This week activists lined the streets of London to call upon the government to take urgent action against climate change as part of a fortnight-long protest. The demonstrations began on Monday 14th October across London’s landmarks.

Extinction Rebellion, the group behind the protests, took over Trafalgar Square on Monday as part of their “Autumn Uprising” in which over 1,400 people have been arrested so far. Hundreds of police officers moved in without warning on Monday night to clear protestors who remained at the movement’s base in the capital before issuing a city-wide ban on their demonstrators. Some activists even went as far as glueing themselves to the ground.

Extinction Rebellion self-describes as an international activist organisation which uses non-violent methods to encourage those in power to take action on climate and environmental issues. The group, which calls itself “XR” for short, was launched in 2018 and is now spreading worldwide.

While XR has dominated headlines in the last year thanks to protests up and down the country – as well as in Berlin, Sydney and New York – the protests and organisers have attracted criticism, with Prime Minister Boris Johnson labelling them “uncooperative crusties”.

Many questions have been raised about the inclusivity of XR; there is the issue of class and race (one writer accused them of a “hapless” and “depressing” stance on both) and it is hard not to notice the sea of white, middle-aged faces at an XR protest. It can be tough not to stereotype XR as middle class hippies getting arrested for fun – because they can. But the issue is more complex.

To try and understand more about XR and give them the chance to respond to the many criticisms, we reached out to Molly Lipson, a 25-year-old activist who has joined Extinction Rebellion’s protests in London. We chatted for a few hours over WhatsApp, and this is our exchange…

Jessica: Hi Molly. So my first question to you is about the police ban, which was a big talking point yesterday. What’s your take on it and what’s the vibe among XR now?

Molly: I’m heartbroken watching democracy shatter in front of my eyes. Yesterday’s police ban compounds everything that’s happened already – when the police and state put curfews on the climate strikes, when they swoop in without warning to clear our tents, when the government continues to ignore the crisis and emergency we’re in and are not acting in the interests of its people. This is not what democracy looks like.

Jessica: How does that make you feel, as a young person fighting for an important cause, that people are unwilling to let you protest peacefully? What hope does that give you for the future and future protests?

Molly: I feel a sense of loss and despair watching what’s happening and how our democracy is being eroded by the people that exist to protect it. I, along with many other thousands of activists, will never give up our right to peaceful protest so while I may not be filled with hope, I have no plans to stop. 

Jessica: I’m really pleased that you have so much energy to keep on fighting for what you believe in. The movement has drawn a lot of criticism, though. It has been described by critics as a “primeval, anti-capitalist cult” and has been challenged on its race and class problem. It’s been criticised for being “too white, too middle class and too concerned with beautiful scenery and photogenic species” – what is XR doing to tackle the public perception and backlash it has received lately?

Molly: So there’s absolutely no doubt that XR has the same problems that we have in our general systems around race, class, and general structural oppression and equality and injustice. That’s because we’re all a product of this society and that’s partly why we are here advocating for change. We want systems changing and that includes all of those elements as well. My answer to people who say we are just a middle class, white movement is: What is it that white people, or white middle class people could be doing that is more important than this? If we’re going to have that privilege, then we should use it in this way. Nish Kumar did a really good piece on The Mash Report recently where he said: “You are criticising all these white people – I’d much rather that they were out on the streets protesting to save my future, my planet and for my children and everything else than colonising my ancestors.” That really sums it up – we are here using our privilege, we are here using our class, using our race because we can.

And the second point I’d make on this is that I’m part of a newly formed working group within XR called Liberation and we are tackling issues around why it is that XR looks like a middle class movement from the outside and maybe the way it’s been portrayed in the media as a white, middle class movement and a number of groups working on the structure of oppression, ours specifically is addressing the issue of police brutality…with Liberation and XR generally. 

Jessica: You mention that XR is trying to address the issue of police brutality. A lot of backlash came from the fact that some activists sent flowers to Brixton Police Station. A lot of people on Twitter were asking why… Why send flowers to the very police station which saw Wayne Douglas in 1995, Ricky Bishop in 2001 and Sean Rigg in 2008 all die in their custody? 

Everything that’s wrong with #ExtinctionRebellion in one tweet. Brixton police station is where Sean Rigg died at the hands of police, none of whom has been held accountable. To add insult to that flowers laid in his memory by his sister Marcia Rigg in August were removed #XRFail https://t.co/0XTs1RmomT

— Nadine El-Enany (@NadineElEnany) 11 October 2019

Molly: We are a decentralised movement made up of lots of autonomous individuals so if that person felt so moved then that’s their choice. Adding my voice to this, I would say that we recognise the human in every police officer as a member of an institutionally racist and oppressive force. Part of our strategy is to put the police into a dilemma situation where they realise the urgency of the crisis and leave the force to join us. We also acknowledge the sheer amount of work that needs to be done to address these issues and that’s why there are a number of groups trying to do what we can to make sure the vision and world XR is looking to create is as far away from the systemic, systematic issues of oppression we are currently bound up in.

Jessica: Do you think XR’s public image has changed?

Molly: Since I joined in April, I think XR has become a household name. I’ve found that people are so willing to lend their support in so many ways and it’s deeply encouraging to see. 

Jessica: I’m curious; what made you join XR in the first place?

Molly: My background is in criminal justice reform in the US and through that I came to understand systems of structural oppression and how environmental racism is a huge element of that. Who will choose who gets to eat, who gets to live and who has to die? It terrifies me to think about that and the sheer overstretch of power that governments and corporates have in our global societies. 

Jessica: XR has been pretty demanding. I’m really interested in what you have achieved so far in terms of those goals and what you hope to happen in the next year.

Molly: Two weeks after the April Rebellion protest, the UK parliament became the first country to declare a climate and ecological emergency. That was great in words, but unfortunately our politicians’ actions have not reflected this at all. That’s why we’re back in the streets asking that they listen and take on our three demands.

Jessica: Do you think the general protests are affecting everyday people when the protests should be targeting bigger corporations to get them to make a change?

Molly: Absolutely, and we really don’t want to be doing this. We’re so sorry for inconveniencing people but it’s nothing in comparison to the ‘disruption’ that is already happening across the world and will hit us too. On Monday we were at Bank and we were targeting those who finance the climate crisis. Yesterday we were focusing on food insecurity outside MI5 and the rest of the actions this week relate to different issues around the emergency.

Jessica: What would you say to people looking in who may feel intimidated or feel they’re not welcome to join XR because they can’t see anyone in the movement that looks like them or is from the same socioeconomic background? 

Molly: The reasons for that are very complex, very deep and relate to the issues I spoke about before regarding police violence and brutality. There are many reasons people from certain demographics can’t be part of protest movements generally and specifically a movement based on mass civil disobedience. I’d also add that what you see on the streets is not the same as what happens behind the scenes, in the office etc. I work closely with many people who cannot be on the streets with me. Which is not to say we don’t have work to do – we fully acknowledge that we perpetuate the same systems we are trying to change and we own that. Lots of work is happening and lots more needs to happen on this front.

This conversation has been edited for clarity.

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After being sentenced for her role in the college admissions scandal, Felicity Huffman is headed to prison.

“Felicity Huffman reported today for sentencing to the Federal Correctional Institution in Dublin, CA. Ms. Huffman is prepared to serve the term of imprisonment Judge Talwani ordered as one part of the punishment she imposed for Ms. Huffman’s actions,” said Huffman’s representatives in a statement to Refinery29. “She will begin serving the remainder of the sentence Judge Talwani imposed — one year of supervised release, with conditions including 250 hours of community service — when she is released.”

In September, Huffman was sentenced to 14 days in prison after she pled guilty to paying $15,000 (£11,654) to William “Rick” Singer to doctor her daughter’s SAT score. 

“In my desperation to be a good mother I talked myself into believing that all I was doing was giving my daughter a fair shot,” Huffman wrote in a letter to the judge in the case, according to The Los Angeles Times. “I see the irony in that statement now, because what I have done is the opposite of fair.”

Huffman is just one of many parents charged in the wide-reaching college admissions scandal, which also involved Full House alum Lori Loughlin and her fashion designer husband Mossimo Giannulli. Loughlin and Giannulli pled not guilty to the charges against them. They allegedly paid Singer $500,000 (£389,345) to help their daughters, Olivia Jade and Bella, receive admission into the University of Southern California. Specifically, Singer assisted in positioning the daughters to be crew recruits at the school using photoshopped images. The sisters never participated in the sport.

Reports claim that should Loughlin be convicted, she could face more jail time than Huffman. In order to avoid prison time entirely, a source for People alleged, Loughlin will have to “beat the charges” against her — a plea deal at this point will likely include time behind bars.

Refinery29 has reached out to Loughlin’s lawyer for comment.

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Trigger Warning: Monica Lewinsky’s new PSA campaign video on cyberbullying includes content, prompts, and imagery that some may find upsetting.

Monica Lewinsky wants the world to take cyberbullying as seriously as any other health epidemic you can think of. The way she sees it, hateful speech and actions online can be similarly deadly. The social activist knows the toll it can take from personal experience. 

In the 1990s, after details of her affair with the president at the time, Bill Clinton, leaked, she went from a private citizen to the tabloids’ favourite headline fodder. When the story broke online in January 1998, as she put it in her 2015 TED Talk, she was swept up into “scandal brought to you by the digital revolution.” She called herself “patient zero” for losing your reputation in the age of the internet. 

But that wasn’t the end of her story. Today, she’s made a name for herself as an activist. And for October’s Anti-Bullying Month, she’s releasing her latest anti-bullying campaign: “The Epidemic.” It tells the story of an “average American teenager,” Hailey, as she navigates high school. However, there’s more to her story than you can see at first glance.

In light of the new campaign, we asked Lewinsky to weigh in on cyberbullying, Gen Z’s approach to social media, and the internet era of Caroline Calloway. 

How is cyberbullying like a disease? If it’s the sickness, what’s the treatment and the cure? 

Like a disease, it’s contagious and spreading — infecting our society. The cure is not engaging and clicking with compassion. 

