Gisele Bundchen Wears Sensual Elegance By Nino Muñoz For Harper's Bazaar Australia Jan-Feb 2019

Gisele Bundchen Wears Sensual Elegance By Nino Muñoz For Harper's Bazaar Australia Jan-Feb 2019

Supermodel Gisele Bundchen is styled by Kristen Ingersoll in Dior, Stella McCartney, Tom Ford, Reformation and more. Nino Muñoz captures Gisele in ‘The New Sexy’ for Harper’s Bazaar Australia Jan-Feb 2019.

Gisele is promoting her new book and Harper’s shares the excerpt about the rise of a serious condition of anxiety towards her life at age 23:

For 23 years, I've also been an image without a voice. I have this in common with lots of women. Haven't most of us gotten the message that our voices aren't worth hearing, whether we're being ignored in a meeting, or criticised online, or reduced to a bunch of body parts? Allowing myself to be open and vulnerable — not—her, but me, Gisele—is very scary. I won't be able to detach or hide anymore. At the same time, take it from me: nothing feels stranger than to be the object of someone else's projections. To be known but also unknown no longer feels right to me. Life is not always easy, nor is it a fairytale, and we all go through challenges, no matter who we are. By speaking up, I hope I can inspire other women to do the same, especially at a time when women need to support other women more than ever. After all, changes only come about when we are willing to stand for what we believe.

{. . . }

Finally, things came to a crisis point. It was the weekend, and I was in my apartment in New York. I'd booked a massage to help me relax, aware that the muscles in my body were growing more tense every day. By now my panic attacks — that's what my doctors were calling them — had been going on for nearly six months. At the time I was living on West Eleventh Street and the West Side Highway, overlooking the river. My apartment was on the ninth floor. It was small but airy and full of light, with lots of windows and a big deck outside. But suddenly in the middle of my massage, I just couldn't be there anymore. I couldn't catch my own breath. Making some excuse, I got up, pulled my towel around myself and went outside onto the deck. It was a beautiful night. There was the water and the lights in the distance, and as much air as I needed, but I still couldn't find my breath. It felt like everything in my life was going to kill me. First it was airplanes, then elevators. Then it was tunnels and hotels and modelling studios and cars. Now it was my own apartment. Everything had become a cage, and I was the animal trapped inside, panting for air. I couldn't see a way out, and I couldn't stand another day of feeling this way. The idea swept over me then: Maybe it will be easier if I just jump. It will be all over. There's a solution. I can get out of this.

Tessa Thompson Clarifies Her 'Break The Mould' Convo Re Janelle Monae For Porter Edit June 29, 2018

Tessa Thompson Clarifies Her 'Break The Mould' Convo Re Janelle Monae For Porter Edit June 29, 2018

Actor Tessa Thompson is styled by Catherine Newell-Hanson in 'Break The Mould', an over-sized look at coming season, lensed by Nagi Sakai for Porter Edit June 29, 2018./Hair by Vernon Francois; makeup by Nick Barose

Thompson stirred up supporters, speaking about her relationship with Janelle Monae,  "It's tricky, because Janelle and I are just really private people and we're both trying to navigate how you reconcile wanting to have that privacy and space, and also wanting to use your platform and influence." For many people, that appeared to be an official confirmation of their relationship.

Thompson made it clear that she is bisexual, "I'm attracted to men and also to women. If I bring a woman home, [or] a man, we don't even have to have the discussion." She continued, "That was something I was conscious of in terms of this declaration around Janelle and myself. I want everyone else to have that freedom and support that I have from my loved one, but so many people don't. So, do I have a responsibility to talk about that? Do I have a responsibility to say in a public space that this is my person?"

With social media ablaze over her words, Tessa wrote on Twitter Sunday:  "Sometimes we cheer so loudly at someone speaking their truth, that we miss what they say. (Here’s looking at you media journalism). I didn’t say I was in a relationship. But I said lots of other things. All below. One thing I missed — Pride Has No End." 

Karlie Kloss Stands For Progressive Causes But Left Roasts Her For Kushner Ties

Karlie Kloss Stands For Progressive Causes But Left Roasts Her For Kushner Ties

Supermodel Karlie Kloss got roasted online for urging her fans to call politicians asking them to support a bill that would keep immigrant children together in the assault on them by the Trump administration. 

