Lifestyle Barometer: Your guide to what’s hot and what’s not this week from waistcoats to Wimbledon
From body diversity to ice lollies and animal cruelty, this is our guide to what's hot and what's not
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Waistcoats
Thanks to the “Gareth Southgate effect”, Marks & Spencer – the official suit supplier to the England football team since 2007 – has reported a 35 per cent rise in waistcoat sales since the start of the World Cup.
But, their revival doesn’t stop there. Other retailers have also seen their sales increase including eBay, TM Lewin and finally Lyst, which reported a new search for waistcoats on its website every 12 minutes.
Political beauty
A US-based beauty brand has raised $100,000 (£75,312) for migrant families affected by the Trump administration’s strict immigration policies.
Lipslut launched its “F*** Trump” lipstick shade in March 2017, two months after the President’s inauguration, and has been donating 50 per cent of the product’s profits to pro-immigrant organisations for two weeks under its “Fight Zero Tolerance” campaign.
Proceeds have already benefited several charities including Kids in Need of Defense (KIND), RAICES and Al Otro Lado.
Ice creams
Just in time for Britain’s heatwave, research by YouGov has revealed the UK’s most popular frozen treat: a Magnum.
The favourite of more than a quarter (28 per cent) of Brits, it came out miles ahead of the rest, with Fab and Solero taking joint second place (eight per cent each), followed by Twister in fourth place (seven per cent) and Feast in fifth (six per cent). What’s your favourite?
Wimbledon
After enjoying a full fortnight of the most prestigious tennis tournament in the world, Wimbledon has finally come to a close.
From the exciting atmosphere to the strawberries and cream, Pimms and guest’s carefully crafted outfits, the tropes were out in full force and fans couldn’t get enough.
This year, the championships saw celebrity guests including Drake, Natalie Dormer, Justin Timberlake and Ellie Goulding attend.
Body Diversity
This week lingerie retailer Figleaves revealed a new campaign titled #beautyhasnobounds featuring 12 body positive advocates who each represent different faces of beauty across age, body shape, ethnicity and disability.
The shoot features curve model Felicity Hayward, mature model Nicky Griffin and disabled model Kelly Knox, while Jill Kortleve, of Indian, Indonesian and Surinamese descent, celebrates her mixed heritage.
Going down:
World Cup sexism
A viral post shared by Love Island star Amber Davies on Twitter has left people wondering just how much the world of football has really changed in terms of sexism.
Written on a pink background, the tweet revealed a sexist explanation of the “offside rule for girls” by comparing it to women shopping in a store.
After being liked almost 18,000 times, the explainer was quickly flooded with criticism from both men and women.
This comes just weeks after Lord Sugar was criticised on social media for “casual sexism”, after sharing a tweet that implied that women have no interest in watching the World Cup.
Animal cruelty
In a landmark move, Primark has announced that its own-brand beauty range, including skincare, makeup and haircare products, are now completely cruelty-free.
Joining the likes of other leading cosmetics brands including Dermalogica, Marks & Spencer and Molton Brown, Primark has officially been awarded the coveted Leaping Bunny status by Cruelty Free International.
As of today, this means that customers can shop for their favourite beauty essentials in the knowledge that they are free of animal testing.
Gendered clothing
This week a woman called out online clothing shops’ gender options in a viral Twitter thread, claiming that she has been made to choose “male or female” before entering certain websites or signing up to brand newsletters.
The post, which generated 2,600 likes, comes after the fashion industry has seen a rise in gender-neutral clothing both on the catwalk and the high street.
In recent years, major retailers including Selfridges, Zara, H&M and Wildfang have all launched gender-neutral clothing lines in a bid to appeal to a wider consumer base.
Fat Shaming
The term “body positivity” might be appearing frequently in the mainstream media but it seems we still have a long way to go when it comes to dismantling narrow beauty ideals.
A gym in Australia has been criticised online for sharing a transformation photo of one of its clients, who went from a UK size 16 to an 8, implying that she was “unfit, unattractive, self-conscious and worthless” in the “before” image.
Social media users were quick to condemn the post with many accusing HTFI Fitness – which stands for Harden The Fat Up – of fat shaming.
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