It’s no secret that Generation Rent face tougher financial strain than the generation before them: one in three millennials will never own their home while contending with greater job instability than ever before.

But while all young adults are increasingly struggling with debt – with a quarter of young people in England in debt all the time – it’s worth acknowledging that the issue is disproportionately gendered. A Young Women’s Trust survey of 4,000 18-30-year-olds last year found that young women are more likely to be in a difficult financial situation, with 40% of young women struggling to make their cash last until the end of the month compared to 29% of young men.

This has had a knock-on effect on savings. According to the Office for National Statistics, 53% of 22-29-year-olds had no money in a savings account or ISA between 2014 and 2016, up from 41% between 2008 and 2010.

Crucially, for many young women, their family is a safety net, with one in five relying on their parents to get to the end of the month and many borrowing from their parents well into their late 20s. But what happens when that safety net suddenly disappears?

Jess* is a 27-year-old Londoner whose dream of owning her own place came to an end when a change in her family circumstances forced her to fall back on her life savings. We asked her to tell us about the emotional toll this had on her and what she learned from it.

"Like any young professional, I always dreamed of having my own place, complete with the obligatory overgrown houseplants and crystals. I grew up working class so the idea of buying a house seemed out of reach. But as I reached my early 20s, I figured out that if I stayed in a steady job, I would be able to save for a deposit in three and a half years. I wasn’t on an amazing salary as my industry relied heavily on interns so permanent roles were low paid. For two years, my salary stagnated at £17,000 but I’d always try to make extra cash, whether that was selling old clothes on eBay or going to focus groups, so if I saved enough, I’d be able to get a mortgage for a studio apartment within a few years. My mum wanted me to have a better shot at having my own house as she knew what it was like having an insecure job so didn’t ask me to pay rent but I made sure to help with chores including the laundry, dishes and cleaning the house, which would take up a significant amount of time every weekend.

I forced myself to keep saving. Every month, I’d put around £700 into a separate bank account that I wouldn’t touch unless there was an emergency. The rest was for socialising but there were lots of sacrifices; I didn’t go on holidays, buy new clothes or update my phone. I would feel the occasional twinge of resentment when I saw photos of friends on weekend jaunts to Budapest but even though it was tough, the goal of having somewhere to call my own was more important than a resort holiday or gel manicure. By last June, I’d managed to save around £12,000.

My mum married my stepdad several years ago but last year, his behaviour changed for the worse. Whenever he was around the house, we’d walk on eggshells as we’d never know what mood he’d be in. He’d often threaten violence for the most harmless things – like unwashed cups in the sink – and at least once or twice a week, would smash up the living room so I’d be forced to hide in my room. It started affecting my day-to-day life – I’d come into work and nobody would be any the wiser but I’d be so terrified of having to return home every day. I dreaded weekends as it meant I had to see things for what they were: after work, I would be too exhausted but weekends just showed me how bad the situation really was.

I knew leaving London was out of the question as jobs in my industry were few and far between in other UK cities and it wasn’t possible to work remotely. But it was hard to come up with a thorough plan – I would veer between wanting to leave desperately while also knowing that if I stuck out one more year, I would never look back. And whenever I scrolled through Zoopla, I was put off by all the extra charges: letting fees, deposits and other bills which meant that saving for a deposit would take years longer.

It was hard to shake off the shame – I wanted to confide in friends but I didn’t know how to tell them.

It was hard to shake off the shame – I wanted to confide in friends but I didn’t know how to tell them I was feeling unsafe in my own house. I stayed on because the dream of having my own place seemed to be more important but last summer, the situation escalated to a point that I genuinely thought I wasn’t going to make it out alive and when neighbours called the police, I realised I had to leave.

At this point, my priorities were forced to shift: my personal safety became more important – it genuinely became about survival. I left my mum’s in June and stayed with my cousin, who was aware of the situation, but it wasn’t long 'til I started to feel uncomfortable. I hated feeling like I had to rely on anyone else and as I was on holiday leave, I’d be around most of the day so there was always the expectation that I had to clean the house constantly as a way of repaying her. And whenever her stepdaughter would stay over, I had to book into a hotel for the night. Not only was that eating away at my money but it kept reinforcing that I had nowhere to call home – all I seemed to be doing was living out of boxes.

After what seemed like endless scrolling online, by July I managed to find a one-bed studio in my cousin’s neighbourhood. The rent was more expensive than ones I’d seen by several hundred pounds per month but I decided to take it as it was available immediately and I didn’t want to risk being made homeless if my cousin asked me to leave. I paid six months’ rent in advance and managed to get a discount of a couple of hundred pounds. I was relieved that I finally had a place of my own without any threat of violence or homelessness. I had hoped to put a bit away each month for savings but as I’d picked a place without bills included, I realised a few months in that I was barely adding any money into my savings. Instead, I’d started dipping into my savings to buy furniture, bedding and kitchenware.

Coupled with this, I’d been appointed a new boss at work who ended up having the same bullying and aggression tactics as my stepdad and claimed my work as her own. I complained to HR but felt like I’d gone through so much at this point that I didn’t need to fight for the job, and left.

Adding to this stress was my cousin, who kept turning up uninvited at my house. Though I’d expressed my gratitude several times, I couldn’t shake off the feeling I 'owed' her so when she turned up uninvited, complaining about issues she had with her stepdaughter, I felt forced to lend an ear. I started to dread any kind of celebration, such as her birthday, as I’d have to go well over my budget to buy gifts in case I was accused of being unappreciative, which made me increasingly resentful.

Around the same time, I started dating an initially charming guy who soon quickly turned controlling. I started realising that the experience mirrored my stepdad – and it only took him being offered a job outside London for me to feel safe enough to block him.

By December, the six months' lease on the studio came up and I decided to end the contract. At this point, I’d developed a mentality that everything I’d worked towards had frittered away so I’d adopted a careless approach to spending, dipping into my savings account to buy things I would have avoided before, such as a holiday to Hong Kong, perfumes and beauty products.

And so earlier this year, I decided to move to New York for a fresh start, which ended up creating more issues down the line. I’d assumed I’d be able to get a job quickly but it proved far harder than I thought. After two months of unsuccessfully trying to find a role, paying rent, other expenses such as a removal van and paying for storage for my belongings in London, I decided to pack it all in and return.

The impact of losing everything I’d worked towards has taken an immense toll on me. Whenever I log into my bank account, I’m forced to relive it all over again.

Since then, I’ve moved in with my mum after my stepdad left and I’ve cut off ties with my cousin. The impact of losing everything I’d worked towards has taken an immense toll on me. Whenever I log into my bank account, I’m forced to relive it all over again. And it’s hard not to shake off resentment that friends are starting to buy houses or nearly finished saving for a deposit and won’t encounter any of the trials I did. But despite my setbacks, I’ve landed another job and while I occasionally dip into a buffer fund I’ve created if anything goes wrong again (which has around £2,000 in at present), I’m trying to save again.

For anyone going through a similar situation, I’d advise contacting a charity like StepChange as they’ll be best placed to advise you. I went through a period of blaming myself for everything that happened but I realise now that by keeping quiet about my situation and putting up a pretence to friends that everything was okay, I moved from one bad decision to the next.

Though I hope I’ll never end up in that situation again, there were lots of positives that I learned from it. It taught me the importance of staying within your means – in hindsight it would have been better to get a studio with bills included so I could add something to my savings every month, no matter how small. And if I ever plan on living abroad again, I know it’s better to secure a job beforehand as I ended up spending lots on moving there unnecessarily. And most importantly, it showed me just how important having a savings account is when you’re trying to leave an abusive household."

