T LOunge for August 7th 2024

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PinMistress of Mayfair Restaurant – London, UK

Let’s get moody today, darlings. It’s WEDNESDAY. We’re feeling it. Let’s drink sullenly and speak judgmentally all day. It’ll be cleansing.

Summer of Sabrina Carpenter: Hitting No. 1 on the Charts, Getting Advice From Best Friend Taylor Swift and What Barry Keoghan Really Thinks About Her Lyrics
While Carpenter was considered a Disney princess for years, her transition from child actor to pop star — a perilous leap that has felled many before her — has been slow, steady and intentional. She admits that she sometimes feels like a new artist, even though she’s about to release her sixth album.
Born and raised in Quakertown, Pa., Carpenter moved to California with her family as a preteen. Her two older sisters, Shannon and Sarah, attended performing arts high schools and introduced her to an early influence — the 2008 musical “13,” starring a pre-Nickelodeon Ariana Grande (whom Carpenter would open for just a few years later). Carpenter showed precocious talent, and her family began taking her to auditions.

From Paris to London: Lily Collins gets ready for her West End debut in ‘explosive’ two-hander production
The Emily in Paris actress will star opposite Álvaro Morte in the much-anticipated drama
Get ready to welcome Emily, fresh from Paris, to the streets of London: Lily Collins is set to make her West End debut (patronaging another European city altogether) in Bess Wohl’s Barcelona.
The star of everyone’s favourite, compulsively watchable sitcom, Collins will be acting opposite Spanish actor Álvaro Morte in this two-man production, in which she’ll play an American tourist who goes home with a handsome local on a visit to Barcelona. So far, so Emily Cooper – but this play promises to far darker than the frothy Netflix hit.

How Ripley Changed Dakota Fanning: “If I Can Do That, I Can Do Anything”
After nearly 25 years onscreen, Fanning just received her first Emmy nomination for the Netflix series. She tells Vanity Fair why it represents her next chapter in Hollywood: “People feel like they know me, but then they also don’t.”
Though Dakota Fanning has been acting professionally since she was six years old, the 30-year-old performer only just received the most significant awards recognition of her career: an Emmy nomination for the Netflix limited series Ripley. It’s a fitting project for that kind of breakout moment, given what the international, nine-month shoot asked of her. “I gave absolutely everything that I had—personally, professionally, creatively—I gave everything,” Fanning says on this week’s Little Gold Men (listen or read on below). “I look back on it and I’m like, If I can do that, I can do anything.”

Growing out your short hair? These 13 looks prove the blunt lob is having a *moment* right now
The perfect in-between cut has arrived
I’m currently in that familiar period of hair hell where I’m attempting to grow out a bob, in favour of the long, luscious locks of my dreams. But given that my hair grows about as slowly as British summertime takes to appear every year, I have found myself having to get comfortable with that awkward ‘in-between’ length. The short-ish haircut on my radar? The blunt lob.
Yes, luckily for me, the lob (long bob) cut is officially in right now, meaning I can very much claim my current length to be a conscious choice. But this time it’s an ultra-blunt haircut, making the look even more stylish and chic. If you need more reasons to grow out your bob for this mid-length style, allow me to give it a shot in convincing you…

‘I refuse to nurture friendships with people who don’t share my values’: How women are calling out racism in their friendships
What do you do when a friend is racist? Do you turn a blind eye, tell them how you feel or cut them out of your life?
I can vividly remember the moment my friend Olivia* used the word ‘Paki’ to describe someone who worked in a corner shop. “You really shouldn’t say that,” I told her, explaining that as a South Asian woman, I’ve had the slur used against me in the past, and it was incredibly hurtful.
But she refused to listen. “It’s really not a big deal,” she responded, insisting that it was totally acceptable and I needn’t overreact. I didn’t argue back, but afterwards, I kept replaying the incident in my head and agonising over what I should have said.

BlackBerry nails are bringing back a huge noughties trend
BlackBerry nails are the (not exactly new) trend that are taking off again as we head through the end of summer and into autumn.
Of course, black nail polish will never go out of fashion – it sits in the same camp of classics as red. But, it’s fair to say the shade’s popularity has been benched a little in recent years while milky pink, glazed donut manis have come out on top.

