Donatella Versace Guest Edits 'Baroness' Magazine With Sarah Baker Holiday 2019 Campaign

Donatella Versace Guest Edits 'Baroness' Magazine With Sarah Baker Holiday 2019 Campaign

Donatella Versace adds the role of guest editor of the new Baroness Magazine to her Holiday 2019 resume. Founded by art and creative director Matthew Holroyd and Dazed & Confused editor in chief Isabella Burley, the glamazon magazine is also inspired by “scandalous celebrity sisters the Kardashians”. The magazine, writes Crack, “is putting female deviants back in control.”

Donatella collaborated with Sarah Baker on a new art project — anchored in Baroness and an accompanying six-part video campaign— for the 2019 holiday season.

Baker and Helena Christensen, dressed head-to-toe in Versace, are the main protagonists in the print and video narrative which includes a wedding party where the bride, played by model Meghan Roche, wears an Atelier Versace dress and the wedding gifts span from a pair of Chain Reaction sneakers to the Virtus bag. Jonathan Saxby and Simonas Pham join the cast. for images and video lensed by Edith Bergfors and Milo Reid.

Not even Telemundo could’ve thought of a more twisted and fabulous story, says mitú.

Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) Wins Chair of House Oversight Committee

Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.), flanked by Democratic Caucus Chair Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) and Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Eliot Engel (D-N.Y.) Photo: Chip Somodevilla via Axios

Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) will become the first woman to chair the House Oversight Committee, winning the important assignment by defeating Gerry Connolly (D-VA) with 133 votes against Connolly’s 86.

Maloney has been acting as the committee's chair since the Oct. 17 death of Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.). Her gavel will immediately thrust the Congresswoman into the limelight, with the Oversight’s key role in the impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump.

Rep. Jim Jordan, (R-OH) is known to be a particularly abrasive, heavy-hammer, take-no-prisoners Republican leader on the committee, prompting Connolly to run on the quiet platform that dealing with Jordan is a man’s job.

Given his uninformed, pure badgering performance in this week’s intelligence committee impeachment hearings, Maloney’s supporters dismissed the argument as sexist. Supporters insisted that it was key to have a female voice alongside the two other white men leading the Democrats’ impeachment inquiry.

Maloney secured endorsements from top Democrats like House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn (D-S.C.), who is also the most powerful black member in Congress. Her promise to focus on important issues beyond investigating Trump was welcome news for moderates “squeezed by the ongoing impeachment furor”, writes Politico.

Hang Tight, America: The Redcoats Are Coming | Shag Haircuts Unite

Hang Tight, America: The Redcoats Are Coming | Shag Haircuts Unite

Rule number one of the little bit of grunge, a little rock, rigorously disheveled shag haircut is that the woman should be seriously rebellious and not faking it when choosing to get shaggy. Shags are not for imposters and poll readers. Rather, the shag haircut is for leaders like 70s’s women Jane Fonda and Debbie Harry, who are activists to the core decades later.

‘Shag’ is a 16th-century word, possibly from an Old English term for “rough, matted hair or wool. Men primarily, but some women also, have adopted their own definition of ‘shag’ and it has a strongly sexual connotation, as in “S(he) is a great shag.” There’s typically a ‘but’ that follows, as in “She’s a great shag but a total airhead.”

Shags are generally considered to be nonconforming, sexy haircuts, willfully embraced by their owners. Besides Fonda and Harry, the shaggy bob is also tagged to Meg Ryan and more recently Taylor Swift and Alexa Chung. Vogue Italia breaks down all the shag haircut details and shares celebs with their shags.

Jane Fonda, Still Flexing Shag Muscle

The return of shags — now a year-old trend in the US — gets new cred with female resistance. We all know that American women Democrats, Independents and increasingly, educated Republican women are exercising serious shag credentials.

Christine Blasey Ford Honored in ACLU LA As Handmaids Protest Kavanaugh at Federalist Society

Christine Blasey Ford speaks at the ACLU of Southern California's Annual Bill of Rights Dinner in Beverly Hills on Nov. 17, 2019.Richard Shotwell / via NBC News

Dr. Christine Blasey Ford, professor of psychology at Palo Alto University and a research psychologist at the Stanford University School of Medicine, made a surprise and rare public appearance Sunday night at an event with the ACLU of Southern California in Beverly Hills.

Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh was greeted by protesters dressed as the reproductive slaves in the dystopian novel "The Handmaid's Tale" while Dr. Christine Blasey Ford's Senate testimony was played on a large video screen outside the Federalist society venue. via Jennifer Bendery Twitter.

