Ever dreamed of a mash-up combining two of the greatest reality TV shows of all time? Like, say, The Bachelor and The Real Housewives? Well, Orange County housewife Lauri Peterson is on it. The RHOC star is campaigning to get her single daughter, Ashley Zarlin, to join the next season of The Bachelor with Nick Viall. Peterson has been tweeting up a storm in efforts to send her daughter on a quest for Nick's heart.
Peterson shared a post from Bachelor and Bachelorette producer Elan Gale that read, "Casting for the next season of The Bachelor ends VERY soon." Peterson tweeted it at her daughter, writing, "What are you waiting for @ashleyzarlin?" The eager mom also tweeted directly at the producer and ABC, as well as her daughter, asking, "How can we make this happen?"
Zarlin herself hasn't addressed the story, but she did retweet a People article about it without comment. Just imagine if Ashley joined the show, captured Nick's heart, and made it all the way to the hometown visits week. We're sure the ladies of the O.C. would welcome the Bachelor with open arms.
What are you waiting for @ashleyzarlin? RT @theyearofelan: Casting for the next season of The Bachelor ends VERY soon.
Zendaya's style is pretty much always on-point. She's already graced us with Daya by Zendaya, a shoe line that allows us to cop at least one part of her wardrobe. There was bound to be more than just shoes in the star's design future, though: when Refinery29 spoke with Zendaya last month about her latest range of footwear, the 19-year-old said a Daya clothing line was "100%" in her future. All specifics were left up in the air, but obviously, we got excited. Now, we're getting our first peek at Zendaya's further fashion endeavors.
Today, the actress posted a picture to Instagram of herself behind the scenes at Project Runway 's New York Fashion Week event alongside Heidi Klum, Zac Posen, and Nina Garcia. In it, she's wearing a sleek velvet suit with a lacy cami underneath and heels — "Daya by Zendaya head to toe," reads the caption.
Pardon? She tried to be all sly, relegating this very exciting tidbit of information into an Instagram caption. (One that wasn't even an official announcement, even — instead, the group shot was simply promoting her turn as guest judge on Project Runway.) A representative for Daya by Zendaya confirmed to Refinery29 that the line is indeed expanding into clothing. This outfit is the first official teaser of what the collection will look like.
The news didn't go unnoticed by Zendaya's followers, either. Very quickly after posting, inquiring minds wanted to know: Is this for real? Zendaya took to Twitter to appease all her fans — who all had credit cards at the ready.
@Zendaya soo you have clothes too from daya by Zendaya?
At the risk of sounding superficial, there's nothing like changing your hair to boost your mood. Going darker usually results in shinier locks, while highlights make you feel instantly beachy. Extensions can help you create the long braids you've been coveting and a tight crop can be nothing short of liberating.
However, if you're not up for the commitment of cutting your hair, tweaking the color is a great option for a fling this fall. Not sure where to start? Fret not! For help finding the perfect inspiration photo to screengrab before your salon appointment, we've rounded up a few of the coolest new 'dos to hit Instagram.
Ahead, you'll find amazing autumn colors to try right now. The only hard part? Picking which is best for you...
Hobday is channeling Julianne Moore in A Single Man with her retro ringlets. This enviable red is not just for those blessed with the hue — forget bleaching your hair blonde, autumnal reds look just as fierce.
One of Tokyo's hottest new designers proves platinum always looks cool with this enviable, icy tone. Warning: this look's high-maintenance.
Photo: V@yoon_ambush.
Like this post? There's more. Get tons of beauty tips, tutorials, and news on the Refinery29 Beauty Facebook page. Like us on Facebook — we'll see you there!
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If you ask us, no workout is complete without a killer playlist — and running is no exception.
Whether you prefer the trails or the treadmill, the right songs can make the difference between a good run and great run. (No, that isn't just your addiction to pop talking.)
Plus, music has actually been found to improve people's performance during cardio workouts. A 2009 study, for example, suggested that music helps us power through fatigue more easily. See, even science wants you to run for your life with Yeezy at full volume.
We asked R29 staffers to share their favorite running songs, and they did not disappoint. This week, we've added five bass-heavy tracks that will make your run feel more like a rave than anything else.
Below, we've rounded up some of the most motivational, energizing tracks out there all in one amazing playlist.
Check back in the following weeks for more of your favorite tracks — and don't forget to check out our regular workout playlist, too.
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For those living with a disability, getting things done around the house can be difficult, but this talented service dog named Harlow is making it easier for one young woman. For proof, just check out Harlow's Instagram.
The service pup shows off her skills in videos that have her doing everything from emptying the washer and dryer to closing cabinet doors. At just 11 months, Harlow was able to take laundry out of the dryer and put it in the basket. "This task, while cute," Harlow explained, "is very important for mitigating my girl's disabilities and conserving her energy."
"My girl" would be Harlow's owner, Jaquie, who has postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS), which causes an increased heart rate when standing, making it hard for her to bend down to pick things up.
In another video, a 14-month-old Harlow is shown lending a helping paw to Jaquie after she drops items at a grocery store. While the loud bang of toothpaste hitting the floor might make some dogs nervous — but not Harlow who captioned the photo: "As a service dog, I must be able to keep my composure around all types of noises and distractions."
A video posted by A service pup in training! ♿🐾 (@helper_dog_harlow) on
While Harlow is becoming quite the Insta star for her talents — and YouTube star, too — Jacquie explained in an interview with Happy Hound that these videos, while cute, are meant to shine a light on service dogs and invisible illnesses.
Still, life is not all work and no play for Harlow. The puppy is a big fan of Disney World and has already been there more times than Jaquie can count. "Now that we have moved to the Tampa Bay area, we are at Disney one to two times a month," she said. "When we lived in Orlando, we usually went one to two times a week."
As Harlow explained though, "If I look 'bored' it's simply because I'm focused on the task at paw."
When most couples frolic in flower-covered meadows or among the tundras in Iceland for their engagement photos, Angela Gallo and Manuel Rosario opted for a more casual location. Fast-casual, to be precise. The couple from Orlando, Florida had their engagement photos captured by Cielo's Photography at Chipotle — the Mexican chain restaurant that has managed to capture America's heart (and theirs).
The couple told the Huffington Post that they dined at the popular Mexican joint for their first date. Since then, the two have incorporated Chipotle into every anniversary; naturally, they couldn't exclude the Mexican grill from their wedding festivities. And Chipotle won't just be present for the engagement: The restaurant offered to cater the wedding for free. That's so much more romantic than carriage rides and red roses, if you ask us.
Click through to see the burrito-loving couple in action.
With the iconic washboard walls as their backdrop, Angela and Manuel could not look happier.
