Backstage Hair: Margaret Howell

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Bumble and bumble’s stylists are the go-to hair gurus for fashion shows all over the globe. Last season, I caught them backstage everywhere in Paris from Vivenne Westwood working on Pamela Anderson’s tresses to the Rick Owens show. This time around, I am getting a head start on their fashion-hair wizardry and stalking them at the London shows. So backstage at Margaret Howell, I chatted with Neil Moodie, who was leading the hair team for the show.

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“The collection is all about the end of the day on the beach, so I tried to give that effect in the hair,” he told me. He was inspired by what a woman likes when she is at the beach all day, in and out of the ocean, her hair stiff and a little salty. He ended up with loose braids and gently unkempt tresses with cute headbands as occassional accessories

To get the look: Use Bumble and bumble prep spray and layer it with Bumble surf spray, which gives that instant beachy texture. Then do the braid while the hair is still wet and start it at the crown, not making it too tight. As Neil would put it, “It’s beachy; it’s how women would do it, not how we would do it, that’s the idea.”

But when I asked him the most difficult thing about doing this job, his reply was, “getting from one place to another.”

—Rebecca Suhrawardi Austin

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Gossip Girls Heart Anna Sui for Target

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Taylor Momsen turned out last night with co-stars Blake Lively and Jessica Szohr to celebrate the much-anticipated collaboration between fashion legend Anna Sui and mass-chic retailer Target (the collection is inspired by the show’s haute-prep style and will be available in stores and online September 13, just in time for GG’s season season three premiere). Looking very rock ‘n’ roll, Momsen wore a David Bowie tee from rock-star photographer Mick Rock’s collaboration with Blood & Glitter, paired with a leather mini, Dior bag, and D&G booties. The young starlet, who will perform with her band tonight in honor of Fashion’s Night Out, revealed her ultimate fashion dream: to attend the Dior show in Paris. We hope to see her there.

To shop Anna Sui’s Gossip Girl-inspired collection before it officially hits stores, head over to Target’s pop-up store, located at 54 Crosby Street in SoHo, between now and September 12.

—Violet Moon Gaynor

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Ask E. Jean: Can a Democrat and a Republican Fall in Love?

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Dear E. Jean: Can a Democrat and a Republican fall in love? Three weeks ago, I met a sweet, funny, good-looking, financially solvent grown-up. Until last night, we’ve been able to laugh off the fact that we perch on extreme opposite ends of the political spectrum.

We were cooking together and having a great time when he put on Fox News. A debate quickly ensued (our own), and things got heated. I ended up feeling attacked and overwhelmed. Then, out of sheer frustration, I burst into tears. He immediately felt bad and tried to comfort me. We were able to smile at it, but things just don’t feel right to me now. We haven’t slept together yet, so this is not a done deal. Can it ever work between a bleeding-heart woman and a right-wing man?—Overwhelmed and at a Loss

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Miss Over, Darling: No. No way. Newt Gingrich will make Hillary Clinton his fourth wife before you and Mr. Right work it out. Any chap—liberal or conservative—who makes you cry in the first three weeks is a man who won’t make you happy.

(But I congratulate you on not bonking him. A Republican won’t respect you if you shag on the first date; a Democrat will be disappointed if you don’t. However, once you’re in bed, the Republican will enjoy more orgasms, according to the intriguing results of a Match.com survey of some 6,000 single people, overseen by the illustrious anthropologist Helen Fisher, Ph.D. And while we’re on the subject—my parenthesis split up longer ago than Sonny and Cher—Fisher says your Elephant Man will dislike hearing opinions that are opposite his own. But this strikes me as true for all dudes, left, right, and sideways.)

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If you wish, however, to give your romance a go (as he is “sweet” and “solvent,” the two most delectable qualities a red-blooded American man can possess), and since everything this election year is being divided Right and Left, here are your Debate Ground Rules:

1. Never let a man win a political argument. The late, great Hunter S. Thompson always said talking politics was “better than sex.” (In fact, he wrote the book Better Than Sex.) You understand how sex works, right? He bobs; you weave.

