Father’s Day is approaching and we have a few (dozen) suggestions on what to gift the dads (and dad-like figures) on your list. The notion that fathers are the hardest people to shop for is sometimes a reality and with that in mind, a roundup of more than 40 items ranging from a North Face tent to a fancy Aarke water carbonation machine surely contains just the gift that says, “Thanks, pops.”
For the more fashion-forward father, trousers from Fear of God or a beaded David Yurman bracelet may do the trick, while Ten Garments Every Man Should Own — a new book by Pedro Mendes, one of Canada’s leading male style experts — will be great for anyone looking to upgrade their wardrobe game. A homebody will surely appreciate linen slippers from Muji paired with a new set of mugs that have been hand-finished in Portugal. But sometimes the simplest gifts are the most thoughtful — a handwritten note to the dude you look up to on a card from Canada’s Indigenous art collective IndigenArtsy will be something they cherish forever.
Whatever suits the father figure that’s dear to your heart, here are more than 40 Father’s Day gift options you can order online.
Ellie Kemper is known for the adorable girl-next-door she plays in basically all her roles — most notably as Kimmy in Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt and Erin in The Office. When her name was recently trending on Twitter, some fans thought perhaps it meant they were getting a reboot or spinoff of their fave sitcom. But this is 2021, and nothing can be so simple. The actual reason Kemper was trending was because of an old, resurfaced photo of her as the “Queen of Love and Beauty” at St. Louis’s Veiled Prophet (VP) Ball, an organization known for its racist past and possible ties to the white supremacist Ku Klux Klan (KKK) group. *Sighs* Here’s what to know about this strange turn of events.
What exactly happened with Ellie Kemper?
It all started on May 31, when someone tweeted about the VP Ball in St. Louis, Missouri, calling it “a fancy event put on by our local KKK,” and adding that Kemper was once named queen of the ball. Following this, an old newspaper clipping from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch resurfaced on Twitter, featuring a photo of 19-year-old Kemper as the “1999 Veiled Prophet Queen of Love and Beauty.” Kemper is shown wearing a white debutant gown with long white gloves, and the tweet dubbed her the “KKK queen.” Yikes.
So was no one gonna tell me Ellie kemper aka kimmy Schmidt was crowned KKK queen in 1999 pic.twitter.com/QdHJ6wGZGv
“Ellie Kemper” began trending on Twitter, with speculations circulating about the organization’s ties to the KKK, and memes poking fun at how ridiculously terrifying this is. To no one’s surprise, it turns out the Veiled Prophet Organization indeed has a dark and disturbing past, so buckle up.
ironically the best gif reaction to the ellie kemper news comes right from kimmy schmidt pic.twitter.com/Fcaow7ZwVI
Back in 2014, Scott Beauchamp did a deep dive into the history and practices of the organization for The Atlantic , and there’s a lot to unpack. The group was founded in 1878, when a confederate soldier brought together the local white “elites” to create a secret society: the Veiled Prophet Organization. Every year, a secret board would name someone the Veiled Prophet. The chosen VP (whose identity would remain anonymous) would then select a Queen of Love and Beauty at the organization’s debutante ball. The ball’s guest list was confidential, but only the town’s wealthiest and most powerful could attend, and the event was accompanied by a parade and fair.
The VP Organization was founded in response to the growing civil unrest of the working class. A year prior to its formation, railroad workers started the national Great Railroad Strike, where they halted train cars to draw attention to the unethical working conditions and unfair pay they endured. When the strike reached St. Louis, the town’s workers protested in solidarity with the strikers, calling out the disparity between the predominantly white wealthy elites and the working class. The strike ended when 5,000 “special police” joined forces with federal troops to disperse the crowd, killing eighteen strikers. The following year, the Veiled Prophet Organization was founded to assert the power and wealth of St. Louis’s white elite.
Organizations like the Veiled Prophet were very common in late 19th century America, says Andrew Johnston, a history professor at Carleton University. Organizations that were filled with white, Protestant, upper-class members were commonly established after periods of labour unrest. The “American governing class” felt threatened by the working class, immigrants and racialized people, he said, and used these organizations to exert dominance over them. “There was growing consciousness of racial competition, and it was just getting worse,” says Johnston, adding that St. Louis has historically been a hotbed of racial violence.
