#refinery29 UK

[garenabelunokan]

I wrote for Refinery29 UK about how reading tarot for a psychic hotline changed my outlook. enjoy!

[angeloftheodd]

I 🖤 Alt Hello Kitty. 💘

I forgot I own an Alt Hello Kitty shirt! 😻 I told Ebony-Renee Baker and Refinery29 UK that I used to rock Alt Hello Kitty. But I forgot I own a shirt with her on it now. 🧷🎀 I need to find this shirt to do punk AND goth looks with it at the mall again ASAP. 🤘

Thanks again to everyone who read the article and brought it to life! ❤️ And thank you, Sanrio, for the joy you give to the world. 💖

🍒 My Instagram (angel0fthe0dd) 🍒

🫐 My Xitter (GhiaWasHere) 🫐

[quinnfabrayapologist]

terfs: femininity is evil and must be abolished from society in all its forms for the female sex to ever be liberated

you: this means terfs love femininity and think women ought to follow the rules of femininity :) i am very smart

Except the most prominent TERF figureheads are actually super pro femininity, as is the average TERF. Like... to such an extent I'm a bit alarmed you don't notice.

There have been multiple instances of butch lesbians and GNC women being harassed in bathrooms by TERFs because they don't look feminine enough:

Butch lesbian opens up about 'increasing harassment' she faces when she uses public toilets (inews.co.uk)

Woman, 22, barred from ladies toilets in M&S after staff mistook her for a man  | Daily Mail Online

Butch Woman Are Facing Transphobia In Public Toilets (refinery29.com)

And TERFs just straight up wanting butch women out of their spaces for the same reasons:

The most prominent figureheads of the anti trans movement in the UK include Baroness Nicholson, who is a member of the House of Lords, and is homophobic and anti choice:

She also links gay marriage to trans existence. Basically she's transphobic because she's homophobic. She also personally engaged with me RE the abortion thing and said that dropping the limit to 12 weeks was intended to stop 3rd tri abortions, which a) start way after 12 weeks, b) are 1% of all abortions, and c) happen either because there was no abortion access in 2nd tri or because most brain development happens in 3rd and so the parent(s) found out the foetus wasn't viable in 3rd tri. She wants to force people who have found out their foetus will not survive outside the womb to be forced to carry to term and birth a stillborn, instead of aborting it weeks earlier.

Kellie-Jay Keen, meanwhile, everyone's favourite tomato soup flavoured hatemonger and far right mouthpiece, has said that teenage girls shouldn't have access to birth control, and that Gillick competency should be revoked. Gillick is meant to assess medical competency in teens, meaning that teenagers in certain situations can make their own medical choices. I personally have Gillick rights to thank for me not becoming a mother at 13 years old, following my being gangraped by my 'boyfriend' and his friends, and Gillick competency letting me get an abortion. If not for Gillick, my dad would have made me see through the pregnancy, and Kellie wants Gillick gone because if teenagers can get birth control, they can get puberty blockers. Funny enough, my pregnancy was also following precocious puberty, where my GP recommended that I, a cis girl, take blockers, and my dad refused. Cis kids actually make up the majority of kids on blockers due to precocious puberty, and they get blockers without issue in most cases, it's just trans kids that have these issues getting a normal medication.

Lloyd Russell-Moyle MP🌹🏳️‍🌈 on Twitter: "Veil slips: Kellie-Jay Keen (aka Posie Parker) says girls/young women shouldn’t access reproductive service without parent permission. Rolling back women’s rights. That’s what “gender critical” is folks - first they come for trans then they come for you. https://t.co/TkWsLTc1eM" / Twitter

She also talks, in this clip, about how 'parents need to take back control of their children'. At several rallies she's said (incorrectly) that 'her side' are older women, and the women on the pro trans side are all young, and that the young women 'will become us' as in older conservative bigots. Not only is this blatantly incorrect, given the sheer number of pro trans older people who exist, but it is yet another reason that Kellie doesn't want kids to have rights. Because she thinks anyone under 40 will grow out of being empathetic to minorities.

This tweet was in response to a cisgender woman with short hair going to a rape survivor's group wearing jeans. This caused a TERF in that group to assume she was a trans man and try and get her kicked out, and then the TERF was barred instead:

Again, this woman had short hair and wore jeans. That's it.

Here's another TERF saying that as her trans daughter is in STEM, she's a man. Pushing that fake narrative about how girls can't be scientists like any good feminist would:

Meanwhile, here are 2 garden variety TERFs offering a list of things that help them ID trans women:

Note the second one, which lists feminine face, gait, demeanour, and voice. Because according to this person, there is a certain way to look, act, and speak feminine. And I had to throw in the first one because it lists 'skin lightness' and 'skull size' as a feminine trait. TERFs never beating the racism allegations.

