Lifestyle Barometer: your guide to what’s hot and what’s not this week from toxic masculinity to the 10-year challenge
From baby names to upskirting and faux fur, this is our guide to what’s hot and what’s not
Going up:
10-year challenge
A new viral sensation is sweeping across everyone’s social media feed: the #10YearChallenge.
A trend that’s also being called “glow-up challenge”, “2009 vs 2019” and “How hard did aging hit you”, the craze involves people comparing pictures of themselves in 2009 to ones taken in 2019 on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
A bevy of A-listers have taken part and, while some have used it as an opportunity to show just how little they’ve aged, others have used it to spread a positive message.
Katie Piper shared an inspirational post on her Instagram as part of the challenge in a bid to encourage fans to embrace ageing.
“Don’t let this challenge create anxiety within you about ageing – it’s an absolute privilege,” she wrote alongside two pictures, one of her in 2009 wearing a face mask following an acid attack and another of her dressed in a hooded jumper in 2019.
She added: “1st pic me age 25 year of 2009 in my mum’s kitchen. 2nd pic is me age 35 last week in my own kitchen 2019!”
Model diversity
The modelling industry is renowned for displaying a fairly narrow image of beauty, but one brand is out to change that.
Primark has won praise for setting a “brilliant example” to other brands by featuring a young boy with vitiligo in its latest campaign.
Shoppers applauded the fashion retailer for raising awareness of the skin condition – which involves pale white or pink patches appearing on the skin due to a lack of the skin pigment melanin – in the campaigns for its new ranges of children’s activewear and casualwear.
“The people we support often tell us that they have never seen anyone who looks like them in fashion magazines and ad campaigns, and this has a huge effect on their self-esteem,” Becky Hewitt, chief executive of the charity Changing Faces, told The Independent.
“Primark are setting a brilliant example and we hope to see many more brands following suit, so that fashion is truly accessible to all.”
Breastfeeding
Actor Kate Hudson has been praised by fans after she posted a photo on Instagram showing her breastfeeding her baby at work.
“When your workin but babies gotta eat [sic]” she captioned the image, taken by photographer Nino Muñoz.
The 39-year-old was applauded for being “real” and helping to normalise breastfeeding.
The actor has previously spoken candidly about just how hard it can be to juggle a work schedule while breastfeeding.
Speaking on The Today Show, she said: “I’m breastfeeding constantly now and I’m trying to figure out how to balance the breastfeeding and the work, which is always a mother’s challenge.
“Even mums that have multiple kids, and it’s just hard with the pumping. I have one friend who is a milk machine.
“I wish I was a milk machine. I’m not. I need to pump and I need to be on it.”
Film-inspired baby names
Finding the perfect baby name can be tricky business and each year more and more parents are choosing to forgo traditional monikers in favour of unique ones.
In particular, 2019 has already seen an increase in the number of celebrities choosing film-inspired names for their new arrivals.
Tom Hardy and Charlotte Riley this week welcomed a new baby boy and revealed that they’ve decided to name him after the 1994 Oscar-winning film Forrest Gump.
Similarly, Billie Piper revealed her newborn baby’s name was inspired by Bugsy Malone, sharing an adorable snap of on Instagram of her daughter Tallulah.
Slip skirts
The fashion industry’s obsession with all things Nineties has seen the humble slip skirt skyrocket in popularity in recent months.
An item that was once considered a practical undergarment, the silky skirt has reached cult status with Topshop’s version selling out in approximately three hours online.
So far, the retailer has had to re-stock the design twice and has subsequently launched 11 additional styles of the same skirt in everything from tiger print and tie-dye to ditsy florals.
Going down:
Toxic masculinity
Gillette has made headlines after launching a new advert about the dangers of toxic masculinity and the importance of setting a good example for young boys.
The video, which features news clips of reporting on the #MeToo movement as well as sexism in boardrooms, and violence between boys, has sparked heated debate online from men’s rights activists and TV contrarian Piers Morgan.
While many chose to praise the advert for its positive message regarding toxic masculinity, others accused it of labelling all men as “harassers”.
Speaking on Good Morning Britain, Morgan said: “What Gillette is now saying, everything we told you to be, men, for the last 30 years is evil.
“Now you’re all evil people, you’re all toxic with your masculinity.”
The 53-year-old’s rant ended with him labelling the ad as “repulsive” and telling Gillette to “shut up”.
“If we did this to women, if I did a commercial tomorrow that showed the worst of women, all hell would break loose…” he fumed.
Upskirting
Upskirting is to become a criminal offence punishable by up to two years in prison after new legislation was passed on Thursday.
Gina Martin, who launched a campaign to criminalise upskirting – a term used to describe the act of taking sexually intrusive photographs up someone’s skirt without their permission – said the decision was “politics and society at its best”.
The legislation, which has existed in Scotland since 2010, is now only awaiting the formality of Royal Assent after recieving its third reading in the House of Lords’ Upper Chamber on Tuesday.
Martin launched the campaign to criminalise the act after being targeted at a festival 18 months ago.
Following the incident, Martin informed the police and learned that upskirting was not a specific offence in UK law.
‘Faux fur’
Fashion retailers have been told to ensure items they advertise as being made from faux fur are not made from real fur.
If they fail to do so by 11 February, the Committees of Advertising Practice, part of the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), has said it will sanction the companies involved.
The ruling follows a string of complaints against retailers such as Boohoo, House of Fraser, Missguided, TK Maxx, Amazon and Ebay, which have been found to advertise products as faux fur when they were made using fur from animals including rabbits, foxes and raccoons.
Boohoo recently faced criticism for selling a “faux fur pom pom jumper” that, despite being described as 100 per cent acrylic, was found to contain real animal fur.
The ASA concluded that the retailer had breached rules concerning “misleading advertising” as the jumper contained animal fur believed to be rabbit.
Logan Paul
Logan Paul has faced a backlash after saying he was going to attempt to “go gay” for one month as a New Year’s resolution.
The YouTuber made the controversial statement while speaking on his podcast Impaulsive alongside co-host Mike Majlak and guest Kelvin Peña, otherwise known as internet star “Brother Nature”.
The 23-year-old was criticised hugely on social media following the release of the podcast with many emphasising the fact that being gay isn’t a choice.
Paul responded to a tweet from an LGBT+ organisation saying the comments were a “very poor choice of words”.
Plastic surgery
Drew Barrymore has revealed the reason she’s never had plastic surgery, saying that she doesn’t believe in “chasing unnatural beauty”.
In an interview with Glamour magazine, the 43-year-old said she believes strongly in spreading the message that it’s a “privilege” to “age gracefully”.
“Not messing with my face or chasing some unnatural beauty is a standard I live by,“ the Santa Clarita Diet star said.
Barrymore said a dermatologist recently asked to inject dermal filler under her eyes to help with dark circles, but the actor refused, instead insisting that she’ll apply highlighter to the area.
Another reason why Barrymore has chosen never to undergo cosmetic surgery is because she thinks there’s a strong chance she would have never been able to stop, given her past struggles with substance addiction.
“I have an extremely addictive personality,” she said.
“I’ve never done heroin and I don’t want to get plastic surgery because I feel like they’re both very slippery slopes.
“I feel if I try either, I’m going to be dead really soon.”
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