Just like that, awards season is coming to a close, and the 2019 Oscars is sure to send it out with a bang. While it’s arguably the biggest awards show of the season, this year there’s more buzz surrounding the event than ever, given it’s the first time in 30 years the show will have no host, there’s no clear frontrunner for best picture, and Gaga may or may not get one step closer to an EGOT.
Oh, red carpet glamour, we’ve missed you! After the annual lull that is the holidays, awards season finally arrived tonight to bring some glitz and great hair inspiration back to our feeds. We’re talking, of course, about the 2019 Golden Globes, which as the first major event of the awards circuit, always sets the tone for the upcoming hair and makeup looks we’ll be seeing between now and the Oscars. (You know your newfound obsession with hair bows? You can thank last year’s Golden Globes for reinvigorating their return.) If we’re being honest, in many ways, the Globes are our favorite red carpet of the year because they’re less uptight and formal. (Yup, it’s the show where everyone is allowed to drink.) What this usually means is that hair and makeup pros are more likely to push the envelope with the looks they create.
This year, we’re happy to report we had a few full-fledged yasss moments: Sandra Oh’s old-Hollywood curls, Chrissy Metz’s red lipstick, and Camila Belle’s lime green eyeshadow. Scroll on for all our favorite looks from the night. We’ll be adding to the list as more stars arrive.
There’s something familiar about KiKi Layne when you meet her, even though she’s on the brink of super stardom. Her smile is contagious, the kind that only belongs to that person in high school who was everyone’s best friend. Her infectious laughter is disarming. And when the 26-year-old talks about watching The Lion King and Selena repeatedly as a kid—so much so that it would drive her brother crazy—you laugh and remember doing the same. Talking to her is like catching up with an old friend, the one you always knew would make it.
As the breakout star of Barry Jenkins’ buzzy If Beale Street Could Talk, the film adaptation of the James Baldwin novel in theaters now, Layne plays Tish Rivers, a woman trying to prove her lover’s innocence while pregnant with their first child. Layne says it was the special combination of Baldwin’s writing and Jenkins’ directorial prowess that initially drew her to the screenplay. “Reading the script, I thought it was amazing how it’s this really beautiful love story,” Layne says. “You’ve got these two young black people who are soulmates, but they’re dealing with issues that are just as present today as they were when the book was written in the early ‘70s.”
PHOTO: Bruce Glikas/Getty Images
Jenkins’ interpretation of Baldwin’s story brings a complexity and humanity to the reality of black people’s experiences, so much so that Layne knew immediately she needed to be a part of it. If Beale Street Could Talk effectively highlights how systemic oppression affects black relationships and thwarts the power of black love. In particular, Layne speaks to the difficulty of filming the movie’s prison scenes, knowing full well that those scripted moments are a reality for many black women today. “I was very aware that this isn’t some general story,” she explains.
To prepare for the role, Layne relied heavily on the life of Kalief Browder—a young black man who spent two years in solitary confinement on Rikers Island awaiting trial for allegedly stealing a backpack—and the impact his prison sentence had on the people he loved. “I watched the docuseries about his life and paid attention to what everything was doing to his family and the people who were left behind to try to fight for him,” Layne says. “They were experiencing this with him, too.”
“To see a young black woman being loved for just who she is—her hair, her skin, her clothes—is powerful.”
Working alongside such powerful black actresses as Regina King and Teyonah Parrish, Layne also understands the movie’s ability to challenge the stereotypical narratives around black women’s strength. “Working on this film gave me a different perspective on what a ‘strong black woman’ looks like,” she says. “I don’t think I’d ever seen a strong black woman who had the characteristics of Tish—someone who was vulnerable, open; so loved and loving.” Playing Tish, Layne says, enabled her to reimagine both what power is, and what it could be. “I’m hoping that seeing this film and more images of black women being really comfortable in their skin gives a broader perspective of what strength looks like for us,” she explains. “For a while, the perceptions have been very narrow.”
And she’s right. The acceptance of black women’s natural beauty is rare in today’s mainstream media, but throughout the film, the combination of Layne’s beauty and Jenkins’ meticulous eye create a series of standout moments. “In this film, you see a black woman being loved so hard for just being her natural self,” she says. “To see a young black woman being loved for just who she is—her hair, her skin, her clothes—is powerful. She doesn’t have much, but what she has is enough.”
Yet, even as the entertainment industry and society at large still struggle to include black women within its standards of beauty, Layne is glad they’re not waiting. “We’re seeing more black women saying: ‘This is who I am; this is what I’ve been given.’ And it’s beautiful.” She continues: “It’s especially important in the time of social media where there are so many images of this very specific type of woman that’s supposed to be beautiful, sought after and sexy. To see women rejecting that and embracing who they really are, it’s really powerful.”
