Fashion & Trend

For a phantom club of now-millennial aged women, the names Kristy, Claudia, Mary Anne and Stacey McGill conjure images of coiled telephone cords and sky-high side ponytails held with colourful scrunchies. To those of us who were young female bookworms in the ’80s, ’90s and early aughts, Ann M. Martin’s  The Baby-Sitters Club  series was the formative reading experience. The lives of these pre-teen girls served as a textbook on the fundamentals of female friendship and entrepreneurship, and those are lessons we’ll carry with us for life. And, living in the era of endless ’90s reboots and 2002 fashion trends, there’s a good chance you’ll have an opportunity for the BSC to teach you these lessons all over again — in multiple mediums. First up: in February, Netflix announced that they’re developing the books into a 10-episode series, with Rachel Shukert of GLOW  serving as showrunner and Lucia Aniello of Broad City  taking on the role of director and ex...

It’s not just for grocery store packaging and restaurant menus anymore: “vegan” is the latest buzz word that’s taken hold of the beauty world, showing up on labels in a higher concentration than ever before. L’Oréal Professional  just debuted their first-ever vegan line of shampoos. Kendall Jenner unveiled a partnership with a new  a vegan line of oral care products .  And Bite Beauty just reformulated their hugely popular Agave+ line into a vegan version —to name a few recent examples. Some brands, like Kat Von D , have been vegan since their inception, but many more seem to be hopping on this particular bandwagon lately. But why are so many companies jumping on this now? PETA has been protesting animal cruelty in the beauty world for decades, but motivation for this newer wave of demand for all things cosmetically vegan seems to be coming from the general push towards so-called “clean” or “ non-toxic ” beauty. “So many customers will walk into our store and say, ‘...

What is the web-o-sphere angry about this week? A pop star campaigning against blogs, an athletic brand showing off a little bit of body hair and a superhero franchise introducing a gay character for the first time. (Warning: there is a very minor Avengers: Endgame spoiler ahead.) Here’s everything you need to know: Ariana Grande Calls Blog Writers “Purposeless” THE STORY:  In E! News host Morgan Stewart’s “Nightly Pop” Coachella review, she called Justin Bieber out for lip-synching during his appearance in Ariana Grande’s headlining set and commented on his forehead acne. Bieber tagged Stewart in his response on Twitter, questioning why she spends time “tearing people down.” Grande then opted to chip in: in response to a fan who tweeted that the entertainment host was seeking attention, Grande said, “They all do. And they all look silly trying to get it.” That tweet has since been deleted. In another since-deleted tweet, Grande made a larger attack on those who write ...

When she was an Olympian playing field hockey in the 80s, filmmaker Phyllis Ellis estimates she applied baby powder on her body five times a day for about 15 years. Like many athletes, she would use the powder to freshen up after training or on her inner thighs to avoid rashes during a 10K run. Years later, when it emerged that women who had been longtime users of Johnson’s Baby Powder were dying from ovarian cancer and filing lawsuits over it, she got scared. But it also spurred her into action, and ultimately lead her to making Toxic Beauty , a documentary that premieres Sunday night at Hot Docs . (There’s two other screenings this week). She didn’t stop at talc though. In addition to following women who were regular users of J&J baby powder and then diagnosed with ovarian cancer, Ellis tracks Mymy, a medical student examining her own use excessive use of products and also meets with scientists, doctors and researchers to dig into the links between the under regulated world of...

Last night, actress Olivia Munn posted a “ short essay ” on Twitter blasting fashion bloggers Heather Cocks and Jessica Morgan of Go Fug Yourself for their “ugly behaviours.” Before we get into the what and why of this misguided rant, it must be stated that Munn’s letter was in direct response to something the two women, who go by The Fug Girls on Twitter , wrote about a recent outfit Munn wore to an event. That said, there’s a lot to unpack here. Though she’s responding to a personal slight, Munn attempts to cloak her statement in righteous rage on behalf of feminism and civility. “For years, fashion-policing celebrity has been an accepted mainstream media critique, even though it mainly focuses on females and not men, which ultimately contributes to the perpetual minimization of women and propagates the idea that our worth is predominantly (or singularly) tied to our looks,” writes Munn, adding that blogs like Go Fug Yourself (which we’ll refer to as GFY going forward) are at the ...

