T LOunge for March 14th, 2023

Caffè San Carlo – Turin, Italy

Darlings, WE may be about to launch into Day Three of Oscars coverage, but that doesn’t mean YOU don’t deserve a place to spread out and do nothing while surrounded by fabulous things to eat and drink. Enjoy! We’ve got some dresses to show you.

Inside Michelle Yeoh’s Historic—and Extremely Elegant—Oscars Night
With the help of her go-to stylist Jordan Johnson Chung, Yeoh then slipped into her red carpet look for the night. Designed by Maria Grazia Chiuri, her Dior Haute Couture gown was made of ivory silk organza, and punctuated with cascading feathers all over it. Compared to some of her previous statement dresses this awards season—see: Her Schiaparelli dress at the SAG Awards—Yeoh wanted a more understated moment for the Oscars. “I like to keep people guessing and surprised, so ‘simple elegance’ is the route we chose for this look,” says Yeoh. “I loved the waves of feathers that make it appear like you’re floating.” For a finishing touch, she also chose diamond jewelry from Moussaieff, including a necklace, earrings, and ring. “We got to have a little fun with the jewelry—we took the necklace and turned it into a headpiece,” says Yeoh.

8 Angela Bassett Movies That Should’ve Earned Her an Oscar
While the 2023 Academy Awards delivered heartwarming wins for actors like Ke Huy Quan, Michelle Yeoh, and Brendan Fraser, it came with some upsets as well. That was especially the case for Angela Bassett, who was long considered the frontrunner in the Best Supporting Actress race for her performance in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. The award ultimately went to Everything Everywhere All at Once’s Jamie Lee Curtis. With the camera on her as the winner was announced, Bassett looked visibly disappointed, as viewers pointed out (and she’s allowed to be!). Both comforting and frustrated reactions came pouring in online.

How Costume Designer Tim Yip Made Wagner’s Lohengrin Opera Into Abstract Performance Art
For Lohengrin’s comeback, the New York opera house tapped Hong Kong-based artist Tim Yip, whose work includes the art direction and set design for the film Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (for which he won an Oscar and a BAFTA award); the writing and direction for Looking for Coco Chanel; the design for the Team China’s 2020 Tokyo Olympics podium uniform; and the set, costume, and visual design for a long list of plays, operas, ballets, films, and mixed-media shows.

Pedro Pascal Supported His Oscar-Nominated Sister at the 2023 Academy Awards
And all the other super-sweet family red carpet moments you might have missed.
Pedro Pascal may be the unofficial Hollywood daddy, but at the 2023 Academy Awards, he made a case for being Hollywood’s official big brother. On the red carpet, he arrived with his sister on his arm — setting the trend for one of the biggest themes of tonight: family moments on the red carpet. Pascal wasn’t the only one that brought along family for the final act of awards season. Nominees, presenters, and guests brought their kids along, giving the next generation of stars a chance to shine in the spotlight.

Juno Temple Thinks Ted Lasso Ending Wouldn’t Be the End of the World
Juno Temple never knew she had a knack for comedy. Having spent over a decade playing troubled young women in films such as Atonement, Killer Joe, Afternoon Delight and Unsane, Temple had effectively established herself as a dramatic actress who could tap into the darkness of a hard-knock life many times over. So, when the actor Jason Sudeikis asked her to read a comedy pilot that he had just written about an American college football coach who is recruited to coach an English Premier League soccer team, she assumed he had texted the wrong actress. But Sudeikis saw something in Temple that she, at the time, didn’t even see in herself.

Nicole Kidman On Her Favorite Oscars Dresses, and Last Night’s Armani Gown
Nicole Kidman is no stranger to attending the Oscars. A five-time nominee, the actor has been a mainstay at the awards ceremony over the years. She also won Best Actress back in 2003, for her captivating performance as Virginia Woolf in The Hours. At last night’s Oscars, Kidman was back at it again, this time as a presenter. This meant way less pressure than the times she was nominated. “It’s always an honor to attend as a nominee,” says Kidman, “but it’s so fun to go and be there to enjoy the show, the great work of the year, and to cheer on some of my friends.”

