There’s so much that happens this episode of The Bachelor—the much-anticipated fence jump, a surprise cameo from Cassie’s dad, Colton’s first overnight date, to name a few—so let’s just jump right in, shall we? Spoilers ahead, obviously.
Things kick off with Colton and Chris Harrison catching up. For a hot second, it seems like they’re going to have “the talk.”
“I have an idea of what happens in a fantasy suite,” Colton says, not at all convincingly.
“Thank God,” Chris answers, maybe a little too quickly.
Colton then assures Chris (and us viewers) that if the situation is right and everyone’s in love, he’s gonna do it this week. Or, as he puts it, “make love.”
“Enjoy your week,” Chris says as they part ways. “Congratulations!”
With that, they’re all off to Portugal. Cheers.
Once everyone lands in Europe, the women reveal their priorities for the week. Tayshia’s ready to “explore” being physical with Colton. Cassie wants to use this time to figure out her feelings. And the first thing on Hannah’s to-do list is the fantasy suite. As for Colton, he seems really, really excited about maybe-possibly losing his virginity.
That’s good news, I guess, for Tayshia, who has the first date of the week. “I hope today has in store a lot of new firsts for us,” she insinuates. Before they can get to that, though, they must get through the rest of the date which starts with a helicopter ride. During it, they talk about the super sexy topic of Portugal’s main exports. Colton jokes that it’s extra virgin olive oil, to which Tayshia quips, “That’s how I like ’em!”
The virgin innuendos don’t end there. After the helicopter takes them to a castle—or fort, maybe?—the two sip on champagne and talk about all the things they’ve done together. “What’s something you haven’t done yet?” Tayshia asks. Colton yells back, “Fantasy suites, baby!!!” To my amazement, she continues with the date. In all seriousness, though, Colton says he’s just excited to have intimate conversations with all the women this week, whether or not that involves losing his virginity. Sure.
Before the commercial break, Tayshia assures us viewers that she’s totally ready to “take that next step” with Colton. Then, when we return from the break, she reiterates that she’s only intimate with someone she loves, and she’s in love with Colton. I appreciate and yet am horrified by the amount of times the producers have asked this women to confirm that, yes, a sexual encounter with Colton would be consensual. At this point, I’m half expecting her to show up with a notarized statement stating, “I want to have sex with Colton.”
We finally get to the dinner portion of their date, to which Tayshia wears a dress that requires all the boob tape available in Portugal. It looks fantastic. Colton can’t keep his eyes off her chest, though that’s partially because she keeps fussing with her dress. She asks him to keep an eye out in case a boob pops out, and Colton is like, “YUP.”
They talk, yet again, about Colton’s virginity and the night ahead. Tayshia tells him that she waited to have sex—she lost her virginity to her ex-husband—so she understands the importance of the situation. Then she reveals that a year into her marriage her husband cheated, which she says taught her the value of intimacy even more. Colton promises that if they are endgame, he’ll never cheat. (I mean, dude, that should be a given—but a sweet sentiment.)
Colton presents Tayshia with a key to the fantasy suite, and she says yes. Cue some corny music as Colton talks about his sexual prowess. “As men, we put a lot of pressure on ourselves to perform well,” Colton says. “….how hard can it be?” Don’t worry, Colton assures us, he’s experienced in other ways. He’s done basically everything but, lest we question his ability.
Last year ended with a type of fashion revelation that suited a year oft compared to a raging garbage fire: Low-rise jeans are coming back.
The fault was our own, as a people. I mean, yes, in November, Jennifer Lopez was seen wearing a pair of wide-leg thong pants, first spotted on the Natasha Zinko runway in February. But even before that, brands like Kith Sport, Baja East, Fenty Puma by Rihanna, and Tom Ford had used their spring 2018 collections to reintroduce the style (“style”) most of us left in both the past and our nightmares. Alas, the momentum kept building: Kirk Miller of Linder NYC used both the spring 2018 and spring 2019 runways to pair low-rise bottoms with visible bikini bottoms or undergarments.
