Democratic lawmakers in New York and Virginia introduced legislation earlier this year to expand access to abortion in the later stages of pregnancy. They also inadvertently gave President Donald Trump a gift.

“In recent months the Democrat party has also been aggressively pushing extreme late-term abortion, allowing children to be ripped from their mother’s womb right up until the moment of birth,” he falsely claimed at a Michigan rally in late March. He then misrepresented Virginia’s bill, which never left committee, and said Democratic Gov. Ralph Northam called for the execution of “newborn babies.” This is false, as well.

Trump never truly stopped campaigning after winning the White House in 2016. Now, both in campaign events and through official communications, peppered throughout his recurrent rants against immigrants and the Russia-related “witch hunt,” he is banking on opposition to abortion rights to rail his base.

Trump falsely accuses Democrats of wanting to allow doctors to execute babies "after birth." His audience responds with huge boos. pic.twitter.com/iMG2V3RYPN

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) March 29, 2019

This distortion of pro-choice legislation began in earnest during his second State of the Union address. Now, it’s clear that this inflammatory anti-abortion rhetoric will continue to be part of his 2020 stump speech, with the intent of capturing the evangelical vote once again. And while 7 in 10 Americans support Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 U.S. Supreme Court decision that legalised abortion nationwide, they have more complicated feelings on abortion at the later stages — driven in part for the amount of misinformation out there. Regardless, Carol Tobias, president of the anti-choice organisation National Right to Life Committee (NRLC), told Refinery29 that Trump is right in thinking abortion will be a crucial role in the 2020 presidential election. “We saw it [play] in 2016,” she said, adding that there were parts of the electorate for whom abortion was the most important issue and who were strongly opposed to Hillary Clinton’s pro-choice stance. “I think it will be a huge issue in the election next year and it will make a difference,” Tobias added. “They are going to be arguing for the hearts and minds of Americans.”

Listening to the president and other anti-abortion advocates, it would seem like there’s an epidemic of women terminating their pregnancies at a later stage for the sake of it. But the reality is only 1.3% of all abortions nationwide take place after 20 weeks of gestation, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Dr. Melissa Rosenstein, a maternal-foetal medicine specialist, told Refinery29 the reasons why patients seek care at the stage are complex. “They’re using an inflammatory rhetoric that is shaming women and shaming doctors. It’s really lacking completely in understanding, compassion, and respect for the complicated medical situations these women and their providers are facing,” Rosenstein said. She added: “Women who are facing these difficult decisions are in them because they either have had a diagnosis of a terrible foetal anomaly, have faced multiple restrictions in accessing abortion care, or they are terribly sick and their life is in danger,” she said. “Part of the problem is that politicians feel like they can legislate this type of complicated decisions. Every woman’s situation is different, every pregnancy is different, and it’s our job to provide the best care.”

Rosenstein said that the wave of anti-choice legislation restricting abortion at an earlier stage — from waiting periods to limitations on medical abortion to targeted regulation of abortion providers, better known as TRAP laws — can also lead to women seeking care later in pregnancy. For example, a year after Texas' controversial House Bill 2 was enacted, there was a 27% increase in the number of second-trimester abortions in the state. (The strict HB2 regulations led to the closure of about two dozen of the 44 clinics in Texas. The Supreme Court ruled 5-3 against the bill nearly two years ago, but the damage was done.)

Since the 2016 presidential election, Trump has repeated that legislation increasing access to abortion care “would allow a baby to be ripped from the mother’s womb moments before birth." When asked whether this happens in the United States, Dr. Kristyn Brandi, an assistant professor at Rutgers Medical School and a board member for Physicians for Reproductive Health, simply told Refinery29: “No. I don’t know where he got this from.”

“President Trump and other people, frankly in the Republican party, use very graphic language around this procedure,” she said. “But when I hear those terms, I’m like, ‘What does a c-section look like? What does hysterectomy look like?’ Arguably, those could be also be described in gory details, too.”

Even the use of the phrase “late term” is not medically accurate and proof that the conversation surrounding abortion care is largely taking place without the input of health providers, Brandi said. “For me, a ‘late term’ pregnancy is a pregnancy that is a week after the due date. It just shows that people who are having these conversations have no context of what [these procedures] look like in medical terms,” she said. In Brandi’s opinion, the medically inaccurate and incendiary terms used by anti-abortion advocates are a tactic to spread misinformation and fear. “This [rhetoric is used] to scare others or make them feel abortion is this terrible, back-alley thing. Abortion care nowadays is incredibly safe,” she said. “These patients are often in a vulnerable scenarios and we shouldn’t be trying to block their care, we should try to help them get the highest quality medical treatment they need for their individual circumstances.”

Trump’s stance on abortion rights has changed through time. He used to consider himself pro-choice and he allegedly suggested to his ex wife Marla Maples to have an abortion when she found herself pregnant with their daughter Tiffanny. (Trump vehemently denies this.) However, in the last few years the president has taken the role of an abortion foe. During the 2016 presidential election called for “some sort of punishment” for women who sought abortions, though he later reversed this position after outcry from pro-choice and pro-life factions alike. Trump has also been open about his desire to overturn Roe v. Wade, which he has said can be done by appointing conservatives to the Supreme Court. He has also supported several anti-choice congressional measures, expanded the global gag rule, and tried to implement a domestic version of that policy.

As we move closer to the 2020 election, it’s likely Trump and Republicans will latch on to incendiary rhetoric and a wave of extreme anti-choice legislation, such as bans on abortion after a foetal heartbeat is detected, as a way to play up the base.

"We’ve seen a massive uptick in inflammatory language, misinformation, and lies when it comes to abortion and reproductive freedom," Adrienne Kimmell, vice president for communications and strategic research at NARAL Pro-Choice America, told Refinery29. Kimmell highlighted how rare it is for abortions to happen after 20 weeks and how painful it can be for most families: According to Kimmell, Trump's playbook erases the often complicated medical reasons to terminate a pregnancy and instead paints women's choice to have an abortion at that point as cruel and inhumane. "They are trying to essentially create these opportunities to drive a narrative. In many ways, we've seen Americans feel compassion and they want compassion," she said. "They are attempting to show Republicans and anti-choice extremists as compassionate, when they are anything but."

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It’s been 20 years since Josie Geller (Drew Barrymore) first stood on that pitcher’s mound at the big State Championship game, waiting for the man who, mere days ago, thought himself her high school teacher, to come and give her her first-ever kiss.

In hindsight, Never Been Kissed should always have been considered problematic. It’s a film about adults posing as high schoolers, framing inappropriate and predatory relationships either in the rosy glow of fantasy romance, or playing them for laughs. In light of our collective cultural reckoning post-MeToo, that premise has only gotten more fraught, standing as the perfect example of the normalisation of pernicious behaviour, and perpetuating the too-ingrained idea that it’s all in good fun.

But it’s also a classic of the teen movie genre, one that’s still frankly a delight to watch, largely because of Drew Barrymore’s charming and poignant portrayal of a woman on the ultimate journey towards self-acceptance. So, what do we do with Never Been Kissed?

