Oprah Heads To Georgia As Maya Angelou's Words Remind Us To Use Our Anger By Voting

OPRAH URGES HER 42 MILLION TWITTER FANS TO HEAD TO THE POLLS, SITTING ALONGSIDE HER LONGTIME FRIEND, NBC NEWS’ MARIA SHRIVER IN A NEW PUBLIC SERVICE AD. THE MEDIA MOGUL SAYS ABOUT VOTING “OUR COUNTRY DEPENDS UPON IT.”

Oprah Heads To Georgia As Maya Angelou's Words Remind Us To Use Our Anger By Voting

A Fragile American Dream

AOC’s reflection on ‘Maya’s Quilt of Life’ comes when Oprah Winfrey is headed to Georgia on Thursday, where she will campaign for Democratic gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams. The candidate is deadlocked in a tight race with current Georgia secretary of state Republican Brian Kemp.

Oprah urges her 42 million Twitter fans to head to the polls, sitting alongside her longtime friend, NBC News’ Maria Shriver in a new public service ad. The media mogul says about voting “Our country depends upon it.”

“We’re both independents. I don’t think a lot of people know that,” Winfrey — who endorsed Barack Obama in the 2008 presidential election and called herself a “100 percent supporter” of his during the 2012 race — told the camera.

Oprah will join Stacey Abrams at two town hall conversations, according to BuzzFeed News. And like Will Farrell before her this week, Oprah will spend time knocking on doors.

Not only would Abrams become the first African American woman elected as a US governor, her Republican opponent Brian Kemp as already been found guilty of substantial voter suppression efforts in the state of Georgia. Kemp has once again put the state’s minority voters under siege, as the courts have stepped in yet again to insure a reasonably fair and honest election in the state.

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Across America, millions of citizens are heeding the words of Maya Angelou, and will declare — one way or the other next Tuesday — the state of America’s soul, civic spirit and historical progress on the rights of all people, not only white people:

“If you’re not angry, you’re either a stone, or you’re too sick to be angry. You should be angry. You must not be bitter. Bitterness is like cancer. It eats upon the host. It doesn’t do anything to the object of its displeasure. So use that anger, yes. You write it. You paint it. You dance it. You march it. You vote it. You do everything about it. You talk it. Never stop talking it.”

AOC shares this commitment to never shut up, because the future of America depends upon truthful voices as white nationalism threatens to sweep our beloved country.

Priyanka Chopra's Nick Jonas Bridal Shower Lights Up Tiffany & Co's Blue Box Cafe

Priyanka Chopra's Nick Jonas Bridal Shower Lights Up Tiffany & Co's Blue Box Cafe

Tiffany & Company has figured front and center in the engagement of Nick Jonas and Priyanka Chopra. In a scene straight out of Sweet Home Alabama writes Vogue, Jonas reportedly shut down the jeweler’s London store in order to purchase his bride’s engagement ring in privacy.

Tiffany & Co’s flagship store on New York’s Fifth Avenue was the scene of Priyanka Chopra’s bridal shower at the fourth floor Blue Box Cafe, hosted by bridesmaids Anjula Acharia and Mubina Rattonsey. The Sunday event welcomed about 100 people including Chopra’s future sister-in-law Danielle Jonas, Kelly Ripa, and Lupita Nyong’o.

In May 2016, Melania Trump Assured America That Her Husband Is Not Hitler

In May 2016, Melania Trump Assured America That Her Husband Is Not Hitler

Charlize Theron Launches J’Adore Absolu Lady Squad Sensual Goddesses Campaign

Charlize Theron Launches J’Adore Absolu Lady Squad Sensual Goddesses Campaign

The dazzling Charlize Theron continues in her relationship with Dior Parfums as the face of J’Adore Absolu fragrance. In an interview so long and spilling over with candid observations that we will publish it tomorrow in AOC Women In-Depth, Charlize Theron manages to turn a discussion with Harper’s Bazaar UK about her new J’adore Absolu campaign into an extended conversation about diversity and femininity on-screen. Stay tuned.

The film was directed by Romain Gavras, and is a true tribute to the beauty and community of women. Over the song “Flashing Lights” by Kanye West, the new-look lady squad shows off their proud prowess. 

