Beauty + Style

Photo: Getty Images John Shearer/Dimitrios Kambouris

The Powerful Hidden Meanings Behind All These Met Gala Looks Tell a Deeper Story You Missed

From Damson Idris to Teyana Taylor, there’s more to these celebs’ outfits than what meets the eye.
17 Fashion Trainwrecks from Met Gala 2025

17 Fashion Trainwrecks from Met Gala 2025

While some celebs at the Met Gala really understood the assignments, others had us twisting our thumbs down.
Here's 100 years of the Best Black Dandyism Heading Into Met Gala 2025

Here’s 100 years of the Best Black Dandyism Heading Into Met Gala 2025

As we wait to see how the stars show up at this year’s Met Gala, we’re looking at some of our favorite examples of Black dandyism through the years
  • ‘Christmas Tree Brows’ Are the Latest Thing We Hope Gets Left in 2017

    Hell no, we’re not in. I’m not gonna front: I wanted so badly to file “Christmas tree brows” under “Shit White People Do,” but a basic Google search of “crazy brows” easily confirmed that these are equal opportunity offenses. And people, it has to stop. Stop with the braided brows, the squiggly brows, the triple…

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  • Susan Akkad Is Making Beauty More Multicultural—and Knows Black Women Don’t Need to Be ‘Fixed’

    “Egyptians believe that they invented beauty,” says Susan Akkad. She’s a woman who would know, given her degree from Harvard in ninth- to 14th-century Arabic literature and diplomacy. For nine years, Akkad has held the position of senior vice president of local and cultural innovation at EstĂ©e Lauder, overseeing multiethnic innovation for some 25 brands…

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  • Home for the Holidays? AphroChic Has Your Guide to Last-Minute Decorating

    Jeanine Hays and Bryan Mason, better known as husband-and-wife interior design team AphroChic, are experts in making a house feel like home. Prior to building their 10-year-old blog-turned-brand, the two moved across the country together and back, making homes in Philly and San Francisco, before finally settling in their beloved adopted hometown of Brooklyn, N.Y.…

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  • Unnatural: The Beauty Industry’s Natural-Hair Bias

    Black folks have always had a list of unwritten rules for navigating life. A quick Google search of “unwritten black rules” will yield you hours’ worth of pure comedy—there are more than 1 million hits. You’ll find pearls such as “If you drink the last of the Kool-Aid, make some more,” and “Kids, don’t ask…

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  • The Complicated Business of Giving Birth: Motherhood and Mortality

    Here’s a not-so-fun and very frightening fact: Did you know that the U.S. has the highest rate of deaths related to pregnancy and childbirth in the developed world, indiscriminately affecting women across races, backgrounds, educations and income levels? Did you know that over half of those deaths are preventable? And, if that news isn’t disturbing…

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  • Red Lip Theology: Every Sista Deserves to Be a Stunna

    The first time my mama caught me trying to cut off my lips, I was 10. Kids called me “bubblicious lips” and “Wanda” so much, I don’t think they knew my real name (and I hate Jamie Foxx to this day). As far as I was concerned, performing this minor surgical procedure in our tiny…

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  • Say It With Your Chest: These Tees Have People Talking

    “I had 50 white people in my house for dinner who I didn’t know,” says Ayana Smith, the creator of #AskMeTees, laughing, as she recounts the night that started the launch of her conversation-starting T-shirt line. We’re chatting on the phone while Smith drives to her day job at the Escape Lounge on H Street…

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  • Pretty Hurts: The Insidious Side of Insta-Beauty

    It’s all fun and games until someone gets hurt. Self-proclaimed “makeup enthusiast” and Instagram beauty Victoria Katei (@vicxkat) learned this the hard way when she was brave enough to get real with her over-50,000 followers, showing herself with and without makeup. The comments weren’t universally kind—not by a long shot. Commenters accused Victoria of “catfishing”…

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  • Because Being a Woman Isn’t Scary Enough: Now Your Birth Control Could Cause Breast Cancer

    Have breasts? Trying not to get pregnant? A new study from Denmark has revealed that hormonal birth control of all types can raise your risk of developing breast cancer, which is frightening news to the legions of women who choose these methods to prevent conception. This new research expanded beyond high-dose birth control pills studied…

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  • Hot Flashes: The Cold Truth 

    Once a month, when you’re suffering from cramping, bloating, moodiness and fatigue, do you imagine menopause as a dream where your menstrual cycle ends? That, like a butterfly, you’re freed from monthly changes forever? Think again, my friend. Estrogen, the hormone that makes a woman a “woman,” controls not only female menstrual cycles and fertility…

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