Ford, who famously accused Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh of having sexually assaulted her when they were teenagers, accepted the Rodger Baldwin Courage Award, saying that she had a responsibility to the nation to speak out about the alleged assault during a small party of teenagers in suburban Maryland in 1982. Ford explained that her knowledge of Anita Hill’s testimony against Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas helped persuade her that she must step forward during Kavanaugh’s confirmation hearings.

"When I came forward last September, I did not feel courageous. I was simply doing my duty as a citizen," she said. “I was simply doing my duty as a citizen, providing information to the Senate that I believed would be relevant to the Supreme Court nomination process. I thought anyone in my position, of course, would do the same thing.”

Supreme Court Justice Kavanaugh has kept a low profile since his confirmation, rarely appearing in public. The judge addressed the Federalist Society, a conservative legal foundation, in Washington DC on Friday November 15. Kavanaugh was greeted by protesters dressed as the reproductive slaves in the dystopian novel "The Handmaid's Tale" while Ford's Senate testimony was played on a large video screen outside the venue.

Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh was greeted by protesters dressed as the reproductive slaves in the dystopian novel "The Handmaid's Tale" while Dr. Christine Blasey Ford's Senate testimony was played on a large video screen outside the Federalist society venue. via Jennifer Bendery Twitter.

Baltimore Museum Will Acquire Work Only By Women Artists in 2020

Georgia O’Keeffe's "Pink Tulip" is on view at the Baltimore Museum of Art as part of its 2020 Vision initiative,which will be a year-long series of exhibitions and programs focused solely on female artists. (The Baltimore Museum of Art)

Women artists received a tough love message in a recent survey of art acquisitions by America’s museums. Only 11 percent of art acquired by 26 of America’s top museums for their permanent collections from 2008 to 2018, is the work of women artists.

The Baltimore Museum of Art announced a new drive for women artists, announcing that in 2020, the museum will only acquire work for its permanent collection that is produced by women.

The decision is an attempt by the museum to “truly be radical and emphasize to the arts communities that we are taking this initiative quite seriously,” and “re-correcting the canon,” chief curator Asma Naeem said.

The initiative comes as many museums in Washington and across America prepare to celebrate women artists in conjunction with the 100th anniversary of the 19th amendment and women’s right to vote. It’s also expected that the newly Democratic state government of Virginia will ratify the ERA (Equal Rights Amendment) early in 2020, pushing the amendment across the finish line with state ratifications. The time is beyond the original ratification dates, and the issue will surely be moved into the federal court system.

Celebrating women artists is great, but just as American women have learned with achieving the ERA, progress is very painful and slow.

“Curators say they struggle to convince their acquisition committees to pay up for work, particularly by older, overlooked female artists, who frequently lack an auction history that might be used to validate the asking price,” the investigative report on museum acquisitions stated.

AOC discovered a perfect example of this reality in our recent post about 99-year-old artist Luchita Hurtado.

“If you think about the word ‘artist,’ there’s a tacit assumption that it’s a male genius who is in fact the artist,” Naeem said. “That can be seen in the fact that we even call these ‘women artists.’ They’re not women artists. They’re artists.”

Artist Emma Kohlmann by Mariya Pepelanova for Eurowoman December 2019

Artist Emma Kohlmann by Mariya Pepelanova for Eurowoman December 2019

Artist Emma Kohlmann @meiow_mix is lensed by Mariya Pepelanova for the December 2019 issue of Eurowoman Denmark. Fashion editor Frederikke Raun styles Emma, who was interviewed in Amadeus Magazine in 2018.

Multimedia artist Emma Kohlmann exists in three different worlds: her quaint, quiet life in Northampton, Massachusetts; her social, gallery-hopping life in New York City and Los Angeles; and the indefinable otherworldly life she has created through her colorful and abstract watercolors. Each world is a telling reflection of Emma’s multifaceted personality and the disparate needs she has in order to fuel her creativity.

Emma’s watercolor world is playful and somewhat naive. It’s balanced, yet completely off-balanced. It’s intrinsically political, unwittingly powerful, and aesthetically stunning. It’s a way for the Massachusetts-based artist to retreat into a figurative world that doesn’t define an ideal form. Fascinated by the idea of constructing things that are beautiful, but are not attached to certain forms of identity, Emma sees the body as political. There are aspects that are visible and others that are hidden. There are parts that are celebrated and others that are obliterated, and she wants all of them to be acknowledged. Driven by her desire to deconstruct what is learned, her lively figures aren’t confined to traditional gender norms, and who or what these figures are is irrelevant. What’s most crucial for Emma is branching out of the typical male canon of nudity, transgressing the image, and remaining absolutely limitless in her presentation of such.

