Women? The Convent?
Since British Vogue declared boyfriends uncool, I’ve been unable to stop thinking. Thinking, perhaps too simply, about the volumes of criteria we’ve invented and refined to categorize women: hot, lame; cool-girl, weird-girl, boyfriend-girl; mob-wife, homemaker. Thinking, perhaps too abstractly,
Drawing in Crayon
How embarrassed would you be on a scale of one to ten if your mother sealed drawings you made in primary school into envelopes for posterity and they were then put on display? I think I’m at a solid 8/10. But if someone in the Guardian said they were ‘really accomplished’? Maybe a 6. [&he
The Politics of Crewdate
The crewdate insists on two things: that it is extremely important, and that it does not matter at all. My first crewdate produced a story that gets told relatively often, much to my dismay. It occurred on the third day of Freshers’ Week. I did not have the faintest idea what the term entai
Interrogating the Hickey
The humble hickey. An underdiscussed accessory, although I’m sure some would object to that characterisation. Admittedly, ‘accessory’ seems to afford hickeys far more stylistic merit than they deserve; they’re certainly not as visually interesting as a tasteful tattoo, necklace, or scarf
In Defense of Ketchup
‘Excuse me, could I have some ketchup?’ This is one of the most frequently used phrases in my life. I should probably learn to say it in other languages. ‘Disculpe, ¿podría darme un poco de ketchup?’ But, increasingly, I am questioning whether I should ask for
The MAGAfication of Minaj
Nicki Minaj, the queen of rap, once dominated headlines for good reason. In the 2010s, her fame was untouchable, supported unwaveringly by her fanbase, collectively known as ‘barbz’.. Some fourteen years ago, an adorably tutu-ed Sophia Grace Brownlee and her cousin Rosie sang Super Bass with all
What is Sydney Sweeney’s deal?
Not to be that person, but the first time I saw Sydney Sweeney on screen was in the 2019 arthouse film Clementine. She plays a young, frivolous girl who strikes a brief and homoerotic friendship with a woman who’s retreated into the wilderness. The film is, to my best recollection, an unsatisfying
Oxford: a place for lovers?
What makes a city feel romantic? Oxford, certainly, looks the part: honey-coloured stone, lamplit and cobbled lanes, churches, and spires—as much a living film set as a city, and directors have long agreed. From Brideshead Revisited (2008) to Saltburn (2023), Oxford has been a backdrop for romanti
