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Activist Fashion for the Future✊🏾

I would be remiss not to focus on politics when the rights of women, queer people, and Black people—all of whom have been and continue to be integral to fashion—are newly under threat from the incoming president.

In recognition of that, I have listed some of the most powerful fashion statements from activists below. Hopefully, they’ll inspire you to put on your Sunday best and fight for change too!

1. Suffragettes♀

Women’s suffrage activists in the early 1900s developed a uniform of sorts. Their most recognizable feature was the whiteness of their textiles, which was supposed to symbolize the purity of their goals.

The suffragettes also advocated for more practical women’s clothing. They were some of the first women to boast shorter hemlines and boots en masse, which conveniently helped them march all the way to the ballot box.

2.  Black Panther Party 🐾

In the 1960s, members of the Black Panther Party developed a uniform of their own. Like in many other aspects of life, they used clothes to symbolically reject Eurocentric standards.

The resulting look was a unisex outfit that reflected their militant fight for change and pride in their identity. Berets, sunglasses, and leather jackets were cornerstones of their powerful, easily recognizable uniform. 

3.  Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC)⭐

The well-known liberal politician proved that political statements can transcend the Capitol and land triumphantly on the red carpet. At the 2021 Met Gala, AOC wore a white dress with the words “Tax the Rich” scrawled on the back in big red letters. 

When asked about the message, she clarified that it was a statement on wealthy people being exempt from fair tax discussions, which are typically dominated by tensions between the middle and working classes. The phrase’s power was amplified by the white shade of her dress, which harkens back to the suffrage movement and the many Congresswomen who wear white in their honor. 

4. Environmentalists🌱

Sometimes, the wisest choice is to turn around and question the team you’re cheering for. I’m happy to do just that by reporting on the protests of Extinction Rebellion, or XR, one of many activist groups who have protested fashion companies’ negative environmental impacts.

In 2019, XR staged a protest on the last day of London Fashion Week. Hundreds of protestors donned black clothes with slogans like “Fashion = Ecocide” and “Repair, Rewear, Rebel.” Their funeral-like demonstration successfully brought attention to the fashion industry, which is responsible for ten percent of all greenhouse gas emissions, and increased calls for governments to address climate change. 

With these models in mind, let’s organize and achieve true change, or at least resilience, in the next four years.

🎉 Les Adore Turned One! 🎉

Last weekend, we celebrated Les Adore's one-year anniversary with a cozy, intimate dinner surrounded by the team and close friends who have been part of our journey. It was a special evening of reflection, laughter, and gratitude, honoring the milestones we’ve achieved and the incredible community that’s grown with us.

Thank you to everyone who has supported us and shared in our vision – here’s to many more years of creativity, connection, and inspiration! ✨

This Week’s Reading Recommendations📖

I’ve spent the past week or so being forced to slow down. It was a kind of collision of mind, body, and the world that did it, and I’m still letting it all sink in. Nothing feels more important right now than the act of taking care: of yourself, of others, of the world around us. I’ve picked out a few reminders, ones that I’ve tucked in against my bones and woven in amongst my eyelashes, so that I can’t move without feeling them, can’t blink without seeing them. 

1. “The Carrier Bag Theory of Fiction” 🗺

   Ursula K. Le Guin’s 1986 essay is one of the more powerful things I’ve read recently. It is a story and reminder and warning and promise all in one.I became more human in reading it. She writes in one paragraph on containers and carrying and bringing things back—as opposed to killing and hurting and banging things together—that “if to do that is human, if that’s what it takes, then I am a human being after all. Fully, freely, gladly, for the first time.”

2. “I THINK I AM GOING TO CUT MY HAIR” ✂

   This is a poem, and it is on Tumblr, and it is just one of those things. I am a person who craves change in small doses, and while I’m currently enduring the excruciatingly painful process of growing my hair out, I spent the past year of my life taking a pair of shears to my already-short hair every month, savoring the feeling of letting these pieces of me go. It isn’t New Year’s Eve yet, as the poem says, but still: “i am going to be good this time.”

3. I’ll Give You the Sun ☀

   I wish I could read this again for the first time, just over and over and over again. It is a novel to soak in, to pore over, to be ripped open by. While it is technically YA, it is undoubtedly one of the most stunning meditations on human relationships I have ever read—come to it vulnerable, and you will come away changed. In the starkest of examples, Jandy Nelson writes, “This is what I want: I want to grab my brother’s hand and run back through time, losing years like coats falling from our shoulders.” And I do, I really do. 

Welcome back, everyone. Real ones know that we hit up some favorite spots in the Bay Area a few weeks back; today we’ll be revisiting my home, but this time we’re taking a closer look at my favorite suburban eats in downtown San Mateo, CA. (I don’t live there. I am NOT doxxing myself!)🙈

Standout Successes

1. Izakaya Mai🦉

   1. One thing about me is I love an establishment that’s open late. I’m not sure how you guys have been handling the shift into winter, but here in Ithaca I’ve been sleeping until 3pm and getting up during sunset. Not great!

   2. This wonderful izakaya restaurant is open until midnight most days, and they serve a combination of entrees and izakaya-style small dishes, making it an amazing spot to meet my friends and have some delicious food.

2. Daeho Kalbijim🥘

   1. This kalbijim soup restaurant is one of my favorite things to have at home. It’s a Korean chain that’s best known for their sensational Instagram-worthy kalbijim (braised beef short ribs). 

   2. While their star special is delicious in its own right, my go-to order here is their tteok kalbitang (rice cake short rib soup), which, as far as I know, is a pretty common dish in Korean cuisine. 

   3. It’s amazingly savory and umami with a rich depth of flavor that I don’t often find, and it’s both refreshing and filling at the same time. The soup comes with glass noodles, rice cakes (my fav), and wonderfully tender short ribs. This year I’m thankful for that bowl of soup.

Cake, Coffee, and Caffeine☕

1. Philz☕

   1. Yes, I’ve gone on about my one true love (Philz Coffee) previously, but this time we’re not only here for the coffee but for the vibes.

   2. When you’re a young high schooler, sometimes all you need is to hunker down and cry over college essays with a beautiful cup of coffee after class, and the downtown San Mateo Philz is the place for that.

2. Sweet Moment🍯

   1. If there’s one place you’re GUARANTEED to run into people from highschool, it’s Sweet Moment on 3rd Ave.

   2. This skinny dessert shop became a staple spot in high school because of its juicy popcorn chicken and heavenly fried mochi balls, but it also has great boba and ice cream. All in all, a perfect combo for hungry theater kids after tech rehearsals (totally not me).

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Now You See Me, Now You See Me 2

Magic is not that serious. Still, when you put a bunch of big names in a movie, especially one where Morgan Freeman’s lines are easily quotable, magic becomes enticing and is elevated to a level of seriousness above America’s Got Talent.

Unlike Disney magic that implies a lightness of heart, the Now You See Me franchise places gravity on the idea of magic (even by defying gravity).

Although I love the whole franchise for its flashy entertainment, the tricks in the first Now You See Me were superior because bigger doesn’t always mean better. In my opinion, sequels don’t have to go international plot-wise to make the film feel grander in scale.

However, I do think the second film did a better job of making me feel like I should care about the Horsemen as people and not just be entertained by them.

In times like these, magic can be a good escape from reality. On those grounds, I highly recommend the Now You See Me films. They’ll entertain you, even if it’s just for a brief time. 

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_{See you next week!}