Daily Archives: March 5, 2021

Last month, Dolce & Gabbana debuted a radical change of direction with a mens show devoted to the crazy and colourful wardrobes of TikTok kids and cyber-subculture. Their autumn/winter 2021 womens show followed suit, channelling digital dressing in a conversation between technology and the young generations nostalgia for the 90s. With references to their tight, black corseted dresses from the decade, Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana injected their collection with all the augmented silhouettes, outlandish colours and techy textures of the digital world, bringing virtual reality one step closer to real life. Anders Christian Madsen spoke to Stefano Gabbana about the collection and the designers announcement of Kitty Spencer as brand ambassador.

Its not the first time! I love coloured hair. My first time was 30 years ago when I bleached it. Then I went orange, then I went blue, and now Im blue again. I take inspiration from the young generation! Next, I want to go green.

We worked with the Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia: artificial intelligence. Remember when we presented the show with the drones? The season after, we started to look into artificial intelligence. The idea is to take influence from technology, but the most important thing about technology is humans. Humans make technology. Its handmade.

It influenced the fabrics, the colours, the attitude. Weve tried to do something different, mixing sponging with wool, wool with plastic, vegan fabric with mohair. Weve tried to do experimental things. Our job is like a mirror that reflects the present. And today, everything is about technology especially in this moment with the pandemic. Social media, new attitudes, new approaches This is the most interesting development to us.

Dolce & Gabbana autumn/winter 2021.

The future, I dont know, but what I know for sure is that artificial intelligence is a good thing for humanity. It can create help for healthcare, for politics, for nature. I dont know the future of fashion but were starting to do something new. More than the future, we are interested in today.

Its human to be scared about the future. The new is scary. But the future is now. We dont know whats going to happen tomorrow. Domenico and I are not afraid because we are curious, and that helps a lot.

For Domenico and me, freedom is the most important word. We are designers sketching collections in Milan. Sometimes people say, Where are we going with this? Its impossible to wear this! But the world is big. If its not okay for me, maybe its okay for you, or another person. Maybe its not okay immediately, for now, maybe itll be okay in two or three years time. Thats our reflection on today.

Dolce & Gabbana autumn/winter 2021.

Half of the silhouettes come from social media: the structured things, the exaggerated volumes. The other half is very Dolce & Gabbana: tight, sartorial, slim, sexy. For many years, young people have been asking us, Ah, why dont you make the clothes you made in the 90s? The 90s, 90s, 90s

We werent 100 per cent comfortable with the idea because, you know, when youve done something before its very difficult to redo it in the same way. Youve changed your mind, mentality, age, and today is a different time. Its not the 90s. So, weve tried to do some 90s: embroidery, corsetry, sexiness. But the starting point is different.

Dolce & Gabbana autumn/winter 2021.

Today, young guys and girls dress up for themselves, for selfies, for the mirror; today sexy is the same word but with another value. The new generations approach to sexy is totally different. In the 90s, youd dress sexy for other people. In this moment, the young generations dress sexy for themselves, because they love it. Its kind of a new hedonism.

Weve been friends with Kitty (the niece of the late Diana, Princess of Wales) for a long time. We feel very comfortable in her company; talking, eating, spending time together. It was spontaneous to ask her to become the image of Dolce & Gabbana. And we love British beauty. Weve been attracted to Britain since our early beginnings. Its the most extravagant culture in the world. She walked two or three times for us. Maybe shell walk next time, when its possible to do a real show again.

Kitty Spencer walking a Dolce & Gabbana show in 2018.

Victor VIRGILE

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Its A New Hedonism: Dolce & Gabbana On Their Hi-Tech AW21 Collection And New Ambassador Kitty Spencer - British Vogue

The glam-metal music of the 1980s is known for its over the top style and sound: the teased hair, heavy makeup and spandex; prodigious pyrotechnics and bombastic power ballads; lightning-fast guitar solos.