The new Dior J'adore L’absolu campaign, where Theron is seen bathing in a pool of gold, reminds us of the famous 1999 campaign featuring the supermodel Carmen Kass. This time, though, the sensual-yet-powerful character Theron portrays is not alone, as she was in the 2011 campaign below — Anne’s favorite. Theron is surrounded by a diverse array of women who share an ethereal quality. The scene is inspired by the painting ‘The Turkish Bath’ by Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres. Both the campaign and artwork integrate the eroticism of the naked female form into the relaxed sensual communion that women share apart from the male gaze.

IMAN Talks Models Of Color In Fashion With Porter Edit Oct. 26, 2018: We've Come A Long Way, Baby

IMAN Talks Models Of Color In Fashion With Porter Edit Oct. 26, 2018: We've Come A Long Way, Baby

Porter Edit’s October 26 2018 issue turns its focus on supermodel, makeup entrepreneur, humanitarian and champion of black women’s rights: IMAN. Tracy Taylor styles the fashion icon in trench coats and utilitarian suitings from Michael Kors, Victoria Beckham, Joseph, Chloe and more for images by Hanna Tveite.

Jane Mulkerrings conducts the interview that touches on many topics from IMAN’s discovery by legendary photographer Peter Beard to her constant grief over the loss of her husband David Bowie.

It’s her focus on the fashion industry and her own activism on behalf of models of color that demands our focus, educating even me on the activism of IMAN, Bethann Hardison and Naomi Campbell’s launching of a campaign in September 2013 to force a reckoning over the dearth of models of color on the catwalk.

At AOC we see this pace of a primary place for models of color in the fashion industry escalating dramatically in 2017-2018. IMAN is totally correct is affirming that the changes are not only visible but blindingly so. It’s dazzling, frankly. Nobody gets a gold star for taking what was the right path all along. Nevertheless, the changes are breathtaking and a moment of joy for me personally as a citizen of Trumplandia.

AOC Women of Color Model Archives

New Bride Karlie Kloss and Momofuku Milk Bar's Christina Tosi's Wedding Cake Go Way Back

New Bride Karlie Kloss and Momofuku Milk Bar's Christina Tosi's Wedding Cake Go Way Back

Today’s brides have a passion for naked cakes and Momofuku Milk Bar is leading the trend, offering patisseries for wedding days!

The Milk Bar made big news recently, supplying the wedding cake for Karlie Kloss and Joshua Kushner’s quiet, surprise nuptials last week for 80 guests in upstate New York. The couple will hold a much larger reception in the spring.

The Milk Bar wedding cake is no surprise for Karlie because she has worked closely with the brand in the past and is good friends with the bakery's owner Christina Tosi. In 2012, with help from Tosi, Kloss created her very own Milk Bar cookie called Karlie's Perfect 10 Kookie. At the time, all the proceeds earned from the treats benefited FEED Project. The newlywed's special creation is still available at Milk Bar.

In a late September 2018 interview on Eater, Christina Tosi shares her strategies for fundraising and growth.

Megyn Kelly's 'Blackface' Comments Leave Her NBC News Future Very Cloudy

Megyn Kelly's 'Blackface' Comments Leave Her NBC News Future Very Cloudy

I missed this Megyn Kelly 'blackface' stupidity from Tuesday. The NBC face been on thin ice anyway, as Kelly's ratings have not been great. Her audience is 35% or more people -- largely women -- of color.

She still hasn't recovered from her run-in with Jane Fonda, choosing to ask Fonda about plastic surgery rather than her activism, which was the scheduled topic. Fonda abruptly ended the interview.

So Megyn Kelly, who already has a track record over objecting to black Santas, wonders out loud -- in the midst of this Trump crisis -- why whites can't wear blackface on Halloween. If the woman wanted to get her contract cancelled, she just delivered her own knock-out punch.

Kelly’s off the air Thursday and everything is up in the air at NBC. Rumors are intense that her departure is in negotiations. Given the outrage among her own colleagues over her ‘blackface’ remarks, it’s difficult to understand how Megyn Kelly can survive.

What was she thinking!!! Just last night I wrote a terse pushback over Instagram and Twitter outrage that Kendall Jenner was wearing frizzy curls in a photoshoot. Generally I feel that our culture has become way too politically correct. However, blackface??? Are you out of your mind Megyn Kelly? Because I refuse to buy the dumb blonde moniker, being one myself.

Kendall Jenner In PC Trouble For Her Curly Hair In CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund Ad

Kendall Jenner In PC Trouble For Her Curly Hair In CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund Ad

The fashion pc police were out in full force this week, and I’m not sure just how many people are offended. All I know is that my first response to seeing Kendall Jenner’s solo photo in the November 2018 issue of American Vogue was that she reminded me of my grandmother — my British grandmother.

