Uncategorized

https://www.essence.com/fashion/in-case-you-missed-it-beyonce-wears-louis-vuitton-and-more/

Getty Images By Kerane Marcellus ·Updated February 5, 2024

This weekend in fashion was full of moments and news that we had to highlight. First up, Beyoncé stunned in a cowboy-inspired look designed by Louis Vuttion at the 66th Grammy Awards while her daughter, Blue Ivy was dressed in Vivienne Westwood. Next, Human Made has released its “Dragon Capsule Collection,” centering good fortune. Janelle Lloyd has been announced as the new ready-to-wear fashion director at Bloomingdale’s.

Rihanna’s Fenty X Puma long-term collaboration is dropping another sneaker collection and a teaser for it has been released. The sneakers are fashion-forward with a pony hair texture and intricate design. Next, Moncler’s latest runway for the Fall/Winter 2024 season was held in a snowy covered runway outside in St. Mortiz. Models were decked out in new pieces made for a ski trip in Aspen. Lastly, Wales Bonner’s next It shoe is on the way. A sneak peek of the shoe was released on Instagram, although its debut was on the brand’s Spring/Summer 2024 runway show. 

To stay up-to-date on all things fashion, keep scrolling. 

Beyoncé Wears Louis Vuitton To The Grammy Awards

At the 66th Grammy Awards, Beyoncé went full Western mode in a Louis Vuitton outfit from Pharrell’s latest menswear collection. The sparkling black checkered jacket and skirt paired with a white button-down and a tie with a white cowboy hat was a perfectly executed Western-themed look. Her icy blond hair underneath her cowboy hat was revealed, covering a pair of drop diamond earrings. She wore a black pair of pumps to complete her look. Blue Ivy, a rising star and a Grammy winner herself, wore a white Vivienne Westwood gown. The dress had an off-the-shoulder detail with a leather sheen finish to its ruched fabric. Her look was topped off with a pair of Larroudé boots in white. In an image captured at the ceremony, Beyoncé posed with Grammy winner Victoria Monét who arrived in a sleek brown gown by Atelier Versace.

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA – FEBRUARY 04: (L-R) Victoria Monet and Beyoncé attend the 66th GRAMMY Awards at Crypto.com Arena on February 04, 2024 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for The Recording Academy) Janelle Lloyd Announced As Bloomingdale’s Ready-To-Wear Fashion Director

Janelle Lloyd is starting a ready-to-wear fashion director role at Bloomingdale’s, right before New York Fashion Week. Lloyd’s background comes with a plethora of roles from fashion buyer, brand management, interior design, and ad sales. Lloyd also has built a social media following turning her into a dedicated content creator on top of her other professional talents. Her weekly newsletter “Wait, You Need This” and her Instagram have a cult following of 126,000 followers. 

“Janelle will hit the ground running in her new role at NYFW and is thrilled to view the fall 2024 season’s collections. She will also be covering Paris fashion week for Bloomingdale’s,” the company said in a statement to WWD.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by WWD (@wwd)

Human Made Releases Its Latest Collection 

Human Made’s newest lineup the “Dragon Capsule Collection” is out now. The range focuses on the aspect of luck or good fortune with pieces infused with Lunar New Year motifs like a dragon. Pieces like a reversible jacket with a quilted material in blue and black colorways are included, as well as, dragon sweatshirts, and graphic T-shirts. Accessories in the collection include homewear pieces like a gold bar paperweight, a Human Made logo stamp, a dragon mug, and key charms. 

Shop the lucky collection on humanmade.com.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by 𝗛𝗨𝗠𝗔𝗡 𝗠𝗔𝗗𝗘®︎ (@humanmade)

A Fenty X Puma Collection Is On The Way

Rihanna’s Fenty X Puma Avanti collaboration just got a new update and it includes pony hair. Similar to the printed pony Wales Bonner Sambas, Fenty Puma King Avantis are adding a print and pony hair option to the table. The new sneaker will be released on February 22 in limited quantities. One pair will come in a plain white colorway while the other will be a brown and white cow print. 

Shop the new Fenty X Puma King Avantis on puma.com on February 22. 

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by PUMA (@puma)

Moncler Debuts Its Fall/Winter 2024 Runway Show 

The Moncler Fall/Winter 2024 collection was a ski-trip inspired runway set in the snowy mountains of St. Mortiz. The runway show gathered its audience outdoors to watch models walk through the snow in ski wear as well as new puffers and snow coats. Colorways of red, cream, black, and neutrals like light and dark tans were featured. Supermodel Joan Smalls made an appearance on the runway in khaki layers and ski goggles on her head. 