You’ve probably heard time and again how great hiking is for your health. Not only does it do wonders for your body, but research shows that getting active outside not only has all the physical benefits of hitting the gym, but it may also boost your creativity and problem-solving skills in unique ways. As it turns out, a total immersion in nature (specifically within a group of hikers) resulted in a 50% increase in performance in creative activity. But if you’ve never been much of a hiker, all that rocky terrain can seem daunting -- and so can all the gear you might need. How do I choose hiking boots? Why do I need a compass? What in the world would I do with a headlamp?Ahead, we’ll have your guide to the handiest gear you’ll need for a hike, whether it be your first time hitting the trails, or your 50th. Photo: Courtesy Of Patagonia
You’ve probably heard how great hiking is for your health. Research shows that getting active outside not only has all the physical benefits of hitting the gym, but it may also boost your creativity and problem-solving skills in unique ways. In one study, a total immersion in nature (specifically within a group of hikers) resulted in a 50% increase in performance in creative activity.
But if you’ve never been much of a hiker, all that rocky terrain can seem daunting — and so can all the gear you might need. We know what you're thinking: How do I choose hiking boots? Why do I need a compass? What in the world would I do with a headlamp?
Ahead, we’ve got your guide to the handiest gear for a hike — whether it's your first or 50th time hitting the trails.
Breathable Hiking Shoes
This pair of hiking shoes isn't as heavy-duty as hiking boots, so it's ideal for a lighter day hike.
Merrell Women's Moab Ventilator, $79.99, available at Merrell.
Photo: Courtesy of Merrell.
Lip Service
You know that sunscreen is a must, but don’t forget about your lips. The skin on your lips is super-thin, making them more susceptible to sun damage. This balm keeps your lips from getting chapped and has an SPF (sun protection factor) of 15 to protect from harmful rays.
Blistex Complete Moisture Lip Balm, $2.49, available at CVS.
Photo: Courtesy of Blistex.
A Picnic Blanket
Chances are, if you're on a day-long hike, you're going to want to take a break at some point. This durable outdoor blanket is water-resistant and can double as a wrap to keep you dry if the heavens suddenly open up during your lunch.
Moka Collection Picnic Time Outdoor Blanket, $34.99, available at Target.
Photo: Courtesy of Moka Collection.
Waterproof Your Essentials
This lightweight backpack is made to repel moisture, making sure your hiking essentials (hint: your phone and wallet) don’t get drenched in the case of a sudden downpour.
Fjallraven Kanken Backpack, $75, available at Fjallraven.
Photo: Courtesy of Fjallraven.
The Right Boots
This pair is waterproof and breathable, so they will take you from shorter day hikes to long-haul backpacking trips.
Lowa Renegade GTX Mid Hiking Boots, $230, available at REI.
Photo: Courtesy Of Lowa
Keep Your Feet Dry
Not all trails are made equal, and the best way to be prepared is to prevent soggy socks before they happen. These breathable shoes are perfect for when your hike takes you to wetter, muddier routes.
Ahnu Women’s Sugarpine Hiking Shoe, $130, available at Ahnu.
Photo: Courtesy of Ahnu
A Comfortable Pack
Keep all your essentials in a lightweight backpack that doubles as a tote.
Patagonia Lightweight Travel Tote Pack, $79, available at Patagonia.
Photo: Courtesy Of Patagonia
A Way To Stay Organized
Need more places to stash stuff? Small and versatile, this backpack comes with extra pockets — including one that’s lined to protect your sunglasses.
Don't forget to hydrate! This stainless-steel bottle will keep your water cold, and it comes with an easy-access sport cap.
Kleen Kanteen Stainless Steel Water Bottle, $20.95, available at REI.
Photo: Courtesy Of Kleen Kanteen
The Perfect Smoothie Bottle
Say goodbye to lumpy smoothies and protein shakes. This bottle comes with a wire whisk that'll shake up your mixes for the perfect consistency.
Blender Bottle Classic, $9.99, available at Blender Bottle.
Photo: Courtesy of Blender Bottle.
Drink Clean
Worried about accidentally drinking dusty, dirty water on the trail? The Bobble filters water for you on the go with a portable filter that twists right into the bottle.
You already wear sunscreen on a daily basis, right? It’s especially vital to load up on SPF when you’re spending hours outside. This lightweight yet powerful one from Neutrogena will protect your skin from both UVA and UVB rays — even during the most intense (a.k.a. sweatiest) hike. Just don’t forget to reapply.
Neutrogena CoolDry Sport Sunscreen, $10.95, available at Ulta.
Photo: Courtesy Of Neutrogena
An Old-Fashioned Guide
Your phone’s GPS might not be enough to guide you through every trail; after all, no one wants to be lost in the middle of nowhere because cell service went out. It’s always safer to have a compass (and a map of your trail) on hand.
Suunto A-30 SF Metric Compass, $32.95, available at Suunto.
Photo: Courtesy Of Suunto
Pants You Can Move In
Sure, you could probably get away with your favorite pair of sweatpants, but why not splurge on something that's designed to keep you dry? This pair is made with sweat-wicking fabric.
Athleta Trekkie Joggers, $89, available at Athleta.
Photo: Courtesy Of Athleta
Non-Slip Sunglasses
Built to stay on your face through uphill and downhill treks.
Oakley Moonlighter Prizm Daily Polarized Sunglasses, $180, available at Oakley.
Photo: Courtesy of Oakley
A Long-Haul Lifesaver
If you know you’re going on a trail that doesn’t offer the best bathroom situation (or any bathroom situation at all), this might become your new best friend. Made from medical-grade silicone that conforms to your body, the GoGirl allows you to go to the bathroom anywhere. While standing up.
GoGirl Female Urination Device, $9.99, available at Target.
Photo: Courtesy Of GoGirl
Extra Sun Protection
Perfect for a light day hike, this visor keeps the sun (and sweat) out of your eyes so you can focus on navigating the trail.
For a little more heat protection, look no further than Lululemon's cap, designed to wick away sweat to keep you cool and comfy.
Lululemon Race To Place Run Hat, $68, available at Lululemon.
An Insect Repellent
There are definite benefits to the great outdoors, but bug bites are not one of them. This bug spray contains DEET, an active ingredient that wards off mosquitos and ticks (which can spread Lyme disease).
Repel 100% Deet Pump, $7.97, available at Wal-Mart.
Photo: Courtesy of Repel
Disinfect On The Go
In an ideal world, there would be a (clean) bathroom rest stop along every trail, or at least a place to wash the dirt and dust off your hands. Since we don’t live in that world, there’s always Purell.
Purell Hand Sanitizer, $2.67, available at Target.
Photo: Courtesy Of Purell
Non-Slip Socks
When you're in the middle of an intense hike, having your socks slipping down your foot can be one of the most annoying feelings in the world. These puppies will stay on your feet and keep sweat at bay.
SmartWool PhD Outdoor Light Mini Socks, $17.95, available at REI.
Photo: Courtesy Of SmartWool
A Worthy Splurge
These four-way stretch trekking trousers are made for optimal mobility and durability, making them a great investment piece for hiking enthusiasts.
