This Week in Beauty: Bye, Bye, Bye
The Cutting Room Floor, streetwear x beauty collabs, and upcoming documentaries
I have some new subscribers 👋🏾 BEAUTY IRL is a newsletter run by me, @darian. Every week I send a rundown of what’s going on in beauty at the intersection of politics and pop culture. In addition, Beauty Take is a summer newsletter installation featuring an Instagram post, TikTok, Tweet, image, video, or weird emblem on the internet I think you should know about. Here’s an example; I send them sporadically. If you’re passionate about this world, or simply appreciate the work done in this newsletter, consider a yearly or monthly subscription 🧠⚡️💄
PAYING ATTENTION
After a rained-out show last Thursday, Pyer Moss showed its first couture collection on Saturday. Attendees journeyed back to Madame C.J. Walker’s mansion in Irving, New York to see Kerby-Jean Raymond’s work as the first Black American designer invited by the Fédération de la Haute Couture et de la Mode to show a couture collection. The show was filled with pieces inspired by Black inventors, including the hairbrush with synthetic bristles by Lydia Newman, hair rollers by Soloman Harper, and Walker herself: the hot comb.
Willow Smith is the face of the newest iteration of Mulger’s Alien Goddess fragrance. I love this quote from her interview with Akili King at Vogue: “Through it all, I try to always remind myself that I have value even without any of the things that I’m doing. I have value aside from what I show the world and the art I put out in the world.”
NYX Professional Makeup went live on TrillerTV this afternoon with Lance Bass, Brandy and JoJo for a Y2K glam-off in support of the brand’s new Throwback Beauty Drop. They are the first brand to use Triller’s live stream shopping, according to Glossy. The episode, hosted by Lance Bass, saw Brandy and Jojo revisit iconic 2000s makeup looks while sharing stories. For example, the fact Brandy mentioned she’s cousins with Snoop Dogg? That’s a fact I’ve definitely heard in passing, but did not remember! (Neither did JoJo.) You can rewatch it here.
Hairdressers in the UK will now be required to learn how to style Afro and textured hair. When I zoom out and think about it, this update to a new version of the National Occupational Standards (NOS) aims to ensure that anyone wishing to become a qualified hairdresser in the UK will be taught how to style all types of hair textures. Which feels ideal.
The streetwear brand Bape and KNC Beauty dropped their collaboration, which includes a variety of fashion and beauty products like the Super BAPE lip balm and KNC x BAPE graphic hoodies. I always link to this BEAUTY IRL article about streetwear whenever I see these collabs 🤷🏾♀️
Sometimes-streetwear-brand Crocs seem to be every brand’s palette these days. The brand recently collaborated with Benefit Cosmetics to create sparkly pink clogs and sandals.
My Chemical Romance has released their second makeup collection with HipDot, inspired by their classic 2010 album, Danger Days. I checked and, punk TikTok is swatching. Lead singer Gerard Way apparently wore Urban Decay’s Gash eyeshadow color in the Shortcut palette during the Danger Days era.
On July 15th, Kylie Cosmetics will officially relaunch with entirely clean and vegan skincare and makeup products. In November 2019, Coty bought 51% of Kyle Cosmetics for $600 million.
Related: The Kardashians won a $13.5 million lawsuit against a former beauty partner. Under a five-year deal, Kim, Khloe, and Kourtney Kardashian were supposed to receive a $1 million advance and royalty fees for licensing their likeness and image in beauty products to Boldface Licensing + Branding. This was in 2012, during peak KUWTK days. But by 2016, they weren't paid, court documents say. The investment firm Hillair Capital says the sisters also didn't promote the brand in agreement with their contract. You can read more from Madeline Berg at Forbes.
Skincare brand First Aid Beauty is committing $1 million dollars and a portion of certain product sales to their FAB AID student loan initiative. If you're interested in having your student loans paid off and graduated between January 2011 and August 2021, you can apply now through July 15th.
A couple of people DM’d me and were interested to know what I thought of Recho Omondi’s latest episode of The Cutting Room Floor with the disgraced founder of Man Repeller Leandra Medine. I’m glad to receive these questions instead of ones for my skincare routine, which is very boring (to me)! In October of 2020, Man Repeller shut down, and Leandra walked away from her company. If you have not listened, I’d highly suggest it — even if you are not in the world of fashion — because listening to the episode is witnessing race, privilege, power, and perceived power dynamics at play. Sit with it, and come up with your own opinion.
