Category Archives: Hedonism

'); } Manage Harrison Bryant (Photo: Trevor Ruszkowski, USA TODAY Sports)

Its been beautiful over the last 24 hours in Cleveland, and everyone has been out enjoying the great weather. So much so that most forgot to try to create Browns articles for us to read. The hedonism!The selfishness!

Still, there were some sites active yesterday, as a number of them discovered the Johnny Manziel article we linked yesterday in the Newswire. Recaps of that appear today, along with a recap of yet another embarrassing episode in recent Cleveland Browns memory.

Heres the newswire

FROM THE OBR

Grant Delpit, Jacob Phillips on how LSU prepared them for Browns

Rookie Film Review: Sheldrick Redwine Gained Valuable Experience

Highlights from Ask the Insiders: 6/28

OBR Newswire 6/28: Tomfoolery and Tragedy

TOP TE STARTS WELL DOWN DEPTH CHART

Cleveland.com: How Browns tight end Harrison Bryant went from small-school lineman to the countrys best tight endBryant was coming off a junior year in which he caught 45 passes for 662 yards in a run-heavy offense featuring current Bills running back Devin Singletary and Steelers running back Kerrith Whyte. Chris Robison, the teams quarterback, was a freshman. Jovon Durante, currently in the CFL, led the team with 65 catches and 873 yards.LINK

ANOTHER EMBARRASSING MEMORY

12Up: Looking Back on How the Browns Botched Negotiations With Mitchell Schwartz in Embarrassing FashionSchwartz is now an All-Pro and a Super Bowl champion for the Kansas City Chiefs. He hit free agency following the 2015 season right when a new group, led by Sashi Brown, took over in the Browns front office. Fans heard all about the analytical approach coming to town and one of the group's first moves was to botch the negotiations with Schwartz, who started all 16 games in his first four NFL seasons with Cleveland.LINK

CATCHING UP WITH JOHNNY MANZIEL

Yahoo: After CFL ban and AAF collapse, Johnny Manziel admits his football career is 'in the past, probably'Manziel was last seen suiting up for the Memphis Express of the Alliance of American Football, where he appeared in two games before the league suddenly folded. Before that, Manziel had been a part of two teams in the Canadian Football League until the league effectively banned him.LINKALSO: PFT | USA Today

SOMEONES GONNA BE DISAPPOINTED

CBS Sports: Ranking Raiders' five biggest 2020 salary cap bargains: Damarious Randall could be a splashy stealThe Las Vegas Raiders are paying big bucks to a few big names as they relocate to Nevada for the 2020 season, but all in all, they're still one of the NFL's youngest rosters and, thus, chockfull of rookie or close-to-minimum deals. So when it comes to identifying the biggest bargains on their roster, there are actually quite a few candidates who fit the bill.LINK

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OBR Newswire 6/29: Hedonism and Embarrassment - 247Sports

FILE - In this Friday, April 24, 2020 file photo, Dennis Ruhnke holds two of his remaining N-95 masks as he stands with his wife, Sharon at their home near Troy, Kan. Dennis, a retired farmer, shipped one of the couple's five masks left over from his farming days to New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo for use by a doctor or a nurse. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)

Acts of kindness may not be that random after all. Science says being kind pays off.

Research shows that acts of kindness make us feel better and healthier. Kindness is also key to how we evolved and survived as a species, scientists say. We are hard-wired to be kind.

Kindness is as bred in our bones as our anger or our lust or our grief or as our desire for revenge, said University of California San Diego psychologist Michael McCullough, author of the forthcoming book Kindness of Strangers. Its also, he said, the main feature we take for granted.

Scientific research is booming into human kindness and what scientists have found so far speaks well of us.

Kindness is much older than religion. It does seem to be universal, said University of Oxford anthropologist Oliver Curry, research director at Kindlab. The basic reason why people are kind is that we are social animals.

We prize kindness over any other value. When psychologists lumped values into ten categories and asked people what was more important, benevolence or kindness, comes out on top, beating hedonism, having an exciting life, creativity, ambition, tradition, security, obedience, seeking social justice and seeking power, said University of London psychologist Anat Bardi, who studies value systems.

Were kind because under the right circumstances we all benefit from kindness, Oxfords Curry said.

When it comes to a species survival kindness pays, friendliness pays, said Duke University evolutionary anthropologist Brian Hare, author of the new book Survival of the Friendliest.

Kindness and cooperation work for many species, whether its bacteria, flowers or our fellow primate bonobos. The more friends you have, the more individuals you help, the more successful you are, Hare said.

For example, Hare, who studies bonobos and other primates, compares aggressive chimpanzees, which attack outsiders, to bonobos where the animals dont kill but help out strangers. Male bonobos are far more successful at mating than their male chimp counterparts, Hare said.

McCullough sees bonobos as more the exceptions. Most animals arent kind or helpful to strangers, just close relatives so in that way it is one of the traits that separate us from other species, he said. And that, he said, is because of the human ability to reason.

Humans realize that theres not much difference between our close relatives and strangers and that someday strangers can help us if we are kind to them, McCullough said.