This campaign video is so intense. How do you hope this heavy approach will re-contextualise the issue of cyberbullying for viewers? 

This PSA is hard to see. The signs of cyberbullying can also be hard to see —we have instant recognition for physical pain, but less so with emotional pain. It can be hard to really understand the pain caused by online harassment. This is especially true for young people who haven’t lived long enough to really grasp the full extent of consequences that can come from this behaviour — consequences ranging from bad to grave. This PSA educates people through an emotional and devastating experience, in hopes that they’ll better understand the consequences.

Lastly, when you’re the target, it can be hard to see that you can survive this.

In the last few decades, there’s been this permanent element to digital harassment. The things you say stay online forever. However, I think it’s noteworthy that Gen Z is using platforms where messages and conversations disappear. It’s like this new generation doesn’t want to leave a trace. How does that impact cyberbullying? 

I think Gen Z, having been raised with social media, has found work-arounds for some of the failures reflecting the permanence of online trails. But it’s not without its problems. First, I worry that a perceived level of privacy with quickly disappearing images and text actually leave some more vulnerable to later exposure — it weakens the notion of thinking before you post. And in terms of cyberbullying, it makes it worse. It’s easier to think you can get away with it and harder to capture evidence.

You’ve talked about how you went from a private citizen to a public figure somewhat overnight. How can that take a toll psychologically? How has becoming an instant celebrity changed, with folks like Caroline Calloway and Lauren Duca leaning into it, and then receiving backlash? 

I can mainly speak to my experience, but the amount of attention, scrutiny, and thoughts sent your way are jarring on perceptible and imperceptible levels. It affects you both psychologically and energetically.

Most often people who become known have sought lives where they’re recognisable. Caroline Calloway became more well-known because of some controversy, but she was already known publicly… and choosing that. Lauren Duca chose a modern approach to criticism by owning instead of retreating. In fact, from what I know of Lauren’s story — which is not everything — her choices reflected a little of what we did in last year’s campaign, #DefyTheName, with name-calling.

I was definitely not bold like that as a sudden public person. In part, that may have been because I was also in legal jeopardy.

What do you do if you think you might be the bully? How do you grapple with that and try to do better? 

In my opinion, if you think you might be engaging in bullying behaviour, the first thing I’d do is recognise that there is likely a personal issue you’re grappling with or an emotional wound that needs immediate attention. Of course, this is not true in all cases, but the adage “hurt people, hurt people” explains a lot of this kind of behaviour.

You’ve been on a mission to end cyberbullying for years now, and have experienced its dangerous effects yourself. How have you seen things change over the last three decades? What do you think is next?

What has made things better is that we are talking about this. Cyberbullying is a global conversation that is being had. Most important, we’re de-stigmatising what it means to be bullied. If people feel less shame, they will not suffer in silence at all or for as long.

Over time what has made this issue more challenging to address and cyberbullying more pervasive is, of course, technology. Smart phones and cameras on phones have taken this behaviour to a whole new level.

When we look back even farther to when the horse and buggy were replaced by the Model-T Ford, there was a period of time where there were no rules on the road. Eventually society decided, for safety, we needed to shift that. Technology preceded the social norms shift. I think we will move towards that model of change.

My hope is that — while we’re helping targets or victims feel less alone and get help sooner, while we’re aiming to shift the culture and psychology that leads to this kind of behaviour, while we’re considering legislative inroads — a social media platform develops that has more compassion and empathy baked in to the design and intended use. I don’t think any of the main social media companies had cyberbullying and harassment as a goal in their business plans, but I think next iterations can and should learn from these earlier mistakes.

To learn more about this PSA, you can visit The Epidemic. Please be warned, however, that the video and accompanying prompts may be disturbing to some.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

If you are thinking about suicide, please contact Samaritans on 116 123. All calls are free and will be answered in confidence.

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In 1965, 14-year-old Mary Ellen Deener, a bright, quiet teenager who hoped to become a nun, was headed to a laundromat in Mansfield, Ohio when she ran into Lester Eubanks. Eubanks, 22 and with a history of sexual offences, tried to rape Deener, then shot her twice and hit her in the head with a brick. He was caught, confessed to the murder, and went to prison.

But that is just the beginning of the new story.

On December 7, 1972, Eubanks, was taken on a furlough with a group of other prisoners to an Ohio mall to do some Christmas shopping. While the rest of the group met up with the guard at the appointed time, Eubanks was a no show. He has not been seen since.

A new crime podcast from ABC Audio aims to track down this convicted killer after 45 years on the run. “Have You Seen This Man?,” hosted by The View‘s Sunny Hostin embeds with the US Marshalls as they track the fugitive, who they believe has been living in plain sight for decades.

Exploring issues of crime, rehabilitation, and social justice, “Have You Seen This Man?” is a shocking story about an egregious oversight and the quest to finally make it right.

“Lester Eubanks is a predator and has been accused of multiple rapes. Criminals like this don’t stop offending,” Hostin told Refinery29. “In my view, one of the reasons that Lester Eubanks has been a fugitive for so long is because rape and sexual assault remain the least reported crimes in our criminal justice system and if he has assaulted other people, it’s possible they haven’t come forward.”

The first two episodes of “Have You Seen This Man?” will be available for free beginning Wednesday, October 23 on all podcast platforms with new episodes posting every Wednesday.

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There’s been a murder. Actually, no. Make that two murders because moments after we’re shown the first dead body of a man who was quite literally stabbed in the back, we’re transported to the other side of the world to witness someone else being killed in a restaurant.

When we tune into BBC Two’s tense new crime thriller Giri/Haji, things aren’t looking good. The first man was killed in London. It’s unclear why but I think it’s fair to make the assumption that he was mixed up with baddies. The second guy was all the way in Tokyo. He was poring over a photo of the first guy’s murder while eating dinner when a machine gun ripped through the restaurant, assassinating him and the other diners, too. It’s messy and both incidents must be connected. The killer question is, of course, how?

Thrust into the middle of it all is Detective Kenzo Mori (Takehiro Hira). He’s a police officer in Tokyo; a big-time family man who lives with his wife, parents (the dad is unwell) and rebellious teenage daughter who’s just been suspended from school for stabbing a guy in the leg with nail scissors after he made inappropriate advances towards her. Kenzo is a good guy but we soon learn that his younger brother Yuto is not, although a dark incident buried in the past bonds them. We’ve got a few stylised flashbacks to tell snippets of that side of the story, plus the knowledge that Giri/Haji translates from Japanese as Duty/Shame. Our guess is that each brother represents a word and though right now it’d make sense to give Kenzo ‘duty’ (a respectable family man, remember?) and Yuto ‘shame’ (you’ll see why in a second), we have a feeling that this series is not going to be so cut and dried.

Kenzo is brought in to investigate the Tokyo murder and after a day or so, he gets a knock at the door in the middle of the night. It’s one of the city’s biggest gangsters – a member of the Yakuza – who Kenzo had originally thought was behind the first killing in London. This guy has rocked up to say he thinks that Kenzo’s brother Yuto is responsible. Impossible, Kenzo thinks, because Yuto has been assumed dead for a long time. His mother prays to a photograph of him on the wall in the Mori family kitchen. But the gangster insists it must be Yuto. And Yuto must be found.

Somehow Kenzo is sent to London by his boss, the chief commissioner in the Tokyo police department, on an off-the-books assignment to search for his estranged brother. I’m guessing that the police are somehow connected to the deep, dark criminal underground here, too. But let’s assume that this will be explained over the course of the show’s eight-episode run.

Kenzo’s cover story in London is a weird task-force exchange. While he attends a crime scene management course, there’s a British guy in his Japanese office. The course is run by Sarah (Kelly Macdonald), who seems to have a complicated back story of her own. All we know at this point is that she works in some sort of division of the police force; she’s connected to someone who’s just made parole and isn’t over the moon about it; and she’s using dating apps to meet men, one of whom left a used condom on the floor by her bed after scuttling away in the night. We also know that she’s going to have a role to play in Kenzo’s undercover investigation and efforts to track down his brother.

We’re teased about a link between all these dramatic events and that fateful evening when something happened between Kenzo and his wayward younger brother. “A stone was dropped in the water a long time ago, we’re only seeing the ripples now,” says the Yakuza. Imagine the butterfly effect, split between two continents. No, you won’t know who to trust. Nor will you quite understand how other characters like Sarah, Rodney (Will Sharpe), the British-Japanese sex worker Kenzo meets in a pub, and the deceptive ‘ally’ tasked with looking after Kenzo in London, are connected to this twisty tale. But the hunt for Kenzo’s back-from-the-dead, potentially dangerous, bad boy brother is on. And while the shady powers that be in both countries try to stop Kenzo finding him, you’ll struggle to switch off until he (hopefully) does.

Giri/Haji airs on BBC Two on Thursday 17th October at 9pm and will be available on iPlayer after.

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There’s no denying the increasing popularity of sheet masks over the years. Relaxing, soothing and packed with skin-transforming ingredients such as vitamin C and retinol, it’s no wonder the hot Korean beauty buy has become a weekly must-have in many Western beauty regimes.

While experts and skincare obsessives alike extol the virtues of a good sheet mask, we all acknowledge that they are a single-use product. Amid the ongoing climate crisis, many of us are already actively seeking out reusable, eco-friendly replacements for our mainstays, such as shampoo bars and metal safety razors. So why not sheet masks?

It might surprise you to know that the majority of popular sheet masks on the market are made from paper (with a thin plastic film and plastic packaging) or plastic microfibres and I don’t have to tell you that once these end up in landfill, they stay there. In a bid to go green, however, brands are producing eco-friendly biodegradable options. Another quick search shows that such alternatives are usually made of cotton or bio-cellulose: a natural fibre with a gel-like texture, derived from a strain of bacteria. By opting for these biodegradable options, we as consumers believe that we are making better choices. But is this really the case? 

