T LOunge for April 27th, 2023

Frescohallen Bar and Restaurant – Bergen, Norway

Today is THURSDAY and that calls for some GRANDEUR, wouldn’t you say? Gilded columns, soaring ceilings, and massive murals are what we all need right now to see us through to the finish line of the week. Pick a spot and take up space. There’s plenty of it.

‘Marie Antoinette’ Star Emilia Schüle on Corsets, Dior, and Her Feminist Take on the French Queen
Don’t get her started on that whole cake debacle.
Marie Antoinette comes with a lot of baggage. There’s the whole “let them eat cake” thing — not a great look for her, but a memorable phrase, nonetheless. And sartorially, the infamous royal was unmatched, setting trends in fashion, interiors, beauty, and art in her own time and for centuries to come. Still, the French queen and her signature Rococo-era decadence had an obvious dark side in the tumultuous revolution years that followed.
Personal politics and style aside, it’s hard to overstate Marie Antoinette’s impact on the world. But first and foremost, she lived as the reigning queen of France, making her a powerful woman way ahead of her time — and therefore, a target for projection, hang-ups, and countless misinterpretations.

How DVF’s Wrap Dress Became The Original Wardrobe Staple
Since launching her eponymous label in 1972, Diane von Fürstenberg has become one of the most powerful names in the industry. Among the many achievements and accolades she has racked up along the way, the Belgian designer, philanthropist and entrepreneur is especially renowned for inventing the wrap dress half a century ago in 1974. The figure-hugging jersey piece became a cult item, a defining symbol of female strength and liberation, adored as much by the Studio 54 crowd as Waspy Upper East Siders.
“People say I invented the wrap dress, but, if I’m honest, the dress created me,” von Fürstenberg previously told Vogue of the impact of her signature piece. “Because of it, I became confident and independent – it gave me the opportunity to be the woman I wanted to be, and I want to share that confidence with other women.”

From Princess Diana To Grace Kelly, How The Royals Have Worn Chanel Over The Years
Royals and Chanel often go hand-in-hand. Princess Grace of Monaco would regularly wear the French fashion house’s signature skirt suits and tweed coats, including for a visit from Prince Philip in 1966. It’s a tradition that’s been continued by the Monégasque royal family, with Grace Kelly’s daughter, Princess Caroline of Hanover, and granddaughters, including Pauline Ducruet and Charlotte Casiraghi all being fans of Chanel (the latter even appeared on the catwalk during the brand’s spring/summer 2022 couture show, on horseback).
The British royal family have been pictured wearing Chanel, too, with Princess Diana sporting a number of designs by Karl Lagerfeld during the 1980s and 1990s. The current Princess of Wales has also worn several pieces by the French fashion house over the years, including a vintage Chanel blazer dating back to 1995. Meanwhile, the Queen Consort and Duchess of Sussex own a number of Chanel handbags between them – proving that even a royal can’t resist the allure of a classic investment piece by the brand.

Sustainable living needn’t feel overwhelming – 43 ways to incorporate eco practices into your everyday
Let these tips from the top sustainability pros help.
Keen to read up on how to adopt a more sustainable way of living? Then you’re in the right place.
Taking the time to learn how to live sustainably and make your day-to-day life that little bit more eco-friendly is important, as the latest IPCC report showed. In short, we don’t have long left before the damage we’ve caused to our planet becomes irreversible – which is why, now more than ever, we all need to do our bit.
Sure, reducing your plastic usage is key, but so too is reading up on greenwashing, buying ethical fashion (not fast fashion) where possible, and investing in sustainable beauty products, too.

Your ultimate guide to finding the best pre-loved and vintage clothes, according to the experts
Tips and tricks from experts in the pre-loved shopping game.
Vintage shopping, thrifting, buying pre-loved, whichever way you refer to it, there’s no denying that shopping second-hand is better for the planet. Not only does it help to keep clothing and accessories in circulation for longer—therefore avoiding landfill—but it also has an impact on an item’s overall environmental footprint.

These Biotech Breakthroughs Are Shifting Our Ideas About Sustainable Beauty
Inside Amyris, the American company leading the charge on ethically built ingredients.
Recently, eco-conscious beauty has become much easier to find. But a perpetual concern expressed everywhere from the comments section on social media to beauty brand boardrooms is: What is truly sustainable? And what about the caveats, like all-natural ingredients that actually deplete the environment?

Engagement rings: How to get the most for your money
Here’s how to maximise your budget, whatever you’re planning to spend
It might not be all that romantic a thought, but just as engagement ring trends are influenced by fashion’s zeitgeist and celebrity proposals, they are also swayed by the economic climate and the price of raw materials, such as gold and diamonds. This year, therefore, it comes as no surprise that couples are focused on finances and keen to make the most out of their money. Searches for ‘engagement ring budget’ are up 21 per cent year on year, according to a survey conducted by Hatton Jewellers, and it is seemingly more important than ever to shop smart.