Reasoning is the secret ingredient, which is why we donate blood when there are disasters and why most industrialized nations spend at least 20% of their money on social programs, such as housing and education, McCullough said.

Dukes Hare also points to mama bears to understand the evolution and biology of kindness and its aggressive nasty flip side. He said studies point to certain areas of the brain, the medial prefrontal cortex, temporal parietal junction and other spots as either activated or dampened by emotional activity. The same places give us the ability to nurture and love, but also dehumanize and exclude, he said.

When mother bears are feeding and nurturing their cubs, these areas in the brain are activated and it allows them to be generous and loving, Hare said. But if someone comes near the mother bear at that time, it sets of the brains threat mechanisms in the same places. The same bear becomes its most aggressive and dangerous.

Hare said he sees this in humans. Some of the same people who are generous to family and close friends, when they feel threatened by outsiders become angrier. He points to the current polarization of the world.

More isolated groups are more likely to be feel threatened by others and they are more likely to morally exclude, dehumanize, Hare said. And that opens the door to cruelty.

But overall our bodies arent just programmed to be nice, they reward us for being kind, scientists said.

Doing kindness makes you happier and being happier makes you do kind acts, said labor economist Richard Layard, who studies happiness at the London School of Economics and wrote the new book Can We Be Happier?

University of California Riverside psychology professor Sonja Lyubomirsky has put that concept to the test in numerous experiments over 20 years and repeatedly found that people feel better when they are kind to others, even more than when they are kind to themselves.

Acts of kindness are very powerful, Lyubomirsky said.

In one experiment, she asked subjects to do an extra three acts of kindness for other people a week and asked a different group to do three acts of self-kindness. They could be small, like opening a door for someone, or big. But the people who were kind to others became happier and felt more connected to the world.

The same occurred with money, using it to help others versus helping yourself. Lyubomirsky said she thinks it is because people spend too much time thinking and worrying about themselves and when they think of others while doing acts of kindness, it redirects them away from their own problems.

Oxfords Curry analyzed peer-reviewed research like Lyubomirskys and found at least 27 studies showing the same thing: Being kind makes people feel better emotionally.

But its not just emotional. Its physical.

Lyubomirsky said a study of people with multiple sclerosis and found they felt better physically when helping others. She also found that in people doing more acts of kindness that the genes that trigger inflammation were turned down more than in people who dont.

And she said in upcoming studies, shes found more antiviral genes in people who performed acts of kindness.

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Not so random acts: Science finds that being kind pays off | News, Sports, Jobs - Morning Journal News

This time last year, Daniel Avery would have been preparing for the first of three Glastonbury sets. Across the weekend, the producer brought his stylish techno to a host of revellers, playing the bombastic spectacle that is Pangea (2019s installation included a swinging crane and a whole lot of pyro) and the Beat Hotel closing party. It feels fitting, then, that even though the global pandemic has halted this years pilgrimage to Worthy Farm, Avery has provided us with something to dance to (albeit socially distanced).

Averys third album, Love + Light, dropped with little fanfare. The surprise release follows his 2013 debut, the kinetic Drone Logic, and its 2018 follow-up, the ethereal, ambient-laced Song For Alpha, and was only finished a few weeks ago. With the world going into lockdown and his busy schedule as an in-demand DJ eased up, Avery was able to properly sit down with the demoes hed created over the past few years, and the music rapidly started to take the shape of a full-length album. In a statement Avery explained that the album was a real positive force of energy in his life, and that it almost formed itself in front of him.

Avery wanted to keep that momentum up and instead of pushing it out over the course of a lengthy album campaign, he got it into listeners ears as quickly as possible.

The record is split into two sections the first, filled with pulsating beats and noisy, industrial synths, feels more geared to the club. The euphoric Dusting For Smoke meshes bleeping electronics and purring instrumentals, creating the sort of exhilaration typically experienced at 3AM somewhere in Glastos hedonistic paradise Shangri-La, while acidic Searing Light, Forward Motion draws you in with its dark, relentless nature. There are moments of light, too. Short, airy tracks Depth Wish and Katana offer a moment of respite in-between thrashing techno, with twinkling strings and quiet instrumentals, while Darlinnn is an entrancing siren call to the dance-floor.

The second half offers a stark comparison. Filled with gorgeous, ghostly compositions, its the sound of leaving the dance-floor at 5am, emerging from the dimly lit club and walking home as the sun begins to rise. Its emotive, ambient sounds are light and natural, filled with sprightly rhythms and nimble, skittering beats. After the Fire is weirdly reminiscent of Texan post-rockers Explosions in the Sky (if only they traded in their guitars for synthesisers), while breezy One More Morning combines elements of trance and minimalism with Averys usual sounds.

Love + Light feels like it soundtracks your entire night out from your first steps into the club to arriving home after hours of raving. If you spent the weekend sorely missing the debauchery on offer at Glastonburys late night establishments, you can at least put on Daniel Averys latest album and pretend youre there.