According to a representative of StepChange, young people make up a growing proportion of their clients, with under-25s representing 14% of the people they saw in 2018, and with an average outstanding debt of £6,277. Young people are also more likely to have insecure or irregular income, which can put them at greater risk of problem debt. Their advice to anyone struggling with problem debt is to contact a free and impartial debt charity and not to ignore the problem.

For impartial advice on dealing with debt, head to StepChange.

*Name has been changed to protect the subject's identity

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Welcome to It’s Lit – a series of discussions about books. Join us every month to find out who’s reading what.

With more than 20 years of experience working with books in almost every field imaginable – as a publicist, agent, bookshop owner, literary scout and books editor – publisher Sharmaine Lovegrove still has an unbridled affection for the formative years she spent as a bookseller. "There is nothing quite like that pleasure of helping someone choose something to read and knowing they’re going to spend all that time with it," she says.

Just 16 years old when she started selling secondhand books under Waterloo Bridge, Lovegrove has worked at "every type of bookshop you can think of: Foyles, The London Review, Waterstones – I even worked at a WHSmith in Wimbledon," she laughs. In 2009, she opened an English language bookshop in Berlin, Dialogue Books.

"I didn’t speak any German and I didn’t really have any money but I did have a very strong idea and a massive amount of conviction in my ability as a bookseller," says Lovegrove, who spent seven years in Berlin before she moved back to the UK. When I ask her why she moved back, she replies simply that it was time. "As I’ve become more of an activist, I’ve become more aware of certain hypocrisies, like does it really matter that there’s a thriving English language lit scene in Berlin? Or should we put our energy into the Turkish-German population who’ve been told for the last 25 years that their German isn’t good enough and they’re not supposed to be there?"

Asking what she calls "the bigger questions" is central to Lovegrove’s current role as publisher at Dialogue Books, an inclusive imprint that champions writers from BAME, LGBT+ and disabled backgrounds. "I’m constantly thinking about who books and stories are for and how we can make storytelling more accessible," she explains.

We visited Lovegrove at her Bristol home to find out more about her work as a publisher, why book clubs get a bad rep in the literary world and discovered that once a bookseller, always a bookseller.

What are you reading right now?

I’m rereading American Spy, which is coming out in hardback in July. I’m reading it while watching Deutschland 83 because it’s just so fascinating how this part of the cold war is focused on Africa and it’s not something that people know about. I’m also rereading Cygnet by Season Butler and Elizabeth Day’s How To Fail, which is nonfiction and is based on her podcast. It’s a really interesting look at what it means to fail and I think she’s a really inspirational person. Lastly, I’m reading Queenie by Candice Carty-Williams about a young woman and modern dating, modern living and modern London. The woman in it is Jamaican and it’s set in south London and it’s very reminiscent of my 20s – it’s making me feel really homesick reading it.

What were you reading as a young woman?

I was reading a lot of Milan Kundera, I read everything he wrote. I was maybe 16 but I still remember those stories really clearly. I read Camus and Jean Genet; I was working in bookshops so I had access to incredible literature and I was spending a lot of time in Battersea and Chelsea with really clever people. The thing about old posh white men is that they’re really well read and they can tell you about books that other people can’t because that’s the virtue of having a really good education: you’ve read a lot.

I was never into 19th century classics, I never read Hardy or Austen. I’ve never been interested in British class in that way, or Victorian posh people falling in love. It’s not my thing. I think that’s why I like Max Porter’s work so much because I’m interested in everyday lives and how people propel themselves forward in the face of adversity. The extraordinary in the ordinary. That’s what I love about fiction and the writers who are trying to work that stuff out.

When and where do you read?

I sit on that sofa, I spend a lot of my time reading there. Also on the London to Bristol train. It feels so unbelievably indulgent – there’s this beautiful countryside and the light is so good and you can just sit and read. I can’t read in bed anymore because I just fall asleep. It’s different now I have to think about what I want to publish: it’s a new way of reading.

How do you find authors to publish?

Through submissions parties – they’re sort of like open mic nights but more organised than that. I tend to go to a lot of different things and read a lot of different things; in magazines, on Twitter even – I find people that way.

What about Instagram?

Yeah, I think it’s interesting; framing people who have already framed themselves. You need to be careful though because some people aren’t ready even if they have a platform and they already have a book, they need a certain maturity. Look at someone like Sally Rooney: she just arrived on the scene and is such a brilliant writer so I don’t think it’s about age, it’s about focus. I think you have to be really quiet as a writer and spend a lot of time by yourself and be a really good listener. I’m not sure that the celebrity influencer thing goes hand-in-hand with that. And that’s not to say it couldn’t, it’s just there’s a lot of people who don’t have access to that who we’re missing.

A lot of debut writers will say: "Do I need to have a platform before publishing?" I tell them that you just need to write a lot and read a lot. There’s definitely writers who haven’t read enough.

Have you ever been part of a book club?

Yes. One way I’ve been making new friends in Bristol is going to different book clubs. I still can’t believe it’s the only way I could come up with to meet other people but I really enjoy it; we read a lot that I would hear about but not have the time to read. Like Tara Westover’s Educated, which I had wanted to read for so long, and Warlight by Michael Ondaatje. I like finding out why people chose them – this idea that readers are somehow separate to us in the industry is just bizarre. The industry can be so snobby and pretentious sometimes. What’s wrong with sitting around with a group of people you don’t know, or do know for that matter, and talking about books?

I also host 'Rewriting the Canon' book club with gal-dem at Liberty once a month. It’s like a course and we look at the canon which is male, stale and pale and come up with 12 alternative books. It’s my favourite thing I do.

Which three books would you recommend to a stranger?

Because I was a bookseller that’s a really hard question for me. I always want to know what people love and what they don’t like. Shall I do it for you? I can do a book doctor session of sorts! Tell me three books you’ve read recently that you loved and one you didn’t.

I’ve just read Zadie Smith’s On Beauty for the second time and My Name Is Lucy Barton by Elizabeth Strout, which was actually a bit disappointing but usually I love her. Before that, the last thing I really enjoyed was probably Sharlene Teo’s Ponti. I’m struggling to think of a book I didn’t like that I read recently, though – I usually move on to something else if I’m not enjoying it after a few chapters. This is a huge generalisation but I’m not a big fan of historical fiction, I guess.

Okay, so I’d say you’re quite literary in your tastes but you also look for authors that are experimental with their writing. I think all the books you just described combine musings of the everyday with a little bit extra something else that makes them magical and I think that you like the depth of character as well. I’d go for My Year of Rest and Relaxation by Ottessa Moshfegh because you like Elizabeth Strout. It’s a beautifully written collection of short stories written in the vein of Lydia Davis and Anton Chekhov. And then because you like On Beauty I think you’d enjoy Here Comes the Sun by Nicole Dennis-Benn. It’s a totally different type of book so this would be like your wild card. This book is about a young woman in Jamaica who’s not happy with herself or her life. If you like Zadie Smith I think you’ll like this. Finally, I’d recommend The Leavers by Lisa Ko if you liked Ponti.

How do you find out about what to read next?

I don’t read many reviews unless they’re work-related. They’re only important when they’re good! I really like recommendations from readers, or if an agent or an editor that I respect says something was really good and they didn’t publish it, I pay attention. But readers from outside the industry are the most important. If you look at some of the biggest selling books in this country, they don’t actually get reviewed in newspapers. Like Clare Mackintosh, she’s always a Sunday Times bestseller but I don’t think she ever gets reviews.

Do you have a favourite bookshop?

