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It’s crazy to me that fashion designers are still working out ways to have actual runway shows. I mean, if it was me, I would just have everything done virtually and ask models and celebrities to show their new looks on their own social media, and the designer’s social media and just call it a day. But no, some designers are doing honest-to-God runway shows in this economy, while the pandemic is still happening.

Kim Jones is the new designer for Fendi, and he organized a runway show for his debut collection with the label. He asked Demi Moore to walk, as they have become friendly in recent years. I actually think Demi is a good model in that she’s thin, she can walk on a runway properly, and these clothes are hanging on her very well. Kim Jones also got Kate Moss, Kate’s daughter Lila, Naomi Campbell and Christy Turlington to walk. Which is great. But Demi is the one getting so much attention, and every site is just posting the photos with no commentary. I guess we’re not supposed to express any shock or dismay that Demi has gotten even MORE work done to her face? She looks like she went in and got “the Madonna circa 2009” when Madonna suddenly had those weird, painful-looking “cheeks.”

Anyway, enjoy the photos!

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Embed from Getty Images

Photos courtesy of Getty.

I don’t think I’ve ever been one of those “extremely online” people who lives and breathes Twitter controversies and whatever “political war” being fought via tweets. There are so many political stories which originated from Twitter wars and they take me completely off-guard. But even someone like me, someone moderately online, is well aware of the very strange political realignment which has happened on social media following the January 6th insurrection, and following Twitter’s mass banning of Nazis, and their suspension of Donald Trump’s account. It’s really remarkable how different everything feels just in the past three weeks. People in the Biden administration are feeling it too – after January 6th, they have not had to contend with Donald Trump’s constant whining, lies, conspiracies and threats of violence. And they feel #blessed.

As he entered his first week in office, President Joe Biden was handed a priceless gift: the blissful sound of former President Donald Trump’s Twitter silence. Gone are the pre-dawn tirades, the all-caps declarations, the “Sleepy Joe” mocking, the Fox News-driven agitations and the general incitements. Instead, Biden debuted a flurry of executive orders without ever having to deal with what surely would have been rapid-fire antagonism from the man whose legacy he was dismantling.

Inside the White House, officials insist that their communications strategy hasn’t changed simply because Trump is both gone and silent.

“The President spent two years ignoring Trump’s distractions and staying focused on the message he wanted to deliver, and it paid off with a commanding win,” a White House official said in a statement to POLITICO on Wednesday. “Whether or not Trump slinks back into public view or opens up a Parler account isn’t going to make a difference in how we communicate with the American people.”

But even if the strategy would have remained the same, Biden’s team also concedes that the absence of Trump and his Twitter feed has been a pleasant addition to the job it’s doing.

“Not having to deal with a deranged new tweet every hour? They feel blessed,” an outside adviser said.

Indeed, Twitter’s suspension of Trump’s account has seemed to realign the political universe, minimizing diversions and interruptions as the broader conversation over Biden’s agenda played out. Trump wasn’t there to demand a popular uprising against Biden’s federal mask-wearing mandate. His Twitter megaphone wasn’t hyping the construction job losses that could come when Biden ended the Keystone XL pipeline project. Trump wasn’t calling Biden a “loser” for his Covid-19 vaccination plans, or attacking Anthony Fauci as a failure he should have fired when the nation’s leading infectious disease expert spoke out about how difficult it was for scientists to operate in the Trump administration.

“It has become abundantly clear since his absence on Twitter how much Trump was driving a media narrative,” said Paul Bentz, an Arizona-based Republican strategist and pollster. Biden still has faced a steady flow of criticism during his short time in office. But nothing has come even comparably close to getting trapped in the gravitational pull of Trump’s Twitter feed, which had the ability to move markets, unseat office holders and tear up news cycles again and again in a matter of hours.

[From Politico]

Politico quoted one “Republican strategist” who was basically like “well, now Biden has all the attention, which could be a bad thing.” Like, do Republicans really think that Democrats are going to lament the idea of putting attention onto actual issues and their own leadership? It also underlines the fact that most of Trump’s tweets didn’t actually have a political goal or any kind of larger, coherent political strategy: Trump’s tweets were just about his incessant need for attention, his bottomless desire to be centered in every story. Plus, he was a thin-skinned, baby-fisted bully who loved the idea of sitting in his diaper, rage-screeching at people. Trump must be bouncing off the walls of Mar-a-Lago without his Twitter account. And yes, it’s okay to admit that Democrats are really happy that they don’t have to contend with his Twitter bullsh-t.