And speaking of racism allegations, here's Sharron Davies, star of the TERF movement, saying that all of the WOC who won at the Olympics are really men:

And someone saying the quiet part out loud here:

And here's another famous TERF showing what her priorities are in the wake of Roe v Wade:

And on a personal level, here are a list of reasons TERFs have told me, a cis woman, that I am really a trans woman and lying about the cis part:

My nose is too big

My jaw is too square

My chin is too prominent

My forehead is too large

My shoulders are too wide. The person who said this also asked if it was hard to no longer be able to 'play linebacker on the men's team'. I am told this is related to rugby.

My most worn outfit is a button down shirt and jeans. Apparently I have a 'prominent bulge'. So for a cis woman my dick is huge.

My necklines are too high

My necklines are too low (and no woman would show that much of her breasts)

My teeth are crooked

I put 'MA' in my twitter handle after graduating my Masters and no 'real woman' would brag about her academic achievements.

I am a PhD student. This was somehow enough of an indicator that I was trans for someone to call me the t slur.

I argued, at length, in favour of trans people. Apparently a real woman wouldn't argue as much as I did, and the fact I was persistent in pushing my points indicated that I was a man.

I was on the radio, and my voice was low and raspy.

I stood next to a friend, also a cis woman, in a photo, and I was larger than her (because she's a UK size 6 and I'm a UK 10)

My clavicles are straight????

TERFs are strictly enforcing femininity at the expense of women's rights, like the right to healthcare/birth control/abortion. They are showing open contempt for women who don't fit their loose, objective ideal of what a woman is, and making GNC cis women feel that bit less safe in women's spaces because they don't look the way TERFs think they should. They are most likely doing this because the money and power behind the TERF movement is conservative men, including groups like CPAC, who sponsored Kellie's latest tour.

You personally might love birth control and abortion and defying gender roles, and good for you, but if you're a TERF, a radfem, a GC, whatever you want to call yourself, you've aligned yourself with a movement that want women back in the kitchen and back in the alley, staffed by conservatives and keyboard warriors who are just waiting for someone, anyone, to stick their head above the parapet and do something 'unwomanly' or 'unfeminine' so they can invalidate your entire life experience and argument. I, as a woman, very simply refuse to let a bunch of racist, anti choice, conservatives speak for me. If you want that, best of luck to you, but I won't stop calling it out when I see it because I refuse to lose my hard-won rights to appease a radical minority of bigots.

[hasanyoneseenmyspoons]

Megan Rose is 21 and lives with Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, a whole body disease that disrupts digestive functions, joints and muscles and comes with multiple co-morbidities (additional chronic conditions that relate to/are caused by the other). She says that her doctors do not seem concerned that she doesn’t sleep. “It’s something they’ve never been able to help with, it doesn’t seem to be a focus to them that I can go days without sleeping. There’s always other things that need addressing more importantly than my sleep.”

Emma, 25 and living with multiple illnesses, says the same of her medical experience. After finding a medication that combated both pain and insomnia, she was told that she was “too young to be on it regularly” by her doctor, who rejected a repeat prescription request. Ageism is a common feature of our experiences with medical professionals, many of whom still believe that illnesses are in our heads or that our pain can be worked away with exercise and a positive outlook.

The regular pain experienced by people living with chronic health conditions is compounded by regular insomnia to produce the phenomenon of painsomnia. Often the nighttime pain is not responsive to our prescription drugs, which we may have taken earlier in the day in order to complete the mundane tasks of living. Painsomnia differs from insomnia (which I experienced myself prior to becoming disabled) in that it is the overwhelmingly loud feeling of physical pain that wakes you in the middle of the night. Many people know how difficult it is to function the day after a night of poor rest, let alone after multiple restless nights. When you factor in consistent physical pain, the end result of painsomnia is often unbearable.

We often lack the language to talk about our pain with enough precision to describe the specificity of the torment in which we are embroiled. Most people’s understanding of pain is acute: a bruise or a broken leg. People who experience periods know the monthly dread of pain but most have a few weeks of relief in each cycle; for them (unless they have a health issue linked to hormones), the pain is something you can prepare for. I describe my pain using objects or violence so as to elicit the adverse reaction in others that I have to live with myself. It feels like hot oil dripping, like barbed wire tearing, like scraping nails down my spine.