I love the bookshop that has just opened around the corner from me that’s called Storysmith. The atmosphere is great and I really like the selection. There’s lots of things I’ve seen in there that I would otherwise forget about. It’s small and perfectly formed. I really love Libreria just off Brick Lane. They have the most incredible selection and it’s hugely imaginative. I like the fact that they’re very nonfiction-focused as well, it’s very inspiring and they’re always blurring the lines about what books are and what narratives are. I also love Pages of Hackney, I think they’re really important, and New Beacon Books; they’re a bookshop focusing on black writers in north London and I think they’re really culturally relevant. Also I think there should be more activist bookshops like Lighthouse Bookshop in Edinburgh – they swing from being super avant-garde to right-on and relevant, and I just think they’ve got a really great ethos.

When you opened Dialogue Books in Berlin, what was your starting point?

The thing I really wanted to do was have 2,500 books that were representative of the best collection you could have: If you had your own home library, what would it be and what would it look like? That was a really interesting challenge to set myself and obviously it just keeps evolving and changing.

What was the first book on the list?

I think The Shape of a Pocket by John Berger was probably really high up there. I may have started with nonfiction because I studied anthropology and politics. I think nonfiction helps us understand how we see the world and gives us answers to how everything works – I find that deeply fascinating and very important. It’s so funny now to think about it because I remember I wanted the fiction section to be really international and because we were in Germany, it was really important to me to have lots of translations. But now people don’t want you to organise books by country or culture, they think it should all fall under fiction, but I was really interested in where books come from.

How do you organise your own bookshelves?

I have a whole bay dedicated to people of colour, which is really important when trying to understand the narratives and the stories that we are telling and, for me as a publisher, to think about what is missing from that and what the stories are that I can’t see.

Is there a book you relate to more than others?

Ordinary People by Diana Evans is most reflective of my experience of being a black Londoner. I love that book so much.

Is there a book you revisit often?

Yeah, and it’s probably the book I recommend the most, it’s called This Blinding Absence of Light by Tahar Ben Jelloun. I reckon I have at least four copies of it at any one time because I’m always buying it and giving it away. It’s the book I come back to the most. That and James Baldwin.

Sharmaine’s Reading List

American Spy: A Novel by Lauren Wilkinson
Cygnet by Season Butler
How To Fail: Everything I've Ever Learned From Things Going Wrong by Elizabeth Day
Queenie by Candice Carty-Williams
The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera
Lanny by Max Porter
Conversations with Friends by Sally Rooney
Educated by Tara Westover
Warlight by Michael Ondaatje
My Year of Rest and Relaxation by Ottessa Moshfegh
Here Comes the Sun by Nicole Dennis-Benn
The Leavers by Lisa Ko
After the End by Clare Mackintosh
The Shape of a Pocket by John Berger
Ordinary People by Diana Evans
This Blinding Absence of Light by Tahar Ben Jelloun
Going to Meet the Man by James Baldwin

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Once a staple of any girls' night out look (jeans and a nice top anyone?), it's likely that your peplum tops have not seen the light of day for years; stuck in the back of your wardrobe gathering dust alongside other 2012 rejects.

Like broderie anglaise, puffed sleeves and prairie dressing, the peplum's return is thanks to 2019's romantic mood. Danish designer Cecilie Bahnsen played with a childlike silhouette for SS19, sending out models in full peplum maxi skirts and babydoll dresses in soft white and florals. Peplum details were also spotted at Ryan Lo's fairytale-inspired collection, edging Proenza Schouler's Western designs and Tory Burch's flowy dresses.

Forget what you know about the old peplum; the new peplum is refined and grown-up. Hemlines are dropped from the waist and ruffles are more subdued. Tiered peplum hems adorn easy maxi dresses and skirts, making for an ideal summer holiday wardrobe. Just add simple leather sandals and a wide-brimmed hat, and you're set.

We're drawing inspiration from ARIAS' SS19 look book (particularly its button-front maxi skirts), The Vampire's Wife and Staud, which both have a host of pretty peplum-detailed dresses.

Click on for our favourite peplum pieces.

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We may not be getting a woman James Bond any time soon (sigh), but at least Killing Eve and Fleabag creator Phoebe Waller-Bridge is making sure that the ladies of the 007 universe are treated like actual human beings.

The James Bond franchise (which is going into its 25th film) has long been criticised for sexism. While there are exceptions (such as Judi Dench's M) the women of the James Bond universe have not always received their due on screen. Many women over the course of the franchise's long history have been treated as nothing more than eye candy, while others were quickly discarded victims of violence.

Waller-Bridge — who, as an actress, stars in Fleabag and last year appeared in Star Wars: A Solo Stor y — opened up to the Hollywood Reporter ' s Awards Chatter podcast about her new job writing the next James Bond film. Waller-Bridge is one of several writers on the project, and reportedly secured the job after discussing with returning star Daniel Craig how she would polish the script with a touch of added humour. One thing she made clear that she will definitely do on the podcast? Treat the Bond Girls well.

"It's mainly about making [the Bond girls] feel like real people, you know? Which they do in the previous films," Waller-Bridge said on the podcast.

She added that she thinks the current iteration of Bond films, starring Craig, are already on the right track.

"I think Daniel's films have had really fantastic Bond girls, so it's just keeping it up."

It's hard to imagine Waller-Bridge's Bond story being anything but feminist. Her TV series, while vastly different in subject matter, feature complex, nuanced women, who aren't afraid to toe the line (or sometimes just downright cross it) when it comes to societal norms.

The Bond girls are in good hands with Waller-Bridge. The 25th film in the Bond franchise hits cinemas in 2020.

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The Recording Academy, who host the Grammy Awards, are stepping up. The group's board of trustees have appointed the Academy's first ever woman President and CEO, Deborah Dugan, who will assume the role on 1st August. That's right, the Recording Academy, which was founded in 1957, just appointed its first woman leader. It took 62 years, but finally — it happened.

Dugan has a long history in and connections with the music industry, having served as the president of Disney Publishing worldwide and executive vice president of the EMI Group/Angel Records. Most recently, she was the CEO of (Red), the AIDS nonprofit co-founded by Bono (yeah, from U2) and activist Bobby Shriver.

Her appointment follows the formation of a Diversity and Inclusion Task Force, headed by Tina Tchen, who instituted a series of reforms, including inviting hundreds of new voting members from underrepresented populations, that were aimed at diversifying the nominees in 2019 and beyond.

Dugan replaces the outgoing, longtime Academy President and CEO, Neil Portnow, who announced he would be resigning last June. Portnow infamously suggested women needed to "step up" following questions after the 2018 ceremony as to why so few women were nominated for awards and given performance slots in the telecast. Protests and calls for his resignation and firing came from all over the music industry, from women who serve as the heads of record labels, management firms, publishing houses, and artists. Rather than pushing the issue and firing him, the Academy allowed Portnow to announce he would relinquish the position after serving for another year and a half and allowed him to preside over the 2019 Grammys.

"Why is he being afforded such an elegant departure, and why did it take so long to get him out? Yet another frustrating example of women not being considered or supported. Nevertheless I am thrilled the Academy finally did the right thing, and he is kneeling down. About bloody time," Shirley Manson, the lead singer of Garbage, told Refinery29 at the time Portnow's resignation was announced.

"The goal of the Recording Academy is to support, encourage, and advocate for those within the music community," Dugan said in a statement released by the Recording Academy. "I will listen to and champion all of those individuals, and lead this iconic organisation into the future. I'm excited to get started."

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I was standing at Cipriani’s in New York celebrating another year with my law firm and talking with a brilliant colleague who had just been elected to the firm’s partnership. It was 2006. Over celebratory clinking of glasses, my newly-minted-partner friend whispered to me that she was pregnant with her first child, followed with a quip about how she had timed it perfectly because her partnership was now secure. I was a motherless 26-year-old and this was the first time that I was privy to the reality facing many professional women in America: the attempt to “time” a pregnancy so as not to hurt our chances of ascending the corporate ladder.