Also: President Biden understands how to make viral content too.

PETER DOOCY: Mr President, what did you talk to Vladimir Putin about?

PRESIDENT BIDEN: You. He sends his best. pic.twitter.com/Fq0zglc9aK

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) January 26, 2021

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.

Zendaya and John David Washington are doing press for their new Netflix film, Malcolm & Marie. The film was written and produced entirely during the pandemic. It was written by Euphoria creator Sam Levinson, who is close to Zendaya, and the script stemmed from Sam and Zendaya’s daily conversations in lockdown. They wanted to find some small project to do together with a very small cast and crew in a production “bubble.” Malcolm & Marie is basically a two-person play, filmed entirely in a massive LA home. Zendaya and John David play lovers who have returned home after a Hollywood awards show, and fights and conversation ensue. Here’s the trailer:

Because I’ve never seen Zendaya in her Disney Channel work, I look at her and see her as a young woman, not a kid. She looks and seems young here, of course, because she IS young: she’s 24 years old. But she’s best known for playing 16-year-olds, so some people have been disconcerted seeing her play an adult woman in a relationship with a 30-something man. John David was asked about the age difference – he’s 36, 12 years older than Zendaya – a few weeks ago:

In a recent interview with Variety, the 36-year-old actor and son of Denzel Washington said of Zendaya, 24, “People are going to see in this film how much of a woman she is. She has far more experience than I do in the industry. I’ve only been in it for seven years. She’s been in it longer, so I’m learning from her. I’m the rookie.”

Washington continued on to say that he had been “leaning on” Zendaya — who had her breakout role in 2010 as Rocky Blue on Disney Channel’s Shake It Up — “for a lot.”

“Some of the stories she’s shared about what she’s had to go through with Twitter and everything,” he said. “I appreciated her wisdom and discernment when it comes to this business. I admire that.”

[From People]

Which is sort of talking around it, but I’m fine with that because truly, there’s nothing really shocking about a 24-year-old woman in a real or fictional relationship with a 36-year-old man. John David’s point is that Zendaya is an industry veteran and this part was written for her. I’ve also read a breakdown of the story, and I’m pretty sure the age difference is important in the film. Anyway, as Zendaya was promoting the film this week, she was asked about the age difference too, and she pointed out why so many people are concerned:

Malcolm & Marie premieres on Feb. 5, and it’s safe to say the Oscar buzz has already begun. However, some have been critical of the age gap between 24-year-old Zendaya and 36-year-old John. The way the former Disney Channel star sees it, the fixation comes from the fact that “I’ve played a 16-year-old since I was 16.”

“You have to remember, also, people grew up with me as a child,” Zendaya added. “It’s like watching, I guess, your younger sibling now, you know, they’re grown…So it’s hard for people to wrap around the idea that I am grown in real life. You know, even though I do play a teenager on television still.”

[From E! News]

Yeah, that’s pretty much it. She’s been famous for playing a teenager for eight years and she still plays a teen on Euphoria, and now people can’t comprehend that she is, in fact, a grown-ass woman and capable of playing grown-ass women. Anyway, I’m looking forward to Malcolm & Marie, if only to watch two beautiful people fight in a beautiful home.

Photos courtesy of Dominic Miller/Netflix © 2021.

Last night Lainey texted me about Pamela Anderson, and for a solid two hours I was repeating “Pa-MEL-a” in a Borat accent to no one in particular. A sure sign something is broken, probably a combination of pandemic brain and social media gluttony fuelled by the Reddit stock party. In a move that is…

I was listening to the radio as I was driving somewhere a few days ago and “Blurred Lines” came on and I thought about how weird and almost quaint it was that Emily Ratajkowski became super-famous just from that one music video. That was years ago! And she managed to parlay that dumb music video into a legit career as a model/actress/feminist. Whenever she posts anything on her social media, sites like the Daily Mail run the pics and those are usually some of the most viewed stories. It’s all very strange. Anyway, Emily is pregnant. She announced her pregnancy last October and I honestly forgot about all of it, even though she posts photos of her bump quite regularly. In her social media photos, you can also see that her lips have gotten a lot bigger too. Which is quite common with pregnancies – a lot of women find that they get “pregnant face” and “pregnant lips.” But some people think Emily has been getting her lips artificially pumped.