So, is the Veiled Prophet Organization tied to the KKK?
There is no public evidence directly tying the two organizations to one another, but the VP organization’s history is undeniably racist. In the earlier years of the VP’s parade, there were racial stereotypes depicted on the floats. Black and Jewish people weren’t allowed to be part of the organization for many years, and were only given admittance in recent decades. Perhaps the most jarring is the image of the first Veiled Prophet, who is dressed in a white cloak and is armed with a shotgun and pistol, seemingly modelled after a Klansman.
Mathew Czipf, a masters student at Carleton University studying the connections between the KKK and other white supremacist groups, says members of the VP Organization were likely to run in the same social circles as those in the KKK. Secrecy was a pillar of these organizations, allowing members to maintain political power and influence without the stigma of being in a white supremacist group.
“The people who wanted to join the Klan or get involved in white supremacy explicitly would find the Klan first, realize that they can’t advance their ideas or agendas through the Klan anymore because of how heavily policed it is, and then move out into smaller organizations, organizations by different names,” said Czipf.
By 1992, the name of the Veiled Prophet Fair was changed to Fair St. Louis, in an effort to rebrand and remove the connection to its past. But the organization still exists, representing longstanding inequities in St. Louis. The annual debutante ball exists too, in which young women from wealthy St. Louis families are presented to a “Veiled Prophet.”
What’s our takeaway?
To put it plainly: this whole thing is messed up. But sadly, it’s not that surprising. Kemper comes from old money and a privileged background; her family founded Commerce Bancshares, and she attended Princeton. Membership from the country’s wealthiest white families to groups like the Veiled Profit Organization does not come as a shock. While this is certainly not a good look for Kemper, it’s indicative of a larger issue within American history and culture: that organizations with such disturbing pasts continue to live on through traditions like the Veiled Prophet Ball.
I mean it is fucked up that white supremacy is that ubiquitous and overlaps this hard with seemingly normal liberal types but the takeway from this should be an indictment of all of that instead of just conveniently compartmentalizing it off into the one person that got busted
— please stop yelling at me i am a comedian (@feraljokes) June 1, 2021
Kemper has not yet responded to the situation, and whether she knew the extent of the organization’s history or not, it comes down to the importance of being socially aware. Johnston said claiming not to know about the history of a social issue such as this “means you either didn’t know because you weren’t listening, you chose not to know, or you lived in a circle of life that was completely cut off from those things.” Whatever the reason may be, it’s never too late to start learning, unlearning and taking accountability.
“The transformative power of gay glamour.” It’s a notion Toronto-based vintage purveyor Andrea Lalonde has been ruminating on more and more these days — and not only because of the recent surge in documentaries about the heydays of disco and Studio 54 giving more of us insight into the lives of queer creatives.
Lalonde, who owns Nouveau Riche Vintage, also notes that on the occasion of Pride it’s crucial to reflect on the pioneers of the movement, such as Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera, and how they would “pull a look and march in protest.” She adds that this idea has regrettably been largely lost because of the lack of in-person events the last year and a half. For her part, Lalonde is reinvigorating it with the release of a new series of images of Nouveau Riche’s wares, donned by model Meg Cule and her partner, Alexa Precious.
Laid-back linens, light knits tailored trench coats as well as ’90s-ish denim and leather are featured in the photos, which were styled by Nadia Pizzimenti and captured by Claudine Baltazar — with Allana Fennell as makeup artist and Antonia Stanley doing hair. An easy elegance and intimacy permeate each shot and they’re a stark contrast to the visuals we’ve become accustomed to seeing around Pride month. And that’s intentional, Lalonde notes, in terms of recalibrating the notion of what queerness looks like; if rainbows are your thing, however, she’s got plenty of multi-hued attire in stock as well.
Photography by Claudine Baltazar
Lalonde has put a much greater focus on creating these look books throughout the pandemic, both to sell her products and to reconnect her with the kind of curation and story-telling that were present when she worked in the art and film spaces. “I’m in fashion accidentally,” she laughs, highlighting that while working for Toronto’s Inside Out Film Festival, which currently runs until June 6, she became increasingly interested in queerness in cultural spaces.