“Politicizing the lives of these defenseless children is heartless. We have to be the voices for these kids, and I support anyone standing up to do right by them,” the 25-year-old tweeted last week about the Keep Families Together Act. “Call your congressperson RIGHT NOW and support the bill, US – S 3036. Speak up. #KeepFamiliesTogether.”

The far left predictably rose against Karlie, because they are often just as mind-controlling as the far-right. I experienced that ire as recently as Sunday, in comments around the Sarah Huckabee Sanders incident at the Red Hen restaurant last weekend. 

In Karlie's case, critics pounced on her longtime relationship with Jared Kushner's younger brother Joshua. 

Ignoring the reality that Donald Trump does whatever the hell he pleases as president of the US, ignoring the advice of everyone around him, the hypocrisy-accusing tweets flew in Karlie's direction. 

Michelle Obama Says "Making Mistakes Was Not An Option For Us . . . We Had To Be Outstanding"

Michelle Obama Says "Making Mistakes Was Not An Option For Us . . . We Had To Be Outstanding"

Our beloved former First Lady Michelle Obama talked openly about race and the expectations and pressures that came with being "the first" black couple to occupy the White House. Michelle was speaking at the American Library Association's annual conference in New Orleans on Friday.

“Barack and I knew very early that we would be measured by a different yardstick,” Obama said of her husband’s tenure as the nation’s first black president during a conversation with Librarian of Congress Dr. Carla Hayden. “Making mistakes was not an option for us. Not that we didn’t make mistakes, but we had to be good — no, we had to be outstanding — at everything we did….When you’re the first, you’re the one that’s laying the red carpet down for others to follow.” 

Michelle's conversation came in advance of the November release of her upcoming memoir 'Becoming'. She spoke particularly on the subject of race, saying: "It's just a shame that sometimes people will see me, and they will only see my color, and then they'll make certain judgments about that," she said. "That's dangerous, for us to dehumanize each other in that way. We are all just people."

Ryan McGinley Flashes 'Up In Arms' With Young Gun Control Activists For Dazed Magazine S/S 2018

Ryan McGinley Flashes 'Up In Arms' With Young Gun Control Activists For Dazed Magazine S/S 2018

Dazed Magazine's Summer 2018 issue focuses on Youth in Power: the gun control activists changing America. I just discovered the convo myself, but the cover article is rich in links and other articles about the activists beyond this cover story. Thank you Dazed Magazine. Yours is journalism at its best!!!

Ryan McGinley captures the Parkland students and activists from around the country in 'Up in Arms' styled by Emma Wyman./ Hair by Jawara; makeup by Francelle Daly

Trump Revokes National Ocean Policy As Britain Launches Audit Of Fast Fashion Impact Environment

Trump Revokes National Ocean Policy As Britain Launches Audit Of Fast Fashion Impact Environment

Donald Trump cares little about the environment, and that was never more clear than when issued an executive order Tuesday revoking the 2010 National Ocean Policy of the Trump administration. Economic development is Trump's top priority, and if he puts the entire global ecosystem in peril, he could care less. That includes local quality of life as well. His mentality is drill baby drill. As for massive guts of plastic floating in the oceans and killing our fish, basta! Trump insists that it is RIGHT to pollute, to desecrate, to kill the earth in the name of consumption and economic development.

The Obama administration’s goal was to guide a more coordinated, sustainable management of the oceans and coasts in collaboration with states and tribes. Republican opponents call such a plan the liberal bureaucracy in action.  On Tuesday, conservation groups voiced strong opposition to Trump’s action, which, among other things, ensures “federal regulations and management decisions do not prevent productive and sustainable use of ocean, coastal, and Great Lakes waters,” according to the executive order.

The difference between Trump's attitude on consumption and sustainability could not contrast more with Britain's. While Trump practically demands that we pour more chemicals and plastic into the ocean, Britain's House of Commons has launched an environmental audit to assess the impact of fast fashion in the UK.

