On March 1, New York became the third state to ban single-use plastic bags, following California and Hawaii. As someone who’s lived in the city for over eight years, I can cosign how common it is to spot a plastic bag, drifting through the wind (hi, Katy Perry)—and littering streets or getting caught in trees. Aside from the oil it takes to produce them, plastic bags pollute our oceans and end up in the stomachs of sea creatures, which is reason enough to ditch them for good.
At the moment, most grocers and retailers are offering five-cent paper bags as an alternative, but why not take it a step further and avoid single-use bags altogether? Whether the ban is enacted in your state or not, going reusable is one small step to make a real impact—and it doesn’t have to mean carrying that dusty tote under your bed, either. In an effort to curb pollution but still keep it cute, we found 10 of the best reusable shopping bags out there. Add one (or a few) to your cart, and promptly brag to your friend about how chic and green you are—then make them buy one too!
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The crucial detail missing from the FOMO-inducing Instagram Stories and serene sunset pictures that suddenly flood your social channels as soon as anyone in your life goes out of office is that planning a vacation can get expensive. There are a lot of moving parts—from booking essential details like transportation and housing, to ensuring any necessary treat-yourself preparations are accounted for—that it’s easy to get caught up in all the to-dos, must-haves, and can’t-misses along the way. It’s terrifyingly easy to blow an entire budget long before we get on any plane, train, or automobile—or even before we zip up our luggage. So, whenever and wherever we can cut costs, we will. Ahead, check out our favorite summer-ready swimwear that only looks expensive.
Unfortunately, most of the things Bryant wore on Shrill were custom, because costume designer Amanda Needham couldn’t find as many tailored, smart, well-made pieces that would fit Annie’s style (and body) as she needed. “I wanted to normalize a woman of that size being fashionable. You never really see super stylish, put-together girls in that size on camera,” says Needham. “I just could not believe that we hadn’t seen anything like this before and that there wasn’t anything off-the-rack that represented these characters that we wanted to see. Why can’t people over a size 8 or even 14 feel confident in their body and have options to wear?”
Annie and her best friend Fran on Shrill.
Allyson Riggs/Hulu
And talk about options. For a night out, Annie puts on a sequin party dress. It’s everything I always was told—or told myself—I “couldn’t” wear: short, sparkly, form-fitting, and bold. Needham custom-made this dress to put a “middle finger to all of that,” she says, and show that plus-size women can wear whatever the hell they want.
“You don’t have to wear a caftan. You don’t have to disappear. Who is in charge of body confidence? Why can’t we each be in control of that for ourselves? So we went shorter. We went higher with the heel. We went loud. We went sparkly because she deserves that,” Needham explains.
Annie’s sequin dress was a highlight of her wardrobe on ‘Shrill’. It’s everything I was told I “couldn’t” wear.
Allyson Riggs/Hulu
If that dress was the opening act, the headliner was the pool party, which flashes back and forth between Annie as a kid and her life now as an adult. It’s by far the most body-positive, thrilling moment of the series. It’s also the moment that made me cry the most. I can’t count the number of times that I’ve been in a bathing suit around other people, worried about what they’ll say or think about me. Wearing a button-down and jeans, it seemed like she wasn’t going to embrace her body. But by the end, she found herself letting go and dancing to Ariana Grande amongst beautiful, proudly jiggling bodies of other plus-size women. And Needham says Annie revealing her bathing suit underneath was representative of a “real emotional breakthrough.”
Annie dances at the Fat Babe Pool Party in a button-up and jeans.
Allyson Riggs/Hulu
The scene, says my friend Leah, “is a reminder that you’re your own harshest critic—I didn’t feel like I was picking apart all those women’s bodies, so why do I feel the need to do that to myself?”
Another friend, Maggie, agreed, recognizing this moment from her own life: “It’s when you decide that you’re going to stop hating yourself and you don’t care what other people think. It’s so powerful when that finally clicks in your brain and it was moving to see it play out on screen. I kept thinking about how much this show would’ve affected me if I had seen it when I was a teenager. I’m sorry that she never got to see anything like it.”
Later, Annie reveals her swimsuit underneath.
Hulu
Behind-the-scenes, filming the pool party was an emotional experience, too, according to Needham. “Going in, a lot of women probably assumed there would be nothing for them to wear. But we went all-out to present a world of options and cater to every single woman,” she says. “By the end, everyone was crying. We had this moment of just being human and being seen together in a way that was just nice. Everybody just accepted each other and everybody felt so beautiful and it just really came through on camera.” I’d argue that the clothes—having options, and plenty of stylish ones—were a big part of that.
I may still be learning to love myself and only scratching the surface of dressing for myself, not for the prying eyes of others. (Next up, the Savage x Fenty bra that Annie absolutely slays in.) I hope that there’s more Shrill to help me through the hard times of self-doubt and to remind insecure teenagers like I once was that they’re worth more than the number on the scale. I’d love to get to the point where I can say, like Annie, “I’m the one with the fat ass and big titties, so I get to decide what we do” if a man treats me wrong. But for now, I’m starting with taking some more stylistic risks, inspired by Shrill. And if fashion companies start to deliver more fashion size-20 bodies like mine can actually buy, it might just spark a revolution.