PHOTO: Allstar/Annapurna Pictures
PHOTO: Allstar/Annapurna Pictures
It’s rare that black women’s stories are told with the same veracity this film offers. Layne knows this, and considers herself lucky to be entering the industry at a time when movies like If Beale Street Could Talk are being made. “We are in a moment where there are just so many more platforms and outlets and opportunities for us to get our stories heard,” she says. “Instead of asking for permission, we’re seeing more artists and creatives taking control over the stories we tell. That’s a powerful time to enter.”
Thinking beyond this film, or even her next project—a screen adaptation of Richard Wright’s 1940 novel Native Son—Layne aspires for a career that’s not just fruitful for herself, but also for others. Recognizing the reality of black women’s experiences in the entertainment industry, the actor hopes her career creates more opportunities for young black women everywhere. “I want to push the boundaries on the roles that have historically been given to actresses who look like me,” she says. “There is so much more we can do. There always has been.” The way she says this—with a gleam in her eye that shows an honest, genuine determination to make a difference—makes you believe her.
KiKi Layne is going to do that, and more. And we’ll be all the better for it.
Candice Benbow is a writer and activist living in New Jersey.
Last week, an article on Today.com elicited a collective “THIS” from women across the web thanks to its frank take on an under-discussed but very real mental health challenge: stay-at-home mom depression. The essay—written by Megan Powell, the 32-year-old mother of five behind blog Momma’s Tired—nailed the day-to-day reality for many SAHMs: balancing the vast task of raising children and running a household while simultaneously fending off comments about how it must be so nice and relaxing to not have to go to work.
As a stay-at-home mom for 10 years and counting, I too felt a surge of vindication reading Powell’s essay. Not going to a traditional job every day in favor of full-time parenting is no walk in the park (as any mother or father who’s ever stayed home with the kids even for a day can imagine). Anyone willing to stand up and say that deserves a standing ovation from the one in five U.S. parents who stay home full-time (and, lets be honest, from the everyone else, too). But for some women, there exists a deeper sense of distress that can plague those whose daily routines revolve solely around the kids. “It’s like cabin fever after a few days, except it’s your life every day,” says Danielle Moeslein, a 30-year-old stay-at-home mom in Missouri.
Powell’s essay put a name to that panicky, helpless feeling that sets in when you start to believe that you exist only to help others exist. Or feel like you might want to be doing something more but can’t talk about it because you’re “lucky” to have the option of not working. Or when every small thing in your life feels like a struggle—from brushing your teeth (see: toddler climbing up your leg), to trying to cook a meal for yourself (oh wait, the baby is hungry right now and feeding her is more important), to even getting dressed (why bother?).
Just like postpartum depression may be triggered by external factors—a major life change, a shift in hormones—stay-at-home mom depression is often the result of big, often stressful changes in your life. “Stress exacerbates any condition, mental health or otherwise,” says Melinda Paige, PhD, a professor of clinical mental health counseling at Argosy University in Atlanta. And stay-at-home mom life is rife with triggers. Isolation, loss of purpose or identity and lack of social interaction can all play a role in the development of depression.
In other words, being home alone with demanding young children for what seems like an eternity may not always be the most ideal situation for prime mental health.
Despite all the strides we’ve made in talking about mental health, depression is still stigmatized as a personal failure. That pressure feels particularly frustrating for a lot of stay-at-home moms, myself included, who fall into the roles less by choice and more by circumstance. Moeslein, for instance, tells Glamour that she never planned to stay home, but after her son was born with medical complications as a result of a bladder condition, sending him to daycare wasn’t an option. She had no idea what she was getting into, but she didn’t have any other choice.
During her seven years as a SAHM, the mother of three struggles on and off with the same depression that plagued her in college. “As a mom, especially as a mom who stays at home and suffers from depression, you just don’t have that time to take care of yourself because you’re so busy taking care of your family,” she says. “You do it because you don’t have a choice.”
“I told myself that so many other women would kill to be home with their kids all day, so I bottled up my feelings in fear of seeming ungrateful.”
Even for women who never suffered from depression, the transition to at-home parent may be especially hard for mothers who had careers before having children. The loss of the identity and self-worth a woman’s career provided to her is a form of loss, which is a trigger, says Susan Silver, a psychotherapist in Illinois. “When we think about loss, we usually think about death or divorce, but any major change can be a source of depression.”
Complicating matters is the fact that depression is often overlooked among SAHMs because not going to work every day is viewed as a privileged choice. It’s lucky. That often means moms who struggle may feel like they don’t have the right to speak out. “I told myself that so many other women would kill to be home with their kids all day, so I bottled up my feelings for fear of seeming ungrateful,” says Pamela Gillett, 30, a former stay-at-home mom of two from Michigan, who went back to part-time to cope.