2. Use your emotions. Passion is the most powerful weapon in political fencing. Be cold, be hot, be solemn, be amused, be hopeful, be humble, be hateful, be loving. Delivering your point with a chuckle will agitate your ene—pardon me, your boyfriend. And an agitated boyfriend is a weakened, irrational boyfriend. Attack when he’s unprepared. Retreat when he is prepared. Read widely, take notes, and practice. (Debate clubs are a sexy way of sharpening your wits: debateclub.meetup.com.) You know your fellow’s standard arguments, so construct your proofs against each point, lie in wait, and crush him.

3. And, if he’s “overwhelming” you… Here’s the fastest way to annihilate a man’s ideas: Glance at the top of his head, step back in alarm, and remark on the thickness of his hair. His brain will boil for seven minutes.

 

Why Even the Super Wealthy Are Embracing the New Bargain Culture

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Photo: Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures/Courtesy Everett Collection

Bargain-hunting is no longer a sport saved for those on a budget. Case in point: Art dealer and collector Diane Ackerman was at a cocktail party recently when she spotted an acquaintance, a well-known socialite and author. The glamorous woman breezed past her, and said “Oh, Diane, I always see you in the best places,” before letting out a chuckle.

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“What she meant, of course, was that we’re always undressed in a sample sale dressing room together,” explained Ackerman. “I’m getting used to people saying ‘Gee, I didn’t recognize you with your clothes on’—I’m always running around sample sales in my underwear.” The art collector and longtime Madison Avenue regular is now an avowed bargain hunter. Living between New York and Paris, she’s thrilled to be in Europe next week to tackle the Givenchy sample sale for the first time.

Forty years ago when Ackerman was first starting out in New York, she recalled gladly splurging a week’s salary, even going without lunch, on a Saint Laurent belt. Now, though, her attitude is very different. “Do I need to spend a thousand dollars on a pencil skirt when it’s not particularly well-made and the button comes off the first time you wear it?” she asked

Even among upscale shoppers, that attitude is far from unusual now, as I discovered when I was researching my new book about America’s obsession with the sale, Bargain Fever. Ten years ago, retailers sold between 15 and 20 percent of inventory at some kind of promotion; today, that number is 40 to 45 percent—and rising. Simply put: Sales of sales have more than doubled in a decade. Most intriguingly, as Ackerman so clearly exemplifies, chasing a better price is no longer a blue-collar, budget-watching tactic. In less than four years, the number of people who only buy clothes when they’re on sale has gone up from 16 percent to 23 percent, almost a quarter of the population. And among those earning $150,000 or more it’s accelerated even more—from 10 percent to 20 percent.

Businesses have even been launched expressly to leverage this new mindset. See how Kim Kassel and Lizzie Tisch founded Shop Secret, the Fight Club of sales. Aimed at Manhattan’s upper echelons, the business offered (it recently shuttered) spontaneous and secret deals to its VIP mailing list—all of whom risked exile from the inner sale circle if they divulged its existence.

The last decade has been the boom era of pre-sale in that floorwalkers at every upscale boutique call their regulars a week or so before the official mark-down fest is scheduled to start. “Would you like to come in and browse the racks right now at sale price, before the hoi polloi’s grubby hands ruin the fun?” they whisper. By the time the “SALE” signs appears in the Madison Avenue windows anything crave-worthy is long gone.

Some companies have even given a certain cachet to cashing in those deals, like Gilt Groupe. “People don’t feel like they’re downgrading by shopping on a site like that, they’re proud to get their Gilt box,” admitted travel executive Melanie Brandman. “I have friends who have a Leaning Tower of [Christian] Louboutin boxes at home, who still can’t bring themselves to pay retail. You’re really missing a beat if you don’t try to source things that are on sale.”

Ackerman, though, banks more from her discount shopping than just money saved. “There’s a camaraderie in those sample sale communal dressing rooms—when you try something on, a stranger might say ‘You could look better than that,'” she said, with a laugh. “You don’t have that when you’re in a department store cubicle with the door closed standing there looking in the mirror while you hold in your stomach.”

