in this issue
taking action
“WE NEED CHANGE.” So said the Olympic gymnast Simone Biles to the writer Abby Aguirre in June, in the last of several conversations the two had over the course of Abby’s reporting. Biles, of course, is a world-class athlete with a trove of gold medals, but Abby’s profile shows us that she is equally extraordinary for her bravery in standing up to body-shaming internet trolls, and for the dignity and resilience she has shown in holding her sport to account over the abuse she and other gymnasts suffered from sports doctor Larry Nassar. Biles has also shown her fortitude in the face of the postponement of the Olympics—something we couldn’t have contemplated when we embarked on this story last winter, before the coronavirus changed everything. The games are, of course, not…
lost and found
In the morning, as I open 20 browser tabs of political news, my son, Ben, puts his desk chair on top of his desk so he can stand while working, shoulders back, jaw squared like a sentry. We borrowed a friend’s place in the country in May to get out of New York City during the apex of the pandemic, when hundreds of New Yorkers were dying every day and refrigerated trucks were serving as mobile morgues outside the hospital where Ben, 14, and his sister, Susannah, 10, were born. I had not wanted to leave the city. I stayed after 9/11 and after 2008, and staying had become a point of arbitrary pride. But soon after the market crashed, I lost the job I had that tethered me to a podcast…
assembly required
FASHION George Floyd’s murder at the hands of Minneapolis police officers sparked outrage and protests across America that have expanded around the globe. Galvanized by an egregious violation of civil rights laws, citizens—shaken out of months of quarantine dormancy—took to the streets in all 50 states to demand justice. Their efforts were met with police brutality, inflammatory tweets from President Trump, and thousands of arrests. There is simply no arguing that the events mark an inflection point. Many Black designers and business leaders have been vocal about ending racial injustice. Pyer Moss’s Kerby Jean-Raymond, Balmain’s Olivier Rousteing, Telfar Clemens, and Rihanna have all taken to social media or released statements in solidarity with protesters, with Rihanna briefly suspending sales at all three of her fashion and beauty brands. Jide Zeitlin, the Nigerian-American…
powder players
WELLNESS Nearly six years ago, when chef Marco Canora opened Brodo, the bone-broth takeout window in Manhattan’s East Village that sparked a wellness movement, I was slow to fall in line. Something about sipping a clear, meaty elixir didn’t resonate with me the way that my daily green juice did. And yet everyone from Jennifer Aniston to Tom Brady was soon raving about the collagen-rich panacea. “Collagen is really critical to our health because it makes up 30 percent of all of the protein in our bodies,” explains Josh Axe, D.N.M., a clinical nutritionist and author of 2019’s The Collagen Diet, who notes that production of the multitasking amino-acid chains starts to decline around age 25. “By the time you’re in your mid-50s, your body is producing 50 percent less collagen,” Axe…
goodbye to all that
FASHION “Blame it all on Jane Birkin,” I mumble sheepishly into my laptop. On the other end of the Zoom from my London lockdown is Vogue’s resident closet-cleansing guru, Liana Satenstein—otherwise known as the Schmatta Shrink—in New York, and she seems aghast by my stash of a dozen or so wicker basket bags. Among them is a reminder of that escape to Deià; the wedding in Morocco; a modern-classic Loewe—oh, and a versatile, hand-woven Brother Vellies clutch, for the past three summers my loyal walker to any event. “They’re all quite different bags for life,” I hear myself saying. “And I do wear them all year round.” “Kill your darlings,” Satenstein urges. A recalibration of our homes, and the abundance in them, has been ushered in during isolation. For some, that’s meant clearing…
objects from afar
DESIGN Oh, the places you can’t go—for now. In the meantime, objects evocative of holidays not taken will have to suffice. More specifically, this majolica vase from Studio Le Nid—traditional ceramists based out of Paternò, Sicily—will transport you to Southern Italy with its refined rusticity. Handcrafted from Simeto River clay, the vessel features a floral repeat that, according to Studio Le Nid’s Vincenzo Messina, “captures the essential lines and shapes of the rose with as few elements possible.” Some things in life are best kept simple. Head east via Tamam, the New York City–and Istanbul-based home-goods purveyor of contemporary and antique tablewares rooted in Eastern European culture. This royal-blue-colored dish, painted in the late 19th century by the Kuznetsov porcelain factory in Russia, was meant to be exported to Uzbekistan. “It’s…
