Modern Beauty Trends: In: Women at the SAG Awards

Monday, January 22, 2018

In: Women at the SAG Awards | Out: The Patriarchy

Hedi Slimane’s appointment at Céline was a surprise, but it makes a lot of sense.
View this email in your browser

"Every single day, your job as an American citizen is not just to fight for your rights; it's to fight for the rights of every individual who is taking a breath." —Viola Davis, at the Los Angeles Women’s March

Jumanji Fatigue

Romance Flicks

Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle sat atop the box office for its third weekend in 2018 with another hefty haul of $20 million. Yawn. So, if there’s one reason to be excited for the release of Maze Runner: The Death Cure on Friday, it’s that it should at least shake things up when we check back in next week. This weekend’s two new male-skewing action pictures did well enough for January-released, mid-budget releases. The Chris Hemsworth-led war film 12 Strong came in second with $16.5 million, while Gerard Butler and 50 Cent’s Den of Thieves brought in a third-place finish with $15.3 million. You can’t say the same for romantic drama Forever My Girl. It came in 10th with $4.7 million, but, eh, that’s still more than its total budget, so not a true flop by any means. In awards circuit news, Phantom Thread and Call Me by Your Name expanded to over 800 and 600 cinemas this weekend, respectively. Thread’s $3.3 million was a decent boon, but Name’s $1.5 million put it at 21st place, which is the same spot it held last weekend when it was in under 200 cinemas.

Hedi Slimane at Céline

Artistic Restrictions

Sometimes fashion insiders see certain announcements coming from a mile away. People love to talk in this industry. Other times, things come as a complete surprise, and none in recent memory was perhaps quite as shocking as the early Sunday morning announcement that none other than Mr. Hedi Slimane would be taking over the house of Céline, a position left open after Phoebe Philo announced her departure late last year. Despite the initial jolt, the news makes perfect sense. Philo is, in a sense, irreplaceable, and anyone trying to come in to pick up exactly where she left off would have surely led to disappointment. Slimane, meanwhile, had been on fashion hiatus after ending his brief (but memorable) stint at Yves Saint Laurent in 2016. There, it seemed there was a perceived struggle between Slimane’s exacting vision and the legendary spectre of Mr. Saint Laurent himself (see: the controversy that erupted when Slimane removed “Yves” from the official name). That shouldn’t be a problem at Céline. The house (which, fun trivia: started as a children’s shoe company) comes with less baggage of that sort, and leaves its modern designers with ample room to pursuit their own agenda. That’s something Philo certainly took advantage of and Slimane is poised to do as well. Indeed, he’ll get the unprecedented title of “artistic, creative, and image director,” and will expand the label into menswear (where Slimane originally made his mark), fragrances, and by-appointment custom design (which is to say “couture” in the colloquial sense, but not the legal sense). Slimane’s appointment will also allow the house to enter into the digital sphere (including e-commerce) that Philo so famously resisted, and Slimane certainly is a favorite of the Instagram set.

Allison Janney and Sam Rockwell

Laurie Metcalf and Willem Dafoe?

So much of this year’s Oscar race seemed uncharacteristically wide open for so long. In fact, the most settled (and perhaps dramatic races) seemed to be in the supporting actor categories. The Florida Project’s Willem Dafoe seemed like the frontrunner in supporting actor, until Three Billboard’s Sam Rockwell started collecting awards. Meanwhile, in supporting actress news, it seemed like a battle between the complicated moms with Lady Bird’s Laurie Metcalf and I, Tonya’s Allison Janney. Well, last night's SAG Awards seemed to take some of the mystery off of those races, if you believe the awards season momentum theory that is. It was Rockwell and Janney who triumphed. Indeed, much like the Golden Globes before it, the SAG Awards ultimately went big with the somewhat divisive Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, also recognizing Frances McDormand and the entire ensemble with awards.