More than a decade and four pregnancies of my own later (that’s a whole other article, I’m sure), the only thing that surprises me about that conversation is that we as a society still fail to openly acknowledge the stunning bias against mothers in the workplace, whether they work in the law (like I did), the service industry, or education. The consequences are dire to all working mothers. The facts are plain: Women are less likely to be promoted than men, and women with children are less likely to be promoted than women without children. In 2014, sociologist Dr. Michelle J. Budig wrote: "For most men, the fact of fatherhood results in a wage bonus; for most women motherhood results in a wage penalty. While the gender pay gap has been decreasing, the pay gap related to parenthood is increasing.”

There is even a term for all of this: the maternal wall. And yet even this is not common vernacular. I didn’t learn about this nearly impossible wall placed in front of mothers until it was built firmly in my path, and I couldn’t figure out a way through. At the same time, I read Sheryl Sandberg’s Lean In, where a footnote (a footnote!) stopped me in my tracks: “43% of highly qualified women with children are leaving careers, or off-ramping, for a period of time.”

Eventually, I became a statistic, deciding that my only way around the roadblock was to “off-ramp,” and leave my lawyering career behind. (I made this choice despite the fact that I was still paying off my law school loans, which, it turns out, aren’t discounted by gender even though the wage gap tells me my salary was.) I started my own company — focused on women and work, naturally — The Riveter. Many women are making the same choice, and “pivoting,” also now-common vernacular. Women are starting businesses at five times the rate of men. And despite the fact that the bias mothers see in traditional workplaces carries over to entrepreneurship in the form of lack of access to funds — for businesses both small and large — mothers are still showing stunning success.

Anne Wojcicki, the cofounder and CEO of 23andme, has been named the most “daring CEO in America,” and welcomed two children in the very first years of her wildly successful company. Stacy Brown-Philpot has more than doubled the size of TaskRabbit as CEO, all while raising her two daughters. Jennifer Hyman’s Rent the Runway hit unicorn-status (connoting a $1B valuation) while she was nine months pregnant with her second child.

If one thing is clear from all of this, it is that women can grow companies while they are growing humans. And even the mothers who remain in the boardrooms of our modern day Fortune 500s are demonstrating to all that traditional ideas of motherhood as a weakness are flatly wrong. We’ve seen dozens of women simultaneously manage elementary school calendars and guide the margins of the largest American companies up and to the right. Susan Wojcicki, Anne’s older sister, was named CEO of YouTube in 2014, the same year she welcomed her fifth child. When Indra Nooyi was named CEO of PepsiCo in 2006 her second daughter was just 13.

Given all of this, there is only one question: Why does the maternal wall still stand strong? Women are leaders, and motherhood is a strength, not a weakness. Motherhood teaches us to embrace the unknown, to look at each day with efficiency top of mind, to lead with empathy, to embrace the unpredictable, and to communicate clearly. Each of these traits define great leaders, and we should demand more of these characteristics in the future of the American workplace. Trust me, I know. It’s 5:00 a.m. on a Sunday, and my children will be up soon. I’ll spend the day with them before I turn my laptop on again and prepare for the week ahead. This is my normal, and it’s one in which I’ve managed to scale a company from an idea to a national platform with over 50 employees and millions in revenue in less than two years. (And, truly, while growing humans. I am 35 weeks pregnant with my fourth daughter.)

I understand why all those years ago my colleague waited to have a child until she had reached the pinnacle of her career. But I can’t understand why we’re still in the same position. We can do better. We must do better.

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Every summer, shocking pictures of post-festival clean-up operations do the rounds on social media and shock us all. Next year, we vow, we won't forget to do our bit to clear up after ourselves. We'll recycle our plastic bottles and take our £20 tents home after the festival fun has ended – but then the hangover kicks in and we forget.

So it's helpful that festivals – one in particular – will be encouraging attendees to adopt greener habits this year. Glastonbury Festival – which will see 135,000 people descend on Somerset's Worthy Farm over five days from 26th June – is taking revolutionary steps to reduce how much plastic waste it produces.

In February the festival, which works closely with charity partner Greenpeace, announced it would be banning the sale of single-use plastic bottles on the premises for the first time. Attendees won't be able to buy non-reusable bottles anywhere on site and they'll no longer be supplied or available in the backstage, production, catering and dressing room areas, while the number of water refill stations will treble.

"Greenpeace advise that by far the best way to avoid plastic pollution is to reduce plastic usage. With more than one million plastic bottles sold at Glastonbury 2017, we feel that stopping their sale is the only way forward," the organisers said.

It gets better. This week Glastonbury revealed that a whole dance arena in the festival’s Shangri-La area will be made from plastic waste found on beaches, streets and in parks in Cornwall, Devon and Somerset, the BBC reported.

Ten tonnes of plastic waste will be used to construct the 'Gas Tower' 360-degree arena, which will host sets by artists and DJs including Sub Focus and Bicep. The rubbish will be collected in beach clean-ups beginning this month, before it's processed by Exeter City Council and recycled into materials to build the stage.

Keep Britain Tidy, which is working on the project alongside the Orca Sound Project and Shangri-La Glastonbury, described it as a "ground-breaking project" that will see tonnes of plastic removed from our environment, where it wreaks havoc on wildlife and marine life, "and put to good use".

While Glastonbury is by far the biggest festival fighting against single-use plastics this year, other smaller events are, happily, following suit. This week, more than 60 independent festivals urged shops to stop marketing tents as single-use items, or "festival tents", as such language perpetuates the idea that festival-goers only need to use them once.

"I think many people believe they'll go to charities and the reality is that most won't – they will go to landfill with no other option," said Paul Reed, chief executive of the Association of Independent Festivals. The average tent is comprised of mostly plastic – an amount equivalent to 8,750 straws or 250 pint cups, the group said.

With the war on single-use plastics and the concept of "festival tents" stepping up a gear in 2019, it's only a matter of time before our entrenched beliefs are rewritten entirely.

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Something surprising happens when you tell Kathryn Newton that you think she’s great in a role: Her expressive blue eyes widen, she leans closer and then half-squeals, “Really?! You liked it?” It’s seemingly earnest and shocking to hear, because Newton is about to be everywhere. She isn’t a rising star, or future “it” girl — she’s the star of the summer, so get ready to play her on repeat.

Let’s run through her roster: There’s Pokémon Detective Pikachu , out May 10, where Newton plays an ambitious journalist opposite Justice Smith and a backpack-sized Ryan Reynolds as Pikachu. That same day, season one of The Society drops on Netflix (she’s the lead character — a bold, courageous, and scared shitless 17-year-old running a town of unruly teens). Then, less than a month later in June, Big Little Lies season two (in which she plays Abigail, daughter to Reese Witherspoon’s Madeline) will premiere on Sky Atlantic — she also wrapped her final season on Supernatual. Add that to films she’s had come out already in the past year ( Blockers, Ben Is Back). Are you tired yet? Because she’s not.

Seated across from me on an orange couch in the Refinery29 New York office the day after the Pokémon Detective Pikachu premiere (the one where Blake Lively revealed her third pregnancy), Newton is buzzing with energy. She is psyched about...everything.

Ahead, Newton discusses Psyduck Pokémon memes, fangirling over Big Little Lies, and making a rom-com with her frequent co-star and friend Lucas Hedges. (Literally, please.)

Refinery29: I heard in an interview that you had to choose between this and Big Little Lies, and you went with Detective Pikachu.

Kathryn Newton: “It was a great problem to have. I was freaking out. I felt like I was going to cry, and I called Reese [Witherspoon] and I was crying. I was such a fan of Pokémon, and I loved my character. When I told Reese my character she was like, ‘You need to do this.’ I knew I had to do both, so it wasn’t like I picked Pikachu over Big Little Lies, but I felt it in my heart that I needed to play this role and I knew I didn’t want to lose it because of a schedule thing. I’m grateful it all worked out.”