But as journalists Tom Beaujour and Richard Bienstock recount in their new book Nthin But A Good Time, the genrewhich is alternatively called hard rock or hair metal, depending on whether youre a fanmade rock n roll bigger in the U.S. than ever before. The hedonism of bands like Mtley Cre and Poison made headlines, but its their single-mindedness, showmanship and melodies that ultimately yielded multi-platinum albums and sold-out arenas. Messrs. Beaujour and Bienstock conducted more than 200 new interviews with acts such as Ratt and Lita Ford and industry insiders like Spencer Proffer, who championed Quiet Riot, the first metal band to score a No. 1 album.

Nthin But A Good Time, out March 16, chronicles how 80s hard rock, initially shunned by record labels, triggered a music-industry gold rush. But despite a reputation as slick corporate rock, many early glam-metal bands plugged away for years without record deals, investing their own money and employing do-it-yourself strategies.

Mr. Beaujour, 49, and Mr. Bienstock, 45, are both long-time musicians and rock and guitar-magazine journalists. Their book is the latest in a string of rock oral histories, including Lizzy Goodmans popular 2017 history of 2000s rock, Meet Me in the Bathroom.

The authors recently talked to the Journal about the 80s hard-rock explosion and how the music industrys repetition of the same formula helped bring it all down. An edited transcript:

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The Rise and Fall of 80s Glam Metal - The Wall Street Journal

I had gender reassignment surgery in the late 2000s, and while I had been sexually active prior to this, I had always imagined what it would be like to have sex as a woman for the first time. I had pictured a whirlwind romance or a hotel room, or maybe even a seedy club. What actually happened was altogether more intriguing.

At the time I was a keen photographer, and was also beginning to explore the kink scene. These interests intersected when a couple asked if I wanted to photograph their new dungeon equipment for them. At this point no sexual high jinks were on my mind, just a two-hour train journey across a sodden Lancashire and a warm cup of tea at the end. But when I arrived, the man and woman were charming and interesting, and ended up asking if Id be keen to try the equipment.

Things progressed and I lost my second virginity in the course of two hours of blissful hedonism. How did it compare with losing my first virginity? It was certainly more memorable. As a man, I found sex to be very urgent, almost like scratching an itch. Having sex as a woman felt more all-encompassing. Not really knowing my sexual self in my reconfigured body should have set me on edge, but the couple were kind, patient and very good at what they did. More than a decade later, I still look back on the memory with fondness.

Each week, a reader tells us about their sex life. Want to share yours? Email sex@theguardian.com. All submissions are published anonymously, and subject to our terms and conditions.

Comments on this piece are premoderated to ensure the discussions remains on the topics raised by the article. Please be aware that there may be a short delay in comments appearing on the site.

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My life in sex: the woman who lost her virginity twice - The Guardian

The words 21st June had barely been uttered last week when the memes started. Summer plans shared online, jokes about booking the day off, jokes about getting really, really drunk.

Theres a big theme emerging for the summer already: a long-planned release of pent up hedonism. And its going to be a challenge for drink brands to find a route through this and get the tone right - celebratory, but responsible.

And for venues - how should they plan to communicate this summer?What does the reopening roadmap mean for the industry from a comms and planning point of view?

Here are our five tips to help make a realistic plan for reopening comms and marketing as we head into summer 2021, with whatever it might bring.

'Building your comms plan around a fixed idea or date is a risk. Taking a more measured, flexible approach is essential'

1. Dont try to own reopening. If 2020-21 has taught us anything, its that we need to be prepared to be flexible. While we all hope that this summer will see the back of Covid, its entirely possible that restrictions might not disappear completely, or not on the planned date (or even, hell, come back again).

Building your comms plan for the year around a fixed idea or date is a risk. Taking a more measured, flexible approach that doesn't focus on the timeline from the start is essential.

Plus, as a practical point, though production and supply will likely increase, lets not forget all the wastage from the last big opening. If we rush to supply pubs with car parks full of kegs and lockdown rears its ugly head again it could cost pub owners a lot. So lets be ready to supply with caution!

