Marie Claire September/October 2020

FOR FANS OF: NBC’s Making It, Bravo’s Project Runway, or shopping vintage A sweater gets a hole? Sew it closed. In this mending manifesto, clothes historian Kate Sekules makes a case for embracing your wardrobe’s wear and tear by stitching, patching, and embroidering the imperfections. Part history and part how-to, Mend! traces the task’s evolution from a 1950s chore to a DIY sustainability movement. MEND! By Kate Sekules (Penguin Books, September 8) FOR FANS OF: Hidden Figures, writer Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, or Beyoncé’s Lemonade As a neuroscience PhD candidate at Stanford, Gifty researches suffering. The project is personal: Her brother died of an overdose, her evangelical mother is suicidal, and her immigrant father abandoned them to return to Ghana. In moving prose, Yaa Gyasi’s latest novel chronicles a young woman’s struggle with science and religion. TRANSCENDENT…

1 Candyman (Releasing October 16) Directed by Nia DaCosta and cowritten by Jordan Peele, the revamp of the 1992 horror film presents haunting allegories about racism and gentrification. Yahya Abdul-Mateen II and Teyonah Parris star alongside original cast member Vanessa Estelle Williams. Prepare to fear mirrors until Halloween. 2 Wonder Woman 1984 (Releasing October 2) Time to dust off that lasso. This fall, we’ll finally get to see Patty Jenkins’s highly anticipated sequel, starring Gal Gadot as the titular superhero, as she faces off against Kristen Wiig as the Cheetah. Fans will be happy to hear Chris Pine—the best Chris—will also make his triumphant return to the DC universe as Steve Trevor. 3 Unpregnant (Releasing September 10) It’s as if Never Rarely Sometimes Always and Booksmart had a baby. Scratch that—didn’t have a baby. Directed by Rachel Lee…

In this fall’s eccentric film Kajillionaire, Gina Rodriguez stars as Melanie, an effervescent chatterbox who is much better at stealing hearts than wallets. For Marie Claire’s new column Add to Queue, the actress shares her favorite things to watch, read, and listen to. Last thing I binge-watched was Kim’s Convenience. I’m so ready for a season 5!!!!! Next thing I plan on binge-watching is I May Destroy You. Book I can read over and over again is The Mastery of Love, by Don Miguel Ruiz. Book that left a lasting impression on me is Elena Ferrante’s series, starting with the book My Brilliant Friend. There are four in the series, and it’s just my absolute favorite set. Next book on my list is Ordinary Girls, by Jaquira Díaz. I love me some YA. I just…

It would be easy to call Misha Green the Black J.J. Abrams or the female Jordan Peele. But fans of HBO’s new “big fucking show” Lovecraft Country—created, directed, written, and executive produced by Green—will immediately realize she has broken the mold with the series. Inspired by Matt Ruff’s 2016 book by the same name, about 1950s Jim Crow America and the supernatural lurking just below the surface, the show manages to elevate the horror genre in remarkable ways, draw poignant conclusions about the power of perception, and flip the script on H.P. Lovecraft’s prolific yet racist-themed books. Here, Green discusses creating real-life monsters scarier than any sci-fi creatures and redefining the center of the universe.—Neha Prakash Marie Claire: The book the show is based on is set in the 1950s, but…

September always marks the start of something new—and while the back-to-school season might look and feel very different this year, it’s still a time to reflect on the months past and look forward to the changes we can make in those ahead. This is something we at Marie Claire thought a lot about as we chose the stories for our fall fashion issue and who we tapped to tell them. Aspiration and reality are given equal weight in our fashion pages, taking you on a tour of the fantastic dream of “(Re)pening Night” (p. 118) and the key classic items you’ll wear on repeat this season and beyond (p. 142). We are dream-biggers and get-itdoners—and we need to get dressed for both. We’ve been discussing the course correction the fashion industry—magazines included—needs…

The Expert: Kimberly Chrisman-Campbell, fashion historian MARIE CLAIRE: What are the peacoat’s origins? KIMBERLY CHRISMAN-CAMPBELL: The peacoat was first worn by sailors in the 18th century; the name may come from pije, a Dutch word for a thick, coarse wool fabric that’s warm and water-resistant. The style was later adopted by the British, French, and American navies. MC: When was the style embraced by women? KCC: Yves Saint Laurent, one of the biggest proponents of menswear-inspired style, showed a peacoat in his line’s first collection in 1962. Famous peacoat wearers include Jackie Onassis and Jane Birkin. MC: What modernizes a peacoat? KCC: Flap pockets instead of welt pockets, a longer silhouette with an hourglass shape, or the addition of a hood or belt. A traditional peacoat is fitted. However, boxy and…