of X Factor following the sexual assault scandal.
Although I am grateful to @rosemcgowan for her full apology following her groundless allegations about me, if she had issued it earlier, I may have kept my job on X-Factor and avoided the constant accusations of paedophilia which I have been subjected to in real-life and online. https://t.co/ZwH0poL0nR
Several weeks after McGowan's response to Argento's sexual assault accusation, Argento — a then-friend of McGowan's who received public support from her following the death of Argento's partner Anthony Bourdain — threatened to sue McGowan over her words.
"Dear @RoseMcGowan. It is with genuine regret that I am giving you 24 hours to retract and apologise for the horrendous lies made against me in your statement of August 27th. If you fail to address this libel I will have no option other than to take immediate legal action."
Dear @RoseMcGowan. It is with genuine regret that I am giving you 24 hours to retract and apologise for the horrendous lies made against me in your statement of August 27th. If you fail to address this libel I will have no option other than to take immediate legal action.
Iman never thought she’d be a sex worker. She never thought she’d be working the streets, doing drugs and later making attempts on her own life. But when she came out to her family as transgender more than 10 years ago, she was kicked out of home and found herself among a community of sex workers in downtown Toronto, fighting to survive.
"I’d see girls like me going to the corner, making money, but I didn’t know how to start that stuff," Iman tells me over the phone. But she learned quickly what she needed to do to make ends meet. She explains that it wasn’t long before she slipped into drug use and even considered selling to avoid having to do sex work ("Some people like sex, but I hate sex"), but the legal repercussions of dealing (i.e. jail time) eventually became too much of a risk.
That all started back in 2007. Roughly 10 years later, Iman met documentary-maker Lisa Rideout. Iman says that being the subject of Lisa's new short film, One Leg In, One Leg Out, sparked a real turning point in her life. "If it wasn’t for her I don’t think I would’ve been able to do anything and who I am today, I would not be. I’d still be doing the drugs and on the street but when I met Lisa, everything stopped."
They were introduced through a friend while Lisa was filming a documentary about a cross dressing store that Iman would often visit. They got to know each other over the course of a year and in that time, came to lay the groundwork of what would later become an eye-opening short film touring the 2018 festival circuit. The hope is that it'll challenge the narrow perspective of sex work among the transgender community. Iman's dream is that it'll be a step towards helping members of her community who otherwise have little support.
Needless to say, there remains a huge stereotype and judgement around the sex industry, and the experiences of transgender people within it are often afforded an extra layer of prejudice. Compared to some countries, trans visibility has been fairly high on the social agenda in Canada for a little while and Iman does think that attitudes are changing (on a very, very small scale), but as it stands it's not enough. On the other side of the coin, the decriminalisation of sex work has been campaigned, debated and challenged in Canadian courts over recent years. Although the conversation is certainly moving, the wider understanding of what a life reliant on sex work might look like, particularly from a transgender perspective, continues to be pretty limited.
"I had everything that any child could have dreamed about," Iman explains. She grew up in a relatively affluent family and, until she was kicked out, had "never made a bed in her life". She was raised in Saudi Arabia where her mother was an ambassador, "but she wasn’t there as a mother because she was working," Iman adds.
Since moving to Canada and later telling her family that she identifies as transgender, their relationship has been fraught. The extent to which is heartbreaking: "My dad is in the hospital and I can’t even go see him because my sister and her [mother] teamed up and said you’re not welcome to come as 'Iman', you have to come as a boy," she explains. But what's remarkably inspiring about Iman and her story is that even under the weight of this pressure, discrimination and sadness, she refuses to crumble. "Before, it used to bother me but now it does not because if you don’t love yourself first how are you going to love other people?"
The focus now is to go back to school and train to become a social worker, and it's this early stage of Iman's new career journey that we follow in the documentary. Of course, it comes with its challenges. Chatting to Lisa over Skype a little before Iman and I speak, she tells me that the biggest misconception about sex work is that it's a choice, but the people she's met in the time she's spent with Iman assure her that it's not. "Someone like Iman and her friends saying 'no one will hire us because of the way we look, so this is the work that we have to do' – I don't think people understand that at all."
