T Lo’s Weekend Pop Culture Reading List

Posted on April 26, 2019

Pin

Darlings, it’s the end of a very busy and slightly stressful week for us, but the good news for you is this: With our book completed, we’re ready to go back to full-time blogging starting on Monday. What that means is more movie reviews, more TV reviews and (eventually) more costume design posts to sit alongside all our regular bitchery. In the mean time, while we go off and have our first non-working weekend since the holidays, please enjoy this collection of articles and essays that tickled our fancies this week.

 

This week Anna Sorokin, Elizabeth Holmes and Cardi B all provided a visual brief on how to use clothes to communicate in court.

‘Anna Delvey’ and the Art of Courtroom Fashion By Vanessa Friedman at The New York Times

 

 

Meet Carol Spencer, doll dresser extraordinaire and unsung doyenne of American fashion history.

The Chic Octogenarian Behind Barbie’s Best Looks By Katherine Rosman at The New York Times

 

 

Comic books, which are the direct ancestors of the M.C.U., may seem as if they belong to the tradition of expansive world-building that gave rise to “The Lord of the Rings,” “Dune,” “Game of Thrones,” and other epic fantasy worlds. In truth, comics have their own peculiar convention of nontraditional narrative, which has endowed them with a unique aesthetic.

The Narrative Experiment That Is the Marvel Cinematic Universe By Maya Phillips at The New Yorker

 

 

The British royals are no stranger to scandal. There’s a reason “The Crown” will have several seasons. But this has been the hardest-hitting, and continuous, moment of chaos for “The Fab Four”—Prince Willam, Kate Middleton, Prince Harry, and Meghan Markle—the foursome that’s the future of the family. The very foursome that brought the magic of the monarchy to a new generation, with their fairy-tale weddings, and their precocious, perfect-seeming families. Now, they don’t seem so magical anymore.

Kate Middleton Is a Master of the Powerful Photo Op By Elise Taylor at Vogue

 

 

“I’ve done weird films and I’ve done things that are so obtuse, which I’m still committed to because I like performance art and not conforming to what everyone expects of you. I don’t think in normal terms.” She laughs as she tells me, “Keith always says, ‘You’re so not mainstream.’ ”

Nicole Kidman Burns Brighter Than Ever By Krista Smith at Vanity Fair

 

 

“Do you know what? It’s so hard to move in Brienne’s costume. Her armor weighs two stone,” which is about 28 pounds. “You put it on for the first time, and you can’t move,” shares Christie. That makes Brienne’s feats of fighting all the more formidable. “So as the character, you’ve got an obstacle to overcome just to move in your own clothing. I think that’s a really interesting insight,” she says of her character’s journey. “It always starts in part with the costume, because clothing is really important. It’s the language we choose to communicate how we feel about ourselves.”

Gwendoline Christie on Becoming Brienne of Tarth, the Woolmark Prize, and the Importance of Beauty By Faran Krentcil at ELLE

 

 

The film about the army of athletes who took down Larry Nassar “belongs to the survivors” and aims to effect change: “We don’t take care of the [female gymnasts] that are representing our country and who are the biggest moneymaker for NBC. It’s a travesty and it needs to be called out,” executive producer Sarah Gibson told The Hollywood Reporter at the doc’s Tribeca Film Festival premiere.

‘Heart of Gold’ Team on Capturing “Historical Moment” for Women in HBO Gymnastics Scandal Doc By Jackie Straus at The Hollywood Reporter

 

 

The ‘RuPaul’s Drag Race’ alum opens up to The Hollywood Reporter about allowing cameras to capture all angles of her meteoric rise to fame — including “the good, the bad and the ugly.”

Tribeca: Trixie Mattel on Showing the “Grittier” Side of Drag in ‘Moving Parts’ Doc By Evan Real at The Hollywood Reporter

 

 

The actress, a two-time previous Tony Award winner, will be honored for her work to end HIV/AIDS and her support for LGBTQ+ and human rights.

Tonys: Judith Light to Receive 2019 Isabelle Stevenson Award/a> By Vanessa Friedman at The New York Times

 

 

Showrunner Steven Levenson on telling Gwen Verdon’s story when “everything always becomes about Bob.”

How Fosse Became Fosse/Verdon By Isaac Butler at Slate

 

And it is maybe already obvious to you that equating fashion criticism with rape culture is one of the more senseless recent uses of the English language, but what’s odder about Munn’s post is its lack of any acknowledgment of the disparity between her cultural position and the one held by an (albeit widely beloved!) pair of bloggers. She put this essay on Twitter, where fans who care deeply about specific celebrities already have a crisp protocol for ganging up and harassing “haters” for hours, days, or weeks at a time, making it nearly impossible for them to say anything or use the platform in any kind of normal way without being shouted into oblivion.

Did she know she was doing it? Probably.

Do celebrities know what they’re doing when they “call someone out” on Twitter? By Kaitlyn Tiffany at Vox

 

 

[Photo Credit: Katherine Rosman/The New York Times]

Please review our Community Guidelines before posting a comment. Thank you!

blog comments powered by Disqus