It’s time for a long weekend filled with the best Memorial Day sales. Nordstrom Rack, the bargain retailer that gets funneled top-notch goods from Nordstrom, is already known for its discounts on big-name brands — but, in the name of the summer-kick-off occasion, it's slashing prices even further. From now through May 31 as part of its major Clear The Rack Sale event, Nordstrom Rack is offering an extra 25% off its entire clearance selection. This means fashion deals on reader-favorite brands from Nike to Madewell and Everlane are going to be all the way up to 75% off for the next three days.
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LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA – MAY 27: (EDITORIAL USE ONLY) Megan Thee Stallion attends the 2021 iHeartRadio Music Awards at The Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles, California, which was broadcast live on FOX on May 27, 2021. (Photo by Emma McIntyre/Getty Images for iHeartMedia)
Less than a week after the Billboard Music Awards, the biggest names in music convened on the red carpet once again, this time for the 2021 iHeartRadio Awards. And just like on Sunday — when Megan Fox, SZA, and Doja Cat debuted cut-out looks — attendees weren’t afraid to show off some skin for Thursday night’s occasion. This time around, in addition to the cut-out trend, there were also naked dresses, deep V-necks, ab-baring two-pieces, and more.
Arguably the most revealing look of all was the first of three that Doja Cat wore for the evening. On the red carpet, the “Kiss Me More” singer walked in a sage green, silk-chiffon gown with an attached cape from Brandon Maxwell’s fall ‘20 collection that was completely see-through. Underneath the ethereal look, she wore a matching pair of underwear briefs. Doja’s on-stage look was also sheer, though in a more subtle way, while her final outfit was a complete 360 — a Miu Miu cocktail dress covered in cat illustrations and bows.
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA – MAY 27: (EDITORIAL USE ONLY) Doja Cat attends the 2021 iHeartRadio Music Awards at The Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles, California, which was broadcast live on FOX on May 27, 2021. (Photo by Emma McIntyre/Getty Images for iHeartMedia)
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA – MAY 27: (EDITORIAL USE ONLY) Lil Nas X attends the 2021 iHeartRadio Music Awards at The Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles, California, which was broadcast live on FOX on May 27, 2021. (Photo by Emma McIntyre/Getty Images for iHeartMedia)
Megan Thee Stallion, who took home the award for Best Collaboration for “Savage,” which she recorded with Beyoncé, wore an equally sexy dress for the show. To celebrate her eight nominations — the most of any recording artist in 2021 — the Grammy winner dressed for the trophies she wanted, in a gold, one-shoulder mini dress by Bryan Hearns. The custom dress featured a large, mesh-covered cut-out, and was paired with Levian jewelry and matching strappy sandals.
Lil Nas X and Demi Lovato opted for suits, though neither would be safe for work. The “Old Town Road” singer chose an iridescent silver suit — which he wore without a shirt — from Selam Fessahaye, a white Telfar bag, and matching platform boots. Meanwhile, Lovato, with the help of stylist Siena Montesano, chose a purple, velvet suit from Dundas’ fall ‘20 collection. Like Lil Nas X, she went sans shirt, choosing instead to cover up in diamonds by Graziela Gems and Effy Jewelry.
Given that party dress season is approaching, we’re expecting there to be plenty more revealing red carpet looks where these came from, to which, we say, bring it on.
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Friends Reunion Special – Photography by Terence Patrick
During the highly anticipated Friends reunion, which was released on HBO Max on Thursday, Cindy Crawford brought back one of the most memorable looks from the show: Ross’ (David Schwimmer) “paste pants.”
To remind you: In the fifth season, in “The One With All The Resolutions” episode, Ross wore a pair of leather pants. He subsequently got stuck with them around his ankles — during a date. “I got really hot in my leather pants, so I took them off,” Ross tells Joey (Matt LeBlanc) over the phone, while hiding in his date’s bathroom. “But they must have shrunk from the sweat or something, or my legs expanded from the heat. I can’t get them back on, Joey. I can’t!” He then proceeded to lather his legs in lotion, followed by baby powder, before, once again, failing to hike the pants back up.
The supermodel modeled the pair during a runway segment of the reunion. Stylist Erica Cloud, who was the lead wardrobe stylist for it, confirmed to Popsugar that Crawford wore the exact same Agnès B. pants that Ross got stuck in. She also shared that no one else had worn them since the episode was filmed in 1998. “They fit her perfectly,” Cloud told the publication. Yes, but by the looks of it, Crawford didn’t have any issues with the pants. That said, who knows what happened when she tried to take them off post-show.