Yet her present position as proprietor of one of the city’s most popular vintage venues, which also has a rental and archival component, is a role she’s embraced heartily. And she seeks to use it as a platform when it comes to informing a vintage-loving audience about the diversity of queer makers throughout history. Disco, for example, wasn’t “just glitter — it’s loaded with magical queer history,” she says, adding, “I have less shame around the fact that I think fashion is important, especially for queer people. It’s a way to form identity. [I’ve] always ensured my store was a safe space for people, no matter who you are, to play dress up.”
She’s also quick to note that there’s much “work to be done around making the fashion world a safe and less exploitative place” and realigning the notion that “queer is cool” to extend beyond the visuals and appropriation of culture to “making sure that queer people are involved in decision-making, too.”
Photography by Claudine Baltazar
This is something that’s become an extra potent point given the rising commercialization of Pride festivities, and how many see it as a collection of hollow gestures by corporations who are only interested in engaging with the community around the month of June, and, only in terms of selling them products or giving visible sponsorships. As the world at large has also begun to refocus where they spend their dollars throughout the pandemic, Lalonde says that to celebrate Pride this year, one should consider supporting queer-owned business — especially if they were your favourite places to visit in the “before times.”
“I want my Pride to be in a bookstore,” Lalonde laughs as she points to Glad Day Bookshop — and their Golden Girls-themed brunch Rose Beef, hosted by local artist Mikiki in particular — as a beloved boîte to spend time in. “We’re starting to recognize the vitalness of small businesses, and I’ve seen such resilience this year,” she adds. And we couldn’t think of two better words to sum up the essence of Pride, either.
Last Friday, the Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc First Nation announced that 215 bodies had been discovered in a mass grave on the grounds of the former Kamloops Residential School in British Columbia, believed to be the undocumented remains of Indigenous children killed while attending the institution, which was open between 1890 and 1969.
It was a horrifying and painful reminder of a chapter in Canada’s recent history that our national narrative has worked hard to repress — or at the very least, pretend is in the past, and not living on in the way our government continues to treat Indigenous peoples. (See: the disproportionate number of Indigenous children in foster care, or the lack of clean drinking water on many reserves.) For residential school survivors or their descendants, it’s re-triggered trauma. For non-Indigenous Canadians, it has moved many of us: to reflection, to shame, and to a desire to do something with those feelings.
While the work of reconciliation is much more than reading a few books or making a one-off donation, here are five practical suggestions for how to support Indigenous peoples and start our national work of addressing — and healing from — the genocide in Canada’s closet.
Educate yourself
If you’re like many of us, residential schools weren’t on your school curriculum growing up, and you might be embarrassed by how little you know about them now. (Like the fact that the last residential school only closed in 1996? Yeah, that.) Part of allyship is educating yourself, and not relying on your Indigenous friends to do that emotional labour for you, which can be triggering and re-traumatizing. Here are a few resources to get you started.
In 2011, Canada concluded a truth and reconciliation commission into residential schools, and you can read the full report into their findings. Based on historical documents and survivor testimonies, it’s a comprehensive (although by no means exhaustive) primer on the commission’s appalling, heartbreaking investigation.
Winner of the Governor General’s Literary Award, this novel tells the story of five children at a residential school in British Columbia, interweaving the stories of their lives as they attempt to heal from their experiences years later.
Written by one of Canada’s greatest literary talents, this is an unconventional half rumination, half history of Indigenous identity since the first European settlers arrived on the continent. If you’re looking for perceptive context and a sweeping survey of 500 years of history, this is an accessible way to do it.
These are the first-person recollections of students who attended this Manitoba residential high school, open between 1958 and 1973. It’s a difficult read, but an important one as we all work to honour (and believe!) the testimonies of the people affected by this heinous system.
If you’re looking for ways to talk to kids about residential schools, start with this picture book by a residential school survivor, which begins when she has to give up an orange shirt her grandmother gives her when she arrives at school, a metaphor for the systematic stripping of her Indigenous culture and language conducted there. This story, by the way, inspired Orange Shirt Day, held every September 30 to keep the conversation around residential schools going.
