Update: Cyntoia Brown was granted clemency by Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam on January 7, 2019. She is scheduled to be released from prison on August 7. You can read more about Brown's clemency here. The original story appears below.

On December 6, the Tennessee Supreme Court ruled t hat Cyntoia Brown, a woman convicted of first degree murder as a teen, would have to serve 51 years in prison before being eligible for parole. The decision disregards many factors including that Cyntoia Brown was solicited for sex by a 43-year-old man when she was only 16, the fact that both Tennessee and US law has changed significantly when it comes to prosecuting minors since Brown’s first trial in 2006, and the outrage expressed by hundreds of thousands in a number of petitions protesting the egregious sentencing of an at-risk-child at the mercy of a series of a predatory men.

Brown’s case has attracted the attention of celebrities including Rihanna, Kim Kardashian West, and LeBron James. Here's what you need to know.

The Case Against Cyntoia Brown

On August 7, 2004 Nashville Police responded to a 911 call and found the body of 43-year-old Johnny Allen. Allen was nude, lying face down in his bed. He’d been shot in the back of the head. In the early morning hours of August 8, police found Allen’s white pick up truck in a parking lot and arrested 16-year-old Cyntoia Brown in connection with the shooting. At the time, she was staying in a nearby hotel with a man she referred to as “Cut Throat.” Brown had taken Allen’s wallet and some of his guns.

She waived her Miranda Rights and told investigators that Allen had solicited her for sex on August 6 and driven her to his home where he showed her guns and became violent. She feared for her life and shot him with a .40-caliber handgun she had in her purse, killing him in self defence.

Prosecutors argued that Brown’s real motive was robbery and despite her age she was charged as an adult with first-degree felony murder and aggravated robbery. She was sentenced to two concurrent life sentences.

Cyntoia Brown’s Childhood

At her original trial, Brown wasn’t allowed to testify on her own behalf and her attorneys didn’t offer into evidence her traumatic childhood history and severe neurodevelopmental disorder.

Brown’s mother drank alcohol — as much as "a fifth a day, if I could get it" she later admitted —throughout her pregnancy. As a result Brown is on the foetal alcohol spectrum disorder which can result in “poor impulse control and a disconnect between thought and action.” At eight-months-old, Brown entered the foster care system and became a runaway in her early teens. She experienced numerous rapes and assaults during this time.

In 2004 she began living in a series of hotels with the 24-year-old man she called “Cut Throat.” Her relationship with Cut Throat was sexually, physically, and emotionally abusive. He pulled a gun on her multiple times and once choked her so hard she passed out. Eventually he forced her into prostitution.

Brown later testified that, "He would explain to me that some people were born whores, and that I was one, and I was a slut, and nobody'd want me but him, and the best thing I could do was just learn to be a good whore.”

On the night of August 6, he ordered her to go out and “get money.” Brown met Allen later that evening in the parking lot of a Sonic franchise. He agreed to pay $150 for sex and drove them both back to his home where she later shot him.

Brown’s Case Gains Publicity

Filmmaker Dan Birman had been following Brown’s case since her arrest, after being tipped of to the story by a forensic psychiatrist who’d been asked to interview her. In 2011, his film, “Me Facing Life: Cyntoia’s Story” debuted on PBS. The documentary took on many of the complicated angles of the case including juvenile justice reform, Brown’s flawed first trial and the ways in which it was prejudiced by the fact that she was a woman of colour engaging in sex work, and the lack of a social safety net available to young at-risk women like Brown — who are at a high risk for sex trafficking.

Birman’s film also helped change the law in Tennessee: Now children under the age of 18 cannot be tried for prostitution. If she were to arrested today, Brown would be treated as a child human trafficking victim.

Charles Bone, a prominent national attorney, saw the film and took on Brown’s case, representing her for a 2012 appeal. Bone argued that although Brown has a high IQ, she functions at the cognitive level of a 13-year-old as a result of her foetal alcohol spectrum disorder, traumatic and violent past, and her abusive relationship with her trafficker Cut Throat.

In 2017, Brown’s case came back into the spotlight when Rihanna shared Brown’s story on Instagram in a post that read: "Imagine at the age of 16 being sex-trafficked by a pimp named 'cut-throat.' After days of being repeatedly drugged and raped by different men you were purchased by a 43 year old child predator who took you to his home to use you for sex. You end up finding enough courage to fight back and shoot and kill him.”

Kim Kardashian, Cara Delevingne and other celebrities shared the post inspiring the viral hashtag #FreeCyntoiaBrown. In May 2017, Brown had a clemency hearing, but the board was split on their decision with two voting for clemency, two against it, and two to make her eligible for parole after 25 years.

Brown’s lawyers have continued to argue her case saying her sentence is unconstitutional based on a 2012 Supreme Court ruling that found that life imprisonment sentences for minors violate the Eighth Amendment's ban on cruel and unusual punishment.

Where Is Cyntoia Brown Now?

On Thursday, the Tennessee Supreme Court ruled that Brown’s sentence was not unconstitutional based on a loophole that defines a “life sentence” as 60 years. In a statement the court wrote "under state law, a life sentence is a determinate sentence of 60 years. However, the sixty-year sentence can be reduced by up to 15 percent, or 9 years, by earning various sentence credits." In other words, the court ruled that because Brown’s sentence is 51 years and not 60, it is not technically a “life sentence” and therefore doesn’t violate the US Supreme Court ruling that forbids convicting minors to prison terms equivalent to death in prison.

Even more galling: Brown was able to receive the credits that reduced her 60-year-sentence as a result of her own model behaviour. She received her associates degree in prison and mentors other female inmates.

Brown’s case is currently pending judgment by the US Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals.

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Megan Fox may not have been one of the prominent voices in the #MeToo movement, but that doesn't mean she doesn't have something to say. In fact, it was how the public reacted almost ten years ago when the actress first came forward about problematic male behaviour on set (in this instance, director Michael Bay on Transformers) that discouraged her from lending her voice in 2018.

"'Be Hot,'" Fox recalled in a 2009 interview with Wonderland. "I’ve had that note on set before. 'Mike [Bay]' I’ll say, 'Who am I talking to? Where am I supposed to be looking at?' And he responds, 'Just be sexy.' I get mad when people talk to me like that."

Her comment echoes the stories many actresses have come forward with over the past year, but that's not what grabbed people's attention in a pre-Weinstein world. Instead, readers zeroed-in on a different comment she made about the director, saying Bay "wants to be like Hitler on his sets, and he is." There was outrage at Fox, not with her, and so when the #MeToo movement came around, she kept her mouth shut.

"I just didn’t think based on how I’d been received by people, and by feminists, that I would be a sympathetic victim," Fox told The New York Times in a recent interview. "And I thought if ever there were a time where the world would agree that it’s appropriate to victim-shame someone, it would be when I come forward with my story."

