Valentino’s last couture collection was an example of true decadence. Set in a gilded galleria, presenting gilded gowns, gilded nine-inch heels, and even gilded visages, the opulence was overt. In stark contrast, creative director Pierpaolo Piccioli’s fall offerings are subdued. The designer opted for a quieter runway, whispering in sweet nothings. In many ways, Piccioli…
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“I love dressing up, I just do not want to go out,” Laura Kim shares over Zoom, sitting next to Fernando Garcia. “If last night was any indication, people are thirsty for a little bit of a dressing up,” Garcia adds. It’s the day after yet another successful (albeit virtual) awards show for the designers,…
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Back in Jamaica, when Trudy-Ann Lalor and her siblings caught a cold, their mother burned Seville oranges over a fire in the backyard, cut the charred peel away and gave them the hot, juicy pulp with sugar, to eat with a spoon. It always made them feel better. Maybe it was the comforting aroma of…
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Battered already by a year of coronavirus devastation and postponements, couples in Texas who had hopes of marrying in mid-February had another unexpected hurdle to overcome before finally having their wedding day. An unusual winter storm hit the state with snow, ice, and far below-freezing temperatures that stretched over three days. Approximately 4.3 million in…
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The Last Word My first message to you, 44 years after high school: “I remember you; you had that long, pretty hair.” You told me about the car accident that left your lower body paralyzed. I told you that our wholeness doesn’t depend on the body. You wrote to me about making art, cooking, living…
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Handshakes, hugs, pats on the back, even air kisses that just brush the cheek — these basic modes of human interaction have been put on hold in the pandemic, replaced with the pallid substitutes of elbow bumps, six-feet-away waves and glimpses of loved ones through glass. We hunger for physical interaction, the feel of skin…
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Scientists and doctors who study infectious disease in children largely agreed, in a recent New York Times survey about school openings, that elementary school students should be able to attend in-person school now. With safety measures like masking and opening windows, the benefits outweigh the risks, the majority of the 175 respondents said. In some…
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The books America cooked from during 2020 will stand as cultural artifacts of the year when a virus forced an entire nation into the kitchen. The pandemic has been good to cookbooks. Overall sales jumped 17 percent from 2019, according to figures from NPD BookScan, which tracks about 85 percent of book sales in America.…
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20H/501Y.V2. VOC 202012/02. B.1.351. Those were the charming names scientists proposed for a new variant of the coronavirus that was identified in South Africa. The convoluted strings of letters, numbers and dots are deeply meaningful for the scientists who devised them, but how was anyone else supposed to keep them straight? Even the easiest to…
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Coming up on a year of our Strange New Normal, the recent uptick in non-apocalyptic news is reason to feel hopeful. We’re far from being out of the woods, but a transition from Netflix and sweatpants to social lives filled with jeans, skirts and dresses(!) might be on the horizon. If this prospect both excites…
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