How Jamie Lee Curtis Got Ready for Her Oscar-Winning Night
Naturally, Curtis’s glam collaborators, makeup artist Grace Ahn and hairstylist Sean James, were on hand to give her the works. To ramp up the champagne pink of the actor’s crystallized and corseted Dolce & Gabbana (an ideal choice for the freshly-hued carpet), Ahn set the tone with an equally radiant complexion. “Skin is always the star of any makeup look,” says Ahn, who prepped Curtis’s skin with some natural circulation via FaceGym’s gua sha tool. Next came a shimmering roseate lid courtesy of Anastasia Beverly Hills’s Primrose Palette, which paired with the brand’s glittering lipgloss in Amber Sparkle.

7 Classic Spice Blends You Should Use More Often
Whether you make them at home, or opt to purchase pre-mixed blends, these spice blends are a must-have for any home cook.
Spices are the key to making spectacular meals at home, and having a few spice blends on hand — customized combinations of multiple spices — are one easy way to use spices before they go stale. From jerk seasoning with its sweet, heady notes of allspice to ground blends like garam masala and ras el hanout that are warming with cinnamon and cloves, spice blends are responsible for creating the signature flavors of some of our favorite recipes, and play an integral role in culinary traditions around the world.

Can Catholics Have Meat on St. Patrick’s Day? It Depends Where They Live
Back in 2017, there was a similar predicament.
St. Patrick’s Day is next Friday, and while some of us are doing the math to determine how many green beers would be too many green beers, others are wondering whether it’s cool to have a plate of corned beef. Many Catholics abstain from eating meat on Fridays during Lent, and the Lenten season does include March 17th this year. Whether or not Catholics can get a one-day pass to help themselves to some traditional St. Paddy’s Day food depends a lot on where they live.

Growing My Own Food Helped Me Heal After Loss, and Now Science Says It Can Help You Too
“This study demonstrates that gardening can be very therapeutic for people trying to make a change in their lives.”
The first time I ever experienced digging my hands into the dirt and growing edible fruits and vegetables occurred six months after my Dad died. Though few studies pointed toward the scientific benefits of gardening at the time, what I remember most from my experience is just how healing growing food felt. And now, one university is validating this emotional response.

‘Poker Face’ Costume Designer Breaks Down Her Favorite Looks From the Show — And Where to Buy Them
Charlie’s dazzling Dolce & Gabanna dress from the finale is nearly half off right now.
The dazzling, sequin-adorned Dolce & Gabanna dress that Natasha Lyonne’s Charlie wears for the entirety of the “Poker Face” finale was the very first dress that costume designer Trayce Field picked for the show.
“We tried on like 58 other dresses and then we came back to the first one,” Field tells Variety. “Not only did it look super chic on Natasha but it also gave all the elements of ‘sparkly Vegas’ and all things we needed it to be.”

‘The Last of Us’ Used Real, Trained Giraffes and an Abandoned Hospital in Season Finale [SPOILER ALERT]
Our task was to do that, but we ended up finding a disused hospital outside the city of Calgary,” Paino says.
He and his team went into the empty hospital, repainted it and aged it. “We wanted to make sure the murals in the game when Joel gets to the pediatric wing were the same,” he says. That tiny detail stayed true to the game, and the team replicated as much as they could.
The giraffe scene that preceded the hospital sequence was also derived from the game, and it was crucial to show the beloved moment.

23 Spring Flower Arrangements That Put the Season’s Best Blooms on Display
While flower lovers can enjoy a robust garden year round, spring is typically associated with the most floral activity. Dormant and patient after a long winter, bulbs suddenly shoot up from the earth, breaking into breathtaking color that makes for quite the show.
It makes sense, then, that we thoroughly enjoy snipping a few (or bunches of) spring blooms and placing them inside our homes: After a long, cold winter, what’s better than bringing bright, beautiful blooms from the outdoors in? And with so many varieties to play with, creative, dynamic centerpieces are so often the fruits of our labor.