Release date:June 26

Record label: Phantasy

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Daniel Avery Love + Light review: a heartfelt eulogy for the hedonism were missing this summer - NME

Even with all the world crisis going on, we still have day-to-day worries and annoyances. I love summer, although since Ive been in Texas about the past decade, summers tend to consistently be a lot hotter and run more risk of sun stroke, dehydration and sun burn than in Wisconsin where I came from. Days of 100 degree are rare there, typically an anomaly. So I love being outside.

As many of my readers know, I own a small ranch with goats, bees, pigs and dogs (and chickens before they met their demise by a serial killer named Roxi the guardian dog). I have a lot of things that always need to be done outside.

In Texas, my allergies are severe and year-round. And chiggers! I never ever heard of a chigger until I moved to Texas. Last week I was putting up hot fence for the animals and was under attack. Another thing I deal with is the mosquitos, gnats and ticks. I keep everything in the yard poison-free the best I can and because I have bees, its even more important that whatever products Im using wont harm my bees.

So, how does a hippie like me survive? Well, Im sometimes a hippie and sometimes a bit more bourgeois. So I like modern amenities, like not being eaten alive by insects, not having sunburn, and having a nice looking landscape, finding a balance between being au natural and staying healthy by not having skin damage, allergic reactions and scarred skin.

Here are my tips and Id love to hear what works for you too.

Tea tree oil: kind of stinky but works well if I do get bug bites

Lavender: I spray it around the house, on my bed and on my body to prevent bites

Avon Skin So Soft: a less toxic version of bug repellant. I do, however, use the hardcore stuff if Im going out in the woods.

I wear sunscreen on my face almost every day. I try to find skin friendly versions to use.

I use A LOT of goat milk and beeswax and coconut milk products on my skin to prevent dehydration and heal wounds and smooth skin.

I avoid direct sunlight as much as possible. I hate tan lines and even more I hate the sun damage spots on my skin.

There is a product made of geraniums my mother swears by. I am doing more research on it to see if there is any harm to my bees if I spray it on my snake boots.

Burn citronella.

Im trying to grow lemon grass around the yard. Im really bad about watering things so Ive had to replenish a lot. Im also adding as many herbs around the house as I can, reducing grass in the landscape.

And of course drink a lot of water and if you get hot, get out of the sun.

I try to approach life on my ranch and in my wellness services from a Epicurean philosophy and try to implement things I have to do to align with things I enjoy doing. Such as having a small number of goats enough to clear the brush but not so many I am overwhelmed by caring for them, while running a business and working a full-time job outside of that.

The difference between hedonism, doing things just for pleasure, whereas Epicureanism is finding pleasure in simple living.

Be well!

Liz Jones is the owner of Liz Jones Wellness LLC, in Hunt and Rockwall counties, and is building Jones Wellness Ranch north of Greenville. She can be reached at Liz@LizJones.co or through her website at LizJones.co.

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TO YOUR HEALTH: Keeping it simple in summertime - Herald-Banner

WhatsApp pings with a message from my hairdresser. Duolingo sends a reminder. An email lands from a colleague with an interesting link. This is all while watching Rich Kids: A History of Shopping Malls in Tehran, a show performed not only via a YouTube livestream but also on Instagram. My domestic information overload matches the plays vision of a world of excess.

Since its debut in 2019, the dense and dazzling play by Javaad Alipoor and Kirsty Housley has gained in topicality. It starts with the high-speed crash of a Porsche on the boulevards of Tehran and digs back, with archaeological determination, to the roots of consumer capitalism.

Today, after several weeks of clean air and clear skies, when the BBC has invited everyone from Pope Francis to Andy Murray to Rethink the future, the plays real-life images of bling, hedonism and vacuous consumption stand in starker relief than ever.

Switching from computer monitor to smartphone screen, we scroll through pictures of watches, designer clothes and hotel suites, status symbols for a generation with more wealth than sense of purpose. As chic as they are soulless, these luxuries are a foreboding of the end of days. If this is the apocalypse, say Alipoor and Housley, it wouldnt be the first one. Worlds have ended before, they remind us, pointing to the Aztecs.

With mobile phones in our hands, this world of overconsumption is one we are part of. The script tugs us around the planet to find minerals on one continent, cheap labour on another and us, a willing market, on another still. Then it spins our heads with the thought of geological time; be it in the relatively brief history of human beings or the sedimentary layers of polystyrene cups well leave in our wake.

Just as we go back in time when we scroll through an Instagram feed, so Rich Kids tells its story in reverse, effect before cause, from cocaine-fuelled car crash to revolution, dictatorship, imperialism and pre-historic civilisations.

The field of associations is wide and you have to work hard to keep up with the thread, not least because of the barrage of digital information, but the transition to this format works well. In the theatre, you were conscious of the audience making a sometimes clumsy switch in attention from stage to phone (I remember operating my neighbours as well as my own); here, the visuals are more smoothly integrated, the phone adding depth of field to the 2D images on the computer. Syncing glitches aside, it remains a provocative snapshot of a world speeding towards a cliff edge.