[notjustanyannie]

Megan Rose is 21 and lives with Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, a whole body disease that disrupts digestive functions, joints and muscles and comes with multiple co-morbidities (additional chronic conditions that relate to/are caused by the other). She says that her doctors do not seem concerned that she doesn’t sleep. “It’s something they’ve never been able to help with, it doesn’t seem to be a focus to them that I can go days without sleeping. There’s always other things that need addressing more importantly than my sleep.”

Emma, 25 and living with multiple illnesses, says the same of her medical experience. After finding a medication that combated both pain and insomnia, she was told that she was “too young to be on it regularly” by her doctor, who rejected a repeat prescription request. Ageism is a common feature of our experiences with medical professionals, many of whom still believe that illnesses are in our heads or that our pain can be worked away with exercise and a positive outlook.

The regular pain experienced by people living with chronic health conditions is compounded by regular insomnia to produce the phenomenon of painsomnia. Often the nighttime pain is not responsive to our prescription drugs, which we may have taken earlier in the day in order to complete the mundane tasks of living. Painsomnia differs from insomnia (which I experienced myself prior to becoming disabled) in that it is the overwhelmingly loud feeling of physical pain that wakes you in the middle of the night. Many people know how difficult it is to function the day after a night of poor rest, let alone after multiple restless nights. When you factor in consistent physical pain, the end result of painsomnia is often unbearable.

We often lack the language to talk about our pain with enough precision to describe the specificity of the torment in which we are embroiled. Most people’s understanding of pain is acute: a bruise or a broken leg. People who experience periods know the monthly dread of pain but most have a few weeks of relief in each cycle; for them (unless they have a health issue linked to hormones), the pain is something you can prepare for. I describe my pain using objects or violence so as to elicit the adverse reaction in others that I have to live with myself. It feels like hot oil dripping, like barbed wire tearing, like scraping nails down my spine.

[hoodoverhollywood]

All The High Fashion Nail Art Inspiration From The SS25 Runways

Amelia Bell is the Senior Site Beauty Editor at ELLE UK, developing beauty strategy, writing, editing, and commissioning, and overseeing all beauty content for the site. Amelia has a particular interest in sustainable beauty practices, exploring the skin-mind connection, and decoding the latest treatments, tweakments and runway trends. She also has bylines for Women’s Health, Refinery29, British…

[chloesunit4]

Zebedee 

Zoe Proctor, the proprietor of a London-based performing arts school, was fed up with hearing that her pupils with impairments weren't getting the same possibilities as non-disabled persons in the modelling profession in February 2017. Laura Johnson, a social worker who frequently worked with persons with impairments, voiced her dissatisfaction. It was during their regular dog walk that the two decided to take action. "I recall thinking, 'How are people with disabilities going to have a chance at success if agents refuse to work with them?'" Johnson reflects. And with that, a strategy was set in motion: "It was like a lights went off. We went home that day and began the agency." Zebedee is the UK's first modelling and acting agency dedicated solely to artists with disabilities. Proctor worked as a curve model before opening her performing arts school. Meanwhile, Johnson has a daughter who works in modelling. Their previous experience operating a modelling agency ended there. But an empty rolodex didn't stop them from pursuing their goal: to ensure that fashion and beauty commercials, which now include around 0.02% persons with disabilities, fairly represent the community. "I'd like that 0.02% statistic to turn into 21%," Johnson adds, referring to the population of disabled individuals in the UK.

“Disability is often left out of the diversity debate; we often receive briefs looking for ‘diversity’, but with no mention of disability, alternative appearances, or trans/non-binary – and we want to change this. We want it to be the norm that REAL diverse media becomes commonplace.” - Laura Winson & Zoe Proctor, Founders

More than three years after its inception, Zebedee has worked on some of the most prominent adaptive fashion initiatives, including a 2018 River Island anti-bullying campaign in which every model featured was represented by Zebedee. H&M, Marks & Spencer, Primark, and Boden are among the agency's clients. Ellie Goldstein, an 18-year-old Zebedee model from Essex with Down syndrome, was recently chosen to be the face of Gucci's colour cosmetics campaign. "I couldn't believe that Gucci had chosen me," Goldstein says. "I was ecstatic and overwhelmed with joy." Goldstein rose to worldwide prominence almost immediately after the campaign's premiere, with her image receiving the most likes on a Gucci Instagram post, according to Johnson. It presently has 850k likes and is still growing.

Referencing:

ELIZA HUBER. (2020). The Fashion Industry Ignores Disabled Models. This Agency Is Doing Something About It. [Online]. refinery29. Last Updated: 29 July 2020. Available at: https://www.refinery29.com/en-gb/2020/07/9938371/models-with-disabilities-fashion-zebedee-management [Accessed 20 August 2023].

