What defines January better than making a solid resolution? On New Year’s Day 2015, I did just that. While sharing photos of my annual ritual—a “polar bear plunge” into the icy Atlantic—a Facebook post caught my eye. Two teens in my community were seeking donations of tampons and pads for a local food pantry after learning about the hidden plight of our own New Jersey neighbors. Girls and women were missing days of school and work—and dealing with shame—because they were unable to afford period products.
My reaction was visceral. A public interest lawyer by day, I was consumed with questions about the ways public policy—or lack thereof—could impact the millions who menstruate. How many women in America were living paycheck to paycheck (or without a paycheck at all, or in prison), unable to manage the costs or burden of having a period? And why would something that’s a basic biological fact for half the population be excluded from policy making—in this case, food-pantry budgets?
Jennifer Weiss-Wolf at the Women’s March
I’ve been grappling with addressing these questions for the last five years—and what I’ve learned isn’t pretty.
One of the many mind-boggling problems here is that tampons and pads are ineligible for purchases made with public benefits like food stamps. They’re not classified as “necessities” to qualify for an exemption from sales tax in the vast majority of states, and they’re not covered by health insurance or Medicaid, or included in Flexible Spending Account allowances.
Worldwide, the cost of having a period is also high. In Sierra Leone and Rwanda, around 20% of girls are reported to miss school because of their period. In Iran, nearly half of girls are so lacking in accurate education about menstruation that they believe it to be a disease. In parts of Nepal, menstruating girls are temporarily exiled, sent to makeshift huts with no protection from the elements—a practice that results in deaths every year.
Change. Period.
Thankfully, periods have gotten a lot of attention over the past five years. Women are throwing period parties, and influential women like Meghan Markle are speaking up, joining a global cohort of activists. We’re fighting for better education around women’s bodies; for more affordable access to tampons, pads, and menstrual cups; and against laws that make life more difficult for anyone with a period. And we’re making real change.
Since reading that Facebook post, one of the ways I’ve been putting my lawyerly skills to use is to end the “tampon tax.” For years, menstrual products have not been exempt from sales tax (while a dizzying array of items, ranging from fruit snacks to gun ammo to erectile dysfunction pills go tax-free). Kenya blazed the trail on this issue, scrapping the national tax on menstrual products in 2004, and more recently, activists have won victories in Australia, Canada, India, and Germany. A massive petition and campaign in England even forced the issue into negotiations over Brexit. In the U.S., 32 states have introduced legislation, and eight have succeeded in permanently ending the tampon tax. (As of January 1, California has joined the list, but only temporarily, until July 2023.)
On Thursday night, October 10, Liam Hemsworth threw fans for a loop when he was seen in New York holding hands with Australian actor Maddison Brown, best known for starring on The CW’s Dynasty reboot. The PDA comes shortly after Us Weekly published a report saying Hemsworth was “open to meeting people” following his highly-publicized split from Miley Cyrus over the summer. Cyrus’ love life post-Hemsworth, meanwhile, has been the topic of intense tabloid fodder: She was briefly linked to Brody Jenner’s ex Kaitlynn Carter and is now reportedly dating Cody Simpson.
Maddison Brown is the first person Hemsworth has been spotted out with, though. It’s unclear what the status of their relationship is, but here’s everything you need to know about her:
She’s relatively new to the acting game. The 22-year-old made her Dynasty debut in season two as Kirby Anders, the daughter of the principal family’s chief steward who was framed for arson as a kid. Prior to this she had a role on the Australian TV series The Kettering Incident, but those are her only two substantial acting credits. According to People, Brown is also a model (she’s worked with Calvin Klein and Jason Wu, among other high-fashion brands) and has over 450,000 followers on Instagram.
Cosmopolitan reports that Brown’s comments are already blowing up with thirsty Hemsworth messages. “Your followers about to raise up lol Liam’s new girl,” one reads, while another says, “Are you Liam’s mystery girl????.”