Native American Women Deserve to Be Counted
We have no idea how many Native women and girls are missing and murdered each year.
No one knows how many Native American women and girls are missing and murdered each year. Yet everyone concedes there is a crisis, a “hidden epidemic,” as former Democratic senator Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota has called it. Although the federal government keeps data on virtually everything, it does not collect statistics on missing and murdered Native women and girls. It has no national database where tribes can report such crimes, no way for families or tribal investigators to seek information.
“The problem has been going on for hundreds of years with little or no intervention by the federal government,” Sarah Deer, a professor of women, gender, and sexuality studies at the University of Kansas, told me. “It’s getting attention now, but the problem is not new.”

How Priya Kansara Went From Working in Health Care to Becoming an Action Hero
The Polite Society actress is about to spin-kick her way into your heart.
Two years ago, Priya Kansara knew it was time for a change. She was working in health care and pharmaceutical communications during the day and taking acting classes at night, then getting home for dinner around 10 P.M. Her work-side hustle balance was so skewed that, by the end, she was doing auditions when she said she was in meetings at work. “It was just madness…but there was not a single moment where I didn’t feel like I wasn’t doing what I wanted to be doing,” Kansara says via Zoom from her home in London.
That much-needed change happened when she took a leap and started pursuing acting full-time. Since then, she’s appeared in Bridgerton, Netflix’s The Bastard Son & The Devil Himself, and—her biggest role yet—the lead in Polite Society.

The Battle of Versailles at 50
Alva Chinn, Donna Karan and more recall a fashion show for the ages, and reflect on its legacy as it marks a historic milestone.
The Battle of Versailles. The term refers not to the young Marie Antoinette in a fit of pique over palace protocol, but to a fashion show for the ages. It occurred 50 years ago this November, when five masters of elegant French haute couture and five purveyors of easy American ready-to-wear staged an event in one of the world’s most extraordinary enclaves. Ostensibly, the soiree was to benefit the venue’s restoration–even the grandest of digs get dusty-musty after centuries. And indeed, it raised more than a few francs for the cause.
But the Grand Divertissement à Versailles (its official name) is remembered not for its philanthropic premise but as a watershed moment when American gusto trumped French grandeur. It resonates now as a one-night Camelot-en-France, a shining moment of ascendency for American fashion that continues to fascinate, inspiring two documentaries, a pivotal episode of Netflix’s Halston, and Tom Ford’s installation at the Metropolitan Museum’s “In America: An Anthology of Fashion.” In addition, HBO optioned critic Robin Givhan’s seminal book on the event.

Gimme a Break-fast: Kit Kat Bars Are Now Cereal
Get ready to eat your favorite candy bar every morning.
When Reese’s Puffs first came on the scene in 1994, the brand’s commercials had fun with the parental nonstarter of eating candy for breakfast as a way to play up the novelty of putting Reese’s in your cereal bowl. But these days, there’s a cereal in just about every food flavor you could imagine from Dunkin’ coffee to IHOP pancakes and Drumstick ice cream cones. And as of this month, that long list finally includes classic candy bar Kit Kat.

Your Favorite Bar Snacks Are Now Truffles, Thanks to Miller High Life
The beer brand teamed with chocolatier Phillip Ashley to create candies that taste like chicken wings, grilled cheese, and other bar food staples.
Last week, Miller High Life made headlines around the world after Belgian authorities may have slightly misinterpreted the company’s longtime “Champagne of Beers” slogan. Customs officials in Antwerp destroyed 2,352 cans of Miller High Life because they believed that it was in violation of France’s protected designation of origin for actual champagne.
And just a few days later, Miller High Life has announced that it’s doing its best interpretation of another French classic — but this time on purpose. The Molson Coors brand has partnered with artisan chocolatier Phillip Ashley Rix to develop a line of beer-infused Miller High Life Bar Snack Truffles. Chef Rix created the six decadent new High Life-inspired truffles that are takes on his favorite bar bites — and yes, they’re mostly savory.

The Wildest Facts About the Real Queen Charlotte From Bridgerton
Star-crossed lovers come and go on Bridgerton—recall the uproar around Regé-Jean Page’s departure in 2021—but Golda Rosheuvel’s Queen Charlotte has been a constant in Shonda Rhimes’s Netflix hit. Now, the German princess turned British queen is getting her own spin-off, with newcomer India Amarteifio set to play the royal during her teenage years in Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story. Ahead of the series’s release on May 4, Vogue revisits the most remarkable details about the late monarch’s life and character, from her obsession with snuff to her passion for Pomeranians.

