T Lo’s Weekend Pop Culture Reading List

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Kittens, here’s a smattering of all the little bits and pieces of the zeitgeist that caught our eyes this week. Enjoy!

As every ‘Friends’ fan knows, one of the best parts of the ’90s sitcom was Rachel Green’s wardrobe. From her wedding dress introduction in the pilot episode to her streamlined, high-fashion wardrobe in the final seasons, the Central Perk waitress-turned-Ralph Lauren employee helped define some of the decade’s top trends (and hairstyles). And now, 25 years after the show’s debut, Ralph Lauren is releasing a collection inspired by her iconic style.

Ralph Lauren Made a Collection Inspired by Rachel Green by Lauren Alexis Fisher at Harper’s Bazaar

Miuccia Prada has a different idea. And other kinds of sustainable fashion at Jil Sander and Brunello Cucinelli.

‘Too Much Fashion, Too Much Clothes, Too Much Everything’ by Vanessa Friedman at The New York Times

Leaving home in Italy as a teenager, she modeled for Vogue and other magazines before carving out a high-profile career as an executive and stylist.

Marina Schiano, Distinctive Presence in the Fashion World, Dies at 77 by Rachel Felder at The New York Times

There are millions of pictures of Nigerian brides on Instagram, many of them taken by talented artists who work as wedding photographers on the weekends, to pay their bills. I know some Nigerian artists, on the other hand, who swear that they will never stoop so low, no matter how needed the remuneration. Their reasoning is that wedding photography in Nigeria is, at its crudest, an interminable record of competitive ostentation, and that enough weekends spent thus engaged might turn you into something other than an artist with integrity.

The Beauty and Burden of Being a Nigerian Bride by Yemisi Aribisala at The New Yorker

These love stories hurt—but in the best way possible.

The Saddest Romance Films on Netflix for When You’re in a Crying Mood by Ineye Komonibo at Marie Claire

Anna Robbins talks about sourcing vintage pieces and recreating a legendary tiara that dates to 1874 and ranks high among Queen Elizabeth’s favorites.

‘Downton Abbey’ Costume Designer on Using Vintage Jewels, Replicated Queen Elizabeth Tiara in Film by Laurie Brookins at The Hollywood Reporter

The Oscar-winning actor on playing Judy Garland, how Bridget Jones holds up and the public scrutiny of women.

“She Never Stopped Hoping.” Renée Zellweger on Judy Garland, and What the Future Holds for Women by Eliza Berman at Time

“A working class man like Thomas Barrow, living in the countryside, was unlikely to have access to this kind of information about gay identity. Moreover, his relative manliness meant he probably would never have thought to go looking for it. According to Queer London, men like Thomas “neither understood themselves, nor were labeled by others, through their choice of sexual partner.”

Downton Abbey’s Thomas Barrow and the Future of the Gay Past by Hugh Ryan at Town & Country

“Well, I never tried to sing songs like this before because I just didn’t think that my voice was suited to it. I thought, ‘I have a tiny voice. I have a bright little voice, and these are songs that require a bit more power and resonance.'”

How Renee Zellweger Built Up Her Voice for ‘Judy’ Biopic by Karen Bliss at Billboard

Working for the same family for years, sometimes decades, means that staff are often considered to be extended family members. Harrold told T&C, “Even though you are obviously employed by them, you work for them, I became like an adopted member of the Bedford family—I’d never been out of Scotland before, never been away from home and this family literally took me under their wing and I got trained by them to a wonderful standard.”

What It’s Really Like to Work at a House Like Downton Abbey Today by Annabelle Spranklen at Town & Country

Among his papers was a memoir of his childhood in a Boston suburb and his first career as a milliner in New York; he designed hats between 1948, when he moved to the city, and 1962. Published in 2018 as Fashion Climbing, the book shows that Bill was anything but diffident. He was nervy and ambitious. He was a party animal! He posed as a waiter — complete with a napkin on his arm — to sneak into a couture show. He sought out and befriended the two women who owned Chez Ninon, the Park Avenue shop renowned for its quiet taste and roster of society clients, including Jacqueline Kennedy. He cold-called Hubert de Givenchy, one of the biggest names at the time, and was actually granted a meeting. And if none of that blows your mind, he shared his first apartment at Carnegie Hall, a duplex, with Norman Mailer and his third wife, Lady Jeanne Campbell.

Book Excerpt: Cathy Horyn’s Introduction to Bill Cunningham: On the Street at The Cut

[Photo Credit: Courtesy of Ralph Lauren]

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