The segment, which aired during the reunion special, also starred Cara Delevingne, who wore Rachel’s (Jennifer Aniston) hot pink bridesmaid dress from Season 2, as well as Ross’ Holiday Armadillo costume from Season 7; Justin Bieber, who dressed in Ross’ Spudnik Halloween costume from Season 8; and LeBlanc, who recreated a scene from the show’s third season when he wore all of the clothes in Chandler’s (Matthew Perry) closet to spite him.
Watch the runway show, as well as the entire Friends: The Reunion episode, now on HBO Max.
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In anticipation of the season 2 premiere ofWhy Women Kill, a serial dram-edy built around themes of identity, belonging, and the deadly nature of “keeping up appearances,” we sat down with stylist and vintage curator Emma Zack to chat about inclusivity, summer ’21 *looks,* and the dearth of plus-size options in traditional vintage retail.
Emma Zack’s closet is a veritable refrigerator: Picture fruit salads, hot dogs, crudité platters, and shrimp cocktail, all in textile form. “Right now, I’m going through a phase with food-themed attire,” she says. “Really, I’m going through a phase with anything wearable that can make me laugh.”
As the brains (and the brawn) behind the curated, online vintage shop Berriez, Zack has spent countless hours rummaging through flea markets, estate sales, and the mysterious sinews of eBay in pursuit of clothing to sell. But she’s not just looking for any old thing with good resale value. Her stipulations are specific: Everything must be designed for plus-sized women. And everything must be fun. “These aren’t clothes that are designed to be slimming,” Zack explains. “They’re made to fit plus-size women, and they’re all about making fashion feel joyful and light-hearted. We don’t always need to take fashion so seriously.”
The mission behind Berriez is a kind of reclamation for Zack: Shopping for clothes was not always an experience she conflated with joy. “I’ve loved fashion ever since I was a little kid, but going shopping was a nightmare when I was young — and in some ways, it still is,” she says. In her experience, while plus-size options are certainly becoming more commonplace, true size inclusivity still feels like a far-off notion. “I have this one specific shopping memory: I was 13, and looking for a dress to wear to a friend’s bat mitzvah,” she recalls. “I must’ve gone to 10 places and there was not one thing that fit me. I was heartbroken — my mom and I both have such visceral memories of that shopping trip. So, when I got older, I vowed to change that.”
“These aren’t clothes that are designed to be slimming, they’re made to fit plus-size women, and they’re all about making fashion feel joyful and light-hearted. We don’t always need to take fashion so seriously.”
At its conception in 2019, Berriez wasn’t Zack’s full focus — she was working a full-time job in the criminal justice department at the Innocence Project, an organization that works to exonerate the wrongly convicted. As a casual side hustle, she began selling vintage, plus-sized clothes on her Instagram profile — and it didn’t take long for her fan base to build. “It shouldn’t have been an untapped market, but it was,” she says. “I love second-hand clothes — and whenever possible, I’d prefer to avoid fast fashion altogether. But when you’re plus-size, sustainable or thrifted clothing options aren’t always available.”
As her business grew — along with demand for her curatorial eye — Zack decided to take the plunge and lean into the resale market full time. She named the project Berriez with the assertion that berries, like bodies, are precious — even for their lack of uniformity in size, shape, and shade. “At the time, my parents were like ‘Emma, what the hell are you doing?’ being that I’d just spent 10 years working in criminal justice,” Zack laughs. “But I knew this was the right move for me, and eventually they got on board too.”
In spite of Berriez’ initial success, 2020 was not a kind year to small business owners — and Zack was no exception. While her shop was already built around an online model, she’d just opened a retail space-meets-showroom in her Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn basement, and she was earning the bulk of her income through pop-up shops across the country. “Pivoting entirely to e-commerce was certainly not easy,” she says. “Especially at a time when I couldn’t have different folks modeling the clothes.”
“A lesson I learned really early on in quarantine was that I had to get dressed every day to feel like myself. Putting clothes on is such a big part of my identity.”
The project of sourcing was a whole different beast. Without access to thrift stores or marketplaces, Zack was forced to do all her curation digitally — a task which was impeded by the very problem Berriez aims to solve: She had no way of knowing how things would fit. Fortunately, though, having only just left behind her full time job, she had an impressive back stock of garments she hadn’t yet found time to share. And in her devoted digital pursuit of bright, unique pieces, she forged some new bonds: “I’ve actually built some real relationships with folks I correspond with on eBay,” she says. “I’ve gotten particularly close with this one woman who used to collect vintage phones in the ‘80s. Just last week, she sent me a newspaper clipping with a photo of her and her collection.”