You couldn’t anticipate them both coming out around the same time, which I’m sure is both stressful and exciting.

“Yeah, it is. I saw some of Big Little Lies and it looks really good. So good. I just love the Monterey Five. I’m obsessed. I’m a fangirl of theirs.”

Your Pokémon, Psyduck, is so funny. He has been memed so much already.

“Psyduck is such a break-out star. I feel like people are going to walk away with him as the favourite. He’s my favourite now. People are like, you need to pick a different favourite, and I’m like, I can’t. He is my guy.”

In Supernatural, you did a lot of stunts, but this Detective Pikachu action scene is insane.

“When I signed onto the project, I had no idea that we would be doing any stunts. I trained for a couple weeks. That big action sequence took two weeks to film, and then we went to Scotland for two weeks and filmed [more]. It was a lot — I felt like I was on that show Wipe Out. We were in harnesses all the time so I felt like I was in a swing. I’m telling you, this movie brought me back to my childhood. On my first day of school, I had a Pikachu backpack and now in the movie I have Psyduck on my back, so it’s like I was training for this movie.”

When you and Justice Smith were filming with your Pokémons, what exactly were you looking at?

“They had realistic Pikachus that weighed the same and are furry. My favorite Pikachu was a squishy one — he didn’t have any fur, but his nose was squishy. We used him the most. Then there was a green one, and a blue one. Same for Psyduck. I also had someone named Lauren who played Psyduck [as a stand-in]. She wore a green suit and she would say Psyduck’s lines. At the end of the day, there were takes when there was nothing there, but those were the most fun because I could use my imagination. I give it up to Justice, because without him I don’t know that I could have done it. We took it really seriously.”

The Society is very different than Big Little Lies and Detective Pikachu.

“I worked on it for three months in Boston. I lived on a farm. It was fun because I got to have everyone come over all the time, and we would have big dinners. It was the better version of The Society, because we were all young and free and didn’t really have any authority figures. My character [Allie] is such a reluctant reader and she has to make choices that no one should ever have to make, ever. I don’t ever want that responsibility. I’m not like Allie at all.”

But you do like characters that have similar qualities: brave, powerful, outspoken.

“I do...you’re right. I felt like she was a king. I liked that about her. It is not stereotypical. She’s not asking anyone to save her. She’s trying to save others. Our creator Chris Keyser drew from queens like Katherine the Great. We went back to medieval times. I also read Animal Farm because I wanted to learn the politics of it. I had to do a lot of research because I wanted it to feel real.”

I actually saw Justice in a play a while ago where he acts opposite Lucas Hedges, Yen.

“I got Pokémon while I was working with Lucas on Ben Is Back and he gave me a Game Boy with a Pokémon game as my wrap gift. I was like, this is the best thing ever.”

And you’ve played his sister before in Three Billboards, and you were also in Lady Bird together. Is this all coincidence?

“This is all coincidence! We never get to see each other because we’re always on the other side of the world filming, and I joke that we need to make another movie together in order to hang out again. And basically, yes, we do. I keep telling him we should do a rom-com, like, let’s do something funny this time and switch it up.”

Everyone deserves a rom-com.

"Everyone deserves a rom-com! A really good rom-com. I am ready for one."

via GIPHY

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It’s official! It has now been confirmed by the world’s largest luxury group, LVMH, that they are indeed launching a label with pop star turned fashion mogul Rihanna. Simply called Fenty, Bad Gal Ri Ri will debut a range of ready-to-wear, accessories, sunglasses, and jewellery this spring.

"Designing a line like this with LVMH is an incredibly special moment for us. Mr Arnault has given me a unique opportunity to develop a fashion house in the luxury sector, with no artistic limits. I couldn’t imagine a better partner both creatively and business-wise, and I’m ready for the world to see what we have built together” Rihanna tells Business of Fashion. She'll debut her first fashion collection for the label on 22nd May in Paris.

Rumours began to swirl earlier this year that Queen Rihanna's next launch was going to be something a little bit bigger than just Fenty-branded sunglasses.

WWD reported that according to multiple sources, the mogul was working with French luxury conglomerate LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton to launch a luxury house under her name. It's the first time LVMH has launched a brand new label since Christian Lacroix in 1987.

The pairing makes sense. In 2015, Rihanna appeared in Christian Dior's "Secret Garden IV" ad shot at Versailles, the first Black woman to front a campaign for the French fashion house. She also created a line of Dior sunglasses in 2016. What's more, the singer launched Fenty Beauty by Rihanna under the Kendo, LVMH's incubator that produces products that ultimately end up in Sephora, or in this case, change the way beauty products are marketed.

Sources tell WWD Rihanna is a "hands-on type" who is very involved in the range's product development (she was reportedly said to be the same way while creating for Puma and Savage x Fenty). It is believed LVMH started forming a team six months ago, handpicking employees from Louis Vuitton and Celine to work on the fashion house's ready-to-wear, leather goods and accessories. And hold on to your Fenty x Savage hats: the line is to be released in tandem with her ninth album expected to drop later this year.

We already can't wait to be phresh off of Rihanna's runway.

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With its focus on work-life balance, generous state-backed childcare and equal workplace rights, Denmark is consistently ranked as one of the most gender equal countries in the world. These socioeconomic factors, combined with the enviably aesthetic lifestyle – the playful fashion, peerless baked goods and of course, hygge – make it seem like a highly desirable country in which to be a young woman in 2019.

However, it turns out that Denmark might not be as forward-thinking as it seems. Just one in six Danes – and just one quarter of women in the country – consider themselves a feminist, according to a new survey of more than 25,000 people in 23 major countries by the YouGov-Cambridge Globalism Project, reported by the Guardian. By surprising contrast, this proportion is far lower than in Britain, where more than a quarter of people identify as feminist.

Danes' attitudes towards street harassment and the #MeToo movement are also not as progressive as you might think. The research found that a third believe wolf-whistling at women in the street is acceptable (compared to a quarter in Britain), while two fifths disapprove of #MeToo (versus fewer than a fifth in Britain).

In the UK and the US at least, the stigma attached to the word 'feminist' has been eroded largely due to the way it's been embraced by celebrities and commercialised by fashion and beauty brands. In some circles, it's now taboo not to enthusiastically identify as a feminist and so many celebrities have declared their feminist credentials that we've lost count. So why do so many Danish people, women included, take issue with the word?

For many, it's not that they don't believe in equal rights and opportunities for men and women, but because they don't believe the word itself speaks to them. Previous research by YouGov in the UK found that working-class women were less likely to identify with the 'feminist' label compared to those in managerial, administrative and professional occupations, despite being just as likely to support equal rights.

Race can also play a part in how likely people are to identify with the term – research on US millennials found that more than twice as many white women (26%) identified as feminist compared to Hispanic women (12%), and only 46% of African-American women think feminism has improved the lives of women who aren't white. Three quarters of respondents, by contrast, said the movement had done "a lot" or "some" to enhance white women's lives.

Judging from what several Danish millennial women told Refinery29, it seems that in Denmark, the word 'feminist' may hold less sway than in the UK because of its lingering negative connotations, the belief among many women that the fight for gender equality has already been won, and due to a cultural fear of appearing easily offended or 'extreme'.

Danes don't call themselves feminists because they think the title will stigmatise them as free-bleeders or fourth wave feminists or whatever.

Marie Hoffmann, 25, a journalism student in Aarhus who does identify as feminist, says she's not surprised by the latest data, citing negative stereotypes that are still attached to the label among her peers in Denmark. Many people, despite supporting the cause, "don't use the title because it will stigmatise them as free-bleeders or fourth wave feminists or whatever is in the media. They won't use the label because they don't want to seem extreme."