As a young woman growing up in the early aughts, Raja Gosnell’s film, from a script by Abby Kohn and Marc Silverstein, was the sleepover standard. I must have seen it a thousand times, and to this day, Barrymore’s delivery of “Why her?” when Josie defends Aldys (Leelee Sobieski) from the same kind of cruel prom prank that left her scarred, is seared into my brain, a call to arms for any misfit teenage girl.

“I'm not Josie Grossie anymore!”

At 25, Josie Geller is the youngest copy editor at T he Chicago Sun-Times. She dreams of being a reporter. So, when the paper’s curmudgeonly publisher (Garry Marshall) assigns her a huge investigative feature requiring her to go undercover as a senior in high school, it seems like she might finally be on her way. That is, until she remembers that her own high school experience was a nightmare hellscape. Could this be a chance at a do-over?

Rewatching the movie as an adult on the eve of the twentieth anniversary, I was struck by how much of it still holds up. Never Been Kissed speaks surprisingly eloquently to the traumatic experience that high school can be for teenage girls, constantly bombarded with conflicting messaging about where their value lies. For many, it’s an experience that resonates well into adulthood. Thus, the plot point about Josie never having been kissed. That plot point isn’t bad in and of itself. It would make sense that after being publicly humiliated by high school crush Billy Prince (Denny Kirkwood), Josie would have trouble trusting men. But the film wades into murky waters when it introduces English teacher Sam Coulson (Michael Vartan), he of the sexy bedroom eyes and a passion for Shakespeare, as the solution to that fear of intimacy.

Never Been Kissed didn’t invent the onscreen teacher-student romance. Nor did it bury it. It’s a trope that’s largely gone unchecked, showing up again and again in otherwise beloved pop culture phenomena. Dawson’s Creek, Pretty Little Liars, Ray Donovan, The O.C., Gilmore Girls, Friends, Gossip Gir l, Saved By The Bell — all examples of shows that have featured this trope, either as a central plot point (Ezra and Aria on PLL), or as a short-lived fling (Ross and Elizabeth on Friends). As for movies, it’s almost impossible to count.

What’s interesting about Never Been Kissed is that it’s simultaneously self-aware that Mr. Coulson’s behaviour is wrong, even as it glosses it over during the big finale. After reviewing the footage from Josie’s hidden camera, Josie’s editor Gus (John C. Reilly) — who, ironically, ends up in an interoffice relationship with his subordinate — tells her that this is the story: An adult teacher using As You Like it to flirt with a student he believes to be 17 years old. His indignant storm-out after she outs herself as a reporter in her twenties made me laugh out loud this time around. How can he be upset? This guy just found out that the girl he was developing feelings for is actually age-appropriate. If anything, he should be celebrating. (“What, you were hoping I’d be happy?” he says. “Because all of a sudden I’d be allowed to be attracted to you?” Dude. Yes!)

It doesn’t matter that he never made a move. He thought she was his underage student, and he still chose to have touchy-feely conversations about his love life with her on a Ferris Wheel, not to mention partaking in the time-honoured romantic tradition of dabbing your partner’s nose with a paintbrush during a getting-the-gym-ready-for-prom-montage. He comments on her appearance, he wonders at her intelligence in a way that feels like he’s about to throw down on the desk in the middle of English class — he does all the small things that have, over the years, been coded to mean that a man is attracted to a woman.

But that’s arguably not even the most problematic part of Never Been Kissed. Even worse, in my opinion, is Rob’s (David Arquette) foray into high school to help his sister, and get a second chance at a baseball career. He is in full possession of the facts when he starts dating a sophomore. Worse, he’s into it. When Josie reminds him that she’s only 16, he responds “I know! And a gymnast.” Yuck. (For that matter, Josie’s accepting to go to prom with Guy Perkins, played by Jeremy Jordans, also skirts the line. They never hook up, but again, that’s not the point.)

The movie also portrays a woman’s identity as existing on one of two sides of an extreme spectrum. On one end, you have sex-crazed Anita (Molly Shannon), and on the other, virgin spinster Josie, who’s idea of a wild night out is finishing yet another needle-point cushion. Who are these women? Can’t a woman have a hobby without being labeled a hopeless loser?

Still, despite knowing all of this, I’d be lying if I said I didn’t love rewatching this movie. It’s funny, awkward in all the right places, and full of genuine heart. The scenes of Josie confronting her past bullying and ensuing anxiety feel like direct precursors to moments in Bo Burnham’s Eighth Grade. Never Been Kissed is a comedy, but it never took Josie’s plight lightly. The film was Barrymore’s first producing credit, setting the stage for her to take on a much more prominent role behind the camera, one she holds on the majority of her projects to this day. It also marked both James Franco (who has since become problematic himself) and Jessica Alba’s film debuts.

So many beloved classics require women to shelve a little piece of their brain in order to enjoy them today. New York Times critic Manohla Dargis wrote compellingly about this process in November of last year. But I’d argue that Never Been Kissed is an exception. It’s a film that’s very much a part of the next step of the public conversation about what kind of previously-tolerated grey area behaviours should now be revisited as flatly wrong. Last week’s Joe Biden news cycle proves that we’re far from having a definitive answer to that question. It’s going to take work, and that means grappling with deeply ingrained societal norms, tropes, and stereotypes — especially when they show up in our most prized pieces of entertainment.

Never Been Kissed isn’t going anywhere. To ignore its cultural impact is to repress an unpleasant memory in the hopes that it might just work itself out. Just ask Josie how that went.

Never Been Kissed is available to stream on YouTube, Amazon Prime, Google Play, and iTunes.

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Welcome to Money Diaries, where we're tackling what might be the last taboo facing modern working women: money. We're asking a cross-section of women how they spend their hard-earned money during a seven-day period – and we're tracking every last penny.

This week: "I moved to London nearly six years ago, straight from university. I was hellbent on independence post-graduation and my rationale at the time was that if I didn’t know what I wanted to do, I might as well get paid as much as I can while I figure things out. As it turned out, the banking job I landed out of university wasn’t nearly as bad as I thought it was going to be, and I’ve stayed in the industry ever since.

I recently bought a flat in central London with my boyfriend with no help from either of our parents. The deposit and refurbishment costs (it’s a bit of a doer-upper) took a healthy chunk out of our savings, which was a bit scary, but I’ve since managed to rebuild them thanks to last year’s bonus.

Day to day, I’d like to think I’m pretty good with my finances. I grew up in a relatively low-income immigrant household where some degree of penny-pinching was the norm and nothing was taken for granted, and this has rubbed off on me. I keep an eye out for good savings accounts, have recently started taking lunch into work, and spend more time than is normal thinking about my pathway to retirement. That said, I do frequently succumb to 'treat yo'self' moments, which my parents would definitely frown upon, if they knew..."