Mark Ellwood’s new book Bargain Fever is out today.

Photo: Courtesy of Mark Ellwood

 

What Happens When You Instagram Things That Aren’t Pretty?

“Why should you only post happy things to social media?” —Imogen Tate, The Knockoff

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I recently ran into an acquaintance from college at a cocktail party. She began gushing to me about how jealous she was of my life.

“I totally stalk you on Instagram. It’s all just so perfect. I fucking hate you,” she said to me. “You have like the perfect life.”

What do you say to that?

Does a thank you suffice? Did I need to launch into some kind of self-deprecating rant to counteract her effusiveness? I smiled politely and excused myself to get another drink and play Words With Friends in the bathroom.

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Here’s the thing. My life right now is quite lovely. I am incredibly grateful for it each day. I launched a book last month and have traveled all over the world to promote it. My day job as a travel editor at Yahoo Travel allows me the flexibility to do that. I have wonderful co-workers and the love of my life just proposed to me. I project all of these lovely things on Instagram and the world seems to quite like them. I’ve gained about 1,000 followers in the past couple of months. I post pictures of glittery book parties, exotic locations, over-water bungalows, my adorable dog and photographs where I have perfect makeup and no sign of a double chin.

If I weren’t me I would hate me on Instagram. I’d think “that girl is the worst.”

In real life I’m a hot mess. In real life I often have a double chin. It takes 37 selfies to get that one where you can’t exactly see it. Since I am on planes all the time I am constantly breaking out. You can’t tell from the Instagram filters I use. I have two ill parents and I’m constantly worried about them, and consequentially suffer from terrible insomnia. I get migraines which keep me from writing or working for an entire day at a time. My apartment is terribly messy and totally covered in dog hair. That dog also steals all of my underwear and throws it off my balcony and onto the heads of unsuspecting tourists en route to Times Square. I’m almost always late these days. I forget things and when I watched Still Alice I became convinced I had early onset Alzheimers. I haven’t seen my fiancé in two weeks. I have two spots on my forehead that won’t go away and the new cellulite on my ass means I’m not wearing shorts this summer.

While my life is lovely, it isn’t perfect. But you wouldn’t know that if you followed me on Instagram. The quote above, “Why should you only post happy things to social media? Where was the Instagram for the sadness?” is from the novel I just co-wrote with my friend Lucy Sykes. In it, the lead character Imogen’s life is falling apart as her old assistant plots to take over her job and ruin her life. But on Instagram, everything still looks perfect.

What if it didn’t look perfect? What would happen if I started sharing photographs of all the sad bits, the nasty bits, the unfiltered reality of my life? I told my editor I was going to write this story. Yet I kept putting it off, worried I might miss out on sharing something that could look fabulous. When I thought about that I felt like a real jerk. Why did I care? Did I really believe that if I didn’t Instagram something that it didn’t actually happen in real life?

And then I worried that I should warn people what I was doing ahead of time. Would my friends and family become concerned about my well-being.

Showing the less glamorous side of a real life shouldn’t worry anyone, but our expectations of glossied-up lives on social media have set the bar so high that reality could indeed be alarming.

Life was far from perfect as Lucy and I prepared to leave London, where we were celebrating our UK book launch. Neither of us had slept for days. I had a terrible migraine and we missed our flight back to New York and had to stay another night in an airport hotel.

No time like the present to get started. I figured people would dismiss my unfiltered pictures.

I was wrong. My messy life was whole-heartedly embraced. I had 20% more likes and 30% more engagement on the posts that showed reality, instead of insta-filtered reality.

I instagrammed getting searched at Heathrow Airport in London.

Bag double searched at Heathrow. Culprit? Lip balm. May miss second flight in two days.

A photo posted by Johanna Piazza (@jopiazza12) on Jun 12, 2015 at 12:10am PDT

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Lissie Has the Must-Hear Breakup Album for Fall

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Photo: Andrew Whitton

For Lissie, music is meant to create a personal connection between the musician and the listener. At least that’s what she was aiming for when crafting her second album, Back to Forever. “I want to make people feel good, hopeful, and comforted by knowing we all go through some stuff,” she told us. “But we process it, move on, and become wiser and better because of it.”