Fjallraven Abisko Lite Trekking Trousers. $150, available at Fjallraven.
Photo: Courtesy of Fjallraven.
For The More Adventurous Hiker
If your trek takes you to some dark places (literally), it’s best to have a good safety net — in the form of a headlamp. This one is washable and weather-resistant. And unlike a flashlight, it’s hands-free.
Petzl Tikkina Headlamp, $19.95, available at Backcountry.
Photo: Courtesy of Petzl.
A Way To Stay Dry
Since you can’t control the weather, make sure your wardrobe is versatile. This rain jacket is suitably waterproof and windproof, but it’s also lightweight and breathable enough for any forecast.
Nobody wants to be caught with a blister, in the middle of a hiking trail, with no Band-Aids on hand. It’s best to have a few essentials with you, just in case you need to take care of minor scrapes, cuts, or even sprains.
Johnson & Johnson All Purpose First Aid Kit, $9.99, available at Target.
Photo: Courtesy of Johnson & Johnson
A Sweat-Proof Top
Evie’s special Drirelease technology promises to wick away sweat, keeping you moisture-free even on the hottest of days. Plus, it has mesh panels for underarm ventilation — and even has an ultraviolet protection factor (UPF) of 30 to keep you safe from the sun.
Finally, Rob & Chyna is almost here. The series premieres this Sunday, but E! is giving us a sneak peek at what to expect in a new preview — and it ain't pretty. In the clip, Rob Kardashian is in the car with Scott Disick when he asks Scott to take him to pick up toiletries. "Chyna and I got in a fight, so she kicked me out," he says.
Rob then admits in the confessional that this isn't a onetime occurrence. "This cycle of me being kicked out the house has happened several times," he says. "Usually I go right back, but I'm sick of it, so I'm gonna stay in my house in Calabasas for a bit." Rob goes on to say that it's not a good feeling to get kicked out of somewhere that's supposed to be their shared space. Disick — who has been through something similar a time or two with Kourtney — gives Rob some advice. "She's hormonal, she's pregnant. If you weren't to get kicked out, it would be weird."
Seems like there's been quite a bit of trouble in paradise behind the scenes of ChyRo. We're excited to sip some more tea during the rest of the season. Watch the full clip, below.
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"I wanted to discover these women now and find out what they were doing. Did they feel they were exploited in retrospect? Were they empowered at the time? Did they still feel sexy despite our society's obsession with youth?" asks Twomey. Photographed by Robyn Twomey.
Tight costumes complete with a puffy bunny tail. Mandatory weigh-ins. Not being allowed to sit during an eight-hour shift. It sounds like a nightmare (Gloria Steinem stated as much when she penned an exposé about her own experience going undercover in one of the Playboy Clubs in a 1963 article), but for many women who donned bunny ears to work in one of the legendary clubs around the country in the 1960s, the gig was a ticket to glamour, excitement, and independence via a paycheck to call their own.
Even 50 years later, many women who worked as a Bunny recall the experience fondly — and miss that time in their lives. In a photo series, photographer Robyn Twomey set out to explore the intersection of beauty and sexuality by taking contemporary photos of former Bunnies.
"There was that exclusivity of beauty, literally being one of the chosen ones, that made these women feel special," says Twomey. "For the ones that really loved it, there seemed to be a freedom in their sexiness that was liberating and empowering. A couple of women talked about how they made more money than their fathers, which was a huge deal at the time. This was at a time when women were still forging their way in the male-dominated workforce. It was also a rigorous and very competitive selection process, so there was a special exclusivity to those that were chosen. And the awe of Playboy at its peak of charm, fascination, glamour, and mystique," Twomey said, explaining that many of the women she met saw the gig as one of the high points of their lives.
The other thing Twomey was struck by was the fact that so much of these women's career success within the Playboy Clubs was dependent on their physical beauty. While many went on to a range of careers — flight attendants, teachers, yoga instructors, authors, and doctors — Twomey found that many of her subjects still had a complicated relationship with the importance of appearance.
"Some of these gorgeous women didn't believe they were beautiful anymore, but the ones that did believe had such a powerful vortex of confidence, appeal, and giving zero fucks," she said.
Here, Twomey shares her photos, along with her interview notes and some thoughts from former Playboy Bunnies in their own words. Click through to meet 14 former Bunnies.
"I started this project after hearing a woman speak about her Playboy Bunny experience on the radio. She explained how empowering it was for her, which was totally against my feminist ideals. But her perspective was so honest and provocative, I had to know more," says Twomey.
Photographed by Robyn Twomey.
Rita Plank
Photographed by Robyn Twomey.
"I wanted to document these women in their complexities — some proud, some desperately holding onto their youth, some fierce, sexy, and powerful — instead of painting them all as one character," says Twomey.
Photographed by Robyn Twomey.
Katherine Lee Scott, Actress & Book Publisher
"As young women, we learned how to conduct ourselves in an environment that begged to take advantage of us. I think we were the vanguard of women's lib, as it was called in the Sixties. We were earning more than our fathers and brothers. And frankly, if one could maintain dignity and self-respect while serving food and drink half-naked, one has the self confidence to master anything!" says Scott.
Photographed by Robyn Twomey.
Carmelita
Photographed by Robyn Twomey.
Patty Baker
"Patty didn't have the material glitz and glam of some of the subjects," says Twomey. "She lived humbly, but she had such powerful confidence and a fierce demeanor."
Photographed by Robyn Twomey.
Amanda Callahan
Photographed by Robyn Twomey.
Sandra Costa
Photographed by Robyn Twomey.
"At the Playboy Bunny reunion [where I shot some photos] there was a lot of pride associated with being a Playboy Bunny and being a pioneer of the sexual revolution," says Twomey.
Photographed by Robyn Twomey.
Joyce Williams, Actress
"People always had the wrong impression of Playboy Clubs. Bunnies did not have to pose nude, appear in the centerfold, or date Hugh Hefner. Every time I met him, he was nice, quiet, and respectful. He also encouraged any Bunny to pursue their dreams. I met my agent through my career as a Bunny and am profoundly grateful for the opportunities the job presented me," says Williams.
Photographed by Robyn Twomey.
Kelley Morgan
"All of the women I met were still so beautiful, but not all of them believed it," says Twomey.
Photographed by Robyn Twomey.
"I was curious to see what affect Playboy Bunnies have on American women and how that informs women's lives now," says Twomey.
Photographed by Robyn Twomey.
Patti Colombo Burrus
Photographed by Robyn Twomey.
Bobbie Bresee, Actress
"I couldn't believe how amazing Bobbie looked when I met her," shares Twomey. "When I told her that, she laughed and said, 'I better! I've put $300,000 into this body!'"
Bresee recalls her experience fondly and also feels the experience taught her a few essential life skills. " Being a Bunny taught me people skills are incredibly important! Also, getting along with 60 beautiful women at once was a major feat," says Bresee.