Industry: Finance
Age: 27
Location: London
Salary: £100k + £100k bonus
Paycheque amount: £4,400
Number of housemates: 1 (boyfriend)

Monthly Expenses

Housing costs: £1,260 mortgage (split equally between me and BF)
Loan payments: £70 minimum payment on an interest-free credit card, where I've put a selection of random large purchases. It's nearly maxed out and I'm in no hurry to pay it off – it's interest-free for another two years, and I have enough savings to cover the amount outstanding. I put the money I would otherwise have spent into a savings account instead, so I basically get free money through interest arbitrage. I paid off my student loans a couple of years ago.
Utilities: £380 for council tax/ internet/ gas and electric/ service charge/ TV licence/ home insurance (all split with BF).
Transportation: £80. I top up my Oyster on an ad hoc basis (I have my 26-30 railcard linked to my Oyster, which gets me 1/3 off during off-peak hours).
Phone bill: £69
Savings? Varies month on month, recently it's been around £1,000 due to holidays/ redecorating, but hoping to increase this in the next few months. £400 goes into my pension (taken directly from my paycheque), but this works out to around £1,000 into my pension pot once taxes and work contributions are taken into account.
Other: £50 taxes on private health insurance through work (taxable benefit), £35 ClassPass, £50 local gym, £15 Spotify Family (split between myself and BF), £7.99 Netflix, £14 contact lenses, £0.79 iCloud subscription, £80 cleaner.

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At this time of year, the prospect of a few heady summer days spent dancing with friends in a muddy field is all that's keeping us going (warm Kopparberg and sequins obligatory). It may feel like ages away but in truth, there's not all that long to wait until the UK's festival season gets underway. Coachella kicks off in the US this week, getting us thinking about our own festival plans. Whether you're a pop fiend with the means to travel miles for your fix, an R&B aficionado who'd rather keep her shoes pristine at a city festival, or an indie buff who doesn't mind getting down and dirty in a sweaty tent, there's a festival to meet your needs.

Click through for Refinery29's roundup of the best UK musical festivals livening up our summers this year.

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Vaginal rejuvenation procedures are being promoted on social media through competitions, giveaways and money-off deals. Private cosmetic clinics in the UK and around the world are using Instagram to promote the nonsurgical procedure, which they claim 'reshapes' and 'tightens' the vagina, and addresses a host of varied 'symptoms', using a heated device.

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has warned against such treatments and devices (for use in clinics or at home), citing cases of women suffering from vaginal burns, scarring, pain during intercourse, and recurring or chronic pain after undergoing the procedure. "The full extent of the risks is unknown," the government body concluded. Meanwhile the UK's advertising regulator, the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), recently ordered one clinic to remove its "misleading" and "irresponsible" online marketing of the procedure following a complaint lodged by Refinery29.

The proliferation of giveaways and money-off deals on social media for nonsurgical facial treatments like fillers and Botox is a cause for concern among health professionals and qualified surgeons, who are being left to carry out corrective procedures. Now, Refinery29 has found that vaginal rejuvenation procedures are beginning to be marketed to women in a similar way.

Instagram's advertising policies clearly state that ads "must not imply or attempt to generate negative self-perception in order to promote... health-related products". However, some beauty businesses, clinics and salons are using the social media platform to offer women free vaginal rejuvenation procedures with posts that could be seen to trivialise the procedure and encourage women to feel dissatisfied with their vaginas.

One post by the New York-based gynaecologist, Dr Amir Marashi, of the New York Center for Aesthetic Rejuvenation, from his personal Instagram account (@nycgyno) (above), offers the chance to win vaginal rejuvenation and vaginoplasty or labiaplasty, and shows a woman inspecting her vulva with a magnifying glass.

Dr Marashi, whom Mail Online dubbed the "Vagina Whisperer", told us the competition generated "a lot of interest and people called, DMed, sent emails. I lost count." He added that "interest in cosmetic gynaecological procedures has grown dramatically in the past three years" including among women who want to undergo treatment but cannot afford it, "so it is definitely helpful for them when they see a deal."

Instagram also has a rule preventing the use of inaccurate or misleading tagging on promotions posted to its platform. A post by the UAE-based Health Shield Medical Center (@healthshieldmedical) from September 2018, which purports to be "celebrating women" by offering them the chance to have their vagina rejuvenated, was followed by the hashtags #fitness, #uaeinstagram and #yoga in its caption.

A post (screengrabbed below) announcing the competition winner of a ThermiVi vaginal rejuvenation treatment by the Arizona-based Tula Wellness centre took a similar approach, with the hashtags #selfcare, #love and #balance.

As vaginal rejuvenation becomes more well-known in the UK, similar posts from clinics here are starting to appear on Instagram – including posts offering discounts and promotions. ASA guidelines state that "advertisers must not mislead, must be able to substantiate their claims and must target their ads appropriately," and they "must be careful not to make claims that might encourage women to be dissatisfied with their bodies or... trivialise the serious nature of cosmetic surgery."

The ASA is also clear that advertisers offering time-limited promotions or offers "must ensure that the limited amount of time for which the offer is available does not pressurise consumers to take up the offer. Also, when it comes to cosmetic procedures, people shouldn’t be encouraged to choose a product based on price."

Redmayne Lodge in York, which has performed vaginal rejuvenation on approximately 170 women since it introduced the procedure in 2017, posted a money-off deal in April 2018 (screengrabbed below) offering "HIFU feminine intimate rejuvenation" for £299 rather than the usual price of £799. The ad was followed by hashtags including #thismorning, #hollywilloughby, #daniellelloyd and #yorkshire.

Darron Callender, owner and director of Redmayne Lodge, told us the impact of such offers was fruitful for his business. "Naturally, discounts will always help make a calculated spend," he said, but added that the clinic was driven to offer them by the belief that vaginal rejuvenation should be more widely accessible: "Most people should be able to afford a treatment and not just the few who can afford it."

Another advert for "Nu-V vaginal rejuvenation" from the London-based Women's Health Clinic offered the procedure at "10% off" for a two-day period after its post in June 2018. "Valid on triple pack only until 24th June."

Advertisers marketing procedures like these must be careful not to make claims that might encourage women to be dissatisfied with their bodies.

Instagram says adverts that contravene its advertising policies will be taken down, while the ASA told Refinery29 it doesn't have any rules that prohibit companies from advertising money-off deals for cosmetic procedures in and of themselves, but that advertisers of cosmetic procedures must adhere to its guidelines if they're to be deemed acceptable, and that it assesses ads on a case-by-case basis. "If a service is legally available then there is nothing stopping advertisers promoting it in a responsible way – the rules apply equally on social media, including Instagram."

Refinery29 has contacted the Health Shield Medical Center, Tula Wellness and the Women's Health Clinic for comment.

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"Late 20s, they’re the worst. Some say your teenage years are scary and your 40s are boring; nah-ha mate! Your 20s beat them outright because they’re scary and boring at the same time."

That's Pan. She's great. Voiced by Pearl Mackie ( Doctor Who), Pan is the young heroine leading us through BBC Sounds' new scripted podcast Forest 404. It's a sci-fi thriller meets ecological drama. It crosses genres and stretches to unfamiliar formats but in this instance, we're going with it being a good thing. Forest 404 sounds complex, but bear with us. It's meant to be.