Emily Ratajkowski is speaking out about her changing body during pregnancy. The model, 29, posted a candid picture to her Instagram Stories on Friday in which she addressed questions from fans about the length of her pregnancy and whether or not she has received lip injections. Ratajkowski first tackled the question about facial fillers, telling her followers that she has “never had lip injections” and in no way was “judging folks who do.”

“You can’t even get injections when you’re pregnant!” the mom-to-be explained. “A woman’s blood volume increases 50% which is why ladies can get a little puffy in the face and lips during pregnancy.”

Ratajkowski then shared that she has been getting comments lately from people saying “you’ve been pregnant forever.”

“LOL yes pregnancy lasts for 40 weeks which can definitely feel like a long time, but I announced halfway into my pregnancy and it’s only been 3 months since then! Actually it’s weirdly gone by very quickly to me,” she wrote. Ratajkowski went on to explain that while it’s “weird to have your body change so much in a matter of months” she has found a “whole new appreciation for what [her] body can do and what is beautiful…”

[From People]

I was one of those people who thought she was getting her lips jacked before her pregnancy. I just didn’t believe that she naturally had that bust AND those puffy lips and that some of it was probably surgically enhanced. But maybe I was wrong! And for real, pregnancy does weird things to a lot of women’s faces and bodies. I remember being startled by how much Beyonce’s face changed when she was pregnant with the twins. Jessica Simpson’s lips were so swollen during her pregnancies too.

Photos courtesy of Backgrid, Emily’s Instagram.

Once it was clear that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex were moving out of the UK permanently, I wondered if they would still try to keep up with their British patronages. Obviously, Prince Harry was pushed out of his military roles, so I wondered if Buckingham Palace would begin to exert pressure on the National Theatre, SmartWorks or Mayhew to drop Meghan as their patron. Thus far, that has not happened. In the case of SmartWorks and Mayhew, I think they’re completely happy to keep Meghan on as their patron, and she’s already given them so much exposure and additional funding through her clever fundraising tactics. Just before Christmas, the Sussexes gave their “painted” Christmas card to Mayhew to post and publish too. And now Meghan has authorized Mayhew’s CEO to sort of speak on her behalf.

The Duchess of Sussex might be settled in her new life in Santa Barbara, but she still regularly checks in with her royal patronages, including animal charity Mayhew. Meghan, 39, has long been an advocate for the welfare of animals and owns two rescue dogs, a beagle named Guy and a black labrador called Pula.

Mayhew’s CEO Caroline Yates tells HELLO!: “Whenever we talk to the Duchess about the charity, she always references how important her dogs are and what a support they are, particularly during everything that’s happened this year, with COVID, and with the personal trials and tribulations she went through this year. It was really nice to share our experiences with her about how important animals are when things are tough and what a comfort they can be. That’s what Mayhew is all about, that’s what we want to try and encourage, we want to try to promote the human-animal bond and what a great source of comfort and stimulation, and joy pet ownership can be.”

The animal charity was given the honour of sharing Prince Harry and Meghan’s stunning Christmas card photo in December 2020 on their social media channels, which featured an artistic rendering of the couple with their son Archie and their pet dogs, Guy and Pula, as they played in the garden of their Montecito home. Caroline reveals charity was “really thrilled” to be chosen to share the Sussexes’ 2020 Christmas card.

“We had no idea what it would look like before we got the photo, and when we saw it, we thought, ‘Oh wow!’ It’s very family-oriented, it was really lovely,” she tells HELLO!.

The Duchess became patron of the Mayhew in January 2019, announcing it as one of her four royal patronages, alongside Smart Works, The National Theatre and The Association of Commonwealth Universities. Caroline says the patronage was a “total surprise” for the charity after Meghan carried out private visits to their animal home in Kensal Green, North London at the end of 2018. She tells HELLO!: “It just came across that the Duchess wanted to be involved with some real grassroot organisations. I think what struck her about Mayhew is our work with communities. We work with marginalised groups in society, we work with the homeless, we work with elderly people who are struggling to look after their pets and their home and we work with a lot of people who have mental health conditions that need support and guidance, but get so much from their pets, so we try and ensure that they stay together, but without compromising the welfare of the animal. I think that’s what she found attractive and interesting.”

While Mayhew’s event fundraising has been hit during the coronavirus pandemic and lockdown, the charity has found ways to adapt its services, including hosting a virtual Christmas carol concert with a host of celebrity supporters and taking its TheraPaws programme online. Caroline tells HELLO! that Meghan receives regular updates from Mayhew and is particularly interested in TheraPaws, an animal assisted intervention programme, which has been designed to promote physical, social and emotional wellbeing.