For Back to Forever, out October 8 on Fat Possum, Lissie reflected on her past relationships and how the tumult between two people can affect them going forward. “When writing the songs about romantic conflict, it was so cathartic to write from a more well-rounded view,” she noted. “I could see where I had stood and what I’d done in relationships. I could see both sides of the situation.”

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“The Habit,” which you can stream exclusively below, is one of the album’s standout numbers, a surging indie-rock song that centers on this very idea of heartache. Lissie penned it in London during the year and half she spent working on the new album.

“I had dated an English guy for about a year and although we’d been broken up for a year or so, when I’d come to London to write, we would hang out,” she explained. “Then we’d end up sort of getting back together. He’s an absolutely amazing person but all the reasons we broke up would resurface and then it was like we were back to where we started. We couldn’t quit each other and the only way to quit was just to stop seeing one another.” Sound like something you can relate to? Grab some tissues with your headphones…

Tom Pecheux’s Backstage Beauty Secret at Derek Lam

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Gorgeous blue-and-copper Estée Lauder eye shadows may have been the stars of makeup artist Tom Pecheux’s look for Derek Lam, but his secret weapon was a Q-tip. He used one to soften and blend any severe makeup lines, especially around the lips, explaining that hard lines around the mouth remind him of a schoolteacher. “And who wants to kiss an old teacher?” he asked. The man does have a (softly smudged) point.

—Janna Johnson, ELLE Beauty Assistant

Click here for our complete fall 2010 Fashion Week coverage

Photo: Courtesy of Estée Lauder

How About Some Birthday Sex With a Side of Hives?

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There we were, enjoying a bottle of champagne on a suede banquette inside the exclusive Rose Bar area of New York’s Gramercy Park Hotel. I kid you not, Sienna Miller herself was seated at the table next to us, dancing languidly to the eardrum-splitting music. It was my boyfriend’s 24th birthday and, as a surprise, I had secured us access to this hotbed of cool-kid activity. As we drained the dregs of our umpteenth glasses of bubbly, I presented him with a second gift: a small box containing a key to one of the darkly erotic rooms upstairs. He practically leaped out of his seat with excitement.

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The delights don’t stop there, however. Earlier that day, during a pretend trip to the gym, I made a visit to Duane Reade, where I stocked up on all the essentials—chocolates, lube, and as many oversize candles as I could carry. They didn’t have my usual Yankees, so I opted for what I believed to be the the next best thing: six off-brand aromatizers with four wicks a piece.

When we arrived at our room, I made a big show of all of the awesome goodies. “Look!” I said teasingly, as I proffered the lighter I had remembered to bring specifically for the occasion. “I came prepared.” Soon enough, the room was aglow with the light of two dozen dancing flames. We cued up in the in-house iPod, which came fully loaded with a sex jam playlist (not joking), and proceeded to disrobe and fumble around with the lube. Though I don’t particularly remember the sex, I vividly recall what happened next: I awoke around 4 A.M., naked, and covered in hives. My throat felt itchy and claustrophobic. My skin was on fire. I was allergic as sin to what, I realized, weren’t candles but rather concentrated home fragrance blow torches from hell—one of which, when burned for an hour, was powerful enough to scent an entire home. I had six of these suckers going, simultaneously, for over four hours, in a space the size of a bathroom. Not to mention that the walls were literally lined with velvet, which made for one of the least porous and aerated chambers in the world entire.

The entire place reeked—no, tasted—like flesh-eating fireball candy.

When I woke my boyfriend, the panic in his eyes had less to do with the itchy lacerations all over my body and more with the fact that I wasn’t kidding. This wasn’t a fire drill. We were getting the hell out of there. Right. Fucking. Now. As in, grab your things, pack up your balls, and march. Years later, when my now-husband and I reflect fondly on the night, his only wisdom is this: “Maybe don’t buy your sexy sex candles at Duane Reade?”

Hindsight: 20/20, bro.