Esther Heesch Prowls In Fall Fashion Animal Print Images by Anya Holdstock in Vogue Spain

Esther Heesch Poses in 'The Beast of My Coat' for Vogue Spain October 2019

Model Esther Heesch is styled by Vito Castelo in ‘The Beast of My Coat’, a fashion photography lensed by Anya Holdstock for Vogue Spain October 2019.

Melinda Gates' $1 Billion To Advance American Women | Trump Voters Want Women at Home

Philanthropist Melinda Gates is not sleeping well in Trumplandia. After a decade of watching the erosion of women’s rights and women’s progress in America, Gates has decided to do a very public reality check on the state of American women.

Reality is that 50 years after the second wave of the women’s movement ignited, only one CEO on the list of people running Fortune 500 companies is a woman of color. Gates cites the sobering fact that in 2018, there were more men names James running Fortune 500 companies than women.

Her action plan involves $1 billion spent towards expanding women’s power and influence in America. “There is no reason to believe this moment will last forever,” Gates, founder of investment and incubation company Pivotal Ventures, wrote in a Time.com opinion piece about the women’s marches, #MeToo movement, and the political activism and elections to office for American women.

“Too many people - women and men - have worked too hard to get us this far,” she wrote. “There are too many possible solutions we haven’t tried yet.”

Goals include dismantling barriers to women’s job advancement such as care-giving obligations and sexual harassment and fast-tracking women in influential job sectors such as technology, media and public office. Gates doesn’t

I, too, lie awake at night worrying about this possibility -- and have for a decade. The arrival of the Republican Tea Party in 2010 signaled an awesome erosion of women’s rights that have exploded since Trump became president.

One night I actually had a terrifying nightmare related to women’s access to contraception in America, and this was several years before the dystopian Handmaid Tale became a Hulu hit.

There is no doubt that Republicans are determined to take US women back to the 50s, eliminate all child care support, even public education in an effort to get American women having babies and even home schooling them with the Biblical good book.

I worry that America is increasingly becoming an Arab country -- and I don't mean too many Muslims. I mean too many Republicans wanting a theocracy where a Christian God runs the country, just as Allah and his men culturally and politically run the Muslim countries. The vast majority (over 70% of Trump's women voters and 58% of men) support this vision for America, as evidenced by extensive research done on Trump voters by Baylor Christian University in Waco, Texas. ~ Anne

THE SACRED VALUES OF “TRUMPISM”

Core Values

Researchers looked at how religious values, behaviors and beliefs predicted political support for Trump, finding that the majority of those who voted for him tend to:

• Say they are “very religious”

• Are members of white Evangelical Protestant churches

• View the United States as a Christian nation

• Believe in an authoritative God who is actively engaged in world affairs

• See Muslims as threats to America

• Value gender traditionalism, feeling that men are better suited for politics and should earn more than women; women should provide primary child care; and working women are deficient as mothers

• Oppose lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights (such as legal marriage)

God's Man, Donald Trump, Played Golf as Hevrin Khalaf Was Stoned to Death

After giving the go-ahead to Turkey’s assault on the Kurds in Northern Syria, disgraced US President Donald Trump played golf on Saturday. As the bullet-riddled SUV of Secretary-General of the pro-Kurdish Future Syria Party and Hevrin Khalaf herself was shot and stoned to death, along with others in her convoy, Trump had a mighty good golf game. The Republicans scream “liar, liar, pants on fire”, but this fact is the truth, the image is real. Trump has nowhere to run, and nowhere to hide. The US president has totally disgraced America’s military and American values in support of the Kurds. His self-serving, Putin’s-puppet actions repulse us, and we grieve for the Kurdish people. Trump playing golf via.

God's man in America, Donald Trump, played golf on Saturday, while the bullet-riddled SUV of Secretary-General of the pro-Kurdish Future Syria Party and Hevrin Khalaf herself was shot and stoned to death, articulated Monday by MSNBC on the ground in Syria.

I couldn't second-source the method of killing her on Sunday and refused to spread a false rumor. Has Trump even mentioned her being stoned to death? Has he evoked any sense of horror over what he has unleashed in northern Syria? Not an ounce of concern. NOTHING!!!! Trump played golf through the entire Syrian violence.