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Moncler (@moncler)

A Closer Look At An Adidas X Wales Bonner Shoe

First seen on the Wales Bonner Spring/Summer 2024 runway, another Adidas collaboration could be on the horizon. The new silver and crocodile sneaker was teased on Instagram with an up-close look at the details of the shoe. Reminiscent of the viral silver pair that the brands previously released, this sneaker could be the next big Wales Bonner Adidas shoe. The silver heel and croc-inspired upper isn’t exactly a Samba shape, but its silhouette is refreshing to see come out of this long-term collaboration. 

Stay tuned for release date details. 

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Sample Collecter (@woganwodeyang)

TOPICS:  #fashionnews beyoncé In Case You Missed It Wales Bonner

The post In Case You Missed It: Beyoncé Wears Louis Vuitton, Moncler’s FW24 Runway Show, And More appeared first on Essence.

https://nerdist.com/article/who-is-marvel-comics-sentry-the-thunderbolts-character-explained/

The upcoming Thunderbolts film from Marvel Studios is slated to introduce one of the most powerful characters Marvel Comics has ever produced, the Sentry. Essentially, he’s Marvel’s Superman, but with a dark secret. He’ll be portrayed by actor Lewis Pullman in the upcoming MCU film. But who is this (relatively recent) Marvel character, and what is his strange origin story, both on and off the page?

The Bizarre Backstory of Marvel Comics’ Sentry

The Sentry began his comic book existence as an elaborate trolling by Marvel Comics editorial. Back in the ’90s, the Marvel Knights line of comics helped save the company after bankruptcy. Edgy titles like Kevin Smith’s Daredevil got critical acclaim and big sales. In 2000, creators Paul Jenkins and Rick Veitch came up with the Sentry series for Marvel Knights, about a superhero in a more classic DC Comics mode than a Marvel one. His costume suggested Superman’s, or Shazam’s. Although he’s not the only analog for Superman at Marvel (Hyperion predates him) he is the most powerful. He may be stronger than Superman himself.

Sentry, The “Lost” Stan Lee Marvel Hero

When the Sentry mini-series was announced, Marvel touted the series as a discovery of a “lost” concept by Stan Lee and a forgotten artist named Artie Rosen from the early ’60s that never made it to print. When Rosen “died” in 1999, writer Paul Jenkins discovered his original creation with Lee, a classic hero named the Sentry. He decided it was time to give the hero a proper Marvel debut in his own mini-series. Marvel EIC Joe Quesada even used the octogenarian Stan Lee himself as part of the promotion, giving interviews to comic book media about how even he had forgotten he co-created this hero. Of course, all of this was complete nonsense. Sentry was a pure creation of Jenkins. The whole backstory was a marketing gimmick.

Sentry Is Marvel’s Superman, with a Dark Side

In the Sentry original limited series, we meet Robert Reynolds. He’s an out-of-shape, middle-aged man living a bleak existence. Reynolds starts remembering a superhero career in his younger days, when he was the Sentry. Having taken “the Golden Sentry Serum,’ an advanced version of Captain America’s Super Soldier Serum, he now had “the power of a million exploding suns.” His arch nemesis was a dark presence called “The Void.” He was a contemporary of early Marvel heroes like the Avengers, Spider-Man, and the Fantastic Four. In fact, he was very close friends with Reed Richards, the Fantastic Four’s genius leader. As he encountered each Marvel hero in the present, they all slowly began to remember him. But why did they forget him in the first place?

After a deadly attack by the Void that resulted in high casualties during his heroic heyday, Sentry disappeared from the Marvel Universe when his mind was wiped, along with the memories of everyone on Earth, to make everyone forget that he ever existed. This was because of Reed Richards and Doctor Strange realizing that the Void was not just Sentry’s arch-foe, he was also a part of him. The only way to get rid of the Void was to make everyone forget that both Sentry and Void existed, including Bob Reynolds himself. So for years, he lived a life of anonymity, forgetting his heroic past entirely.

Sentry Becomes the Mightiest Avenger

In the New Avengers series in 2005, writer Brian Michael Bendis brings Sentry back to the Marvel Universe. We see Reynolds in a cell inside the supervillain prison the Raft, where he has voluntarily imprisoned himself for murdering his wife, Lindy Lee. When a huge jailbreak occurs, the Avengers catch several of the escaping villains. During this time, Daredevil finds the Sentry, and the powerful hero saves several others from Carnage, whom he flies into space and rips in half. Later, the Avengers discovered that X-Men villain Mastermind, who was at fault for Jean Grey’s descent into Dark Phoenix, was responsible for what happened to Sentry. He implanted a psychic virus in Robert Reynolds’ mind that created the delusion of the Void, but it was all really an aspect of his own repressed personality, unleashed by the serum.