Pan is 28 years old and works as a sound archivist, which here describes someone who goes through catalogues upon catalogues of audio and deletes anything that's not useful. She describes it as a bit like being a librarian. Pan lives far in the future (the 24th century to be precise) in a period known as the Fast Times. She spends her days tirelessly listening to audio clips from the Slow Times – our present day – deciding whether to wipe each one from the world as she knows it or allow it to exist in the finite space available for data. Clearly, we took the digital abyss for granted in the early 2000s; the period of time otherwise referred to in the podcast as the total "pits of history".

Obama's speeches? Sounds boring to Pan, so off you go. Classic Mozart? Nope, delete. Beyoncé's "Crazy In Love" – that doesn't survive this dystopian future either, sorry. We're given a multitude of reasons for the mass erasure. "We can't afford to keep it." "Data costs." "No time for the excesses of history." In short, there's no space for the sounds of our lifetime in Pan's future. But then she comes across something wildly unfamiliar. To us in the audience it'll sound like birds, wind blowing through trees, running water and pretty much any soundtrack playing in the background of any rainforest-centric David Attenborough documentary. Pan doesn't recognise it, though. It has a strange effect on her. She finds it calming but invigorating at the same time, despite having no frame of reference for these noises, which she assumes to be strange and disjointed music.

In the 24th century, forests don't exist. No one knows how today's world ended but in their world, which towers high into the sky away from the raw earth as we understand it, nature isn't a thing. Terrifying, right? Well, Pan's concerned too. Unable to connect these mysterious sounds to anything within her knowledge – this is the woman who spends an unthinkable number of hours literally categorising audio, remember – Pan takes it upon herself to discover what happened.

Needless to say, her pursuit to uncover the truth ruffles a few feathers. Namely, The Hands, who I can only describe as a 24th century equivalent of The Matrix 's Mr Smith or the Eyes in The Handmaid's Tale. Pan is also pursued by Daria (played by Pippa Haywood), her boss with whom she has a complicated relationship that's as friendly as it is at times cold and confused. The story unfolds through both of their perspectives as Pan attempts to get to the bottom of what went wrong so many years ago, and why she's the only one willing – or perhaps capable – of finding out.

If the thrill of the story isn't enough for you, there's bonus material alongside the podcast narrative. On top of Forest 404 's suitably chilling theme music by Bonobo, you can listen to the beautifully crafted rainforest soundscape that Pan stumbles upon too. Want to delve deeper into the themes behind the story? There are accompanying bitesize episodes between each chapter that talk you through the different themes (for example, Pan's response to hearing the sounds of the natural world for the first time is linked to those IRL mental health benefits that we already know a little bit about). It's a threefold experience that's as interesting as it is entertaining. If we had to boil it down, though, you'll be sucked in by the cool but terrifying story of our future, and you'll stay for our funny, determined and spirited woman in the middle of it all.

Forest 404 is available now on BBC Sounds

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Rami Malek insists it's not unexpected that his latest project, following his Best Actor Oscar win for his performance as Freddie Mercury in Bohemian Rhapsody, is a fictional podcast. "I feel like we are going to see a lot of actors coming to tell their stories via podcasts," he told Refinery29 during a recent phone call. And he's right — podcasts are transforming beyond the typical talk show and true crime genre, and Malek's new podcast with Endeavour, Blackout, is part of the shift.

Following in the footsteps of Homecoming (a podcast that Malek's Mr. Robot director, Sam Esmail, brought to life as an Amazon series starring Julia Roberts and Stephan James), Blackout is an impressive fictional podcast that will appeal to the following groups of people: fans of Rami Malek, fans of the dystopian genre, and fans of modern storytelling.

Blackout drops the listener in the town of Berlin, NH with Simon — local radio DJ, husband, father of teenage twins — who has seen something strange in the isolated woods. He witnesses a pilot crash into a tree and a stranger shoot down the town's cell phone tower, all before getting shot in the shoulder with a stray bullet. As the host of an indie music radio show called The Moose, it is safe to say this is not part of his average day. With the distinct feeling that something is terribly wrong, Simon returns home to realise that the power is out everywhere, and that the safety of his family is in danger. By episode 3, we learn that New York is in flames, Chicago is flooded, and Canada's borders are closed. Is there more to this blackout than a freak accident?

Written and created by Scott Conroy, whose time covering the ideological battleground in the state of New Hampshire as a political journalist helped inform the potential state of panic and conspiracy that would take over a small American town faced with the terror of being cut off from the world, Blackout feels like a thriller one would only expect to experience on screen. It's dynamic and loud and has helped Malek reach the next part of his career, he explained to R29.

"As I’ve developed and matured in this industry, I wanted to express my opinion as much as possible without altering someone’s initial vision," Malek said of his involvement as star and executive producer of the project. He added that, not unlike his Mr. Robot c haracter, Elliot, he's only gotten more skeptical of technology and the power it wields. "I feel like I grew up in a world that was nothing like [this]. I didn’t have a cellphone, I think, until I was in college."

Ahead, Malek talks about fearing technology, turning Blackout into a TV series, and, yes, Queen. (I swear I didn't bring it up.)

Refinery29: How did you first get attached to the project? It’s pretty dark, and it's a little unexpected to hear you on a podcast.

Rami Malek: "I don’t know how unexpected it is because I feel like we are going to see a lot of actors coming to tell their stories via podcasts. It is almost easier to get something accomplished this way. Somehow it doesn’t lose all the production value in the way that you think it would. I met Scott in Los Angeles [a few years ago]. I had read a script that he wrote, and I found him to be a very unique writer. He felt I had a voice that would lend itself to being on [a podcast] as well. We got together and kept talking about it until it was time to put our money where our mouths were."

What is it like voice acting for a podcast? Is it more freeing?

"It’s not as time consuming. You don’t have to go in and do hair and makeup and all that stuff before you go on camera. You’re not waiting on anybody to set up lighting and all those aspects — everything is there and it’s immediate, so you can jump right into it and feel fully immersed. There is a freedom that comes with it."

Did you do anything to get into Simon's headspace like wear certain clothes while recording?

"I didn’t do anything like that. I just started to think what that world be like. You can see what it might be like, considering how [much] technology has begun to takeover our lives. We are just utterly attached to all of our devices. It’s not difficult to put yourself in a place where you revert to a world that you knew before that. I feel like I grew up in a world that was nothing like [today]. I didn’t have a cellphone, I think, until I was in college."

Is the podcast meant to scare people or just make them consider their dependency on technology?

"It does bring up something that we all should consider. We all do gravitate towards these dystopian stories at the moment. I don’t think it’s meant to cause any panic [laughs], but it is there to make us more aware that these things can happen, and are a very serious threat."

In episode 3, there’s a great scene between your character and his wife where they talk about conspiracy theories. Were you familiar with that area, and their ideologies?

"No, I wasn’t. That area is Scott’s expertise. It’s unique because this really could be about anywhere in America. We definitely have this feeling right now of an "us versus them" mentality, and you can imagine what that would be like in a crisis, where people would look for someone to blame...without due cause."