For all the pivots Zack has had to navigate throughout the duration of the pandemic, she’s been steadfast in her commitment to one pre-quar ritual: getting dressed. “A lesson I learned really early on in quarantine was that I had to get dressed every day to feel like myself. Putting clothes on is such a big part of my identity,” she says. “I needed to be wearing an outfit to feel productive and energized.” So, she committed herself to a sartorial stance that favored both comfort and a sense of style — an ethos that’s manifested in the outfit she has on at present: a white cropped top; an open, fruit-print, short-sleeve button down; and a pair of tie-dye sweat shorts. “I love this, it feels like a look, but it doesn’t feel constrictive — that’s key,” she says.
By the same token, Zack knows better than anyone that most of us have altered or reshaped our relationships with our clothes in quarantine. We’ve gained or lost weight, shifted our sartorial priorities, updated our senses of personal style. But as she sees it, this is a rare, blissful opportunity. Right now, we all get to re-emerge. And whether or not it requires setting our prior wardrobes on fire, this is our moment to dress for the occasion. “I can’t fit into plenty of my shit right now. I grew two sizes in quarantine. But I have to be honest, I’m really excited about it,” she says. “I have a new body shape, and I can now experiment with new things and new silhouettes, and I cannot wait to show it off.”
At this time last year, Zack says she went through a phrase with “sack dresses” — long, ballooning garments that were light, airy, and easy to throw on. But this year, she plans to go the opposite route: She wants to show skin, honor her body, don things that accentuate her shape. “It’s taken me a long time in my fashion journey to get where I am right now, but it’s never felt more right,” she says.”I have a bunch of classic, 1940s-inspired corset tops I can’t wait to wear. Actually, I was just wearing one the other day with these same tie-dye shorts and I thought to myself, ‘this is a good look.’ It’s comfortable, but it’s hot.” Simply put, Zack’s outfit recipe is a reliable one: Celebrate your body, dress for comfort, and make the act of putting on clothes a joyful one.
Oh, and she’s calling this the summer of the “going out top” — and she humbly urges you to get on board.
For a closer look at vintage styling, inclusivity, and identity as it pertains to fashion, stream the first two episodes ofWhy Women Killseason 2 starting June 3 exclusively onParamount +.Set in 1949, the new serial features an ensemble cast, plenty of ’40s fashion, and deep, dark meditations on the secrets behind the facades we present to the world.
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BELFAST, NORTHERN IRELAND – FEBRUARY 27: Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge visits the National Stadium in Belfast, home of the Irish Football Association on February 27, 2019 in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Prince William last visited Belfast in October 2017 without his wife, Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, who was then pregnant with the couple’s third child. This time they concentrate on the young people of Northern Ireland. Their engagements include a visit to Windsor Park Stadium, home of the Irish Football Association, activities at the Roscor Youth Village in Fermanagh, a party at the Belfast Empire Hall, Cinemagic -a charity that uses film, television and digital technologies to inspire young people and finally dropping in on a SureStart early years programme. (Photo by Pool/Samir Hussein/WireImage)
On Thursday, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge put on their game faces to play with members of the Lawn Tennis Association’s youth program. Naturally, the Duchess dressed for the occasion, wearing a cream-colored retro tennis jumper from Polo Ralph Lauren — which she recycled from a 2019 soccer match at Windsor Park in Belfast, Ireland — with black capris and her go-to Superga sneakers. And while the couple’s official Instagram account was quick to mark Prince William’s team the winner, with an outfit like Middleton’s, we beg to differ.
Though Middleton rarely falls for one-off fashion trends, instead opting to stay true to her own classic style, apparently, tenniscore is one even she can’t refuse. The trend, which first appeared last summer in the form of tennis skorts and courtside photoshoots, has once again begun garnering attention in the fashion world. As recently as this month, Brooks Brothers partnered with Fila for a tennis-inspired collection, while tennis star Coco Gauff fronted the campaign for the forthcoming Casablanca x New Balance collaboration.
According to global fashion shopping platform Lyst, retro tennis attire is currently trending, with page views for tennis skirts tripling in the last month. Meanwhile, searches for vintage “tennis club” logo sweatshirts are up 14%, compared to this time last year. Now that Middleton’s hopped aboard the trend, we can only imagine what those numbers will look like as the summer progresses.
Given that Middleton was named the patron of the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in 2016, when she took over for the Queen after a 64-year stint in the position, we’re not exactly surprised that she’d feel a kinship toward this particular trend. That’s to say, we’re not complaining: The more tennis fashion inspo, the better — especially with Wimbledon just a month away.
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Generation TikTok has discovered skorts, and now the skirt-shorts hybrids — ranging from sporty tennis styles to preppy, pleated versions — are everywhere. Meanwhile, the skort-heavy golf-girl aesthetic #BevCartGirls, inspired by the account of the same name and referring to the beverage carts that abound on golf courses, has garnered more than 25 million views on the platform.