The online version was commissioned by Battersea Arts Centre as part of its Going Digital series, featuring artists who would have been part of the intended Going Global season. Elsewhere, Swimming Pools: Home Movie, a short film by Sleepwalk Collective, looks gorgeous and sounds intriguing, but is more of a hint of things to come than the finished article. The same might be said of Lucy McCormicks Life: Live!, a kind of behind-the-scenes pop video that will mean little to anyone unfamiliar with her funny and frightening narcissist persona. As for The Spirit, a trilogy of physical improvisations by Thibault Delferiere, what might have been mesmerising in the moment demands reserves of patience to watch on film but, in the right mood, has a haunting sense of mans struggle against the odds.

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Rich Kids: A History of Shopping Malls in Tehran review a world of excess - The Guardian

Sumptuous costume dramas can provide a much-needed escape in troubling times, but if youre tired of the usual assortment of airless parlours, manicured lawns and straight-laced suitors, there is an alternative: a subset of films that play with our expectations of the genre. Combining post-punk soundtracks with cross-dressing, lobster racing, colour-blind casting and illicit love affairs, they allow us to view history through a new lens and feel surprisingly modern as a result.

The latest release to join its ranks is The Great, a raucous retelling of Catherine the Greats rise to power starring a radiant Elle Fanning. Ahead of the shows global launch, we shortlist 10 lavish, quick-witted and gloriously unconventional period dramas to watch now.

Marie Antoinette, 2006.

Photography Shutterstock

With shopping montages set to 1980s pop, salacious masked balls and midnight wanders through Versailles, Sofia Coppolas account of the doomed French queens reign is gleefully subversive. As embodied by a fresh-faced Kirsten Dunst, she is an exuberant teenager who seeks solace from her loveless marriage in reckless hedonism. From the candy-coloured Manolo Blahniks to her ruffled silk ballgowns, the film is a visual feast that lets you revel in the pleasures of centuries past.

Available to buy on Amazon Prime Video

Wuthering Heights, 2011.

Photography Shutterstock

Elemental and erotic, Andrea Arnolds reimagining of Emily Bronts 19th-century novel drips with longing. It casts Solomon Glave and James Howson as younger and older incarnations of Heathcliffthe first time the Byronic hero has been played by black actorsand Shannon Beer and Kaya Scodelario as the wild and wayward Cathy. As childhood friends, they run through misty marshes and windswept hilltops together but as adults, their love soon proves to be mutually destructive.

Streaming on YouTube and available to buy on Amazon Prime Video

Belle, 2013.

Photography Alamy

A remarkable true story forms the basis of Amma Asantes swoon-worthy romance. It sees Gugu Mbatha-Raw play Dido Elizabeth Belle, the mixed-race daughter of a Royal Navy captain. Born into slavery in the 18th century, she becomes an heiress who attracts her fair share of suitors, until an idealistic lawyer (Sam Reid) catches her eye. Their relationship marks Didos political awakening, as she considers her position in society against the people of colour who are still treated as property.

Available to buy on Amazon Prime Video

Lady Macbeth, 2016.

Photography Shutterstock

Its impossible to take your eyes off Florence Pugh in William Oldroyds steely Hitchcockian thriller set in 19th-century Northumberland. She plays a teenager who is married off to a tyrannical older man (Paul Hilton) and forbidden from leaving their estate. When he has to travel on business, she gets a taste of freedom, falls for a rugged groomsman (Cosmo Jarvis) and decides to take control of her life. The performances are haunting, the set decoration pristine and the tension rapidly rising.

Available to buy on Amazon Prime Video

Love and Friendship, 2016.

Photography Shutterstock

Jane Austens acerbic wit takes centre stage in Whit Stillmans social satire based on her epistolary novel Lady Susan. It stars Kate Beckinsale as a charismatic widow who is desperate to secure her future, and that of her young daughter (Morfydd Clark), by marriage. She travels from the home of one wealthy friend to another, decked out in plumed hats and silk capes, enchanting everyone she meets and plotting her next move. Expect big laughs, surprise cameos and a scandalous final twist.

Available to buy on Amazon Prime Video

The Favourite, 2018.

Photography Shutterstock

The 18th-century court of Queen Anne (Olivia Colman) provides the setting for Yorgos Lanthimoss absurdist black comedy about power struggles and palace intrigue. Rachel Weisz and Emma Stone are delicious as the two ruthless favourites of the monarch, who try to outmanoeuvre each other at all costs. Their days are taken up with shooting practice, lobster racing, pelting men with fruit and slipping poison into unattended cups of tea. Best of all, there isnt a damsel in distress in sight.

Streaming on Disney+ Hotstar

Colette, 2018

Photography Alamy

Period drama veteran Keira Knightley shines as the titular French novelist in Wash Westmorelands love letter to 19th-century Paris. We follow her as she marries Henry Gauthier-Villars (Dominic West) and writes Claudine lcole, which is published under his name. Its success leads her to rebel, firstly through passionate love affairs with women and then by reclaiming her authorship. Her costumesstraw boaters, puff-sleeved blouses, louche suitingonly add to the films appeal.

Streaming on Netflix

Portrait of a Lady on Fire, 2019.