She’s had a crush on Hemsworth for a while. Well, kinda. Fans unearthed an interview Brown did for the Zach Sang Show where she played a little “F–k, Marry, Kill.” Hilariously, she said she would sleep with both Chris and Liam Hemsworth at the same time. Check it out for yourself, below. Start around the 8:03 mark.
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We’ll update this post with more information about Brown as it comes in.
When the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show taped on November 8, there are some things we know to expect: pink satin robes, glossy air kisses, bedazzled push-up bras, elaborate angel wings. If the casting announcements are any indication, we can also expect to see the usual army of 5’10, size-two models—not surprising for a runway show, perhaps, but a far cry from the direction much of the lingerie industry is headed.
During the past few years, Victoria’s Secret’s competitors—including Aerie, ThirdLove, and Rihanna’s Savage x Fenty—have built their brands on messages of self-acceptance and body positivity, touting diverse casts of models, Photoshop-free campaigns, and (relatively) broad size ranges. And they’ve reaped rewards in the form of sales and social media accolades. Nearly every new startup in the lingerie space has “inclusivity” baked into its mission statement. And at the mass level, retailers like Target and J.Crew now cast non-sample-sized models in marketing materials as a matter of course.
Victoria’s Secret appears to be holding their ground, a fact that some of the brand’s rivals and critics have seized upon as a marketing opportunity of their own, calling for boycotts and staging campaigns with pointed hashtags like #ImNoAngel (Lane Bryant) and #weareallangels (ThirdLove and curve model Robyn Lawley). Ashley Graham—perhaps the most obvious candidate for a spot on Victoria’s Secret’s roster, with her 7.5 million Instagram followers and ample runway experience— skewered the brand on social media last year, posting an image of herself in a lingerie set by plus-size brand Addition Elle and a Photoshopped set of angel wings on the same day VS taped its show. The caption: “Got my wings! … #thickthighssavelives.”
Graham’s post racked up nearly 775,000 likes, putting it on par with some of the most popular images from the show itself, according to an analysis by Instagram marketing firm Dash Hudson.
If Victoria’s Secret was still the seemingly unstoppable juggernaut that it was throughout most of the 2000s and 2010s, then the old argument that “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” might apply. But since early 2016, parent company L Brands has reported quarter after quarter of declining sales and shrinking profits. And CBS, which had aired the annual fashion show, said that ratings in 2017 were down 30 percent from the year prior among viewers aged 18-49, with just under 5 million people tuning in to the broadcast. (In 2018, the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show has a new network home: ABC.)
PHOTO: Matt Winkelmeyer
There could be many factors at play here—new competitors in the lingerie space, changing viewership habits and shopping behavior… But the consumers Victoria’s Secret needs to connect with in order to sustain itself in the future—younger millennials and generation Z—tend to respond to brands they perceive as authentic and values-driven, and shun the hyper-sexualized imagery that appealed to previous generations, according to research firm PSFK. Gen Z, roughly defined as teens and young adults born between 1997 and 2010, will account for 40 percent of all consumers by 2020, ad agency Barkley predicts, together holding up to $143 billion in direct spending power; younger millennials, meanwhile, are now exiting their college years and generating income of their own, making them an increasingly enticing demographic for brands.
Victoria’s Secret has done an exceptionally good job at meeting these shoppers where they spend a significant portion of their time: Instagram. It has cast celebrity models like Kendall Jenner and Gigi Hadid, who boast 97 million and 44 million followers respectively, in its annual fashion show. The brand’s Angels, the select group of models on long-term contract, make frequent appearances on its social media channels. But while this online reach helps ensure the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show is seen by hundreds of millions around the world, that doesn’t necessarily translate into sales.
“There’s a difference between buzz and buyers,” explains Jeetendr Sehdev, New York Times bestselling author of The Kim Kardashian Principle and celebrity branding authority. “And while Victoria’s Secret continues its buzz, it’s suffering on the buyers front.”
Body positivity, meanwhile, is “one of the key movements within the lingerie industry,” says Jo Lynch, lingerie editor at trend forecaster WGSN. Take the acclaim of Savage x Fenty, which closed New York Fashion Week with a runway show-performance art hybrid starring an exceptionally diverse cast of models and dancers, as “a good example of a sexier brand sending out a clear message about who the lingerie is for, and who should enjoy it: the women who wear it.”