Photographed by Robyn Twomey.
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This Sunday marks the 15-year anniversary of 9/11. There are many respectful ways to commemorate this day. Making light of the tragedy for a tacky sales pitch is not one of them, obviously — but that didn't stop one Texas mattress store from sharing a staggeringly offensive, unfathomably disrespectful commercial.
The spot is advertising a 9/11 "twin sale" on mattresses — buy any full-size mattress for the price of a twin. The employees laugh throughout. And just when you think things can't get any worse for a 22-second spot, they do: Two tall piles of mattresses, representing the twin towers, are knocked over. You'll probably need to watch for yourself to believe just how bad it is.
The only appropriate thing about the situation has been the internet's immediate and damning response. People were already upset about Walmart's soda display of the twin towers, and this ad touched a nerve. The YouTube video recording of the ad has been viewed nearly a million times already and has garnered more than 6,000 comments. People are also sharing their outrage on Twitter."Wow this is astonishingly stupid and offensive to people who actually care about 9/11 and what it meant for the US," one person tweeted.
Others are still wondering how the ad got made in the first place. That's the question on the shop owner's mind as well, actually, who says the store's team made the commercial without his knowledge or approval. He shared an apology letter, writing, "The video is tasteless and an affront to the men and women who lost their lives on 9/11." He called the ad "thoughtless" and "crude" and said he is "deeply sorry." We would think so.
Wow this is astonishingly stupid and offensive to people who actually care about 9/11 and what it meant for the US https://t.co/1Xa9w0zlJu
We tend to forget just how much junk we’ve stashed away in closets and drawers until we start digging into our nearly forgotten summer clothing. Old cell phones gathering dust, an unused hand-me-down crockpot, and dresses that haven’t seen the light of day in years, all just wasting space. It’s time to get rid of that clutter — and make some money from it in the process.
Sure, you can always have a yard sale, if you have a yard. Or use Craigslist, if you want someone local to pick up your old bike. There's also eBay, if you have a unique or big ticket item that could benefit from its auction-based selling style. But, there are plenty of other ways to sell the treasures you no longer treasure, whether you think they’re worth $5 or $500.
With the following sites and apps, you'll be sure to make the most off of your old clothing, gadgets, and household items — without requiring a bunch of effort on your part. Many places handle shipping for you, and act as a middleman between you and the buyer, which eliminates worry about your personal safety.
Here’s what to do with your old stuff so you can make some quick cash.
This article originally ran July 7, 2015.
Sell Gently Used Home Decor
You bought a new dresser last year, but you're about to move and just not feeling it anymore. No sweat — hop on Chairish (free on iOS) to sell things such as tables, dressers, chairs, and decorative home accents. If you're looking to spruce up your pad, it's also a good place to get higher-end pieces for a discount.
Photo: Courtesy Chairish.
Sell Your iPhone
We have a huge e-waste problem in the U.S. — which includes all those old phones, tablets, and computers we keep buying and ditching. Instead of leaving them on a shelf to gather dust, or dumping them in the trash (don’t do that!), sell them back to a recycler like EcoATM or a reseller like Gazelle to get cash. They will pay you for your old phone, for example, and then either resell it to vendors as a refurbished item (if it’s in good condition), or recycle it, by mining its precious metals for use in other products (if it’s in not-so-good condition). Also, you can get up to $330 back for your old iPhone 6, depending on condition, carrier, and storage capacity. Any old smartphone will sell too, but newer models do command higher prices.
Consider donating much older phones to a charity like HopeLine, which takes your cell phone and gives it to victims and survivors of domestic violence. You can get more info about the program here.
Photo: Courtesy EcoATM.
Sell Concert & Festival Tickets
You bought that ticket to Kanye because you knew it would sell out in seconds. But now that the concert is days away, you realize that shelling out hundreds for a show you don't really want to see might not be worth it. Luckily, you can post your tickets (for free) on Nearo. The app, free on iOS, makes it easy to exchange your ticket for one to a different show, or get a refund for the full amount.
Photo: Nearo.
Sell Sneakers
For buying or selling a cool pair of kicks, head to Goat on iOS or Android. Goat is a polished marketplace exclusively for sneakers. Just take some photos of your pair and set the price. Once they're purchased, the app will even send a prepaid shipping label, so shipping is painless. But, with over 27,000 sneakers onboard, be careful — you might end up buying a new pair, too.
Photo: Courtesy Goat.
Sell Old Books
It's absolutely necessary to have a few great books on your bookshelf. But, in the time of Kindle and e-books, a digital edition of your favorite tome may be more convenient than a paper copy — especially if you move often. (Seriously, why are books so heavy?) Whether you have old textbooks you don't need anymore, or titles you've purchased online, you can sell the hard copies using BookScouter. It searches 30 websites that buy back books, so you can make the most money possible from the books you want to get rid of.
Photo: Courtesy BookScouter.com.
Sell Your Car
The thought of the cash we'd get from selling our cars makes our wallets do a happy dance, but the thought of dealing with the hassle of haggling and meeting potential buyers makes us want to crawl under the covers. Beepi makes the whole experience super simple and streamlined. Beepi has some strict restrictions with regards to the condition and age of the cars it will accept, but if your car fits the bill, the company will send an inspector to check it out — and then send you an estimated sale price. From there, it guarantees to sell your car in 30 days or less — or it will buy the car from you.
Photo: Courtesy Beepi.
Have A Virtual Garage Sale
Or, you can go with a Craigslist alternative that just focuses on letting you sell your old stuff (and buy cheap things from other sellers).
Letgo is exactly like a phone-based garage sale, minus the need for a garage. You can find everything from old phones to gently worn clothing to a saddle for a horse. Wallapop is another alternative on this front, and it boasts 13 million users. Both apps let you sell and search for bargains within your geographic area.
To get your old stuff in front of the most eyes, you could try posting listings on both apps.
Photo: Courtesy Letgo.
Sell Anything On Amazon
Just like you can buy anything from Amazon, you can also sell anything on Amazon. The e-commerce giant has several different ways you can go about offloading your stuff for cash.
First, you can just trade it in. Enter in the item(s) you want to get rid of — old books, movies, or electronics, and Amazon will send you quotes for your belongings. If the price seems fair, you then receive a pre-paid shipping label for mailing your things, and an Amazon gift card for the amount your “junk” is worth. For a trade-in, your items need to be in “acceptable” condition and meet Amazon’s criteria for quality.
If you’d rather set the price for your own gear (assuming, again, it’s in good or new condition), you can use Sell on Amazon or Fulfillment by Amazon. It costs $1 per sale (plus other selling fees) to sell as an individual. Amazon walks you through the process: First, you indicate what items you want to sell or add the SKU information to Amazon’s database, and then you list it. You can handle shipping yourself, or use Amazon’s Fulfillment program to do it for you.