This extends to fashion off the platform, too. Activewear brands like Outdoor Voices and Girlfriend Collective are offering athletic versions, while vintage stores like Awoke Vintage are selling out of the more fanciful varieties (think: bright colors and ’80s-inspired patterns). According to Mercari, the marketplace saw a 212% search increase for the item, compared to the same time last year, and thousands of new “skort” listings in May alone.
“The skort comeback is partly the result of a nostalgic yearning for the ’90s and the romanticizing of back-to-school fashion that was unfortunately missed during the pandemic lockdown,” says Maria Coilero, Senior Youth Strategist at fashion trend forecaster Fashion Snoops. She also credits ‘90s reboots, like Cruel Summer and The Craft, with facilitating the rise of the trend.
How the skort went viral on TikTok
TikTok-ers are currently posting videos of themselves reimagined as ‘00s pop stars like Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera, wearing skorts with baby tees and cropped halter tops. While the expectation was that fashion would be on hiatus during the Covid-19 outbreak, Coilero says TikTok has turned out to be an asset for retailers as Gen-Z used the platform to justify dressing up.
“This resulted in a virtual space where trends could circulate with a large reach of viewers at an extremely rapid pace,” she explains. For example, during the pandemic, Dark Academia, a bookish fashion aesthetic that is big on tweed and cardigans, emerged at the top of the viral video food chain, helping the skort become an instant hit.
“Dark Academia is where we began to see the romanticization of back-to-school uniform dressing,” Coilero explains. “It introduced the tailored skort as an appealing new item that Gen-Z was quite unfamiliar with. This was the gateway to an entirely new look that cultivated the perfect space for skorts to come into the forefront.”
The skort’s origin story
“The skort’s popularity can also be connected to the fact that Gen-Z is obsessed with the ’90s and ’00s aesthetics, and has taken the time to explore the archives of those decades and rework them in a way that feels relevant to them,” explains Coilero.
But the skort’s history goes back even further. According to Paige Rubin, a vintage luxury buyer who is pursuing a master’s degree in fashion history at FIT, the skort’s origins trace to the bloomers, flowy pants worn underneath skirts in the 1850s, that allowed women to be free of the cumbersome hems and crinolines that were in fashion at the time.
“They were mocked at the time, but by the end of the century women became more active,” says Rubin. The fashion for tennis and bike riding eventually gave rise to the 1930s trend of wearing a tennis skirt with shorts underneath (though nobody was saying “skort” yet). In the 1950s, the skort was introduced as a new and revolutionary product, with its own dedicated spread in Life magazine.
The skort enabled women to engage in pursuits like gardening, biking, and sports. “In many ways, the birth of the skort helped women find a place in outdoor activities as it offered a solution to comfort dressing that was both feminine and practical,” says Coilero. “Women entering the world of competitive sports gave the skort new importance as it became a staple item in tennis, hockey, and golf uniforms.” The garment’s built-in modesty would come to win over school administrations, who selected skorts as part of official school uniforms, the likes of which have a new place in the Dark Academia aesthetic.
Why is the skort trending right now?
Today, the skort is relevant for several reasons. According to Coilero, while fashion has “evolved greatly,” the skort hasn’t fallen out of favor when it comes to comfort dressing, a category that exploded in the last year.
Then there is the versatility factor. “It can be a really easy, flexible piece; ready for activity at the same time as being comfortable enough for leisure and lounging, and this suits our pandemic-era priorities,” says Emily Gordon-Smith, director of Consumer Product at trends intelligence company Stylus. “However, it’s also quite daring and flirty and taps into our desire to be dressing up a bit more.”
One of the other reasons the TikTok generation is drawn to skorts, Rubin says, is that they lend themselves to creative styling. The style also fits under the bigger Y2K fashion trend that’s currently taking off on the platform. “[Users are] really riffing off a ’00s-era vintage vibe and styling the skort with cropped halter tops and baby tees as well as tiny cardigans,” says Gordon-Smith. “Anything that was big in the ’00s is key.”
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If you have struggled to find the middle ground between lockdown loungewear and full-blown party attire in the wake of nationwide reopenings, this rising footwear trend is for you. On Wednesday, global fashion shopping platform Lyst named “pillow sandals,” — flip-flop- and slide-style sandals with padded, pillow-like straps — as one of the hottest shoe trends of the summer. According to their most recent data drop, which was crafted using consumer shopping data from over 100 million online shoppers, searches for “pillow” and “puffy” sandals have spiked by 129% in May.