"They really tell me they have no choice. They walk into retail stores or offices and they've applied and they feel the judgement on them and they never get called back for interview," Lisa continues. It's a frustrating reality, which Iman echoes when we chat. "I always wanted to do something to help people like me, for girls like me, because we cannot get jobs the way we are," Iman tells me.
When Iman applies at a local college to study for her social work qualification, the complexity of trying to leave sex work is made clear. Her commitment to pursuing this new career is challenged by calls from clients throughout the day and her initial concern about losing work and money to get by. As Iman's transgender friend Mary, who is also a sex worker who has been working in the area for 20 years, says in the film: "We have to work to keep our light bill on."
Nevertheless, Iman is determined to make it work, not just for her but for everyone else who's struggling with a similar experience. I ask her if she feels it's a big responsibility, becoming an advocate and representative for such an important and overlooked cause? "It does, but it's my passion, it's what I want to do," Iman replies. "My dream will be that every transgender person has the same rights as other people. If I live for that, that’d be amazing."
Watch One Leg In, One Leg Out below.
If you are an LGBTQ person and you would like some more information on your rights or any of the issues raised in this article, check out Stonewall ’s website.
If you are struggling with substance abuse, please visit FRANK or call 0300 123 6600 for friendly, confidential advice. Lines are open 24 hours a day.
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Living in a big city is great. There's always something new going on, always someone fun to hang around with, a huge number of services that will deliver you pizza at 4am with two taps of your phone...
One thing you do compromise on though is space. Most people's flats are about the size of an A4 piece of paper. And most people are sharing that space with at least one other person – and that other person's stuff.
It's hard to get yourself a Pinterest-worthy living room with obstacles like this standing in your way but persevere you must, because there's nothing better than relaxing in a living room you're aesthetically pleased with.
Ahead, we've pulled together a few tips on how to do just this. Click through to find out how to get yourself a practical, but pretty, tiny living room.
Look for half-size furniture
Easier said than done, right? A lot of furniture places don't realise that most of us live in a shoebox-size flat with a living room that's smaller than the doormat most people use to wipe their feet on.
So where to go for tiny sofas and armchairs? Well, luckily, there are a few places that get it. My Small Space scours the net for items suitable for tiny homes and brings them all together in one place. Urban Size is a new company that's making furniture specifically for small spaces and Made do nearly all their sofas in half sizes – which means you can get the look, but it costs less and actually fits through your front door.
Fill the room with lights
If you're lucky enough to have lots of natural light in the room then make sure you don't cover up half of it with heavy curtains. Choose translucent fabrics which allow light through the parts that normally block the edges of the window when they're pulled back.
Get creative with the lights inside, too. While installing ceiling lights might not be A Thing if you're living in rented accommodation, there's nothing to say you can't get a plethora of floor and table lamps to brighten the place up. Just make sure they don't take up huge amounts of floor or airspace.
Get double the light from this slim and elegant floor lamp (Habitat, £65), or this touch lamp from IKEA (£27).
Look out for dual function items
As space is in such small supply in your living room, it's important for you to double up on dual function objects where you can. Why have a lamp and a table when you can have a lamp that is a table?
Remember that opportunities for storage do not just come vertically; there's plenty of unused dead space horizontally, too.
Take this side table for instance – a normal side table has a surface, and then a waste of space all the way down to the floor. This Swoon side table (£199) however creates storage all the way down to the floor, meaning you can fit more of your stuff.
Another underused area of potential storage are the walls – if you have high ceilings, even more so. Just because you can't fit any other standing storage on the floor, nothing is stopping you hanging floating shelves as far up the walls as you want. These Urban Outfitters ones are cute, and cheap (£15).
Get a massive mirror
Getting a huge mirror for one wall isn't going to fool anyone into thinking the room's actually twice the size that it is, but it will help with the illusion. Put it opposite the window to capture more light streaming in.
This extra large leaning mirror (£206) will look great on the floor or propped up on a side table (just make sure you secure the bottom properly!). If you're looking for something smaller, this super stylish terrazzo mirror (£28) will make for a great mantelpiece addition. If you're looking for something in-between, size-wise, this asymmetric mirror from H&M (£79.99) is great.
Opt for lighter pieces
The more space you can see around an object and the more floor space you can see underneath it, the better, when it comes to creating the illusion of space. So steer clear of heavy, maximalist bits of furniture and instead go for bits supported by thin legs.
