👠The Night We Met (Gala'd) 👠

+ Let’s talk about Karl ‘no one wants to see curvy women’ Lagerfeld, & one year of Bel's Chimes 𓆩♡𓆪

shit you should care about

and

Bel Hawkins

May 02, 2023

Good morning my besties!!! I’m up (and slightly hungover) after a night of yakitori and karaoke and am about to run into the studio to record this week’s Culture Vulture for you, but I wanted to start this newsy off with a cute message from Kate, a fellow Worn Out Woman in this world:

“My friend group and I are all full time workers, career builders and general WOW girlies trying our best to fake it and make it through our 20s, you know the drill, suffering, learning, failing and trying again. So, as every other busy girl in their 20's will know, finding time to sit and have a good goss and take the time to be fully present for each other (see other buzzwords; hold space, have emotional capacity etc) is simply impossible.
As a solution, we got inspired by our fave newsy, and started making weekly newsletters for each other with our updates, recommendations and tidbits. For funsies, I have attached a couple for your personal perusal. I would also attach some of theirs, they're unhinged and beautiful, but I haven't asked their consent so won’t :)”

She sent through some for me to read and OMG, female friendship is truly unmatched. I love getting messages like this, so please, never hesitate to drop into my inbox with them!!

Let’s talk about Karl ‘No one wants to see curvy women’ Lagerfeld
And now, the Met Gala highs and lows
🌹Bel Chimes In: It’s our one-year anniversary 🌹
📰Some stray headlines 📰

Let’s talk about Karl ‘no one wants to see curvy women’ Lagerfeld

First of all, it’s so funny to me how deeply unserious social media is. So many of you loved me keeping you updated over on Instagram, and sooooo many ppl commented some version of same unoriginal ‘this isn’t shit you should care about’ line. To these people, if you can’t take scrolling past a few posts on Instagram on ONE day of the year and ur gonna let it ruin your day, that’s fine, but plz don’t try and ruin mine (also - they’re the most engaged polls and pics we’ve posted in a hot minute so some of y’all are pretending not to be into it 💅)

Now that my rant about the meanies is over, let’s quickly rant about another meanie: Karl ‘No one wants to see curvy women’ Lagerfeld. I feel like having the theme of the Met Gala as ‘Karl Lagerfeld: A Line of Beauty’ kinda did the opposite for me when it came to honouring his legacy - it actually outlined that he could be a nasty person at times, which I wouldn’t have known if the theme had been based around him.

According to NBC:

‘He is widely credited with having revitalized Chanel as the fashion house's long-time creative director and was known not only for haute couture but for his myriad controversies surrounding comments he made about women, immigrants and other marginalized groups.”

There have been a bunch of pieces floating around since the announcement of this year’s theme, so I thought I’d pull some of his takes from them:

On women’s bodies (HuffPost):

On Adele: "She is a little too fat, but she has a beautiful face and a divine voice."
On Heidi Klum: "Heidi Klum is no runway model. She is simply too heavy and has too big a bust. And she always grins so stupidly. That is not avant-garde — that is commercial!"
On Pippa Middleton: "Kate Middleton has a nice silhouette. I like that kind of woman, I like romantic beauties. On the other hand, her sister struggles. I don't like the sister's face. She should only show her back."
On people who criticize unhealthy beauty standards in the fashion industry: "These are fat mummies sitting with their bags of crisps in front of the television, saying that thin models are ugly... no one wants to see round women."

On refugees (Vox):

“His disdain for refugees was evident when he criticized German Chancellor Angela Merkel in 2017 for opening the country’s borders to migrants. Lagerfeld, who was born in Hamburg and was a German citizen, told a French television show, “One cannot — even if there are decades between them — kill millions of Jews so you can bring millions of their worst enemies in their place.” He then implied that accepting migrants would fuel anti-Semitism in Germany. “I know someone in Germany who took a young Syrian and after four days said: ‘The greatest thing Germany invented was the Holocaust,’” he said.”

On the Me Too movement (Vox):

Lagerfeld was also a vocal critic of the #MeToo movement. “If you don’t want your pants pulled about, don’t become a model! Join a nunnery, there’ll always be a place for you in the convent,” he told Numero in 2018 after three models accused Interview creative director Karl Templer of sexual harassment.
“I’m fed up with it,” he added. “What shocks me most in all of this are the starlets who have taken 20 years to remember what happened. Not to mention the fact there are no prosecution witnesses.”