No doubt that has to do with the style’s versatility. Padded shoes are not only comfortable but, thanks to labels like Staud and Miu Miu — two of the most searched for brands for this trend, according to Lyst — they can also look chic. Staud’s Rita sandals feature a thong-style toe that’s made of soft, black-, white-, or camel-colored leather. Meanwhile, Miu Miu’s iteration is available in a flatform, as well as a variety of strap styles and colors, from multi-color to monochrome. Roam (another most-searched brand, according to Lyst), Rejina Pyo, Proenza Schouler, and Bottega Veneta, all, too, sell footwear styles that will make even the most flip-flop-adverse reconsider their sandal collection.
After a year of wearing matching Entireworld sweatsuits and house slippers, our brains aren’t equipped to flip the sartorial switch right away. Instead, we need to slowly transition into dressing for something other than a Friday night on the sofa. And for that, only sandals that look and feel like pillows will do.
Shop one of this season’s top footwear trend, below.
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Cameron Bishop grew up thrifting because it was what he could afford.
Bishop was a prolific upcycler in his teens, hacking and refashioning his secondhand wares into unique, custom pieces. Once, he came across a band T-shirt he didn’t have the money to buy, so he spent hours recreating the logo with fabric markers on a secondhand tee. Other times, he added buttons and patches to spice up his finds.
Despite his creativity, Bishop, now 31 and living in Minneapolis, says his unique wardrobe was as much a survival tool as a vehicle of self-expression. His family didn’t have a lot of money, but his mom worked at an elite private school in Atlanta that Bishop attended for part of high school, so he grew up the odd kid out among a cohort of teens who had elevators in their homes and Gucci pieces in their closets. For Bishop, wearing thrifted garments was a financial necessity, and altering them was a way to take control of his own narrative.
“As a kid, I wanted to stick out because I wanted to beat my community to the punch,” he says. “If I was going to appear different, I wanted to be intentional about looking different.”
But when he started making his own money as an adult, Bishop abandoned the fabric markers. While working as a business consultant, he found himself shopping for a new outfit every time he landed a new client. “It felt like I finally had the ability to appear successful,” he says. “I always bought the outfit that I thought conveyed the message the client wanted me to convey to them.”
Bishop’s experience with secondhand clothing as a source of agency, creativity, and shame all at once point to the complex cocktail of reasons that many people still avoid used clothing, despite its growing popularity.
The resale market has experienced remarkable growth and cultural favor in recent years: According to a report by online secondhand platform ThredUp, the U.S. secondhand market will more than triple in value over the next decade. While other forms of retail floundered during the pandemic, the secondhand market kept growing. When TikTok started to take Gen Z by storm, the app was quickly filled with expert Depop sellers and “thrift flippers,” creators who upcycle secondhand pieces into more on-trend creations. Even the luxury labels that long sought to keep their goods from being consigned have started to get in on the secondhand action, with brands like Gucci and Alexander McQueen forging partnerships with luxury resellers like The RealReal and Vestiaire Collective, respectively.
One of the factors driving this growth is the increase in public awareness of fashion’s negative environmental impact. Buying secondhand keeps clothing out of landfills and, if it replaces shopping for brand-new items, can decrease demand for raw material extraction used to create the fibers spun into fabric.
“I’ve always had a tense relationship with clothing… Add to that even more digging to try and find something that fits at a secondhand store, and it’s just not worthwhile.”
Kendall Vanderslice
Still, barriers to shopping secondhand persist for many people. Some have to do with stigmas like the one Bishop faced, while others cite the trouble with finding secondhand clothing that fits. Since secondhand stores are stocked with one-offs, finding a garment that’s the right size is part of the challenge for anyone. But it’s especially tricky for people who don’t wear straight sizes.
Kendall Vanderslice falls in between “plus” and “straight” sizing — clothing from the former tends to be cut right for her body but a bit too big, while the latter are often too small, not cut right, or both. As a result, finding clothes has always been tough. On the rare occasion she does end up in a thrift store with friends or family, she almost never finds anything to take home.
“It’s already an emotional process to go shopping,” says the Durham, North Carolina-based 30-year-old. “I’ve always had a tense relationship with clothing and spending a long time looking in mirrors at the shape of things on my body. Add to that even more digging to try and find something that fits at a secondhand store, and it’s just not usually worthwhile.”
Vanderslice, at her in-between size, doesn’t even experience the worst of it — people who wear sizes larger than hers have an even harder time finding secondhand shopping options that work. It’s long been noted that the fashion industry fails fat people; the secondhand market is no better. While there are some vintage and secondhand stores that focus on plus-size clothing, like Plus BKLYN and Two Big Blondes, they’re few and far between.