An excerpt from Jagmeet Singh’s new memoir, Love & Courage , details some painful truths and experiences from the NDP leader’s childhood, including memories of sexual assault. At the age of 10, tired of being bullied for his name and long hair in his Windsor, Ont. school, Singh decided to enrol in taekwondo classes. But in a traumatic twist, the activity he undertook to learn how to defend himself led to sexual assault at the hands of the martial arts coach he was training under. “When it happened I didn’t know what to think,” Singh tells Anna Maria Tremonti on CBC Radio’s The Current . “Even now when I think back it’s almost unimaginable that someone would go to such lengths to set up a way to assault a young kid… I felt shame and guilt, which I know is normal when you go through something like this. I also felt that it was my own fault, that I should have stopped it.” It’s this feeling of self-blame that often precludes survivors from sharing their stories, but confiding in a ...

Silk, that gorgeous draping textile that’s softer than a baby cherub’s butt cheeks, is derived from worms. After munching on a diet of fresh mulberry leaves, silkworms shoot liquid silk out of spinnerettes in their heads to build cocoons, which are in turn harvested by silk farmers. A new technology may make it possible to derive silk from another much-maligned animal: spiders. Shiver at the thought, but those Daddy Longlegs that build unwelcome cobwebs in your home might be receiving an official invite into your wardrobe sometime in the near future. Companies Polartec and Kraig Biocraft Laboratories have joined forces to announce they will be bringing forward a recombinant (a fancy word for bringing together genetic material from multiple sources) spider silk material to market for use in “high-performance textiles and apparel.” So, athletic wear. Spider silk has long been known as one of the most naturally strong materials known to humankind. It is oft repeated that spide...

Knock Down the House This Netflix Documentary follows four women attempting to tip the balance of power on the 2018 US midterm election campaign trail. You’ll watch as each first-time congress-hopeful goes up against their district’s powerful incumbents, using grassroots methods to mobilize their bases and engage with voters. Spoiler: at least one of the film’s subjects was wildly successful in her mission to launch a movement. You’ll recognize Bronx-born Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the millennial congresswoman famed for her red lips, hoop earrings and passion for the planet, from the trailer. “If I was a rational person, I would’ve dropped out of this race a long time ago,” she says in the clip. “Americans aren’t asking for a lot, they’re just asking for politicians to help them get by.” Sounds about right. Available May 1 Wine Country  Female squad coms have become a trend as of late — not that we’re complaining. In Wine Country , a group of longtime girlfriends reunite...

The first time Stephanie* heard about egg freezing was in one of her last law school lectures. Her professor—who she always thought was a little wacky—surprised the class when she pronounced: “Freeze your eggs! Take what’s left of your loans and just do it now.” Stephanie was appalled. Was this really the most important piece of advice the professor had to pass on to her students? A few years later, Stephanie started to hear stories from older female lawyers who were struggling to have children. Having babies wasn’t on their to-do list when they were in their early 30s, and now that they were ready, things weren’t going as planned. It wasn’t on Stephanie’s list either, but after speaking with these colleagues, she began to consider her options. Stephanie broached the subject of egg freezing during a visit to her doctor for a respiratory infection. “Do you think I should go off the pill?” she asked. “I’ve been on it for more than a decade, and I’m thinking about freezing my eggs.” He...

Many women spend a large part of their teens, 20s and sometimes 30s trying not to get pregnant. So, imagine the disappointment and shock that comes when you kick the pill to the curb and throw caution to the wind, only to realize that it’s a lot harder to conceive than anyone ever told you. In technical terms, you are considered “infertile” when you don’t become pregnant within one year of having regular unprotected sex. And while you might feel alone if you’re struggling with infertility, it’s quite common: 10 to 15 per cent of all couples experience it. The causes range from age to decreased sperm count to chemotherapy to ovulation disorders like polycystic ovarian syndrome. But sometimes there is no reason for infertility at all. Thankfully, some celebs are using their platforms to benefit others: Chrissy Teigen and Kim Kardashian (amongst others) have openly discussed their difficulties with getting pregnant. Sure, it can be difficult to relate to a Kardashian and a supermodel, ...

Fashion week is a heck of a whirlwind. A series of back-to-back shows, presentations, parties and events that, by the end of the week, blur into one long, sleep-deprived memory. Fortunately, there’s an easy way to quickly recall the standout shows, the must-have pieces, and the moments that defined the week—scrolling through our phone’s photo albums. And of course, as the editors of FASHION who attend these fashion weeks each season, it falls upon us to document everything we see and experience for our readers and followers. Which means, those photos and videos we snapped and recorded endlessly? They better be good. From each FASHION editor covering fashion week, here are some tips and tricks we use for getting great photos, along with some handy things we learned at a ‘Today at Apple’ class on photo skills at the brand’s Eaton Centre store the week before fashion month began. Pahull Bains , London Fashion Week For me, the biggest challenge during runway shows is getting shots that...