2. Consider practical and design-led ways to keep drinkers and customers safe - for brands and bars. Venues might be really busy but its likely well still need to socially distance. If you have an RTD version of your drink or can be reformatted into a faster serve, for example, start training your biggest distribution channels now. Train staff, rejig venues - and make sure all of these things are communicated to customers ahead of time and in-venue.

3. Keep an eye on social platforms. While were sure that every brand and venue is cautious and responsible, its easy to be distracted by memes and for shaky content to creep onto social pages, either from fans or junior team members. Its tempting to promote countdowns, partying hard and similar, but its vital to proceed with caution, to keep that duty of care for customers in mind.

4. Remember to keep prioritising those who interact with the public - and to communicate this too. In this case, this means both hospitality staff (bartenders etc) and hospital staff (doctors and nurses). We're all excited! But bartenders have likely been out of work, furloughed or on reduced wages for a long time now. Suddenly placing a huge amount of stress on them is not good. Your brand can be the voice to remind people to be respectful. If they got your order wrong, be cool, calmly order another, be courteous - or just drink it, there's no need to start berating people. And as for the doctors and nurses who have already worked insane hours and in awful conditions, they don't need an A&E filled with drunks. So be careful! And be sure to thank and respect the people that have got us out of this mess in your comms and actions.

5. Getting the tone right will be a challenge, but, focusing on the things that are close to certain, and that we have all really missed, will be a safe bet. We will be, in some way, starting to reconnect - the dates may change, the format may differ - and some people may have come out of lockdown having reevaluated their relationship with alcohol altogether. Your venue might have families nearby, desperate to have a Sunday lunch together, just as much as young people who really want to see their mates en route to a club.Comms need to be inclusive and make space for everyone to come and be together again.

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How to keep your brand and venue marketing 'reopening safe' - BeverageDaily.com

Another month, another collection of movies that will soon be leaving Netflix even if it feels like they just arrived on the streamer. But its the way of the world, for these movies and TV shows to make way for new arrivals in March. Here are the best TV shows and movies leaving Netflix in March 2021.

Vanessa Hudgens, Selena Gomez, Ashley Benson, and Rachel Korine star as a group of teenage friends who join a life of crime after a run-in with James Francos aspiring rapper.Spring Breakerswas marketed mostly as the Disney girls go bad movie, but the Harmony Korines special brand of scumbag chic cinema is an ode to hedonism that is as foul as it is fascinating.

David O. Russells romantic-comedy teeters dangerously between twee and glib, butSilver Linings Playbook is still a fantastic showcase for Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley Cooper as two mentally unstable soulmates who join a dance competition.

The movie that kicked off the global martial arts movie craze and turned Bruce Lee into a legend,Enter the Dragonretains a bittersweet place in pop culture history it would be the second to last film Lee would make before his untimely death during the making ofGame of Death. But Lees swaggering charisma and that mirror scene makesEnter the Dragon still as dazzling as ever.

One of the all-time great martial arts comedies,Kung Fu Hustle is like aLooney Tunes cartoon crossed with an operatic Chinese melodrama. Stephen Chow directs and stars asbumbling thief and aspiring gangster who finds himself in the middle of a conflict between the Axe Gang and the residents of the rundown Pig Sty Alley, where three kung fu masters secretly live.

Robert De Nirostars in Martin Scorseses early-career masterpiece,Taxi Driver, as a mentally unstable cab driver whose late-night job wandering the seedy streets of New York feeds his delusions of grandeur, driving him to take up a vigilante mission toclean up the trash of the city.