Consider the outer packaging

Firstly, it is worth noting that biodegradable sheet masks are usually sold individually – and sometimes in plastic packaging. “Considering that packaging is probably the biggest environmental challenge that we face in the personal care space, you could argue [sheet masks] are just as damaging to the environment as face wipes,” points out Jen Novakovich, environmentalist, cosmetic chemist and director of The Eco Well, a website that aims to make information about sustainability in cosmetics more accessible to the public. 

Although it can be argued that sheet masks are used less frequently than wet wipes, the amount of packaging per use is substantially higher. Not only are sheet masks usually packaged in plastic, they often also come with plastic backing which you peel off and discard.

It pays to think about the material of the mask itself, too. A popular ‘eco-alternative’ option for sheet masks marketed as biodegradable is cotton. Sandrine Henry de Hassonville, a pharmaceutical scientist and founder of eco-beauty brand No Secrets Cosmetics, raises the concern that the cotton industry is “hideously polluting”. Studies suggest that the process of manufacturing cotton involves a considerable amount of energy and water. According to WWF, it takes 2,700 litres of water to produce a single cotton T-shirt. Unlike a T-shirt, however, sheet masks are intended as single-use products.

Sandrine also argues that even most organic types of cotton, typically grown without chemical pesticides or fertilisers, aren’t great for the environment. Research shows that non-GMO cotton may not grow as plentifully as its aided counterpart and that more land and water may be needed to produce an equivalent amount. That said, the true impact on the environment is unknown, as research is still quite scarce. You might ask, Will the cotton at least biodegrade? Well, not necessarily. 

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Landfill often doesn’t provide the best conditions for material to biodegrade

The way we process our waste is highly important. Jen says: “When waste ends up in landfill, it doesn’t matter whether it is biodegradable or not.” For organic materials to biodegrade, they need to be broken down by living organisms found in the dirt (bacteria or other microbes, for example) and oxygen helps speed this process up. Unfortunately, research suggests that current landfill conditions don’t provide the right environment to break down such materials. In other words, there is a good chance that the ‘biodegradable’ face mask you threw in the bin could actually outlive you.

This is a huge area of greenwashing, according to Jen. “Legally something may be compostable or biodegradable, but it will not necessarily degrade in your backyard or landfill,” she told R29. Despite the landfill issue, the best way to dispose of these products is still your regular rubbish bin as material soaked in product would not be recyclable. 

The ingredients matter

It’s also worth paying attention to the ingredients list of your ‘biodegradable’ sheet mask, as certain components could be problematic from an environmental perspective. Brianne West, CEO and founder of Ethique, the world’s first zero-waste beauty brand, highlights propylene and butylene glycol in particular as potentially environmentally harmful ingredients. These compounds are “usually petroleum by-products and unsustainable,” she mentions.

Essential oils, often used in ‘biodegradable’ sheet masks, also run the risk of being unsustainable but this goes for all skincare, including fragrance. Rosewood in particular is an endangered crop. Lush mentions that CITES, the international body for protecting endangered species, requires at the very least close regulation on rosewood, and in some instances a complete ban on trade. “Due to the huge amount of plant material needed to extract a single pound of essential oils, many of them would arguably not be sustainable,” Jen points out.

Face masks aren’t all bad

Unfortunately, no single-use product can really be considered a sustainable option, despite the way it is marketed. But don’t write masks off entirely. For those with skin concerns such as acne, pigmentation and excess oiliness, face masks are often incredibly beneficial, something the experts can vouch for. Ultimately, a tub or tube of product which provides multiple applications is a much more environmentally friendly alternative, especially if you can wash and recycle the packaging, or if the brand offers a refill scheme. The pros second this, with Brianne adding that if you’re looking for a relatively waste-free face mask, use one without a sheet.

I’d recommend cruelty-free options, such as Evolve Radiant Glow Organic Face Mask, £24, which contains clay to absorb excess oil. Also try Bamford Exoliating Mask, £60, which chips away at dead skin cells with fruit enzymes and is gentle on all skin types, and Lush Oatifix Fresh Face Mask, £9, with oatmeal and butters to nourish and soften skin prone to dryness.

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When you think of places that influence global fashion culture, Cornwall might not be the first area that springs to mind. Now, though, the seaside holiday destination is firmly on the fashion map, thanks to JW Anderson’s latest collaboration with Uniqlo.

Looking to the “great British outdoors”, Anderson drew inspiration from the small but picturesque town of St Ives to form his fourth collection with the Japanese super brand, which drops just in time for the cold snap. The AW19 offering, launching online and in store on 17th October, combines traditional British prints and fabrics with vivid accents to create a fresh take on heritage outdoor wear.

Featuring an array of richly coloured knitted scarfs, tartan skirts and Fair Isle jumpers, the fresh collection has taken your grandma’s dog-walking outfit and given it a contemporary makeover – and trust us, just like seasons past, it’ll be a sellout. Commenting on the latest drop, Anderson – a London Fashion Week favourite – said: “I liked this idea of pops of colour to make the heritage British patterns feel a bit more modern. Contrasting is very present [in the collection].”

Our standout pieces? A check parka, which we’ll team with true blue denim and stomping boots for countryside walks; a cropped fleece with patchwork pockets; and a wraparound corduroy skirt, which, paired with a black rollneck, will see us through workwear dilemmas for the rest of the season.

So if you fancy adding some colourful classics to your wardrobe this winter, make sure to shop the collection today at Uniqlo and Uniqlo.co.uk.

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In a very special Money Diaries spinoff this week, we’re looking into the world of cashback aka the money you can earn back into your account just from making everyday purchases.

We hear from a woman who uses the American Express® Platinum Cashback Credit Card* for everything from her online toilet roll order to meals on holiday in Singapore. Sharing six months of purchases from March to August, this Money Diary reveals how every purchase, big and small, adds up to cashback rewards.

“I’m a financial accounting consultant living in Bristol with my boyfriend. We’re currently renting and saving up to buy our own place next year. I had a pay rise last year, so I’ve been saving the additional income for this. We’ve been looking for a flat in Bristol city centre (perks of not owning a car) but haven’t found anything in our budget with the space we want. Hopefully we’ll find the right flat soon as I can’t wait to have a place that I can decorate, paint and hang pictures. 

I’ve had the Platinum Cashback Credit Card for almost two years and like the idea of earning a little money every time I use it. I now use the Card daily for almost everything, including personal items, meals, subscriptions and weekends away.

I usually spend most of my monthly allowance on makeup and food. Makeup has always been my passion; growing up, I would play with my mum’s makeup, and always had the brightest eyeshadows on. And I love checking out new restaurants – I’m glad I have many friends who are always up for trying new things with me. 

This year, however, I have been more aware of my spending, adding things to a wish list I have on my phone and waiting for sales. My New Year’s resolution is to avoid impulse buying and instead plan in advance what I want and give it some thought before I order.”

Industry: Financial Accounting Consultant
Age: 26
Location: Bristol
Salary: £40,000

March

Bought a weekender bag for all my upcoming trips away. It was on my wish list for so long, and was quite cheap. I try to see my friends in different cities once a month so I need a bag that’s big enough to pack some clothes and a toiletries bag, and light enough that it doesn’t hurt my shoulder. I usually use my work bag for the weekend trips, but I thought, Why not have a dedicated bag? This way I won’t have to pack and unpack my laptop and work files every time. (£26.49 – Also bought a belt for my boyfriend as he really needed a new one.)

Later in March I had my chartered accountant graduation, and paid for the tickets to Edinburgh on my Amex (£59.35). It was a relief to finish the exam and training. I thought A-levels and the final year exam at university were tough, but nothing could compare to the chartered accountant exam. I am not sure I could do it again. 

My parents flew from Singapore to attend the graduation and I took them to a seafood restaurant to celebrate (£60.50). Since my mum was visiting, I also bought some of her favourite face masks and a face massager for Mother’s Day (£67.38). 

My dad visits me a few times a year as he has to travel to Europe for work, but my mum only visits me at most twice a year. I try to go home at least once a year to see them and the rest of my family, but I don’t think it is enough. I miss them so much when we are apart, but I still don’t think I can move back to Singapore. 

I wanted to learn how to cook more Singaporean/Malaysian food so I bought a cooking book for my e-reader (£1.99). My boyfriend rated the food I made 8/10 (it could be that he just loves me). Have I mentioned that I am terrible at cooking?

The student discount on my music streaming subscription was ending so I started shopping around for any discount codes. I try not to pay full price for anything unless I really need it and I can’t find a discount code. Sometimes I add things into my basket, fill in my details and close the window before actually checking out. Some retailers then send you a discount code to get you to complete your purchase! 

Found a premium video subscription that offered shows, offline videos and music for just a few £ more. The offline download is useful when I’m in the gym and need to double check my form and posture for some of the moves (£11.99 a month).

Signed up to a laundry capsules subscription service – glam! (£4.20) It worked out cheaper than buying from the supermarket, and they send you a pack every few weeks (which means never having to skip a laundry day because I forgot to buy detergent).

Total spend: £578.55
Total cashback: £7.23
Not all purchases are mentioned in the diary entry. Cashback is calculated at 1.25%.

April

April was the month I decided I needed to get serious about my fitness and nutrition. When I first started exercising I made a lot of progress, but I’ve been stuck in a fitness rut this year. After talking it out with my boyfriend, I decided it was time to up the ante. I set up a subscription to a meal prep company for my dinner, which made it so much simpler. I am not good at cooking anyway, so for me, it was worth it. (£35 a week)

I also signed up for an online PT service. I’ve always loved going to the gym for weightlifting and HIIT exercise, but struggled without a proper workout plan. When I first started going, I was scared to go to the weightlifting area without my friend. I felt like I didn’t belong there, but good headphones with pop music playing helped me. Also, I would work out in the morning when there were fewer people around, which meant I could try out the moves I learned online without feeling judged.  

