Pretoria News Weekend 2022-01-22

Robin Givhan Fashion editor André Leon Talley achieved rarefied status in an industry that he had to bend to his will. When he arrived in New York in the early ’70s with his degrees in French history and literature, he was a tall, skinny black man from the segregated South who barrelled through the gilded doors of a world that was populated by European aristocrats, ivory-skinned socialites, limousine liberals and snobs. He rose through the ranks because of his intelligence and savvy, as well as his unrelenting belief in the glory and glamour of fashion. When he died on Tuesday at 73, he had achieved greatness in his profession. He’d served as creative director of American Vogue and even today, no other black person has held that title. His very…

Bang Showbiz Joss Whedon has claimed Gal Gadot misunderstood him on set. The Justice League director has responded to allegations he threatened the actress – who played Wonder Woman in the movie – on set, and suggested there was a language barrier when communicating with the Israeli. He told New York magazine: “I don’t threaten people. Who does that? English is not her first language, and I tend to be annoyingly flowery in my speech.” In response, Gadot told the publication: “I understood perfectly.” The 36-year-old actress previously claimed the director “threatened” her career when they were working together on the DC movie. She said at the time: “He kind of threatened my career and said if I did something, he would make my career miserable and I just took…

JULIAN Fellowes has hinted a third Downton Abbey film could be made. The hit period drama returns to the big screen with the sequel Downton Abbey: A New Era which is slated for release in March and Fellowes, the show’s creator, claims that another movie could follow. The 72-year-old screenwriter told the Radio Times magazine: “We were lucky to reassemble our cast. “I think for them it’s become a sort of club. They say goodbye, everyone cries and two years later, we’re back at it! “I think each time it’s goodbye, but whether it is or not, who knows?” The first Downton Abbey film was released in 2019 and proved to be a box office hit, and stars Hugh Bonneville, Michelle Dockery and Dame Maggie Smith are all reprising their…

Inkoo Kang Before the plane crash that stranded them in the middle of nowhere, many of the girls on board were exactly the kinds of teens the New Jersey suburbs were supposed to produce. Star athletes. Ivy League-bound. Tough and determined, yet open to love and sexual exploration. By the time the survivors were found and rescued 19 months later, they were rumoured to be something else: cannibals. The genre of the teen soap gets a pulpy makeover – and channels adult ennui – in M-Net’s new supernatural thriller Yellowjackets. It’s the kind of show that borrows from so many others that it feels mostly original again, though its most direct influence is Lost. Half the action takes place in 1996, the year the plane goes down, and the…

M Carrie Allan I met Derek Brown, as many have, when he was holding court behind the bar – specifically, the old iteration of the Columbia Room, back when it was just a room, a temple of mixology hidden away inside the rowdier Passenger bar in Washington. That evening, he took our little entourage through a roster of diverse cocktails, teaching us about the drinks, including one of his signature cocktails, the Getaway, a daiquiri enhanced with the bitter liqueur Cynar. As I got more into cocktails, I enjoyed Brown’s pieces for the Atlantic, smart and un-snooty, providing an education on spirits and cocktails. Over the years, I’d see Brown out and about – pouring drinks, drinking drinks, educating people on drinks, always at the centre of the action. Between…

Thobile Mazibuko thobile.mazibuko@inl.co.za Multi award-winning South African designer Lukhanyo Mdingi is starting the new year on a high note after launching his Autumn/Winter 2022 collection in Paris. Mdingi kicked off Paris Fashion Week’s six-day menswear season with his Bodyland AW22 collection this past Tuesday. In this collection, he aimed to celebrate the human hands that work tirelessly in creating different designs. “The premise of this season’s presentation is an expansion of the pure spirit of collaboration. A recent period of respite in Burkina Faso will now form the heart of the label’s opening showcase Bodyland,” he said. The collection was a celebration of African fabrics, ethical sensibility and rough local textiles. From voluminous scarves and knitwear, to wool crepe garments, it’s a collection that showed great promise of what the…