Fox acquiesced that perhaps her story was "ahead of [her] time," and it's not the first time that phrase has been used in conjunction with the actress. After Refinery29 revisited her film Jennifer's Body, and other publications followed suit, it was determined that the world wasn't ready for what Fox's role had to offer (Roger Ebert referred to the film as " Twilight for boys, with Megan Fox in the Robert Pattinson role, except that I recall Pattinson was shirtless.”).

It's up to Fox if she ever wants to come forward with more a more detailed account of her experiences, though her hesitation is understandable. This time, however, the public is ready to listen.

If you have experienced sexual violence of any kind, please visit Rape Crisis or call 0808 802 9999.

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In the opening scene of Dumplin’, a young Willowdean “Will” Dickson cruises down a Texas road with her aunt Lucy (Hilliary Begley). They're in a Pontiac Grand Prix, letting the breeze whip their hair about as they belt out the words to a Dolly Parton song. (Parton created the entire soundtrack.) For nearly 10 years beginning in undergrad, I drove a Grand Prix as well. I named her Sandy, and she was the most important space that I would occupy during my 20s. This is also true for teenage Will (Danielle Macdonald), who inherits the car after Lucy’s death.

A shared car brand was just the first of many things I would find in common with Will throughout Dumplin’, but the most obvious connection we share is that we are both fat girls. As such, I found myself watching this adaptation of Julie Murphy’s young adult novel of the same name through a completely different set of eyes. Director Anne Fletcher has made a film that is less about a fat girl than it is a story about a girl who just so happens to be fat. This is an important distinction, and one that highlights why the film is triggering, comforting, and inspiring to women in Will's shoes.

Growing up in a small Texas town, Will’s formative years were shaped by her Aunt Lucy. A confident, fat woman herself, Lucy taught her niece to love herself just as much as they both love Dolly Parton. Will’s mother Rosie (Jennifer Aniston) is a former beauty queen and local celebrity still deeply involved in the local pageant culture. She nicknamed her daughter Dumplin’ — a reference to her round shape — much to the teen’s chagrin. She asks her mother repeatedly not to call her by the moniker.

Rosie dedicates her time to shaping the annual Miss Teen Bluebonnet pageant, unwilling to fill the maternal void left in her daughter’s life after the passing of Lucy. Tired of the monotonous, frenzied enthusiasm over the pageant from her mother and the rest of the town, Will decides to sign up as a contestant, knowing that her very body in the space will act as a form of protest.

For all of its empowerment, however, it’s impossible for even Dumplin’ to completely escape the more problematic and painful realities of being fat.

The real tension in Dumplin’ is the constant threat of fatphobia against Will as she puts herself in spaces where fat girls are normally rejected. From the local beauty pageant to the affectionate gaze of local hottie Bo (Luke Benward), Will casually defies the behaviours typically appointed to fat girls. With only a few exceptions, she does not hide, she does not sulk, she does not perform insincere friendliness or joy; she just minds her business and waits for the other shoe to drop from the rest of the world. This is what I related to the most. So much of the experience of being a fat girl is trying to accomplish your goals, express yourself, and live a peaceful life while everyone else demands an explanation, change, or defence of your body. Will's portrayal in Dumplin' marks a refreshing way of showing fat bodies that reflects a reality for many of us doing the work of loving ourselves.

Will’s desire to enter the pageant isn’t a quest to prove that her body is just as beautiful as her thin pageant sisters. It’s a cry for attention from her mother. She doubts that Bo is actually interested in her because she doesn’t think she’s pretty enough for a guy like him, not because she doubts that she has any beauty at all. As her mother, her pageant sisters, and her classmates try to grapple with her size, Will exists as a full person.

For all of its empowerment, however, it’s impossible for even Dumplin’ to completely escape the more problematic and painful realities of being fat. One of which is the fact that other (formerly) fat people, including those in your family, can be the biggest threat to your confidence. I shook my head when the big divide between Rosie and her sister Lucy was revealed: during one summer in high school, a once-fat Rosie lost all of her weight, and insists it’s the reason she was “more successful.” Carrying her own self-loathing from her teenage years also makes it impossible for Rosie to validate her daughter’s self-assurance. In turn, Will herself has a hard time embracing her fellow fat contestant, Millie (Maddie Baillio), because the latter is the “wrong” kind of fat.

Millie is naive, passive, and very invested in the institutions, like the Miss Teen Bluebell pageant, that intend to exclude and shame her. Imagine Hairspray’s Penny Pingleton in Tracy Turnblat’s body. That Will is resistant in finding common ground with Millie speaks to the diversity of experiences among fat people. You want the people closest to you to relate, but they rarely can, even if they’re also fat, because we are so much more than the numbers on the scale. And that’s what Dumplin’ gets right: Fatphobia insidiously ebbs and flows to impact the lives of fat women and girls, even the ones who aren’t drowning in low self-esteem.

Dumplin’ perfectly captures the dissonance of living in a body that is understood to be shameful, less valuable, undesirable, and in constant need of fixing by everyone else. This is what fat girls are up against. As others try to define us by our bodies, we simply miss our departed loved ones and crave solo karaoke in the driver seats of our Grands Prix.

Dumplin' is available on Netflix now

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Serena Williams is unstoppable on and off the court. In May, the tennis superstar launched a totally new eponymous fashion line, independent of her previous apparel ventures with HSN. The offering, she tells Refinery29, is designed to encourage women to express their creativity and individuality. Now, she's furthering her mission and extending her size range with the Serena Great Collection, featuring sizes 1X- 3X (14 to 24). The pieces were created with a curvier body in mind, aimed at reinventing what we consider "plus-sized."

"I’ve never been thin, even as an athlete," Williams told Neighborhood Goods in a interview. "I’ve always been curvier, or larger. But I felt like ‘plus’ isn’t a word I’d use to describe a lot of women. The people that I know who are a bit curvier… how do I think of them? Well, I’m inspired by them. They’re great. So that’s it— that’s the word: ‘great’." Further, Williams notes in the launch's press release, "We’re calling this collection 'Serena Great' because I wanted a different word than 'plus.'" Williams will continue to slowly debut more pieces, but opted to release the first few styles in time for the holidays.

She launched the line in partnership with a pop-up inside of Neighborhood Goods (which is pegged as a modern alternative to the department store in Plano, Texas). For Williams, it was a cool way to get into a brick-and-mortar shop. "We're a direct-to-consumer company, which is a great way to cut out the middle man and supply," she explains to Refinery29. "I've learned it's really hard for people to understand the quality, and to see things when [they're sold online]."

So she plans on treating the pop-up like a mini focus group. Smart. Serena also intends to drop new products on the site every month. "There is always something new, something fresh," she adds.

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In winter we seek comfort in the form of sweaters, sofas and food. But our cold-weather faves (think pizza and ramen) often mean we stop eating veggies altogether. Don't get us wrong, we definitely don't want to give our comfort food-filled winter menus a dose of the sad salad treatment. So we went in search of dishes that boast the best of both worlds: healthy meals that still taste and feel comforting AF.