Khalaf probably deserved such a horrific death in Trump's misogynist playbook, but she was a great defender of Christians.

I do not believe in revenge, but I pray that the spirit of Hevrin Khalaf emerges quickly into the universe, where she is needed. And I pray that she comes to sit on the shoulder of Donald Trump, connected to him in an inescapable constant presence of what Trump has done to her, to the Kurdish people, and to the total balance of power in the region.

Perhaps she could use her new powers in a way that doesn't harm him physically. We want Trump to live with his actions. Personally, I wouldn't mind if Trump Tower Istanbul went up in smoke.

A Prayer for Hevrin Khalaf’s Return

I want the goddess status of Hevrin Khalaf to appear to Trump, when he's chowing down his cheeseburgers in bed at the White House. I want him to see constant apparitions of her everywhere. I want Khalaf to help us rid America of this corrupt, sinful man and his corrupt posse who surround their every horrific action with God's name.

I want the last vision Donald Trump has of life to be Hevrin Khalaf being stoned to death. If I must live with her vision that is grieving me so painfully, so must Trump -- the heartless, gutless, corrupt golf-playing, sinner man who has duped an entire political party and sanctioned the death of by all accounts, one of the most important women promoting peace and positive action for the Kurdish people.

My last action around stoning was almost single-handedly saving a woman from being stoned to death in Sudan. Within 48 hrs. of my getting involved, it stopped with Khartoum saying "not her again (meaning me)." It gave me some solace in all this violence that my action stopped a horrific death. Now Trump has taken even that small memory of good action from me, because everything happened so quickly to the Kurds.

I don't know if Khalaf was traveling with a poison pill or not. Obviously, events happened so quickly, swallowing one was not an option for her, and all reports are that her death was agonizing.

May the original goddesses of the universe greet and bask in warmth and love the spirit of Hevrin Khalaf. And when her tears have stopped flowing for her beloved Kurdish people, let the goddesses send her on her way to Washington, DC where she sits on the shoulder of this decadent, despicable man.

The Republicans constantly call strong women with democratic values 'witches'. Let them understand the power of a true goddess in their presence, as they plot their ugly assassination of American greatness right under our disbelieving eyes.

As for the Kurdish women soldiers and Hevrin Khalaf, I prostrate myself on the ground and grieve for the horror that Trump and America have unleashed on you. I am so, so, so sorry for this animalistic, subhuman atrocity that EVERY SEASONED MILITARY OFFICIAL TOLD TRUMP WOULD HAPPEN.

Still, Trump powered on — because he is Putin’s Puppet and Erdogan’s, too. Trump has killed the full promise of a great experiment in democracy; you are dead, and chaos reigns in Syria. But then, Donald Trump does not believe in democracy for the Kurds or for America. ~ Anne

Nancy Pelosi to President Donald Trump: "You've come into my wheelhouse now"

HOUSE SPEAKER NANCY PELOSI WAS THE CLOSING SPEAKER AT THE TEXAS TRIBUNE FESTIVAL. IMAGE BY BOB DAEMMRICH FOR THE TEXAS TRIBUNE.

Nancy Pelosi to President Donald Trump: "You've come into my wheelhouse now"

U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi painted herself as a once-reluctant but now fully engaged general amid her party's push for an impeachment inquiry, in an onstage interview at The Texas Tribune Festival on Saturday.

To make her point, she used sweeping, solemn language to underscore her view that what is happening at the U.S. Capitol is an existential moment in American history.

"If this activity, this pattern of behavior were to prevail ... then it's over for the republic," she said. "We will have the equivalent of a monarchy."

"Let us be prayerful. Let us be solemn. Let us try not to make it further divisive," she added. "But we cannot ignore our oath of office to defend the Constitution of the United States from all enemies foreign and domestic."

In her most extensive interview about impeachment since she announced plans to open an inquiry this week, Pelosi described herself as "heartbroken" over the revelation that President Donald Trump asked the Ukrainian president to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden's son, Hunter Biden. White House disclosures of the conversation — and that Trump withheld military aid from Ukraine prior to the conversation — unleashed a firestorm in Washington last week.

"I think right now there is a cover-up of a cover-up," she said.

When asked why she moved from the strongest backstop against impeachment to the leader of the effort, she chose brevity: "The facts."