Leaving 3/3/21

Rectify: Seasons 1-4

Leaving 3/7/21

Hunter X Hunter (2011): Seasons 1-3

Leaving 3/8/21

Apollo 18 (2011)

The Young Offenders (2016)

Leaving 3/9/21

November Criminals (2017)

The Bosss Daughter (2015)

Leaving 3/10/21

Last Ferry (2019)

Summer Night (2019)

Leaving 3/13/21

Spring Breakers (2012)

The Outsider (2019)

Leaving 3/14/21

Aftermath (2017)

Marvel & ESPN Films Present: 1 of 1: Genesis

The Assignment (2016)

The Student (2017)

Leaving 3/15/21

Chicken Little (2005)

Leaving 3/16/21

Deep Undercover: Collections 1-3

Love Dot Com: The Social Experiment (2019)

Silver Linings Playbook (2012)

Leaving 3/17/21

All About Nina (2018)

Come and Find Me (2016)

Leaving 3/20/21

Conor McGregor: Notorious (2017)

Leaving 3/22/21

Agatha and the Truth of Murder (2018)

I Dont Know How She Does It (2011)

Leaving 3/24/21

USS Indianapolis: Men of Courage (2016)

Leaving 3/25/21

Blood Father (2016)

The Hurricane Heist (2018)

Leaving 3/26/21

Ghost Rider (2007)

Leaving 3/27/21

Domino (2019)

Leaving 3/30/21

Extras: Seasons 1-2

Killing Them Softly (2012)

London Spy: Season 1

The House That Made Me: Seasons 1-3

Leaving 3/31/21

Arthur (2011)

Chappaquiddick (2017)

Enter the Dragon (1973)

Gods Not Dead (2014)

Hedgehogs (2016)

Inception (2010)

Killer Klowns from Outer Space (1988)

Kung Fu Hustle (2004)

Mollys Game (2017)

Money Talks (1997)

School Daze (1988)

Secret in Their Eyes (2015)

Sex and the City: The Movie (2008)

Sex and the City 2 (2010)

Sinister Circle (2017)

Skin Wars: Seasons 1-3

Taxi Driver (1976)

The Bye Bye Man (2017)

The Perks of Being a Wallflower (2012)

The Prince & Me (2004)

Weeds: Seasons 1-7

Excerpt from:

The Best TV Shows and Movies Leaving Netflix in March 2021 - /FILM

When Dua Lipa was 15 years old, she left her parents and two younger siblings behind in the familys native Kosovo and moved more or less on her own to London.

The plan, at least as understood by her mom and dad (whod only agreed to it because shed be rooming with the older daughter of a family friend), was to finish high school and then enter university. By the time Lipa graduated, though, shed turned her focus to music, posting covers online and recording hooky originals she co-wrote while supporting herself as a hostess at a Mexican joint in Londons Soho neighborhood.

I kept telling my parents, if I take a gap year, then I dont have to pay off my university debt, the singer says today with a laugh.

Asked how long she was willing to stretch that gap year how long she was prepared to grind in the hopes of becoming a pop star she smiles as though amused by the misconception that shed been struggling.

That was a great life I was working in a restaurant, I was partying all night, then Id wake up in the morning and go to the studio, she says. I had so much fun.

But also: A struggle suggests she might have accepted anything less than success.

Ive always been persistent, and Ive always fought for the things that Ive wanted, Lipa, now 25, says in her crisp English accent. So as much as this was my passion, I feel like it was also my destiny.

A decade after she set out from home, its tempting to think she was right. Last year, Lipas Future Nostalgia a sophomore LP full of sticky vocal melodies, shimmering guitar licks and crazy-funky bass lines topped the U.K. album chart and was certified gold in the U.S. Dont Start Now, the projects disco-throwback lead single, has been streamed nearly 2 billion times on Spotify and YouTube.

In November, more than 5 million people tuned into an elaborate, Studio 54-inspired livestream that featured cameos by Elton John, Bad Bunny and Kylie Minogue, the last of whom praised Lipas clever songwriting and instantly recognizable voice in a tribute she wrote when Time magazine put Lipa on its Next 100 list of young influencers.

Massive icon, Lipa says, returning the favor, of Minogue. For her to even know who I am is mad.

Now Lipa, named best new artist at the Grammy Awards in 2019, is among the most-nominated acts at this months 63rd Grammys ceremony, where shes up for six prizes, including album, record and song of the year. (Only Beyonc has more nods.) Though the Recording Academy has yet to detail plans for the show, set to take place March 14 in Los Angeles, Lipa is widely expected to perform on the CBS telecast.