Combatting cold weather in 2018 with fresh meals that still contain some cheesy-hot recipe integrity is possible, folks. And we've rounded up 10 dishes — from grain bowls packed with roasted veggie goodness, to hearty chicken and feta meatballs, creamy red pepper-cashew pasta, a stacked breakfast sandwich, and more — to prove it. The recipes ahead pair perfectly with our fuzzy slippers while still hitting that healthy goal on the nose. Now our sweaters and couches won't be left to do all the heavy lifting.

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If you’ve ever been awake at 4am, you know. You know the way the darkness seems to hover in the air before you, the way time stretches, the way street lights sneak through curtains. You know the feeling of dread as morning starts to show itself and you know the panic of being on your own in the dark. You know the madness of the night, too; the way your mind can snag on a single thought and think it for hours, over and over. It’s a lonely time, 4am.

Reading Marina Benjamin’s memoir, Insomnia, has made me feel less alone in all that sleeplessness. She has made me feel seen. She could be describing the choreography of my own nights when she writes: "Unable to settle in one position for more than a few beats, I try them all out in turn: the plank, the foetal curl, the stomach-down splat – as if I’d landed on the mattress from a great height. Each of these poses is contrived insofar as it corresponds to an idea of what relaxation looks like." In fits of insomnia, we lose that ability to relax – and certainly, to sleep. Benjamin knows the dull panic of our sleepless nights and she speaks it back to us, which is oddly comforting.

Most writing on the subject of insomnia is about curing it or trying to trick yourself into sleeping. It’s about turning your phone off two hours before you go to sleep, having a regular bedtime, keeping your bedroom pitch black and possibly putting some foul-tasting oil under your tongue. Benjamin’s writing is not like that. Apart from a few mentions of strong herbal or pharmaceutical supplements, Benjamin scarcely offers a medical solution, which is somewhat of a relief. If you’re an insomniac, you’ve likely already googled how to sleep and still it evades you, no matter how rigorous your bedtime routine. Instead, Insomnia is a lyrical, thoughtful meditation on sleeplessness. It’s about Odysseus and Penelope, Oedipus and Athena, Nabokov and Gilgamesh, and Rumi and Robinson Crusoe. It’s about art and literature and mythology and creativity and productivity and peace. It’s not about fixing it so much as understanding it. It’s a book to make you feel less alone.

"The more you chase sleep, the more it eludes you. But if you turn your back on it, it might visit you, like a gift, or it might ambush you," Benjamin tells me. "You will not succeed if you chase sleep. You can’t lie there waiting for it to come. That’s when you fall prey to the crazy mind, the crazy self that comes in the night."

Rather than approaching insomnia as a lack of sleep, I think of it as a violent presence.

This is when insomnia is at its cruellest; when it taunts you with fear and worry and madness. I spend most of my waking nights obsessively thinking, unable to silence a single nasty thought for hours on end. Benjamin grew tired of that particular torture and started getting out of bed, going downstairs, switching the light on, curling up next to the dog and reading or writing – sometimes this very book.

"It’s so unpleasant to lie there, so I started getting up so I didn’t feel like I was a victim of this thing. I wasn’t its prey. I just started to think of it like I was occupying a slightly different time zone or head zone. That’s what led me to accommodate the insomnia. In a calm frame of mind, that’s me making a cup of tea, putting the computer on and doing a couple of hours' work. It was a good way of capturing some of the things I noticed at night: the textures of the night, the colours of the night, the animalistic qualities of the night."

Meanwhile, upstairs, Benjamin’s partner – to whom she refers only as "Zzzz" in the book – sleeps on. Love him though she does, she cannot stand to stay awake beside his sleeping form. This, too, is familiar to me, the alienation you feel lying next to the still, snoring body of your beloved. They cannot help you, they cannot hear you and their slumber seems almost a rebuke.

"I think the loneliness is exacerbated when your partner is sleeping next to you, because you can’t wake them, you can’t reach them, they’re not there. They’re very present, they are a lump, a rock, but they are also absent, they are not themselves." In contrast, she is too present, lying or sitting or turning awake. She is hyper vigilant of her surroundings, of her temperature, of the feeling of her skin against the bedclothes. "Rather than approaching insomnia as a lack of sleep, I think of it as a violent presence," she says. Awake at night and in the early hours of the dawn, we are on a different plane of existence from our snoring bedfellows. This is something Benjamin has, remarkably, taught herself not just to tolerate but perhaps even enjoy.

"The enjoyment comes in thinking of insomnia differently. There’s a beauty in the familiarity with nocturnality that we don’t have unless we are insomniac," she says. "There’s a different wellspring of ideas and thoughts that you can tap into at night. There’s a different vocabulary available, whether it’s artistic or verbal or even musical."

Marina Benjamin has found a way to make insomnia productive, even inspiring. It makes me feel inadequate, lying in the dark, waiting for sleep like I do. But perhaps also hopeful. Maybe there’s a way to silence the nasty thoughts, curl up next to a dog and make use of our surplus hours awake. I’m going to try.

Insomnia by Marina Benjamin (Scribe, £9.99) is out now. You can buy it here.

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You can't miss the rise in popularity of bob hairstyles, especially on Instagram, where hashtags for the look hit 800k and counting. But INNOluxe 's Spring 2019 Trend Report pinpoints one style in particular as the cut to end all cuts – the chin-length bob.

"We've seen such an increase in chin-length bobs," explains Melissa Timperley, director and stylist at Melissa Salons. "It’s typically a classic bob cut right to the lips with the fringe cut above the eyebrows, slightly longer at the temples, and blended into the length."

But there are rules.

"You have to take the corner off or it just becomes a normal bob, which can be a bit harsh. It’s a strong statement, and it shows that the person wearing it is confident and that their idea of femininity is not necessarily expressed by having long hair." This is something Sam Burnett, founder and creative director of Hare & Bone seconds: "The blunt, jaw-length bob is going to be the biggest haircut for 2019," he says. "We are seeing a growing trend towards women going much shorter, adding fringes and playing with more layers for an effortless boyish look."

"The perfect example of this is Taylor LaShae," adds Melissa. The best part, though? A chin-length bob can be worked into any hair texture and although it looks great with a full micro-fringe, you really don't have to commit to one.

Ahead, you'll find all the Instagram inspiration you need.

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There are two types of people in this world: those who start planning Christmas gifts for their nearest and dearest months in advance, and those who leave it to a last-minute panic-spree.

Luckily, we're here to help you choose just the right thing for your friends, family and partners, cutting out the slog so you can enjoy a mulled wine (or three).

Ahead, we've chosen the prettiest pieces for every budget, whether you're after a Secret Santa gift for your hard-to-please colleague or splashing out on someone who needs treating.

From Christmas party-appropriate sparkle to get-ahead-for-2019 organisers, click through to find pieces so tempting, you might want to pick one up for yourself, too.

Refinery29's selection is purely editorial and independently chosen – we only feature items we love! As part of our business model we do work with affiliates; if you directly purchase something from a link on this article we may earn a small amount of commission. Transparency is important to us at Refinery29, if you have any questions please reach out to us.