Jennifer Fisher Jewelry Takes A Stand For Immigration Ethics & Lab Grown Diamonds

Jennifer Fisher Jewelry Takes A Stand For Immigration Ethics & Lab Grown Diamonds

Jennifer Fisher's Instagram page is testimony to her customers' love for OTT jewelry -- aka statement or major bling designs. Why not wear two giant hoops in one ear, writes Vogue. More is better. And just to reinforce the idea that today's bling-lovin girls can also have heart, Fisher throws in ACLU petitions and sad pics of immigrant kids at the border, lost in America's totally dysfunctional immigration system. 

Jennifer Fisher's approach to jewelry design and her personal/brand values underscores that people must not judge a book by its cover -- a challenge in today's Inst-world. The idea that more-is-more may not reflect your personal values. They are not mine, but I will not criticize any brand that is working to product more "sustainable" or "earth-friendly" jewelry

Fisher's new relationship with Diamond Foundry reflects her customers’ changing views on diamonds, particularly her millennial fans who are candidates to buy lab-grown diamonds. “As we’ve grown, people have been asking us more and more questions about [the origins of] our diamonds,” she said. “This new generation wants to know that no one was harmed [in the mining of the stones], and that they essentially have a carbon footprint of zero. But at the same time, we’re getting tons of requests for diamond stud earrings—so I thought now was the perfect opportunity to become more sustainable.”

Parkland Students Launch Nationwide 50 Stops Tour To Register Young Voters & Talk Gun Laws Reform

Parkland Students Launch Nationwide 50 Stops Tour To Register Young Voters & Talk Gun Laws Reform

Anyone who thought the Parkland students might go into summer hibernation, hitting the beach and soaking up the rays is wrong. Last Sunday 788 diplomas -- four of them posthumous --- were handed out to graduating seniors of Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. On Monday students of the March for Our Lives movement announced the kickoff of a national summer bus tour designed to raise awareness around gun control issues and to register voters in advance of the November midterms. 

Launching June 15th at the Peace March in Chicago, the tour – named March for Our Lives: Road to Change – will make 50 stops across America in 60 days. The state of Florida will not be forgotten when a separate tour led by March for Our Lives activists rolls into action, with events in all 27 of Florida’s congressional districts. Registering young people to vote and educating the community about where their political candidates stand on gun reform and their relationship to the NRA is the students' priority.

Vogue Arabia Remains Silent In Women Driving Issue June 2018, On Imprisoned Women Leading Driving Campaign

Vogue Arabia Remains Silent In Women Driving Issue June 2018, On Imprisoned Women Leading Driving Campaign

Model Sophie Rask is lensed by Mannbutte in traditional plaids and classic looks for Vogue Arabia's June 2018 issue./ Hair by Annesofie Begtrup; makeup by Toni Malt

Sophie Rask Honors 'Rebellion' In Vogue Arabia June 2018, With No Word About Imprisonment Of Women Leading Driving Campaign

Featuring Sophie's editorial on the Vogue Arabia website, the copy reads: "In our latest issue, Vogue Arabia’s fashion desk explores how to style a cool mix of heritage fabrics – houndstooth, picnic blanket gingham and traditional tartan. The prints exude a youthful energy that feels right again, but how to wear them? Flip the script on styling codes and pair your checks with a rebel spirit. See the full shoot in our June issue, on newsstands now."

On the topic of classic traditions, there is no resolution to the heated controversy led by websites  and Twitter users like AOC around Vogue Arabia's decision to feature Princess Hayfa bint Abdullah Al Saud, daughter of the deceased King Abdullah, behind the wheel of a  vintage red 1980s Mercedes 450 SL, making it clear that she will join the new movement of Saudi women drivers.

The cover is gorgeous and a milestone for Saudi women, but it comes at a time when the Saudi government is literally imprisoning the women activists who led the drive to put women behind the wheel in the kingdom. It's also relevant that a woman cannot drive without the approval of a male guardian, although we're not clear if a signed affidavit must be on record with the government or what the policy is giving a woman male permission to drive. 

Looking for any updates just now, the Sydney Morning Herald introduced yesterday the backdrop of British colonial history into the convo, saying: 

'Queen Serena' Covers Harper's Bazaar US June 2018 With Dynamic, Powerhouse Beauty

'Queen Serena' Covers Harper's Bazaar US June 2018 With Dynamic, Powerhouse Beauty

Top American woman and the world's top athlete according to many experts, Serena Williams covers the June 2018 issue of Harper's Bazaar US. Miranda Almond styles Serena in sexy bodies with a classic twist, lensed by Richard Phibbs for 'Queen Serena'. 