[From Hello]

Meghan works with an animal welfare charity which provides access to therapy dogs to marginalized and stressed communities… good lord, that’s her wheelhouse, and I bet she loves those stories. Anyway, I love that Meghan quietly authorizes her patronages to speak about her and her involvement here and there. It’s not like Caroline Yates was spilling any scandalous tea – ooh, Meghan loves her dogs! Meghan has relied on her dogs’ company during the pandemic year!

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.

Halsey revealed yesterday that she’s expecting her first child in series of snaps, from a backyard maternity shoot, on Instagram yesterday. Perched in front of a white and purple (thankfully not pink and blue) silk backdrop, the singer’s bump is on full display in a pair of boyfriend jeans and a cro…

Some days, I’m just really surprised and sort of amused by the long memories and detailed accounting from the Sussex Squad. When I began covering the Ioan Gruffudd-Alice Evans split this week, I never expected it to become a story about how Alice Evans has tweeted multiple shady things about the Duchess of Sussex. But here we are.

What did I do Alice Evans Gruff. I just politely showed you to the two different ways Meghan Markle spoke up this week pic.twitter.com/hzIAIGginc

— TV Fanatic??? (@TvKhaleesi) June 4, 2020

Alice Evans Gruff criticizing Meghan Markle for not want to deal with the 4 Tabloids that have written the most racist things about her.

Also, Alice defending a known racist Lawrence fox.

And finally Alice criticizing Meghan for not making George Floyd’s murder about her. pic.twitter.com/i3HpDtXKRg

— TV Fanatic??? (@TvKhaleesi) June 4, 2020

So, there you go. Alice Evans is a Twitter Karen who has tweeted shady sh-t about Meghan for a while, and when she gets called out on her crap, she blocks people or tweets-and-deletes. It seems like that’s a family trait in the Evans-Gruffudd household. After this week’s melodrama, with Alice accusing her now-estranged husband of gaslighting her and leaving her, it looks like Ioan has turned HIS social media accounts private:

Ioan Gruffudd has blocked fans from looking at his social media profiles, by setting them to private. The move to protect his online security comes after his wife Alice Evans accused him of controlling her Twitter and ‘mentally torturing her.’

Alice, 49, revealed she and Ioan, 47, were splitting on Twitter this week via Twitter, telling fans Ioan was leaving the family home next week after 13 years of marriage because he ‘no longer loves her.’ Ioan’s decision to block fans comes after the couple released a joint statement insisting they were ‘committed to their children’.

The united front followed an extraordinary 24 hours, which saw a series of tweets posted by the actress – and subsequently deleted – claiming her husband was leaving the family and she was being ‘gaslit and mentally tortured’.

[From The Daily Mail]

I mean, I don’t see why anyone should ding Ioan for this at the moment. Maybe we’ll find out in a few weeks that he’s the villain of this story, but people are reaching at the moment, trying to make it sound like Ioan is the bad guy with no evidence whatsoever. Personally, after everything I’ve learned about Alice this week, I wonder how Ioan even stayed as long as did. Perhaps he knew that if he even tried to leave Alice, she would react this way. I think he’s just trying to cut down some of the noise, and both Ioan and Alice should probably set all of their accounts to private, or just delete them entirely for a few months.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.

I wanted to recommend these blue light glasses we featured last year in March. I still use them all the time and they definitely work at night when I’m trying to watch TV and work on my laptop at the same time. I have the purple gradient ones above but they come in so many different varieties. My mom loves these t-shirt dresses. She bought herself a floral version from an Amazon post last year and I got her a black one for Christmas. Also I got my son these crazy men’s socks for Christmas. He’s been wearing them a lot so I think he likes them! Here are some more things Hecate and I are looking at.

An set of eyeshadow brushes for precise application

From CB: We were asked in an Amazon post recently to find an eyeshadow brush set. You can get a set of 12 eye brushes by Daubigny for under $10. They come in three different color options and in a travel pouch. They have over 1,500 ratings, 4.6 stars and a B on Fakespot. They’re said to be soft and blend well and to be a great bargain for the price. “I can’t say enough good things about these brushes for the price point I was blown away. In my opinion they’re just like sigma brushes or morphe brushes but a heck of a lot cheaper.” “These are very nice brushes. I’ve had them for about a month and havent noticed any shedding.”

