Eye: Radhika Jones, A "Fearless and Brilliant Editor" Says Wintour, Will Head Vanity Fair Magazine

Radhika Jones, A "Fearless and Brilliant Editor" Says Wintour, Will Head Vanity Fair Magazine

Did Hollywood's continuing Harvey Weinstein scandal affect Conde Nast's decision to move the lower profile, but not less credentialed Radhika Jones into the editor-in-chief chair at Vanity Fair?

Jones will be the magazine's fifth editor-in-chief since it was revived in 1983, and she succeeds the famed Graydon Carter, who has helmed Vanity Fair since 1992. 

"There is nothing else out there quite like Vanity Fair," Jones said in a statement.  "It doesn't just reflect our culture — it drives our understanding of it. It can mix high and low, wit and gravitas, powerful narrative and irresistible photography. It has a legacy of influential reporting, unmatchable style and, above all, dedication to its readers. I am honored to succeed Graydon Carter as editor and excited to get to work."

We'll never know if the Harvey Weinstein scandal and its aftermath influenced Conde Nast's pick of Radhika Jones, but it seems probable that a too-familiar relationship with Hollywood moguls might not be an ace credential in what has become a daily struggle of outing one Hollywood exec after another over sexual harassment accusations and sexual assault. Perhaps a more important qualification could be an editor or writer's relationship with the women of Hollywood and women in general. 

Eye: The Wing's New Women's Club In Soho Opens Its Pop-Up Doors To Chanel's CoCo Club

Eye: The Wing's New Women's Club In Soho Opens Its Pop-Up Doors To Chanel's CoCo Club

Women's clubs are on the move, and the timing may be perfect. I'm reluctant to write that American women are at some kind of watershed moment in our understanding of just how difficult it is to succeed in the boys club world. Watching our fundamental, hard-fought rights being rolled back in Trumplandia while Margaret Atwood's dystopian 'The Handmaid's Tale' won eight Emmys, American women are primed for some serious female business bonding. This sister act was in play well before the Harvey Weinstein scandal dropped, launching the massive #MeToo campaign spilling out of our misogyny-overloaded brains. 

If The Wing is a home base for women on their way, the space's first pop-up CoCo Club is perhaps better for women who have arrived. How clever of The Wing to plan for pop-up spaces and other events on the premises. It seems that Chanel took over the entire Soho location as a money-generating, member-acquiring drive for the permanent landlord of this women's club -- The Wing. In not so subtle fashion, Chanel celebrated the launch of the brand's new BOY∙FRIEND watch. 

From a branding and messaging to women perspective, the permanent decor at The Wing evokes a dramatically different vibe than the temporary tenant CoCo Club. 

Founders Audrey Gelman and Lauren Kassan anticipated a huge win for women with a Hillary Clinton presidency.

"This was going to be the golden age of women in power, so women could have rooms like this. It was sort of a triumphant concept." No more running around Manhattan changing outfits for events and meetings in "random bathrooms around the city."

"Obviously that's not what happened," Kassan said.

Beverly Young Nelson Details Roy Moore Assault On Her As 16-Year-Old Waitress

Beverly Young Nelson Details Roy Moore Assault On Her As 16-Year-Old Waitress

In one of the most compelling moments I've ever witnessed on television, Beverly Young Nelson voiced in vivid, graphic detail her 1977 attack by Alabama Republican Senate candidate Roy Moore. Nelson becomes the fifth woman -- and probably the most serious accuser -- along with Leigh Corfman. Nelson was quick to say that both she and her husband voted for Donald Trump and her claims have nothing to do with politics. It was reading the stories of the other women that prompted Beverly Young Nelson to come forward.

Represented by Gloria Allard, who specializes in sexual harassment and sexual assault cases, Nelson recounted Mr. Moore's attack on her when she was 16 and a waitress in a Gadsden, Alabama and he was a prosecutor in Etowah County, Ala. The Daily Beast details her testimony about that night.

Earlier in the evening, Moore had signed Nelson's yearbook -- which Nelson produced at the news conference -- and later offered her a ride home. Instead of getting on the highway, she alleges, Moore parked in the back of the Olde Hickory House restaurant. Nelson said she asked Moore what he was doing.