Since I wasn’t a complete beginner, it was cheaper for me to hire an online PT. We had a video check-in every week and I learned so much from her. She sent me a weekly nutrition plan, which she would tweak based on my preference every week, and a workout plan every month. (£204 a month) 

My friend and I went to Paris for the Easter holiday weekend, our first time travelling together. I bought tickets for the Arc de Triomphe and Sainte-Chapelle online so that we could skip the line (£29.41). They were a similar price to what we would have paid if we’d queued at the attractions anyway. We got lost on our way to the Eiffel Tower on the last day and almost missed our flight! We ran for the train to the airport and got there 15 minutes before departure. Annoyingly, the flight was then delayed because they had to refuel. At least we got our cardio in! The trip was fun, I really like Paris and would love to visit the city again. 

Found my moisturiser online for half the price! I bought two to stock up (£20.24). Also found heel cream for my boyfriend (and for me to steal sometimes), mascara and nail polish for spring (£27.73). I ran out of shampoo so bought a set online (£29.10). I love shopping online because I can do it in my PJs or on the train journey home.

This month we also decided to buy a bean chair for the living room in case guests came over and our two-seater sofa ran out of space (£73.94). Of course, neither of us has had any guests over since buying it… 

Total spend: £868.18
Total cashback: £10.85

May

I bought an e-book about money to read on the train to work every morning (£4.99). It came highly recommended in the R29 UK Money Diary Facebook group, and I want to start saving more. Reading a book about finance feels like a very grown-up thing to do…

Decided I needed some new work trousers, and walking to the train station in a dress is never comfortable. The shop had a sale and the ones I had before lasted almost four years, so I bought the exact style in two different colours (£65). Also picked up a back-up of a serum that I love and a cream bronzer (£70.48). I wanted to try a cream contour and most reviews I read mentioned that a bronzer stick is so easy to use so I thought I would try it. The website had 15% off and there was an American Express retailer offer so I received extra cashback. I love the retailer cashback offers because it means that I’m getting a discount on top of my American Express cashback. I usually check the offer tab on my American Express App before shopping. 

May was a slower month for me. I usually work at least 10-12 hours a day and getting home before 8pm is rare. This month I was able to sneak in a little trip to London to see friends (£32). Most of my friends moved to London after university, so it makes more sense for me to travel to London to see them than the other way around. I try to do this often, and we go to new coffee places or just walk around Oxford Street, shopping. Someone always has something they want to buy, so we can give our opinion on it. 

I booked the train ticket for this trip to London in advance so it ended up being cheaper than a bus ticket. It also meant that I didn’t have to get up extremely early in order to meet my friends for breakfast. As we’re all foodies, the weekend was all about eating. I had shakshuka for brunch (£20), fried rice for lunch and Peking duck for dinner (£42). 

Later in May I visited a friend in Bath (train £5.35) and had afternoon tea with her and her daughter (£24). We had often talked about meeting up but something always got in the way so it was nice that it finally happened. 

Had two subscription deliveries for the month, for refuse sacks and toilet rolls (£24.30). If there is one thing I have learned from living alone, it is to stop buying cheap refuse sacks. It’s actually cheaper to buy the heavy duty sacks because you don’t have to double up the bags when they’re heavy! The laundry detergent subscription I signed up to in March didn’t work out. I missed the smell of my old detergent so I ordered six boxes, and added some dishwasher detergent to the basket too (£30.28).

Total spend: £869.87
Total cashback: £10.87

June

Travelled to Singapore for two weeks for my annual trip to visit family, and bought an e-book on personal development and self-improvement to read (£0.49). I started watching videos on the Law of Attraction and the book talks about it in detail. It was also recommended by an influencer.

My parents were so happy to have me back that they took me out for breakfast, lunch, tea, dinner and supper. It’s a thing in Singapore to eat five meals a day, sometimes even more. I always feel guilty for being so far away from them, so I offered to pay for most of the meals. I paid for two on my American Express Platinum Cashback Credit Card* (£68.67). 

I struggled with the heat and missed being in the UK. Thank goodness for air-conditioning. It was nice to see my family and friends again, but trying to see everyone was close to impossible. Whenever I am home I struggle to balance out how much time I should be spending with my family and how much I should be spending with my friends. 

My UK friends requested a few Asian beauty products from Singapore so I did some shopping. They agreed to pay for the foreign transaction fees too. I also stocked up on my favourite liquid eyeliners, which I can’t live without. They are so fine and last long on my eyelids (£90.71 altogether).

My flight was delayed by a few hours, so I had to buy another ticket to get back to Bristol. As it was close to 9pm and I had to work the next day, my only option was to travel to Bristol via train. Luckily there was one just 45 minutes after I got into Heathrow. (£39.85)

When I arrived home, I noticed the washing machine smelled funny. After trying the vinegar and baking soda solution without much luck, I bought limescale and detergent remover online (£19.08). It worked brilliantly and my clothes smelled fresh again.  

Later in June, my boyfriend and I went to Torquay for a weekend trip together (train £95.60). We did not plan any big holidays this year as my boyfriend has used up all of his annual leave. We settled for just a weekend away in Torquay, which we paid for last year. It was nice to be doing something together instead of staying at home in front of a film. 

In not so glam June news, I needed a replacement screen protector for my phone and found one online that had good reviews but was still affordable (£13.48). I drop my phone a lot, but thankfully I’ve never had a smashed screen in my life – just plenty of cracked screen protectors. 

Total spend: £541.52
Total cashback: £6.43

July

I finally booked an appointment for lip fillers! I’ve been researching it for the last 10 months and decided to do it as a birthday present to myself. I chose to go to a doctor to get it done in case of any complications, so it was more expensive than what most places would charge (deposit £150). 

I had sleepless nights thinking and worrying about everything that could go wrong, but on the day everything went fine. My lips were swollen for the entire evening and I looked like I had hit a pole but they look perfect now (additional payment £80).

Started a new project in Glasgow, four days a week for two months. It’s probably my third favourite city in the UK (after Bristol and London) and I had a list of restaurants to eat at every night! The project wasn’t too stressful and we finished around 6pm each day, which meant that I had plenty of time to go out for dinner. 

While in Glasgow I squeezed in a solo cinema trip to watch a horror movie – none of my colleagues like them (£8.70). Earlier in the month on date night, my boyfriend and I rented a movie online instead of going to the cinema, because there was nothing good on. It was cheaper than a cinema ticket and we could spend the day in our PJs (£4.49). We are both homebodies, so we try to stay indoors as much as possible. We usually only go out for brunch, to restaurants that do not deliver or watch movies with really good reviews.

Also managed a quick trip to London this month to see my boyfriend’s best friend who visited from Italy. We went to an Indian restaurant for lunch and everyone loved it. As my boyfriend paid for breakfast, I paid for lunch. (£15.58)

Total spend: £672.41
Total cashback: £8.41

August

Last month in Glasgow! My taxi rating has gone up by 0.4 points after being in Glasgow for two months. I think the drivers there are nicer. My client took the team out for dinner at our favourite restaurant and paid for it. It was a little bit sad to say goodbye as I actually enjoyed working with the team and the client was really nice, making all the morning flights worth it. However, I’m looking forward to waking up a little later on Mondays.  

My audiobook trial subscription ended so from August I had to pay £7.99 per month. Not quite sure what I would like to read or listen to next, any suggestions? I also caved in and re-subscribed to the music streaming service (£9.99). I tried to get family plan but no one wanted to subscribe with me. 🙁 

Spotted a promotion for the cleanser that I love to use, so bought a few of the same thing (£27.26). I used to try new stuff all the time but now I’ve found what works for me, I just buy the same products and take advantage of sales. I also bought my first concealer ever! (£16.20) Okay, it’s not my first ever, but it’s the first concealer I’ve bought in the last eight years. I’ve been waking up at 4am for flights and my eye bags were making it look like I hadn’t slept at all. I tried it once and I don’t understand how to use it. 

Had my annual review chat at work. No promotion since I just got one last year but managed to negotiate a pay rise and a Bristol project closer to home, with a promise of a promotion next year. 

Total spend: £336.22
Total cashback: £4.20

The Breakdown

Food and Drink: £1,409.68
Lifestyle: £742.40
Clothes and Beauty: £1,118.96
Travel: £381.36
Home: £214.35

Total spend on the Card: £3866.75
Total cashback: £48.33
This represents cashback earned from six months of spending, and is calculated at 1.25%. Cardmembers are paid cashback annually. Please find full terms below.

*Representative 28.2% APR. Annual fee applies. Terms, conditions and exclusions apply. 18+, subject to approval. Cashback is paid annually. New Cardmembers get 5% cashback on your purchases (up to £125) for the first three months of Cardmembership. Spend £0 to £10,000 and receive 1% cashback on all purchases. Spend over £10,001 and receive 1.25% cashback on all purchases. Promoter American Express Services Europe Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.

The Edinburgh trip with her parents, including train, food and gifts, earned the Money Diarist £2.34 cashback. (At the 1.25% cashback rate.)
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The Money Diarist signed up for the online PT service for three months, at £204 a month. This equates to £7.65 in cashback, at the 1.25% cashback rate.
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Breastfeeding and postpartum depression are two aspects of motherhood that have received increasing attention in recent years. 

From the adidas campaign featuring a nursing model through to Adele and other celebrities discussing their experience of postpartum depression, the physical and mental realities of motherhood are more visible than ever before. 

While many mothers may experience difficulties with both breastfeeding and their mental health after giving birth, few may be aware that the two might be linked. 

Jerilee Claydon is a psychotherapist and parenting educator and despite her wealth of experience and expertise, she was shocked at the impact that stopping breastfeeding had on her mental health. 

Claydon explains: “For the first six to eight weeks [after I stopped] I had this awful sense of loss, as though something had died, as it was a completely different relationship [with my baby]. Even I wasn’t prepared for the loss of how our relationship was going to change.”

Zainab Yate speaks of a sense of grief which gave way to low mood after she stopped breastfeeding her second child. “I was teary and I thought, Oh I must have my period, but I wasn’t due. If my husband asked me a question, I burst into tears. It sounds ridiculous, honestly; I wanted to talk about it and I wanted to grieve, but at the time I didn’t know what was going on. I felt like things were not in the right place and it was a very emotional time. It all made sense afterwards, but at the time it was very difficult.”