Charm Bracelets Are Suddenly Cool Again
Charm bracelets are the jewellery equivalent of wearing your heart on your sleeve. You’ve chosen to express yourself via an array of jangling gems, each of which have been carefully selected to say something about your personality or identity – and the way you want other people to perceive you. If you grew up in the ’90s and Noughties, you might have dabbled in DIY and made them in your childhood or teens, or yearned after styles from the likes of Pandora or Links of London.
Blink, baby, because it feels like we’ve been transported right back there: Gen-Zs are unboxing Pandora charm bracelets on TikTok, friends are visiting “charm bars” as a hang-out activity and I’ve recently spotted lots of people (both IRL and online), with stacked charms on their arms, sprouting from their handbags and even decorating their footwear. From nostalgic Italian charm bracelets to delicate metal trinkets, it feels like charms are everywhere right now.

These 7 Athlete Mums Are Making The 2024 Paris Olympics A Family Affair
Working motherhood isn’t always easy – especially in places that tend to provide a substandard social safety net to parents. But at the 2024 Paris Olympics, organisers have made specific accommodations to help athletes with children give their all without sacrificing the needs of their family. Indeed, seven-time Olympic champion Allyson Felix helped create the Games’s first-ever nursery this year in partnership with Pampers, telling Vogue France recently that she’s already seen the impact of the project: “Athletes are making great use of it and are already asking when we will be able to expand the project and have an even larger family space.” (For what it’s worth, the parents of Olympians have also been given the spotlight these last few weeks, with Noah Lyles’s mum, Jordan Chiles’s mum, and Stephen Nedoroscik’s mum among the social media stars of the Paris Games.)

How to Hire a College Admissions Consultant
Advising kids oh how to get into college has turned into big business. Here’s what you should consider before hiring an admissions consultant.
With the school year gearing up, many parents of rising high-school juniors—and even younger students—are entering what may well be the most stressful period of parenting a teenager: the college admissions rodeo. Suddenly, a torrent of doubt sweeps in, despite all the money that’s been spent over the years on private tennis lessons, Russian Math classes and performing arts camp to help shape a well-rounded dynamo. Did my kid take enough AP’s to get into a top college? Have they wasted the past five summers loafing around the house instead of starting non-profit organizations? Should they take the SAT or do the schools that say they’re test-optional truly not care? Etc.

Olympic Gymnastics Is a Girl’s Girl
And these photos prove rooting for one another is the best sport.
Over the last 10 days, I’ve managed to make the Paris 2024 Olympics my entire personality—from secretly watching the Games at my desk (sorry to my editor who is reading this) to ordering Team U.S.A. merch (despite so many crucial, contentious issues that affect women on the ballot this November). But, I know I can’t be the only one who’s crying over Katie Ledecky’s history-making laps, or Jordan Chiles’s shocking score inquiry.
There’s just something about the excitement in the air during the Olympics—including the G.O.A.T. of gymnastics herself, Simone Biles, who soared 12 feet above the ground in the first tumbling pass of her floor routine. Besides Biles’s record-breaking run during the 2024 Games (she became the most-decorated American gymnast with 11 olympic medals), there’s been a lot of history made inside the walls of Bercy Arena during the 2024 Paris Olympics.

How to Use Rose Water for a Healthy Scalp and Optimal Hair Growth
Its beautiful scent isn’t the only perk.
There’s nothing we love more than multipurpose beauty products—rose water being one of them. Not only does it help achieve glowing skin but it also wields serious perks for both hair and scalp. And let’s not forget that it smells amazing too.
“Rose water is amazing for the hair,” says Lin Chen, co-founder of sustainable beauty brand Pink Moon. “It’s hydrating, and adds moisture to damaged, dry hair—it’s especially wonderful for processed or colored hair.”
Rose water is a mild astringent with anti-inflammatory properties that can also help reduce oiliness, says board-certified dermatologist Dr. Marisa Garshick. So those with oily scalp, dandruff, or seborrheic dermatitis can definitely benefit from incorporating rose water into their haircare and scalp routine.

You Might Be Buying the Wrong Type of Kewpie Mayo
There are two types of Kewpie mayonnaise — and one is far superior than the other.
Kewpie mayonnaise is a favorite among chefs — and for good reason. “It is the iconic bottle of my childhood, having grown up in a Taiwanese-American household,” says Eric Huang, chef and owner of Pecking House in Brooklyn, New York. “I don’t like American mayos, as they are too sweet for me,” adds chef Claudette Zepeda. “At my house, we use [Japanese Kewpie] and my kids refuse all other brands.”
Kewpie is tangy, rich, and, unlike other American mayos on the market, packed with umami thanks to one key ingredient: MSG.

Dolly Parton is Releasing a New Cookie Mix — and It’s Perfect for Fall
If Dolly says it’s fall, it’s fall.
Even though we’ve not finished sweating through the first week of August, brands and retailers are already looking toward mid-to-late autumn. The Home Depot has already launched — and sold out of — its now signature 12-foot-tall skeletons, supermarkets have Halloween candy displays, and Pumpkin Spice-flavored everything has started to arrive on shelves. Now, Duncan Hines is joining the annual Pumpkin Spice revival, with the latest release in its ongoing collaboration with country legend and all-around icon Dolly Parton.

