I love Renata Klein (Laura Dern) from Big Little Lies so much that I dressed up as her for Halloween in 2017. That’s not a joke or an exaggeration. When the time came around to pick a costume, only one person—or should I say legend—came to mind: Renata, Renata, Renata. Naturally, I pulled out all the stops for this look, bedazzling a T-shirt with sparkly gold letters to spell out “I SAID THANK YOU,” and even putting on an eye patch (to tribute the scene when Shailene Woodley’s character punches her, which I’m still not over.)
My Big Little Lies Renata costume. My two other friends went as Madeline and Celeste.
Like having a favorite Spice Girl or identifying with a specific woman on Sex and the City, everyone has a certain character on BLL whom they stan. Some love Madeline (Reese Witherspoon); others are obsessed with Bonnie (Zoë Kravitz); others feel for Celeste (Nicole Kidman); and when season two premieres on Sunday, June 9, a crop of fans will surely go hard for Meryl Streep’s character.
But all of these fandoms are incorrect. If I ask you who your favorite Big Little Lies character is and you say anything other than Renata Klein, then you’re just wrong. With her monochrome suits, biting one-liners and hair flips, Renata is a high-powered light in this dark, dark world. She’s Angelica’s mother from the Rugrats personified. Truly, she is. I’ve never been more jealous of a 7-year-old than I am of Amabella.
It’s the brainchild of Aria McManus, a New York-based artist and the co-founder of Auto Body. She first introduced it last summer, as part of an exhibit at the design store Special Special. But it’s reached a new level of virality in 2019—because, obviously.
Like the name suggests, the Towelkini combines a towel and a bathing suit, in one convenient piece. “No need to carry a cumbersome towel and an easy to lose swimsuit—here they come as one, materialized as idea,” the description on the Special Special website, which is now the exclusive retailer for the product, reads.
The terrycloth garment (?) has cut-outs for your head and your legs, which are left exposed (so don’t forget your sunscreen). It’s currently available in three colors—athletic gold, hot pink, and lime green—for $199.
People have been buzzing about the Towelkini once again, as it got picked up by the British tabloids and then started making the TV rounds this summer. It even appeared on the Today Show ahead of Memorial Day Weekend.
The world can’t decide if the Towelkini is absurd or absolutely brilliant. But, TBH, if you’re the type who went all in on Snuggies and Slankets, the Towelkini is probably your new favorite thing. Buy it at Special Special now.
Before there was “the squad,” Taylor Swift and Karlie Kloss had each other. Ever since 2012, the pair’s close friendship has been on display. But when Kloss recently married Joshua Kushner (Jared Kushner’s brother), rumors of a rift swirled. That can finally be put to bed, though: While Swift wasn’t at the wedding, she was a key part of Kloss’ bachelorette party.
Kloss shared that revelation in a video where she reflected on the past year. “2018 has hands down been the most transformational year of my life,” she says in the clip, “I’ve been reflecting on all the things that have happened in the past 365 days and it’s kind of surreal.” One of those moments was when she “celebrated my bachelorette with my sisters in Nashville,” as she described in the video at the (5:27 mark) before sharing a photo of her sisters with Swift in the center. In the photo, Kloss and Swift are wearing the same outfits they wore in a photo Kloss previously shared of her and Swift in Nashville after taking in the Reputation tour.
“No one puts on a show like @taylorswift,” Kloss wrote in her caption at the time. “Nashville was out of this world, I am SO proud of you.” Now, it’s a lot more clear why Nashville was out of this world—and it wasn’t just because of the concert.
Kloss is currently on a honeymoon safari in South Africa, which is why she didn’t join Swift and the rest of the squad for the pop singer’s costume-themed NYE party. But just because the pair haven’t been spotted together for a bit doesn’t mean their friendship is any less strong.
“Taylor and I are still really good friends,” as Kloss confirmed with Vogue’s 73 Questions in October 2018. A handful of months earlier, Kloss declined to comment on their friendship with Porter, explaining her silence as “It’s not like I’ve ever wanted to be so secretive about my private life… I know in my life what really matters to me. I’m not trying to hide that from the world; I just really like having a more private private life… I’ve got nothing to hide, though!” She was just waiting to reveal it all on YouTube at the turn of 2019.
Centineo will join the previously announced trio of Kristen Stewart, Naomi Scott, and Ella Balins, who are set to play the titular Angels, while Patrick Stewart and Djimon Hounsou will star as two of the Bosleys. Elizabeth Banks, who will also direct the film, will play the third Bosley.
Jenny Han, author of the To All the Boys novel, tweeted a congrats to Centineo shortly after the news broke.