With hindsight, both women think that hormonal changes contributed to their feelings, along with some quite complex emotions about breastfeeding. “I had experienced quite bad nursing aversion throughout my breastfeeding journey and I had a lot of bad emotion,” Yate explains. “I thought at the time it was because I had felt guilty about pushing them to wean. And I thought it was because I couldn’t process the emotions, but I don’t think I made a link to oxytocin until about two years later.”

Hormonal havoc

Oxytocin and another hormone, prolactin, play a significant role in breastfeeding and it is the drop in production of both of these once breastfeeding stops that could be to blame for the postpartum depression, anxiety or low mood that some mothers subsequently experience. 

Thirteen percent of women worldwide experience postpartum mental health issues and it is thought that the drastic change in hormone levels after giving birth is a contributing factor. When the placenta detaches from the uterus, it sets off a cascade of hormonal changes which lead to lactation. Prolactin is released, which regulates the production of breastmilk and is also known to help new mums sleep – essential when you need to get some rest before the next night feed. Oxytocin, meanwhile, is responsible for the letdown reflex, which allows milk to be ejected from the nipple. Once a mother stops breastfeeding, both these hormones will drop off, as they are simply no longer needed.

Claydon believes a significant hormonal change led to her altered mood: “You get a drop in the oxytocin and the prolactin, that stopped quite dramatically for me I found, which means I wasn’t sleeping as the prolactin helps you get to sleep.”

Women should get better advice about stopping breastfeeding, says Claydon. They should make sure they wean slowly and drop just one feed a week to make sure any change isn’t too sudden – but many aren’t aware of this. 

A Norwegian study of over 40,000 breastfeeding women found that stopping breastfeeding could increase the risk of anxiety and depression, with women who were already susceptible to these conditions more affected. 

Dr Trudi Seneviratne, a consultant adult and perinatal psychiatrist who works on a mother and baby unit, says that despite the wealth of anecdotal evidence, more research needs to be done. “Yes, there are hormonal changes that happen that are related to the oxytocin and prolactin being released, yes it can affect mood, but there has to be so much more research that needs to be done to make any more definitive statements about that,” she explains. 

Pressure, motherhood and guilt

Dr Seneviratne suggests that pressure to breastfeed also has a significant impact on many women’s experiences after having a baby. 

She tells us: “Honestly, I just spent the whole morning looking after some mums on the mother and baby unit, and I reckon for a good four out of five of them, the reason why they are severely depressed is they were told to breastfeed and they couldn’t and they have just wrapped themselves in guilt and they are now just really, really poorly.”

To counter this, she says, women should be given much more choice over whether or not to breastfeed or continue breastfeeding. She points out that some women are actually relieved when they stop breastfeeding. 

Dr Seneviratne is backed up on this by another study, which shows that the impact of a woman’s breastfeeding journey on her mental health correlates with her intention to breastfeed or otherwise. Women should be given information about getting enough rest and support prenatally, she says. “It is not empowering the woman if it is given postnatally. It is almost too late at that point.” 

Niquita Cole, who experienced postpartum depression after the birth of her first child, who she struggled to breastfeed, says the words of one midwife left a lasting impression. “Just before I gave birth, we attended an antenatal class where the midwife called formula ‘evil’ and akin to poison. It wasn’t good for our children. How on earth, as a new mother, are you meant to get over those words?” she asks. 

Saskia Read also thinks that pressure to breastfeed contributed to her postpartum depression, which was picked up by her health visitor. “The stress of not being able to do breastfeeding properly made it difficult to connect with my daughter and I felt incredibly guilty about it.” 

This pressure, combined with a new mother’s complex emotions around her postpartum body and breasts, or perceptions of womanhood, can trigger poor mental health. 

Making it all better

Read thinks that having “more honest conversations” prenatally could help women be more aware of the difficulties they might experience and be better prepared to deal with them. 

“Easier access to support from professionals after I went home would have been so helpful too, as I had to travel an hour to go to a once-a-week NHS breastfeeding clinic,” she says. 

Cole concurs: “Breastfeeding is super important, and if you can and want to, you should do it. But your mental health is far more important.” 

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Behold, the three stages of watching HBO’s four-part miniseries Catherine the Great (the entire four-part series will air on Sky Atlantic and NOW TV on Thursday 3rd October) with a linear broadcast taking place from 9pm. During stage one, you’ll be flailing and thinking, “I am unmoored! Who is who!” In stage two, you’ll feel duped by recent pop culture: Have we really been caring about the English monarchy and its infinite King Henrys all this time when the Russians have been around?  

Stage three is obsession. You’ll want to know everything there is to know about Catherine the Great, Russia’s longest-ruling female monarch (played excellently by Helen Mirren).  

Catherine the Great focuses on the end of Catherine’s reign. Let’s go back to the start. Here’s how a small-town Prussian princess could become one of Russia’s most successful and memorable rulers. All it took was a coup to overthrow her husband — and years of preparation. 

Catherine the Great wasn’t Russian. 

And she didn’t start off great, either. Catherine was born Sophie von Anhalt-Zerbst in Stettin, Prussia in 1729 (now Szczecin in Poland). She was a Taurus, FYI. Her father was an impoverished prince. Her royal blood was her only currency. 

At 15, Sophie got her “big break” when Czarina Elizabeth invited her to Russia meet her nephew and heir to the throne, Grand Duke Peter, then 16. This was a match made in political convenience, not heaven. The teenagers did not get along. Still, Sophie decided to ingratiate herself with her new, powerful family by adopting their culture — and learning their language. Eventually, she became fluent in Russian. 

In 1745, she changed her name to Catherine, converted to Russian Orthodoxy, and married Peter. 

Catherine used her early years in court wisely. 

Peter and Catherine’s marriage was a disaster. They spent most of their time apart. According to Catherine, Peter was obsessed with three things: “his mistress, toy soldiers, and Prussia.” Some scholars believe it was unconsummated. 

Nine years after marrying, in 1754, Catherine gave birth to a boy and heir named Paul. Back then, the court gossiped about whether Paul was Peter’s child, or the child of Catherine’s lover, Sergius Saltykov. Now historians believe that Catherine cultivated those rumours to discredit Peter. 

Paul and Catherine went on to have an equally toxic relationship as that with her husband. Catherine’s other children were, indeed, fathered by men other than Peter (and do not appear in the show Catherine the Great).

While Peter was off with his hobbies, Catherine was working the imperial court. She used a deliberate strategy to win over enemies: Play nice. 

“I tried to be as charming as possible to everyone and studied every opportunity to win the affection of those whom I suspected of being in the slightest degree ill-disposed towards me; I never showed any preference to any side, never interfere in anything; always looked serene. It pleased me when I realised that I was daily winning the affection of the public,” Catherine said, according to Catherine the Great: Love, Sex and Power by Virginia Roundling. 

She networked with foreign ambassadors, built up a network of informants, and cultivated powerful friends who helped her when she overthrew Peter six months after he assumed the throne. 

Instead of getting a divorce, she launched a coup. 

When Czarina Elizabeth died in January 1792, Peter III became czar. He was immediately unpopular, mostly because of his obsession with Prussia. He called King Frederick of II Prussia “the king my master,” an objectively odd title to call another world leader. Peter III proposed that Prussia and Russia enter into an alliance and go to war against Austria together.

The alliance would be short-lived. Six months after he took the throne, Catherine orchestrated a coup. Aided by her lover, Grigory Orlov, a Russian lieutenant, Catherine stirred the pot of discontent among the military and powerful people for months. 

There was precedent for such sudden upheaval: The Russian palace had been rocked by a series of coups since Peter the Great’s death in 1725. Peter resigned from the throne. A few days later, he was killed accidentally, according to a letter sent to Catherine from Aleksey Orlov.  

Did she orchestrate his murder? Her serene smile never gave her involvement away. 

She ruled Russia from 1762 to her death in 1796.

Let’s pause here and give Catherine a round of applause. Girl got the throne. She would go on to become Russia’s longest-ruling female leader — and an incredible influential empress. 

Catherine has a reputation as being an “Enlightened” empress, modernizing and westernizing Russia. She reformed bureaucracy, changed laws, favored religious tolerance, and education for women. 

But her accomplishments were often eclipsed by more negative elements of her reign. According to Smithsonian Mag, she suppressed peasant rebellions, failed to end serfdom (Russia’s system of indentured servitude that existed until 1861), and annexed land through frequent wars. She also imprisoned and executed her nephew who had a right to the throne (as seen in Catherine the Great’s first episode). 

She oversaw the expansion of the Russian empire. 

Under Catherine’s rule, Russia’s borders stretched towards Poland in the west, the Black Sea in the south, and all the way to Alaska in the far east (Russia had a presence on the West Coast of North America for years). In 1783, after the Russo-Turkish War ended in a treaty, Catherine the Great annexed the Crimean Peninsula almost 250 years before current Russian president Vladimir Putin did the same. 

“Now, just imagine that the Crimea is yours…Believe me, you will acquire immortal fame such as no other sovereign of Russia ever had. This glory will open the way to still further and greater glory,” Grigory Potemkin, Catherine’s lover and second-in-command, wrote her in 1780. 

Over 200,000 square miles were added to Russia while she was empress. 

She was a medical pioneer. 

Smallpox killed 400,000 people a year and left others (like Peter III) deformed. In 1762, Catherine was inoculated against smallpox in front of the court to demonstrate the procedure was safe and could save lives. 

She was Queen of the Arts. 

Catherine wanted Russia to gain a sheen of prestige, and did so by amassing an incredible art collection. She founded the Hermitage in St. Petersburg (still a world-class museum). With its art and new neoclassical palaces, Russia became a place to see. 

She also championed women artists. Many women writers and poets flourished under her reign. 

She had high-profile pen pals…

Catherine was known to be a great writer. She exchanged letters with the French philosopher Voltaire and Denis Diderot. She wrote memoirs at a time when such introspection was uncommon among monarchs. The fairy tales she wrote for her grandchildren became the first children’s literature published in Russia. 

