Lifestyle Barometer: Your guide to what’s hot and what’s not this week from Taylor Swift to the Mona Lisa
From Prince Louis to armpit hair and Asos, this is our guide to what’s hot and what’s not
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▲ Vegan pizza
Purezza, the UK’s first vegan pizzeria, won a top prize at the World Pizza Championships in Italy this week.
The popular chain entered into the award’s Pizza Classica category this year, which is reserved for Italian-style pizzas baked in wood-fired ovens.
Purezza’s entry was titled “The Promised Land” and was made using BrewDog Punk IPA-infused wholegrain dough.
The pizza was topped with stir-fried cavolo nero, Italian-style marinated tempeh, pioppini mushrooms, and a borlotti bean sauce.
It also used two different cheeses: Purezza’s own signature vegan cheese – dubbed mozzarella 2.0 – and a fermented cashew cheese with sundried cruschi peppers.
The creation was finished with a garnish of ginger purée, agave syrup, and a vegan caviar.
Purezza’s head chef, Filippo Rosato, who cooked for the judges, said to have come away with an award was more than he could ever have hoped for.
▲ Taylor Swift
After months of waiting for the arrival of new music from Taylor Swift, the 29-year-old released a pastel-filled music video for “ME!”, featuring Panic! At The Disco frontman Brendon Urie on 26 April.
The track is the first new music from Swift since her Reputation album and arrived after weeks of teasing and clues from Swift to her fans.
The video and clues all share a distinctive theme of pastel colours, butterflies, rainbows and flowers, which marks a drastic switch from the bold red and gold tones of her last album.
Swift's followers had guessed the singer's new music video would feature lots of bright colours, largely due to her most recent sartorial choices.
Earlier this week, the star attended the Time 100 Gala wearing a blush pink and lemon yellow off-shoulder gown created by haute couture designer J Mendel, weeks after debuting pink-dipped hair at the iHeartRadio Music Awards.
You can see the seven best pastel fashion moments from the music video here.
▲ #BeforeILetGo challenge
On Wednesday, Beyoncé shared her very first Instagram story, featuring videos of fans performing a new dance challenge to one of her latest songs, prompting what has become known as the #BeforeILetGo challenge.
The upbeat song has sparked a new social media craze, with many members of the Beyhive (Beyoncé's most dedicated fans) attempting to emulate the dance moves mentioned in the lyrics.
The lyrics go as follows: “Turn around, kick, then slide. And twirl that ass to the right, now. Ooh, bunny hop, bunny hop, drop, pop.
“Cross your legs, turn around and clap. Shuffle to the left, let's glide now. Ooh, drop it down, drop it down low, low.“
The hashtag “#BeforeILetGo” has been used more than 7,000 times on Instagram, while the hashtag “#BeforeILetGoChallenge” has been used more than 4,000 times.
▲ Armpit hair
This week, sportswear giant Nike won praise online for featuring a female model with armpit hair on its Instagram account.
The brand shared the photo of Nigerian singer and model Annahstasia on its Nike Women account, with the caption: “Big mood”.
In the photo, which has been liked more than 175,000 times, Annahstasia poses in a Nike sports bra with her arm raised over her head, showing off her armpit hair.
Although there has been criticism from some followers, many of the comments have been supportive of the brand and the model for showing natural bodies.
“Thank you Nike for your support of being natural,” one person wrote.
“Nike thank you for doing this,” someone else commented. “#Bodyhairpositivity is something that needs to be normalised.”
▲ Prince Louis
Kensington Palace released three new photographs of Prince Louis ahead of his birthday on Tuesday 23 April.
Taken by his mother, the Duchess of Cambridge, earlier this month at the family’s home in Norfolk, the royal could be seen happily playing in the garden.
In two of the photos, Louis is wearing a dark red round-neck jumper with a collared shirt underneath. Smiling with his mouth open, he has two bottom front teeth.
In the third image, he is wearing a blue jumper with a dog stitched on the front.
The new photos come almost a year after Kensington Palace released two photographs of Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis, which were taken shortly after his birth.
Going down ▼
▼ Mona Lisa
The Mona Lisa has been voted the “world’s most disappointing” tourist attraction by Britons.
A survey of 2,000 people by airline easyJet revealed that 86 per cent of Britons think the famous portrait, which was painted by Leonardo Da Vinci in the 16th century, is a “let down”.
The portrait hangs in the Louvre in Paris, which incidentally also features at number nine on the list of disappointing tourist destinations.
Checkpoint Charlie – a border crossing between east and west Berlin during the Cold War – is the second most disappointing attraction, disliked by 84 per cent of Britons, while the Manneken Pis in Brussels comes in at third place on the list, with 80 per cent unimpressed by the bronze statue of a naked boy.
Holidaymakers were also underwhelmed by the Moulin Rouge and Eiffel Tower in Paris, the Spanish Steps and Trevi Fountain in Rome, the Little Mermaid Statue in Copenhagen and the Leaning Tower of Pisa in Italy.
▼ Asos
Asos faced criticism online this week for using bulldog clips to alter the fit of its clothes on models.
A Twitter user, who goes by the handle @xronnieanna, shared a series of images from the Asos website of a model wearing a £35 navy blue cami dress.
In two of the photos, bulldog clips can be clearly seen cinching the garment at the model’s waist.
“Uhmm @ASOS …think you forgot to edit those clips out,” the caption read.
The tweet has since received more than 19,000 likes and been flooded with thousands of comments from angry shoppers.
Soon after the original Tweet was shared online, Asos removed the offending photos and replaced them with pictures that didn't feature clips.
▼ McDonald’s paper straws
Last June, McDonald’s announced it would end the use of plastic straws in all 1,361 branches across the UK after nearly half a million people called for the company to make the change.
However, the move has angered customers, with several now taking to Twitter to complain the paper straws are ruining their drinks, specifically milkshakes.
One customer tweeted: “With the paper straws they are fine for Coke but the other day I had a milkshake and I struggled so so much that I ended up getting one of my own plastic straws at home.”
Another added: “Yo @McDonaldsUK how I meant to drink my milkshake outta this lmao. Stop with the paper straws…[sic].”
In light of the complaints, a spokesperson from McDonald's told The Independent: “Our suppliers have made us paper straws that last at least 30 minutes in most, if not all liquids.
“They were introduced following customer feedback, and we are pleased to be doing the right thing in removing plastic from our restaurants and taking significant steps to reduce our environmental impact.”
▼ Climate change
New research from YouGov has revealed that one in four Britons believe the threat of climate change is over-exaggerated.
The findings showed that while 70 per cent of Britons think warnings on climate change from scientists are appropriate, 32 per cent of those aged 55 and above believe the threat is over-exaggerated, as do 9 per cent of 18 to 24-year-olds.
The study also asked Britons about a number of other science-based conspiracy theories and found that one in five (20 per cent) think it’s probably or definitely true that vaccinations have harmful effects that are not being fully disclosed, despite publicly available scientific research showing they are safe.
One in seven Britons (14 per cent) also admitted to thinking it’s probably or definitely the case that the universe was created by God in seven days, and evolution was just part of his creation plan.
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