[cherylmmbookblog]

#Blogtour Preloved by Lauren Bravo

It’s my turn on the Blogtour Preloved by Lauren Bravo. About the Author Lauren Bravo is a freelance journalist who writes about fashion, popular culture, food, travel and feminism, for publications including Grazia, Refinery29 UK, Cosmopolitan, Stylist, easyJet Traveller, Time Out, Delicious, the Telegraph and the Guardian. She is the author of two non-fiction books, What Would the Spice Girls…

[debutart]

Debut Art is pleased to announce that we are now representing Bekologic.

Bekologic aka Joonho Brian Ko is an illustrator and a graphic designer currently based in Seoul. He was born in South Korea, grew up in India, and studied in the UK. After graduating with a BA (Hons) in Illustration & Animation from the Kingston University of Art, He initially began his career as a graphic designer at Orla Kiely. He later found his particular penchant in the visual experiment of modernizing the Asian folk aesthetics in the form of digital illustration. His works have since been featured at Wepresent, DNMD, and It’sNiceThat. Influenced by Asian folklore and art, Mid-century modern designs, and pop culture, he puts his focus on highlighting simplified figures with meticulous details that penetrate through the theme. Reasoning from this, his creative process begins by shaping out the blank space. He believes that ‘to fully complete, start by emptying’. In the accomplishment of this, he seeks to explore in-depth study of a theme there is either visually, textually, or conceptually. Joonho is committed to any project there is where his illustration style can be interestingly applied, as proven from his experience with various Editorial illustrations, Site-Specific Media Performance, and Animation.   His recent clients include: The North Face, Folio Society, Robb Report, Refinery29, Coex Seoul, Korean-Arab Cultural Centre, and Korean National Folk Museum.

[10003800]

'boy meets evil': in bristol

inspiration: favourite playlist of bristol sound/trip hop scene artists. disclaimer: opinions are of personal taste and preference

one of my dream collabs for j-hope is with bristol sound/trip hop pioneers massive attack, portishead and tricky as i believe they will make meaningful and quality music together. to begin, i doubt i’m the first to notice but ‘BME’ has uncanny stylistic and conceptual alliance with the genre’s classics such as ‘glory box’, ‘hell is round the corner’ and ‘(exchange)’, to name a few.

the bristol sound is also popularly known as trip hop, a term rejected by its pioneers despite becoming a synonym for the style that they and other artists of the bristol sound scene of their time (1990s) created.

‘trip hop’ was first used by andy pemberton of UK music media (mixmag) to describe the more experimental form of breakbeat from the early 90s of the bristol sound scene, which has influences of soul, funk, and jazz.

massive attack’s first album ‘blue lines’ (1991), is often hailed as the first embodiment of the bristol hip hop movement, before transitioning into a darker direction that is bristol sound/trip hop. this is also where the brilliant ‘unfinished sympathy’ came from.

the genre is essentially an indistinguishable fusion of hip hop with electronica yet extremely experimental and includes diverse styles such as dub, funk, house, jazz, soul and other electronic music forms (cf. #jhope works).

clever and effective use of samples exemplify its experimental quality and inclusion of diverse styles (cf. #jhope works). massive attack’s use of samples in their genius ‘mezzanine’ is a classic.

trip hop’s signature melancholic sound and atmospherics fuse turntable scratching, breakbeat rhythms and instrumental hip hop as well as piano, wind (sax, trumpet) and unconventional instruments (theremin, mellotron).

the j-hope sound is distinct from the group sound due to his experimental and diverse musical style, evident in his topliner group tracks (dis-ease’, ‘dionysus’), solo features (‘BME’, ‘mama’, ‘ego’, ‘just dance’), solo singles (‘1 verse’, ‘CNS’, ‘blue side’) and mixtape (‘HW’).

j-hope also uses samples cleverly i.e. in ‘1 verse’ with ‘el chapo’ by the game ft. skrillex, in ‘airplane’ with ‘tokyo drift’ by woodie smalls ft. K1D and in ‘ego’ with ‘2 cool 4 skool’, in turn sampled off of ‘touch steps/two beat turn/freestyle routine’ by k-tel (8:40-45).

j-hope is known to love all things old school (80s, 90s, 00s) and turntable scratching is often associated with his style. he used it to clever effect in his topliner group track, ‘dis-ease’ which received accolades for its musical and lyrical sophistication and honoured as one of the best songs of 2020 by three renowned US media i.e. Esquire, Consequence of Sound (CoS) and Refinery29:

1. N°6 in 30 best songs playlist of david holmes (‘Esquire’ editor-in-chief)

2. N°32 in ‘top 50 best of the year 2020’ by Consequence of Sound [CoS] (music and film criticism medium)

3. listed in ‘best song of the year 29’ by Refinery29 (multinational feminist digital media and entertainment medium)

trip hop’s atmospheric overtones create a mellower tempo and goes beyond hardcore rap, lyrically and stylistically. #JHOPE has also now made mellow, low, whisper rap his signature style (‘jamais vu’, ‘blue and grey’, ‘film out’, ‘my universe’ among others).

j-hope has shared that he wants to create a more intimate feeling by ‘talk-rapping’ in his verses and achieve a ‘mature and intense’ quality to his next mixtape as he wishes to relate with deeper experiences and emotions that he now has. his beats, lyrics, whisper rap style and dance genius set to the graceful, enigmatic, and smoky bristol sound/trip hop will certainly be mature and intense, as he desires his next mixtape to be. his ‘blue side’ is evidence of the endless possibilities.

the recent collab with coldplay is proof that when young artists have aligned musical, artistic, and moral compass with more experienced, acclaimed, and respected artists, their shared works reflect principles and polished quality. j-hope is also one of the few truly principled young artists around now who don’t compromise on the value of integrity, industry, and quality. he’s also an incredibly talented and versatile visionary, seen in his work and work ethics over the years and therefore i dream of this collab for j-hope. i wish for him to achieve fulfilment of his artistry and vision through working with established, acclaimed, and respected artists that the bristol sound pioneers are but without compromising on quality and integrity.

lastly, here are two analyses to better understand the brilliance that the bristol sound/trip hop genre is.

i’d like to emphasize that i’ve loved j-hope's rap style from before and even more so now that he has come to his own in the art form. i hope to muse next on his wonderful rap style transition that has made him a well-rounded rapper, lyrically and stylistically. there are also so many other things i’ve been unable to mention such as the cultural aspects of the genre and how that too aligns with j-hope's style, seen in his 'CNS' but that’s for another musing. in the meantime, listen to, support, and share his music, artistry, and vision. #jhopemusicmaven #jhopedreamcollabs #musingthread

@rrredlizarrrd/blue10003800©

[angeloftheodd]

🚨 I have been featured in a Refinery29 UK article about Hello Kitty Girl fashion. 😻🎀❤️ I’m the Creative Hello Kitty Girl. 🥰💘 Thank you SO MUCH, Refinery 29 and Ebony-Renee Baker. 💖💖💖 I feel so honored to be included not only in this super cute article, but Refinery 29’s fashion section as well. 🌸

[that-thing-that-feeling]

Speaking of Sp2, idk if you saw but refinery29 wrote a great article abt Charlie’s sex scene, and how it’s groundbreaking in how it normalizes the taboo subject of menstruation and period sex. Really interesting read. I’ve said it before and I’ll keep saying it, but I really want to hear Joanna and/or Honor talk about this scene; why she decided to include it, what is was like doing it, etc. Not even just about Charlie, I just think it’s a very interesting scene and I’d like to learn more about it. I think all the previous interviewers and q&a askers have been too nervous to ask, but I really hope someone does! Joanna is doing a q&a this Monday, and another one on the 7th and 10th, and she did one last Monday that should be be posted soon, and I just really hope someone asks about it!

Oh I hadn’t seen that article; so thanks anon! Def an interesting write up of it, plus bonus it has a new still of Jim I’ll post! It def seems she hasn’t been asked about it and I’m still so confused how Honor called Jim a monster lol. It seems to just be a scene that normalizes period sex on screen with some extra things going on as well. Ig this article is before it’s UK premiere—it’s still a shame that even though a tiny role, Charlie did no press for it.

[aida-amoako]

I wrote about the Meghan Markle anti-fandom for Refinery29 UK

img: Harry and Meghan on Christmas Day 2017 (cropped).jpg" by Mark Jones is licensed under CC BY 2.0

[iamnamelessgem]

Not sure how to vote? Check out my round up of online tools to help you get your political ducks in a row.

[hoodoverhollywood]

From Matcha To Mint, Wimbledon Is Inspiring The Return Of Green Nails

Amelia Bell is the Senior Site Beauty Editor at ELLE UK, developing beauty strategy, writing, editing, and commissioning, and overseeing all beauty content for the site. Amelia has a particular interest in sustainable beauty practices, exploring the skin-mind connection, and decoding the latest treatments, tweakments and runway trends. She also has bylines for Women’s Health, Refinery29, British…