The interview begins: "As one of the greatest athletes of all time, Serena Williams has overcome misogyny and racism with inspirational fortitude and grace. Now that she is combining her return to Wimbledon with life as a new mother, after a traumatic birth that nearly killed her, she talks to Lydia Slater about sisterhood, self-acceptance and staying strong."

We hope that Serena is headed to Wimbledon, after dropping out of the French Open on Monday. After a week of surprising all with her 'old Serena' tennis megastar self, Serena withdrew from her scheduled match with Maria Sharapova, with an injury to her right pectoral muscle. via New York Times

Sarah Ullman Delivers A Bounty Of Ace Ads On Gun Reform With Her PAC One Vote At A Time

Sarah Ullman Delivers A Bounty Of Ace Ads On Gun Reform With Her PAC One Vote At A Time

Meet Sarah Ullman, a young filmmaker on a mission to curb gun violence in America.  Showing just how dedicated Ullman is to leverage her PAC, One Vote at a Time, Vogue writes that her political ads helped flip 10 of the 15 seats Democrats picked up in the Virginia statehouse in 2017. 

In 2018, One Vote has signed on to work with 250 candidates in 10 states, including Stacey Abrams, who is running for governor in Georgia and the first-ever black woman gubernatorial candidate from a major party in United States history. In North Carolina, Ullman is excited about attorney Anita Earls, who is campaigning for a Supreme Court seat after helping to challenge the state’s redistricting laws. 

Ullman interned for House Rep (D-Conn) Chris Murphy in 2009. Living in Los Angeles, pursuing a career as a young director in 2016, Ullman listened to Murphy's 15-hour filibuster on the Senate floor in the wake of the Pulse nightclub shooting in Orlando, Florida. 

As a familiar cycle of thoughts and prayers set in, Ullman felt helpless and angry. “I just was tired of feeling that way,” she says. She took to her Facebook page, asking her mostly film-industry–related friends and acquaintances, “What if I made campaign ads for people who are supportive of gun safety? Who’s with me?”

Shailene Woodley Fronts 'Second Nature' Lensed By Matthew Sprout For Porter Edit June 1, 2018

Shailene Woodley Fronts 'Second Nature' Lensed By Matthew Sprout For Porter Edit June 1, 2018

Actor Shailene Woodley is styled by Catherine Newell-Hanson in 'Second Nature', lensed by Matthew Sprout for Porter Edit June 1, 2018./ Hair by Bobby Eliot; makeup by Kara Yoshimoto

Woodley speaks frankly about her serious side with Jennifer Dickinson, about the sisterhood of 'Big Little Lies' and today's debut of 'Adrift', "a survival story based on Tami Oldham and Richard Sharp’s 1983 experience of being caught in a hurricane and stranded at sea for 41 days, co-starring Brit actor Sam Claflin. Woodley, 26, says she was “stripped to her core” by filming, which involved journeying into open sea every day, jumping into the water to pee when the boat’s toilet broke, and forgoing dinner every day for a month to illustrate Oldham's slow starvation."

Pierre Hardy x Lemlem Capsule Collection With Liya Kebede's Ethiopian Artisans Debuts June 1

Pierre Hardy x Lemlem Capsule Collection With Liya Kebede's Ethiopian Artisans Debuts June 1

Top model and activist Liya Kebede and designer Pierre Hardy are partnering on a new  footwear and handbag collection for Kebede's Ethiopian-heritage brand Lemlem. 

“It came about very naturally and very organically,” Hardy tells British Vogue ahead of the June 1 launch date. “Liya and I met three years ago, and I wouldn't say we were 'friends', but we were very happy every time we passed one another. As a designer I thought it could be a challenging and interesting experience to join our brands and see what the result could be. And basically, we matched because I love her!”

Lemlem was born a decade ago when Kebede met a group of traditional weavers in her native country who no longer had a market for their work. Fearful that their craft would become extinct, Kebede launch Lemlem. Starting small, her collaboration with Hardy could lead do a significant venture.  “I find him super original and super talented in what he does. It was wonderful to connect the artisans of Ethiopia with the artisans in France, and to create a bridge between these two worlds," the model says about Hardy. 