Write to your elected representatives
When the Truth and Reconciliation Commission published its report in 2015, it issued 94 “calls-to-action,” practical ways governments could act to deal with the ongoing legacy of the residential schools. Five years later, according to the Yellowhead Institute, just EIGHT of those have been implemented. Write to all your elected officials — municipal, provincial, federal — and put pressure on them to honour the remaining 86. (You’ll find all their contact information on their individual websites.) When it’s time to vote, make sure you’re casting a ballot for politicians who commit to making reconciliation a priority.
Listen to Indigenous voices
For a very long time, Indigenous people have not been believed when talked about what happened at residential schools. As we learn more and more about things Indigenous communities have known all along, make it a priority to centre their stories and teaching as you educate yourself — not just about residential schools, but so many other facets of Indigenous identity.
Some creators to follow could include:
Patuk Glenn
This Iñupiaq creator’s Instagram and TikTok chronicle life and celebrates her family’s culture in Canada’s Arctic.
Michelle Chubb
Indigenous Baddie on TikTok, this Néhinaw creator has spun up some powerful, punchy videos tackling the specific subject of residential schools.
Scott Wabano
A joyful celebration of his 2spirit, Cree identity, Wabano chronicles life in Tkaoronto, the land settlers subsequently called Toronto, on TikTok.
Donate to organizations supporting survivors
If you can, put your money where your allyship is, and donate to organizations that are actively supporting survivors of the residential school system. Here are two options for how to support Indigenous peoples through direct donations:
Modelled after a “grandmother’s lodge,” this Indigenous women-run charity works to enact political change, including creating an action plan to end the ongoing violence against Indigenous women, detailed in the recent inquiry into missing and murdered women and girls.
Understand your own role in all this
If you’re a non-Indigenous Canadian, you are a settler on land that first belonged to Indigenous people. Even if you’re newer to Canada, or your family wasn’t living here when the residential school system was in place, you have a role to play in reconciliation, and making sure that the systemic prejudice the institutions represented isn’t perpetuated in other forms. Keep doing the work, don’t centre your own feelings in this conversation, listen to Indigenous people when they choose to speak — and don’t forget to amplify and celebrate their excellence and success too.
Feeling emotionally ready to head back into the world this summer? Same. But perhaps your skin and hair don’t exactly share those sentiments. If you’re looking for quick fixes and touch-ups, have we ever got you covered with the just-launched products that will get you summer-ready in no time. From 10-minute hair colour solutions to lip balms that instantly brighten your mood, and a serum from the future (or so it seems) that can recognize what your skin needs before you even do, these are the June 2021 beauty launches we’re obsessing over — and June’s barely begun.
Browse our list of must-have June 2021 beauty launches and get ready to click “add to cart.”
Launching this month in Canada is Biolage’s ColorBalm collection ($33.50 each). Available in six different shades, the range of conditioners can be used to refresh, intensify or totally transform your hair colour — all while seriously conditioning and nourishing your strands, of course. The vegan formula is designed to deposit colour in just five to 10 minutes, depending on your desired effect, making it a great choice for a summer hair refresh — no matter how short on time you might be.
TikTok-famous makeup brand Freck Beauty, which is perhaps best known for its faux freckle products, has just launched three new shades of its beloved Cheekslime Lip + Cheek Tints ($29 each). The new shades, Jam Sesh (a deep berry), Fever Dream (an electric coral) and Orange Wine (a dusty orange) are meant to be used on lips and cheeks to achieve a monochromatic look, but can be used anywhere and everywhere you want to infuse with a dewy glow and subtle hint of colour.
Meet EYE, the latest launch from Radford Beauty ($45), a multipurpose, super concentrated eye cream formulated to treat signs of aging like loss of firmness and elasticity, fine lines and wrinkles, dryness and of course, under-eye circles. In fact, it’s so concentrated that it can be used all over the face and neck. EYE uses micro-emulsion technology, resulting in molecules that are small enough to penetrate the skin and deliver key ingredients, maximizing the product’s efficacy.