As buyers purchase your products, Amazon deposits money into your bank account at regular intervals, much like an employer, and notifies you when it’s complete. Whether it’s 10 boxes of pasta you bought at Costco six months ago (and now you’re gluten-free) or an unboxed camera you never bothered using, you can sell it on Amazon.
Photo: Courtesy Amazon.
Sell Anything On Your Phone
You have your phone with you at all times, so it's way easier to create your own mini marketplace there. And you can, with the Mercari app. The app lets you quickly upload a picture of the item you're looking to sell (everything from clothes to electronics), a description, the condition, your preferred shipping, and price. You can even get a fixed, low-rate shipping label straight from Mercari. Create a profile of your goods, like you would on a social-media app, so that if someone likes an item you're selling, they can take a look at what else you're getting rid of.
Photo: Courtesy App Store.
Sell Your Clothes & Accessories
You’ve got enough past season clothing you could fill your own consignment store. Poshmark lets you buy, sell, and trade clothes online with ease. Create a profile, snap photos of the item you want to sell, and write an enticing description. When someone purchases it, Postmark sends you a pre-paid, pre-addressed label you can drop in the mail or have picked up from your home. Poshmark takes a flat $2.95 commission for sales under $15, and anything above, Poshmark makes 20% of the selling price. You can use your earnings to spend on items in the app, or withdraw your money as cash.
Another way to sell your clothes online is Twice. With Twice, you list an item by describing the age, brand, and condition, and they send you a pre-paid shipping label. Once it arrives, the company pays you via check, PayPal, Venmo, or Target gift card (or a store credit, which is 25% extra). If you don’t like the offer, you can have your clothes returned (for $5 shipping). You can estimate what you’ll get with the site’s payout calculator. Twice only accepts items from certain brands, but there is a huge list to choose from, including 7 For All Mankind, Nicole Miller, Alice + Olivia, and J.Crew.
With either of these options, you’ll make at least as much if you'd dropped off your old threads at your local thrift store — but you never even had to leave the apartment.
If you’ve got large items you don’t want to ship, like gently-used furniture or a bike that’s on the verge of rusting, Craigslist is still one of your best bets. With no middleman to take a cut of your profits, and no packaging or shipping to deal with, it can be an ideal way to sell something online. Just be sure to do some research on selling price beforehand, and factor in some haggling wiggle-room so even if you “cave” $20 or $50, you’re still making the amount you hoped for.
However, it’s a lot more hassle: Writing the listing, photographing the items, reading and replying to responses, and then coordinating meeting and payment. Whenever possible, go somewhere public to make the handoff; if that’s not reasonable, make sure to have a friend or partner around so you’re not alone.
An alternative to Craigslist is Nextdoor, a private neighborhood-based social network. It’s a great place to meet your neighbors, keep abreast of issues in your community, and buy or sell goods with people who live nearby. Since everyone has an account — and, you could see them around the hood — the icky security concerns of Craigslist aren’t such a big deal.
Photo: Courtesy Craigslist.
Sell Children's Clothing
Kids grow so fast, that adorable onesie you purchased could become unwearable in a matter of months. To save money (or make a few bucks) you can buy and sell from gently used children's clothing marketplace Totspot. Totspot, which includes clothing for adults now, too, lets you browse a variety of items — from swimwear to dresses to winter jackets — and buy them at a fraction of the retail cost. The app takes a 20% cut off profits from sellers, and if you want to sell but don't have the time to do the legwork, you can use its Concierge service so other parents can sell on your behalf.
Photo: Courtesy Totspot.
Things To Remember Before You Sell
Before you start boxing things up, you need to do a few quick things — don’t worry, it won’t take long. First, for clothing, go through pockets to make sure you haven’t accidentally left jewelry, trinkets, old receipts, or forgotten cash inside. Then, if it’s not clean, go ahead and send it through the wash. As much as the next person may love cats, they probably don’t want extra cat fur on that jacket. After that, photograph the item from all angles. You can use these photos if you list the item yourself. This also helps with documenting any quality issues with the item: You’ve now got definitive proof that your old phone is in pristine condition, or that it has a corner dent and a scratch or two.
Photo: Courtesy Hanna Houimet/Instagram.
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R29's Shatterbox Anthology put women behind the camera in more ways than one. In her Shatterbox short Watching You Watching Me, director Pamela Romanowsky was curious to turn her lens outward, to see how real people feel about how they're perceived.
Romanowsky and her producer joined Refinery29 at 29 Rooms to talk about her film, Watching You Watching Me.
" Shatterbox Anthology is about power," Romanowsky told R29's Arianna Davis. "When we got the request to pitch something, I was thinking about an iteration of power that could be something new to explore."
Romanowsky decided to think about power in terms of perception: "I think that's something we take for granted — how [differently] we see things, and how much that affects how people see us. I wanted to explore that very literally and ask four different people, 'How do people look at you' and, 'How do people perceive you?'"
For producer Gabrielle Nadig, the story was important to her as a New Yorker.
"Pamela came to me with this idea of showing real people expressing how they feel about being watched or being seen," Nadig said. "As New Yorkers, we're constantly being stared at or staring at other people. I wanted to explore that through different subjects. Pamela and I were able to find some really different people to talk to about it."
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Sometimes, you gotta catch 'em all. Other times, you gotta sell 'em all. The Wall Street Journal reports that the man responsible for your Pokémon Go obsession recently put his glamorous Manhattan penthouse on the market. Al Khan, a licensing executive, is credited with bringing Pokémon, as well as other Japanese imports such as Yu-Gi-Oh!, to the United States. You can imagine what sort of home the experienced licensing exec might own. (Hint: it's huge.)
Spanning over 3,000 square feet, the penthouse apartment in Midtown South is the type of home we only fantasize about in the wee hours of the night. Here's what the $18.95 million asking price will get you: three bedrooms, four floors, a private pool, and seven outdoor terraces. Those alone amount to almost 1,800 square feet of space.
Here's what we want to know: Is the home a Pokémon gym — or at least a Pokémon-littered locale? Because if it's not, we're not interested.
Click through to see photos of the bananas apartment.
Definition of luxury: a tiny fur carpet atop another animal-print carpet.
Photo: Courtesy of Doulgas Elliman Real Estate.
Even a lumpy Lean Cuisine would feel glamorous at this huge dining table.
Photo: Courtesy of Doulgas Elliman Real Estate.
Tickle the ivories on that grand piano as you gaze on the New York cityscape.
Photo: Courtesy of Doulgas Elliman Real Estate.
Have you ever fantasized about taking a bubble bath beneath a giant indoor tree?
Photo: Courtesy of Doulgas Elliman Real Estate.
Wall-to-wall windows guarantee natural light in this dreamy bedroom.
Photo: Courtesy of Doulgas Elliman Real Estate.
It's not a luxury apartment if you can't see the Empire State Building from your private pool.
Photo: Courtesy of Doulgas Elliman Real Estate.
