THE BAROMETER
From sheds and Queer Eye to smacking and Wetherspoons, Sarah Young brings you what’s hot and what’s not
Going up: Fashion Week diversity
While the catwalks have made progress in terms of diversity over the years, it’s no secret that the fashion industry still has a long way to go. However, this season at New York Fashion Week proved that change may finally be afoot.
Singer-turned-fashion designer Rihanna won praise for the diverse and body-positive line-up of models she used for her Savage x Fenty lingerie show. Alongside sisters Bella and Gigi Hadid, two pregnant models walked the runway, including 22-year-old Slick Woods. Other names who featured in the show include Duckie Thot, Joan Smalls and Leomie Anderson.
Rihanna wasn’t the only one championing diversity though, with Claudia Li’s show featuring an all-Asian cast for the very first time, and supermodel Lily Aldridge walking the Brandon Maxwell runway while five months pregnant.
Queer Eye
The cast of Netflix series Queer Eye have won the hearts and minds of television fans all over the globe for their inspirational makeovers. But now, the fab five’s ability to rock the red carpet has made people fall in love with them all over again.
This week, Jonathan Van Ness, Karamo Brown, Tan France, Antoni Porowski and Bobby Berk attended the Creative Arts Emmys together, looking dashing as the show collected an impressive three awards.
Photos of the group at the glamorous event quickly went viral on social media, with many people expressing their utmost admiration for the fashionable ensembles. While Van Ness sported a dress designed by Maison Margiela and Brown wore an oxblood cape, the others wore suits in various styles by Thom Browne, Zegna Couture and Joseph Abboud.
Sheds
Moving on from the Emmys, another set of prestigious awards took place this week. That’s right, Shed of the Year. The contest involved some serious competition with entries from owners of sheds that had been turned into boat pods, constructed from glass bottles and even one that was used as a pub.
However, this year’s top spot went to firefighter George Smallwood from Sheffield, who successfully built an eco-friendly bee haven. The shed, which is self-watering and a self-sufficient home for vegetables and herbs, also featured two beehives and a “bug house”, and took Smallwood two months to build.
An egg-free alternative to everyone’s favourite condiment is officially coming to the UK. While Hellmann’s first launched vegan mayo in 2016, it has only been available to buy in the US. However, the company has announced that the plant-based product is about to take a trip across the pond for us Britons.
So, what exactly is it made from? The vegan version is made with all of the same ingredients as standard mayo except for the eggs, which have been replaced with maize starch. In addition to being completely free from animal products, it is also gluten free and contains no artificial colours or flavours
Going down:
Fat-shaming
Online fashion retailer Revolve faced criticism this week after the launch of a new five-piece collection failed to impress. On Wednesday, the clothing company prematurely unveiled an image of one of the sweatshirts from the collection that came emblazoned with vicious comments that had been sent to
celebrities and models online. The aim? To highlight the impact of cyber-bullying.
However, because the image was published with no explanation of this, the context became completely lost and people quickly called for the sweatshirt to be removed. Following the backlash, Revolve has pulled the collection from its website and donated $20,000 (£15,000) to Girls Write Now – a charity mentoring underserved young women to find their voices through the power of writing and community.
Wetherspoons JD Wetherspoon’s dog ban came into force this week, prohibiting customers from bringing their fourlegged friends into any of the chain’s pubs across the country.
Last month, Wetherspoon’s announced that canines would soon be banned due to them being “unpredictable”. However, the decision to enforce the ban on dogs has not been well received online with many disgruntled customers arguing that most pets behave better than frequenters of the pub.
“Literally 90 per cent of the blokes in my local Spoons are more likely to bite you or pee on your leg than a dog,” one person tweeted.
The company also recently announced that it will stop serving Jägerbombs later this month as part of a plan to increase its range of drinks from UK and non-EU producers.
Phone addiction
It’s typically thought that children and teenagers are the ones who spend too much time on their phones, however a new study has found that adults are just as bad.
According to a recent poll by Marie Claire magazine, about a quarter of women in their 30s and a fifth of those in their 40s check their phone 200 times a day, which equates to approximately once every seven minutes. Furthermore, about half of women in their 30s and 40s say that despite the negative effect that social media can have on their confidence, they’re unlikely to delete their accounts.
Facebook was found to be the most harmful social media platform for one’s self-esteem, with Instagram coming in second.
Smacking children
An area of much contention, this week a group of psychologists called for the smacking of children in the family home to be outlawed due to the effect it can have on their mental health.
Parents and carers are legally allowed to smack children lightly if it can be described as a “reasonable punishment”, as outlined in section 58 of the Children Act 2004. However, psychologists who have backed the ban state that hitting is never an effective method of disciplining a child, no matter the circumstances.
As a result, a motion has been put forward to the Trades Union Congress from the Association of Educational Psychologists urging the government to “acknowledge that physical punishment can have negative long-term effects on a child’s development”.