 

Urban Decay’s Limited Edition Alice in Wonderland Palette

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Whether you’re a longtime fan of Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland tale (and its many cinematic incarnations)—or simply appreciate eclectic, well-edited eye color palettes—chances are you’ll swoon over Urban Decay’s new limited edition Alice in Wonderland Book of Shadows celebrating Tim Burton’s highly anticipated movie. Click here for information on how you can be the first to snag the in-demand product.

P.S. Are you excited about seeing Johnny Depp as the Mad Hatter and Anne Hathaway as the White Queen in Burton’s adaptation? I am… I just hope it’s not as dark as that TV version that aired in 1985. When I was a kid, that movie gave me nightmares for months!

—Emily Hebert

 

Photo: Courtesy of Urban Decay

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A Rocker in Sheep’s Clothing: Lenny Kravitz on ‘Lee Daniels’ The Butler’

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Lenny Kravitz in ‘Lee Daniels’ The Butler’; Photo: Courtesy of The Weinstein Company

Lee Daniels’ The Butler, the epic saga of a White House butler who served eight consecutive presidents, will unquestionably be a major Oscar contender. Inspired by the true story of Eugene Allen, who worked in the White House from 1952-1986, the film chronicles the troubled relationship between Cecil Gaines (Forest Whitaker) and his activist son (David Oyelowo), setting it against a backdrop of Civil Rights clashes, the Kennedy assassinations, Watergate, and Vietnam.

An intensely subtle Whitaker and audacious Oprah Winfrey lead the all-star cast, which includes Mariah Carey, Terrence Howard, Cuba Gooding, Jr., Robin Williams as Eisenhower, James Marsden as JFK, Minka Kelly as Jackie Kennedy, Liev Schreiber as LBJ, John Cusack as Nixon, and Jane Fonda as Nancy Reagan. The film also reunites Lenny Kravitz, who humbly and elegantly portrays White House butler James Holloway, with Daniels, his Precious director.

Despite winning eight Grammys, Kravitz is remarkably down-to-earth and refreshingly free of a rock star’s ego. He credits his late mother Roxie Roker, who played Helen Willis on the hit ’70s sitcom, The Jeffersons, for instilling the humility which enabled him to shift from rock god to a service role in the film. “Even though my mother was on the number one TV show at the time, she took a bus to work. It was important to her that I cleaned my own toilet, rather than having a maid do it for me. That’s how she brought me up. I give her all the credit in the world.”

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Roker’s talent was also instrumental in Daniels’ choice to cast Kravitz in Precious. “Lee told me that he knew I had acting ability, based on my mother’s genes, not because of her work on The Jeffersons, but because of her little-known but seriously respected theater work with the Negro Ensemble Company.”

Kravitz told us that he loves working with Daniels because of the director’s fluidity and creativity. “You have a script, but on any given day, you come to set and he might tear it up and give you new lines on the spot, or you might improvise your own dialogue. You know the scene in the hospital room in Precious with the girls? We improvised that entire scene.”

Working with the incredible cast on Lee Daniels’ The Butler rendered even a star like Kravitz a bit awestruck. “In one scene early on with Forest Whitaker and Cuba Gooding, Jr., I realized, ‘I’m standing in between two Oscar winners,'” said Kravitz. “It was a little surreal.”

But Kravitz, who has been acting in productions since childhood, said that he enjoys the immersive experience that acting affords him: “When I take on a character, I like that it’s no longer about me; it’s not ‘the Lenny Kravitz show.'” Although he relishes the diversion from being the frontman, Kravitz has no plans to quit making music. He expects to release two new albums in the coming year.

Movies aren’t going on the backburner in the meantime, however: Kravitz next appears in one of the year’s most anticipated films, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, in which he reprises his role as Cinna. “Jennifer Lawrence is a cool, tough girl,” said Kravitz. “Katniss depends more on Cinna in the new film. The trust level and closeness between us grows. And I get to make political fashion statements!”

Lee Daniels’ The Butler opens today.
Courtesy of The Weinstein Company

Photo: Courtesy of The Weinstein Company