Courtesy MK2 Films

An artist (Nomie Merlant) arrives on a deserted island in Brittany at the start of Cline Sciammas mesmeric 18th-century love story. She is commissioned to paint the wedding portrait of a troubled young woman (Adle Haenel) who is promised to a Milanese nobleman. Through the course of their sittings, the pair embark on a secret affair and dare to imagine a world where they could be together. The final product is as ravishing as it is revolutionary in its celebration of the female gaze.

Streaming on Amazon Prime Video

Little Women, 2019.

Photography Shutterstock

Female ambition is at the core of Greta Gerwigs retelling of Louisa May Alcotts beloved classic. Saoirse Ronan, Florence Pugh, Emma Watson and Eliza Scanlen are charming as the March sisters, freewheeling teenagers who put on plays, form a secret society and develop a keen understanding of the relationship between art and commerce. As they chase their dreams in New York, Paris and at home in Concord, Massachusetts, they transcend the limits imposed on the women of their era.

Streaming on Netflix

Emma, 2020.

Photography Shutterstock

Snarky retorts, fleeting male nudity and a proposal scene cut short by an unexpected nosebleed are just some of the elements that set Autumn de Wildes Regency romp apart from the average Jane Austen adaptation. Anya Taylor-Joy sizzles as the matchmaker at its centre who is determined to find an eligible bachelor for a new friend (Mia Goth). The suitorsJohnny Flynn, Josh OConnor, Callum Turnerare sultry, the pastel-hued interiors delectable and the costumes ostentatious.

Available to buy on Amazon Prime Video

7 period drama films to watch on Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and Disney+ Hotstar now

11 historical dramas to watch as you wait for The Crown to return

6 intriguing Bollywood movies based on real-life incidents to stream on Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Disney+ Hotstar and more

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10 incredible period dramas on Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and Disney+ Hotstar, that are anything but stuffy - VOGUE India

Most people dread the idea of having to drag themselves out of bed early on a Sunday morning to dutifully clean their house, but snapping on a pair of Marigolds and setting to work on a dirty bathtub is like music to your ears.

Cleaning might not be the most glamorous task, but the sense of pride you get from a sparklingly pristine home is worth the hours of squatting, crouching and scrubbing.

Here are a few things all cleaning lovers will be able to relate to

1. You love having people over to your house

It gives you the chance to show off your cleaning and organisation skills.

Getting a compliment from a friend about the exhaustive labelling of your spice rack, or the freshly-washed smell of your guest bedding fills you with a smug sense of satisfaction that lasts all week.

2. You follow all the cleaning influencers

From Mrs Hinch to @the_organised_mum, you picked up some of your best cleaning tricks and tips from the cleanfluencers you follow online.

As much as you love being the one holding the antibacterial spray, you find just as much relaxation in watching others clean their homes too.

3. You cant go to bed leaving dirty dishes in the sink

Even if its late and youre tired, you wont be able to drift off knowing theres a bunch of pans and dishes lying unwashed downstairs. Youve tried to just go with the flow and let your standards slide, but the thought of waking up to a messy kitchen is simply too stressful to handle.

4. You get excited over new cleaning products

No more pretending that you love wild parties and living life on the edge youve full-on embraced the fact youve become a boring adult. Whether its a fancy disinfectant that promises to leave your floors smudge-free or a colourful cleaning paste that gets tough grease out fast, theres nothing quite like treating yourself to a new set of products at the supermarket.

5. Everything in your home has a place

You cant handle the idea of cramming open shelves full of random books, candles and letters, or those trendy trinket dishes that always end up overflowing with spare keys, odd coins and hair clips.

Your house is perfectly organised and ordered. In fact, you know where every item is at any one time.

6. Cleaning is your cardio and meditation in one go

Who needs the gym and expensive mindfulness apps when you have a toilet brush and a bottle of bleach?

All that lunging, scrubbing and swiping is a great toning workout for your body, and dont get us started on the mental health benefits.

You seriously do your best thinking when your elbow-deep, cleaning the oven.

7. The fridge is your worst enemy

No matter how much you try to keep it clean and orderly, it always seems to get full of gunk after a few weeks.

Plus, the other people in your household cant seem to respect your system theres a special place for every item, people!

8. You quite often re-clean stuff that other people have already cleaned

Knowing that its not up to your standards will just annoy you otherwise.

9. You live for that ahh feeling after a deep clean

Theres nothing better than flopping down on the sofa after a full day of intense cleaning and taking in the beauty of your handiwork.

You even take before and after photos so you can marvel at what a great job you did.

Running the dishwasher and folding the laundry might not be everyones idea of a rocking Friday night, but who needs hedonism when you get such contentment from being a cleaning goddess.

More here:

9 things youll only know if you actually love cleaning - BreakingNews.ie

The latest lifestyle, fashion and travel trends

It's fashion's frothiest frock-worthy event but this year Haute Couture fashion week is set to look a little different.

From July 6-8, Paris' bi-annual event will be rolling into your living rooms via digital steam, as it pivots to the constraints of the pandemic.