“Instead of answering my question, Mr. Moore reached over and began groping me, putting his hands on my breasts,” Nelson said weeping. “I tried to open my car door to leave, but he reached over and locked it so I could not get out. I tried fighting him off, while yelling at him to stop, but instead of stopping he began squeezing my neck attempting to force my head onto his crotch. I continued to struggle. I was determined that I was not going to allow him to force me to have sex with him. I was terrified. He was also trying to pull my shirt off. I thought that he was going to rape me. I was twisting and struggling and begging him to stop. I had tears running down my face.

Gloria Allred Will Present A New Accuser Of Alabama Senate Candidate Roy Moore Monday At 2:30 PM

Gloria Allred Will Present A New Accuser Of Alabama Senate Candidate Roy Moore Monday At 2:30 PM

The New York Post reports that at 2:30 pm Monday, Gloria Allred has scheduled a news conference at the New York Palace Hotel, where another woman will accuse Republican Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore of sexually assaulting her when she was a minor. 

"The New accuser wishes to state what she alleges Roy Moore did to her without her consent," Allred said in a statement.

The Washington Post broke the heavily detailed story late last week, in which now grown women alleged that Moore pursued them as teenagers when he was in his 30s. The most explosive accusation came from Leigh Corfman, who was 14 years old when she alleges Roy Moore took her to his house in the woods and molested her. 

On a second visit, she says, he took off her shirt and pants and removed his clothes. He touched her over her bra and underpants, she says, and guided her hand to touch him over his underwear. 

Wonder Woman Gal Gadot Issues Ultimatum To Warner Bros: It's Ratner Or Me

Wonder Woman Gal Gadot Issues Ultimatum To Warner Bros: It's Ratner Or Me

In recent days, multiple women in Hollywood -- six at latest count including actors Olivia Munn and Ellen Page --  are coming forward to accuse director and producer Brett Ratner of sexual harassment. Wonder Woman star Gal Gadot is not one of them, but Gadot has flexed her muscle in negotiations for phase two in the new franchise, giving an ultimatum to Warner Bros: it's either me or Ratner. 

Page Six reports that Gadot is threatening to walk away from her role in 'Wonder Woman' in the midst of negotiations for a sequel to the $821 million worldwide blockbuster movie unless Ratner's relationship with the DC Comics universe is completely severed. “Gadot is saying she won’t sign for the sequel unless Warner Bros. buys Brett out [of his financing deal] and gets rid of him.

Related 11/12/2017: Model Accuses Brett Ratner of Masturbating in Front of Her in a Chaffeured Car The Cut

Eye: Edie Campbell Is Fashion Industry Oracle, Joining Cameron Russell In Fight Against Model Exploitation

Eye: Edie Campbell Is Fashion Industry Oracle, Joining Cameron Russell In Fight Against Model Exploitation

Top model Edie Campbell graces the December 2017 issue of Vogue China, lensed by Patrick Demarchelier with styling by Daniela Paudice./ Makeup by Romy Soleimani; hair by Ward

Ironically, Campbell is styled as a possible muse from an ancient Greek temple like the famous one at Delphi. Occupation of the site at Delphi can be traced to the Neolithic period with extensive use beginning in the Mycenaean period (1600-1100 BC), a time we associate with the fall of the goddesses in cultural worship and the rise of patriarchy, which established deep roots in ancient Greece. The name 'Delphoi' comes from the same root as δελφύς delphys, "womb" and may indicate archaic veneration of Gaia at the site, writes Wiki. An oracle was a priest or priestess -- originally we believe it was primarily women as priestesses -- acting as a medium through whom advice or prophecy was sought from the gods in classical antiquity.

Enough with ancient history of the goddesses. Edie Campbell became a fashion industry muse and oracle this week, writing an open letter published by Women's Wear Daily, in which she highlights the abuse of all models, including men.  In a maverick twist, Campbell suggests that in the fashion industry, the abuse of male models is every bit as serious as among the women. 

“We have a problem: we operate within a culture that is too accepting of abuse, in all of its manifestations. This can be the ritual humiliation of models, belittling of assistants, power plays and screaming fits. We have come to see this as simply a part of the job.”