I hope that the same people who are accusing Vogue and Kendall Jenner of cultural appropriation make it their business to vote in November. Like PLEASE stand up for the rights of people of color because America is in a terrible mess and you are worrying about Kendall Jenner’s clearly Gibson girl image. This is insane.

Believe it or not, millions of white women worldwide have curly, even frizzy hair. Every curly hairdo is not an attempt to rip off an Afro. Good goddess! Many, many Jewish women have curly hair because — ahem — when early humans migrated out of Africa, guess where they traveled? Into what is now known as the Levant and home to the Jewish people. Those early humans took their beautiful, curly hair with them and as a result, many other cultures ended up with lots of curls and even frizzy hair — NATURALLY. They are not fashion models and they were not ripping off Black women’s hair.

So we’ve got Trump trying to totally divide the country with his white nationalism and we’ve got Vogue magazine and Kendall Jenner once again having the audacity to think they can use Kendall in a Gibson girl look. Can we agree that Kendall’s outfit doesn’t look like it’s ripping off Afro fashion?

With all the pain and suffering on this planet, with Trump and the Republicans trying to take away voting rights for people of color in states all over America, this is the fashion industry crisis. I actually thought the editorial was very cool. Black women are everywhere in magazines right now — as they should be. As someone who tracks this topic every day, let me say that there is an abundance — and if we were counting — probably a statistical over-representation of models of color in fashion editorials right now. To that I say AMEN! It’s about time.

But then I read this kind of crap, that Kendall Jenner is accused of trying to cop an Afro — I can only say P-L-E-A-S-E give me a break.

"The image is meant to be an update of the romantic Edwardian/Gibson Girl hair which suits the period feel of the Brock Collection, and also the big hair of the '60s and the early '70s, that puffed-out, teased-out look of those eras," the Conde Nast publication said in a statement to E! News on Tuesday. "We apologize if it came across differently than intended, and we certainly did not mean to offend anyone by it." 

These two images from the editorial were used in a promotion for the publication’s CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund. And it’s not the first time. Vogues are always in trouble for some offense with the pc crowd. Kendall is also in trouble for the second photo below, where she posed with model Imaan Hammam, who wore a beyond words fabulous afro in another image. So Is Imaan in trouble for her straight hair??? Surely you jest. She’s just doing what models do. The offense in this case is strictly Kendall’s white girl oppression of women of color.

"FOR YEARS WE have been penalized about our looks and especially our hair, It is a slap in the face when non-Blacks try to imitate our look," one Instagram user wrote in a comment on the initial photo.

"I like Kendall but why didn't they use an ethnic model who has hair like that," another wrote of the initial photo.  via The Hollywood Reporter

Elephants Are Herbivores And Congo Would Love GlamTribal's Elephant Garden Party Pendant

Congo loves her watermelon at the Dallas Zoo

Elephants Are Herbivores And Congo Would Love GlamTribal's Elephant Garden Party Pendant

A circus retiree, the Dallas Zoo’s elephant Congo is called smart, investigative, and inquisitive and is enjoying exploring all of the new things she can do at the savanna. She loves to munch on bamboo, stripping layers of fibers and leaves off for a good chew, and enjoys regular pedicures with toenail filing, explains the Dallas Zoo in describing their Elephants on the Savanna exhibit. .

For all my love of elephants, I never considered their diet — specifically do they eat meat? One thinks of elephants as being herbivores, but is that actually a fact? The question was front and center in my mind, after planting a little garden in the tummy of our new GlamTribal Garden Party Elephant Pendant.

NS172 Elephant Garden Party Omo Pendant w/Earrings

$95.00

Elephants are primarily herbivores, spending 16 to 19 hours a day eating and looking for food. An elephant’s diet in the wild is comprised of 50% grasses that are supplemented with twigs, leaves, bamboo, roots, bark and small amounts of seeds, flowers and fruits. Read on.

Lupita Nyong'o Narrates Award-Winning 'My Africa' Virtual Reality Film For Elephant Conservation

Lupita Nyong'o Narrates Award-Winning 'My Africa' Virtual Reality Film For Elephant Conservation

A virtual reality film ‘My Africa’, narrated by Oscar-winning film star Lupita Nyong’o and supported by The Tiffany & Co. Foundation, is among the winners of the annual Jackson Hole Science Media Awards.