Joy Comes With Justice As Bland, Mallory and Sarsour Step Down From The Women's March

The January 21, 2017 Women’s March was the largest single-day march in US history, coming the day after Trump’s inauguration.

Justice has come to The Women’s March, an organization launched with the unified, anti-Trump passions of millions of women and men worldwide on January 21, 2017, the day after Donald Trump’s Presidential Inauguration . The Women’s March was the largest single-day protest in U.S. history.

After that breathtaking launch, The Women’s March devolved into recriminations against Jewish women, in particular, and white women generally. The Women’s Marches scheduled in many cities for 2019 were either cancelled or were held after public rejections of the Women’s March National Board led by original march organizers Linda Sarsour, a Palestinian-American activist; Tamika Mallory, an African-American gun control activist; Bob Bland, a white fashion designer, and Carmen Perez-Jordan.

The pervasive attitude that The Women’s March team was focused — not on building a large network of pro-women’s rights women and men nationwide — but their own New York activists short list of priorities that prioritized racial, Palestinian and sexual minority issues over women’s issues was wide-spread. White women, in particular, had little place in The Women’s March group as it evolved.

Women's March Co-Chairs Linda Sarsour and Tamika Mallory speak during the Power to the Polls voter-registration tour last year in Las Vegas. (Ethan Miller/Getty Images)

The organizers preferred to remind Hillary supporters and Democratic women that the majority of America’s white women voted for Trump, as Tamika Mallory did during the Power to the Polls voter-registration tour last year in Las Vegas. It was staggeringly depressing in the time of Trump to listen to Mallory use her platform not to rally the Hillary supporters, but denounce white women as pro-Trump.

College-educated white women voted for Hillary, but they were shunned and charged with not being true feminists, especially as Jewish women not being willing to denounce Israel over the Palestinian conflict.

Mallory, in particular, refused to criticize Nation of Islam black nationalist Louis Farrakhan, who made incendiary remarks about Jews, at an event in which she sat in the front row. Mallory is passionate in her support for Farrakhan, calling him a GOAT. Sarsour also refused to criticize Farakhan for his virulently anti-Semitic comments.

Tamika Mallory, Linda Sarsour, Bob Bland and Carmen Perez. Perez will stay on with The Women’s March group.

On Monday, The Women’s March announced that co-Chairs Bob Bland, Tamika Mallory and Linda Sarsour stepped down from the board July 15, though the organization has been slow to announce their departures. ,reports The Washington Post.

A diverse cast of 16 new board members that includes three Jewish women, a transgender woman, a former legislator, two religious leaders and a member of the Oglala tribe of the Lakota nation will inherit an organization recovering from a failed attempt to trademark the Women’s March name and fractured relationships with local activist groups and the Jewish community.

A new operating structure will be put in place shortly, which is a good thing because in its totally destructive state, the national Women March leadership was a total threat in telling white suburban women — an important voting block in the success of Democrats in the 2018 midterms — to go to hell. After Mallory’s speech in Las Vegas, I simply can’t imagine what she would have said to white women in the presidential election campaign. .

The three members who have resigned — Bob Bland, Tamika Mallory and Linda Sarsour — are avid Bernie Sanders supporters, which is a key reason why they refused to allow Hillary Clinton to be one of about 20 women honored at the maiden Women’s March launch on January 21, 2019. Despite their protestations to the contrary, the founders never sought unity with Hillary supporters, all but accusing us of electing Trump.

Words do not express my job at seeing these three women — especially Mallory and Sarsour — step down from The Women’s March organization. Now — let us rise in unity! We’ll cover the responses to this news in a followup article. Few will be as candid as my commentary, but these women totally crushed the Trumped-down spirits of so many women all over America .~ Anne

Vogue Italia September Has Gorgeous Adut Akech + Vilma Sjöberg Covers | Farneti's Words Confuse

Vogue Italia September Has Gorgeous Adut Akech + Vilma Sjölberg Covers | Farneti's Words Confuse

The September 2019 issue of Vogue Italia brings two covers into the world of fashion speak and imagination. "Peace" is the guiding idea of Mert & Marcus’s image of Vilma Sjölberg, while “Couture” inspires Paolo Roversi in his Adut Akech cover.

Also read the texts by Michael Cunningham for the September covers of Vogue Italia signed by Mert & Marcus and Paolo Roversi. Note that this text is taken directly from the Vogue Italia . AOC finds it a tad confusing, as international translation always struggles with s(he) pronouns in Google translator. Reality is that this issue of Vogue Italia is focused on the importance of words, adding a note of irony to this modern word editorial focus. Always looking for the good in a situation, I first attributed the excessive use of ‘he’ to Google translator.