Things like this brass chair (£65), these shelves (£68) or this table (£150) – the more of your eye-line a product takes up, the more space there will seem to be.
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Have you seen it? If you haven’t, are you even human? No. Do you deserve to vote? No. Do you deserve to lead a happy and full life? No.
In this video, the Magnum Opus of British Broadcasting, Linda Barker — everyone’s third fave in-house interior designer after Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen and Anna Bought-A-Nature-Park-And-Got-Fined-£100k-For-Health-And-Safety-Violations -Ryder-Richardson – has the fab idea to take a vast collection of very precious vintage teapots and hang them, with the help of the now-untraceable Handy Andy Kane, on floating MDF (quelle surprise) shelves. After the group has finished gently placing the teapots on these wince-inducing shelves, they leave their neighbour’s room for a much deserved tea break, upon which they hear a crash. And lo and behold, this MDF-fibre-optic masterwork has collapsed, shattering the teapots of that poor lady from Wandsworth and thereby encompassing the perfect metaphor for the futility of the human condition/the government.
Of course, Linda swept up like a trouper and said, in her gorgeously patronising way, things like "You wanted a corner cabinet. I gave you a nice, hanging, modern shelf," and "Yeah, we definitely shouldn’t have put the books on the bottom," as the two women who had to live with this disaster on their doorstep weep on camera. In one instant, not only were the teapots gone for good, but it was officially confirmed that no matter how hard you try, no matter how much you care for and treasure something, powerful people will always come in and fuck it all up.
Let’s zoom in on this more closely by looking at other examples from the show.
Courtesy of BBC/Endemol.
There was that one episode where the mum said she liked "smooth edges" so the Changing Rooms theme-obsessed team made everything inside the family living room circular and (no joke) added in actual silver rubber rings as decor. Decor. DECOR. Decor. D-e-c-o-r. The mum wept on camera and audibly said: "I said smooth not circles. I hate circles." And so her home was ruined. Metaphor: Housing Crisis.
There was that other episode where the neighbours had no idea what their neighbours liked, but found a Greek tourism guide in the bookshelf and so made the room semi-Greek-more-Roman-themed by glue-gunning fake Roman torso statues made from MDF onto their antique four-poster bed. And so their four-poster bed, and most probably their wanderlust for Greece, was ruined. Metaphor: Brexit.
Courtesy of BBC/Endemol.
There was that incredible episode where Anna Ryder-Rich put French undies all over a couple’s room and the woman came in and screamed: "Why would I want this shit in my room?! I’ve got children." And so her children were ruined. Metaphor: Regressive Sex Ed In The Curriculum.
There was that other time when that potential Tory MEP and the Lib Dem councillor for Alnwick went head to head and the Lib Dem went fucking off and made a new presenter cry upon seeing their new room. I googled it and here is a quote: "The design was stark, unattractive and cold. John said that if he had been marking it for GCSE art, he would have given it a D. I remember summing it up in one word – 'crap'. I think I repeated that a few times. It may not have been polite but it perfectly summed up how I felt." Metaphor: Underfunding Of The Arts In Schools.
Now, in this age where reality TV has eaten itself, we can’t ever hope to recreate such groundbreaking, life (room)-changing work on television. Frankly, this was the peak of British culture: sadistically watching, week on week, as this team of terrible designers wreaked havoc upon perfectly fine living spaces by taking us to space, to ancient Egypt, to 'Africa', to anywhere that could be built out of MDF and broken dreams.
It was pure '90s-thru-'00s ecstasy that really defined a generation. It spoke to both our inner dreamer and inner cynic and even though many other shows tried hard — remember DIY SOS, 60 Minute Makeover? — none of them was a patch on this patchy, niche home makeover show which bred a whole host of millennials who know never to touch MDF, never to mess with their neighbour's antique teapots, and never to trust a man with floppy cuffs and an obsession with animal print (although now I’ve written that, is he me?).
While millennials are constantly lambasted for spending too much money on dildos/avocados/nachos/huevos rancheros/you get the gist-os, what Changing Rooms gave us was, actually, a savvy sense of how to avoid wasting our money on bad, quickly dateable interiors. I’ll settle for a gorgey feature wall, one of those wood-crackle-wick candles and a roll in the hay with Mr. H. Andy. Tories out! Carol Smillie for PM.
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