Campbell’s letter is in response to the Instagram campaign to raise awareness of sexual exploitation of models started in October by the US model Cameron Russell.

Here is Edie Campbell's letter in full:

Eye: The All-Black 2018 Pirelli Calendar Is Perfect Timing For Tim Walker, Edward Enninful, Duckie Thot & Its All-Star Cast

Eye: The All-Black 2018 Pirelli Calendar Is Perfect Timing For Tim Walker, Edward Enninful, Duckie Thot & Its All-Star Cast

For the 45th Calendar edition, the British photographer Tim Walker applied his unmistakable style of extravagant sets, helped by set designer Shona Heath with styling by Edward Enninful, now Editor-in-Chief of British Vogue. 

Whoopi Goldberg joined the Pirelli cast for a 28-image calendar that significantly expanded the recent-years redefinition of the annual calendar beyond a vision of sexy, naked women eating bananas Terry Richardson style. 

Enninful explains the mission of Pierelli's 2018 all-black cast:  “To see a black Alice today means children of all races can embrace the idea of diversity from a very young age and also acknowledge that beauty comes in all colours. Culturally, we are living in a diverse world. Projects like this remarkable Pirelli Calendar demonstrate that there is still hope in what sometimes feels like an increasingly cynical reality.”

Walker's post as chief photographer said that the idea of a black Alice has been with him "for a long time". In fact the story has been a big influence throughout his career of captivating, extravagant fashionable storytelling. 

“I see the fashion world as wonderland,” he said. “Alice in Wonderland is a story that I have drawn upon for a long time. It has always been in my work. Alice for me is always there. I didn’t want to tell Alice as she had been told before. I didn’t want to be influenced by Disney’s interpretation or Tim Burton’s interpretation, I wanted to go back to the core of the imagination.”

Eye: Mary J. Blige Wears Her Iconic Style In The Edit Nov. 9, 2017, With Netflix 'Mudbound' Bringing Her Oscar Talk

Mary J. Blige Wears Her Iconic Style In The Edit Nov. 9, 2017, With Netflix 'Mudbound' Bringing Her Oscar Talk

As painful as it's been ending her 13 year marriage to Martin Isaacs, Mary J Blige tells The Editmagazine that she used the pain of her divorce to emotionally fund her acclaimed role in 'Mudbound'. Blige's character makes on debut in the Netflix film, scheduled for release on Friday November 17.

In her editorial styled by Tracy Taylor, Blige wears the street style she's famous for. Yelena Yemchuk is behind the lens, flashing Blige in what is one of many new editorials to come.

"A lot of the things we do in a relationship are in the name of love. You want to save it, so you do stupid stuff and give him what he wants, knowing you shouldn't. You create a monster, Blige explains.

She added: 'I learned life is the greatest teacher. You gotta ask, what did you do to end up here? That's when you can start to heal. And I realized that I must have hated myself, because I didn't deserve to be treated like that.”

LA District Attorney Jackie Lacey Forms Entertainment Industry Sexual Assault Task Force

LA District Attorney Jackie Lacey Forms Entertainment Industry Sexual Assault Task Force

Los Angeles County District Attorney Jackie Lacey announced Thursday the formation of a task force organized to respond to claims of sexual abuse in the entertainment industry, writes New York Magazine. 

“I have assigned the group of veteran sex crimes prosecutors to work together to ensure a uniformed approach to the legal review and possible prosecution of any case that meets both the legal and factual standards for criminal prosecution,” Lacey continued.

Eye: Tiffany & Co Opens The Blue Box Café At Fifth Ave Flagship On Friday As Twitter Derides $1000 Tin Can From New 'Everyday Objects'

Eye: Tiffany & Co Opens The Blue Box Café At Fifth Ave Flagship On Friday As Twitter Derides $1000 Tin Can From New 'Everyday Objects'

Channeling its 'Breakfast at Tiffany's heritage made famous by Audrey Hepburn, Tiffany & Co opens its first Blue Box Café overlooking the entry to Central Park and Bergdorf Goodman. The cafe shares space with Tiffany's wholly-renovated fourth floor housing its luxury home and accessories collection and represents the first major project from Reed Krakoff, who assumed his position as chief artistic officer in January. 