The nine-minute film won top honors in the Virtual Reality/360° Storytelling category for “effectively using 360 technology and resources to advance an appreciation or understanding of a scientific discipline, discovery or principle.”

The film which was commissioned by Global environmental organization Conservation International which supports community-led wildlife conservation in Northern Kenya —is available in 7 languages including English, French, Mandarin, Portuguese, Samburu, Spanish and Swahili.

Directed by David Allen, the project was captured with virtual reality cameras in the Namunyak Wildlife Conservancy in Samburu County of northern Kenya at the Reteti Elephant Sanctuary, the first elephant orphanage in Africa owned and operated by the local community. In a region where conservation has traditionally been pursued by outsiders, Reteti — and the surrounding conservancy organization, Northern Rangelands Trust — offer a model grounded in local leadership and traditional knowledge, explains Creative Planet Network.

Stella Tennant Tells Her 'Home Truths' To Sunday Times Style UK October 23, 2018

Stella Tennant Tells Her 'Home Truths' To Sunday Times Style UK October 23, 2018

Model icon Stella Tennant is styled by Verity Parker in ‘Home Truths’, lensed by Martin Parr for The Sunday Times Style Magazine UK October 21, 2018./ Hair by Paolo Soffiatti; makeup by Jenny Coombs

Stella Tennant walked her first catwalk show in 1993. In September, 25 years later, Tennant was still walking at age 47 including Riccardo Tisci’s debut collection for Burberry and Victoria Beckham, writes The Times.

Tennant returned to her Scottish roots at age 30, giving up her life in New York under the tutelege of Isabella Blow, returning to live in Edrom House with French photographer husband David Lasnet.

9/11 was a major factor in the decision to create a new life for themselves and their growing family in the Scottish Borders. Lasnet also found his work as a fashion photographer increasingly unfulfilling, wrote T Magazine in 2011.

Rubina Dyan Seduces In Andres Sarda's Autumn/Winter 2018 Lingerie Collection

Rubina Dyan Seduces In Andres Sarda's Autumn/Winter 2018 Lingerie Collection

Armenian-born painter and model Rubina Dyan showcases Andres Sarda’s Autumn/Winter 2018 lingerie collection, lensed by Jonas Bresnan.

Dyan herself speaks four languages fluently: Armenian, Spanish, Catalan and English. She is conversant in French and Russian as well. Born in Yerevan, Armenia, Dyan moved to Barcelona where she spent her teen years before moving to Los Angeles in 2007.

“It’s just life,” Rubina told Nordstrom, in a 2017 interview about her art and numerous transcontinental migrations. “We’ve moved so much. I’m not complaining. It’s one of the best experiences I’ve had in my life. It’s where I get my inspiration for my craft.”

Mystery, sensuality and the magic of Mediterranean beauty have always been attributes that define best ANDRES SARDA today. This exclusive brand celebrates a type of femininity that is free and triumphant, underlining the elegance hidden in the inner personalities of modern-day women. 

Rubina Dyan brings this philosophy of the intriguing, powerful benefits of beautiful lingerie to life in the Autumn/Winter 2018 collection.

Inside Tommy Hilfiger’s New York Penthouse

Inside Tommy Hilfiger’s New York Penthouse

Tommy Hilfiger’s New York City penthouse is as glamorous and elegant as you would expect it to be. It overlooks Central Park and 5th Avenue, which makes it among the most coveted spots in the Plaza Hotel. The celebrated apartment also has access to one of the only two domes in the building. The four-bedroom duplex covers 6,000 square feet of pure luxury. 

Upon entering the unit, you'll be greeted by a spacious salon that has a view of the city skyline via its floor-to-ceiling glass windows. There's also an alcove library with animal-print walls, custom bookcases, and a comfortable reading seat flanked by plants. The home office has paneled bookcases, a leather chair, and an animal-print carpet – the perfect setting for creating artistic work.

After Major Award In France, Jane Fonda Heads To Michigan To Get Voters To the Polls"

After Major Award In France, Jane Fonda Heads To Michigan To Get Voters To the Polls"

The pendulum of Jane Fonda’s life swings wide right now. In Lyon, France to graciously accept the 10th Lumiere Lifetime Achievement Award, Fonda used her platform to first thank the french and then to speak on American politics.