Reading the Vogue Italia website translation of Farneti’s editor’s letter, it seems that the extensive use of ‘he’ is intended., that the male pronoun is dominant, in which case AOC is pretty pissed off. After all, the history of Rome is even worse than the fall of women’s influence and power under the Greeks. Italy put the nail in the proverbial women’s rights coffin.

Central Park Women's Suffrage Monument Redesigned to Include Sojourner Truth

For nearly a year, the proposed Central Park statue honoring women’s suffrage in America has been plagued in controversy. It’s difficult to believe that in 2019, planners of the monument could be so tone-deaf to the race-related arguments swirling around America’s women’s rights history.

The Women’s March 2017, organized by a group of women who refused to honor legendary women’s rights Hillary Clinton, after her defeat by Donald Trump, signaled a new day for setting the record straight — the truth and also new lies and distortions — about the history of American feminism.

The original design by sculptor Meredith Bergmann visually elevated two prominent white women — Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton — over a scrolling list of 22 other women, seven of them women of color. AOC disagrees with the complaint that Anthony and Stanton were metaphorically “standing’ on the other women.” But they certainly look like boss ladies at a time when younger people are rejecting hierarchy and white superiority, along with a nonexistent recognition of the contributions of people of color — and slaves specifically — in building America.

For context, there is NO statue of any nonfictional female of any skin color in Central Park and around New York, writes the New York Times. The park currently features no historical women but statues of fictional girls like Alice from Lewis Carroll’s ‘Alice in Wonderland’ and Juliet from William Shakespeare’s ‘Romeo and Juliet.’

While a new visual of the proposed statue to be erected on Central Park’s Literary Walk by 2020 is not available, it’s a miracle that the proposed design was aborted at all. Women including Gloria Steinem helped turn back the design against the nearly insurmountable rules and regulations that defined its artistic creation initially and the legitimate controversy that ensued.

“Our goal has always been to honor the diverse women in history who fought for equality and justice and who dedicated their lives to fight for Women’s Rights,” Pam Elam said in a statement. The president of the Monumental Women’s Statue Fund, the group financing the sculpture, added: “It is fitting that Anthony, Stanton, and Truth stand together in this statue as they often did in life.” via Hyperallergic.

Related: Central Park Women's Suffrage Monument by Sculptor Meredith Bergmann Unveiled AOC She

Over 100 Top Models + Time's Up Join Model Alliance In Open Letter to Victoria's Secret

On Tuesday morning, over 100 models, including Christy Turlington Burns, Edie Campbell, Karen Elson, Milla Jovovich, Doutzen Kroes, and Gemma Ward, signed an open letter addressed directly to Victoria’s Secret. The letter petitioned the lingerie brand to take concrete actions in protecting models against sexual misconduct.

The letter was properly addressed to Victoria’s Secret’s CEO John Mehas and it pulled no punches:

We are writing today to express our concern for the safety and wellbeing of the models and young women who aspire to model for Victoria’s Secret. In the past few weeks, we have heard numerous allegations of sexual assault, alleged rape, and sex trafficking of models and aspiring models. While these allegations may not have been aimed at Victoria's Secret directly, it is clear that your company has a crucial role to play in remedying the situation. From the headlines about L Brands CEO Leslie Wexner’s close friend and associate, Jeffrey Epstein, to the allegations of sexual misconduct by photographers Timur Emek, David Bellemere, and Greg Kadel, it is deeply disturbing that these men appear to have leveraged their working relationships with Victoria’s Secret to lure and abuse vulnerable girls.

L Brands CEO Les Wexner (l) and former CMO Ed Razek (r) in happier times.

The letter then proceeds to invite Victoria’s Secret to join the RESPECT Program —a program of the Model Alliance—is the only existing anti-sexual harassment program designed by and for models.

Signatory companies make a binding commitment to require their employees, agents, vendors, photographers and other contractors to follow a code of conduct that protects everyone’s safety on the job, and reduces models’ vulnerability to mistreatment. Models have access to an independent, confidential complaint mechanism, with swift and fair resolution of complaints and appropriate consequences for abusers. Further, RESPECT includes a robust training program aimed toward prevention, to ensure that everyone understands their rights and responsibilities.