EYE: Aerie, Target Maintain Body Positive Ad Campaigns As VS Stock Price Slumps 50% In 2018

EYE: Aerie, Target Maintain Body Positive Ad Campaigns As VS Stock Price Slumps 50% In 2018

American Eagle's Aerie brand continues to resonate deeply with women, while the world's biggest lingerie brand Victoria's Secret struggles. Aerie maintains its no Photoshop, real women with great personalities positioning in their Spring/Summer 2018 campaign, shot in Panama by Ali Mitton. 

Aerie launched its #AerieREALgirls LOVE THE SWIM YOU'RE IN campaign, again donating $1 for each Instagram real woman lovin' her body post up to $25,000 to the National Eating Disorders Association as a followup to last year's $15K donation. VS won't touch these topics with a 10 ft pole, as I reminded us in the launch of Rihanna's new lingerie collection. 

CNN reported on May 10: 

Hey Victoria. This isn't exactly a secret. But nobody seems to be buying your lingerie. And that's a huge problem.

Far away from the glory days of being a young company on the move, L Brands -- the parent company of Victoria's Secret -- has the unwelcome honor of being the worst-performing stock in the S&P 500, down almost 50% in 2018, reported CNN.

VS is not the first brand to struggle with maturity and new competition. Consider what The Gap has endured. But there's a grave danger in thinking that you can create the most expensive bras in a mass market world, when income stagnation is as real as the #metoo movement. VS is off kilter from its brand positioning to its price points, and that's before many women call VS PINK's design too juvenile. PINK has been the growth engine for the lingerie revenue stream at L Brands. Now sales are down for the first time two months in a row for March and April 2018.

Will Vogue Arabia's June 2018 Celebration Of Saudi Women Speak To Current Arrests & Imprisonment Of Saudi Women Who Led Driving Campaign?

Will Vogue Arabia's June 2018 Celebration Of Saudi Women Speak To Current Arrests & Imprisonment Of Saudi Women Who Led Driving Campaign?

Vogue Arabia's June 2018 issue celebrates the TRAILBLAZING women of SAUDI ARABIA, featuring HRH Princess Hayfa bint Abdullah Al Saud on its cover. The image is meant to celebrate the and of the Saudi kingdom's ban on women driving that will take effect on June 24, applying to women of all nationalities. 

The entire June 2018 issue of Vogue Arabia will be dedicated to Saudi Arabia. HRH Hayfa bint Abdullah Al Saud, an artist, mother of three and the daughter of the late King Abdullah, who was the ruler of Saudi from 2005 until his death in 2015, sits behind the wheel of a vintage red 1980s Mercedes 450 SL, making it clear that she will join the new movement of Saudi women drivers.

Boo George shot the cover in the desert outside Jeddah.

There is a negative side to the celebrations around the new women drivers campaign in Saudi Arabia. In what feels like a giant contradiction to the new freedoms for Saudi women, the activists who made the movement happen are being arrested. 

Over the past two weeks, about 13 women's rights activists have been arrested. Including Loujain al-Hathloul, an activist with a large social media presence; Eman al-Nafjan, a blogger and activist; and Aisha al-Manea, a veteran driving activist. All three women were public leaders of the campaign, which AOC has long supported.

Thomas Whiteside Captures Five Movers In Third Annual Women In Hollywood Issue For Porter Edit May 2018

Thomas Whiteside Captures Five Movers In Third Annual Women In Hollywood Issue For Porter Edit May 2018

Female Hollywood ensemble Lisa Nishimura, Lilly Singh, Kathryn Newton, Karen Gillan & Marielle Heller cover the May 25, 2018 third annual Women in Hollywood issue for Porter Edit. Alison Edmond styles the totally not-intimidating pastel parfait for images by Thomas Whiteside.

Lindsay Kindelson conducts the interview. 

Ireland Votes 2-1 To End Ban On Abortion, Expecting Full Rights To Be Extended To Women Until 12 Weeks

Ireland Votes 2-1 To End Ban On Abortion, Expecting Full Rights To Be Extended To Women Until 12 Weeks

Voters in Ireland decisively decided to repeal one of the most restrictive abortion bans in the world, moderated only slightly after the death in 2012 of Savita Halappanavar who was mandated to die by the Catholic Church, rather than give her medical abortive treatment for the septic miscarriage that was poisoning her body and ultimately killed her. 