But even some people who could easily shop secondhand based on their size don’t for other reasons.
Therese Morillo is an accountant in the Bay Area whose favorite place to shop for clothes is Target. She has never been secondhand shopping in her life. Morillo insists that she’s not against secondhand per se — about half of her kids’ wardrobes consist of items passed down from their cousins — but she’s uncomfortable with the idea of wearing clothing from strangers. She says it’s hard to shake the idea that clothes purchased from thrift shops are “dirty” in a way that can’t be eradicated by one cycle in her washing machine. After volunteering for an organization that required her to sort donated clothing, she’s never forgotten the feeling of pawing through unwashed donations. But there’s also a deeper level to her hesitance.
“It’s like the energy and the bad luck of the person could come into my life, especially if they wore the piece every single day.”
Therese Morillo
A first-generation Filipino immigrant who moved to California as a kid, Morillo was raised to avoid thrift shopping. While secondhand shopping is immensely popular in her birth country — ukay-ukay stores, as thrift shops are called, can be found every few blocks in the capital city of Manila — it’s also not uncommon to view secondhand clothing with suspicion. There’s a common idea in the Filipino culture that clothing and jewelry can hold onto the energy or spirit of previous owners. (One Filipina celebrity’s hack is to spray newly purchased secondhand goods with disinfectant and holy water before wearing.)
“It sounds so crazy saying it out loud, but it’s like the energy and the luck or bad luck of the person could come into my life, especially if they wore the piece every single day,” says Morillo. “Wearing it can somehow rub off on you. So unless I know the person, I’d be wary.”
Not everyone’s barriers to secondhand shopping are quite so metaphysical. For Bishop, the stigma of shopping secondhand gradually lifted. After years of avoiding secondhand, he found himself drawn back to thrift stores. Part of what sparked his return was seeing his sister selling secondhand designer goods online. Rather than associating resale with other peoples’ worn cast-offs, he could now see it as a way to build the Gucci wardrobe of his teenage dreams.
Beyond that, Bishop began to reflect on his fraught feelings about clothing that wasn’t brand-new. He came to see that insecurity was at the heart of his approach to dressing, both as a thrift-savvy teen and then as a new-suit-loving adult. Part of what helped him move beyond that was meditating on Leviticus, a book of ancient laws in both Christian and Jewish scriptures. Bishop understood it as “a book about our relationship with the earth and with each other.” Though it might not initially seem like the kind of literature that would inspire a fashion breakthrough, it shifted how Bishop understood his relationship with clothes.
“I was seeing a greater purpose with a lot of things in my life, and fashion was one of those things,” he explains. “I wanted to have a proper relationship with the earth through what I wore.”
This revelation ultimately landed Bishop back where he started: as an avid thrifter, but this time by choice.
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Christian Siriano is officially back in the bridal business — just in time for wedding season. On Wednesday, the New York-based designer — who launched bridal in 2016, but hasn’t released a new collection in the category since April 2017 — announced the return of his e-commerce wedding line with 26 new looks, including wedding suits, princess gowns, and mini dresses.
“Whether it’s a simple slip dress or a voluminous ball gown, I [really] think there’s something here for everyone,” Siriano tells Refinery29.
According to the designer, he wanted to provide brides who’ve had to postpone their weddings, or worse, put them on hold indefinitely, with a bevy of wedding look options. “I’m hopeful that this collection gives any bride, no matter [their] size, age, or gender, a wedding look of their dreams,” Siriano tells Refinery29 of the line that goes up to size 28. “Everyone deserves that!”
Sara Kerens, Christian Siriano, Bridal 2021
Sara Kerens, Christian Siriano, Bridal 2021
As is the case with his ready-to-wear collections, this bridal line is a mix of classic and eclectic styles, with traditional bridal fabrics like silk, taffeta, and tulle used to create both understated and over-the-top silhouettes. For example, Siriano included a ruffled, pink ombré gown, as well as a tuxedo-inspired dress.
Shop Siriano’s entire bridal selection, which ranges in price from $2,000 to $10,000, on ChristianSiriano.com.
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Anthropologie has been tearing up the body-positive dance floor in 2021; continuing to expand its range of in-house plus-friendly styles and launching its first-ever size-inclusive collab with designer Peter Som. Now, the chic retailer has done it again with its latest launch created in partnership with WHIT designer Whitney Pozgay. WHIT TWO is an Anthropologie-exclusive clothing collection of summery styles (starting at $78) that feature classic-yet-playful prints, easy-breezy silhouettes, and, of course, inclusive sizes (ranging from XS-3X). “My goal with WHIT has always been to create an inclusive brand. We set out to make optimistic apparel that feels sophisticated and easy to wear every day. It feels like a natural evolution to develop a more comprehensive size range, and we have been hearing this from customers as well. We are thrilled to be partnering with Anthropologie for our WHIT TWO label to expand into both plus and petites,” Pozgay explains.