Readers learned that the psychic virus does not allow Reynolds to remember his life as he lived it. Instead, he subconsciously implants his memories into the mind of comic book writer Paul Jenkins, a meta-commentary on the real-life creator of the same name who invented Sentry. Eventually, the Avengers show Reynolds that his wife, whom he confessed to murdering, is still alive. Sentry runs away, going to a house in the suburbs he shares with his wife Lindy. The Marvel heroes find him there, and attempt to reason with him. But he insists the Void is coming, and will destroy the world. Ultimately, X-Men telepath Emma Frost frees Reynolds from the psychic virus and restores his memories, and the Sentry joins the Avengers. The rest of the world does not regain their memories of Sentry. To them, he’s a brand new hero and new addition to the Avengers.

The Many Powers and Abilities of Sentry

The Sentry is one of the most powerful superheroes in the Marvel universe, even more powerful than his DC counterpart Superman. His powers supposedly came from a more advanced version of Captain America’s super soldier serum. Later, they revealed that an alien intelligence actually infused itself with the serum, making Reynolds its host body. Whatever the true origins are, Sentry has super strength, enough to subdue the Hulk at his most powerful. He can fly, has super speed, has telepathy, and can even shapeshift. He can also project light and project energy blasts. Sentry can also pass on a portion of his power, as he did to his kid sidekick, Billy Turner, a.k.a. Scout, an amalgamation of DC’s Robin and Captain Marvel. Jr. He even passed on powers to his Welsh Corgi, Watchdog, a riff on DC’s Krypto the Superdog. Sentry is the definition of the phrase “OP.”

Sentry’s Death and Rebirth

Sentry remained an Avenger for many years, although he constantly battled the emergence of the Void, a symptom of his own mental illness. Eventually, he joined former Green Goblin Norman Osborn’s Dark Avengers, as Osborn’s secret weapon. Thanks to Norman’s mental manipulations, he is able to break down the barriers that keep Robert Reynolds’ darker Void persona at bay. In the Siege storyline, Osborn and the Dark Avengers, together with Loki, attack Asgard itself. Osborn uses the powers of the Sentry to destroy Asgard, which was hovering above Oklahoma at the time.

The Dark Avenger Ares, the actual Greek god of war, attacks Sentry for his loss of control. Then, Sentry literally rips the god in half. (It’s a pretty gross panel too). Sentry then murders Loki, although he is eventually reborn as Kid Loki. Realizing what he’s done, upon reverting to his Bob Reynolds persona, Sentry asks the Avengers to kill him. Thor obliges, and carries his body to the sun to be cremated. But Sentry is effectively immortal, and can’t truly die. He eventually merges his Sentry half with his Void half, now seemingly more in control, but also elevated to godhood. In the comics, it seems it is the destiny of the Sentry to effectively never die.

Sentry in the MCU

All we know about Sentry in the MCU is that he’s part of the upcoming Thunderbolts film. We have no idea what role he’ll play, but we imagine a scenario similar to the comics. We foresee a situation where Sentry is assigned by the government to the Thunderbolts team. Perhaps to be their public face? But when the ultra-powered hero loses control of his darker half, the former assassins will have to find a way to stop him. But that’s just us guessing. We’ll know for sure when Thunderbolts hits theaters in 2025.

The post Who Is Marvel’s Sentry? The THUNDERBOLTS Character, Explained appeared first on Nerdist.

https://www.thenerdelement.com/2024/02/01/sundance-2024-never-look-away/

Actress Lucy Lawless makes her directorial debut with “Never Look Away,” a documentary which chronicles the career of Margaret Moth, a camerawoman from New Zealand who worked at CNN starting in 1990 and made invaluable contributions to news coverage of war.

It’s easy to see why Lawless was drawn to Moth as a subject. Moth was fearless, as demonstrated many times in the anecdotes shared by her family, co-workers, and ex-lovers, and by the footage of her moving forward during battles while others are falling behind to safety, for example. Her camera often appears like another appendage as she documents troubled areas such as Kuwait (covering Operation Desert Storm), Sarajevo, and Baghdad. It’s clear to see the passion she had for her career.

She was also considered mysterious, outrageous, and fun, the person you’d hang out with who always had the best stories and craziest adventures. But she was also very private, and as seen in the documentary, a little troubled (that she started dating one of the men interviewed when he was 17 and she was 30 is…not great).