In December, Miller told The Cut that he felt the look would likely be popular with those who embrace wearable irony. And that makes sense: For years we’ve romanticized all aspects of ’90s style, so the trash-tastic first decade of the 200s are naturally what’s next. It didn’t take long for this trend (“trend”) to spread beyond the runways, with brands like Abercrombie & Fitch, Current/Elliott, and AMO as well as influencers like the Hadid sisters letting low-rise jeans into their hearts (Hadid sisters) and upcoming collections (Abercrombie & Fitch, Current/Elliott, and AMO.)
This was a horrifying development for those of us who lived through the aughts of the 2000s.
PHOTO: Frederick M. Brown
Then: Paris Hilton, in all her Y2K (fashion) glory
PHOTO: SGranitz
Then: Eva Longoria at an early-2000s film premiere, in the early-2000s uniform
PHOTO: Time & Life Pictures
Then: Christina Aguilera, modeling the baby tank/low-rise jean combo that defined an era
My own teens and early twenties were defined by pants inspired by 2003 Britney or Stripped-Era Christina. I looked to Lindsay Lohan, Paris Hilton, and Mischa Barton as fashion gods. I lived for nights out where I could pair distressed low-rise denim with pointy-toe kitten heels and belts that looked like neckties. (FASHION!)
Of course, as the dawn of the 2010s approached, I began to grow out of the style that defined part of my youth, as one tends to do. I welcomed higher rises and skinny-legged jeans with open arms, and vowed never to wear anything that required me to put real thought into what underwear I was wearing (outside of whether it was comfortable and I liked it). In short, I graduated to adulthood.
PHOTO: KMazur
Then: Destiny’s Child—one low-rise jean, three ways
What’s shocking about the low-rise comeback is that we’re shocked at all. As the cliché goes, everything old is new again. The cyclical nature of trends dictates that at some point, we’ll come face-to-face with the worst parts of our pasts, or at least the styles some of us (hi) equate most with being young, foolish, and hopelessly unaware that just because a type of pants exists doesn’t mean you have to wear it.
But recognizing that trends are cyclical doesn’t make the resurrection of one any easier. Graduating to adulthood meant that we got to leave low-rise jeans in our youths, nestled among our comically tiny purses and Von Dutch hats. It feels too soon to be reminded of who we used to be—or for our earnest attempts at Fashion™ to be worn today as irony.
I think that partly explains the backlash (and quiet obsession) with the comeback of the low-rise jean, and why the internet quickly begged the fashion gods to reconsider. But as much as I’ve learned from my past fashion mistakes, I’m—wait for it—welcoming the new low-rise trend.
PHOTO: Melodie Jeng
Now: Fran Summers, offering a modern interpretation of Aguilera’s formula—a cropped top with a slouchy-fit, low-slung jean.
PHOTO: Matthew Sperzel
Now: Joyce Mao, combining the beloved distressed fit with the nostalgic waist.
PHOTO: Melodie Jeng
Now: Lakshmi Menon, making the low-rise jean comeback look easy.
For one, the 2019 version of the low-rise jean suggests that there’s a way to participate in the trend without wearing yours with 42 henleys or polo shirts—nor do your pants need to be too tight and too flared. These updated styles reflect a more relaxed approach: wider legs, looser fits, an invitation to dress denim up or down. Models like Joyce Mao, Fran Summers, and Lakshmi Menon have started incorporating it into their off-duty looks, with button-down shirts and flat sandals or minimal tube tops and sneakers, in a way that’s understated—and un-ironic. (For the record, some brands now refer to them as low-slung jeans.)
More importantly, though, the way we talk about fashion has changed. Unlike in the aughts, there’s less of a zest for fashion police, and there’s also less pressure to favor a particular trend merely because everybody else is. In 2019, fashion has come to prioritize the self-expression over glorified style rules; we’re freer to choose clothes that fit our body rather than force our body to fit the clothes. We feel more agency to decide what we wear.
PHOTO: Raymond Hall
Now: Bella Hadid, epitomizing the modern low-rise jean—relaxed and different enough to make you reconsider
Ten years ago it was common to emulate famous style stars, to pour ourselves into a mold and hope we emerge looking A-list (whatever that means). But today famous people are an aesthetic jumping-off point. Bella Hadid may wear low-rise jeans with a cropped button-up, but her approach to pants represents one choice. J.Lo may don a low-rise wide-leg trouser with a visible thong, but that’s merely another example of how they can work.