This may be the first of its kind for the fantastical event, but Haute Couture has quite the history. English couturier, Charles Frederick Worth established the first Haute Couture house in Paris in 1858, in a bid to champion luxury fashion for the upper-class woman, but it wasn't until 1908 that the term was officially used for the first time.

Today there are 15 brands, including Chanel, Dior and Givenchy, that are part of the French Chambre syndicale de la haute couture - the organisation that decides who's in and who's out of the couture world - all of whom craft fantastical couture collections twice a year.

So elite is the world of Haute Couture, that it's been estimated there are no more than 4,000 haute couture clients in the world.

The stand-out winners of couture fashion week SS20

While there may be no street style to lust over and no front row to dissect there will be dreamy dresses in droves this year, which is enough of an enticement for us.

Before the inaugural virtual couture week gets underway, we thought it apropos to take a trip down memory lane and pore over the most awe-inspiring moments from the bygone years.

Chanel Haute Couture AW 1983 (Sygma via Getty Images)

Chanel's couture autumn/winter 1983 show was revered Creative Director Karl Lagerfeld's debut collection for the fashion house, which he designed having been inspired by the ensembles of the 1920s and '30s.

His elegant oeuvre soon came to epitomise the fashion escapism that couture week is lauded for. The awe-inspiring sets he crafted were a work of art in themselves.

Yves Saint Laurent Couture SS 1993 (Gamma-Rapho )

1993 was a blooming brilliant one for supermodel-in-the-making Kate Moss. In February, she sashayed her way down the catwalk for Yves Saint Laurent wearing a bouquet of floral prints, and the following month she snagged her first Vogue cover (for the March issue of British Vogue.) Not bad going.

Versace Couture AW 1995 (Rex Features)

Gianni Versace's high-octane shows throughout the nineties were a sight to be beheld; all glitz and glam and more-is-more. His autumn/winter 1995 couture collection was particularly high-octane though, as he sent an army of models down the runway in bedazzled and shimmering ensembles, a move that perfectly epitomised the era's hedonism.

Thierry MuglerCouture AW 1997 (AP)

Thierry Mugler was inspired by Kafkas Metamorphosis for his Haute Couture show in 1997. Models were dressed as winged and hard-shelled characters, before a swarm of dramatic butterflies closed the show.

Chanel Couture AW 2015 (Getty Images )

Haute Couture has always been about fantasy and, ever the visionary, Karl Lagerfeld crafted a Chanel Couture Casino for the brand's autumn/winter 2015 spectacle in Paris. Who knew that Julianne Moore, Kristen Stewart and Lily-Rose Depp would ever be centre stage of a casino night that we'd be privy to?!

Fendi Couture AW 2016 (Getty Images )

For Fendi's autumn/winter couture 2016 show - and the heritage brand's 90th anniversary - a swarm of models strolled along Rome's iconic Trevi Fountain. In fact so dedicated is Fendi to the Italian city - its birthplace - that it made a $2.4 million investment in 2013 to the restoration of the fountain.

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6 of the best ever Haute Couture fashion week moments - Evening Standard

The sun-kissed party isle of Ibiza has reopened to tourists with new rules in place that could signal an end to the Balearic islands hedonistic holidays.

Travel to Spain is once again on the cards after the country lifted its state of emergency and opened its borders to Schengen-zone and EU countries. Visitors heading its third-largest, yet arguably most famous, Balearic island will discover that many of the partying ways of pre-pandemic holidays in Ibiza are no more.

Tourism authorities that govern the islands have introduced a slew of measures designed to ensure public safety during the Covid-19 pandemic.

These include restrictions on opening times for bars in busy areas, the closure of the islands biggest nightclubs and a freeze on new licenses for party boats.

Indoor clubs with capacities of fewer than 300 can reopen, but at reduced capacity and clubbers must be seated signalling an end to the island's quintessential thriving dance floors. For a place that's built its reputation on foam parties, unabashed hedonism and the world's best nightclubs, these are no trivial matters.

The Balearic government has also put an end to crowded beaches across the region with every sunbather on shorelines in Mallorca, Menorca, Ibiza and Formentera dictated to have at least four square metres of space.

Groups of more than 25 people are also prohibited on the beach, a rule that looks set to curtail long-running soirees on the sand at places such as Blue Marlin and Nikki Beach. Local authorities on each island have also been given permission to add time limits to beach visits, if things start to get busy.

Further limitations include restrictions on opening times for bars and clubs in Ibiza's busiest spots such as San Antonio. This move signals that if not an end, it is atleast an early finish or change of pace to the merriment for which the island is famous.

Despite such comprehensive confines being mandated upon an island where clubbing is intrinsic to life, as the first tourists slowly begin to return to its sun-dipped shores, it is embracing a new sense of optimism.

The first tourists are here now nothing compared to a normal summer just yet, but friends living in Ibiza Town have said that finally the centre gets a little livelier in the evening, says Stivi Stivanello from Ibiza Spotlight a long-running local guide providing information and services for the island.

I've thought about that and I actually think it could be a chance for Ibiza Town and the port this summer, he adds.

The islands super clubs may have had their wings clipped for the season, but theyre not ready to retreat quietly.