‘The Last of Us’ Star Merle Dandridge on the Conflicting Emotions of the Finale’s Tragic Flashback
The scene had a number of personal and professional layers for the actor, who reprised her video game role as Marlene.
As far as technique, would you say that your performance in both mediums is mostly the same? Or did live-action give you room to expand a bit?
“Yeah, live-action gave me an opportunity to play Marlene with my entire instrument, rather than my voice and perhaps just the physical echo of what I might do in the mocap suit. This was an opportunity to bring my whole spirit and my whole self into bringing her to life. And, really interestingly, I realized when I first stepped on to set that there was a little bit of trepidation. I was used to interacting with Marlene in a certain modus operandi, and this freedom gave me some nerves at first. And then all bets were off, so I just loved it. I’ve loved being able to interact with this character in so many different ways, and she’s just a gift that keeps on giving. She’s made of such strong, stern, noble stuff.”

‘Being Mary Tyler Moore’ Review: A Reverent HBO Doc Honors a TV Trailblazer’s Contradictions
James Adolphus’ documentary uses archival footage and audio interviews with peers, loved ones and admirers to put the spotlight on Moore as a star, a trailblazer and a person.
The documentary doesn’t always provide definitive answers on who Mary Tyler Moore was, but it builds a portrait of her various dichotomies — a feminist icon who didn’t always want to identify as feminist, a very public star who kept aspects of her personal life guarded, an actress who was closely associated with her roles but became the most herself when she dropped out of the public eye, etc. Being Mary Tyler Moore can’t reconcile all the contradictions that went into actually being Mary Tyler Moore, but why would it need to? Portraying a complicated, conflicted woman rising to visibility at a moment when the Hollywood star system still demanded that women be easily compartmentalized is one of several ways the doc persuasively positions Moore’s legacy and influence.

Ke Huy Quan’s Stylist Talks About His “Classic, Timeless” Oscars Look
Chloe Takayanagi shares behind-the-scenes photos of the ‘Everything Everywhere All at Once’ star getting ready and all the details on his outfit, which includes an Armani tux and Fred Leighton brooch: “It’s been incredible to watch him go on this journey.”
“When I started working with him last year, early on he said, ‘I want a black suit,’ because he was nervous and it was his first premiere in a while,” Takayanagi says. “As I’ve continued to work with him, he’s become more open to ideas and has trusted me more to put him in things I know are going to look good and play a little more with colors and fabrics. It’s been fun to see him grow with that.”
Adds the stylist, “And I can tell you Ke is also pretty shocked by the whole experience — sometimes he’ll look at me and say, ‘Can you believe where we’re at?’”

How the Most Delicious Wines Stay True to Themselves
The desire to achieve greatness in wine often means figuring out how others define it. But the most original wines begin with smaller ambitions.
There’s an old joke about a street with four restaurants side-by-side. The first has a sign saying, “Best Food in the City,” and its tables are sparsely populated. The second says, “Best Food in the Country,” and even fewer people are inside. The third says, “Best Food in the World,” and it’s empty. The fourth says, “Best Food on the Block,” and it’s packed.
The joke could well be about the intentions of wine producers.
Some aspire to make the best wines in their region; others, the country or the world. But for me, the most enlightened approach is simply to try to make the best possible wine from the place where the grapes are grown.

The Bakers Reimagining Traditional Jewish Pastries
By transforming once-kosher recipes with new flavors, shapes and techniques, chefs are innovating on, and safeguarding, time-honored breads and pastries.
Preserving the culinary language that her Ashkenazi ancestors have employed for generations “is important when using food as a vehicle for storytelling,” she says. “People will come in and say, ‘Why is it called that?’ And then we can start a conversation.”
That conversation — about Jewish cuisine as an expression of pride, an edible historical record and a means of questioning and defining identity — is becoming more and more common as younger people determine how to connect with their Judaism in the absence of Shabbat services (only about one in 10 American Jews attend synagogue regularly) and dietary laws (83 percent don’t keep a kosher home).

[Photo Credit: Alessandro Saletta, matilde.it]

• T LOunge