Did you bring any suggestions or additions to Simon’s character since you're also executive producing?

"I wanted to be as involved in this as possible, not just in name only...As I’ve developed and matured in this industry, I wanted to express my opinion as much as possible without altering someone’s initial vision. I was happy to direct the trajectory of where we were going with the characters, the storyline, and shape it for what I thought the audience would want and what felt very real. I’m always going for absolute authenticity."

If you had your own radio show like The Moose, what kind of music would you play?

"Me? I would play a lot of Queen music."

Still going strong?

"Still going strong. I would play a lot of music from that era."

The podcast is reportedly being considered for a TV show. If it’s true, can we expect to see you in it?

"I don’t know exactly what is going on with that, but it might happen...Everyone is always looking for intellectual property to find and develop...[T]hese things are a possibility. I'd also like to add that I think we are vulnerable to not only someone hacking into our power grids, but to how we would react and be utterly unprepared for it, and how we might take that out on one another, especially when we are clinging to technology the way we are. It would throw us incredibly off kilter to have the immediate loss of the devices that now tether us together."

New episodes drop every Tuesday, wherever you get podcasts.

Interview has been edited and condensed for length and clarity.

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Each quarter, global fashion search platform Lyst names the most coveted brands and products of the season, breaking down the data behind the shopping habits of more than five million shoppers. The Lyst Index tracks search data, sales, and product mentions on social media, including the way they can impact a brand's sales — which is perhaps why, Lyst is already clued into the major must-haves for festival season.

On Tuesday, Lyst released its latest trend report, Festival Fashion 2019, predicting the biggest trends we'll see our favourite influencers sporting on Instagram. The usual suspects are all accounted for: nostalgic (think neon, tie-dye, bike shorts), flashy metallics, hiking sandals and bucket hats. But one item on the Lyst (heh) took us by surprise.

Lyst says the denim panties from French brand Y/Project's spring 2019 runway show will be a big hit at music festivals. The extremely high-cut denim shorts garnered over 3.8K social media mentions in just under one week, totalling over 514K in social engagement. Even though Lyst notes the item is rather polarising, shoppers from all over the world are actively searching for the janties, resulting in a 2250% increase in page views since Mid-March.

The janties inspired a range of reactions on Twitter. @GMPaiella wrote "As a busy and modern career woman on the go, I never leave the house without my powerful Jean Diaper™" while @safiyajn said "HOW do i feel about $300 denim panties, you ask? well i’ll tell you how i feel. utterly and thoroughly chafed."

The increase in search may have something to do with shoppers trying to figure out if the brand is trolling the Internet with a pair of $315 denim briefs. Y/Project's creative director Glenn Martens said the inspiration for the collection was about simplifying and playing around with construction.

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Get excited, people: Topshop is releasing its first 100% vegan footwear collection. Approved by PETA and handmade in Spain from materials that are free from any animal products (including animal- and fish-based glue), the collection comes as vegan-friendly fashion is enjoying a surge in popularity.

Edited, a retail technology and data company, revealed earlier this year that 2019 has witnessed a 52% rise in the sale of products described as 'vegan'. Millennials – who are typically more aware of environmental and welfare issues when shopping – have been credited as the driving force behind meat-free consumption.

While sustainable fashion has gone from strength to strength – from recycled jeans to eco-friendly sportswear – footwear has often been neglected. High quality and stylish vegan leather shoes are hard to come by, especially on a high street budget. Topshop, though, is keen to change the narrative.

"We are really excited to be launching our first vegan collection this April. Initially we are focusing on footwear and introducing six new styles that are produced alongside our premium shoe lines in Spain," Maddy Evans, Topshop's fashion director said in a brand statement. "We can’t wait to see how shoppers respond to the design-led collection and how far we can push vegan products across our accessories offering."

The collection comprises six new sandal designs – heeled and flats – in a palette of warm neutrals, snake and crocodile print, crisp white, black, and bright orange; ideal for spring walks in the park, holiday beach-hopping or summer weddings.

With prices ranging from just £42 to £59, the collection is sure to fly off the shelves, so get in there quick. We'll meet you at the checkout.

Topshop's vegan shoe collection is available now in selected stores across the UK and Ireland, and at Selfridges.

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Melissa Joan Hart has finally joined the Netflix family. Other than magic, that's kind of her thing. Previously, the mother of three was part of the Burke family on Melissa & Joey, which came after her seven years with the Spellman family in Sabrina The Teenage Witch, which followed her debut with the Darling family in Clarissa Explains It All, all while working with her actual family that founded the production company, Hartbreak. So, what's her latest show about? You have one guess. (Family!)

Despite her three decades in Hollywood, No Good Nick, which premieres on Netflix on 15th April, still manages to be a first for the longtime actor, who is best known for her work as a spell-casting teen. After raising her own children, Tucker (6), Braydon (11) and Mason (13), these past 13 years, the 42-year-old is finally playing an actual mum on screen, a chef named Liz, mother of Molly (Lauren Lindsey Donzis) and Jeremy (Kalama Epstein) and wife to Ed (Sean Astin). The family unit is rocked by the arrival of Nick (Siena Agudong), an apparent distant relative who, through a series of misunderstandings, ends up on their doorstep and living in their home. Although Nick isn't worshipping the dark lord, her more sinister motives slowly emerge as the show makes an unexpected switch from comedy to mystery.

There's another reason to be excited about Hart's move to Netflix: She's one step closer to possibly appearing on Chilling Adventures Of Sabrina, an adaptation of the Archie comic and source material Hart's Sabrina.

Like many women my age, I grew up with Sabrina on Friday nights — and pretty much every other night, because Nickelodeon loved to air reruns. The '90s series (which is now streaming on Hulu, by the way) returned to the zeitgeist last year when Riverdale creator Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa reimagined the character in a spinoff of the CW show for Netflix. There's no talking cat, but Kiernan Shipka still brings the blueprint of the beloved witch to life, with part 2 landing on the platform on 5th April.

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♥️♥️ #sisterhood #sabrina @kiernanshipka art by @sscindyss_art

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Hart previously passed the baton to Shipka in an Instagram post, but that doesn't mean I was done asking her about the Teenage Witch. I even tried to convince her to consider a cameo on the Netflix show, which, admittedly, is much darker and more stylised than the sitcom. First comes mother, then comes devil-worshipping side character? I, personally, think it has potential.

Ahead, Refinery29 talks to Hart about her transition from teen star to "uncool adult", what it's like playing a mum for the first time on No Good Nick, and binge-watching Game of Thrones.

Your kids are a big part of your life, but this is your first time playing a mum on screen. Was that a huge draw for you?

"I['ve been] a mum in real life, but having a baby face, nobody really bought it. It's funny because I went from never playing a mum to being the mum of teenagers. It's not like I was ever pregnant or had an infant or a 5-year-old [on screen]. I went straight into being a mum of teenagers. It's a little wild. The show is super unique. Sometimes I'm like, 'This is a kids' show. No wait, this is an adult show.' And I really go back and forth. At first we called it a comedy and then we realised this isn't a comedy, we can't call it that. It's really a dramedy [and] a serialised family mystery."