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Last night saw the great and the good of the fashion set descend on London's Royal Albert Hall to celebrate the best of the industry at the annual Fashion Awards. The ceremony, hosted by comedian Jack Whitehall and model and activist Alek Wek, was a fittingly sparkling affair, held in partnership with Swarovski. So who took home the prestigious accolades this year?

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Richard Quinn picked up the award for British Emerging Talent Womenswear just 11 months after his buzzworthy London Fashion Week debut, which saw Anna Wintour and HRH The Queen sit front row at his show. Quinn has championed arts education since his emergence on the scene, with the audience of his SS19 show made up of GCSE and A-level art students from the London state school he attended, and print students from Central Saint Martins.

From one royal-approved designer to the next: the British Designer of the Year Womenswear award was presented to Clare Waight Keller for Givenchy by none other than Meghan Markle, whose appearance at the awards was a surprise to everyone – including Waight Keller. The Duchess of Sussex gave a touching speech about the importance of supporting designers who not only make beautiful clothes but who represent your values, too. "When I met her for the first time 11 months ago, I knew that we'd be working very closely together," she said before announcing Waight Keller as the winner.

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It was a great night for strong women with innovative visions, as Miuccia Prada was given the Outstanding Achievement Award by director Steve McQueen and actress Uma Thurman, honouring the designer's great contribution to the industry. Joining previous winners Karl Lagerfeld, Anna Wintour and Donatella Versace, the award celebrates Miuccia's extraordinary career, from her position as Prada's creative director for the past 40 years to her unconventional eye and ability to transcend seasonal trends. "We are thrilled to honour Miuccia Prada for being an incredible design maverick and for spearheading the evolution of the Prada group from a family business to a global brand," said Caroline Rush, CEO of the British Fashion Council.

Another incredible female fashion figure to be honoured was Dame Vivienne Westwood, who was presented with the Swarovski Award for Positive Change by model Jerry Hall. "She has led the way championing humanitarian and environmental issues, making her one of the most respected designers in the fashion industry and a great inspiration to us all," Rush said of Westwood. "Her most recent campaign has led more businesses in the fashion industry in the UK to 'Switch to Green Energy' and she continues to inspire many more to do the same."

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With the pressing conversation around sustainability in fashion, it felt fitting that the Special Recognition Award for Innovation went to a brand holding the industry responsible for its environmental impact: Parley for the Oceans. The label, founded by Cyrill Gutsch, highlights the devastation plastic wreaks on our oceans by collaborating with designers like Nike and Stella McCartney to reinvent the way fashion is produced and consumed.

Gucci was recognised as Brand of the Year, with the award accepted by creative director Alessandro Michele, while its president and CEO, Marco Bizzarri, won Business Leader for the third year in a row.

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Gurls Talk founder Adwoa Aboah was nominated once again for Model of the Year (she picked up the award last year, wearing a shimmering Michael Halpern dress) alongside Bella Hadid, but Kaia Gerber collected the award, thanking her supermodel mother Cindy Crawford, who was in attendance with her.

Photographer duo Mert Alas and Marcus Piggott were presented with the Isabella Blow Award for Fashion Creator by Kate Moss and Penélope Cruz. The accolade celebrates fashion's most innovative players – past winners include makeup maestro Pat McGrath, photographer Nick Knight, and the late professor of fashion design, Louise Wilson – and over their 25 years in the business, Mert and Marcus have helped shape the image of brands like Calvin Klein, Givenchy and Miu Miu.

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Dior Homme designer Kim Jones was named the Fashion Awards' 2018 Trailblazer, while Virgil Abloh not only won the Urban Luxe award for Off-White but presented Samuel Ross for A-COLD-WALL* with the British Emerging Talent Menswear Award. Much-lauded designer Pierpaolo Piccioli won the big Designer of the Year award, for his work at Valentino, Craig Green took home British Designer of the Year Menswear, and Demna Gvasalia won Accessories Designer of the Year for Balenciaga.

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The full list of winners

Designer of the Year
Alessandro Michele for Gucci
Clare Waight Keller for Givenchy
Kim Jones for Dior Homme
Pierpaolo Piccioli for Valentino [WINNER]
Virgil Abloh for Louis Vuitton

British Designer of the Year Womenswear
Clare Waight Keller for Givenchy [WINNER]
Jonathan Anderson for JW Anderson
Roksanda Ilinčić for ROKSANDA
Simone Rocha for Simone Rocha
Victoria Beckham for VICTORIA BECKHAM

British Designer of the Year Menswear
Craig Green for CRAIG GREEN [WINNER]
Jonathan Anderson for JW Anderson
Kim Jones for Dior Homme
Martine Rose for Martine Rose
Riccardo Tisci for Burberry

Brand of the Year
Balenciaga
Burberry
Gucci [WINNER]
Off-White
Prada

Accessories Designer of the Year
Alessandro Michele for Gucci
Demna Gvasalia for Balenciaga [WINNER]
Jonathan Anderson for LOEWE
Maria Grazia Chiuri for Dior
Miuccia Prada for Prada

Urban Luxe
Alyx
Marine Serre
Off-White [WINNER]
Palace
Supreme

British Emerging Talent Womenswear
Matty Bovan for Matty Bovan
Natalia Alaverdian for A.W.A.K.E.
Rejina Pyo for REJINA PYO
Richard Quinn for Richard Quinn [WINNER]
Sofia Prantera for ARIES

British Emerging Talent Menswear
Ben Cottrell & Matthew Dainty for COTTWEILER
Eden Loweth & Tom Barratt for ART SCHOOL
Kiko Kostadinov for Kiko Kostadinov
Phoebe English for PHOEBE ENGLISH
Samuel Ross for A-COLD-WALL* [WINNER]

Model of the Year
Adut Akech
Adwoa Aboah
Bella Hadid
Kaia Gerber [WINNER]
Winnie Harlow

Business Leader
Jonathan Akeroyd for VERSACE
José Neves for FARFETCH
Marco Bizzarri for Gucci [WINNER]
Marco Gobbetti for Burberry
Michael Burke for Louis Vuitton

2018 Trailblazer
Kim Jones

Outstanding Achievement Award
Miuccia Prada

Isabella Blow Award
Mert & Marcus

Special Recognition Award for Innovation
Parley for the Oceans

Swarovski Award for Positive Change
Dame Vivienne Westwood

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Last night, the fashion set congregated once again at London's Royal Albert Hall to celebrate the Fashion Awards.

While the glamorous affair honours the industry's most innovative and exciting movers and shakers, what better way to celebrate fashion's coolest and most iconic designers than by wearing them on the red carpet?

From Molly Goddard in her own Quality Street-esque creation to Alexa Chung in a crushed velvet number, ahead we've rounded up the best looks of the night.

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Love 'em or hate 'em, Christmas jumpers are going nowhere this festive season. With Save The Children's annual Christmas Jumper Day on 14th December fast approaching, Amazon Fashion have teamed up with the charity to create a dedicated Christmas jumper store. We asked five Refinery29 staffers to show us how they style the stellar selection of knits without compromising their personal style.