Dermatologist favourite brand CeraVe’s Itch Relief Moisturizing Cream ($28) has just landed in Canada, along with a less-thick lotion version of the formula. Formulated with hyaluronic acid, three ceramides and one perecent pramoxine hydrochloride (a steroid-free ingredient commonly used for itch relief), this will be a godsend if you suffer from itchy skin at any time of the year.
During the pandemic, beauty industry pro Susanne Langmuir (best known for founding Bite Beauty, which she sold back in 2014) was inspired to dive head first into her newest project. The time has now come to introduce you to LIXR, a new brand of lip elixirs that feature aromatherapy benefits. “They have therapeutic-grade essential oils and aromatics that have been used for centuries for their mood-altering benefits,” says Langmuir. “After 25 years of traveling around the world sourcing aromatics, I was inspired to create LIXR using these ingredients that I’ve sourced in a sustainable, cruelty-free way. I think this endeavour is really appropriate for what’s been going on and how we’ve all been feeling.” The lip treatments are available in six different scents ($28 each and available in either a tinted or a clear version) and there’s also an overnight lip mask and a lip polish. “Aromatherapy comes with scientific proof,” says Langmuir. “We know [there are scents] that can calm the mind and induce feelings of relaxation. And so, LIXR was born.”
Launching on June 3 at Dermalogica spas, salons and skin centres is the new Smart Response Serum ($189), the brand’s most sophisticated formula yet. It’s formulated to recognize and address micro-changes happening in the skin before they’re visible to the naked eye. Yes, you read that right! The serum can effectively address your skin’s developing needs before you even know that you have those needs. Cool, right? For example, it can sense an inflammatory response in your skin and activate its soothing, anti-inflammatory properties before you even notice any sort of inflammation. The same goes for collagen weakness, the beginning of the development of dark spots, and more. Welcome to the future of skincare.
Depop, Gen Z’s favourite clothing resale app, is being acquired by e-commerce site Etsy for $1.6 billion USD. The purchase, which was announced on June 2, is indicative of just how much the secondhand fashion industry has boomed in recent years. Here’s what to know about the purchase and what it means for the fashion resale industry.
What is Depop?
Depop is a U.K.-based clothing resale app that allows users to buy and sell pre-loved clothing through its online marketplace. Founded in 2011, the e-commerce site has become a hotspot for mostly Gen Z consumers who want to find special pieces without breaking the bank. Depop — which has about 30 million registered users — allows shoppers to experiment with their personal style while access secondhand designer clothes at often discounted prices. It is a popular alternative to fast-fashion and luxury fashion, and has experienced a surge in usage over the past year, no doubt impacted by COVID-19 and the collective shift to online shopping.
What does this purchase mean for Etsy and Depop going forward?
As e-commerce continues to be favoured during the ongoing pandemic, the companies working together will merge their growth strategies and distinct expertise, said Etsy CEO Josh Silverman in a statement shared by CNBC. Etsy’s users are generally older than Depop’s, so this acquisition will introduce them to a new, younger audience, and grow their presence in the resale market. As a more established marketplace, Etsy’s ownership of Depop means wider expansion and more profit for the U.K.-based brand. With Etsy’s resources as a larger company, Depop’s popularity and usage is likely to keep growing.
Why has secondhand shopping grown into such a huge industry?
During the pandemic, online shopping increased in popularity largely because of necessity as in-store shopping was either limited or halted altogether. Within this e-commerce surge has been a rise in online secondhand shopping. As a younger generation with keen environmental awareness, Gen Z consumers are more likely to turn to resale clothing sites for products that are both cheaper and greener. This rise in secondhand shopping has been happening in tandem with an increase in fast fashion, with many clothing brands overproducing clothing and contributing to landfill pollution more than ever before. Clothing resale sites like Depop offer wide-ranging price points for a variety of brands, and the ethical, arts-loving culture embedded in the brand’s messaging keeps young shoppers coming back.
Depop shopping has also become a lifestyle. Similar to Instagram’s interface, Depop sellers can gain followers based on the pictures they post of the clothes and accessories they’re selling. Some sellers who have grown their followings have even been able to build careers as legit influencers from their success on the app, and Depop hauls on TikTok garner millions of views. In a world of fast fashion, sites like this encourage users to develop their own individual styles through more intentional clothing choices. With the help of the Gen Z consumer, it seems Depop has turned their once small, resale clothing site into a billion-dollar business.