Vanity Fair describes the effect as one of dining inside one of Tiffany’s famed blue boxes, like some Tiffany-crazed genie who prefers crisp right angles to a bottle’s curves. That is very much the point. “Design of the space began from the idea of immersion in Tiffany—not only the feeling of being inside a blue box, but surrounded by Tiffany hospitality,” Richard Moore,   the vice president creative director overseeing all things store and window design, explained. Guests will first lock eyes with the view of the park, he hopes, and then they’ll see the sea of Tiffany blue, which they’ve “embraced throughout.”

Four Women Allege A Younger Roy Moore Pursued Sensual/Sexual Relationships With Them As Underage Girls

Four Women Allege A Younger Roy Moore Pursued Sensual/Sexual Relationships With Them As Underage Girls

The Washington Post has placed reporters in Alabama for over a month, speaking to at least 30 people who support the blockbuster allegations made in the paper this afternoon. Roy Moore is the Bible-toting former Alabama judge who was twice removed from the state's supreme court for making legal decision based on the Bible and not the US Constitution. Moore is now the Steve Bannon/Donald Trump-supported, Republican candidate for the US Senate vacated by now Trump administration Attorney General Jeff Sessions, running against Democrat Doug Jones. 

None of the four women contacted the Post reporters directly. While working in Alabama on a profile about Senate candidate Moore, a Post reporter was told that Moore allegedly had sought relationships with teenage girls in the past. The four women say they do not know each other and only chose to go public after extended interviews and conversations with Post reporters.  

The four women making the allegations against Moore were very young in early 1979, when the 32-year-old assistant district attorney introduced himself to 14-year-old Leigh Corfman and her mother. Moore offered to sit with the girl while her mother attended a custody hearing. 

Gal Gadot Is All 'Wonder Woman' Lensed By Paola Kudacki For ELLE US December 2017

Gal Gadot Is All 'Wonder Woman' Lensed By Paola Kudacki For ELLE US December 2017

Actor Gal Gadot covers the December 2017 issue of ELLE US, styled by Simon Robins in Elsa Peretti for Tiffany & Co jewely, Louis Vuitton, Saint Laurent, Gucci and more. Photographer Paola Kudackicaptures Gadot with an engaging interview by Holly Milea. 

“There’s been a fear for years of her being ‘clean’ and yet still tough,” says Wonder Woman director Patty Jenkins, who, three-quarters of a century after Wonder Woman made her DC Comics debut, brought the superheroine’s story to big-screen life last year, starring Gal Gadot. “So many people’s assumptions about what would make a tough woman is actually a damaged woman. People were confusing strength with defensiveness, and I was like, ‘Why would she be defensive? She totally trusts people! Why would she be angry? She assumes that she’s going to be treated well. She has no chip on her shoulder!’”

Wait until she finds out she’s getting paid 80 cents on the dollar.

In fact, it's director James Cameron who took it upon himself to issue a negative critique of Gadot's 'Wonder Woman'. After all, a successful man would have the answers, right? Cameron called Gadot "an objectified icon", pointing instead to Linda Hamilton's 'Terminator' character as what a female action protagonist should be. "She was strong, she was troubled, she was a terrible mother, and she earned the respect of the audience through pure grit," Cameron said of the character Sarah Connor.) Gadot's 'Wonder Woman' was "a step backwards" for women. In post-Hillary defeat America, director Patty Jenkins was not amused.  

Jenkins noted that women don't need to be one thing to be a hero. THR shared her counter-argument:

ADL Confirms James Murdoch's $1 Million Gift & $1 Million Via His Email To Friends | Fox News Hires Alleged White Nationalist Sebastian Gorka

ADL Confirms James Murdoch's $1 Million Gift & $1 Million Via His Email To Friends | Fox News Hires Alleged White Nationalist Sebastian Gorka

In August 2017, in the days after white nationalism raised its ugly head in Charlottesville, James Murdoch, CEO of 21st Century Fox sent an email to friends and colleagues that was leaked to media. 

Commenting that he rarely discussed his family's charitable giving, Murdoch announced a pledge from him and his wife for $1 million to the Anti Defamation League (ADL) and urged others to also support the organization. 