Can Victoria’s Secret thrive with the same old formula? The brand doesn’t normally comment publicly on the lack of body diversity among its models. But decisions about its annual runway extravaganza can’t be taken lightly: The Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show takes a full year of planning and can cost upwards of $20 million to produce, L Brands’ Chief Marketing Officer Ed Razek told the New York Times in 2016.
In a statement provided to Glamour, Monica Mitro, EVP of Public Relations at Victoria’s Secret, said: “The women in this year’s show are from all over the world. They represent many stages of a modeling career and each has her own story to tell. Scrutinizing women’s bodies of any size related to the Victoria’s Secret brand is unfortunate because it puts judgement on women of any body type. Victoria’s Secret believes the body positivity dialogue should be positive. It should not be done by putting other women down, including the 60 women that are excited to be in our Fashion Show. These women represent so many important aspects of diversity that should be celebrated beyond solely focusing on their bodies.”
PHOTO: Getty
PHOTO: Getty
Razek and Mitro also sat down with Vogue this year, and, in a story published the day of the show’s taping, responded to some of the criticisms it has faced. “I think we address the way the market is shifting on a constant basis,” he said. “If you’re asking if we’ve considered putting a transgender model in the show or looked at putting a plus-size model in the show, we have. We invented the plus-size model show in what was our sister division, Lane Bryant. Lane Bryant still sells plus-size lingerie, but it sells a specific range, just like every specialty retailer in the world sells a range of clothing. As do we. We market to who we sell to, and we don’t market to the whole world.”
In terms of its fashion show casting, Victoria’s Secret puts heavy emphasis on physical fitness, messaging it’s ramped up in the past few years with its “Train Like an Angel” campaigns, which push the brand’s activewear offerings and might serve to silence critics who contend that Victoria’s Secret’s idea of “what’s sexy” is all about being thin. Models frequently talk about the intensive training regimes they embark on months before the show.
But the brand would hardly have to give up its fitness-first narrative in order to add a few curvy models to its lineup. Graham, for one, trains at New York’s Dogpound gym, where many of the Angels are regulars. Candice Huffine is a runner with her own line of size-inclusive activewear. Marquita Pring can swing a set of kettlebells with the best of them. If the show is the modeling world’s Super Bowl, as it’softencalled, then a size 8 or 14 can train just as hard for it as a size 0.
And while any change is sure to bring out some haters, the praise will almost certainly drown them out, if the runways of New York Fashion Week are any indication. In recent seasons, brands like Christian Siriano that have made diversity a priority have not only been celebrated in the press, but have ultimately boosted their bottom lines.
Casting director Hollie Schliftman, who helps bring Siriano’s vision to life every season, declined to comment on Victoria’s Secret directly, but she says she understands why some brands are still holding out when it comes to their casting. “I see how people just love to do what they’re used to,” she says. “It’s hard—this industry is a really hard [one] and people are very critical and very judgmental. So it is taking a risk going out of the norm of what people are used to, but it’s so nice to see that people… that there are some designers that really just believe in what they believe in and they take the risk and they do it.”
PHOTO: Getty
PHOTO: Getty
PHOTO: Getty
Any change, though, has to come from the top, according to casting director Gilleon Smith, whose work with New York brand Chromat has also earned widespread accolades for its radical inclusivity.
“I’ve always said this a lot, but fashion is not a progressive industry,” Smith says. “It’s very traditional, which people don’t really get, but people kind of stick with who they know—what photographer, what stylist—and nobody really goes outside of that in terms of working with different creative teams unless something bad happens. So I think that Victoria’s Secret has had this formula that they use, and they have the same people continuing on the legacy and the tradition of what they’ve always done, and that is their barometer or metric for success.”
