T Lo’s Weekend Pop Culture Reading List

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Kittens, to tide you over as a long, dark weekend without our content looms before you (although the Drag Race UK recap’s going up later), here are all the posts, articles and essays that tickled our fancies this week. Enjoy!

‘Always Audrey‘ tracks the iconic actress’s life through six different photographers.

Audrey Hepburn Shines in Never-Before-Seen Photos from a New Book by Chelsey Sanchez at Marie Claire

Thirty-three years after the first issue of Watchmen arrived in 1986, it remains clear that the bet is one that Moore, Gibbons, and DC made good on. There is no Western comic book or graphic novel more revered or more discussed than Watchmen. Watchmen is considered “the moment comics books grew up,” routinely makes lists like “the comic books you need to read before you die,” and has been called the “Citizen Kane of comics books.”

It’s also the only graphic novel to appear on Time’s list of the 100 best novels released since the publication began in 1923, with critic Lev Grossman writing in 2010, “Told with ruthless psychological realism, in frugal, overlapping plotlines and gorgeous, cinematic panels rich with repeating motifs, Watchmen is a heart-pounding, heartbreaking read and a watershed in the evolution of a young medium.”

In 1986, Watchmen skewered the way we love superheroes. by Alex Abad-Santos at Vox

A new workshop in Texas brought the president and the king of luxury together. Is this good or bad for both their brands?

When Brand Trump Met Brand Vuitton by Vanessa Friedman at The New York Times

The undergarment company has inspired many other brands … but will millennials stand for being squished?

Spanx Started a Shapewear Revolution by Sanam Yar at The New York Times

“I wanted to show you guys an easy look,” says Trixie Mattel, the drag persona of Milwaukee-born Brian Firkus. “Well, easy for me, difficult for you.”

Watch RuPaul’s Drag Race Star Trixie Mattel Do Her 33-Step Beauty Transformation by Jenna Rennert at Vogue

To celebrate all things Halloween-adjacent, we’ve put together a master list of the very best scary (or scary-ish) movies to watch this month.

The 40 Best Spooky Movies to Watch for Halloween by Staff at Vogue

“Most of the Banks’ net worth comes from the sprawling Bel Air mansion with a guest house. Although Phillip is quite a successful judge, he made most of his money as a senior partner at Firth Wynn and Meyer. (I was today years old when I realized that Phil’s law firm name was an Earth, Wind and Fire joke). Dark-skinned Aunt Vivian earned her Ph.D. before she was murdered in a fit of rage about low wages by Geoffrey, who kept everyone quiet by blackmailing them with secrets he had learned during his tenure as the butler.”

The Wealthiest Black TV Characters of All Time by Michael Harriot at The Root

If you needed to explain how human beings buy clothes to, say, an audience of aliens, you would sound fairly ridiculous. Designers turn flat fabric into 3D body coverings in a limited number of sizes and even more limited number of shapes, and then we purchase what we can, hoping for the best, becoming angry at our bodies for not corresponding to the coverings instead of the other way around.

Anyone with a body knows that clothing sizes are flawed. Could there be a fix? By Tracy E. Robey at Vox

Mayes C. Rubeo breaks down Nazi Germany-era looks for the Taika Waititi film: “We wanted it to look like wartime through the eyes of a child and do something unexpected.”

How ‘Avatar’s’ Costume Designer Dressed Satirical Nazis in ‘JoJo Rabbit’ by Cathy Whitlock at The Hollywood Reporter

In San Francisco, I started going out and making my way in the club scene and I thought, ‘I should’ve never asked permission in the first place, of course I could do this.’ Because the way that people do drag in San Francisco is very progressive, and it still is, but especially at that time. It was about five years ago, and women have been doing drag in San Francisco for decades – there has always been female drag queens, it’s never been an issue or a problem. So when I showed up and started doing all this stuff, they weren’t fazed, it was more me thinking I was intruding in their space. I was told by the older drag queens there, ‘It is what it is, you don’t need permission, it’s an art-form, as long as you’re entertaining and you’re doing it well, there’s no reason why you shouldn’t be able to do it.’

Creme Fatale on conquering drag as a cis woman and why Drag Race “isn’t an option” by Sam Damshenas at Gay Times

[Photo Illustration: amazon.com]

• T Lo’s Weekend Homework