MyKayla Skinner Asks Simone Biles to “Put a Stop” to Cyberbullying From Her Followers After Olympics Drama
She says she and her family have been receiving a wave of threats.
MyKayla Skinner has appealed to Simone Biles directly for help, after facing a wave of cyberbullying.
Following Olympic gymnastics drama last week, Skinner took to Instagram to tell her side of the story on Tuesday.
In a video, the former Olympian said, “I sincerely hoped that this topic wouldn’t need to be revisited but unfortunately things have really gotten out of hand lately. And it’s one thing to disagree with me regarding something I have said or a point I was trying to make, but it’s something else entirely when that turns into cyberbullying or even worse.”
Skinner went on to acknowledge the comments she made that led to the whole controversy, explaining that she takes “100 percent responsibility for poorly articulating the point I was trying to make.”

Chunky Bands and Black Diamonds: The Top Celebrity Engagement Ring Trends of 2024
Before Charli XCX’s brat summer had infiltrated your every waking thought, before you began seeing brat-coded green everywhere—from supermarket apples to Gucci’s spring 2025 menswear collection, Lime bikes to the Kamala Harris campaign’s X profile—tying an engagement announcement to an album release might have seemed an unlikely thing to do. But then fashion’s favorite foodie, Gabbriette, announced her betrothal to Matty Healy on Instagram with the words, “Marrying the 1975 is very Brat” (Charli herself is also engaged to the 1975’s drummer, George Daniel).
If Gabbriette’s engagement announcement was unconventional—“I love being in love,” she told Julia Hobbs in the August issue of British Vogue—then so too is the black diamond she’s now sporting with a matching grebo manicure on her left hand. But then, a certain bucking of convention has become a theme of this year’s celebrity engagements (or celebrity divorce, in one instance).

7 Reasons Why Sicily Should Be Your Next Italian Holiday Destination
If you had to sum up Sicily in just a few words, it’s an island of extremes. Rocky volcanic coastlines give way to white sandy beaches. Crumbling architectural treasures of the ancient world sit next to some of the most theatrical and perfectly preserved paintings of the Baroque. Menus feature hearty pasta dishes next to the freshest raw seafood, while the grandest of five-star luxury accommodations are found alongside meticulously designed boutique hotels and charming farm stays. It’s a cliche, but in Sicily, there’s truly something for everyone.
There’s also never been a better time to visit Sicily than now, with two new five-star hotel openings this summer that promise the utmost comfort in the heart of two of its most beloved cities. So here, find Vogue’s pick of the best places to stay—and of course, the best things to see, do, and eat—on the island that continues to serve at the crossroads of the Mediterranean.

In the Age of A.I., What Makes People Unique?
More than ever, we’re challenged to define what’s valuable about being human.
Recently, I got a haircut, and my barber and I started talking about A.I. “It’s incredible,” he told me. “I just used it to write a poem for my girl’s birthday. I told it what to say, but I can’t rhyme that well, so it did all the writing. When she read the poem, she actually cried! Then she showed it to her friend, who’s really smart, and I thought, Uh-oh, she’ll figure it out for sure.” Snip, snip, snip, snip. “She didn’t.”
Everyone in the barbershop laughed, a little darkly. Writing poems that make your girl cry—add that to the list of abilities that used to make (some) humans unique but no longer do. Today’s A.I. systems can generate acceptable poetry, code, essays, and jokes; carry on useful conversations about economics, existentialism, and the Middle East; and even perform some aspects of scientific work, such as planning experiments, predicting outcomes, and interpreting results. They can make judgments about complex situations—traffic patterns, investments—at superhuman speed. In truth, we don’t yet know all they can do. The biggest tech companies are racing to deploy the technology partly so that we can find out.

Should You Paint Your Kitchen Appliances? Here’s What You Need to Know
We’re seeing this cool DIY project all over TikTok!
With retro kitchens making a comeback, there’s a surge of colorful appliances that make a statement. While you may dream of a charming pink refrigerator or mint green stove, kitchen appliances are a big investment — especially if your current machines are fully functional. That’s why homeowners have taken to painting major appliances, from washing machines and dishwashers to smaller fixtures, like a stand mixer or microwave.
If you’ve scrolled Instagram or TikTok recently, you may have seen an influencer or two take a paint roller to their kitchen appliance. One such content creator is Krista Mcewan, who gave her 10-year-old refrigerator, stove and microwave a total face lift for less than $100. “I had my eye on white and gold appliances for a while, but I was having a hard time justifying the prices,” she says. “I’m so happy with the result. It’s been a year and there’s no scratches, peeling or chips.”