Size, however, seems to be a more challenging frontier. One hurdle may be the fact that Victoria’s Secret simply doesn’t carry sizes larger than a 40DDD in bras and an XL (equivalent to a size 16) in panties and apparel, meaning many, if not most plus-size models are already sized out of the line. That could create another problem: If the brand were to cast someone like Graham, who wears a size 16, it could come off as disingenuous if Victoria’s Secret didn’t also commit to expanding its size range—more a ploy for press than a genuine desire to reach an untapped market.
Perhaps it’s a commitment to the promise of “fantasy”—an adjective it uses in its marketing materials, and to describe the multimillion-dollar bra one lucky model wears every year—over reality. This fantasy, to hear the brand’s executives tell it, is the idea that every girl can aspire to be like a Victoria’s Secret model: “It’s a celebration of powerful women by powerful women who work very hard at what they do, live a healthy life and inspire legions of admirers,” Razek told the Times in 2016.
PHOTO: Getty
Chromat’s Smith, however, has a somewhat different take: “It’s kind of like a Christmas special. It’s this whimsical fashion cartoon that everybody’s watching.” The show, in this sense, is more like pageantry than a reflection of the real world (though even Miss America dropped its swimsuit competition this year).
But does fantasy still resonate with today’s shopper? According to YouGov, a market research and data analytics firm, 70 percent of U.S. consumers between the ages of 18 and 34—Victoria’s Secret’s prime demographic—say they like seeing “real looking people” in ads.
“Consumers more than ever connect to the product through those people presenting them, so if the models are not engaging the customer or they feel like they can’t somehow relate then the casting has failed,” say Drew Dasent and Daniel Peddle, casting directors and co-founders of The Secret Gallery, who declined to comment on Victoria’s Secret’s casting choices.
“If you’re looking at Victoria’s Secret and the people who shop there, it’s people completely across the U.S. and beyond,” says Smith. “And I don’t understand why you wouldn’t want to have representation of all kinds.”
Sehdev, the brand marketing expert, says Victoria’s Secret will need to act fast and decisively if it wants to hold onto its place at the top. “It’s a highly competitive market, so it’s great that they have made some movement [in terms of racial diversity], but they have truly got to make some radical changes moving forward,” he says. “They have to really reinvent and reimagine the brand in a way that is fresh, provocative, bold, and brazen for a new generation of consumers that think, act, and feel very differently.”
Despite its recent challenges, Victoria’s Secret is still a multi-million brand with the power to make supermodels’ careers and broadcast its image of what sexy looks like to countless women around the world. It’s a mall staple, and, with its teen-geared Pink brand, the first lingerie store that many American girls shop at. With a broader range of sizes, it might be fair to say that its clientele would be nearly as diverse as the country itself.
“The brand has a specific image, has a point of view,” Razek told Vogue. “It has a history. It’s hard to build a brand. It’s hard to build Vogue, Ralph Lauren, Apple, Starbucks. You have a brand position and you have a brand point of view. The girls who have earned their way into the show have worked for it… And all of these things that [other brands] ‘invented,’ we have done and continue to do.”
The question now is what will the lingerie giant do with the influence it still wields?
Those keeping track of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle‘s every move toward each other in order to decode their relationship can calm down: On Thursday, July 5, the royal pair made a triumphant return to their usual levels of PDA and held hands.
This comes about a week after the Duke of Sussex appeared to reject an attempt from Markle to hold hands at another public appearance together, causing many well-wishers to worry that the days of sweet back rubs and interlocked arms were already long gone after only six weeks of marriage.
But on their way into the ‘Your Commonwealth’ Youth Challenge event at Marlborough House in London, Harry and Meghan were photographed walking hand in hand up the venue’s driveway, Harper’s Bazaar reports. Later, while the couple was standing in front of the assembled crowd, the duchess was seen lightly placing her hand on her husband’s arm and smiling. Though the newlyweds mostly kept their hands to themselves for the rest of the day’s events, they continued to share meaningful glances throughout; at one point, photos show Meghan looking happily on as Prince Harry gave an address to the audience.