Pacha Ibizas longest-running and most famous club will not open this summer for the first time in its 52-year history. Instead, the cherry-laced club in Talamanca has been organising virtual house parties where renowned DJs who would typically take to the club's hallowed decks are streaming sets via Zoom. Pete Tong, Bedouin and Erik Morillo are among the names to have hosted. Pacha is also proclaiming a huge comeback in 2021, stating: This wont kill our vibe, because the comeback is always stronger than the setback."

It won't be long until we can all unite under the Ibizan sun yet again

Cafe Del Mar

A statement from Amnesia, another of the islands top clubs that's famous for its foam parties and open-air clubbing concept, said: We dont know when will this all finish, but we do know one thing: the day this is all over, we'll celebrate it together."

Cafe Del Mar one of the most coveted party sunset locations on the island is also closed. Dating back to the 1980s, the chill-out bar celebrated 40 years of Ibizan vibes on June 20, but celebrations had to take place behind closed doors.

Today, as Cafe del Mar turns 40, we are unfortunately not able to open and celebrate this milestone with our friends from around the world. Instead, we ask you to play your favourite Ibiza sunset anthem and have a drink, not only for us but also for Ibiza, the most magical island on the planet. It won't be long until we can all unite under the Ibizan sun yet again, said the clubs social media page. Until then, daily sunsets are being streamed live on their Instagram page.

Tiffany Bennett, a Dubai content creator who is moving permanently to Ibiza as soon as travel restrictions allow, does not expect the new rules set by the tourism authorities to diminish any of the islands magic.

I honestly dont see it making that much difference, apart from cutting off the timeframe in which bars in the restricted areas can make money, says Bennett.

I know these rules have come into place for certain areas in the Balearics, but for example, on the West End of Ibiza youll simply be able to go a few streets across to a bar which is outside the limits of the new ruling. I think it will simply persuade tourists to move on to other venues.

The restrictions to party boats is only for the new licenses, and so everything thats already been running will carry on.

Travellers will find Ibiza less crowded this summer.

Crowds on the dance floor in Ibiza clubs will be a thing of the past. Getty Images

Ibiza is set to celebrate its softer side this summer.

Open-air eateries serving Ibizan cuisine are set to welcome travellers.

Ibiza is home to some of the world's best sunsets.

The magic of the White Island remains despite coronavirus restrictions. Unsplash

Social distancing will be in place at Ibiza hotels as they reopen. Courtesy Melia

The old days of Ibiza foam parties and all-night clubbing are no more.

Nobu Hotel Ibiza Bay is reopening after being closed due to coronavirus restrictions on the island. Courtesy Nobu Hospitality

This summer could be a chance for Ibiza's Old Town to shine. Getty Images

Ibiza nay, the Balearics have been quietly confident in containing the spread of the coronavirus. The eastern Spanish archipelago has recorded 2,179 confirmed cases of Covid-19 since the onset of the virus. Currently, there are 141 active cases, only 12 of which are in Ibiza.

Airlines have been quick to notice the region's success in managing the virus, and seem to be banking on the islands remaining popular with travellers. Several, including KLM, Ryanair, Turkish Airlines, easyJet and Iberia, have resumed flights to Ibiza or will do so in July.

We're going back to a time when life was more laid-back and our hotel guests and island characters gathered under the stars for magical Mediterranean evenings

Pikes Ibiza

Tourists venturing to the island this summer should expect to find much of the original spirit of Ibiza intact. New health procedures are in place for all arriving passengers that include temperature scanning and medical declaration forms, but the previous two-week quarantine period has ended.

Across the island, some of the best-known hotels will stay closed for the season, but others are starting to reopen.

Ibiza Rocks is reopening this month and aims to offer a socially distanced al fresco clubbing experience. The rock & roll-themed Pikes Ibiza in the San Antonio hills is also reopening in July, with a focus on a bucolic Ibiza past, a time when life was more laid-back and our hotel guests and island characters gathered under the stars for magical Mediterranean evenings". Nobu Hotel Ibiza Bay will reopen on Friday, July 10, bringing travellers "hazy golden sunrises and long, lazy afternoons spent on daybeds by the beach".

According to Stivanello from Spotlight Ibiza, it might be a good time to grab a bargain stay as several well-known hotels are offering discounted rates".

With packed dance floors and all-night clubbing on hiatus, this year Ibiza is showcasing its softer side one that's synonymous with idyllic beaches, incredible nature, bohemian markets, peaceful retreats and a vibrant culture.

Below the waves, Ibiza offers scuba divers crystal clear waters and unique dive sites such as the sunken fish factory or Don Pedro shipwreck. On dry land, there is history to explore at Dalt Vila the best-preserved coastal fortress in the Mediterranean. And Ibizan gastronomy is a unique exploratory must-do. With clubbing off the cards due to the coronavirus, tourists on the White Isle this summer will be swapping Ibiza Uncovered, for Ibiza uncrowded.