Missing a friend from the past? You should reach out.
Your old friend probably wants to DM you too.
“People are not averse to the idea of reconnection in general, but mainly about the idea of having to be the one to initiate it,” says Aknin. Study participants mentioned that they feared being an intrusion; feeling like their overture might be inappropriate or awkward; and worrying that their old friend will think it’s weird that they’re getting in touch. This resistance is surprisingly hard to get over, even in the smoothest of circumstances.

What AI in music can — and can’t — do
Music production is getting easier. Does that make it better?
New AI music generators combine a variety of extant technologies behind a text interface, promising to imbue casuals with the gift of musical creation and streamline the process for accomplished musicians. Whether these applications are transformative or a passing novelty, they create an unavoidable tension: AI-generated music can expand the potential of human creativity, but in doing so, it could choke off the livelihoods of the musicians who make it possible.

Fifty Years Later, Philippe Petit Is Still a ‘Man on Wire’
The high-wire artist has a new show commemorating the 50th anniversary of his walk between the twin towers of the World Trade Center.
It was 50 years ago this week that Philippe Petit defied gravity, and the police, by walking a high wire between the twin towers of the World Trade Center, braving the winds some 1,350 feet above the streets of Manhattan.
Petit, who will turn 75 next week, still has enviable balance, as was clear the other day when he ascended a simple metal ladder to reach what looked like a short diver’s platform 20 feet off the ground. A wire stretched out before him. Taking hold of a balancing pole, he stepped into the air, striding gracefully as if he were on solid ground — pausing only occasionally to assert his balance against the wire rolling underfoot.

My Grandmother’s Tortillas Were the Best. Try Them Yourself.
A little butter, honey and pickled chile de árbol turn these into the perfect snack.
My grandmother’s comal was only about six inches in diameter. It was as central in her home, tucked behind pecan trees and loblolly pines heavy with Spanish moss in Live Oak, Fla., as the amber ashtrays and pickled hot peppers in Mason jars on her dining-room table.
This house was full of “Hee Haw” and the Mandrell Sisters and Ray Charles and old dogs that smelled worse than they looked. It was also full of chili verde and carne adovada, homegrown chile de árbol, jalapeño and serranos for pickling or eating fresh with everything and my grandmother’s tortillas, fresh off her comal, the cast-iron griddle from which she flipped the most memorable food of my childhood.

Photos of Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz’s Kids Lucie Arnaz and Desi Arnaz Jr. Through the Years
The siblings led their childhoods in the spotlight, but have stepped out for dozens of events together as adults, too
They loved Lucy, too.
Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz’s children Lucie and Desi Jr. — now 73 and 71, respectively — grew up in the spotlight, often finding themselves photographed around the world with their famous parents.
This week, the pair had a public moment again when Lucie shared a photo of the twosome on Instagram, calling out her “recalcitrant brother, Desi Arnaz, Jr.!!! Desi is alive and well, my friends- just likes to stay a bit “undercover”.”
Though he has been undercover as of late, throughout much of their lives, the siblings walked red carpets with their parents and later, at events in their memories. Here, check out some of their high-profile moments together throughout the years.

Do Nuts Expire? Here’s How to Tell if Yours Are Still Good
Plus, how long every type of nut lasts in the pantry, refrigerator, and freezer.
Between their crunchy texture and delicious flavor, nuts have a lot to offer. They’re also packed with protein and healthy fats, making them a nutritious addition to your kitchen. However, there’s a lot of confusion around nut storage, and you may wonder if nuts expire or go bad. It doesn’t help that different varieties have different shelf lives, depending on where they’re stored. We spoke to chefs to get to the bottom of nut expiration and storage, plus how to tell whether your nuts are fresh.

Here’s Why You Should Think Twice About Leaving Your Luggage on a Hotel Room Floor
You deserve to have a bug-free vacation.
There’s a lot to remember when packing for trips these days, from what can and can’t go in a carry-on to how many pairs of underwear you should pack. However, the luggage concerns don’t end when you’re all packed up because there’s plenty to think about when you arrive at your hotel, including where you can safely place your luggage to keep it clean, dry, and free of pests — like those icky, awful bed bugs. While you likely already know not to put your luggage directly on the bed when you check into a new room, it turns out you may want to think twice before putting it on the floor, too.

[Photo Credit: mistressofmayfair.com, thenanugroup.com]

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