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Amber Rose must be having déjà vu, because she is once again being dragged on Twitter by one of her exes. This time, though, it's one with whom she's been on relatively good terms — Wiz Khalifa.
The rapper got defensive about his relationship with Rose after she recently spoke about having her first threesome.
During her podcast relaunch of Loveline, Rose mentioned that she's been too busy recently to be intimate. (She's a contestant on the upcoming season of Dancing With the Stars, has a VH1 TV series, and just launched a beauty collaboration with Flirt Cosmetics.) She went on to share that the last time she had sex, it was a threesome and it was "fucking awful." She added, jokingly, that she'll just have to resort to calling her baby daddy (she has a 3-year-old son, Sebastian, with Khalifa) to "get a little something."
In response to that, Khalifa tweeted, "Not here for your rebound after your threesome. Only peace and love @DaRealAmberRose." He added, "Don't let fame and illusions fool you. Have an awesome day."
Not here for your rebound after your threesome. Only peace and love @DaRealAmberRose
Things escalated when Rose replied, "I'm getting publicly Slut shamed...Again. For the same things he does all the time.....Great. #GimmieMyWatchBack Lol #PettyAF still [heart] u tho," hinting that Khalifa himself has had more than a few threesomes.
I'm getting publicly Slut shamed...Again. For the same things he does all the time.....Great. #GimmieMyWatchBack Lol #PettyAF still ❤️u tho
Minutes later, Khalifa tweeted a now-deleted message reading, "I'm actually the one who looked at w/pride and integrity with hopes that you would do so as well as the mother of my child @DaRealAmberRose."
Publicly shading your the mother of your son and amicable ex (she just wished Khalifa "happy birthday") on Twitter is pretty immature. And very Kanye-esque. He could've just called her. Messaging her publicly seems like a power play, to prove to his fans that Rose is not the one in control of their relationship, whatever state it may be in. But, knowing Rose, a self-proclaimed Bad Bitch, she most definitely is. He is already deleting his passive-aggressive tweets.
Never forget that this Rose can be very thorny. #GimmeMyWatchBack.
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Update: A federal judge refused the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe’s request to halt construction on the Dakota Access pipeline on Friday afternoon, the Associated Press reported.
U.S. District Judge James Boasberg ruled against the request for a temporary injunction without giving an explanation. A conference is ordered for September 16, in which the parties must appear.
A attorney for Earthjustice, the environmental group who filed the suit on behalf of the tribe, said before the ruling that they planned to continue with appeals.
This story was originally published on September 5, 2016.
Protests against the Dakota Access Pipeline became violent over the weekend, reports NPR. Hundreds of demonstrators supporting the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe faced off against private security officers from Dallas-based Energy Transfer Partners.
Tribal leaders say the protests escalated after construction crews destroyed American Indian burial and cultural sites on private land, reports The Associated Press. Video from Democracy Now! shows security officers threatening demonstrators with dogs and using pepper spray.
Morton County Sheriff's Office spokeswoman Donnell Preskey said four private security guards and two guard dogs were injured. Tribe spokesman Steve Sitting Bear told the AP that protesters reported that six people had been bitten by security dogs, including a young child, while at least 30 people had been pepper-sprayed.
Ahead, a breakdown of the key players and the conflict in the Dakota Access Pipeline. Plus, a look at the court decision that could determine its future.
What Is The Dakota Access Pipeline?
The Dakota Access Pipeline is a four-state long, $3.8 billion oil pipeline that will cross the Missouri River. If completed, the Dakota Access Pipeline will run almost 1,172 miles and deliver 570,000 barrels of crude oil each day from the Bakken/Three Forks formations in North Dakota to facilities in Illinois. It would run through private land, except when it crosses bodies of waters.
Who Wants To Build It?
Dakota Access, the pipeline project's developer, is a subsidiary of the Energy Transfer Crude Oil Company, LLC. It says the pipeline would help the United States become less dependent on importing energy. It also estimates the pipeline would bring an estimated $156 million in sales and income taxes to state and local governments.
Who's Protesting?
The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe has contested the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline. The tribe filed a complaint in federal court alleging that the pipeline could disturb sacred American Indian sites and affect the reservation's drinking water.
The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe is a federally recognized Indian tribe and a successor to the Great Sioux Nation. Since asking the courts for an injunction, other Native American tribes have joined in the efforts to stop construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline.
Rallies to "protect, not protest" have been held in both North Dakota and in Washington, D.C. Celebrities, like Shailene Woodley and Rosario Dawson, have joined rallies in protest. Others, such as Leonardo DiCaprio, have publicly praised the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe for its efforts.
As of September 2016, the only presidential candidate that has spoken about the Dakota Access Pipeline is Sen. Bernie Sanders — since as far back as November 2015. Sanders supported the efforts of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe.
Candidates Clinton and Trump have not spoken out about the pipeline. CNN ran an op-ed by Simon Moya-Smith, a citizen of the Oglala Lakota Nation, in which he calls on Clinton to support the tribe and speak out on the issue.
What Happens Next?
The tribe filed a lawsuit against the Army Corps of Engineers on July 27 to stop the pipeline, alleging that the tribe was not consulted and highlighting the danger posed to cultural sites and drinking water.
Until then, the tribe released a statement saying that it filed "an emergency motion Sunday for a temporary restraining order to prevent further destruction of the Tribe’s sacred sites by Dakota Access Pipeline."
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It sounds like a grandiose generalization to describe anybody as an “artist of our time,” but for Signe Pierce, it’s an apt description. Pierce, 27, so effortlessly embodies her particular time and place (2016 New York City) that almost everything she said during our 40-minute phone conversation could be millennial gospel. She is, as she puts it, “a reality artist” and her body of work grapples with the most prescient social issues of our reality: sexism, racism, police brutality, LGBTQ prejudice, the surveillance state, the patriarchy, the ugly underbelly of capitalism.
During our chat she is uninhibited but remarkably self-aware, and it becomes apparent before she says it outright that she doesn’t distinguish between the personal and the political. “I’m seeking answers just about the human condition, about life, about the past, present, and future, about space and time, and just about the way we are with each other,” she tells me.
We touch on Kim Kardashian, the radical artistic value of SnapChat, Bernie Sanders and the recent reemergence of '80s cyberfeminism. She talks about reclaiming the color pink, genderlessness, using her body like a Venus flytrap to ensnare the male gaze, and how she's been thinking a lot about limitlessness lately. I wonder, What more could we ask of an artist in 2016?
The funny thing is that Pierce was an artist for the times back in 2011. It was her senior year of college; she was studying photography, interning at SNL, and watching a whole lot of Real Housewives. “They didn’t need a sketch, they didn’t need a script. I found it really fascinating and very Warhol-ian that these people had found a way to make a living and make a long-form performance out of their lives."