Has being a mother IRL impacted the relationship with your kids on the show at all? Is this role giving you a glimpse into what it will be like raising your own kids as teens?

"I don't really focus on how to be a mum in the show. I focused on this character and how she responds to every situation, whether it's with her husband, with her restaurant, with an old nemesis she runs into. I really just take it situationally. It is kind of weird to have these kids taller than me and try to be the sensitive sweet mum. I do have to put my kid's face on their faces and remember this is my child, you know, as opposed to coworker and a buddy, which is how I've always had to play these before."

You were a teenager while filming two different sitcoms. Has that informed how you work with teenagers on shows now?

"I probably tell them so many annoying stories that they've probably heard over and over again. Sean and I both just tell them constant stories about like, 'Oh man, when I was your age.' I'm like, 'Oh, well on my first show, Clarissa, or when I was doing Sabrina,' you know, that kind of thing. But these kids are not only super talented and adorable, they also are really, really respectful of mine and Sean's past, the fact that we're veterans in this industry and they really are looking at us for guidance. But we realise we're also the uncool adults. So they're trying to cool us out and we're trying to kind of guide them through this industry."

How has it been working with Sean? He's already big on Netflix thanks to Stranger Things. Were you a fan of his before?

"Oh yeah, of course. I like Rudy and Goonies and to be honest, I've never seen Lord Of The Rings. That's my homework this weekend. I'm going to watch that with my kids before we wrap our show. One of my favourite roles of his is 50 First Dates. I went home the other night — my mum and I are living together right now — I walked in the house and she's watching War Of The Roses and his name comes up in the title. And then I still haven't watched all of season 2 of Stranger Things. So my mum and I decided to back up and watch this whole season again. So we started episode one. It's just so funny because even before the camera pans over to see him, I hear his voice and I'm like, 'I know that voice, I hear it every day, it's in the back of my head.'"

Speaking of your mum, you've spent most of your career working with your family and your own production company. What was it like to step out on your own and work with Netflix?

"It's kind of weird. There's good and bad to the element of not producing the show. My company Hartbreak, which did Sabrina, Melissa & Joey, a ton of the TV movies and a few of the features and we're about to launch into another Christmas movie later, keeps me very busy and it's always wonderful. It's tough to be an actor for hire, especially once you've produced your own stuff or directed your own stuff. It's hard to step in and be in someone else's show and have no say over how the notes go — Sean likes to say you're a meat puppet.

"[But] it's actually kind of a relief, too, to just come in and do my part. I've never had a B story plot line. Usually I'm looking at a script and counting how many [scenes] I'm not in. Like, 'I have three scenes off this week. Maybe I can get to the gym a little more. Maybe I can make it to my kid's concert or whatever it is.' This time I'm looking at the script going, 'How many scenes am I in?' So at first I had a little bit of a hard time, kind of taking a backseat there for everything, not knowing everything going on. And then I started to be like, you know what? I'm going to go live my life a little too. So what I did was I picked up Game of Thrones and I watched all seven seasons."

Now that you're on Netflix and in the same family as the Sabrina reboot, would you ever consider a cameo?

"I haven't been approached and I really don't expect to be. I think it's a very separate thing and I think it would be clouded a little bit. It's better to keep it separate. I mean, if they came up with some brilliant way to bring me in and they wanted to, I'd probably be open to it. But as of right now, there's no discussion."

Is Sabrina something you still look back on fondly or are you tired of talking about it?

"I know that's where most of my fanbase comes from. I know that's how people feel like they relate to me or they know me 'cause I was in their house every Friday night for seven years and then some. So I embrace it and I love it. It was a great time of my life. I mean, it wasn't my favourite character to play, but it opened up so many opportunities and doors and I absolutely loved my time on it. You know how people talk about their high school years forever? And it only lasts four years? This was seven years of my life — the best years of my life. I've made my best friends and had such a blast and it gave me so many opportunities to move on with my career or my life. You know, it was such a wonderful time. And so I totally embrace it.

And when I find those memes, they're hilarious. It's totally fun and there's so many, what do you call them? GIFs? The only thing I really take advantage of being a celebrity is back-dooring all the rides at Disneyland and using my own GIFs."

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

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There are many reasons to love Derry Girls. The unadulterated lols reminiscent of our own time at secondary school. The stellar one-liners from Sister Michael, Ma Mary and Aunt Sarah. The enormous heart at the core of the surrounding turmoil. And, of course, the banging '90s soundtrack.

If you find yourself both drawn in and disoriented by the familiarity of the show, you can blame the music playing in the background. Set in the mid '90s, Derry Girls is dripping in gloriously nostalgic references, but the most enjoyable of them all has to be the carefully selected song list. Consider the soundtrack an homage to the best (and worst) school discos.

If the intro to "Dreams" by The Cranberries still lingers in your mind after the emotional season 1 finale, prepare to revisit even more old favourites with the second season. Between absolute classics like Gabrielle's "Dreams", samples from the Irish living legend that is Enya, and further references to The Cranberries, each scene is bookended with throwbacks to the biggest songs of the decade. So we rounded up the best of them and popped them right here. If you're yet to have a 'Best Of The '90s' playlist on the go, here's your excuse to make one.

Click through to find the best songs featured in the latest episodes of Derry Girls.

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"Self-preservation is a full-time occupation." -Ani DiFranco, Talk To Me Now, 1990

I think a lot about supposed tos. What single women are supposed to do, supposed to be, the shoulds and the should nots. All of life’s little instructions are scaffolded around the life of a single woman until all that advice and good intention begins to feel like a cage.

Single women aren’t supposed to be angry. I hear it from friends, family, and in the comments section of this series — all the time.

"No wonder she’s single, she’s so angry."

"Wow, someone’s angry."

"You’ll never meet anybody with an 'attitude' like that."

Does my anger surprise or shock you? It shouldn't. I once had drinks with a man who told me I had too many opinions. I’ve dated men who have found other women to date when I’ve gone out of town over a weekend. I’ve dated "divorced" men. I’ve matched with and messaged literally hundreds of men who simply never responded to what I had to say. I’ve been single and dating for 11 years and never, not once, have I had a happy ending.

This much time full of this much garbage would make any human being angry.

This much time full of this much garbage would make any human being angry. And anger’s just the start of it. Dating has often made me hate men, hate being single, and even hate every waking moment of my life for how punishing it is. Why do I try, and try, and try and get nothing (good) in return?

Of course I am angry. But as a single woman, I’m not supposed to be. That’ll just repel men, right? And I’m a single woman, and we’re supposed to attract men, right?

I’m supposed to be happy, upbeat, well dressed, thin but not too thin, successful but not more successful than the man I’m dating, funny but not funnier than the man I’m dating, kind, selfless, effortlessly put together, into the guy I’m dating and nobody else but not noticeably into him because he’ll get scared away, sweet, thoughtful, mentally stimulating, exciting and spontaneous but only a little so I’m not a mess, great in bed with a healthy but not too healthy sex drive, and also super pretty.