…and a lot of lovers.

Catherine had about eight significant affairs, most of them with younger men. Being Catherine’s “favourite” was a good gig. She was generous to her current and former lovers, giving them parting gifts (and making one, Stanislaw Poniatowski, a king of Poland). 

Catherine loved love. “The trouble is that my heart is loath to remain even one hour without love,” she wrote to military leader Grigory Potemkin (Jason Clarke in the show), her lover, intellectual equal, and second-in-command. 

Just don’t mention the horse. 

You’ve probably heard the rumour: A sex-crazed Catherine died while attempting to have sex with a horse. Of course such a renowned woman would be forever linked to a lewd story that her enemies spread after her death — classic. The same thing happened to Anne Boleyn.  
In actuality, Catherine died in bed from a stroke on November 6, 1796. She was 67 years old.

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A new documentary series from Amazon highlights the relationship between Ted Bundy and his ex-girlfriend Elizabeth Kendall, according to a new press release. 

Titled Ted Bundy: Falling For A Killer, the docuseries will include interviews with Kendall (also known by the last name Kloepfer) and her daughter Molly as they discuss what made Bundy have such an intense pull over women, as well as the killer’s deep misogyny. 

In the 1970s, Bundy killed at least 36 women, though some estimate the number could be closer to 100. He was executed in 1989. Girlfriend Kendall, whom Bundy began dating in 1969 after they met in a Seattle bar, was unaware of her partner’s secret life.

“I handed Ted my life and said, ‘Here. Take care of me.’ He did in a lot of ways, but I became more and more dependent upon him. When I felt his love, I was on top of the world; when I felt nothing from Ted, I felt that I was nothing,” Kendall wrote in her 1981 memoir The Phantom Prince: My Life with Ted Bundy. 

Kendall and Bundy maintained an on-and-off relationship for years, and she ultimately became one of the people who tipped off the police about her boyfriend’s crimes. An expanded edition of Kendall’s book will be available to coincide with the release of the new documentary series.

Kendall’s daughter Molly (whom Kendall calls Tina in her book; it’s unclear which is her legal name) met Bundy when she was a toddler. Molly’s biological father was reportedly a convicted felon whom Kendall divorced early into their marriage. For a short amount of time, Bundy was a father-like figure to the child. 

The documentary series will also feature conversations with other survivors of Bundy, many of whom are speaking out for the first time about his crimes against them. The purpose, per the press release, is to “change the Bundy narrative and provoke a discussion around gender politics that hauntingly resonates today.” 

Kendall’s time with Bundy was also explored in the film Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil & Vile, which is based on The Phantom Prince and is told from Kendall’s point of view. In the film, rumors about Bundy (portrayed by Zac Efron) swell, and Kendall (Lily Collins) must decide whether to believe the man she thought loved her or the horrific allegations against him.

Ted Bundy: Falling for a Killer launches on Amazon in 2020.

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This Is The Cutest Handbag Trend For Autumn

This Collection Is Our Autumn Aesthetic

Get Retro: The Polo Shirt Is Autumn's Coolest Top

When Zoey Deutch first appeared in the trailer for Zombieland: Double Tap, I was worried. Her character, a blonde ditz named Madison, seemed as much a relic from 2009 as her rainbow Louis Vuitton purse. With Valley Girl inflections and French-manicured talons, she initially appeared to exist only to satisfy Columbus’ (Jesse Eisenberg) sexual fantasies. I should have known better. Deutch is a scene-stealer, and this movie is no exception. She is the one must-see in a sequel that fails to really make a case for its existence. 

It’s been 10 years since the events in Zombieland, and Columbus, Wichita (Emma Stone), Little Rock (Abigail Breslin), and Tallahassee (Woody Harrelson) are still fighting the undead together. Holed up in the White House, they’ve managed to put together a makeshift family life.

Still, things aren’t perfect. Little Rock, now grown up, craves the company of people her own age. Tallahassee, meanwhile, is starting to feel the call of the road, which he tries to justify with some far-fetched subplot about his Native American ancestry that the movie only kind of pulls off. As for Wichita and Columbus, they’ve hit a rut in their relationship, which he clumsily tries to fix by proposing to her with the Hope Diamond (one of many running gags about using random memorabilia from the White House in everyday life). Spooked, she and Little Rock take this as their cue to take off, leaving nothing but a poorly phrased note behind (notes are another explicable running gag). 

Outside though, things are changing. A new kind of zombie nicknamed the T-800 (an allusion to Terminator 2) has emerged, faster and much, much harder to kill. And when Little Rock leaves Wichita for a hitchhiking hippie boy from Berkeley (Avan Jogia), the gang gets back together to find her and bring her to safety, meeting a host of new characters along the way. 

One of them is Madison, whom Columbus and Tallahassee come across at a mall. She’s an immediate breath of fresh air in a stale concept, and not just because she’s been surviving by hiding in a Pinkberry freezer. With her pink Juicy Couture tracksuit, matching Ugg boots, and Von Dutch tank top, her sartorial choices are frozen circa The Simple Life. But despite the many, many jokes about her lack of brains, Deutch manages to make Madison feel like she’s the one in control. Take the way she takes charge when it comes to her sexual needs, telling Columbus that if he’s not going to satisfy her, she’ll find someone who will. 

One of the peculiar things about the Zombieland franchise is how devoid of sexual tension it is. Sure, there were jokes about Columbus’ virginity in the first one, but no one exudes even a hint of BDE — until now. This kind of equal opportunity horniness in the apocalypse is a refreshing twist in a franchise that initially operated around the male gaze. 

Unfortunately, that’s the closest Double Tap gets to woke. Stone and Breslin are wasted in this film, which gives them absolutely nothing to do other than pursue various men. Same goes for Rosario Dawson as Nevada, whom our friends come across on their way to Graceland, where they believe Little Rock to be headed. (Elvis is basically this movie’s Bill Murray.) She may be a strong, stubborn survivor, but the movie doesn’t have plans for her beyond a love interest for Tallahassee, simply because…he’s single? And that would be fine, where it not for the entirely regressive banter around her “driveway” between a newly smitten Tallahassee and Nevada’s former lover, Albuquerque (Luke Wilson), who, along with Thomas Middleditch’s Flagstaff, is only around long enough for a brief but amusing doppelgänger gag. 

That kind of sums up the entire film. Is it funny? Sometimes. Does it make sense? Kind of. Is it worth watching? Well, that depends. 

As far as fan service goes, Double Tap is a success. Director Ruben Fleischer clearly knows what the audience wants, and the film doesn’t pretend to be anything other than it is. It’s not necessary by any stretch of the imagination, but neither really, was the original. And yet, there’s something undeniably charming about this particular cast and the chemistry they share. Harrelson, in particular, is in it to win it (there’s a good rhyme for you, Tallahassee), and that goes a long way. But it’s Deutch I look forward to rewatching over and over for years to come when I inadvertently flip across this movie on whatever streaming service it ends up on. Cable, after all, is so 2009. 

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Abigail Breslin Is All Grown Up — All The Way

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Look up any photo of Alison Mosshart and she’ll likely be kitted out in her failsafe uniform: a leather biker jacket, star-print silk shirt and black skinny jeans. “I’m wearing the same outfit over and over again,” she laughs, “but I actually lost that shirt from Equipment when I was on tour – I was devastated.” Lucky, then, that she’s been able to recreate her beloved piece as part of a new collaboration with ultra cool New York label R13. The collection – the musician’s first to come to fruition – is made up of all the rock ‘n’ roll signifiers you’d expect from a frontwoman known for prowling a stage with menacing rebellion. 

Lead vocalist of The Kills and The Dead Weather, Mosshart’s personal style garnered as much press as her snarling drawls and cutting lyrics back in indie rock’s ’00s heyday, so it’s slightly surprising that it’s taken her this long to dream up her perfect wardrobe. “It’s been a long-winded thing,” she tells me upstairs at Browns East in Shoreditch, where the collaborative collection is launching. “I remember I was on tour in 2007, I found the last pair of R13 jeans at Barneys and of course they were so great that I never took them off. Eventually I needed another pair, but I couldn’t find any, so I wrote to the founder, Chris [Leba], and that’s how our friendship began. They’ve been dressing me for the stage for so long, and he just asked me if I’d like to come up with my own stuff. The next week I was sketching ideas.”

Mosshart approached the process by thinking about what was missing from her own wardrobe and, after a trip to an Italian print house – “It was so inspiring, like going to an art gallery of fabrics” – she started playing with cuts and styles. A standout look from the collection is a psychedelic two-piece suit, which, she explains, started life in a totally different way. “The original print is so far removed from what you see now, the colours were different, the scale of the print was smaller; I changed it to look like oil in water. I loved the process because you can completely fuck with the original idea. It’s like playing a song over and over again – it grows with you. You get more ballsy every time you sing it, so it evolves.” 

The rest of the collection is just as electric: there’s leopard print suiting, a divine ice blue mohair knit, a hoodie with gothic transcription and a T-shirt reading “Fast Times” – an homage to her favourite film, Vanishing Point. “It’s two hours long but the only thing that happens in it is a car chase, I’m obsessed with it. It’s got the coolest car in the world, a white Dutch Challenger, the epitome of American muscle, and the best soundtrack.” Which song would soundtrack the R13 collaboration? “Probably ‘Roadrunner’ by The Modern Lovers, which we used in the campaign video.”  

The accompanying lookbook is equally rock ‘n’ roll, featuring a post-show dishevelled Mosshart lounging around an old, kitsch hotel. “I spend all my time in hotels, I’m always photographing them, and I wanted to shoot the collection in something that looked like the Chelsea Hotel, because we lived there for a really long time and we miss it every day,” she explains. “I asked them, but it’s very much under construction, so, I kid you not, I spent 26 hours on TripAdvisor trawling Manhattan hotels from a similar time period that hadn’t been done up.” What was she looking for exactly? “I hate what everyone’s doing to hotels, all that eco lighting and the hard edges. I don’t care if it smells of cigarettes, give it to me! I didn’t give up, and I found Hotel 31, where, like the Chelsea, there’s no arty creative vibe, it’s just brilliant: all mismatched furniture and bedspreads from back in the day.” 