Speaking in French, which she masters fluently, having been married to late film maker Roger Vadim in the 1960s, she played on the surname of the inventors of the moving pictures, the Lumière Brothers. Lumière means light in French, and Fonda said her award was a gift of "amour et lumière", love and light.

Preparing to leave France for Michigan, where Fonda is working with Taraji P. Henson to get out the vote efforts in the minority communities, the Oscar-winning actor currently featured in an HBO biopic ‘Jane Fonda In Five Acts’, summed up the concerns of so many progressives heading into the midterms on November 6.

“The elections on Nov. 6 are the most important elections of my lifetime. So much depends on what happens,” she said. “It's hard for me to breathe right now.” 

Fonda maintains close ties to Georgia, her home with former husband and CNN founder Ted Turner. She also operates a Georgia nonprofit GCAPP (Georgia Campaign For Adolescent Power And Potential)  But now, she can no longer speak to extended family and friends there.

“I love them, but I can't talk to them anymore. And I will fight to my last breath to stop what they are trying to do.” Fonda is referring to massive efforts by Republicans in Georgia to disenfranchise minority voters as the state stands on the precipice of electing its first black woman governor — America’s first black woman governor — Stacy Abrams.

Republican candidate for governor, current secretary of state Brian Kemp, is disenfranchising minority voters at an epic rate. To most progressives and Democrats, Kemp has an untenable conflict of interest and presumably Jane Fonda agrees.

The activist also spoke about America’s president Donald Trump. “I believe he suffers from PTSD because like many men he was, I believe, brutalized by his father when he was very, very young,” she said. “And some men … lose empathy for others [and] also totally lack empathy. And he has been very brutal with his own sons. Father son father son, it's very sad. I hate this. I have empathy for him, it's difficult, I try, I work at it.” (Jane Fonda, you are a far better soul than I am!)

“Martin Luther King said, 'I don't have to like you, but I have to love you.' It's not easy at this moment,” she summed up the situation in America. “We live in the patriarchy and the patriarchy makes us think that empathy and love is weak, but it's not. That is where our strength is. We have two strengths — there are more of us, and also we go forward with love and open minds and warm hearts.”

Boston Globe Denies Ever Accusing Karl Templer Of Sexual Coercion Of Models

Boston Globe Denies Ever Accusing Karl Templer Of Sexual Coercion Of Models

In February 2018, the Boston Globe published a 5,100-word investigation into alleged mistreatment of, and sexual misconduct against fashion models. Stylist Karl Templer was mentioned in the Globe investigation when three models explained that as a stylist, Templer yanked at the underwear and shorts of one, touched another’s crotch and a third model’s breast.

The paper reported that models felt this behavior “crossed the line of professionalism”, seeming to question if this behavior was truly necessary to get the job done on an assignment. One of the models interviewed recalled the instance of her underwear and shorts being pulled off as “trying to get me naked,” although she’d told her agent she did not want to be nude below the waist.

“A stylist’s movement of clothes multiple times — over three decades and possibly tens of thousands of interactions — is not the same as sexual predation or sexual harassment or touching with the intent of self-gratification,” Templer said in an open letter to WWD published the next day.

He added that it was “impossible” for him to defend himself, as the prominent stylist been given no specific information to which he could respond.

On Oct. 2, the Boston Globe responded to Templer’s lawyer, asserting that it never reported that the stylist was accused by any model of “coercing or trying to coerce models to engage in sex or sexual activities” with him.

Grace Bol Is Lensed By Medhi Lacoste In 'Born To Stand Out' For Porter Edit October 19, 2018

Grace Bol Is Lensed By Medhi Lacoste In 'Born To Stand Out' For Porter Edit October 19, 2018

If top model Grace Bol was ‘Born To Stand Out’, her quiet, unassuming persona is not a dead-giveaway, writes Laura Craik for Porter Edit’s October 19, 2018 issue. Helen Broadfoot styles Bol in Gucci, Carolina Herrera, Versace, Galvin, Saint Laurent and more for images by Mehdi Lacoste.

Bol is another of the South Sudanese models dominating fashion headlines. Widely interviewed, we learn that the 5’11” beauty arrived in Kansas City, Mo at age eight, after her family fled the violence of South Sudan to Uganda.

Grace was astounded over Kansas winters. “The shock of the snow,” she recalls with a smile. “I never saw snow before in my life. I never knew it could get that cold. It took time to adjust – it was not easy. I remember seeing ice on the ground. I touched it and was shocked. I thought it was a powder. I still think snow is beautiful, especially in Central Park.”