She took her cue from reality stars for her final art school show, which she told everybody she wouldn’t be able to make. Signe bought some pink plastic on Canal Street and fashioned a contraption to hold her phone at a two-foot distance from her face; she called it a reality stick. “I’m not going to lie, I low-key invented the selfie stick,” she says with a laugh. “My dad is so mad at me for not patenting it!” That night, she crashed the opening in character as a chick named Bryssa.
How’d her premonitory selfie-stunt go over? “I’m pretty sure the head of my department hated it.” That’s probably because Signe’s work isn’t really for hanging on walls and prompting polite small talk over canapés. Though Signe doesn’t talk about that night very often or consider it a part of her canon, she says it's her first true performance as a reality artist. “It’s kind of just my life is my art, my body is my medium…the phone is my canvas and video and media [are] the canvas, then social media and the internet [are] my gallery, essentially,” she explains. “Life is art.”
Photographed by Refinery29.
Pierce doesn’t shy away from the less-than-pretty parts of life either. Take 2013’s American Reflexxx, the social experiment she performed on the boardwalk in Myrtle Beach while then-girlfriend and collaborator Alli Coates captured the sick scene that unfolded. Pierce used her body as a canvas to display what she calls the “hyper-sexualized female form” favored in the media — platinum blonde hair, a skin-tight skimpy dress, neon platform heels, and a shiny metal mask concealing her entire face — and let the crowd that formed around her direct the piece from there. “You take a sex object and you turn her inside out and you flip the gaze on all the people who are typically consuming her,” she explains.
Pierce and Coates didn’t set out to create a shocking 14-minute study on the dehumanization of trans people, but that’s what happened when an angry mob formed under the assumption she was trans; it started with slurs and ended with Signe bleeding on the pavement. “When we found ourselves in that moment, there was really no preparing you for what you’re going to do when 100 angry people are following you down the street. There wasn’t really an exit strategy either.” The jarring footage that resulted reveals the unsavory reality that there is a latent transphobia in many people that requires frighteningly little prodding to erupt into violence.
Photographed by Refinery29.
If a reality artist reflects the current cultural moment, then Signe Pierce's work is by its nature ephemeral; she will never give the same performance twice. Three years later, American Reflexxx would probably unfold very differently — as would Signe's art show, now that we're all starring in our own reality shows broadcast on social media 24/7. Would anybody even look twice at a girl with a selfie stick on her head? That's something that Signe's been thinking about a lot lately: losing ourselves in — and to — technology.
"I always say I’m part cyborg, like part iPhone girl, you know? But I’m also really part flesh and blood human, animal," she explains. "I’m an animal, we all are and the deeper we go into the iPhone generation and the matrix I think the more that that gets left behind."
Signe intends to help us all reclaim flesh-and-blood warmth that makes us human with her new installation at 29 Rooms. It’s called “Come To Your Senses” and she describes it as an immersive sensory peep show where all five senses will be engaged.
"I want people to be able to come in and feel something a little bit. My objective with this is to turn you on, essentially," she explains. “I want this to be a celebration of the more animal aspect of ourselves and how we can unleash that. I want you to behold something beautiful or something sensual, and I want it to remind you of your carnal instincts — and what it means to be a body, not just to be a body attached to a machine.”
29Rooms — Refinery29’s magical art and fashion funhouse – is back for its second year, kicking off during NYFW, from September 9 to 11. We’re bringing our commitment to women claiming their power to life, through the event’s theme, “Powered by People.” To celebrate this sense of possibility, we’ve curated content that embodies our theme and pushes you to do more — start the conversations you want to hear, make change. We built our dream world and want to inspire you to power your own. For more information on the 29Rooms event and our initiative, click here.
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The phenomenon of the OTT handcrafted celebrity Halloween costume is a lot more recent than you might have guessed. For most of the past century, it was still just a kids' holiday, even for those whose real-life job description is basically "play dress-up." You can actually find photos from Hollywood Halloween fundraisers in the '90s where actors dared to show up in civilian clothes, toting children with costumes that were clearly (the horror!) store-bought.
The change was slow. Then, it seemed to come all at once. In the late '90s, we can see celebs stepping up their game at Bette Midler's birthday party — which, incidentally, was one of the first places we got to see Martha Stewart's Halloween fanaticism beyond her magazine's pages. In 2000, Heidi Klum began holding her annual costume party; models, musicians, and actors have showed up to show off ever since. Then came the development of Twitter and Instagram. Now, even if they're nowhere near a red carpet in October, famous people give us glimpses of their cleverest getups.
Here, we present some of the absolute best celebrity Halloween costumes — an objective call we made based not on how good or hot they looked, but on originality, humor, and devotion to the holiday spirit. If we can see you in lycra and cat-eye makeup any day of the week, you best be sporting full-body prosthetics, unrecognizable makeup, or a geeky pun to make our list.
Carmen Kass As Mrs. Mia Wallace, 2002
This costume is all in the attitude, which Kass has in spades.
Photo: Evan Agostini/Getty Images.
Drew Barrymore As A Crayon, 1985
A crayon wouldn't get you any points in the modern era of celeb costumes, but the 10-year-old Drew is too cute to pass up.
Photo: David Mcgough/DMI/The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images.
Heidi Klum As Kali, 2008
The model-turned-party hostess stirred up controversy with Hindu leaders by wearing this. We're bringing it up again as an example of the fine, always-moving line between exquisite homage and cultural appropriation.
Photo: Charles Eshelman/FilmMagic.
Martha Stewart As A Boogie Boarder, 1998
The lifestyle queen's longstanding devotion to silly Halloween costumes has always convinced us that she's so much more than meets the eye.
Photo: Kevin Mazur/WireImage.
Jessica Alba As Dora The Explorer, 2009
You know you're a mother when your most current pop-culture references are from Nickelodeon.
Photo: Alexandra Wyman/WireImage.
Pink As A Clown, 2008
This goes a long way toward curing us of our fear of clowns.
Photo: Ron Galella/WireImage.
Bryan Greenberg As The Brawny Man, 2011
The resemblance is just so uncanny.
Photo: Charley Gallay/WireImage.
John McEnroe As '80s John McEnroe, 2005
Bold move to remind everyone of how much more hair you used to have.
Photo: Stephen Lovekin/WireImage.
Elle Fanning As Mary Poppins, 2005
The best part about this is the bag that the 7-year-old could probably fit into.
Photo: SGranitz/WireImage.
Evan Rachel Wood As Magenta, 2010
Something about Wood just makes weird beautiful.
Photo: Robyn Beck/AFP/Getty Images.
Cher As Cleopatra, 1988
We bow down to this queen at a party thrown by her legendary costume collaborator, Bob Mackie.
Photo: Ron Galella/WireImage.
Heidi Klum As A Robot, 2010
Is this some kind of reference to people's assumptions about models?
Photo: Bryan Bedder/Getty Images.
Kelly Ripa & Nick Lachey As Kim Kardashian & Kris Humphries, 2011
This is most impressive when you keep in mind that they did this on the very day Kim announced her divorce.