How much has Mosshart’s style evolved since she started making music? Did the clothes get more flamboyant as the stages got bigger? It’s come full circle, it seems, as she says designers often try and sell her things she wore back in the early ’00s. “When I started out, I couldn’t afford to buy clothes, so I got everything at thrift stores, cut them up and sewed them back together. As the crowds got bigger, the outfits demanded more, though. You want to feel like a superhero, because you need that confidence.”

I wonder what she makes of the new breed of guitar-wielding bros who take casual to new heights on stage. “I don’t think anybody gets excited about seeing a band on stage dressed like they’re roadies, or like they could’ve driven the tour bus… I see it a lot and it’s very uninspiring to me,” she laughs. “I’m not saying you need to be Lady Gaga but like, caring? Caring is good! Did Nirvana change their outfits six times before going on stage? No, but they looked rad as fuck! They say if the band look cool, their music will probably be cool – it seems too simple to work, but it’s true. Look at Iggy Pop, he’s always dressed – or undressed – incredibly. Whether he wears silver trousers or just his underwear, you think, That’s the coolest!“

While we can’t see many other people pulling off the nothing-but-underwear look quite like Iggy, there’s a chance us civilians can get in on Mosshart’s give-a-fuck look with this new collection. Now, take us to our fans.

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Every generation has its unforgettable Hollywood pairing, whose chemistry, on and off-screen, make them a powerful Hollywood force: Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers; Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton; Martin Scorsese and Robert DeNiro; Spike Lee and Denzel Washington; Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet; Ryan Murphy and Jessica Lange. Now, you can add Timothée Chalamet and Saoirse Ronan to the list. 

The former Lady Bird co-stars are on the cover of Entertainment Weekly’s Fall Movie issue to promote Little Women, and their (platonic and pure) love is an absolute delight to behold.  

Ronan plays Jo March in Greta Gerwig’s adaptation of Louisa May Alcott’s classic, while Chalamet stars as Laurie, her neighbour, best friend, and would-be lover. Their heart-wrenching chemistry, so evident in the trailer for the highly-anticipated film (which also stars Emma Watson, Eliza Scanlen, Florence Pugh, Laura Dern and Meryl Streep) runs deep. But though the two actors aren’t romantically linked in real-life, they’re the first to admit they have a special connection. 

“It’s so rare with Saoirse — I’m so fucking grateful to get to work with her,” Chalamet says in the interview, or rather, the text wrapped around the absolutely stunning pictures. 

Chalamet’s affection for his recurring co-star — along with Lady Bird and Little Women, they’ll also be starring in Wes Anderson’s latest film, The French Dispatch — is so great, he joked he might even write about it in his memoirs, “when I’m older.”

Ronan, however, doesn’t let him off the hook that easily. “Will I have, like, a chapter?” 

“A chapter of Saoirse,” Chalamet confirms. 

That is but one example of the many treasures buried in this piece. Come for the pictures of Chalamet in a silky shirt with pearl buttons, stay for the part where they talk about breaking each other’s hearts — again.

“I love that in Lady Bird, you broke my heart,” Ronan says to Chalamet. “In Little Women, I got to break your heart.”

“Yes, that’s true,” he quips back. “Then I married your sister.”

We honestly don’t deserve them.

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The King Review

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Within our Black History Is Now series, Refinery29 is giving the floor to some of the most prominent black British men in the public eye. There’s a prevalent conversation about black women not feeling valued within our own community, as well as in wider society. So, we’ve asked men to step forward and tell us about the women they’re inspired by as part of our ongoing celebration of black British womanhood.

This time we hear from Karl “Konan” Wilson, better known as one half of the MOBO and BET Award-winning rap duo Krept and Konan. Ahead, he tells us about the face behind one of the biggest black music empires here in the UK and the lasting impact that the women in his own family have had on him. As told to Jazmin Kopotsha.

“Kanya King; she created the MOBOs and I feel that’s had a big impact on the UK scene. Like, there isn’t another award that showcases black music. I grew up watching it and seeing everyone from Jay Z to Destiny’s Child to So Solid. I remember two years before we won it I used to watch it at my friend’s house – Luke from Disciples – I used to go to his house and it was like a ritual for us. We’d sit there and watch the MOBOs and be like, Next year. We’re going to be there next year.  

She won an MBE also and for a black woman to do that… Obviously the industry’s male-dominated but to do that in the first place is huge. It’s massive. [She’s a] 100% shareholder – it’s crazy, man. She’s an inspiration for all the girls out there, she’s an inspiration for black people in general.

[When we first met her] it was a brief one, you know, because of all the chaos that’s going on backstage. I was like Yeah, nice to meet you, we were nominated Best Newcomer. She said Oh, good luck man, all the best if you win. She didn’t really give up hints on whether we won. It was just sick to be in the building to be fair.

There’s no one [else] really trying to put us on TV. The BRITs, I feel like they kind of just tolerate our scene. It’s like Yeah we’re going to tick off the box, we’re going to nominate one of them or two of them. They’re more focused on the Americans than our scene I’d say. Whereas the MOBOs champions all of us – from the underground up-and-comings to the more established artists in the same room. They’ve made it proper, something proper for us to have. The MOBOs is home, man.

There’s always going to be people saying negative stuff, but I just want people to realise the bigger picture and see what she’s created. From when we were kids ’til now, and it’s still going. We look forward to coming and even the artists that are coming up, they all want to win a MOBO. Everyone’s gonna have their opinions of who should have won and who shouldn’t have but at the end of the day, it’s a pinnacle in our career. To win one is like a bucket list. If you’re in the music game, or you’re doing UK music, black music and you ain’t won a MOBO, it’s a bit… Like, it’s a thing you need to do.

I feel like there should be a documentary on Kanya or something, just so people can be reminded. Because I feel like a lot of people are like Yeah, yeah. Kanya King. She does the MOBOs but no one really knows the depths of what it took to even start it and the hurdles and things that she had to go through. I don’t really know the back story and it was probably difficult to get to these stages. Even getting on TV in the first place, a black music awards, without there being trouble. You know the stigma is that there’s going to be trouble, it’s going to get locked off, they shouldn’t do it, extra police… She’s fought through all of that and kept it going how many years, you know what I mean? So I feel that we need to highlight that. Someone needs to show all the younger generations coming up what it took and who she is.

I’d want to know everything – the beginning until now. I like to see the hardships because everyone always sees the glamour and the awards show when it’s on TV but they don’t know what’s going on behind the scenes and I feel like when they see that, they appreciate it more. They respect it more.

My mum [is a massive inspiration for me too]. She is like my rock, man. I don’t know where I’d be without my mum. My dad died when I was five. I’ve only had my mum really. I have my brothers, but it was more my mum and I’ve got little sisters, too. When I was getting in trouble in school, she was the one coming and getting me out and defending me against the teachers, even when I’m in the wrong sometimes. We’ve been through a lot as a family. I’ve got my little sisters as well, I’m close to the women in my family. The best advice my mum’s given me is to be a leader, not a follower.”

Krept and Konan’s new album ‘Revenge Is Sweet’ is out 1st November

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Indie, scene, skater… The ’00s brought us numerous alternative subcultures, but there’s one in particular which hits many of us with an intense wave of nostalgia: emo.

Born from the emotional hardcore genre, bands like Hawthorne Heights, Funeral For A Friend and The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus reigned supreme, singing (and screaming) about everything from society to heartache and failed relationships. But emo was always more about aesthetics and style than it was ever really about music.

Before selfies were even a thing, emo kids snapped them on digital cameras held high in the air, their faces consumed by a jet black sheet of a fringe and captioned with lyrics about shotgun weddings and not being okay (I promise). Eyes were rimmed with lashings of kohl, studded belts were fastened around uncomfortably skinny jeans and snakebite piercings protruded from lips – if you were brave enough, that is.

As iconic as emo became over the years, it was relatively short-lived. The demise of MySpace was followed by Fall Out Boy’s hiatus and Panic! At The Disco’s descent into jazz. Around 2010, emo disappeared into the shadows and was soon dead and buried in a black organza gown and swathes of red eyeshadow, like My Chemical Romance’s Helena.

Despite the coffin lid being firmly nailed down, emo has slowly but surely clawed its way back to the surface in recent years. Weezer announced a headline tour; Kim Kardashian even started to rock a lip ring. And just like before, the latest genre of emo – modern emo – finds its new, true home in makeup. At London Fashion Week SS20, Marques’Almeida sent black velvet lips thundering along the catwalk, and all-encompassing winged liner ruled at Halpern. Charcoal-scribbled lids took over at Ashish and multicoloured tears were painted underneath eyes at DB Berdan. Suddenly, emo was back from the grave – and we weren’t at all mad about it.

Ahead, we enlisted industry makeup artist Zoë Moore and beauty photographer Jackson Bowley to show us what emo looks like in 2019 – and it’s just as unapologetically moody, playful and in-your-face as you remember.

Miu Miu Ruffled High-Neck Cotton Blouse, £665, available at Matches Fashion, Flesh Beauty Firm Flesh Stick Foundation, £14.75, available at Flesh Beauty, Urban Decay Naked Skin Weightless Complete Coverage Concealer, £20, available at Urban Decay, Illamasqua Demise Eyeshadow Palette, £35, available at Illamasqua, Flesh Beauty Fleshpot Eye & Cheek Gloss in Enchantment, £16.39, available at Flesh Beauty, bareMinerals Gen Nude Lipstick in Sexpot, £19, available at bareMinerals.

Zara Ruffled Poplin Shirt, £29.99, available at Zara, UO Ayla Black Corset Cropped Top, £36, available at Urban Outfitters, Hourglass Vanish Stick Foundation, £42, available at Cult Beauty, Fenty Beauty Invisimatte Blotting Powder, £24, available at Harvey Nichols, MAC Eyeshadow in Humid, £15, available at MAC Cosmetics, bareMinerals Gen Nude Lipstick in Sexpot, £19, available at bareMinerals, False lashes, £3.40 available at eBay.

