Lifestyle Barometer: Your guide to what’s hot and what’s not this week from Barbie to blackface
From mouldy food to gambling and diet drinks, this is our guide to what’s hot and what’s not
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Cardi B
Cardi B is well-known for her eccentric sense of style but the 26-year-old exceeded everyone’s expectations when she attended the Grammy Awards on Sunday night wearing what looked like a clam shell.
The Bodak Yellow rapper attended the star-studded event wearing a vintage Mugler design pulled straight from the archives of the label’s Fall 1995 Couture collection.
The dress featured a sequin nude bodysuit and long black skirt that bloomed at the hips.
The design also included pearls around the singer’s hips, opera-length gloves. She also wore a pearl choker and a twisted pearl headpiece.
The over-the-top outfit quickly went viral online, inspiring a series of memes that compared the star to everything from Botticelli’s The Birth of Venus to a stack of Ferrero Rocher, coffee filters and Ursula from The Little Mermaid.
Barbie
This week, Barbie announced the arrival of two new disabled dolls: one that uses a wheelchair and another with a prosthetic leg.
Mattel announced the new additions to its Fashionista line this week, explaining it hopes the collection will help broaden the definition of what’s considered beautiful.
The dolls were created in collaboration with a team at UCLA and 12-year-old Jordan Reeves, who has a prosthetic arm, to help Mattel make the new additions as realistic as possible.
The announcement has been met with praise on social media, with one admirer calling it “a true example of love and diversity”.
Mattel has confirmed that the dolls will be available to buy in the UK and US from autumn 2019.
30 Under 30 Europe
Forbes has published its fourth annual “30 Under 30 Europe” list, featuring 300 “young disruptors” who are transforming their industries.
This year, the names on the list include Adwoa Aboah, who has modelled for luxury fashion brands such as Calvin Klein and Alexander Wang and has appeared on the cover on international editions of Vogue, i-D magazine and Time magazine.
Bafta-award winner Letitia Wright also made the list following her appearance in Black Panther and TV series Black Mirror.
Other notable names on the list include fashion designer Simone Porte Jacquemus, model Iskra Lawrence, and tennis player Petra Kvitova.
British actors Joe Alwyn, Georgina Campbell, and Jodie Comer also feature, as do musicians Jorja Smith, Jess Glynne, Stefflon Don and George Ezra.
Mouldy food
Theresa May sparked a national debate this week after revealing she never throws away mouldy jam, but scrapes off the top and eats what is underneath.
The prime minister’s comments prompted questions over what is and is not safe to eat.
A spokesperson for The Food Standards Agency told The Independent that in general, it would advise avoiding food that is obviously rotten or mouldy, especially if you’re elderly, pregnant, or have a weakened immune system.
“While it is possible that removing the mould and a significant amount of the surrounding product could remove any unseen toxins that are present, there is no guarantee that doing so would remove them all,” they added.
You can find a list of foods that are safe and unsafe to eat after going mouldy here.
Body positivity
A number of A-listers have spoken about body positivity this week, including singers Sam Smith and Bebe Rexha.
Sharing a topless photo of himself on Instagram, Smith opened up about his past struggles with body trauma before explaining how he has decided to “reclaim” his body.
“Yesterday I decided to fight the f*** back. Reclaim my body and stop trying to change this chest and these hips and these curves that my mum and dad made and love so unconditionally,” he wrote.
Similarly, Rexha delivered a powerful message to fashion designers who refused to dress her for this year’s Grammy Awards.
In a red carpet interview with Access Online, the 29-year-old showed off her dark red tulle dress before turning to the camera and saying: “You wish you had dressed my fat ass!”
Last month, the singer explained in a video on Instagram how several designers rejected her stylists’ requests for outfits for the music ceremony because she was deemed “too big” as a UK size 12.
Going down:
Brands linked to blackface
In recent months, a number of fashion brands, TV personalities and politicians have come under fire for blackface controversies.