Meghan and Harry’s return to casual displays of affection at public events after last week’s brief, hand-hold-less break could all come down to royal etiquette. After a video surfaced of the duo having to clasp their own hands together to apparently keep from holding hands at the queen’s Young Leaders Awards at the end of June, royal commentator Victoria Arbiter told Harper’s Bazaar that they had done so simply because “it was not the appropriate forum for Harry and Meghan to be laying on the PDA.” Arbiter continued, “There will of course be engagements in the future in which hand-holding and affection is perfectly acceptable, but tonight, in the presence of the queen, the couple showed the dignity and respect such an occasion affords.”
So far, Kim Kardashian has basically been the sole marketer, seller, and promoter of her beauty line KKW Beauty. But that’s all about to change. On Tuesday, the company announced via Twitter that it will hold an open casting call for its next beauty campaign. If you’re a woman who’s 18 or older (there’s no maximum age limit) and located in the Los Angeles area, Kim wants to see you. “Calling all faces!” the announcement begins. “We are excited to announce an open casting call in the LA area for several upcoming KKW beauty campaigns.” To apply, all you have to do is send your social media information and a few makeup-free, unretouched images to the email address provided.
Kim recently launched gardenia-scented fragrances and Ultralight Beams highlighters, and has also teased upcoming lipsticks and lipliners. She’s also said that concealers are definitely in the pipeline. So who knows which products Kim plans to show off in these new, crowd-sourced campaigns—the lucky winners could be dipped head-to-toe in some totally new product for a shoot similar to the one she released for her highlighters.
The fact that she explicitly called out that there’s no age cap for the shoot is especially intriguing, given the ongoing conversations happening lately around ageism in the beauty industry. But not everyone is thrilled with the posting. Some fans called out the fact the casting is aimed only at women in the post’s comments. “There would be a lot of men who are in the beauty world who would love to do this,” one user said. “@jamescharles deserved the right to try ok bye,” another commented, referring to James Charles, a YouTube beauty guru, CoverGirl representative, and noted Kardashian stan.
Earlier this year Kim also put out a call to beauty fans to apply to be part of her glam squad via her new reality TV show Glam Masters. But instead of asking for models, Kim’s casting announcement asked for beauty bloggers and makeup artists to apply. And clearly, she found a good batch, because the show dropped a glitzy trailer last week and is set to hit the air on February 28. Perhaps one of the new KKW models will pull double duty as a model for the show?
Lately, every time I think about Riverdale my mind goes specifically to Lili Reinhart and Cole Sprouse. Are they dating? Are they just gas-lighting America? If they are an item, does Reinhart approve of the ridiculous shirts Sprouse wears on the reg? Do they hang out at Dylan Sprouse’s meadery in Brooklyn and talk about fan theories? These are the thoughts that run through my head on a daily basis.
The twosome, who play Betty and Jughead on the show, haven’t confirmed or denied their relationship. Sprouse said some vague nonsense about how the rumors he and Reinhart are dating are “very pleasing,” but that’s the only thing on record. Everything else is just speculation. There’s the time Reinhart wrote a gushy birthday message to Sprouse in August, and who can forget when they secretly held hands during a Comic-Con interview? They’re toying with our emotions.
The teasing continues with the Riverdale cast’s new Entertainment Weekly cover. It features Sprouse, Reinhart, KJ Apa (Archie), and Camila Mendes (Veronica). At first, it just looks like your standard “hot new TV cast” photo, but take a closer look at Reinhart and Sprouse’s hand placement at the far right.
PHOTO: Entertainment Weekly
Do you see it ? Their hands are touching! OK, so they’re barely touching. It’s actually more of a “single-finger embrace,” but still! There’s absolutely some caressing happening here—and I’m freaking out.
It’s possible their finger placement is just a coincidence, but these four know how the Riverdale fanbase is. They’re going to take this (very thin) interaction as a sign Reinhart and Sprouse are dating. Full fan theories will pop up on Reddit based on this photo alone.
Of course, Reinhart and Sprouse never have to confirm their relationship—and, TBH, I kinda hope they never do. Obsessing over these tiny, ridiculous clues is just too much fun.
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