From effortlessly cool oversized styling to a Scandi double-jumper look, we'll show you how to get maximum wear out of your festive jumper this Christmas. And with 20% of eligible sales going to Save The Children plus last minute next day delivery there's no excuse not to get shopping. Click through to see how we're styling ours...

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The TIME person of the year this year is, once more, a group of people. This year, the magazine has chosen "The Guardians and the War on Truth," a group that includes four journalists and one newspaper. The journalists are Jamal Khashoggi, Maria Ressa, Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo, and the magazine is the Capital Gazette which operates in Annapolis, Maryland. Earlier this year, the offices of the Capital Gazette were attacked by a gunman who killed four journalists and one assistant. Khashoggi was a Washington Post columnist who was likely murdered by Saudi authorities. Ressa, a Philipines-based journalist who operates the outlet Rappler, was arrested in November of this year, facing charges of tax evasion that she claims are false. Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo are both Reuters reporters; the Myanmar government arrested the reporters for allegedly breaking the Open Secrets Act, a charge that later proved to be false.

"They are representative of a broader fight by countless others around the world — as of Dec. 10, at least 52 journalists have been murdered in 2018 — who risk all to tell the story of our time," TIME magazine editor-in-cheif Edward Rosenthal wrote in the accompanying essay.

"In 2018, journalists took note of what people said, and of what people did," Rosenthal concluded. "When those two things differed, they took note of that too. The year brought no great change in what they do or how they do it. What changed was how much it matters."

This is the first time the magazine has named someone Person of the Year posthumously, in the case of Khashoggi. During an appearance on TODAY, Rosenthal remarked, "It’s...very rare that a person’s influence grows so immensely in death...[Khashoggi's] murder has prompted a global reassessment of the Saudi crown prince and a really long overdue look at the devastating war in Yemen."

The four covers for the issue feature, respectively, Khashoggi, Ressa, the wives of Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe O, and the staff of the Capital-Gazette.

The short list this year for TIME 's prestigious title included separated families at the border, Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin, Meghan Markle, Ryan Coogler, and Robert Mueller, among others. Per Rosenthal's appearance on TODAY, Mueller was the third runner-up and Trump the second.

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It may get dark at 4.30pm and be cold enough to wear your parka to bed, but please do believe me when I say that December is the most wonderful time of year to start dating.

With the magic of Christmas twinkling at you from doorways and the soul-warming sounds of carol singers drifting through the air, it’s a stunning setting for getting to know someone.

However, navigating the festive period with a partner for the first time – whether you’ve been dating for five minutes or five months – can be fraught with difficulty. How do you make time to see each other amid all those party invites? Do you gift each other or awkwardly ignore the subject of presents altogether and wonder if the person you’re with is secretly Scrooge? And whose friends will you be staggering around a dance floor with come New Year’s Eve?

These are all questions I will attempt to answer in my guide to dating over the festive period.

Making time for each other

What with Christmas parties, catch-ups with friends and still having to be sober enough to make it into work the next day, it’s hard to crowbar in the time to see a new squeeze during the festive period. Especially when you know that they will likely be as busy as you are.

How you prioritise your social calendar during this time should depend on how long you’ve been together. If you’ve been dating for a couple of weeks, I suggest thinking of one or two activities you might be able to do that don’t need booking in advance. Go ice skating, perhaps, see a movie somewhere, or head to a Christmas market on a free afternoon. That way, if either of you does have to cancel due to an epic hangover, it’s not a big deal.

You should also attempt to keep a fairly relaxed attitude to rearrangements during this period, as they are highly likely to occur and do not necessarily mean that your prospective partner is a massive flake. Simply that, like you, they are finding this whole thing hard to get through themselves, let alone with a second person to think about.

If you’ve been dating for three months or more however, don’t take any nonsense. You should have a general sense of who they are by now, and where things are heading. If you’ve agreed to keep it casual, you’ll know what to expect. If not? You should both be able to clear some space for each other somewhere, or even combine a few events.

Where to spend Christmas

I’ve only ever spent one Christmas away from my family and with an on-off boyfriend instead. I deeply regretted it. It was the first time I’d met his mum and dad, his inappropriately handsy granddad and his whisky-soaked uncle and aunt.

"So, how do your parents feel that you couldn’t be bothered to show up this year, eh?" his dad said in possibly the most passive-aggressive greeting I have ever received. The day didn’t get much better. I felt totally out of my depth, unable to relax, and I will never, ever do it again.

The moral of this story? Everyone has different Christmas traditions and places to go. Make your tradition an absolute priority if you’re in a fairly new relationship and do not – I repeat, DO NOT – use Christmas as the time to introduce your date to your family. If the gravity of the occasion doesn’t get to you, the booze and bad behaviour will.

You can start the conversation of who is going to whose for Christmas and Boxing Day further down the line. And even then – what’s a couple of days apart in the grand scheme of things?

The present dilemma

To buy or not to buy? That, my friends, is the ultimate Christmas dating question.

While you don’t want to appear stingy or uncaring, you also want to avoid going full-on Kanye West, lavishing your love with more flowers than she can fit in her house, matching leather onesies and a fluorescent pink Land Rover.

"It was all going really well, but he went overboard with presents and it really put me off," a friend told me recently. They’d been dating for a few weeks, and this particular lad, generous as he might have appeared, misread the situation a little.

"He bought me perfume, a Tiffany necklace, two bunches of flowers, chocolates… it went on. It just felt like he was trying to buy me somehow and was actually slightly creepy."

Equally, avoid what I did a few years ago and completely forget to get my date anything, thinking they "didn’t do Christmas". I arrived at their house a week before the big day to find him dressed as a reindeer with a thoughtful gift tucked under a tree laden with so many decorations, it had to be propped against a wall to stop it thundering to the ground.

If you have been dating for a couple of months, have a conversation with them and ask. Go on. You can do it.

A couple of weeks? You can get away with not gifting at all and playing it cool, but it’s a nice gesture to have a token £5 something in the bag just in case they really are quite into Christmas. Preferably something you can keep or regift if it doesn’t work out though.

Navigating the NYE party

How seriously to take New Year’s Eve? Is it an event that you deeply care about or, like me, an overly expensive evening of enforced fun that’s a nightmare to get home from? I tend to find the less I bother to try and have a good time, the better it actually is.

A traditional night for me would involve a group of friends, someone’s house and plenty of prosecco. It wouldn’t matter who I spent that time with, so long as they didn’t expect me to get too into it – or to end the night gracefully.

If this sounds like you, spending this evening – one of potentially very many – with the person you’re dating might not matter. In which case, you have nothing to fear.

If it doesn’t, and it is an important event for you, scroll back up to the section about Christmas Day and ask yourself: Is this a casual night for my date to meet my friends, or could it all be a bit too awkward? If the former, go ahead and invite them. The latter? You can manage an evening apart. Just get your text in before midnight so it doesn’t get stuck in the backlog. Or well beforehand so what you’ve sent isn’t the aubergine emoji and a question mark.