After listening myself, I was curious about what exactly people wanted to know.
In terms of the words coming out of Leandra’s mouth: I was unmoved because I’ve heard and witnessed these words play out time in my own life. I grew up in a suburban neighborhood outside of Buffalo, New York, one of the most segregated cities in America, where I was the blunt end of a lot of microaggressions and subtle racism. I am quite familiar with the gambit of white supremacy and how it manifests. Hearing Leandra talk conjured 0 moments of surprise for me. I am mostly grateful I grew up with my self-confidence and dignity intact thanks to my family, chosen family, and Black friends I was surrounded by.
This doesn’t negate anything said in the podcast as less outrageous, but it is to say I’ve never thought of Leandra as anything other than a representation of herself and her brand. I loved Man Repeller for what it was, for sure. But I also knew they’d never be a true representation of me. I wasn’t looking for Man Repeller, or Leandra, to provide me with anything I couldn’t conjure up in my own life. I was/am cool, just like all of the amazing women and femmes I saw on the site. Man Repeller was an accessory to my life. I knew I was disposable to them as a reader. The only reason I was able to see past it? I know how to see myself in others. It’s the kind of empathy you develop when you don’t really grow up seeing yourself on TV or in your own classroom. I’m sure some of yall can relate.
I do try to keep brands positioned as accessories in my life, not the main attraction. The pursuit may seem laughable, but it’s a survival mechanism for me. I don’t come from a place where I think brands, or people with brands, are the ones who will save us. Which is how I think a lot of people act, even if they agree with what I’m saying. Any social responsibility they possess is not one I harp on because fixing my energy and attention toward holding brands accountable doesn’t feel like my purpose. Mind you, my profession allows me to act and feel this way, which is why it’s a good fit for me. I don’t mean to flatten the conversation or make it seem holding brands accountable with our buying power isn’t important. This newsletter is filled with brand news. Each edition I write is a practice in figuring out how to also talk about what’s at stake for us, and our lives. Lots of different kinds of folks subscribe to this newsletter. I am not always successful, but I am digging for something deeper, and I am still figuring it out myself, but this perspective is one I hold in order to keep myself focused on interesting things that aren’t in response to whiteness. I actually think Recho is reaching for this too, and I view these moments as practices in clearing the way.
The episode itself: I thought it was well produced — and this is what made it worth listening to. It wasn’t a running stream of consciousness from Leandra, and it shouldn't have been. This episode of The Cutting Room Floor required a sound, practical voice that also knew how to shed light on Leandra’s experience grappling with her own humanity, while still questioning her motives. Recho’s commentary and audio footnotes throughout the episode give it depth. It was of no surprise that the audio producer of The Cutting Room Floor had such poignant thoughts while editing the podcast, to the point where he represented my point of view. The additional interviews from former employees and contributors were crucial. This episode also made me wonder, who else in fashion media is positioned to conduct this interview, right now? The second part of this episode will be released on The Cutting Room Floor’s Patreon next Wednesday.
MEDIA DROPS
Mary J. Blige Breaks Down 11 Looks From 1994 to Now — Vogue. Mary J. Blige’s new documentary My Life, is on Amazon Prime. The documentary is named after her 4th album and is executive produced by P. Diddy, who appears on the “Intro” track of the 1994 album.
Bretman Rock on Manifesting His Gay, Asian, Immigrant Success — Eunica Escalante
After a Pandemic Pause, Pickup Basketball Players Share Communion on the Court — Donovan X. Ramsey. This piece made me realize I don’t really care to see cis men talking at podcast tables any longer. I want to see them doing the work. The work of taking care of themselves, the work of trying to become better people. The Work!
It's O.K. Not to Be O.K. — Naomi Osaka. The trailer for Naomi’s Netflix documentary was also released this week.
Athletics Is Waging a War of Transphobia and Misogynoir – and Black African Women Are Losing Out — Adenike Fapohunda
TikTok Made Me Buy It — Rebecca Jennings
"The only reason I was able to see past it? I know how to see myself in others. It’s the kind of empathy you develop when you don’t really grow up seeing yourself on TV or in your own classroom. I’m sure some of yall can relate."
Yes, this—hard relate.
I wasn't planning on listening to the episode because it felt like a "water is wet" study, but hearing your thoughts—and wanting to also form my own opinion on the interviewer given what I've read others call anti-semitic remarks—has bumped this up the to listen list for me.