Fans of the original series, which took the world by storm in the 1970s, will likely point out that there was originally just one Bosley, the enigmatic head of the show’s fictional detective agency. That the film will have three Bosleys instead of one will likely be just one of the many changes being made, as the studio looks to usher in the Angels for a whole new generation of fans.
That’s exactly why adding someone like Centineo is a huge step in the right direction; he will reportedly play a love interest of one of the Angels. Not much else is known about the plot, other than that it will center on the three Angels as they work for the Townsend Agency, which has “expanded globally,” The Wrap reports.
As for Centineo, expect this to be the first real entry into his new career as a major movie star. In fact, he may have hinted at the project in a recent interview with Esquire. “There’s one specific script out now that I want to do. It’s f*cking incredible,” Centineo said. “It’s a romantic comedy action film. It’s just so perfect. So great — oh, my God.” The film he was referring to was reportedly a Sony project, which just so happens to be the same studio behind the Charlie’s Angels reboot. Does this mean we’re about to get our first look at Peter Kavinsky: Action Hero?
We’ll find out, when Charlie’s Angels hits theaters on September 27, 2019.
In May, director and actress Asia Argento took the podium at the 71st Cannes Film Festival to shake the table. “In 1997, I was raped by Harvey Weinstein here at Cannes. I was 21 years old. This festival was his hunting ground,” she explained. To anyone in attendance who had mistreated women, Argento declared, “You know who you are, but, most importantly, we know who you are, and we are not going to allow you to get away with it any longer.”
Argento, who six month’s earlier had detailed her experience with Weinstein in a bombshell story in The New Yorker, was a well-established voice in the #MeToo movement. But now she’s joined the list of the accused; The New York Times reported that the actress “quietly arranged to pay $380,000 to her own accuser: Jimmy Bennett” and quoted documents that alleged that Argento sexually assaulted Bennett, an actor and musician, in a California hotel years ago. Bennett was only two months past his 17th birthday at the time; Argento was 37. (The age of consent in the state of California is 18.)
Bennett declined to be interviewed by the Times, but in a statement to CNNafterward, he acknowledged that he delayed speaking out about the incident in hopes to handle it privately. The truth is, most men are forced to handle assault or harassment “privately”—men are not allowed to be victims. In fact, men praise boys when they are sexually assaulted by older women. It’s embedded in our slang (cougar, MILF), and our pop culture influencers. It’s why Chris Brown, in a 2013 interview with The Guardian, proudly declared that he lost his virginity at age 8. (“It’s different in the country,” the Virginia-native said to justify the actions of the teen girl. “So, at 8, being able to do it, it kind of preps you for the long run, so you can be a beast at it. You can be the best at it.”)
If we want men to be a part of the #MeToo movement, we need to acknowledge that they, too, can be victims.
It’s why Terry Crews, who came forward in October and publicly accused a Hollywood executive of groping him, was mercilessly mocked by rapper 50 Cent on Instagram. (In front of a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing for the Sexual Assault Survivors’ Bill of Rights in June, Crews discussed this toxic masculinity, saying manhood “tends to be cultish,” and denouncing the “complicit system” that encourages men to protect one another and shame those who speak out.)
“I have never had any sexual relationship with Bennett,” Argento said in a statement sent to journalist Yashar Ali. “Bennett — who was then undergoing severe economic problems and who had previously undertaken legal actions against his own family requesting millions in damages — unexpectedly made an exorbitant request of money from me.”
Argento went on to say that her then-boyfriend, Anthony Bourdain, “decided to deal compassionately with Bennett’s demand for help and give it to him.”
The actress was immediately, and rightly in my view, criticized. Argento’s decision to portray her accuser as a grifter or gold digger is a familiar trope employed by powerful men when women accuse them of sexual assault and misconduct. The kind that makes other victims not want to speak out over fears of their character or their work will be slandered. Considering Argento’s role in the #MeToo movement, she knows better than anyone why such a line of defense is troubling. It’s one thing to defend yourself, but why do so in a manner that mirrors the kind of men who have caused so many women pain?
Thankfully, leaders like #MeToo creator Tarana Burke reiterated what I felt had long been made clear: men have a space in the movement, too.
Taking to Twitter, Burke wrote: “I’ve said repeatedly that the #metooMVMT is for all of us, including these brave young men who are now coming forward. It will continue to be jarring when we hear the names of some of our faves connected to sexual violence unless we shift from talking about individuals and begin to talk about power.”
We all need to absorb this truth: Although men commit most acts of sexual assault and rape, men are sexually assaulted and raped, too. Their assailants can be men or women. #MeToo is not about gender, it’s about power.
Our culture, and the toxicities of masculinity and patriarchy, lead some men to believe they are entitled to do what they want with women’s bodies. To leer, grope, force, no matter what age, profession, protestation. Some women end up repeating the mistakes of these men. If we truly want to move forward together, we have to recognize—I’ll say it again—that sexual assault and rape are about power, and that this despicable behavior impacts all of us.