This past March, Melody Ehsani — the Los Angeles-based entrepreneur and founder of the streetwear brand ME. — was named the first creative director of women’s business at Foot Locker. The announcement not only heralded the inclusion of women’s perspectives in sport and sportswear as an increasingly powerful force; it also highlights crucial mainstream support for Ehsani’s visionary outlook when it comes to intertwining design and activism.
Granted, this notion has become quite buzzy over the last year in particular. But when you consider that Ehsani, who launched her line in the mid-2000s, has embraced this ethos from the very start, you see a greater picture of what she’s accomplished and where she’s heading.
“I grew up always being obsessed with pop culture, and congruently also having a real passion for justice and being able to give a voice to the voiceless and disenfranchised folks,” Ehsani says. “I’m a first-generation child to immigrant parents, so I saw a lot of what they had to deal with firsthand, and that inspired me from a young age.”
Ehsani notes, though, that her entrée into a creative field wasn’t nurtured as early. “Growing up in a traditional Persian family, you kind of only see [a few] options for what you’re going to do professionally — it was like okay, I’m either going to become a doctor or a lawyer or a pharmacist,” she laughs. “[My parents] were both artists but never made any money off their art so I viewed it as something very impractical and secondary. It was always a hobby — it wasn’t really assigned value in terms of making a living.”
Photography courtesy of Foot Locker
And so, Ehsani went to college and studied sociology and philosophy in her undergrad, subsequently enrolling in law school. “My uncle told me to take as many internships as I could,” she recalls. “I did a million law internships and was left completely disenchanted by the field and the process.” Ehsani decided to drop her enrolment. “I couldn’t move forward with law because I felt like I would be miserable, and waking up to something every day that I didn’t love,” she says. “Love was always really important to me.”
After booking an appointment with medical intuitive Julie Burns Walker, Ehsani’s fate essentially became sealed. “It was the first time that somebody had ever seen me for what I was as opposed to what was projected on me of what I should be,” she says of the conversation. “A lot of that was design-oriented. After receiving that mirroring, so to speak, I just followed that path and never looked back.”
Indeed, Ehsani only seems interested in moving forward, and it’s evidenced by each project she embarks on, whether it’s the podcast The Butterfly Forecast — which she launched earlier this year with Burns Walker and examines “how the smallest changes made by an individual can change the outcome for the collective” — or her new role with Foot Locker.
Her first capsule collection for the brand will launch on June 10, and is inspired by another big love in her life, basketball. It features an assortment of shapewear and athletic pieces including an organza tracksuit that was developed with Ehsani’s close friends — Toronto-raised, Bombay-based creatives Mriga Kapadiya and Amrit Kumar of the brand NorBlack NorWhite. “Sharing the platform with them was probably my favourite part of this experience,” Ehsani notes. 70 percent of the debut collection is gender-neutral in design, and sizes range from XS to 2X; Canadians can find it online and at the brand’s Toronto and Vancouver stores.
Photography courtesy of Foot Locker
To introduce the line, Ehsani and Foot Locker have crafted a virtual event called The No More Next Festival which will run on Saturday, June 5. The day’s programming includes a Q&A with Ehsani, as well as an affirmation session and a roundtable she will participate in alongside streetwear designer Don C. and Renee Montgomery, owner of the basketball team the Atlanta Dream.
“She’s the first woman to own a WNBA team and the first former player to own a WNBA team,” Ehsani enthuses, adding that it was important for her to include such perspectives as Montgomery’s during the online event in an effort to engage with them outside their typical context of the sports world.
“A lot of events, especially when they’re corporate events, seem to have the same sort of talking heads talking about the same things,” Ehsani says. “I wanted [us] to talk about the world that we’re inspired by and exploring and delving into from a justice standpoint and a fashion standpoint — bringing people into a room that I don’t know if you’d necessarily see talking to one another, and whose opinions you might not know, or even people you might not know of.”