Alyse Whitney is a proudly plus-size, Korean-American woman who is the senior food editor at Rachael Ray Every Day and a longtime contributor at Glamour. Follow her: @alysewhitney.
Late last year, I set out on a mission to figure out my fashion uniform—that signature outfit that people will recognize me for. I pledged to not buy any new clothes in 2019 (with a few exceptions, like underwear), a decision that stemmed both from my concerns about climate change and my desire to lessen my waste impact on this planet. There were other rules: If I were to purchase something, it must be second-hand (except, you know, underwear); I would donate and recycle everything I didn’t wear anymore (which was a lot), and would work with what I have left (which, honestly, is still a lot.) The way I saw it, having a uniform would mean I’d be less inclined to mindlessly shop for things I might wear and only acquire things I actually will wear.
As an indecisive Gemini, I’ve always long admired people who uniform-dress. To me, women who have a uniform know exactly what they want in life—they’re assertive, strong-willed, and motivated. But, at the same time, as an indecisive Gemini, I get bored easily, which makes me fearful that I won’t make it through the year without shopping.
I’m all about self-expression through clothes, and I love tinkering with my personal style. I grew up on fashion magazines in my teens, and street-style blogs in my 20s, so I long believed that to be considered even remotely stylish, I had to be wildly unpredictable and eccentric with what I wore. That meant that, for a while, I’d fill my closet with ridiculous thrift store finds and overstock from the bargain basement of Urban Outfitters, sheer babydoll dresses with flared jeans; longline bralettes over men’s undershirts; big flannel nightshirts with ratty boots—all items that were disposable to me by the following year.
Those days are over. Now, it’s much more important to me to have my wardrobe be reflective of my values than being swept up by the latest trends. What remains after purging my wardrobe are primarily jeans (I have a 24 pairs), sweatshirts (16), T-shirts (50+), and street sneakers (8 pairs). By default, I’m leaning into the whole jeans-and-T-shirt look—it’s kind of basic and doesn’t feel like a real “uniform” to me yet, since a T-shirt, jeans, and sweatshirt are what most people wear casually, anyway. But it offers me the comfort and peace of mind I always imagined came with uniform dressing: I don’t have to overthink getting dressed, nor do I have to worry about whether something “works” for my body type—these are pieces that survived a dramatic closet edit for a reason, after all.
While there’s an obvious monotony to uniform dressing, it isn’t boring or uncreative by any means. Some of our greatest fashion icons subscribe to wearing the same thing every day: Grace Coddington with her all-black; Victoria Beckham with her coordinated separates; Stevie Nicks with her witchy-bohemian dresses. A uniforms helps you get on with your days—and it can help you communicate your values just as strongly.
There are a myriad of reasons why women choose to uniform-dress: Some do because their career or line of work requires it, others do it because it makes their mornings a breeze, and then there are those who simply find joy in wearing their favorite thing on the daily. I’m still trying to figure out what my “uniform” is, but there are plenty of women out there who’ve mastered the art form. I spoke with 11 uniformed dressers on how they arrived to their trademark aesthetic and how it has changed their approach to fashion.
Jinnie Lee is a freelance writer in New York City.
Every so often, you might find yourself in a style rut—not quite the “full closet, nothing to wear” phenomenon, but more like an inescapable feeling that your closet feels stale. The colors feel less vibrant, those “statement pieces” less exciting… Simply buying something new won’t cut it: You need a new perspective to guide you. That’s why street style and social media have become so valuable in the fashion world, providing fresh inspiration from outside your immediate surroundings. You might even start picking out your favorite faces among the crowds or feeds. Well, even those stylish people have the accounts they turn to when they’re in need of new ideas. So we asked them—the bloggers, stylists, and models that appear on your fashion mood boards—to tell us who they look to when they’re hunting for ways to invigorate their wardrobes. Ahead, they share the pages that help them bring out the best in their closets and personal style, all of which make for great follows in 2019.
I get a high from finding clothes and accessories for under $50. I derive even more pleasure from all the compliments I get from people who never would’ve guessed they were so affordable. Oh, that prairie dress from Instagram? It was $30 at Old Navy. My favorite pair of jeans? I found them marked down at ASOS. Sure, there’s fun in saving up for a big-budget purchase—when I have only a bit of wiggle room in my checking account, though, Etsy and Target are my go-to’s (filtering from lowest to highest price, always.) And more often than not, those budget-friendly purchase have become the most-worn and most-beloved pieces in my closet.
I know I’m not the only one who’s found surprising ways to stretch my cash on clothes between paychecks; even women known for their style cred have wallet-friendly purchases they love. To prove it, I asked twelve fashion editors, creatives, and stylists what they’d buy on a very strict budget. Price limit: $50. Their answers show just how far $50 can go, and that outfit-making pieces don’t always come from the most expensive places.
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