The referendum in Ireland was decisive, with two-thirds of voters overturning the ban on abortion. Ireland “is taking the proper steps to separate church and state and to move forward as a more progressive country,” said Conor Flynn, a 22-year-old student.

Until now thousands of Irish women had traveled to England or bought pills illegally to terminate their pregnancies, risking a 14-year jail sentence if discovered in Ireland. The Times  notes, and we confirm, that the willingness to challenge the sanctimonious demands of the Catholic patriarchy have accelerated in recent years, given the endless sex scandals that have dominated Vatican headlines in recent years. Ireland has the additional disgrace of not only their share of pedophile priests, but "thousands of unwed mothers who were placed into servitude in so-called Magdalene laundries or mental asylums as recently as the mid-1990s", writes The New York Times.  

Essentially, the law in Ireland has been so restrictive as to be a personhood law mandating that the legal rights of the mother are the same as those of the zygote or fertilized egg that she is carrying. Pro-life advocates prefer the term 'baby', but most women do not equate a fertilized egg with their own fully-developed selves and their expanded roles as mothers, wives, workers, and leaders. Historically fertilized eggs were not equated this status, not even when monotheism first planted its roots in the western world. 

Harvey Weinstein Arrested On Friday Morning & Now Under Arraignment In Manhattan

Harvey Weinstein Arrested On Friday Morning & Now Under Arraignment In Manhattan

Disgraced Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein is pictured by New York Magazine, arriving at a lower Manhattan police station early Friday, turning himself in to face a series of charges related to his aggressive sexual tactics with women.

Weinstein was immediately arrested, the NYPD confirmed to The Hollywood Reporter and then charged with rape, a criminal sex act, sex abuse, sex abuse and sexual misconduct for his behavior with two women. Arraignment will happen later today. 

A statement released by the NYPD thanked "these brave survivors for their courage to come forward and seek justice". 

Straight-Talkin', Fully Informed Amy McGrath Wins Upset In Kentucky 6th District Democrat Primary

Straight-Talkin', Fully Informed Amy McGrath Wins Upset In Kentucky 6th District Democrat Primary

AOC has been all-in with Kentucky District 6 House candidate Amy McGrath, jumping for joy over her stunning Tuesday night victory over Jim Gray, Lexington's well-liked and Democratic-party backed former mayor. 

The New York Times writes that Republicans immediately tried to paint the Marine fighter pilot and mother of three as a far left candidate, while the very national Dems who backed her opponent Gray rallied quickly around her. AOC has no such torn allegiances, as we have been for McGrath all the way. 

"I have never heard someone so persistent," her campaign's highly-credentialed ad maker Mark Putnam told the Times. 

Amy McGrath has a story about refusing to accept the word "no": No, you cannot compete against the boys in sports. No, you cannot serve in combat or fly fighter jets. And no, you certainly cannot defeat the popular mayor of the largest city in your congressional district as a first-time candidate.

What I personally love deeply about Amy is not only her feminism, but her willingness to stand up to Trump. Of all the candidates running for office -- female or male -- McGrath won my heart with her second campaign video by Putnam. 

Her third one about taking her kids to the doctor was pretty good, too. 

The Obamas Sign Multi-Year Netflix Deal To Produce & Perform In Series, Films & Documentaries

The Obamas Sign Multi-Year Netflix Deal To Produce & Perform In Series, Films & Documentaries

President Barack Obama and former First Lady Michelle Obama have signed a multi-year agreement to produce various series, film, and documentaries for Netflix, reports Politico. 

While the former president has said that the couple's intent is not to criticize the Trump administration or social conservatives, reality is that Netflix's almost 120 million global subscribers give the Obamas a significant platform for influence on key issues that matter to them -- like health care, immigration and nutrition. 

“One of the simple joys of our time in public service was getting to meet so many fascinating people from all walks of life, and to help them share their experiences with a wider audience,” Obama said in a statement. “That’s why Michelle and I are so excited to partner with Netflix – we hope to cultivate and curate the talented, inspiring, creative voices who are able to promote greater empathy and understanding between peoples, and help them share their stories with the entire world.”