Since successfully launching plus-size offerings in 2019, Anthropologie has continued to seek out future exclusive designer collaborations and potential partnerships. “Our customer loves the unique fashion we offer and that we provide her with the same fashion styling we do in our standard line. We see many more exciting assortments in the future,” said Anu Narayanan, Anthropologie’s Chief Merchant. WHIT TWO, along with other inclusive collaborations, will hopefully continue to be one of many movements towards filling the gap for plus-sized and marginalized folks in the fashion space.
We combed through the entire WHIT TWO collection on Anthropologie to pick out a few perfect pieces for the rising temps ahead — and for all those post-vaccine beach vacations we’re so excited about. Below, peep our favorites and check out the full collection here. Who knows, maybe you’ll find your new summer uniform hiding in there.
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One week and two days — yes, we’ve been counting — after TMZ announced that Ariana Grande and Dalton Gomez got married in a low-key ceremony at their Montecito, California home, Grande finally gave us a look at her wedding dress. And just as we predicted, it is perfect.
For the occasion — which, according to Grande’s three Instagram posts, took place on May 15 — the “7 Rings” singer stunned in a strapless, backless, silk charmeuse number by Vera Wang. The bridal designer custom-made the gown for Grande, adding elegant details like a sculpted neckline, a cowl-esque plunging back, and an exposed back strap. Her inspiration? Audrey Hepburn, according to Vogue. Specifically, her character Jo Stockton in the 1957 film Funny Face.
According to the publication, the designer and the singer made a pact with each other at the 2018 Heavenly Bodies-themed Met Gala, for which Grande wore a Vera Wang gown printed with the Sistine Chapel: When the time came for Grande to get married, Wang would design the dress. “Ariana Grande, to a truly magical muse, what an incredible journey this has been for all of us at Vera Wang,” Wang wrote on her Instagram. “A joy and a honor! Wishing you and Dalton a lifetime of happiness.”
Jewelry-wise, Grande, with the help of her longtime stylist Mimi Cuttrell, chose Lorraine Schwartz pearl-and-diamond earrings, made to match her engagement ring, which, too, features both stones. According to Vogue, she intentionally wore one of the earrings upside-down, which was meant to symbolize the “upside down” moments in her life thus far. The most Ari touch of all, though, was her veil, which was bubble-shaped and featured a small, satin bow at the top. And of course, she wore sky-high heels.
We can’t “Imagine” a better wedding look for Grande.
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Looking to spend the entire beach season decked out in Lisa Says Gah’s signature prints? As of today, you can. On Wednesday, the Instagram-favorite retailer and fashion brand launched its first foray into swimwear, in collaboration with OOKIOH, the eco-conscious, L.A.-based brand beloved by Gigi and Bella Hadid, Gabrielle Union, and Hailey Bieber. The capsule collection includes three pieces — an underwire bikini top, high-waisted bikini briefs, and a square-neck maillot — each of which is available in three bold patterns — fruit print, red paisley, and a chartreuse-colored cow print.
While OOKIOH provided the swim styles, colors, fabrics, and overall expertise in the poolside genre, LSG was responsible for the vibrant patterns. “The partnership came together based on the OOKIOH’s interest in working with prints for the first time,” LSG founder and CEO Lisa Buhler tells Refinery29. “When looking for the perfect partner [to introduce swim with] — one of LSG’s most requested categories since our launch in 2017 — we were also attracted to OOKIOH’s willingness to meet our standards for inclusivity, along with their long-term sustainable values.”
According to the two brands, the goal of this collection was to create swimsuits that could be seamlessly incorporated into the wardrobes of longtime LSG and OOKIOH shoppers. “We wanted this collaboration to sit well with [LSG’s] range, so it could be styled with their collection, and also express OOKIOH’s love for bold color statements,” OOKIOH founder Vivek Agarwal tells Refinery29. To do so, Agarwal’s team made slight changes to LSG’s summer color palette, such as tweaking the color of their Moo print (formerly available only in black and brown) to fit OOKIOH’s signature look (chartreuse).
Each of the three silhouettes was also hand-selected from OOKIOH’s existing swimwear collection with the LSG customer in mind. “The Surfrider Bottom and Como Top have [always] been our bestsellers, and aesthetically they work with LSG, as well,” Agarwal says. “[On the other hand,] the Monaco Bottom, our other bestseller, would seem out of place in the Lisa Says Gah world,” he explains.