“Corporations tend to treat the discovery of abuses as public-relations crises to be managed rather than human-rights violations to be remedied,” says Sara Ziff, the founder and executive director of the Model Alliance. “The RESPECT Program provides Victoria’s Secret an opportunity not only to right the wrongs of the past but also to work towards prevention.”

Ziff recently penned an essay for the Cut detailing her own encounter with Epstein as a young model. She highlighted just how long an imbalance of power and lack of protections have “plagued” the industry. She wrote: “Now, we need the support of agencies, publishing companies, and fashion brands who want to do better by the talent who they purport to protect.”

In November, the Model Alliance issued a statement following disgraced L Brands Chief Marketing Officer Ed Razek’s infamous Vogue interview in advance of Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show. Razek retired from Victoria’s Secret on Monday.

Valentina Sampaio Shoots Pink Campaign for Victoria's Secret, As Ed Razek Steps Down from L Brands

We have the welcome news that Victoria’s Secret Chief Marketing Officer Ed Razek has retired in the wake of growing fallout around Jeffrey Epstein’s connections to L Brands chief and major stockholder Les Wexner. The plot has thickened so deep that even I — who worked in the business for a decade and knew both men well — am waiting for the next shoe to drop.

Razek was riding high — not in terms of VS revenues and profits, which were clobbered last year — but in an interview with Vogue in advance of the now cancelled, annual Victoria’s Secret fashion show. Among the tough questions fielded to Razek was one about using ‘transsexual’ models in the fashion show.

Razek claimed that “transsexual” models should not be cast “because the show is fantasy.” We know he meant “male fantasy” which is among the many reasons for the decline of VS. Former Victoria’s Secret Angel Karlie Kloss and current Angel Lily Aldridge clapped back online, stating that trans and gender non-conforming lives are not up for debate.

In a bit of poetic justice, Razek is out and transgender beauty Valentina Sampaio, a 22-year-old model hailing from Brazil, has shot a new campaign for Victoria’s Secret Pink.

I find Sampaio’s sultry, intoxicating images to be more conducive for the VS mothership, but whatever role she plays, we say kudos.

Hiring Sampaio won’t begin to solve Victoria’s Secret’s problems, but at least we know that new VS CEO John Mehas is putting his foot down. Mehas most recently was president of Tory Burch and from all we know, his thinking is much more advanced in terms of today’s women and also the attitudes of young shoppers than either Razek’s or Wexner’s.

Bernie Sanders Campaign Should Stop The White Women's Privilege Lectures

Bernie Sanders Campaign Should Stop The White Women's Privilege Lectures

Last February Jennifer Wright addressed Vermont Independent Senator Bernie Sanders’ problem with women, writing Bernie Sanders’ Sexism Problem for Harper’s Bazaar.

“We have got to look at candidates, you know, not by the color of their skin, not by their sexual orientation or their gender and not by their age. I mean, I think we have got to try to move us toward a non-discriminatory society which looks at people based on their abilities, based on what they stand for.” Vermont Public Radio, Feb. 2019

Many women and people of color view that statement as a reaffirmation of the “let white men rule, we’re better at it” theory of political governance. Wright perfects her roast of Sanders, and I encourage to read her piece, while I pull out a few highlights that still simmer in my conscious as a super active person in the Hillary Clinton campaign.

There was a bit of poetic justice when women who worked for Bernie in his 2016 primary campaign came forward to discuss how they were paid less and experienced sexual harassment. You see, with rare exceptions — finally hiring Symone Sanders who served as his national press secretary until late June 2016 — Bernie couldn’t really find many good women of any skin color to hire at a high level. His campaign was run by white men — a feature that he has fixed in his current 2020 run for the Democratic nomination.

Still, when women working in the field and as organizers complained about both wages and fending off sexual advances from male staffers, Bernie grabbed his mop of white hair and defended his inaction saying initially “I was a little bit busy running around the country”. After all, Bernie Sanders said that “women’s issues were a distraction” and Planned Parenthood — who is getting the crap kicked out of them by the Trump administration — is “the establishment”.

LVMH Takes Minority Position In Stella McCartney | Makes Stella Sustainability Adviser To Arnault

Stella McCartney is making front page news with the announcement that the designer, who abandoned her relationship with Kerring in 2018, has now joined forces with LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton, the world’s largest luxury group.

McCartney will remain in her role as her brand’s creative director and also as majority stockholder in the Stella McCartney business. Her additional responsibilities include becoming a special adviser to Bernard Arnault, LVMH’s chairman, and also to the LVMH board, on the topic of sustainability.