Updated: July 2, 2020 04:08 PM

View original post here:

Is this the end of the road for Ibizas party scene? New tourism rules force the island to call it a night for summer - The National

Pub? A great question. So concise, yet so evocative. A single word in itself more persuasive than any thesis. Pub? An irresistible proposition asked only when the answer is all but assured, or, at least, immediately rendering alternative commitments far less appealing. Pub? Nobody has heard the siren call for months, not since they were cruelly shuttered by the coronavirus. The pub became accessible only through fading memory, reduced to little more than an imagined Peter Kay routine. (Remember pubs?! What were all that about?)

My own commitment to pubs cant be questioned: at the height of lockdown, and in a fit of quarantine delirium, I embarked on a needlessly elaborate project to create a 3D replica of my beloved local (Skehans, south London), just to have a drink in virtual reality. Just to feel something. Just to remind myself pubs really happened, and that I didnt hallucinate them. The whole exercise only served to make me miss the real thing more. For weeks now, Ive been dreaming of waltzing through those doors, slapping my contactless down on the bar, and supping the most cathartic first sup of unremarkable draught lager in history. And now Boris Johnson is offering to make that a reality. Pub this Saturday? hes asking England.

It is incredibly galling then, to find myself with no option but to turn him down, for the simple fact that he is Boris Johnson and there is an active pandemic on.

In my post-lockdown pub fantasies, the Covid-19 situation is actually over. Any objective observation of the present suggests it isnt. The speeding up of lockdown relaxations apparently motivated by business secretary Alok Sharmas prediction of 3.5m job losses and abandonment of even talking about the R rate means public health is now considered secondary to the economy. Its a grimly efficient bit of politicking, allowing the state to forgo further financial support to the service industry by covering the wages of its workers, while grasping for a grubby poll boost for the reopening of our precious drinking holes, as though theyre doing us a favour.

Of course, the actual experience of visiting any pub observing the necessary safety precautions sounds entirely abnormal. One-way systems, reduced capacity, rigid time slots, partition screens, staff in PPE: it all seems to be in conflict with the point of a pub as a relaxing and communal social environment. With the unspoken possibility of death lingering over proceedings, youre effectively drinking in a fully licensed hospital waiting room. In pubs where these are all but abandoned for instance, in rooms of heavily inebriated punters youll need to develop an unwavering commitment to deluded optimism, in order to stave off falling into any a deep and debilitating paranoia with each sip of San Miguel, wondering if you should have just bought a couple of cans and sat in a park instead.

Tellingly, Johnson has declared it our patriotic duty to return to pubs. This quasi-conscription into buying jingoistic Jgerbombs for Britain is yet another extension of the Tories psychedelic and historically illiterate evocation of the blitz spirit. Here the virus becomes an ideologically motivated militarised combatant that we find ourselves at war with, intent on destroying the our way of life by forcing us into quarantine rather than, say, a highly transmissible virus with no discriminate aim whatsoever that Johnson has failed to suppress because of an austerity-depleted local sphere and overly centralised political system.

In this garbled understanding of the second world war, our enemy is defeated by our stoic refusal to let it win by altering our everyday lives in the way it seems to demand. Who do you think you are kidding, Mr -19? Were not staying in lockdown forever. The 4 July date for England appears to have been picked for similarly incoherent reasons, the significance of the date (when another country actually liberated itself from British rule) glossed over.

Embracing this return to the pub as a patriotic duty also needs to be resisted because it gives the government a get-out-of-jail-free card: transferring responsibility for controlling the virus from a mixture of the state and the public entirely on to the latter. If there are further serious outbreaks, ire will be directed at the careless hedonism of patrons, who were following wilfully ambiguous government guidelines and active encouragement to go for pints, for Queen and country.

If pubs start going under en masse, it will be the fault of those puritans who priggishly stayed home. The government knows full well that for those who have been missing their friends dearly, and who have been deprived of fun for months, cries to ignore official relaxation of rules to stay at home will sound like absurdly unfair moralistic scolding; while those with health concerns, particularly those who are immuno-compromised and their loved ones, will view pub-goers as grotesquely selfish.

Despite keeping abreast of as much coverage of the crisis as I can bear, Ive noticed Ive started developing a mild suspicion of myself as possibly being overly distrustful and crankish for ignoring various relaxations of lockdown while others in my social circle take full advantage. The more things get back to normal, even before they ought to, the more those trying to keep themselves as hermetically sealed as possible seem faintly ridiculous, and with them, their criticisms of the government, too. After a while, perhaps we will relent, one by one, tuning out the horror and joining the others in a blissful unreality where we pretend everythings fine.

Whats farcical is that this is the best-case scenario. Those like me have to hope that were overly cautious wrong, even and that the Conservatives grossly negligent series of Hail Mary gambles pay off, because theres no contingency otherwise. We need pubs, restaurants, theatre, cinemas and everywhere else to have enough custom from the get-go in order to survive, and for this to have as few consequences for the health of their workers and the public as possible. If not, the ramifications for public health, the economy, and the very existence of the pub are dire and the Tories expect us to believe we only have ourselves to blame.

Tristan Cross is a Welsh writer based in London

Originally posted here:

I love pubs so much I recreated mine in VR but I'm staying home on 4 July - The Guardian