But not angry. I can’t be angry that all of these supposed tos are supposed to exist and certainly not angry that twisting myself to fit as many of them at the same time as humanly possible has still earned me net zero, right? I can’t be angry, I’ll never meet a man that way.

A friend told me this story: She brought a date to her best friend’s wedding. It was a sunny destination wedding full of palm trees and starry nights. They’d been dating for a little while — not super long, but long enough to invite him to her best friend’s wedding across the country. He was that helpful kind of wedding date, you know? She didn’t have to babysit him around her friends, he had it handled. Bringing the bride water when she was dance-floor parched, generally posting up as the amazing guy everyone always knew my friend deserved. He inserted himself into her life in the sort of way that makes a woman feel confident, at ease, and happy.

After her best friend’s wedding reception, in the cab on the way back to the hotel, he paused mid make-out to tell her that he had a girlfriend.

If you’re single and dating, angry is normal. It’s happy that’s the real surprise.

This is the dating world we’re living in. This is one story out of thousands. This is why we prefer to just stay home sometimes, because honestly, being single is easy — it’s dating that’s hard. It’s trying to end single that’s awful, that makes us angry, that feels cruel and mercilessly unfair. It’s the reason I spend so much of my time advocating for singledom being seen as just a thing we are, not a thing we have to stop being. In trying to stop being the thing society tells us not to be, we encounter situations like Wedding Date over here, and we get angry — and then society tells us not to be that, too.

If you’re single and dating, angry is normal. It’s happy that’s the real surprise.

The only two coping mechanisms that have ever made me feel better as a single woman are as follows: One, I realised that being single isn’t a bad thing, that the only shame or sadness I feel about my single status comes from societal influences, not from within my own mind and heart. And two, I get angry. I acknowledge that what’s happening to me and to women like me isn’t right, isn’t fair, and isn’t something we have to gloss over so that we don’t come across as angry. This is me, angry. With every right to be.

I am not here for emotions that a woman should or shouldn’t feel. I laugh at people who tell me not to be angry — because I think of how they’d feel if they lived inside my perspective. I think about how they’d feel if they were told to swallow everything that had ever been said or done to them in 11 years of being single with nothing more than a wink and smile.

We’ve built a dating paradigm where women date to get married and men date to date. There are no consequences for men who do horrible things to women in dating, because as women, we have to retain our hope and our positivity and keep fucking dating, no matter what they do, or we’ll be too angry to love. Ghosting, lying, misleading, obscene photos and texts — anything, anytime is consequence-free for men. Angry yet?

I’ve earned my anger. I also process my anger through healthy practices people can’t see from behind their laptop where they’re free to pen comments about how angry I am and how terrible my writing is and how I seem to be "obsessed" with the fact that I’m single. I’m angry? What the fuck would you be?

But I don’t write this for people who should put themselves in my shoes. I write this for the women who are already there. Those who know what this feels like, and who could maybe use a reminder that it’s okay to feel everything you’re feeling, that you’re supposed to feel everything you’re feeling, as long as one of the things you never feel is alone.

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After years of setting many a beauty trend, releasing six best-selling perfumes, and even getting a Lush bath bomb in her honour, Ariana Grande knows that the beauty industry can't get enough of her. Now, it's looking a lot like her next move is to turn her hit single and album "Thank U, Next " into a beauty line unto itself.

In papers filed to the US Patent and Trademark Office last week, Grande's company GrandAri, Inc. wants to make "Thank U, Next" fragrances (both eau de cologne and eau de parfum) and various body-care products, including body lotions, gels, scrubs, powders, soufflés, and mists.

You can even see what appears to be Ariana's signature on the trademark — which, naturally, features a heart over the letter "i" in her first name. Given the wild success of this song — the music video actually smashed records on YouTube — and the fact that Grande decided to give her fifth studio album the same name too, it's no wonder that the three words are continuing to get some extra love from the pop star.

All we're really left wondering now is what these particular products are going to smell like. Will they channel the music video, perhaps, and emulate the fragrance of the salon where Grande learned the bend-and-snap? (If that's the case, will Kris Jenner need to give her stamp of approval?) Alternatively, since this is also the name of her album, are we about to get a scent for every song on the album? Since this is coming from Grande, we're preparing for anything — and everything.

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Once we graduated from university and got a 9-to-5 job, the excitement over holidays like an Easter girls' trip dwindled. But even though we sit at a desk all day, we're making plans for another, non-beach-related escape thanks to the arrival of festival season.

Whether you're bobbing mid-crowd at Wireless or camping out at Glasto, going to see your favourite artist on an outdoor stage recaptures that feeling of freedom you felt on your week-long Ibiza stay. (Remember Beychella? Enough said). And creating standout beauty looks is an essential part of the festival vibe.

If you're currently prepping for festivals or just want to try something new, we've put together some of our favourite looks that are worthy of a good time — and far from the basic unicorn getup. From statement glitter lips to face pearls, there's something unique for everyone in the crowd. And the best part is that you can put your personal twist on it. So, get your fingers ready to screenshot because ahead is all the makeup inspiration you need to put together an Instagram-worthy festival look.

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I can’t remember ever feeling more unsettled by a performance than I was watching Elisabeth Moss as a drug-crazed riot grrrl rockstar, precariously balancing her seven-month old daughter with a bottle of booze as she strides from room to room in a dinky backstage lounge, all while delivering a manic, meth-fuelled monologue. Handmaid’s Tale? Hold my beer.

Most rock’n’roll films — even the fictional ones — track the entire span of an artist’s career: The early years spent struggling in dive bars, the supersonic rise to fame, the corrosive effect of celebrity, the downfall, the rise from the ashes, and finally, the comeback.

But Alex Ross Perry’s epically-titled Her Smell largely skips over those hopeful first stages. When we meet Becky Something (Moss), lead singer of all-women grunge band Something She, she’s already a bit past her prime, and on the cusp of a major freefall. The 90s are coming to a close, and though Becky tells fans she’s “not done yet,” most of the people around her are reaching the end of their rope.

Bandmates Marielle Hell (Agyness Deyn) and Ali Van Der Wolff (Gayle Rankin) label owner Howard Goodman (Eric Stoltz) ex-husband Danny (Dan Stevens), admirers and would-be musical successors The Akergirls (Cara Delevingne, Ashley Benson, Dylan Gelula) — all are consumed with trying to manage Becky’s unchecked mental health issues and constant drug use.

The film is full of sharp, interesting performances by women — Amber Heard as former Becky protege turned mega-star Zelda, is particularly magnetic, as are Deyn and and Rankin, who are full, developed characters despite spending most of the film in Moss’ shadow. Ross Perry’s script doesn’t limit these characters to stereotypically sexy female rockstars, instead allowing them to probe depths of nuanced, delicately layered emotions, and revelling in subversive bodies. With a name like Her Smell, you can bet that the camera captures every pore, armpit hair, and grimy, fading tattoo.