Says Tom Corson, cochairman of Lipas label, Warner Records: What were seeing is the dawning of a new superstar.

Ive always been persistent, and Ive always fought for the things that Ive wanted, says Dua Lipa.

(Christina House/Los Angeles Times)

According to Grammy oddsmakers, Future Nostalgia trails Taylor Swifts rootsy Folklore for the highly coveted album award, which Swift has won twice since 2010. Yet academy members have demonstrated a soft spot for the kind of crafty, intricate, hand-played dance music that Lipas disc represents: In 2014, Daft Punk upset expectations when the French duo beat their highly favored competitors (including Swifts blockbuster Red) to take album of the year with Random Access Memories.

Lipa says the beautifully rendered Future Nostalgia is meant to evoke memories of music by swank 70s and 80s acts like Blondie and Chic the latter of whose Nile Rodgers featured prominently on Random Access Memories and to put across a more unified vibe than her grab bag of a self-titled 2017 debut.

Lipas album spawned a couple of monster streaming hits in IDGAF, a tart kiss-off with marching-band drums, and New Rules, which layers her low, husky singing over a sleek, EDM-ish beat. But the only thing that connected each song was my voice, as Lipa puts it in a video call from her place in L.A.

A reliably glamorous presence on magazine covers and in music videos, the singer is low-key this morning in a baggy tie-dyed top and purple beanie as her dog, a black Lab mix named Dexter, clambers onto the couch beside her. Lipa, who lives with her boyfriend of nearly two years, model Anwar Hadid (younger brother of fashionistas Bella and Gigi), gladly splits her time between here and London, though she admits she didnt warm right away to L.A. in part, perhaps, because her first crash pad was a random Airbnb in the depths of Hollywood with bars across the door.

It said Santa Monica Boulevard, and I was like, Oh, Ive heard of that street, she recalls of the listing. Little did I know. Now I love it here.

Producer Stephen Koz Kozmeniuk, who helped build both of Lipas albums from the ground up, says the singer wanted Future Nostalgia to reflect her buoyant mood. She was happy, feeling good like, I just wanna dance, Koz says. It was also a bit of a reaction to the fact that all the other music in the world was quite down at the time the Billie Eilishes and all the trap stuff.

Lipa, of course, didnt know that COVID-19 was looming as she completed her big feel-good statement in early 2020. But when it came out last March, the album ended up offering a welcome escape from a quickly darkening reality. Whats more, Dont Start Now touched off a plague-times disco revival that yielded pleasure-obsessed hits by the likes of Lady Gaga, Harry Styles and Doja Cat, whose Say So is nominated against Dont Start Now for record of the year.

Something this pandemic has taught us, I think, is to live in the moment, Lipa says.

Dua Lipa at the 61st Grammy Awards, where she won best new artist.

(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

If space got crowded under the glitter ball, Lipa still stands out. For starters, theres the exceptionally wide range of her appeal, which in recent months has led to both a collaboration with the hip-hop boy band Brockhampton and a country-fied cover of Dont Start Now by Nashvilles Ingrid Andress. (Among Lipas other duet partners of late are Miley Cyrus, J Balvin, DaBaby and Andrea Bocelli.)

Dua is super-cool, says Brockhamptons Kevin Abstract, a hero to Supreme-clad kids more attuned to Camp Flog Gnaw than to the Hot 100. What did his fans make of Lipas appearance on a remix of Brockhamptons song Sugar? They were probably like, Whoa, I didnt expect this but why does it kind of work? Abstract says.

Theres also Lipas unique handling of her celebrity. At a moment when music by many female pop stars is scrutinized for insight into their private lives be they established A-listers like Swift and Ariana Grande or up-and-comers like Olivia Rodrigo of Drivers License fame Lipas songs resist a closely personal read. Its not that theyre unfeeling; bangers such as Levitating and Hallucinate combine whooshing grooves with words about bodies in motion to create something downright ecstatic.