Find real love on uk.match.com

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When it comes to nail art, it can be hard to find the perfect spot between French tips and over-the-top glitter. Classic tips can feel generic and overdone, while the latter is often flashy enough stop oncoming traffic with the simple flick of the wrist. But this time of year, we need something in the middle — a fresh take on the festive manicure that stops just short of Christmas tree lights.

Luckily, the current nail trend du jour — starry nails — is both seasonally appropriate and very chic (according to the feeds of just about every cool-girl on Instagram). This trend will have even the most nail art-averse reaching for a striping brush or star stickers.

Whether you prefer your base colour in glossy black or minimalist nude, we've gathered all the nail art inspiration you need to try star nail art on your own or at your next salon appointment.

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With the average age of first-time motherhood on the rise in many countries (in the UK it's currently 28.7 years old), companies are dreaming up increasingly inventive ways to entice women into freezing their eggs to postpone motherhood and gain some control over their so-called "biological clock".

Along with apps, pop-up shops and Instagrammable mobile vans, stories of "egg-freezing parties" are becoming common. These are usually casual soirees during which attendees quaff champagne and nibble canapés as they learn about – you guessed it – egg freezing.

The trend has spiralled in the US over the last few years, according to numerous reports, with an increasing number of private fertility clinics seeking to promote the procedure – formally known as oocyte cryopreservation – among women. Now, one specialist, who has been throwing egg-freezing parties since 2014, predicts the trend will soon become commonplace across the UK.

Egg freezing, an intensive procedure which involves injecting yourself with hormones for about 10 days before an operation to harvest the eggs, is offered by the NHS to girls and women for medical reasons only, but is available privately for non-medical reasons – for instance if a woman is still looking for a partner with whom to start a family. In the UK, a single cycle can cost up to £5,000 (including extras like blood tests), and many women go through more than one cycle. There are also annual storage fees for preserving the eggs and substantial charges to have the eggs re-implanted.

Despite a growing awareness of egg freezing, the evidence to support its effectiveness is still sparse. The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG) recently warned that women should be better informed of its low success rate, the high cost and potential side-effects before they make decisions. According to figures from the Human Fertilisation and Embryo Authority (HFEA), the live birth rate for women using their own eggs is around 18%, which significantly lower than the success rate of IVF (26%). But recent improvements in the success rate suggest that "egg freezing is emerging as a viable clinical technique to preserve women’s fertility, providing the eggs are frozen at a clinically optimum age," HFEA concluded.

For many women, some control over their fertility is better than none (for those who can afford it), and women in the UK could soon be able to mingle at an egg-freezing party. San Francisco-based fertility expert Dr Aimee Eyvazzadeh, who calls herself "the egg whisperer", has thrown over 40 parties in the US and online via webinars. She says women in the UK – and from as far afield as China, Japan, Italy, Germany, Australia, Denmark and Spain – have expressed interest in the concept. (Currently, some UK fertility clinics, such as the London Egg Bank, throw "small, informal gatherings" offering time with its staff, with "coffee and light snacks" provided, but most offer just one-on-one consultations with doctors.)

"Infertility is a worldwide epidemic that will keep getting worse. With changes in society – people living longer and achieving life milestones later, climate change, our lifestyle changes – we will continue to see a decline in the birth rate and people waiting longer to conceive," Eyvazzadeh told Refinery29 UK. "With this comes more people needing treatment to start a family. This isn’t just a US issue. It’s a global issue. People everywhere want to know what they can do to improve their fertility and preserve it."

Having established egg-freezing parties, next on Eyvazzadeh's agenda in the US are "egg thawing parties", where women discuss what to do when they're ready to use their eggs. "Home shopping parties are very popular here, as are Botox parties, pleasure parties and parties to buy jewellery. When I attend events like this, people start asking me about fertility, which I love, so I thought, let me do this for real. I started to gather like-minded people together in a relaxed environment to talk about what I like talking about most: fertility," Eyvazzadeh explains. She had also "grown tired of women coming to my office crying that they wish they knew more about fertility sooner." Ahead, two women tell us what went down at the egg-freezing party they attended in the US.

Valerie Landis, 36, a marketing and sales director for a healthcare medical startup, from Chicago, Illinois, decided to freeze her eggs twice after attending an egg-freezing party. She underwent the process in 2015, aged 33, and again in 2017 at 35. Landis founded the platform eggsperience.com to share her experience, and has spoken about it on the Eggology Club fertility podcast. She is in the middle of creating a video series, 'This Is Egg Freezing', about her fertility journey.

"I arrived early, had a few drinks and bites to snack on, and really hit it off with a few girls my age. It was great meeting like-minded women my age who were considering or already doing the same thing I was – I built a network of women I could relate to and rely on for friendship support. I already knew about egg freezing and was doing research into different clinics, labs and doctors. I was also cost-driven, and I wanted to learn what clinics in other parts of the country could offer. I felt I was doing something progressive for my future self. It was a bucket-list item to accomplish just like going to university or college, saving for retirement or buying a house. It felt like I was planning my future family.

The event started with a Powerpoint lecture and talk about what egg freezing was and what the procedure involved. I stayed around after the talk and a Q&A session to network and chat with both the clinic's health team and other women at the event. It was a relaxed atmosphere where it felt safe to ask questions. I learned about the fertility timeline, female biological factors, and the potential benefits of egg freezing.

What surprised me was learning how many variables there are when freezing. For example, the technical skill level of the technologist and embryologist can impact how successful the freezing will be; your age may only partially predict the outcome because STIs and other things like blocked fallopian tubes can also prevent pregnancy; you don't know how many drugs you need until after you start taking the hormones and see how your blood levels vary from baseline results to secured good outcomes. We also learned how many eggs one needs to have for the "egg math" to result in good outcomes (the successful creation of an embryo and implantation to pregnancy).

I want to challenge clinics to be more responsible for each freezer's outcomes, rather than just collecting their cash, freezing their eggs, and saying good luck.

I noticed that most women at the party weren't talking to multiple clinics or many providers before deciding to freeze. They often just went with the first clinic they came across and didn't know the right questions to ask. Most egg-freezing parties are hosted by physicians and clinic/lab groups who by nature can't be objective or a third party, because they're the professional taking care of the patients.

I found it fascinating how most people just accepted whatever the clinic or physicians said without seeing different centres or challenging prices. I want to help shift that thinking and challenge clinics to be more responsible for each freezer's outcomes, rather than just collecting their cash, freezing their eggs, and saying good luck. I wanted to help promote to the generation of new freezers that the clinic needs to be responsible for their work and care about the outcome of each person's freezing experience and success.

In the end, I decided to freeze my eggs because I wasn't in the right relationship that was headed towards marriage and family. I was also travelling for work and working long hours to build my company, which requires a lot of dedication. I love my work, but it does prevent me from having time to date often or successfully. I'm looking for a very specific person and a partner who complements and challenges me to be the best version of myself. That's hard to find. I wanted to buy myself more time and increase my fertility stock. I'm thankful I froze both times and am considering doing it a third time in 2019 for even more fertility options and to increase my chance of starting a family some day."