The event’s mandate is unsurprising given Ehsani’s general lens on life. “My mission has always been to elevate consciousness,” she says of her approach to running a business, as well as her personal philosophy. “It’s the pillar that’s always been at the core of my brand [and] it’s what I’m inspired by — when you phrase something differently [about] a particular experience for a group of people. What does it do to you, and how do you feel about it, and how do you get involved. For me it’s never been about a new look in fashion, it’s been about a new voice.”
Photography courtesy of Foot Locker
She goes on to highlight that she thinks it’s “an exciting time because it’s a time of germination. You have people like Kanye [West] — I just went into a deep dive with what he’s doing and it’s really impressive. He’s manufacturing some of his own footwear in the U.S. which is sort of unheard of, and he’s committed to being completely sustainable in the next five years which means dealing with the issue of dyes and the toxicity of them, which is really hard. I see a lot of people that are in my age group are making these huge strides and not being scared of dreaming bigger. I also think there’s going to be a renaissance of young people doing their own thing. Little movements of people taking things into their own hands [and] getting back to innovation and moving away from the materialism and consumerism of it all.”
Ehsani notes, however, that the style world in particular is also at a juncture where “you can’t just make the jump from fashion to activism without having consciousness in the centre of it. It’s become a bit trendy, and people are now being held to account in terms of what their company stands for, where’s the money going, and who’s sitting in the board room.”
For this reason as well, Ehsani’s role at Foot Locker is a momentous one. What would she say to her younger self, all things considered? “I think I had so much doubt along the way about what I was actually capable of,” she says. “I’ve become so much more free, and I’m just finding more and more freedom in terms of being able to question things. Like, why can’t I do something? I feel you like you actually can do whatever it is that you want to do, but there are so many forces in the world that try to make us feel like we can’t, or we’re not good enough or we shouldn’t. Surround yourself with people who see you and make you feel like you can.”
Yet Ehsani recognizes that the evolution from self-doubter to boundary-breaking enlightened being is “a never-ending process.” She credits a “strong spiritual practice,” as well as a self-care routine that includes myriad vitamins and supplements to support her emotional well-being and brain chemistry, with fortifying herself along the way.
“Having a relationship to my creator, and humbling myself every day as to how small I am in the grand scheme of things and that I can only do what I feel like I’m here to do,” she says of what keeps her going. “My spiritual upkeep is really important because it reminds me of my design as a human, and what I’m designed to do here.”
19-year-old model Kaia Gerber spent the last year and a half just like the rest of us: baking banana bread, experimenting with DIY specialty coffees (“I’ve gotten very into making my own mushroom coffee so I’m wired all day,” she says) and starting a book club. Unlike the rest of us, her bi-weekly book club is still going strong and features celebrity guest appearances. (In the club’s first meeting, Gerber and Normal People actors Daisy Edgar Jones and Paul Mescal discussed the Sally Rooney novel of the same name.)
“I never wanted to overstep in the literary community,” says Gerber, who’s an avid reader. “But I’m grateful to have been accepted into this world that I’ve always wanted to be a part of.” Gerber’s hobby caught the attention of her longtime collaborator, designer Marc Jacobs, who even donated masks to NYU Langone Health Centre in honour of the model’s book club.
Now, the two have paired up again — this time in their usual way, swapping books for bottles as Gerber stars in the latest campaign for the Daisy Marc Jacobs fragrance franchise, which she’s been a face of since 2017.
The newest scent, Daisy Eau So Intense (from $115), is inspired by the warmth of the sun, the beauty of golden hour and — what else — fields of fresh daisies. With notes of strawberry, pear, honey and vanilla, Daisy Eau So Intense is bright and deeply joyful. “It reminds me of watching the sunset with my family,” says Gerber, who’s counting down the days until she can head back to her beloved Muskoka cottage. “By the way, everyone here [in California] calls it a house. I’ll say ‘cottage’ and people are like, ‘Are you from Goldilocks and the Three Bears?’” she laughs.