This week the ADL confirmed to The Hollywood Reporter that the Murdoch donation of $1 million was received, accompanied by almost another $1 million associated with Murdoch's email. 

NJ John Carman Now Has Time To Cook His Own Damn Dinner As Ashley Bennett Gains Sweet Revenge

NJ John Carman Now Has Time To Cook His Own Damn Dinner As Ashley Bennett Gains Sweet Revenge

By now women should find a sense of humor, right? John Carman, a Republican member of the Atlantic County Board of Chosen Freeholders, a county legislative body in New Jersey, wondered in January 2017 if the millions of women -- accompanied by beyond decent numbers of men -- who attended the Women's March would be home in enough time to cook dinner. New Jersey resident Ashley Bennett was not amused.

"Seriously," Carman responded when dozens of women showed up at a freeholder meeting , one carrying a box of macaroni and cheese and telling Carman to "cook his own damn dinner."  Professing good humor and urging women to find the same, Carman insisted that ". . . the women I'm surrounded by, my family, my friends, my colleagues are all strong, confident women, women who are sure of themselves. They didn’t get offended by this." Vox explains:

Bennett, a psychiatric emergency screener, attended the meeting but walked out when she heard Carman’s response. "I walked out because you had the entire time to sit and collect your thoughts, and hear what people were saying, and instead of apologizing and saying you could do better, you disrespect people and say the people you surround yourself are strong," she said at the time. "There are a lot of people who are strong."

Adding to Ashley Bennett's irritation was Carman's fashion choice of wearing a confederate flag over his state of New Jersey patch. Other voters agreed. 

Mad, Mad As Hell, & Madder Still: Hillary Women One Year Later Punch Our Way To The Voting Booths | Take Note, We Are Just Getting Started

Mad, Mad As Hell, & Madder Still: Hillary Women One Year Later Punch Our Way To The Voting Booths | Take Note, We Are Just Getting Started

It's one year later -- one of the worst nights of my life. I drank more vodka than I want to admit. If Mika on Morning Joe opened her Bernie-loving trap on Nov. 9, I would throw a high heel at the TV and hopefully smash her away forever. 

Writing for Harper's Bazaar, Jennifer Wright reflects on that awful night a year later and the day after women hit the voting booths, inflicting serious pain on the Republican party in our first reckoning after Hillary's defeat. 

I watched as millions of women excitedly gathered in secret groups to support Hillary Clinton’s candidacy. There they talked about what an exciting moment in history this was. They did not venture out because their husbands might not like their vote, or Bernie voters might yell at them, or someone at their work might not like it. We saw at the time, I think, no contradiction in being posed on the edge of ultimate victory for womankind and also secreting ourselves away to make ourselves completely unobjectionable. We were always supposed to be unobjectionable.

So quietly, unobjectionably, we waited. We baked cakes, and chilled champagne, and put stickers on suffragettes graves. And so many of us thought how especially satisfying it would be to see a woman win against a man who was repeatedly accused of sexual harassment, who bragged about sexual assault, who seemed to embody the worst of what women encounter from men.

"It became clear that you can be the most qualified woman and still lose to the least qualified man."

On November 9, we woke up, and Donald Trump had been elected.

Updated: Rep. Brenda Lawrence Suspends Accused Sexual Harasser Chief of Staff Dwayne Duron Marshall

Updated: Rep. Brenda Lawrence Suspends Accused Sexual Harasser Chief of Staff Dwayne Duron Marshall

Updated Nov. 8: Congresswoman's top aide suspended after harassment claims Politico

Tues. Nov. 7: House Democrats Rep. Jackie Speier of Ca. and Michigan's Rep. Brenda Lawrence are championing legislation to curb allegations of sexual harassment in Congress.  For Rep. Speier the proposed legislation reflects her long-held commitment to reform of the Congressional compliance office. 

In a recent interview with Politico, Speier called the OCC "toothless" and "a joke". 

Politico reports on Tuesday that several women have come forward alleging that Rep. Lawrence, a former harassment complaint investigator for the federal government, has kept her own chief of staff Dwayne Duron Marshall on the payroll, even though multiple women have complained directly to Lawrence. 