She's clear that Denmark is not the egalitarian utopia that many outsiders consider it to be. "Maybe there are less feminists because we have it good here, but I think it is mostly because Danish people don't want to be extreme in any way."

Indeed, a cultural pressure not to put your head above the parapet and appear outwardly political may explain many Danes' reluctance to identify with feminism. Siri Jonina Egede, 32, a sociologist in Copenhagen who would "never hesitate" to label herself a feminist, believes many Danish people "are really afraid of what we refer to as 'krænkelseskultur', which translates to 'culture of offending/violating'. This word is used negatively to describe a rhetoric culture where people can voice their concerns of feeling violated."

This may also explain a wider – and, in Jonina Egede's opinion, misplaced – distaste for identity politics in the country. "Again and again I hear politicians and the average Dane complain that if we have to listen and react to every individual who feels offended or – being a woman, a person of colour, a sexual minority or other minorities or disadvantaged individuals – there will be no end to it. So labelling yourself as feminist for example is, wrongly, seen as extreme."

The average Dane complains that if we have to listen to every individual who feels offended – be they a woman, person of colour, or sexual minority – there will be no end to it.

Jonina Egede urges her fellow Danes to look to Swedish politics and rhetoric as an example to follow. The YouGov-Cambridge Globalism Project found that 16% of men and 34% of women in Sweden held "very favourable" opinions of the #MeToo movement (compared to just 4% and 8% of Danish men and women, and 19% and 24% across all 19 countries surveyed). "I do believe Denmark to be quite the egalitarian example, but unfortunately that also means we Danes might wrongly believe that we don't have to concern ourselves with certain issues, which is of course dangerous in terms of ensuring and protecting human rights in the future," adds Jonina Egede.

Modern feminism has become too commercialised, messy and radicalised in the wrong areas.

Other Danish women take issue with the way the modern feminist movement has become fragmented, hollowed out and adopted by big business. "Modern feminism is hard to define. I find myself constantly questioning whether I actually am a feminist and what does it even mean to be a feminist today?" says 20-year-old Emma Jepsen, a Danish student and barista who believes it has "become too commercialised, messy and radicalised in the wrong areas".

Like the others, Jepsen also believes many Danish women fail to see how the aims of feminism apply to their lives in an already relatively equal country. "Denmark is a very liberated country in many ways, and Danish women have always had the attitude that they can do what a man can do, and that a man should do as a woman does. Often, there is the idea that there isn’t a need for feminism in Denmark, so therefore we’re not feminists." As a result, "things that could be considered 'feminist' aren’t actually seen as feminist, it’s just seen as normal."

While in some countries, like the UK and the US, an unwillingness to outwardly identify as a feminist is often taken to mean that you're either a "fake feminist" with a lack of commitment to the cause, or a straight-up misogynist, in Denmark there's less social pressure to attach yourself to the label. "I don't believe that claiming not to be a feminist automatically makes you a misogynist," says Hannah Søndergaard, 25, a master's student in Aarhus. "I simply think that the Danes participating in the [YouGov-Cambridge] study have another conception of what feminism is and does than in many other countries."

I don't believe that claiming not to be a feminist automatically makes you a misogynist.

If you were to ask a Dane on the street 'What is a feminist?' Søndergaard believes most people would say: "A person who actively, systematically and often engages in feminist issues. If that is what they believe a feminist to be, in most cases it wouldn't be right to answer 'yes' to being one. That does not mean that they are not a feminist in the sense that they believe all genders should have equal rights."

Denmark is a country comprised of "regular people with faults like all other countries, and therefore cannot be a utopia," Søndergaard asserts. That said, she feels lucky to have been born a Dane. "I have a lot of possibilities, I can walk in the streets alone at night without worrying, and the welfare system will make sure I never find myself as poor as so many others are. But it is not a perfect system, and I worry daily about the rising of mindless racism here. Denmark is, of course, not a perfect country, but many of us try to make it a good one."

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The fashion industry has undergone a seismic shift thanks to Instagram, where independent direct-to-consumer labels have grown a loyal following of fashion obsessives by offering once-a-week shopping windows of small-batch collections, fostering a cult audience that lives by the mantra: "If you know, you know."

Trust Elizabeth von der Goltz, Net-A-Porter's global buying director, to be ahead of the sartorial curve with this change of mood. Exclusively snapping up seven of the most successful Insta brands, the luxury fashion retailer has provided a platform for loyal and new customers alike to buy into the zeitgeist's coolest indie labels.

"With a global audience of 2 million Instagram followers between them, these are the cult brands of the moment, who have a fiercely dedicated fanbase," Elizabeth explains. "We are so excited to be able to offer our customers a way of being 'in' their close-knit communities."

From sweet puff-sleeved blouse brand MaisonCléo to silk dress aficionados Art Dealer, click through to find the brands to shop at Net-A-Porter this summer.

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Over his 25-year career, there are few stones that Louis Theroux has left unturned. The UK’s most beloved documentary-maker has tackled everything from polyamory to assisted death, eating disorders and sex trafficking – and that’s just in the last couple of years. His distinct, unassuming charm and curiosity now turns to the early challenges of motherhood, and sheds light on an under-explored experience that many women in Britain are living through.

Louis Theroux: Mothers On The Edge introduces us to mums struggling with severe mental illness in the wake of giving birth. On the specialist mother and baby unit of London’s Bethlem Hospital, Theroux meets first-time mum Catherine and her 6-month-old son Jake. After his birth she struggled with severe anxiety and depression, and was later admitted by a psychiatric perinatal team to the hospital, where she’s been under section for four weeks.

"I think I’ve had a lot of issues bubbling under the surface for most of my life and it just exacerbates it, having a baby," Catherine tells Theroux in the film. "It’s such a massive change in your life as well and no one can ever prepare you for that." She explains that she has struggled to bond with baby Jake, and the pressure to make it seem like she’s managing well doesn’t help either. Using her Instagram page filled with beautiful and emotive photos of Jake as an example, she says: "It’s almost I have to pretend everything’s okay [on Instagram] in that I have to tell everyone that I can cope when at home it’s a completely different story."

Catherine and Jake live together on the hospital site where she can be under 24-hour observation by the staff while still considered to be at risk of harming herself. In Bethlem’s centre, Theroux also introduces us to Barbara, who has very recently been admitted to the unit with postpartum psychosis. Much like the estimated one in 1,000 new mothers who suffer from postpartum psychosis, Barbara had no history of mental illness until experiencing hallucinations after giving birth.

Bethlem’s lead psychiatrist, Dr Trudi Seneviratne tells Theroux that we’re really lucky here in Britain because we have a growing number of mother and baby units. "And actually, we know that it’s good for both of them, mother and baby, to be treated together. To sever that biological connection and the psychological connection would be a disaster." Between interviews with experts, the mothers experiencing extreme mental illness and their partners, we’re given a stark and emotional view of just how much the reality of new motherhood can differ from the idealised version we’re used to being presented in society.

According to the film, the average stay at a specialist facility like this is about 10 weeks, although that can vary depending on each mother’s circumstance. At a unit in Winchester, Theroux meets Lisa, who is close to being discharged. She had postnatal depression with her previous children and after the birth of her third child, Isabella, started to experience psychotic episodes. Her journey is a challenging one to watch too, particularly as she recounts feeling like she was "nailing it" when Isabella first arrived and then quickly feeling that she wasn’t able to take care of any of her three children at all.

Throughout the documentary, Theroux follows these three women’s progression within (and eventually beyond in some cases) the mother and baby units to unpick the heavy burden that they carry at an already challenging time. Between hard-to-watch scenes in which women open up about how difficult it has been to feel sincere love for their babies and the panic that grips an entire ward when one mother disappears, there’s a lot to learn. In exploring the "challenge of caring for two people in the most vulnerable state of their lives", Mothers On The Edge exposes a reality of some women’s experience of motherhood that, whether you have children or not, you’ll struggle to look past.