Zara Houndstooth Blouse With Flocking, £25.99, available at Zara, Eyelure Individuals Duos & Trios, £7.25, available at Superdrug, MAC Retro Matte Liquid Lip Colour in Crowned, £19, available at MAC Cosmetics, MAC Lipglass Clear, £16, available at MAC Cosmetics, MAC Extra Dimension Skin Finish in Show Gold, £26.50, available at MAC Cosmetics, Hourglass Vanish Stick Foundation, £42, available at Cult Beauty, Fenty Beauty Invisimatte Blotting Powder, £24, available at Harvey Nichols.

Alessandra Rich Ruffled Collar Neck Blouse, £670, available at Matches Fashion, Hourglass Vanish Stick Foundation, £42, available at Cult Beauty, MAC Eyeshadow in Bright Pink as part of the Art Library: It’s Designer Palette, £39, available at MAC Cosmetics, Make Up For Ever Flash Color Case, £77.50, available at Guru Makeup Emporium, Fenty Beauty Gloss Bomb Universal Lip Luminizer in Diamond Milk, £16, available at Boots.

Zara Polka Dot Shirt With Bow, £29.99, available at Zara, Hourglass Vanish Stick Foundation, £42, available at Cult Beauty, Fenty Beauty Invisimatte Blotting Powder, £24, available at Harvey Nichols, Inglot AMC Eyeliner Gel in shade 77, £14, available at Inglot, Glossier Lash Slick, £14, available at Glossier.

Illamasqua Skin Base Foundation, £33, available at Illamasqua, Stargazer Glitter Stars, £2 and Gel Glitter in Gold, £3, both available at Stargazer, MAC Pigment in Emerald Green and Blue Brown, £16.50 each, available at MAC Cosmetics.

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“Access to the press, governmental bodies or educational institutions is variable, but everyone has access to their own bodies,” observes Dr Jonathan Michael Square, a writer and historian currently teaching at Harvard University. “Fashion is, thus, one of the most readily available political tools.” Fashion, believes Square, is never apolitical. As he tells Refinery29: “Even the decision not to care about fashion is a political statement.”

Fashion and politics have been bedfellows for as long as people have been getting dressed. As Square describes, the semiotic nature of the relationship means it’s impossible to separate the two. Perhaps one of the most explicit examples, on account of what the job entails and who it serves, is the sartorial examination of politicians: cast your eye over Jeremy Corbyn’s tracksuits, Theresa May’s leopard print kitten heels, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s white cape-blazer – and the headlines generated by each.

As a concept, the notion of politicised fashion is naturally very broad, so great is the spectrum of variables. Miranda Priestly’s famous “cerulean blue” monologue in The Devil Wears Prada unpacks just one layer of fashion’s universal impact. Beyond the trickle-down effect she notes, the wider cultural context – the who, why, where, when and how – of a garment is paramount in how our clothes (and by extension, we) are read by others. Moreover, fashion doesn’t exist in a vacuum, and with the advent of social media and call-out culture, the demand for accountability has only soared.

Co-opted by political movements, a number of brands are all too aware of the significance clothing carries. Just as in the 1980s, when the aesthetics of skinhead culture – Fred Perry polos and lace-up Dr. Martens – were adopted by the far right, contemporary groups have similarly courted this kind of brand ownership. Since its inception in 2016, the neo-fascist organisation Proud Boys has adopted Fred Perry’s black and yellow polo as a type of uniform. The brand’s CEO, John Flynn subsequently denounced the association, telling CBC Radio in 2017: “No, we don’t support the ideals or the group… It is counter to our beliefs and the people we work with.”

Elsewhere in the US, New Balance and Nike have both experienced damning attacks from either side of the political fence. In 2016, New Balance products were labelled the “official shoes of white people” by Andrew Anglin, publisher of neo-Nazi site, The Daily Stormer, after the brand’s VP of Public Affairs Matt LeBretton tweeted his support for Donald Trump’s stance on trade deals. In 2018, Nike worked with Colin Kaepernick, the American quarterback who initiated the ‘take a knee’ protest, on a ‘Just Do It’ campaign, upsetting right-wing consumers in the process. In both cases, the political association led to those with opposing values burning their wares.

In London, young fashion labels have often used the medium to highlight issues close to them – Brexit, for example, has been a ubiquitous presence for several seasons now – with varying instances of controversy. Most recently for Nigerian designer Mowalola Ogunlesi, what might have otherwise been a career-defining moment saw her pushed to defend her work. After Naomi Campbell wore a dress of her design – white leather with a red faux bullet wound – during London Fashion Week, the Fashion East-championed designer clarified the genesis of the dress, writing on Instagram: “I make clothes to challenge people’s minds. This gown is from my collection ‘Coming For Blood’ – a delving into the horrific feeling of falling in love. This dress is extremely emotional for me – it screams my lived experience as a black person. It shows no matter how well dressed you are or well behaved, we are time after time seen as a walking target. I’m in a privileged position to be able to speak on issues that others would be silenced on. Inequality is still rife and newspapers clawing at my work is testament to that.”

At his history-making Glastonbury performance in June, Stormzy employed a similar sentiment, drawing attention to gun crime and the vulnerability of black bodies by wearing a stab-proof vest bearing a black and white Union Jack. Later credited to Banksy, the vest was described at the time by Guardian journalist Jonathan Jones as “the banner of a divided and frightened nation”. Earlier this month the vest went on display in Croydon at a pop-up exhibition of Banksy’s work, alongside a note describing it as a “version of the ‘John Bull’ English gents waistcoat updated for modern times”.

Filtered down to the high street and translated to womenswear, the vest as a fashion item has been reproduced via the utility trend, a prominent element of modern streetwear. While in Britain it has its origins in the war effort of the 1940s, the current vogue for utility, visually at least, appears to speak more to a Kardashian-imposed aesthetic. Keenly observed by sites like Missguided and ASOS – where a search for the term ‘utility’ brings up 249 and 620 results respectively – the look is heavy in pockets, worked into camouflage trousers, beige waistcoats and body bags styled in front rather than across the torso. Less combat in its intention, and more invested in complementing the Fila Disruptor, the vibe, for the most part at least, is centred on style.

“Throughout history, dress has been a signal of power. It has been used to suggest authority, moral value, wealth and status,” Donna Loveday, co-curator of the Design Museum’s 2014 exhibition, Women Fashion Power tells me. “For centuries women emulated men’s wardrobes to dress for power,” she continues, illustrating how women have previously mirrored masculine style tropes to facilitate confidence, “from the battle dress of Joan of Arc to the extreme shoulder padding of the 1980s, through to the trouser suits that mimicked men’s suits to assert authority.”

Trend forecaster WGSN has identified a rise in politically motivated dressing – less cargo pants, more ethical expression – that echoes today’s heightened collective conscience. “The rise in politicised fashion is aligned with the rise in outward expressions of political opinion,” says Francesca Muston, WGSN Director of Fashion. “Social media has certainly facilitated this but it is undeniable that, across the world, people are more politically polarised, rallying around people who share their opinions and are more likely to share their views publicly.” Women in particular, she notes, are foremost adopters of this approach.

Like most cultural moments, this idea of rallying together has been played out in front of us by Hollywood, both on screen and by the performers whose own narratives share storylines with a wider section of society. Looking to the 2018 Golden Globes wardrobe blackout, in observance of #MeToo, Loveday addresses the power of appearance: “Women adopted the black dress as a means of proclaiming solidarity and conveying an important political message. At one of the most politically charged awards ceremonies in memory, clothes mattered more than ever. The action reminded people that fashion isn’t just glamour but can be about many things, including solidarity and protest. I think this idea has never been as important as it is now.”

Beyond big events and ceremonial moments, no item has served politics, performative or otherwise, better than the slogan top. From Katharine Hamnett meeting Margaret Thatcher in 1984 to the ‘Repeal’ shirt that highlighted last year’s Irish referendum on the 8^th Amendment, Don Cheadle supporting trans youth on SNL to Maria Grazia Chiuri’s feminist debut at Dior, wearing your affiliation on your chest has long been the most accessible way to vocalise your stance on big issues.

“On a functional level, T-shirts are the perfect canvas for the brave among us to signpost our thoughts, feelings or stance on any given topic or trend we feel strongly about,” says Michael Wilkin, Head of Marketing at Everpress, a “global marketplace for independent creativity”. As well as helping individuals get their designs on T-shirts – by offering the tools to sell, manufacture and distribute – the company recently put out its third 50/50 campaign, an initiative that teams up with creatives for a charity T-shirt series, this year to support Justice4Grenfell. “By putting on a T-shirt, you are making a deliberate choice to align yourself with something. I think people enjoy that curation, not just on an aesthetic level, but on an emotional level.” Alluding to 50/50, Wilkin continues: “Hopefully that tee starts a conversation somewhere, regardless of the buyer’s original intention.”

Whether we like it or not, the way we dress, the brands we choose to wear – indeed, the very existence of this choice – and the messages we champion on our chests all contribute to how we’re understood in the world. As a gesture of empowerment, a signal to the communities we feel a close bond with – or a warning to those we don’t – the use of fashion as a vehicle for political expression is nothing new, but in turbulent times, its immediacy can be potent.

Similarly, the opportunity it presents – to reclaim space and question narratives – can be particularly heightened for groups whose race, gender, sexuality or class might be othered in the mainstream, used as a way to articulate a point without taking direct action. As Square asks: “Is there any greater satisfaction than having your outer self match your political ideals?” Furthermore, through whose gaze these pronouncements are interpreted, and the subsequent policing (or not), only determines their validity.

“Fashion can maintain and deepen inequality, but it also has the potential to challenge structures of power,” suggests Square. “I’m a believer in the transformational power of fashion to change how we see ourselves and our place in the world — whether it addresses racial inequality, promotes body positivity, questions gender binaries, or calls for more sustainable industry standards.”

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