I hate to tell you that there’s more, but you can go and read for yourself!

And now, the looks 👗

You can go over to our Instagram to see ALLL the looks (and to our stories to see what people voted as their favourites) but I have to say for me Ashley Graham, Taika Waititi and Janelle Monet WON. Who was ur fave???

ashleygraham

A post shared by A S H L E Y G R A H A M (@ashleygraham)

I also have to say I was not a fan of the cat cosplay route that Doja Cat and Jared Leto took, but one has to commend Doja’s commitment to the bit (she did a whole interview with Emma Chamberlain where she ‘meowed’ in response to every question):

@_shityoushouldcareabout No bc WHAT #met #metgala #metgala2023 #emmachamberlain #dojacat

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Honourable mention goes to this cockroach:

@_shityoushouldcareabout The way they actually took a photo #met #metgala #metgala2023

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Drop your fave looks in the comments!!

🌹Bel Chimes In: It’s our one-year anniversary 🌹

This section is written by my crush, the refreshing-as-a-house-chardonnay-on-a-steamy-day, Bel Hawkins. She also writes our Sunday newsletter ‘No News is Good News’ which all our paying supporters receive. Upgrade your plan to get her newsy here!

Well, good morning crushes!

Can you believe it's May? Can you believe it'll be the northern hemispherian summer soon? Can you believe we get to stop seeing Coachella reels saturating our feeds? But mostly... can you believe we've made it to one whole year in Chimes?

To celebrate, I thought I'd put together a lol list for you of all the favourite Chimes gone by. I know this because of all your gorge emails, responses, comments and DMs we get on those that ~ resonate ~ the most. So, in no particular order:

Phoenixing - The lifeblood of all the worn-out people out there and the word to define one of the best eras to be in! Meaning coming out the other side of a crisis or a life burning down sitch and the absolute tonic to having the best things start to happen as a result.
Irishing - (et al the other hilar and useful names to describe leaving a party and not telling anyone and a strategy I will be continuing to implement for the rest of my life).
Languishing - that post-pandemic malaise-filled feeling of... now what? What now? What's the point? Where do we go to from here?
Being glass-ceilinged - The bleak reality of men circle jerking their weight around at work, knowingly or otherwise, to make minorities or women feel less powerful. Shattering it?
Having quests instead of goals - a chicer, less intimidating approach to goals that feels more dreamy and in-line with your audacious vision of living.
Being underestimated - A secret pleasure in life, surprising people who think you are capable or less.
Validation - One of the horniest, best things we can give someone or we can feel and a hot reminder to dish this out when people deserve it most.
Worn Out Women - Sleepy gals who're bloody tired from a) the above glass ceiling b) the Cossie Liv (cost of living) and c) trying to be chic and happy.
Cocooning - often the best response to the above^ and demands a phone on DND, often a salt and vinegar chip (divisive, I know), a soft pant and retreating from the real world for a period of time

OK actually writing this — I could go on and on! Turning up here each week with my quill for you brings me honestly... SO MUCH JOY. What's made it better? Your cute, honest, lol and heartfelt responses. Sometimes they've meant so much they've made me well up in my car before I can summon the energy to turn the key in the ignition after a long week. I simply love hearing from you, especially when it's validashe (lol) OR you tell us other shit you want to hear about in the newsy.

Luce and I say it all the time, but heck, I'll say it again! Thank you for being part of this cutest place on the internet. And if you love the Chimes, well, I DO have a feeling you might just j'adore Sunday's No News Is Good News if you wanna subscribe

Thanks for being here! Thanks for being you! Cool k love you bye xo

📰Some stray headlines📰

Australia to ban recreational vaping in major public health move (BBC)
- “Recreational vaping will be banned in Australia, as part of a major crackdown amid what experts say is an "epidemic"."
Writers Guild Calls First Strike in 15 Years (The Hollywood Reporter)
Sudan crisis: Civilians facing catastrophe as 100,000 flee fighting - UN (BBC)
- More than 100,000 people have fled Sudan since heavy fighting broke out between rival forces on 15 April, the UN has said. Officials warned of a "full-blown catastrophe" if fighting does not end. A further 334,000 people have been displaced within Sudan.