Compounding the pressure that many at-home moms put on themselves to not feel ungrateful is the message that if you’re at home and unhappy, you have only yourself to blame. Common advice given to at-home moms—get up early so you can have “me” time or exercise at home—send the message that if you only worked a little harder, you wouldn’t be so miserable.
“Women often don’t feel they deserve [help]. Or they think something is wrong with them and that they’ve failed in some way if they have to go to somebody else for help.”
At the height of some of my own depressive episodes as a SAHM, I can remember crying while pushing my daughter outside in her little baby swing, telling myself over and over that I should be happy just to be with her, or crying when, yet again, that I had to drag four little kids with me to get my teeth cleaned because finding a reliable sitter is not as easy as all of those “helpful” articles make it out to be. Not being able to voice my own misery or find the help that I knew I needed only served to make me feel like even more of a failure as a mom.
The reality is, the very structure of stay-at-home mothering can make a woman prone to depression even more susceptible. “As a person, you need conversation, you need human interaction, you need stimuli that as a SAHM you don’t get on a daily basis,” Moeslein says. “That’s something nobody talked to me about before I had kids.” Modern family dynamics are getting worse at supporting this, Silver says—extended family members like cousins are less likely to live nearby and grandparents are more likely to be working and living their own active lives. Those key forms of social communities once available to SAHMs aren’t always there anymore. The systemic struggles that SAHMs face are also a very real part of the problem—from the way we treat mothers postpartum (spend 15 minutes with a doctor checking in on your health after giving birth and hope that covers it!), to the lack of paid maternity leave. The message to moms is clear: you’re on your own, lady.
Over a quarter of all mothers in the U.S. don’t work outside the home, according to recent survey data—why has it taken so long to to acknowledge the mental health challenges we’re faced with?
Putting a name to the phenomenon of stay-at-home mom depression helps legitimize it. It’s a rallying cry for any mom who has ever felt this way. For 10 years, I have believed that I am just not “good” at being a SAHM. I’ve told myself, over and over, that while staying home may not be the best thing for me, it’s the best thing for our family right now—so I’d better learn to deal with it. I’ve convinced myself that all the other at-home moms out there are waking up excited about yet another day at home with kids, while I sometimes wake up wanting to cry.
I’m certainly not alone in this. “I always thought I was just having a bad day,” says Kara Collins, 31, a mom of four boys in Maryland. She’s tried medications and communicating more openly with her husband about her struggles but still feels like she’s living in “survival mode.” The term “stat-at-home mom depression” was new to her, but putting a name to the feelings she’s struggling with has helped her feel like she can start to move forward and face them. “I need to find my identity outside of motherhood,” Collins says. “I’m hoping to start a school program which I think will help me dig myself out of this darkness.”
Like Collins, most moms—working or not—are generally aware of what they should do to get the help they need, like talk to their doctor, socialize with other adults, and find interests that fulfill them. But whether they have the energy or ability to actually do those things is another story. “Women often don’t feel they deserve [help], or they think something is wrong with them and that they’ve failed in some way if they have to go to somebody else for help,” Silver says. But by being more open about how it is possible to struggle with stay-at-home depression and love your kids more than life itself, hopefully women and healthcare providers will be able to bridge the gap to help stay-at-home mothers feel more acknowledged and cared for in the future.
Simply hearing the term “stay-at-home mom depression” has helped me validate how I’ve felt over the past decade. It’s not me that’s the problem. Or my kids. Or even my partner not understanding. The truth is, there is a very real lack of knowledge about the realities of women staying home—especially those women who may already be prone to depression. For those of us in the trenches, we can help by being more honest about our own experiences, modeling truths for future generations of mothers, and being kind to ourselves as we figure out how make staying at home work better for everyone.
There’s been a lot of hype leading up to Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald—this is set in the Harry Potter universe—but it’s especially loud around one mysterious new character: a woman, played by Claudia Kim, described on fan-site Pottermore as a “person cursed to become a beast.”
Intriguing, right? Naturally, this was enough to set the Twitter-sphere off with theories in the months leading up to the film. Then came a bombshell: Kim is Nagini, a woman who will eventually become the pet snake-slash-Horcrux of evil Lord Voldemort.
Naturally, fans had a lot of thoughts about this. And at the center of the swarm was Kim, an actor suddenly catapulted from a relative newcomer to the key player in a beloved series.
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Luckily, Kim has experience with major franchises—and their intense fanbases. After starting her career as an actress and model in South Korea, her first major roles in the United States included supporting turns in Avengers: Age of Ultron and The Dark Tower. Even so, Nagini and Harry Potter is on another level. (Tony Stark wishes.) “It’s mind-blowing to be a part of these franchises,” she tells Glamour. “It’s not something I had imagined would happen to me, especially so quickly.”