Amy, 29, a hospital technician from San Francisco, went to an egg-freezing party in 2015 when she was 26 and eventually decided to freeze her eggs.

"The party started off with appetisers and drinks. Dr Aimee then spoke about both female and male fertility and the different options available to individuals and couples to preserve their fertility. Her personality and humour made talking about this private issue not only informative but also comforting. She also went over the different fertility procedures – IUI vs IVF – and their cost.

Freezing your eggs or doing IUI is not easy. Both procedures require daily shots, blood tests and multiple doctor visits.

My main takeaway was how common it is for women to have fears around having a family while pursuing a career. I also learned that freezing your eggs or doing IUI is not easy. Both procedures require daily shots, blood tests and multiple doctor visits. Anyone who goes ahead with it should keep their schedule light for about two weeks. Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, I realised every woman is different. Their responses to the medications and the total number of eggs harvested varies, not only with age but with each individual.

I underwent the procedure twice. The first time I donated my eggs to a family and the second time, I froze my eggs for myself. During my first round of IVF I only produced six normal oocytes, which was a pretty low count for a healthy 29-year-old. I was devastated when I found out and started to panic about my future fertility. But with some minor adjustments to my medications, I produced more oocytes in my second round. Whether or not I'll need to use these eggs, it's always nice to know I have it for my "just in case" moments.

The egg-freezing party made me curious and gave me a starting point, but I wanted to do more research before diving in, because it's a big decision. I always knew I wanted to freeze my eggs but didn't know how to get started. Without the party, I'd still be [thinking] with no action."

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It's officially December, which means if you haven't already bought and wrapped all your Christmas gifts, it's about time you started. No, really.

First up: the beauty obsessive in your life. With hundreds of thousands of beauty offerings out there, including skincare, makeup, fragrance and everything in between, navigating your way through the best gift sets, tools, tomes and little stocking fillers is no mean feat. But we're here to help.

Ahead, you'll find the buys all beauty lovers will be chuffed to unwrap on Christmas Day – whatever their passion and whatever your budget.

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There's no stopping Michelle Obama now. The former first lady, whose memoir Becoming quickly rose to be the most sold hardcover book of 2018, is extending her tour well into next year – and she's coming back to London after her recent sell-out talk at the Southbank Centre.

“I’ve been so humbled by the response to the tour thus far and the overwhelming interest we’ve received from so many communities we weren’t able to visit this year,” Obama exclusively told People. “That’s why I’m thrilled that we’re able to expand our conversations to these new settings and wider audiences. I can’t wait to continue the discussions that have been so meaningful for me and, I hope, for so many others.”

Obama will be appearing at London’s O2 Arena on Sunday 14th April. Tickets go on sale via O2 pre-sale at 12.30pm on Wednesday 12th December, via Live Nation pre-sale at 1.00pm on Thursday 13th December and on general sale at 1.00pm on Friday 14th December.

Given the frenzy that went down when tickets for Obama's last London date, on 3rd December, went on sale, the excited reaction among Brits on Twitter was no surprise.

😲SHE'S BACK!!! - THEY HEARD OUR CALL🙏🏾 - AND WE BE COMIN'✊🏾

😍MICHELLE OBAMA🙇🏾‍♀️BECOMING📚BACK TO LONDON APRIL 14 AT THE O2

Tickets on sale this Friday 14th, YES, IN 3 DAYS@MichelleObama #Becomingmichelle #Becoming #Becomingbooktour #IAmBecoming #WeBeComin #MichelleObamaLondon https://t.co/AP7BW1MMrc

— ladystjohn (@EttaSlimBoy) December 11, 2018

OMG @MichelleObama is coming back to the UK, April 2019 and I am so excited #O2 #London #FirstLady pic.twitter.com/sHRAT3UaNA

— Angie Greaves (@AngieGreaves) December 11, 2018

Woohoo tickets for the O2 in London go on sale soon 🤗
Reading the book and loving it. Hoping to get tickets to see you.
You are inspiring. Thank you 🙏🏽 pic.twitter.com/jdQD7yjpJ8

— Nimisha (@Minkar33) December 11, 2018

The former First Lady will also be bringing her book tour to five other European cities – Copenhagen, Stockholm, Oslo, Paris, and Amsterdam – as well as 15 further events across the US and Canada. Becoming has sold more than three million copies in the U.S. and Canada alone.

I’m having so much fun with all of you on my #IAmBecoming tour that I decided to do one final round of events to see folks in some cities we missed! These conversations have been so meaningful for me, and I hope they’ve been meaningful for you all, too. https://t.co/tOEk59nT71 pic.twitter.com/MMQTkZ4pMY

— Michelle Obama (@MichelleObama) December 11, 2018

Ever since the memoir's release, Obama has been praised for taking readers with her on an intimate journey about her life. She has been candid about everything from how her daughters Malia and Sasha were conceived via in vitro fertilisation (IVF)  to how she feels President Donald Trump put her family at risk by peddling the debunked conspiracy theory that her husband, former President Barack Obama, wasn't born in the United States.

On tour, Obama has also been candid about the challenges she's faced as a Black woman in America. Earlier this month, she was frank about the unrealistic expectations society pushes on working women, particularly those who are mothers. "That whole 'so you can have it all.' Nope, not at the same time," Obama said. "That’s a lie. And it’s not always enough to lean in, because that shit doesn’t work all the time."

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The first words spoken in Barry Jenkins’ If Beale Street Could Talk are both a challenge and a promise: “Are you ready for this?” 19-year-old Tish Rivers (phenomenal newcomer KiKi Layne) asks 22-year-old Alonzo Hunt, aka Fonny (Stephan James). “I’ve never been more ready for anything in all my life,” he answers.

Be warned, however. Unlike Fonny, you are not ready. Nothing can prepare you the wave of soft feelings that are about to drown in for the next two hours. Based on the 1974 novel by James Baldwin, Beale Street is a work of quiet intensity, a literary adaptation that uses silence and music as powerfully as it does words. Jenkins has created a cinematic poem, one that alternatively soars with joy and love and guts you with pain.

Soon after that first scene, which shows Tish and Fonny, dressed in yellow and blue hues that echo each other, walking hand in hand through a Harlem park, we learn that the latter is in jail. “I hope that nobody has ever had to look at anybody they love through glass,” Tish says, her narration punctuating the action we see on screen throughout the film. The reason for his incarceration isn’t immediately made clear, enabling Jenkins to first allow the audience to form whatever opinion they will in seeing a Black man behind bars, and then challenge those stereotypes or assumptions when he reveals that Fonny was wrongfully accused of rape.

The film slips back and forth between the present, where Tish lets Fonny know that she’s pregnant with his baby, and the past, through Tish’s memories of their romantic time together.

Though it explores issues of racism, sexual assault, police brutality, systemic injustice in the legal system, and how they impact the everyday existence of communities of colour, Beale Street is first and foremost a breathtaking love story. And in that way, it feels almost more subversive and contemporary. It shows us a full, vibrant picture of Black existence — pain and suffering, yes, but also the rare bond that exists between two individuals, their families, and the life that they’re about to bring into the world.