Louis Theroux: Mothers On The Edge is on BBC Two on Sunday 12th May at 9pm

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Ariana Grande is showing no signs of slowing down. She’s currently in the middle of her Sweetener world tour and just a few weeks ago, she headlined Coachella with surprise performances from *NSYNC (minus JT), Diddy, and Justin Bieber. Now, the pop star is taking on yet another role as the new face for Givenchy. On Friday, the French fashion house made the big announcement.

“I am so proud to be the new face of Givenchy,” Ariana said in a press release. “It is a house I have forever admired and to now be part of that family is such an honour. I love this clothing and the confidence and joy it brings to the people wearing it. Not only is the clothing timeless and beautiful, but I’m proud to work with a brand that makes people feel celebrated for who they are, and unapologetic about whatever they want to be.”

Givenchy called Ariana “a modern muse and the voice of a generation” who’s an ideal fit for the luxury label. “A Grammy award-winning performer, songwriter, and singer, she naturally embodies the spirit of the Givenchy woman with impertinence, generosity, and a lightning wit — all cloaked in a touch of mystery,” it said in the press release.

Most recently, Ariana shared that the “Thank U, Next” fragrance will be on its way soon. “I can’t wait for u to see/smell her," she wrote on Instagram. “She’s like [the perfume] Ari if she went to the beach one time. I’ll keep u posted ... I don’t think I was supposed to announce this today but I’m excited and it smells divine so f*ck it.”

While there’s no word yet on exactly how Ari will influence Givenchy and its forthcoming collections, we won’t have to wait too long to find out: The full Givenchy Fall-Winter 2019 campaign starring Ariana is set to drop in July.

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Men wearing makeup is a growing beauty trend. A report by The Future Laboratory found that 15 percent of British men under 45 purchased makeup in 2016. Male beauty influencer James Charles is such a big deal that he caused severe traffic congestion in central Birmingham when he visited the Bull Ring this year. And in January, British Vogue posed the question: "Is 2019 the year men's make-up goes mainstream?"

But one men's makeup brand is being widely criticised online for sharing messaging that seemingly taps into fragile and toxic masculinity. War Paint, a UK-based brand which bills itself as "Makeup For Men, Designed By Men, For Men", shared a video advert earlier this week showing a muscular, heavily tattooed man taking a shower before putting on makeup... and a skull ring.

The advert – which has since disappeared– seemed to be trying to say that wearing makeup doesn't make a person any less "manly" (eugh). People on Twitter immediately called it out for failing even to show the male model properly applying the makeup.

Aside from the skull ring, my favorite part about this ad is the fact that we don’t even see this guy’s face half the time, which is a bold move for a makeup company to not show what their product even does—wait, did I say makeup? I meant war paint, I swear! https://t.co/U806ZoGDBH

— Kev (@kevyandrews) May 10, 2019

Like, they can’t even show the man actually really putting any of this on because godforbid he doesn’t look masc and super duper cool with his skull ring and TAtToOs pic.twitter.com/6na85QRKTZ

— Bri Kane (@BRIawesome) May 9, 2019

😤 WAR PAINT 😤 in 🔪masculine🔪 black packaging so nobody thinks you’re a 💁🏼‍♀️ girl. Specifically formulated for your 🛠 LEATHER TOUGH MAN SKIN 🚬 also, a SKULL RING 💀 💀 https://t.co/XofXFRj0R5

— Samantha Ravndahl (@SsssamanthaaMUA) May 9, 2019

The brand is also being criticised for another video advert promoting its concealer – which doesn't use the word "concealer" anywhere in its messaging.

Companies have become so misogynistic that they’ve stopped down to calling concealer, used on a man, war paint. Not only is this extremely misogynistic but it also embraces toxic masculinity and promotes (unnecessary) gender normatives. And all bcs it’s too girly to say concealer https://t.co/rEesyojsZh

— Maddy; nsfr! ー nsd📌 (@948hyuns) May 10, 2019

hey bro are you wearing makeup? nah bro makeup is for girls......im wearing WAR PAINT

— leah #NUEST3RDWIN (@nuestaarons) May 9, 2019

Imagine being a man. You’ll only wear makeup if it’s called “war paint” drink rosé if it’s called brosé and wear a romper if it’s called a “romphim” y’all are exhausting. Go to a store any makeup store and get some concealer and be done. https://t.co/F2dc8nSIoc

— nicole byer (@nicolebyer) May 10, 2019

Meanwhile, others have suggested that the brand name "War Paint" is itself an embodiment of toxic masculinity. One person drew comparison to Liquid Death, the somewhat bizarre US bottled water brand which has also been accused of perpetuating toxic masculinity.

It's not water, it's LIQUID DEATH
It's not makeup, it's WAR PAINT
It's not an earplug, it's a SKULL SCREW
It's not a donut, it's a BRONUT

but it's definitely fragile masculinity https://t.co/MQfw2cSEOi

— andi zeisler (@andizeisler) May 9, 2019

And some have taken issue with the very idea of "men's makeup", arguing that there's no reason why men can't use the same cosmetics products as everyone else. "Grow up and go to Sephora," one man tweeted pointedly.

As a man who has purchased makeup for photo and video work for YEARS now, I can say definitively — the same makeup that works for women can also work for men. This is stupid. Toxic masculinity is stupid. Grow up and go to Sephora. https://t.co/WfBLRt4RKR

— Sam Sanders (@samsanders) May 8, 2019

After another tweeted that "there's no biological difference between men's skin and women's skin," War Paint responded by saying "male skin is actually very different to female skin".

The brand also shared text from its website which claims that "men need to be more cautious about what they use on their skin, as 'regular' skincare and cosmetics could worsen their skin over time".

Hi Amy, male skin is actually very different to female skin. If you would like to read more you can do on our site: https://t.co/2ewuX8jmh2 pic.twitter.com/LLOzeslcFV

— War Paint (@warpaintmufm) May 8, 2019

However, the accuracy of the science behind War Paint's "makeup for men" has been called into question on Twitter, too.

Whatever the brand does next, it's hard not to feel that its very existence makes a future of genderless makeup  look just a little bit further away.

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Although London's overall air quality is finally improving, the latest figures found that two million people in the capital are still living with illegal levels of air pollution. Mayor Sadiq Khan re-iterated his commitment to cleaning up the city's air when the figures were released last month, saying: "From the very outset I have been crystal clear that I would do everything in my power to tackle London’s toxic air crisis."

So it's encouraging to hear that Transport for London (TfL) has just ordered the world's first hydrogen double decker buses. These 20 new buses, which produce no pollution at all from their exhausts, will be introduced on routes 245, 7 and N7, taking passengers from Wembley Stadium and west London into the city centre.

Mayor Sadiq Khan said of the new, super-green bus fleet: "We all have a role to play in cleaning up London's toxic air and I've always said that TfL should lead from the front. Following the launch of the world-first Ultra Low Emission Zone last month I'm delighted that TfL has today signed a contract to bring 20 state-of-the-art, zero-emission hydrogen buses to London's streets.

"We are investing a record £85 million in cleaning up our bus fleet, and I am proud that London now has the largest zero-emission bus fleet in Europe."

The 20 new hydrogen double deckers join a further 165 zero-emission buses in operation in London. TfL has pledged that another 68 electric double deckers will be on the roads by the summer. London can already lay claim to the cleanest bus fleet in Europe, but TfL's Director of Bus Operations, Clare Mann, today acknowledged that "we know we need to go further and faster to tackle the public health emergency caused by dirty air".

Cleaning up London's toxic air is quite literally a matter of life and death. A 2015 study by King's College London found that nearly 9,500 people a year in the capital die due to long-term exposure to air pollution.