It’s not like anyone is telling us to fish our kitten heels, pastel polos (layered, of course), and necktie belts out of the closet and begin dressing the way we did before we found the pieces that made us feel best. Low-rise pants in 2019 can be as ironic, as bold, or as exhibitionist as you want. Kind of how “nineties style” doesn’t consist only of floral babydoll dresses or bucket hats and Adidas pants.
If, like me, you know you can’t go back to wearing the same pieces you did over a decade ago, don’t. Our own personal fashion condemnations can be our own, but they shouldn’t dictate fashion norms. After all, who are any of us to deprive someone from experiencing the low-rise? How else will we learn?
Anne T. Donahue is a writer based in Toronto. Follow her on Twitter at @annetdonahue.
Serena Williams‘ husband, Alexis Ohanian, does a very good job at reminding me that I’m single. When he bought four billboards just to profess his love for her, I remembered my crush hadn’t texted me back in days. When he posted a tribute to her right before the U.S. Open, I thought to myself, Wow! I absolutely cannot relate. And when he asked Williams about her edges on behalf of women on Twitter, I was reminded of the time a guy ghosted me in the park.
Now he’s at it again. In a new interview with Allure magazine, Williams reveals that she ultimately fell for Ohanian because he doesn’t “dim her light.”
Williams picked up this relationship barometer from Oprah Winfrey, who told her, “Never let anyone dim your light.” “That really stuck with me,” the tennis pro tells Allure. “Alexis doesn’t dim my light. He doesn’t try to dim my light. He puts me in the light, even if I don’t want to be. He pushes me to further points I never thought about. It always was something that I could see in some relationships—my light would be dimmer. Now I feel like I can shine really bright and still do everything that I want to do.”
Getty Images
She continues, “Not to knock anyone else I was with before, because they were all mostly amazing, but I know now I can be selfish, have a great career, and a great partner, someone that believes in me.”
It’s good that Ohanian realizes he’s in a relationship with the greatest athlete of all time and could never dim her light even if he tried. A marriage with someone who worships you that also allows you to be selfish sounds like the literal dream—and exactly what Serena Williams deserves.
For more of Allure‘s conversation with Williams, click here.
The saga of Sex and the City 3 dominated the Internet for months last fall. We know a script for the movie exists—one that Sarah Jessica Parker says is “beautiful” and “heartbreaking”—but Kim Cattrall opted not to get on board. Why she turned down the project is still a mystery. Cattrall claims it was always a “respectful, firm no” for her, but others say negotiations did take place. Regardless, the movie isn’t happening, which means there’s a whole chapter of Carrie, Charlotte, Miranda, and Samantha’s lives that exists but we’ll never see.
A few details about the third movie are pouring out, though. In the latest episode of Cadence13’s podcastOrigins, host James Andrew Miller interviews several SATC cast members and gets to the bottom of why a third flick never panned out. Miller reports that Cattrall’s inner circle believed she’d never do SATC 3 for two reasons: One concerned the film’s plot, which, according to Miller, called for Mr. Big to die of a heart attack. Yup.
“People close to Kim believe she never wanted to do the third movie, period,” Miller says.”And they point to two large issues that made it impossible for anyone close to her to talk her into doing it. First, although each woman was to get $1 million up front, they believe the way the backend had been divided up among the five—the four women and Christopher Rosa Michael Patrick King—was unequal and unfair. And second, people close to Kim believe that the script for the movie didn’t have a lot to offer the character of Samantha. They pointed a fact that it calls for Mr. Big to die of a heart attack in the shower relatively early on in the film, making the remainder of the film more about how Carrie recovers from Big’s death than about the relationship between the four women.”
Let’s process that for a second. If Sex and the City 3 came out, Mr. Big would’ve died of a heart attack. Talk about bleak!
However, that might’ve been just what Chris Noth (who played Mr. Big) wanted. The actor reveals in this podcast that he wasn’t keen on the cheesier scenes in the Sex and the City movies.
“I really didn’t enjoy any of the movies,” he said. “I really hate corny stuff. It could be because I’m a little bit of a cynic. The whole thing at the end of the [first] movie with the shoe and the closet: hated it. I’m a team player, but I never really enjoyed the movies. I thought they were sentimental as hell. Even the humor didn’t match the series.”
Release the SATC 3 script, Michael Patrick King! We need to know more.