The role was a personal breakthrough for Kim, too. In South Korea, she says she was mostly offered action or thriller roles. Eventually, she felt restless and wanted more for her career. “I was at this point in Korea when I thought, I want something different,” she says. “Not all the roles that I’ve gotten were stereotypical, but in Korea, especially for TV, it’s a bit limited for women in their twenties and thirties. There aren’t enough female roles.”
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So, Kim made it happen for herself. She landed those aforementioned parts in Avengers and The Dark Tower, as well as a role in Netflix’s Marco Polo, before getting Fantastic Beasts. It was a gamble: Kim didn’t even know what, exactly, she was auditioning for until she got the part. And competition was fierce, despite all the secrecy. Kim stood out by tapping into Nagini’s sensitive side. “Actresses from all over the world read for the role, and Claudia’s read was the most emotional and affecting,” Fantastic Beasts director David Yates tells Glamour via email. “She was able to capture the character’s emotional core and found elements of both vulnerability as well as strength in what Jo [Rowling] had created on the page.”
“What drew me to the role was that she’s still very much a powerful, powerful being, despite her unfortunate circumstances and her vulnerabilities,” Kim says. In her hands, Nagini is more than Voldemort’s pet—she’s a sympathetic character dealing with real trauma: a blood curse that will eventually, and permanently, turn her into a snake.
Ezra Miller, who shares several scenes with Kim in the film, was blown away by their first read together. “With total respect to the other actor who was auditioning that day, I do remember that when Claudia left the room, we were still crying,” he says. “Consensus seemed pretty immediate on all fronts: Claudia is a superstar.”
Once Kim did find out where Nagini’s story led, that made the part all the more powerful to her. “In general, the way J.K. takes these marginalized characters and makes them understandable, there’s no ‘good’ or ‘bad’ or clear division,” she says.
PHOTO: Warner Bros.
PHOTO: Warner Bros.
“We always explored the balance between the vulnerabilities of the character who in this story is an outsider within the wizarding world, with this wonderful spirit and strength that Claudia could often find,” Yates adds.
It’s a teetering, trapped feeling that draws Nagini and Credence together, prompting them to set out on the run. (You’ll find out why in the film.) “They both have terminal conditions, [and] they are completely isolated,” Miller says. “All that being considered, they have somehow found this way to recognize each other and, to some degree, to trust one another. That brings them together on this journey as they’re both seeking themselves, seeking understanding and compassion and fortitude in their suffering.”
If Kim’s vulnerability makes the human half of her character believable, intense preparation was necessary for the other half, the serpent. She trained with a movement coach to incorporate subtle, snake-like motions into her scenes. And to bond ahead of their on-screen journey, Kim and Miller took an expedition to a solstice ritual—on-foot and through the woods. “It was fantastic because we kind of had to support each other on a journey…that was just the heart of our characters’ situation right there: People who are kind of getting to know each other really fast because there’s some sort of mutual understanding at play, who are sort of lost in the woods,” Miller says. Kim was down for the challenge. “Even that day, I remember us joking and being like, gosh, we’re doing such a great job at preparing for our character dynamic right now. We are genuinely lost in the woods looking for wizards.”
PHOTO: Warner Bros.
Then there were aspects of the role that were familiar to Kim and her background with action films. Fantastic Beasts required intensive stunt work; and according to her cast mates, she was the most active of the bunch. “It was the joke of the movie for me that every single scene, surprise surprise, Claudia in the skin-tight dress that doesn’t exist, in the 6-inch heels that are not made for walking or being human, and with her hair up, was inevitably doing something that the rest of us couldn’t physically do in gym clothes,” Miller says.
All stunts, special effects, and spell-casting aside, Kim says the most memorable parts of the role are the most emotional. Magic or muggle, everyone can find common ground with her character. “She wants to be accepted, and she wants to be free,” Kim says. In other words, “It’s fantasy, but it’s relatable.”
A version of this story originally appeared in the December issue of Glamour.
Denim is so ingrained into pop culture, it’s easy to take its influence for granted. Sure, it’s charming when a celebrity buys jeans we can shop ourselves—but we’re ultimately not that surprised when they do. (Don’t forget that, nearly a year ago, all it took for Meghan Markle to become the world’s most relatable royal-to-be was a pair of distressed jeans.) But denim has irreversibly altered the fashion landscape, despite its relatively brief history. (The first women’s jeans weren’t released until 1934, though denim wasn’t considered “acceptable” for women’s wardrobes until the late forties.) Still, denim broke down certain gender and class barriers other types of apparel hadn’t because of its nearly universal appeal. And its most extreme reinterpretations—like, when a public figure stepped out in a surprising take on the style—challenged conventions of what we wear and how we wear it today.
Pop culture played an important role in denim’s rise to ubiquity. Look back on the past eighty-odd years, and a handful of key moments from entertainment, politics, and fashion stand out. And there’s a reason why we still talk about them. Here, we revisit some of the most influential denim outfits from the past century.
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