Photo: Ray Tamarra/Getty Images.
Fergie AsToddlers & TiarasStar, 2011
Think about it this way: She's a former child star playing a child playing a grown woman. Whoa.
Photo: Kevin Mazur/WireImage.
Jamie Lee Curtis As A Leopard, 1998
Again, this wouldn't pass muster by 2016 standards, but we can't resist adding the original Halloween scream queen to this list.
Photo: Ron Galella, Ltd./WireImage.
Rande Gerber & Cindy Crawford As Axl Rose & Slash, 2013
One hopes there was a lip-synching and air guitar performance at this party.
Photo: Jerod Harris/Getty Images.
Iggy Azalea As Cruella de Vil, 2013
Trust Iggy to bring along an actual Dalmatian to complete this costume.
Photo: Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images.
Demi Lovato As A Bloody Witch, 2013
An excellent example of using fake contacts to full creepy effect.
Photo: Christopher Polk/Getty Images.
Keren Craig & Georgina Chapman As Hitchcock Heroines, 2013
Another uncanny resemblance.
Photo: Cindy Ord/Getty Images.
Heidi Klum As A 90-Year-Old, 2013
She will definitely still be hosting these parties as a nonagenarian.
Photo: Mike Coppola/Getty Images.
Kate Moss As Cara Delevingne, 2014
Is that white powder detail catty or what?
Photo: Hewitt/JJ/GC Images.
Chloë Grace Moretz As Bellatrix Lestrange, 2012
Harry Potter and Hermoine costumes are so yawn; dressing up as Potter baddies will win every time.
Photo: JJ/Bauer-Griffin/GC Images.
Brooke Shields As Charlie Chaplin, 1979
The only thing that would make this costume better is if we could see her reenact the silent film star's quirky walk...in those roller skates.
Photo: Art Zelin/Getty Images.
Demi Moore As Gomez Addams, 1997
Even today, it's rare to see famous actresses go full drag king, as Moore did so gorgeously here.
Photo: Frank Trapper/Corbis/Getty Images.
Jayne Mansfield & Mickey Hargitay As Tarzan & Jane, 1956
Were they really dressed as the king and queen of the jungle at this party or just showing up in their everyday attire? It matters not. We'd like to think Mariska Hargitay has a framed photo of her parents hamming it up like this.
When said out loud, "Fashion Week" has a double meaning — and for anyone who's ever been a part of all the action, feeling weak is not only par for the course, it's often the reason we love fashion to begin with.So, in honor of the moments of chaos, beauty, and excitement that made us feel weak, we presentMy Fashion Week-ness: a compilation of accounts from some of the industry's biggest players. They're spilling their most memorable stories from Fashion Weeks gone by, and the ones that keep them coming back for more.
The first time you saw designer Thakoon Panichgul was probably in The September Issue, as he sat in the back of a car and compared Anna Wintour to Madonna. He was chosen by Wintour to create a line for the Gap, and we watched as he worked tirelessly to ace the task. Since then, he's established himself as one of the great American designers of our time. He's designed a collection for Kohl's, dressed Michelle Obama, created a nail polish for Nars, and, most recently, completely revamped his eponymous label, including a direct-to-consumer business model.
Nearly a dozen seasons later, he's still at it, readying his company to open his first store in New York. We caught up with the designer at the launch, where he told us a story from the early days of his career that made us cringe and want to pat him on the back at the same time. It's kind of insane how effortless these guys make it all look, but behind the scenes, disaster's almost surely going to strike at the most inopportune moment. Here's his account of a happening that almost broke him.
"One season — it was very early on, I want to say it was three years into [my business] — we had to move offices during Fashion Week," he says. "We literally had to move our office space and we were prepping for our show at the same time. I was casting in a new space that didn't have any heat — and it was in the middle of construction. At that point, I was like, Why am I doing this? Why is someone torturing me right now, and what am I doing it for? Just because it was such an early period, and we were scraping money [together]. Then, having to move and having to deal with the pressure of getting the show right — that was a breaking point.
"I really had to go back to why I'm doing that," he adds. "Having to convince myself that there was going to be a rainbow at the end, and having to convince the team that what we were doing was legit and exciting. Just keeping the dream alive." Keep it alive? We're happy to see he's done way better than that.
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This Sunday, Erin O’Flaherty will become the first openly gay woman to compete in the Miss America pageant. O'Flaherty landed the title of Miss Missouri in June.
"I have the opportunity to serve as a reference point for LGBT youth where none other exists," O'Flaherty told The Huffington Post. "When I was coming into my own and identifying as a feminine lesbian, I struggled to find role models who I perceived to be 'like me.' I hope that I can serve as that reference point for other LGBT youth who are struggling with their identity. This is not just an issue of diversity, but saving lives."
O'Flaherty's official Miss America platform is suicide prevention, and she is a big supporter of the American Foundation for Suicide as well as The Trevor Project, a suicide hotline for LGBT youth.
The contestant, now 23, made the decision to come out when she was 18. "My family was absolutely nothing but supportive, and I knew that when I decided to come out and when I was ready, it would be that way," O'Flaherty told USA Today. "So my coming out was actually much easier than millions of people."
The Miss America contestant graduated from the University of Central Florida, where she first became involved in the world of pageants, as Cosmopolitan reports. This weekend, she'll be performing a musical number from Wonderland for the talent portion of the competition, but that's not her only special skill. Growing up on a farm, she also became familiar with barnyard animals — she's a trained livestock judge.
You can see O'Flaherty's historical appearance in this year's competition on September 11 on ABC.
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Something about the Kardashian clan makes us hungry for every intimate detail of their daily lives. We don't exactly know why, but they're just so interesting to us. Maybe that's something we should be ashamed of, but if they're fascinating enough for Barbara Walters, who cares? Luckily, the Kardashians are also people who love to live every moment in the spotlight, so we're constantly getting peeks into private pieces of their world. Most recently, Khloé let fans look inside an area of her house that many of us keep closed to even our closest confidantes: the bedside table.
On her app, Khloé posted a photo of the interior of her bedside table drawer and wrote a little explanation of all the most important items in it. Her drawer is full of relaxation tools, like lavender essential oil from L'Occitane and Nubian Heritage Mango Butter Hand Cream. She's also got a bottle of Excedrin Migraine and a BackJoy Roller Ball to work out any pain before bed. There's a Bible, a purple journal, reading glasses, and a lighter for all her candles. Most importantly, Khloé keeps Hot Tamales and Australian strawberry licorice in her bedside table — a super smart (and secretive) place to keep a candy stash.
Still, the candy might be the most exciting item in the drawer, which makes us wonder if she cleaned out any weird stuff before the photo was taken. We like to think Khloé would never be dishonest with us, though, and she does have a few odd items that go unexplained. For instance, at the back of the drawer is a 25-foot tape measure that she leaves completely unacknowledged in her caption. All in all, this seems to be a pretty tame and practical bedside table drawer.
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