Skinfluencer Hyram Yarbro is best known for his YouTube and TikTok videos providing honest skincare product reviews for his Gen Z audience (he’s got almost 11.5 million followers across both platforms). He’s built his massive online presence by simplifying the often complex and confusing ingredients found in our (often also complex and confusing) skincare routines. And on any given video, he receives tons of comments from his adoring young fans asking when he’ll be launching a skincare line of his own. Luckily for them, that day is today. Well, okay not today, but Yarbro did just announce his new beauty brand today, and promised more info soon! Colour us intrigued…
Selfless by Hyram was created in collaboration with The Inkey List, the U.K.-based skincare brand founded by Colette Newberry and Mark Curry that’s focused on sharing skincare knowledge and producing affordable products with simple ingredients. Appropriately named Selfless, the brand’s mission is to use gentle skincare as a vehicle for social change. The three founders chatted with FASHION about the creation of the line and its philosophy.
The social impact vision behind Selfless by Hyram
With the vision of merging humanitarianism with skincare, Selfless by Hyram holds itself accountable and contributes to the betterment of the planet. The line will support various organizations across four key areas: the environment, health, education and empowerment. With every purchase, customers contribute to these organizations’ initiatives, like providing a year’s worth of clean drinking water, or protecting tropical forests from deforestation through land purchase. The brand has also established partnerships with organizations addressing the climate and water crisis, such as Rainforest Trust and youth-activated water charity Thirst Project.
Ensuring every ingredient is ethically sourced was no small feat. When developing the formulas, Yarbro came to Newberry and Curry with the ingredients that he wanted to work with. His vision, coupled with the duo’s knowledge and access to innovative ingredients, resulted in unique, custom formulas. Once they were clear on their vision, they made sure every step in producing the product was one that would contribute to their goal of social change. The Inkey List founders sent their manufacturers hundreds of questions about every ingredient’s origin, a gruelling process they say is part of their “Selfless standard,” an ever-evolving set of self-imposed guidelines to hold them accountable to creating the best products possible.
“Having that set of standards from the conception of the brand was amazing, because you’ve got a blank slate, and you can really drive change through the manufacturers and the processes that we’ve used,” says Newberry. “But what’s really important to note is those standards are not going to stand still. That excites us, because we want to disrupt the industry.”
Colette Newberry and Mark Curry, founders of The Inkey List
The power of collaboration
Since the beginning of his channel, Yarbro has been getting questions about if and when he would launch a skincare line. At first, he was hesitant to do so. “I wasn’t necessarily sure what I could introduce to the industry that was new,” says Yarbro. “It wasn’t until I realized that my brand could be a catalyst for social change, where we could combine social good and direct, measurable social impact efforts, with a skincare product purchase that I was like, ‘Okay wait, this could be awesome.’”
Coincidentally, Yarbro had been working on his own skincare line for a few months, and was originally planning on launching independently. But when he connected with Newberry and Curry, he saw how their visions aligned, and their partnership has been cohesive ever since.
So what exactly is in the Selfless by Hyram line?
Details are still under wraps, but what we know is that the line is launching with five products, which will all be ringing in under $30. “We intentionally priced everything to be as affordable as possible while still fairly compensating for the sustainable ingredients, the sustainable packaging and the sourcing standards of quality,” says Yarbro.
Hyram Yarbro
How Selfless by Hyram will translate to Yarbro’s social media channels
Known for his honest skincare reviews, transparency is a crucial part of Yarbro’s online presence. As a founder of Selfless, he wants to be open about his inevitable bias towards his line when doing deep dives into different elements of the brand on his channel. “Obviously I created what I would define as the perfect brand,” he laughs. “I want that bias to be visible.”
With this new endeavour, the social media star says his content may shift. “When I started my channel, it was all about pushing for brands to create formulas that are better for sensitive skin [and] that are accessible to all people. That was the primary mission,” he reflects. Now, he says the skincare community on social media has gotten so huge, and there are so many other creators doing deep dives into brand and product reviews, that he feels he can pass on the torch and focus on Selfless by Hyram. “I feel like my work has been done in that sense. This gives me an opportunity to show a new side of myself and a side of the brand that people wouldn’t otherwise be able to see.”
Yarbro says humanitarian work has always been his primary passion, and he’s excited to have that be the pillar of this brand. “For me, it’s all about what small, daily changes people [can] make to be able to leave a positive impact on the world,” he explains. “More than anything, [I want to explore] how can that leave an impact on the most pressing issues facing the planet.”
Selfless by Hyram products will be rolling out at Sephora soon. Watch this space for more details!