Layne is subdued and understated in her portrayal of Tish, not to be mistaken with weakness or meekness. She’s soft-spoken, but determined, a trait that becomes apparent in the way she stands up for her and Fonny’s right to be parents when confronted by her mother-in-law in a scene of such complex and comic tension that it alone would make the film worth seeing.

In return, James feasts on her with every glance, unspoken love letters welling up in his eyes as they shift from childhood friends, to lovers, to soulmates. The two have incredible chemistry, and carefully construct an ambiance of intimacy that’s incredibly poignant.

One scene that’s stuck with me for months takes place on a grimy subway platform. Fonny and Tish have just spent their first night together, in his leaky, basement apartment on Bank Street, in New York’s West Village. He’s bringing her back up to Harlem. As they wait for the train, she leans back into him, and he puts his arms around her. It’s raw, and instantly recognisable — there’s a pre-sex and post-sex phase of a relationship, and Jenkins captures that subtle transition right before our eyes. The director’s affection for his protagonists is obvious in the way he films them, with tenderness and sympathy, the angles emphasising their beauty and youth in the throes of passion.

Lifting up the impressive young leads is a powerhouse supporting cast, including Colman Domingo and Regina King (who’s deservedly getting awards chatter for her performance) as Tish’s parents, Joseph and Sharon; Teyona Parris as Ernestine, Tish’s sister; and the always brilliant Brian Tyree Henry, as Fonny’s friend Daniel, himself newly released from an unjust prison sentence. Much as Mahershala Ali did in Moonlight, Henry commands his short amount of screentime, giving a performance that stays with you long after the film has moved on.

Still, despite its male director, and source material author, Beale Street feels like a distinctly feminine film, concerned as it is with properly mapping out the experiences of its women, be it Tish’s apprehension at telling her father about her pregnancy (and her relief when he responds with love, and understanding), or Sharon’s difficult conversation with Fonny’s accuser, in which she acknowledges her undeniable trauma, woman to woman, but begs her not to seek revenge by accusing the father of her daughter’s child unless she’s certain of his guilt.

James Laxton’s cinematography is appealingly saturated and rich, a style that goes hand in hand with Caroline Eselin’s arresting ‘70s costumes, full of bright primary colours to optimise visual pleasure.

And the music. That the Beale Street score was not nominated for a Golden Globe remains a travesty. Nicholas Britell’s (the very same who brought us Succession ’s catchy piano score) jazzy notes and haunting violin refrain evoke a slow dance of seduction, rain, pain, and release, that will keep those tears flowing, even if you can’t quite pin down why.

If Beale Street Could Talk is out in UK cinemas on 8th February 2019

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This story has been updated to include Jazmine Headley's release from Rikers.

A shocking video showing NYPD officers violently removing a woman’s one-year-old child from her arms has sparked outrage across social media.

Nyesha Ferguos posted the video to her Facebook page on Friday. It shows 23-year-old Jazmine Headley clinging to her son, Damone, and telling officers they are hurting him as they attempt to yank the child away from her. One officer waves a yellow stun gun at the outraged crowd, which includes children, several of whom are filming on their cell phones.

Headley had reportedly been waiting four hours at a Brooklyn Human Resources Administration (HRA) office to receive daycare reimbursement. As the office was crowded and there were no seats available, she sat with Damone on the floor. When she refused to stand, security called the police. The situation quickly escalated. Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams told CBS2 News that “a Taser was used” and that HRA peace officers tried to remove Headley because of what they described as "disorderly conduct towards others and for obstructing the hallway."

Witnesses disputed this account, saying that there was not enough seating and that security was unnecessarily antagonistic. Ferguson, who posted the video, told the New York Times about her experiences at HRA offices, saying “They’re always rude. They think that people that are poor don’t have nothing, so you can treat them any kind of way.”

In this situation, she said, “the police made it way worse.”

Headley was charged with resisting arrest, acting in a manner injurious to a child, obstructing governmental administration and trespassing and taken to Rikers Island. On Tuesday morning Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez dropped those charges and released a statement saying, in part, “It is clear to me that this incident should have been handled differently. An HRA officer escalated the situation as Ms. Headley was about to leave the premises, creating an awful scenario of a baby being torn from his mother."

On Tuesday evening she was released from Rikers Island and reunited with Damone.

This is what love looks like. Jazmine Headley reunited w/ her mom & her son. Family photos taken by the family. Shared w/ her permission. Without bystander videos she’d still be on Rikers, still be charged with child endangerment, & still be ordered to stay away from her son. pic.twitter.com/5WZZq4Kuhp

— Scott Hechinger (@ScottHech) December 12, 2018

Mayor Bill De Blasio told reporters that “We will put in place specific changes to make sure this does not happen again. She posed no threat whatsoever. I watched the video… there was no call for that type of response.”

A GoFundMe page has been set up by the Brooklyn Defenders Service to help get Headley back on her feet following the ordeal and to offset the costs of childcare.

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A televised meeting between President Trump and Democratic Congressional Leaders Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer descended into a cringe-worthy political spat worthy of your drunkest Brexit uncle and that cousin who just discovered socialism at Sussex Uni. Let's take a look at the video:

Uh oh! Mum and Dad are fighting! Tensions were high as the group gathered in the Oval Office to discuss funding for the border wall. Things kick off at 00:10 when Trump throws it to Nancy Pelosi who wonders aloud why they are having this conversation. What happens next is mostly just 10 minutes of (literal) finger pointing, interrupting, and Trump and Schumer yelling the phrase "border security" at each other.

At 08:16 Trump tells the press he knows "Nancy is in a situation where it's not easy for her to talk right now" which does not sit well with Pelosi.

"Mr. President," she says, "please don’t characterise the strength that I bring to this meeting as leader of the House democrats who just won a big victory."

But the real hero of the meeting is Vice President Mike Pence who looks like he's praying for the Rapture to begin.

Me: these edibles ain't sh*t

(30 minutes later) pic.twitter.com/VMCMTVek9v

— The Daily Show (@TheDailyShow) December 11, 2018

Later, Schumer and Pelosi (in a to-die-for red orange funnel neck) talked to the press.

Schumer accused the president of having a temper tantrum and Pelosi explained that she didn't want to have the debate in front of the press because she didn't want to tell him in front of a bunch of people, "you don't know what you're talking about." Nancy!

Then she served us this amazing look.

Twitter weighed in:

Me leaving your Holiday Party after starting major drama pic.twitter.com/BRf98b9R2g

— phil (@PrettyGoodPhil) December 11, 2018

hahahh pic.twitter.com/JIsv1zh2RT

— Timothy Burke (@bubbaprog) December 11, 2018

pic.twitter.com/cjC9Yi4lFF

— R. Eric Thomas (@oureric) December 11, 2018

Hopefully this interaction prepares you for your own spirited family debates! Drink every time your drunk uncle says "border protection" and you'll be fine.

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