Dr Penny Woods, Chief Executive of the British Lung Foundation, also welcomed the new, greener buses, saying: "London's air is toxic, and it needs to change. We know air pollution is a threat to all our health, and children, the elderly and those with existing lung and heart problems are most at risk, so it's good to see the Mayor of London tackling the issue head on.

"This move to cleaner public transport, alongside the introduction of the ULEZ, shows London's leading the way in the fight to clean up the air we breathe and we look forward to seeing even more ambitious action from TfL."

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Georgia spoiled more than a few peaches with its controversial new abortion law, and now Hollywood is clapping back — but perhaps a bit softer and slower than what you would expect, especially after how vocal it was about boycotting the state following Democrat Stacey Abrams’ unsuccessful run for governor.

Georgia has become a go-to production destination for the film and TV industry, with shows such as The Walking Dead and blockbuster movies like Avengers: Endgame among those filmed there. According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Georgia earned nearly $4.6 billion (£3.5 billion) in total wages from qualified productions in 2018, along with 92,100 jobs, boosting the state’s economy significantly.

HB 481, the so-called “heartbeat” law, bans abortions once a foetal heartbeat is detected, which can happen as early as six weeks of pregnancy. After the bill was signed into law by Republican Gov. Brian Kemp, several production companies announced they would be taking their business elsewhere, including those of Mark Duplass (Netflix’s Paddleton), David Simon ( The Wire), and Nina Jacobson ( Crazy Rich Asians).

I can’t ask any female member of any film production with which I am involved to so marginalize themselves or compromise their inalienable authority over their own bodies. I must undertake production where the rights of all citizens remain intact. Other filmmakers will see this. https://t.co/V2xDPKiMpo

— David Simon (@AoDespair) May 8, 2019

“I can’t ask any female member of any film production with which I am involved to so marginalise themselves or compromise their inalienable authority over their own bodies,” Simon tweeted. I must undertake production where the rights of all citizens remain intact. Other filmmakers will see this.”

Other filmmakers have indeed, including Jordan Peele, though he’s fighting back a little differently. The upcoming HBO horror series Lovecraft Country produced by Peele and J.J. Abrams will continue filming in Georgia, but profits will be donated to groups fighting what they said is a “draconian law.”

In a statement to Deadline Peele and Abrams said:

“Governor Kemp’s ‘Foetal Heartbeat’ Abortion Law is an unconstitutional effort to further restrict women and their health providers from making private medical decisions on their terms. Make no mistake, this is an attack aimed squarely and purposely at women. We stand with Stacey Abrams and the hardworking people of Georgia, and will donate 100% of our respective episodic fees for this season to two organisations leading the charge against this draconian law: the ACLU of Georgia and Fair Fight Georgia. We encourage those who are able to funnel any and all resources to these organisations.”

National women’s advocacy group UltraViolet flew a plane over the Netflix’s Los Gatos, CA headquarters, urging the company to stop filming in Georgia, according to IndieWire. On the actor side, stars such as Alyssa Milano — who has threatened to leave Netflix’s Insatiable if the show doesn’t relocate out of Georgia — Laverne Cox, Uzo Aduba, Gabrielle Union, Amy Schumer, and Amber Tamblyn signed an open letter refusing to film in the state, Deadline reported.

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When it comes to buying a wedding dress, brides tend to have a laundry list of things to consider. White or coloured? Long or short? Traditional or unconventional? To veil or not to veil? It's an expensive process and, paired with all the other wedding and honeymoon purchases, it's no wonder the global wedding industry is estimated to be worth a staggering $80 billion.

In 2019, there's another thing to consider: with sustainability on everyone’s minds, many brides are buying secondhand dresses to cut costs and their ecological footprint. Circular shopping – buying secondhand and used garments rather than introducing new product to the market – is now considered to be the most sustainable way to shop.

In the last year alone, global search platform Lyst found that there has been a 93% increase in views of pre-owned wedding dresses, and a 42% combined increase for related searches using terms such as 'vintage' and 'second hand'.

For the bride conscious of her bank account and her environmental impact, we've rounded up the best places to find secondhand wedding dresses, from online marketplaces to vintage markets and (believe it or not) good old eBay.

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Dami Olonisakin is an award-winning sexpert. Through her blog, Simply Oloni, she shares sex and relationship advice with women from all over the world. Oloni also hosts Laid Bare, a sex-positive podcast, and is well on her way to becoming an author with her crowdfunded first book, The Big O.

In the book, Oloni will decode sex and sexuality for millennials. Often called the "hook-up generation", she believes that the hyper-connectivity of our world has left young people disillusioned and often anxious about sex, consent and intimacy.

Oloni's work consistently demystifies sex – or as she calls it, "sexual fake news" – so that everyone, especially young women, can confidently enjoy shame-free, fulfilling relationships. So we asked readers for their sex questions – from dealing with a big penis to how to have a better orgasm from penetration, what to do if your (male) partner can't keep erect, and how to prevent UTIs after vigorous sex.

Check out Oloni's advice ahead...

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The Sunday Times Rich List has become kind of a national institution. Billing itself as "the definitive guide to wealth", it's been ranking the UK's 1,000 richest people or families every year since 1989. The fortunes it assigns to people aren't official, obviously, because no one rich, poor or in between agrees to show their bank balance to a complete stranger. But its estimations are widely respected, and tend to become a big talking point on Twitter.

The Rich List now has some interesting spin-offs, too, including the 'Giving List' of people who donate super-generously to charity, and the 'Young Rich List' of very wealthy people aged 30 or under. It's on this list that you'll find some familiar faces from the worlds of film, TV, fashion and music.

Ed Sheeran appears fifth on this list with an estimated fortune of £160 million. The singer-songwriter "is thought to have earned more during 2018 than any musician has in a single year", says the Sunday Times: a massive £80 million, meaning his wealth has doubled in 12 months.

Harry Potter stars Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint all appear on the list, with estimated fortunes of £90 million, £52 million and £34 million respectively. The Sunday Times reckons that actress and activist Watson took home a £17 million pay cheque from 2017's Beauty and the Beast movie because "her agent successfully negotiated a cut of the box office fees". Nice work, tbh.

All five members of One Direction make the list individually; solo star and budding style icon Harry Styles is highest in 10th place with an estimated fortune of £58 million. Brit Award winners Little Mix appear as a group with an estimated collective fortune of £45 million.

Other musicians on the list include Stormzy, whose fortune is pegged at £16 million, and Rita Ora, who's thought to be worth £18 million. "Lucrative commercial deals, including with Adidas and Calvin Klein, and a sizeable property portfolio raise her wealth," says the Sunday Times.

Model-actress Cara Delevingne is valued at £22 million – a £5 million rise from last year's estimate.

Oh, and Adele doesn't appear on the 'Young Rich List' because she recently turned 31, but she does feature on the main Rich List thanks to an estimated fortune of £150 million.

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You couldn't tell me I wasn't the coolest kid in primary school when I had clips in my hair. Each morning, my mum would deck me out in multicoloured clips and butterfly pins. My favourite style: a side-parted ponytail with one neon clip fastened right over the ear. Funny thing is, I can still pull off the same look today because clips and hairpins are just as popular now as they were in school.

Stylists and celebrities have brought back the childhood accessory with bling and kitschy catchphrases that can give the simplest bun or ponytail new life. These days, it's commonplace to see the basic hair slide dressed up for the red carpet — just take a look back at the 2019 Met Gala for examples.

If you've been eyeing those diamond bobby pins on Instagram or those pearl clips on Amazon, but have no clue how to wear them without looking like a #TBT from primary school, we've rounded up inspiration ahead. Keep these looks in your back pocket for when you're bored with the same ol' style.

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