Tom Ford Bids a Final Adieu with an Assist From Steven Klein and Some of His Favorite Muses
“Mr. Ford Returns,” announced a spread in Vogue’s December 2010 issue. The feature offered a first look at Tom Ford’s highly anticipated spring 2011 collection, which marked the designer’s runway comeback after he parted ways with Kering (then Gucci Group) in 2004. The story starred the likes of Joan Smalls, Karen Elson, and Amber Valletta, all donning looks from his women’s ready-to-wear debut.
Today, just over a dozen years later, Tom Ford is saying goodbye to his eponymous label with the launch of one final campaign that sees him take a literal, and fittingly cinematic, trip down memory lane. In a full circle moment, the trio of high-gloss videos shot by Steven Klein include—you guessed it—Smalls, Elson, and Valletta, together with other familiar faces from his original cast.

Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret is about far more than periods
A new movie adaptation captures the sneaky complexity of what Judy Blume’s classic gets right about being 11.
In my mental catalog of Judy Blume books, everything is filed according to the adolescent trope it taught me about. It’s Not the End of the World is the divorce book. Forever… is the sex book. Then Again, Maybe I Won’t is the wet dreams book, which in the fifth grade read like an intelligence report sent from behind enemy lines. Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret, first published in 1970, is, of course, the period book.

The Over-40 Makeup Revolution Is Long Overdue
Hair and skin brands are finally catering to a more mature shopper, but I already feel aged out of the makeup conversation… and I’m still in my 30s.
If you followed award season this year, you’d be forgiven for believing that Hollywood has finally decided to embrace its older actresses. In 2023, four of the five performers Oscar-nominated for best actress were over age 40. Women such as Michelle Yeoh, 60, Viola Davis, 57, and Jennifer Coolidge, 61, are getting recognition for leading films and series. And yet, according to a report published last year by Martha M. Lauzen, founder and executive director of the Center for the Study of Women in Television and Film, there has been a steep decline from the number of female characters in their 30s to characters in their 40s. For broadcast television in 2021-2022, 42% of female characters were in their 30s, compared with 15% in their 40s; for streaming, the percentages dropped from 33% in their 30s to 14% in their 40s. Women in their 60s are nearly nonexistent, accounting for just 3% of major roles.

My mind-boggling day as a guest of Jacques Garcia, ‘the holy grail of French taste’, at his home, the Château du Champ de Bataille
Jacques Garcia was behind ‘that’ Sicilian Monastery in The White Lotus. Ahead of some of his most exquisite, Marie Antoinette-approved pieces being auctioned by Sotheby’s, Deputy Features Editor Annabel Sampson met ‘la crème de Francaise’ for the lunch of a lifetime
Jacques Garcia, whisper it, is an interiors wizard. He is the master who can conjure, from a barren, derelict space, the 17th and 18th century decorative arts aesthetic with a flick of his wand. The Château du Champ de Bataille in Upper Normandy, which Garcia bought in such a state 30 years ago, has been morphed into a Dalí-esque masterpiece. Its beauty is in its sheer, bewildering eclecticism: from an exquisite 19th century mahogany day bed made for Napoleon and Marie-Louise as a wedding present (complete with a golden medallion profile of the two of them) to a set of Louis XVI velvet purses embroidered with the coats of arms of France’s royal and noble families.

At These American Museums, You Can Travel the World
This year, art exhibitions explore the Parisian suburbs, Pacific islands, grand Indian palaces and more through paintings, photography, sculpture and sketches.
Around the country this spring and summer, museums are aiming to transport visitors to the palaces of Udaipur, the Maya civilization, France during the Industrial Revolution, Japanese landscapes and the diverse communities of Queens — all for the price of an admission ticket.

Banned Bunnies
In 1959, the picture-book nuptials of a black rabbit and a white rabbit caused intense debate across the nation.
In May 1959, the former Alabama schoolteacher Dora Haynes Parker mused about the sexual habits and matrimonial customs of rabbits in a letter to her hometown newspaper, The Montgomery Advertiser. After sharing her bona fides — college graduate, respectable matriarch, savant about educational illustrations — Parker wrote: “Now rabbits as I know rabbits may have some problems, but not the problem of marriage. Indeed, of all the animals perhaps this family is among the most ardent practitioners of free love.”
It was an odd but not random set of observations. Her letter, topped by the headline “Tell It to Old Grandma,” was both book review and pointed defense of the white South. She was adding her two cents to a nasty national argument about a 1958 children’s book, “The Rabbits’ Wedding,” by the celebrated illustrator Garth Williams.

[Photo Credit: frescohallen.no]

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