Each believed they made it clear to Lawrence that women in the office did not feel comfortable around Marshall or that he treated women differently than men. Two said they told her Marshall was the reason they were leaving her office. And one said she specifically cited “inappropriate” comments and physical contact.

Cindy Sherman Joins Art World's Condemnation of Knight Landesman's Sexual Harassment

Cindy Sherman Joins Art World's Condemnation of Knight Landesman's Sexual Harassment

Cindy Sherman joined other powerful people in the art world -- including 7000 women -- to denounce sexual harassment by people like the late October 2017 resignation of Knight Landesman. Known for his colorful suits, the co-publisher of arts magazine Artforum resigned after a lawsuit was filed by Amanda Schmitt accusing him of sexual harassment against eight other people. 

"We are artists, arts administrators, assistants, curators, directors, editors, educators, gallerists, interns, scholars, students, writers and more - workers of the art world - and we have been groped, undermined, harassed, infantilised, scorned, threatened and intimidated by those in positions of power who control access to resources and opportunities," the letter read.

Richard Phibbs Flashes 'Silence of the Lambs' Actor Jodie Foster For Harper's UK December 2017

Richard Phibbs Flashes 'Silence of the Lambs' Actor Jodie Foster For Harper's UK December 2017

Actor Jodie Foster is honored as a Harper's Bazaar UK December 2017 Woman of the Year. Miranda Almond styles the multiple-Oscars Foster, considered one of the best actors of her generation, in images by Richard Phibbs./ Hair by Perrine Rougemont; makeup by Sharon Dowsett

In her Harper's Bazaar UK interview, Foster reflects on Hollywood, including . . . 

On the shortcomings of male directors

“Even with the number of movies I’ve made, I’ve never made a movie that was about women, made by women, that was seen through women’s eyes… I think it’s very hard for [male directors] to imagine women’s lives, and when they do, I think they have this either idealised idea or this victim idea.

“And there can be a lack of sophistication about how they approach women in the text. I was saying recently that there was a time in my life, for 15 or 20 years, during which every single script I read, the motivation for the female character was that they had been raped or abused as a child. I don’t think it’s an on-purpose thing, but it’s like, ‘What can I give that woman that will feel meaningful? Oh I know – she’s been raped as a child.’ So is that the only thing they can think about us that feels deep or something?”

Eye | Cindy Sherman On Selfies for W, Skateboards for Supreme & Sexual Harassment

Eye | Cindy Sherman On Selfies for W, Skateboards for Supreme & Sexual Harassment

American artist Cindy Sherman insists that she hates the idea of selfies. “People say”—Sherman adopts a naive tone in W Magazine's Artists issue—“ ‘Oh, but you’re, like, the queen of selfies,’ ” and then her voice goes flat. “I really kind of cringe at that thought.”

Unlike the millions of humans populating the planet with incessant sharing of their own self-images, Sherman insists that her images to not depict herself. Rather, her artist's mission has always been to exposes how culture shapes appearances. "Since she has long resisted autobiographical readings of her work, it has been intriguing lately to see her take to, and toy with, Instagram, a platform that thrives on interplay of the personal and the artificial, especially when it comes to self-portraiture," writes Andrew Russeth for W. 

Indiana Students Demand Removal Of 'Offensive' Thomas Hart Benton Painting Honoring Triumph Over KKK

Indiana Students Demand Removal Of 'Offensive' Thomas Hart Benton Painting Honoring Triumph Over KKK

Should every historical reference that evokes negative emotions be removed from campus?

The Indiana mural by Thomas Hart Benton is an homage to the Indiana press for breaking the Klan's grip on power in the state, but critics say its depictions of the KKK aren't just historical.

Nearly 1,600 signatories are asking the school to take down or cover the offending panel from A Social History of Indiana (1933), also known as the Indiana murals. But others are speaking up in support of the artwork, contending that Benton was looking to draw attention to the evils of the Klan.

“It is past time that Indiana University take a stand and denounce hate and intolerance in Indiana and on IU’s campus,” reads the petition, which argues that exposing students and faculty of color to the image of the KKK stands in violation of the school’s diversity policy and the student Right to Freedom From Discrimination."