But the music tends proudly toward abstraction; its seeking to embody the emotional experience of love or sex or adventure, rather than inviting you to ponder any given episode between her and Hadid. And because shes such an expressive singer, with loads of texture in her voice, she pulls it off.

Dua brings a real star quality to her songs, says Sarah Hudson, a veteran songwriter whos worked with Katy Perry and Camila Cabello and who wrote Levitating with Lipa, Koz and Clarence Coffee Jr. But shes slightly mysterious. At the same time, shes so genuine that you feel close to the music. Hudson is right: You feel close to the music, if not necessarily to Dua Lipa herself.

Polished but forthright in conversation, Lipa cops to a certain self-protective instinct after a few years in the limelight. Ive grown to be more private because so much of my life is public, and I probably censor myself more than I used to, she says. I also dont love the idea of making music for headlines or for controversy. Shes seen Framing Britney Spears, the much-discussed documentary about the teen pop stars treatment in the tabloid economy of the mid-00s, and says she can relate to a sense of being violated by paparazzi.

The feeling of going down the street and theyre trying to catch you in this very awkward picture it can be anxiety-inducing, honestly, she says. And Britneys time was pre-Instagram when everything was purely about the tabloids, and there were no laws in place about what paparazzi were allowed to do. She was being harassed thats exactly what it was.

Though paparazzi shots can still circle the internet you looking nuts after youve just woken up trying to get to the gym, as Lipa puts it with a shudder Instagram has fundamentally changed the way we see pop stars. Yet curating her presentation hasnt prevented her from being called out online by fans whove questioned her need to travel to so many exotic locations during a pandemic.

There are a lot of eyeballs on my social media, she says, somewhat philosophically, of being judged on occasion by some of her 61 million followers. But Im very much the same person onstage as I am at home. Her point seems to be that she never puts on the persona of a jet-setting glamazon; the reality can seem more like she never takes it off.

Im very much the same person onstage as I am at home, says Dua Lipa.

(Christina House / Los Angeles Times)

Indeed, theres a let-them-eat-cake quality to her stream of carefully styled photos that, along with her aversion to oversharing, registers as another difference between Lipa and her ostensibly relatable American counterparts. The singers European-ness more Posh Spice than Amy Winehouse feels essential to her identity, which hasnt been true of a breakout female act in this country for ages.

Lipa was born in London but moved to Kosovo at 11 when her parents, whod emigrated during the Balkan conflicts, deemed it safe to come back. In Pristina, the countrys capital, she learned about my roots, she says, played basketball at school (she stands a willowy 5-foot-8) and perfected her Albanian, which she still uses daily with her family and in text messages with her old friends.

Returning to London as a teenager was a product of her need to be in a place where everything was happening, she says, including the club culture she soon discovered. Future Nostalgia showcases Lipas earnest embrace of dance music and its rich history; she even released a companion remix album, Club Future Nostalgia, with new versions of the songs by house and techno O.G.s such as Moodymann, Larry Heard and Masters at Work.

Her investment is totally legit, says the Blessed Madonna, the respected DJ and producer who oversaw the remix set. To me Dua is the pop girl who really gets it.

The Blessed Madonna worked with Lipa again on last falls splashy livestream, which they called Studio 2054. For the singer, it was a place to pour all the energy and ideas and all the costumes and choreography she had for the Future Nostalgia tour, which has been postponed twice due to the pandemic but which she hopes finally to launch later this year.

I woke up this morning to news about measures being lifted in the U.K., she says. By September it might be looking good.

Asked what she finds so intriguing about Studio 54, Lipa who says shes been reading scripts for a move into acting that seems all but inevitable replies, I love the spectacle of what was basically a theater production in a nightclub. But she also describes the elevation of hedonism to a kind of fine art.

Ive spoken to Elton John all about it. And Chic wrote a song about not being allowed into the place, she says, referring to the bands classic Le Freak. That was inspiring to them. So you can only imagine what it was like being inside.

Link:

Dua Lipa is pop's new superstar and a bit of a mystery - Los Angeles Times