On Friday (October 19), Meghan Markle and Prince Harry met with members of OneWave, a surfing group that doubles as a supportive space to discuss mental health and well-being. The lighthearted but meaningful gathering took place on Sydney, Australia’s Bondi Beach, and it included yoga sessions, a big group hug, and some time spent chatting with the group in an “anti–bad vibes circle.” Clearly, there were nothing but good vibes between Markle and Prince Harry, too, since the royals seemed to find countless little ways to stay connected to each other during their time on the scenic beach.
While standing in the sand and speaking to members of OneWave and other Australian well-wishers, Markle and Prince Harry alternated between holding hands with their fingers intertwined and standing with their hands resting on each other’s lower backs. Of course, they’ve exchanged sweet gestures like these many times before, but on Friday, they stepped up their PDA game even further: At one point, while sitting in the “anti–bad vibes circle,” Markle held onto the hand that Prince Harry had placed on her leg, and at another, she rested her own hand on her husband’s knee. Shocking, I know.
PHOTO: Karwai Tang/Getty Images
PHOTO: Karwai Tang/Getty Images
PHOTO: Chris Jackson/Getty Images
PHOTO: Samir Hussein/Getty Images
It was during this time on the beach that Markle reportedly spoke for the first time about how pregnancy has been treating her so far. “Meghan told me that pregnancy was like having jet lag,” Charlotte Connell, a member of OneWave, told reporters. “She said she was up at 4:30 a.m. this morning doing yoga in her room, as she couldn’t sleep.” Connell, who’s also expecting a baby herself, said that Markle also told her that yoga is “so good for healing her mind.”
Women candidates ran up the score in primaries across four states Tuesday, breaking more new ground in an election year that’s already shattering records.
Vermont became the first state to make a transgender woman a major-party nominee for governor. Minnesota might send the country’s first Somali-American lawmaker to Congress. Connecticut voters may now elect their first woman of color to the House.
That’s not all: Tuesday’s midterm votes also set new all-time highs for the number of female nominees for U.S. Senate and for governor, per the Center for American Women and Politics—just a week after women broke the record for nominations to the House.
Glamour is tracking women’s progress nationwide in a remarkable election season that will decide who controls Congress, state government, and more. Here are the highlights from the primaries in Vermont, Minnesota, Connecticut, and Wisconsin:
VERMONT
Of all 50 states, Vermont is the only one that has never elected a woman to the House or the Senate, but it just earned another distinction: Voters in the Green Mountain State made Christine Hallquist America’s first openly transgender major-party nominee for governor.
Hallquist, a former energy company CEO who supports universal health care, unions, and paid family leave, ran away with a Democratic primary contest against three other candidates, including a 14-year-old kid. She now goes up against incumbent Republican Gov. Phil Scott—a man she reportedly voted for two years ago—in the November general election.
Christine Hallquist
Scott has the advantage, forecasters say, but Hallquist, whose bio says she became the “first business leader in the country to transition while in office” in 2015, hinted the past has prepared her for the future.
“I want to remind everyone, running for governor is not the greatest challenge I have faced,” she tweeted after her big win.
Hallquist’s victory made her the 13th woman nominated for governor this cycle: Primary wins by Democrats Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan and Laura Kelly of Kansas raised the 1994 record from 10 to 11 last Tuesday, and Andria Tupola boosted it to 12 by scoring the GOP nod for governor of Hawaii in weekend voting.
MINNESOTA
Just hours before polls closed in the North Star State, the Democratic National Committee made its first public comment on allegations of domestic abuse against Rep. Keith Ellison, the party’s deputy chair.
“These allegations recently came to light and we are reviewing them,” the DNC told National Public Radio in regard to Ellison, who has denied accusations that emerged over the weekend about a past relationship, as reported by the Associated Press. “All allegations of domestic abuse are disturbing and should be taken seriously.”
The eleventh-hour controversy didn’t stop Ellison from winning the Democratic nomination for Minnesota attorney general.
Six Democrats tussled for a chance at the House seat being vacated by Ellison, who became the first Muslim elected to Congress in 2006. The primary winner: Ilhan Omar, whose bio notes that her 2016 election as a state representative made her “the first Somali-American, Muslim legislator in the United States.”