As to be expected, there’s a crazy rich amount of designer gowns, over-the-top moments, and an overall obscene display of opulence featured in Crazy Rich Asians. In terms of the fashion, though, one particular scene stands out: Peik Lin Goh (played by Awkwafina) and Oliver T’sien (Nico Santos) act as fashion fairy godparents to Rachel Chu (Constance Wu), making her over for the wedding of the century and transforming her from a somewhat lost NYU economics professor into a fearless, high-fashion force.
There’s music. There’s some dancing. There’s a lot of twirling. There’s a ton of colorful fashion—and equally colorful, laugh-out-loud off-the-cuff snark from Awkwafina and Santos. It’s a revival of a classic rom-com hallmark we haven’t really seen in years: the getting-dressed montage.
It’s a feel-good scene that puts the tension on pause and suspends all the drama just for a second. For a moment, you—and maybe even the characters, too—forget what’s at stake: Rachel is about to enter the underbelly of high Asian society and go head-to-head with her boyfriend’s mother, Eleanor Young (played by the inimitable Michelle Yeoh).
PHOTO: Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures
Unlike some of the most memorable getting-dressed montages from rom-coms—in which the heroine loses her glasses, lets down her hair, and suddenly she’s hot (She’s All That); visits an off-kilter dress shop on the way to break up a wedding and ends up recreating iconic movie costumes (The Sweetest Thing); or tries on her former heinous bridesmaid dresses for whatever reason (27 Dresses)—this scene feels more profound. The sequence aims to instill confidence in a character who’s genuinely out of her element and provides pure joy courtesy of the delightfully extravagant fashion.
“I don’t remember [director Jon Chu] pointing out an example from another movie, but I can’t even think of a getting-ready scene where they try on so many dresses,” says costume designer Mary E. Vogt. “This was a scene that he really loved and he wanted to create from whatever costumes I gave him.”
Because “high fashion can all look the same,” according to Vogt, she set out to pick pieces that felt distinct and special, that would give the actors room to play. “I knew Awkwafina and Nico would be making jokes, so I tried to give something that would be easy,” she says. “It’s hard to make a joke about a super elegant dress.”
PHOTO: Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures
And sure enough, Vogt delivered.
Originally, Chu asked for eight dresses for this scene. Vogt pulled 15 options (with five back-ups), each brimming with the promise of potential comedic material. In the film, Peik Lin and Oliver add some colorful descriptions: a short and silver Michael Kors dress was judged “the death of disco,” a bright and colorful prism dress was described as “a clown’s tampon,” and a little pink dress by Malaysian designer Carven Ong called to mind an “ebola virus.” (When asked about how the designers feel about the mirthful attack on their designs, Vogt says: “Oh my god, I don’t know! I hope they’re ok; I hope they have a sense of humor about it.”)
Vogt says the scene was “all totally improvised,” and that Awkwafina and Santos “didn’t need too much prompting.”
PHOTO: Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures
“It was very spontaneous and the two actors together were hilarious,” Vogt continues. “Jon is a very spontaneous person, too, and he had no problem taking ideas from the actors and using their ad lib lines—and his light touch gives the whole movie a playful, effervescent, sparkling kind of quality, as though it’s all happening live.”
That playful, lighthearted quality might have something to do with Chu’s filmography, whose well-known projects have been music-filled hits, including various films from the Step Up franchise and Justin Bieber’s Never Say Never documentary. Whatever the reason, that little bit of movie magic was all the film needed to achieve two things: to reveal Rachel’s playful side, and to mark a character transformation moment. For that, Vogt says the scene was important to the director.
PHOTO: Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures
“During the movie, Rachel is serious, but this is the only scene where we see Rachel dancing—she’s relaxed and more playful than in any other part,” Vogt says. “Because of it, I didn’t want it to have a dull look. The clothes are there really to enhance the actors without overpowering them.”
It’s easy to overlook the montage, to judge it for its frivolity, or to even dismiss it as another opportunity to showcase more luxury. But the scene plays a much bigger role (albeit a covert one) that helps not only in furthering the plot, but driving home the overall message of the film. As Chu told Deadline: “It’s called Crazy Rich Asians, but it’s really not about crazy rich Asians. It’s about Rachel Chu finding her identity and finding her self-worth through this journey back into her culture, which, for me as a filmmaker, exploring my cultural identity is the scariest thing.”
PHOTO: Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures
With the sartorial support of Peik Lin and Oliver, Rachel confidently emerges—in a ethereal Marchesa gown, crafted out of tulle. The dress appears soft, but acts as something like a suit of armor.
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