We loved the two brands enough on their own — together, well, it doesn’t get much better than that. Shop the Lisa Says Gah x OOKIOH swimwear capsule, which ranges in price from $50 to $100, on LisaSaysGah.com and below.
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Ever since Netflix released Bridgerton, the Regency-era drama has not only kept us glued to the TV — in its first month on Netflix, the show reached 82 million viewers — but its clothing has also seeped into our wardrobes. In the four weeks following its release alone, search for corsets on global shopping platform Lyst increased by 123%. During Fashion Month in February, taut bodices were shown on the fall ’21 runways of Markarian, KNWLS, Prabal Gurung, and more. When Billie Eilish appeared on the June cover of British Vogue in a bevy of custom corsets by Gucci, Burberry, Mugler, Alexander McQueen, Vivienne Westwood, and more, search for the constricting lingerie item went up 74% in the span of just two days, according to Lyst.
Eilish wasn’t the only celebrity spotted wearing the trend. Miley Cyrus wore a Schiaparelli corset while hosting SNL in May, followed by Katy Perry, who wore a white Maticevski suit with a black corset while filming American Idol. At the BRITs, Dua Lipa stunned in a Vivienne Westwood corseted dress; at the MTV Movies & TV Awards, Yara Shahidi paired an Erdem bodice with an Adidas tracksuit; and Olivia Rodrigo wore a plaid Vivienne Westwood corset during her own SNL performance.
In turn, one thing has become clear: Fashion’s obsession with Regencycore isn’t going anywhere. But, what is it really like to wear a corset IRL?
To find out, I tested an array of different styles, from NSFW lingerie to more fashion-forward iterations, including the SKIMS waist trainer, boned Miaou styles (worn by corset queen Kim Kardashian in the final season of Keeping Up With The Kardashians), and a sheer Savage x Fenty corset dress.
According to SKIMS’ site, the waist trainer, which is available in black and tan and sizes XXS to 4X, is meant to “accentuate your natural curves” and be worn underneath clothing. Though made from neoprene and soft to the touch, as the name suggests, it was the most constricting of the corset styles I tested out. As such, it didn’t feel the most comfortable when I wore it under a fitted gray dress while running errands in 90-degree weather. Even less so after I ate three servings of pasta (plus dessert and triple the recommended daily amount of free garlic bread). But then again, I had been warned by experts: “A corset will never be truly comfortable,” Bridgertoncostume designer Ellen Mirojnick told Refinery29 prior to the show’s release.
While I expected a more true-to-history corset experience (read: painful) with the waist trainer, I didn’t foresee that the more fashionable corsets would be as constricting. Thanks to the boning and power mesh, Instagram-favorite brand Miaou’s styles resulted in marks on my back (albeit much-improved posture) after a day of working from home. In addition to being as stylish in person as they appear on social media, the Campbell mesh corset and the Imogene corset both created the look of a “blossoming bosom,” as Mirojnick described it in December, where there really wasn’t one (I wear a 32B bra size).
I wore the Campbell corset in a handful of ways over the course of a week, layering it over a silk mini dress, as well as with Bermuda-length denim shorts. Next time, I’ll take Kardashian’s route, pairing it with a matching mini skirt from the brand. Inspired by her look, I combined the brown-and-white Imogene corset with my own black mini skirt and knee-high boots.
When it came to the third style, Rihanna’s take on the corset felt less like an actual corset, despite the fact that it had laces running up the back, or a dress, as the name suggests, and more like straight lingerie. Given that the cups on the Savage X Fenty’s watercolor tie-dye corset dress are completely sheer, I found that I couldn’t test it out on the streets. The piece did, however, look cute while worn in the confines of my bedroom.
Throughout this process, I simultaneously fell in love with corsets and sympathized with Bridgerton star Nicola Coughlan, who told Refinery29 in December of the sense of relief that ensues when you take off a corset after a long day: “Your ribs are just like, Ah.” While I wouldn’t recommend wearing a waist trainer for a three-course Italian dinner, nor a bone-in corset for a day spent sitting at the computer, my experience with corsets was far more enjoyable than I had expected it to be when I took on this task. Not only did they create the illusion of cleavage while also holding me in, but they also made for a fun and sexy styling piece in my otherwise understated wardrobe.
Sure, as Coughlan said, it feels good to take one off at the end of the day. But wearing one, especially a stylish one, isn’t half bad either.
At Refinery29, we’re here to help you navigate this overwhelming world of stuff. All of our market picks are independently selected and curated by the editorial team. If you buy something we link to on our site, Refinery29 may earn commission.
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