PHOTO: Bloomberg
Ilhan Omar
Omar, whose family spent years in a refugee camp before making it to the U.S., defeated candidates including former state House Speaker Margaret Anderson Kelliher and Minnesota’s first Latina legislator, state Sen. Patricia Torres Ray.
Her win came just after Rashida Tlaib’s Democratic primary success in Michigan put her on course to become the first Palestinian-American Muslim woman in Congress. Tlaib faces no GOP challenger in November and is all but sure to succeed Rep. John Conyers, who stepped down amid sexual misconduct allegations. Omar’s district is heavily Democratic, but she still has to beat Republican opponent Jennifer Zielinski to get to D.C.
Both Omar and Tlaib were cheered on by New York’s Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Her stunning Congressional primary win has made her a messenger for other progressives, although some have not been able to match her success at the polls.
In what could be another sign of the times, two women will vie to finish the term of former Minnesota Sen. Al Franken, who resigned in a sexual misconduct scandal. Democrat Tina Smith, who was lieutenant governor when she was appointed to serve in Franken’s place temporarily, will face Republican state Sen. Karin Housley in November.
Democratic incumbent Sen. Amy Klobuchar, who’s been mentioned as a potential 2020 presidential candidate, cruised to a primary win as she goes for a third term.
Minnesota is one of 22 states that has never had a woman governor, noted the Gender Watch 2018 project. That’s not about to change, since Democrats and Republicans nominated men for the job again Tuesday—but both candidates have Native American women as running mates.
A viral video helped Democrat Randy Bryce grab national attention—and campaign cash—for a bid to unseat House Speaker Paul Ryan.
Pundits said Bryce, nicknamed “IronStache,” might have a little something for everybody: He was progressive enough to get endorsed by Bernie Sanders, but as a union man and veteran, he might also connect with working-class white guys who felt let down by the GOP.
Ryan announced this spring that he wouldn’t be running again. That wasn’t the only game-changer for Bryce—or for his Democratic primary opponent, teacher Cathy Myers.
Bryce pulled out a win over Myers Tuesday, but only after confronting damaging news reports about his past. Among the revelations: Nine arrests, including one years ago for DUI, as well as questions about Bryce’s record with child support payments and personal loans. He publicly copped to being “a man who has made mistakes,” but Myers still questioned why the unflattering stories hadn’t cost Bryce more support, including from the Democratic establishment: “If this had been a woman, they wouldn’t have touched her with a 10-foot pole,” she told Glamour in a pre-election phone call.
Bryce will face Republican Bryan Steil, a former Ryan aide, in November.
The Bryce-Myers tangle wasn’t all the news out of the Badger State: In yet another reported electoral first, two women will face off in a Wisconsin race for U.S. Senate. Democrats are backing incumbent Tammy Baldwin against GOP challenger Leah Vukmir, a state senator. Big political money’s already being spent in Wisconsin, a state Donald Trump won by a hair in 2016. More could be on the way.
Wisconsin Democrats also brawled in an eight-way primary for the chance to try (yet again) to knock out incumbent Republican Gov. Scott Walker. Voters picked Tony Evers, the state education superintendent, from a Democratic field that had also included attorney Kelda Roys, a former state legislator who famously breastfed her baby in a campaign ad.
CONNECTICUT
Jahana Hayes could become the Constitution State’s first African-American woman in Congress, thanks to her Tuesday Democratic primary victory.
If she defeats a Republican rival in November, Hayes will succeed Rep. Elizabeth Esty, who said she wouldn’t run again because she had failed to protect a female aide who reported being threatened and sexually harassed by Esty’s male chief of staff. Before the scandal, Esty was known as a champion of the #MeToo movement.
PHOTO: Chip Somodevilla
Jahana Hayes
Hayes, like many women running in the 2018 midterms, has gotten real with voters during her campaign: For the award-winning educator, that meant talking about growing up in a housing project as her “family struggled with addiction, relied on public assistance, and at one point lost their apartment” and also about her teen pregnancy.
“When we started this campaign a little more than 100 days ago, we had no organization and no network. People told us we had no chance and no business trying to upset the status quo,” Hayes told supporters Tuesday night, per the AP.
“We proved them wrong.”
Celeste Katz is Glamour’s senior politics reporter. Send news tips, questions, and comments to celeste_katz@condenast.com.
.jpg)