The opening credits set the tone, as Heart’s “Barracuda” plays over footage of Moth filming during war and running from bombings. The correspondents she worked with then, including former CNN correspondent Stefano Kotsonis and current CNN chief international anchor Christiane Amanpour, speak highly of both her work ethic and her personally. There are also interviews with Moth’s sisters and brother, two of her ex-lovers, Jeff Russi (who passed away in December 2023) and Yaschinka, and her best friend, Joe Duran, a former CNN cameraman, as well as several others whose lives she touched.

Born Margaret Wilson, the blonde, blue-eyed Moth changed her last name and styled herself like a goth rebel, all black clothes, black hair, black eyeliner, and combat boots. According to her siblings, Jan, Shirley, and Ross, they never knew if their dad would come home drunk or if their mother would be violent. Moth eventually moved away and lived life to the fullest, we’re told, partying with friends and co-workers alike, and never being afraid to go to somewhere like Rwanda to cover the genocide occurring there, or to Sarajevo during the Bosnian War, where she was shot by a sniper and disfigured.

Where some might call it a career after a traumatic injury like the one Moth suffered—her jaw was shattered, her teeth and tongue maimed—Moth endured surgery after surgery to get back to what she did best, photojournalism.

At a post-film Q&A session at the Sundance Film Festival, Lawless explained that Duran asked her to make the film about Moth’s life and work. She also explained that it was difficult to get actual footage Moth recorded for CNN because a lot of her work was shot on Betamax and has long been taped over. Also, as Lawless noted, camerapersons didn’t exactly get credits as anchors do.

While Lawless captures the deep affection and admiration Moth’s former co-workers had and still have for her, Moth herself remains a bit of a mystery by the end of the film’s brisk 85 minutes. Because Lawless relies more on talking head interviews with those who knew Moth and less on footage of existing interviews with Moth—who died in 2010 of cancer—she remains enigmatic, someone who, as Russi notes, would cry for hours without anyone knowing why, but then turn around and entertain her compatriots as they hunkered down in bombed-out buildings, waiting to capture that next important shot.

The more successful aspect of the documentary, though, seems to be how Moth’s work affected the world’s view of the wars she covered. Moth would not waver in capturing the realities of what she witnessed even with guns pointed directly at her. Lawless noted in the Q&A that she chose to use the documentary’s sound and score to make the audience feel even more uncomfortable with the images of people trying to survive as bombs go off and bullets fly. That’s a choice that definitely pays off.  

By far the best footage involves the dioramas created by WETA for the film, including the one used to show “Sniper Alley,” the place in Sarajevo where Moth was hit during a sniper attack in 1992. The sets are eerie, conveying the terror one must have felt driving through the area and knowing shots could hit at any moment (but shouldn’t have because Moth and crew were in a van clearly marked as TV/press).

There’s a lot to admire in Lawless’ debut as a director. Despite not getting as full a picture of Moth as might have been possible with more footage of her speaking in her own words, “Never Look Away” does make an impact in the way it frames war photojournalism and the larger truths of our world, especially in light of current events. It’s possible that alone would have pleased Moth quite a bit.

The post Sundance 2024: Never Look Away appeared first on The Nerd Element.

https://www.essence.com/news/civil-rights-activity-set-target-pulled/

By Malaika Jabali ·Updated February 2, 2024

A children’s activity set will no longer be sold at Target after a viral TikTok post showed it misidentified numerous Black icons. That’s one way to start Black History Month.

TikTok user Tierra Espy shed light on the mistakes in the “Civil Rights Magnetic Learning Activity,” which she purchased just before Black History Month. The set includes magnets of historical figures, but she noticed just how ahistorical the product was when she began placing the magnets on her fridge, ABC News reports.

“These need to be pulled off the shelves immediately,” Espy said in her TikTok video.“I teach U.S. History…and I noticed some discrepancies as soon as I opened this.”

@issatete

Idk who needs to correct it but it needs to be pulled off the shelves nontheless. Any person could have missed the mistake but it just takes one person to point it out and ask for corrections #blackhistory #blackhistorymonth #blacktiktok

♬ original sound – Issa tete

The set, sold by a company named Bendon, appears to have misidentified Carter G. Woodson, the man whose work led to Black History Month, W.E.B. Du Bois and Booker T. Washington.

As media company Nextar reports, “A representative at Bendon, an Ohio-based publisher of children’s books and activities, declined to comment on the error…As of Friday morning, the activity kit was not available on the brand’s website or Amazon page.

The post ‘Civil Rights’ Activity Set Misidentified Multiple Black Icons, Pulled From Shelves After Outcry appeared first on Essence.