The fashion industry has an enormously negative and earth-harming footprint on the environment, and no one in fashion world is better prepared to fill this role of LVMH adviser on sustainability than Stella McCartney.

The addition of Stella McCartney’s voice and brand to the LVMH creative and leadership stable underscores the company’s commitment to gender equity. Since 2017, LVMH has named Maria Grazia Chiuri to head Dior and Claire Waight Keller to lead Givenchy. Arnaut has taken a minority position in the also sustainability-focused Gabriela Hearst, while creating a blockbuster disruption of the entire luxury industry with the creation of a new fashion house Fenty, created with Rihanna.

In talking about her new partnership, Stella McCartney said that since ending her partnership with LVMH rival Kerring, she had been pursued by many potential partners and investors wanting to help expand her business.

In the end, McCartney made a seemingly wise decision, one that gives her an opportunity to have heavy influence on issues that matter to her a great deal, while tapping into funding and a professional contacts base that will give her enormous flexibility. The importance of Stella’s access to Arnault and the LVMH board of directors can’t be understated.

“The chance to realize and accelerate the full potential of the brand alongside Mr. Arnault and as part of the LVMH family, while still holding the majority ownership in the business, was an opportunity that hugely excited me,” she said.

Valora Stroganoff's Threat Of Wild Women, Lensed By Luca Meneghe For Numéro France

Valora Stroganoff's Threat Of Wild Women, Lensed By Luca Meneghe For Numéro France

Model Vaiora Stroganoff is styled by Clement Lomellini as a wild, forest woman — she who has a long, metaphorical and anthropological history of always subverting patriarchy. Clearly, the wild woman cannot be trusted, and her irrational state of being represents a constant threat to western civilization.

Photographer Luca Meneghel captures Vaiora in ‘En Créature de la Forêt’ for Numéro France July 2019./ Hair by Paul Duchemin; makeup by Laetitia Sireix

Jane Fonda Gets Candid On Her 'Woke' History, Celebrating 60 Years Since Vogue Cover

Top Jane Fonda photographed by Irving Penn, Vogue, July 1959; Bottom Fonda in 2018, photo credit Getty Images. via Vogue US

Bridget Read interviews Jane Fonda about 60 years of activism , looking totally fab in her 80s and her first Vogue cover shot by master artist Irving Penn in July 1959.

We learn that Fonda actually worked for Irving Penn for a year, acting as his assistant at age 19. How thrilling! The Vogue cover shoot was a year before the actor’s first film ‘Tall Story’. She was wearing lipstick-color gloves available at Saks Fifth Avenue and a “spice brown” rinse in her hair.

Jane was studying at the time with Lee Strasberg and assigned to the Eileen Ford Agency as a model to pay for her acting classes. “If you had told me at that time that at age 81 I would again be on the cover of Vogue, I would’ve told you you were out of your mind, that that was completely and utterly impossible,” Jane tells Briget Read. Fonda continues:

My image of women was that they were victims and not very powerful, and my dad didn’t encourage me, or make me feel I was attractive. I mean, everything was a surprise to me. I was surprised that I got cast in a movie. I was surprised that I was ever accepted as a model at Eileen Ford’s agency and surprised that I ever ended up on the cover of Vogue. So my life has just been one big surprise for me.

It fact it wasn’t Jane Fonda’s visit to Angela Davis in the Marin Couny Jail that propelled her into activism. Nor was it her ‘radical’ husband Tom Hayden’s state assembly campaign in California. Fonda became an uber progressive in Paris, hanging with American GIs who had served in Vietnam. They had become resistors and gave the blooming model a book to read by Jonathan Schell called ‘The Village of Ben Suc’. There was no turning back after reading that book.

This interview gets better and better, as Fonda and Read discuss what it is to be ‘woke’. Read on at Vogue.

How Women in Kenya Mobilized for Peace After Surviving Violence

How Women in Kenya Mobilized for Peace After Surviving Violence

Women are rarely represented adequately at peace negotiations yet they make up half the population of any country in conflict or at war. This remains the case despite increasing global policy awareness on how women are affected by conflict and the importance of including them in peace and security processes. For instance, the UN’s landmark framework on women, peace and security reaffirms the important role women play in the prevention and resolution of conflicts.

Women’s contributions are also underscored in African peace instruments like the Maputo Protocol and Kenya’s National Action Plan.

But how do women in conflict actually engage in peacebuilding? There is considerable academic literature on the links between gender and peace but the lived experiences of women peace builders are not well captured.