Wide mouth mason jars to make those meal in a jar things

From CB: I have been watching Those So Yummy and Tasty videos to fall asleep to at night. They have music without talking and I find people making food, especially desserts, soothing. I want to try the layered oatmeal and salads you can make in mason jars. These are four wide-mouth 16 ounce Ball jars for under $21. You can use them for canning of course but they’re also pretty for storage and can also be used for leftovers. They have 142 ratings, 4.7 stars and an A on Fakespot. People write “It is good quality glass, there is a good seal and I noticed no leaking.” “Always dependable for canning, storing, fermenting food. Just the right size mouth for easy access.” (Some people say these are not 16 ounce jars but I looked through so many listings for these jars. Many had other issues and lower Fakespot ratings.)

A skincare trio that’s too nice to give away

From CB: This brightening skincare trio by trusted brand I Dew Care features a vitamin C serum, lip mask and vitamin C gel cream. This would make a great gift but I would probably keep it. It’s $25 and you get almost two ounces of products. It’s vegan, cruelty free and paraben free and has almost 1,200 ratings, 4.3 stars and an A on Fakespot. Women say the products are light and absorbent and that they can see a difference in their skin within a few days. “After a week of use I already see an improvement in my skin. This kit is perfect if you have dry skin. It doesn’t clog my pores and cause me to break out.” “This brand makes my skin glow! I have never had my skin look this good!”

A detangling brush that really works

From CB: This detangling brush for kids and adults by Crave Naturals is under $12. It has 29,000 ratings, 4.4 stars and a B on Fakespot. People say it detangles hair easily without breakage, pain or pulling. Parents have stories about how it works like nothing else they’ve tried. “I’m a single dad of a 6 years old girl and combing her hair is the hardest part of taking care of her. She gets really bad knots in her hair. This brush is the only thing that has ever worked. Thank you so much. She even likes to comb her own hair now.” “ Bought this brush a while back and my daughter uses it every night.” “I absolutely love this brush, whether wet or dry, it’s great! I have 2 name brand Wet Brushes and honestly, they don’t even compare to my surprise.”

Travel size hand sanitizer so you’ll never be without protection

From Hecate: I’ve started keeping a travel sized hand sanitizer spray in my car. We all get a little spritz and it just feels safer. If you get one with a scent, it makes you feel protected every time you smell it. These are Meyers, which is a pretty reliable cleaning brand. They come 1 for $4 or 4 for $14. Amazon offers them in basil or lavender scent. The spray has 4.8 stars from 233 reviewers and Fakepsot gave them an A. One reviewer talked about how they prefer mists, “Since it is not gel-based, it does not make my hands sticky at all. And, I have trusted the Mrs. Meyer’s brand for a long time.” I agree, I like that you can’t feel it once it’s on. Another said they like the basil scent the most, “The basil hand sanitizer spray is the best scent! Not overpowering and very pleasant” which is good because that’s the one I want to get.

A lip scrub and balm in one for baby smooth lips

From Hecate: My lips are chapped and begging for some kind of relief. When I baby them they feel so wonderful that I wonder why I don’t do it more often. This Qilebi double effect lip treatment is a lip scrub/mask on one side and lip moisture care on the other. It’s available in either peach or strawberry, which both sound sexier during Valentine season, don’t they? The lip scrub got 4.1 stars out of 715 reviews hand Fakespot gave it a B. Reviews were very enthusiastic, one reviewer said she was sold after her first use, “After my first application my lips not only felt more softer but I noticed the pigmentation brightened up.” Another said it stays on your lips so it works that much faster, “ Let me RAVE about the moisturizer! It is so light yet had an airtight cling to your lips and I felt the moisturizer working immediately!” Might as well get those lips ready for V-day now.

A cute short nightie for Valentine’s Day

From Hecate: I love a cute nightie and Valentine’s Day is always a good excuse to get one. Especially when they are under $16 and Amazon is offering a 15% off coupon! This little number comes in seven colors and sizes small to 3XL. Most of the reviews say it has no give so it’s best to go up a size. I like this one because it’s silky but also because it’s a simple design, short and sexy with a lightly draped neck. The nightie has 4.2 stars from over 1,400 reviews. It does not have a great Fakespot rating, but that’s typical for clothing and I was sold by the customer photos. Women said it looks as fancy as costlier versions, “Great quality and looks as luxurious as other expensive brands.” Also, it has adjustable straps so you can get just the look you want, “Good quality satin with adjustable straps. It’s short….a little breezy but just covers what needs to be covered.” Treat yourself, we all deserve something special for Big Heart Day.

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