Last week, Gucci stopped selling a “balaclava knit” that featured a cut-out at the mouth and red lips after it was condemned by people on social media.
Then, just days later, a pair of shoes from Katy Perry’s eponymous fashion line were removed over similar concerns.
Most recently, footage of British television presenters Anthony McPartlin and Declan Donnelly dressed as Jamaican women also resurfaced, in which they can be heard speaking with an exaggerated accent.
Earlier this month, Virginia’s governor Ralph Northam also came under fire after a “racist and offensive” costume seen on his 1984 medical school yearbook page showed a person in blackface and another in full Ku Klux Klan robes.
You can find out more about blackface and why it is so offensive here.
Animal cruelty
It seems as though fur is finally on its way out of the fashion industry with a record number of major brands taking a stand against animal cruelty.
This week, Victoria Beckham became the latest designer to ban exotic skins from her collections.
The 44-year-old’s company issued a statement on Monday revealing her eponymous fashion line would no longer feature exotic skins in a bid to “reflect the wishes” of its customers.
A company spokesperson told Women’s Wear Daily website: “As a business, we have been looking to action the use of more ethically sourced products that have less environmental impact for some time.
“We are happy to confirm that we will cease using exotic skins in all future collections as of our main autumn/winter 2019 ready-to-wear presentation. This decision reflects the wishes of not only the brand, but also that of our customers.”
In recent months, fashion retailer FarFetch and luxury fashion houses Burberry, Gucci, Versace and Coach have all pledged to be entirely fur-free.
You can find a list of designer labels, high street shops and retailers that have banned fur here.
Gambling adverts
The Committee of Advertising Practice (CAP) has published new advertising standards to protect children from gambling adverts.
Under the new rules, gambling adverts will no longer be allowed to appear on websites or computer games that are popular with children.
Gambling operators will also have to ensure that the majority of the audience of any social media influencer they work with are over 18 and stop using celebrities who appear to be under 25 in their promotions.
The rules, which come into effect on 1 April 2019, follow a recent study which revealed the number of child gamblers had risen to more than 50,000 in the UK.
The Gambling Commission audit found that the number of problem gamblers aged 11 to 16 rose to 55,000 between 2016-2018.
It also found that 70,000 youngsters were at risk and that 450,000 children bet regularly, the equivalent of one in seven children aged 11 to 16.
A number of Instagram users reported losing millions of followers on Wednesday evening following a mysterious glitch.
Ariana Grande dropped from 145 million to 142 million, while Kylie Jenner, who had close to 127 million, went down to 124 million.
Beauty vlogger James Charles also reported he had lost more than half a million followers on Twitter, while those with smaller followings also reported a fall in numbers.
Instagram responded to the complaints on Wednesday but did not provide an explanation for the issue, writing on Twitter: “We’re aware of an issue that is causing a change in account follower numbers for some people right now.
“We’re working to resolve this as quickly as possible.”
Both Grande and Jenner’s accounts have now returned to their previous follower numbers. However, it has not been made clear if this is due to Instagram having rectified the issue or the two women simply acquiring more followers.
Diet drinks
It seems low-calorie drinks might not be the healthier option after all.
A study, conducted by the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York, has revealed that drinking more than two diet drinks every day could increase your risk of stroke, heart disease and even early death.
The study found that participants who consumed two or more diet drinks a day – including fizzy and fruit-based drinks – saw a 23 per cent increase in their risk of stroke compared to those who consumed fewer than one a week, or none at all.
The drinks were also found to increase a person’s chances of heart disease by 29 per cent, while 16 per cent were more likely to die prematurely.
Speaking to The Independent, lead author of the study Dr Yasmin Mossavar-Rahmani, confirmed that while this research looked specifically at the effects of diet drinks on women, others have shown similar results in men.
“We did the study on the Women’s Health Initiative which consists of a well characterised group of post-menopausal women,” she said.
“Other studies such as the Framingham Offspring Cohort did see association of diet drinks with increased risk of stroke in men and women – so this association has also been seen in men.”
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