Still, this is Moss’ movie from start to finish. With her bleached blonde hair and kohl-rimmed eyes, it’s impossible not to think of Courtney Love, even if Ross Perry claims the film isn’t about her at all. The actress gives a fearless, completely bonkers performance. There’s no vanity here, no ego. Moss disappears entirely into Becky, down to the way she spells out certain words, letter by letter, even in the middle of an unhinged rant, her mascara running down her cheeks as she sweats, drinks, and bleeds. She’s aggressive, mean, and utterly captivating, exuding star quality even as she’s trying to cut someone’s face open with a broken glass bottle.

The action in Her Smell doesn’t feel staged — instead, it all has a “Behind the Music” music doc quality to it, like a fly on the wall of a deranged, debauched tour. What’s more, the original songs, written by Alicia Bognanno and Anika Pyle, are actually good, which gives an aura of authenticity to the film’s many musical moments.

The result is a messy yet ambitious movie. Her Smell is exhausting to watch. Partly, that’s due to the structure, which separates the action into a loose five acts, demarcated with home footage of the band in happier days. But the run-time of two hours and fifteen minutes means that things start to lag in moments that should feel exhilarating. The first sequence, in which Becky wanders backstage with her baby as her friends and family follow her apprehensively, each passing second making it increasingly clear that she’s not in any condition to care for her, is insanely stressful. But other scenes would benefit from a trim to sustain the emotions and tension. At some point, you lose focus, wondering when and if, this all will end. And when it does, you’re kind of too far gone to care.

On the other hand, that’s kind of the point. Watching an addict spew verbal diarrhoea about everything from the circle of life to mostly-imagined, vindictive grudges is hard to uphold for any length of time. And yet Ross Perry and Moss aren’t interested in our comfort. They want to make us squirm.

Unlike Vox Lux, Brady Corbett’s disappointing 2018 film starring Natalie Portman as a similarly disturbed pop queen, Her Smell ’s over-the-top stylings are not burdened with self-important messaging about the perils of fame and the evils of commercialisation. Instead, we’re getting a portrait — albeit flawed — of a woman, disintegrating before our very eyes.

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Whether you are one or you know one, most of us have a perception of what we think only children are like — and unfortunately, these views of only children are not always positive.

People often assume that only children are spoiled, self-centred, aggressive, narcissistic, dependent, weird, and don't work well with others. Think about the fictional Blair Waldorfs, Veruca Salts, and Veronica Lodges of the world. Some people refer to this cocktail of characteristics as "only child syndrome," which obviously isn't a real medical condition, but attempts to explain the personality traits of only children.

These myths about only children first began back in the 1800s, when people lived on farms, and sibling-less children were isolated, says Susan Newman, PhD, a social psychologist who has written two books about raising only children. Nowadays, kids are socialised at much younger ages through daycare and school, so "this idea that your only child will be lonely doesn’t hold up anymore," she says. In fact, numerous studies have debunked most of the negative myths about only children. According to researchers, they're actually not as terrible as everyone thinks.

But even though most of these stereotypes aren't supported, the family structure that someone grows up in undoubtedly shapes the way that they develop and act in their adult life — and that includes whether or not they have siblings. For example, only children tend to be more independent, and better at entertaining themselves than those with siblings, Dr. Newman notes. Ali, a 25-year-old only child, says that she's an introvert by nature, which she attributes to spending a lot of time alone as a kid. "As an adult, I'm 100% comfortable with being alone and not seeing another person all day," she says. "I was used to being alone as a kid, and being alone as an adult doesn't bother me."

Since only children don't necessarily have a built-in reference group or companion, they might also learn to rely more on their friends, says Geoffrey Greif, PhD, professor at the University of Maryland School of Social Work and co-author of Adult Sibling Relationships. This can be good and bad, says Gracie, a 29-year-old only child who often finds herself seeking companionship, which means she has to be intentional about carving out alone time. "It’s been important for me to realise how much value there is in my alone time being a choice," she says.

On the flip side, it's often assumed that only children are terrible in relationships, because they're self-centred and unable to compromise. "I definitely feel more important than I am," admits Erin, a 30-year-old only child. But she also constantly worries about what people think or feel about what she does or says. Nick, a 27-year-old only child, says sometimes his only-child status comes up in the context of his relationship. "It can be annoying in a relationship, because it can often be ammunition for arguments," he says.

Growing up as the centre of attention can be a blessing and a curse, though. "Being born into a family that only wants one child can be a lovely experience, where the child is exposed to a range of adult activities, like travel, at an early age and gets exposed to more intellectually stimulating things," Dr. Greif says. Indeed, only children may be presented with more opportunities for education than people with siblings, and get to spend more time with their parents, Dr. Newman says. Nick believes that relationships between parents and only children are "much more grand," he says. "I always felt confident talking with adults in my childhood and feel my single-child upbringing cultivated strong communication skills."

This is all to say that we should try to un-learn many of the stereotypes we have about only children. At a time when people are having fewer kids in general, these negative beliefs about only children can be "crazy-making" for people who are thinking about having only one child, Dr. Newman says. The number of siblings you have influences just one aspect of your upbringing — but it doesn't paint the whole picture. So, for every Blair Waldorf type, there's a Wonder Woman who totally doesn't fit the traditional only child mould. And, Dr. Newman adds, "people with siblings can be selfish, too."

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Nothing complements a sunny springtime disposition like a bright manicure. Yes, there's something to be said about the neutrality of sheer, pale-pink polish, but this season's breakout nail-art trend is the total opposite. It's a loud, fluorescent — think tangerine and magenta in tone — ombré fade that will seriously up your nail game.

Kylie Jenner was recently spotted wearing a fuchsia-orange version of this look that morphed colours from pinky to thumb, and we're seeing similar glow-in-the-dark iterations all over Instagram. You can rock an ombré that fades subtly from finger to finger, or blend two colours on each individual nail.

Want to try it at your next mani appointment? Ahead, we've compiled a guide to spring's trendiest neon-fade design. Scroll through to see the looks, and start planning your hot pre-summer manicure before the eighty-degree weather hits.

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Lori Loughlin and her husband Mossimo Giannulli reportedly thought prosecutors in her college admissions cheating case were bluffing when they declined a plea deal that called for 2.5 years in prison. Well, prosecutors have called their bluff and added additional money laundering charges to their indictment — meaning they are now facing 20 years behind bars, according to E! News. Yikes!

Loughlin and Giannulli are accused of paying as much as $500,000 (£375,000) in bribes to the University of Southern California's crew coach to get their daughters, Olivia Jade and Isabella Rose, into the school.

"She has been in complete denial and thought maybe she could skate by. She refused to accept any jail time and thought the DA was bluffing. She was adamant she wouldn't do any jail time," a source told the outlet. "Lori is finally realising just how serious this is. She is seeing the light that she will do jail time and is freaking out."

On Monday, actress Felicity Huffman, along with 12 other parents involved in the college admissions scam dubbed "Operation Varsity Blues" by the FBI, pleaded guilty to “using bribery and other forms of fraud to facilitate their children’s admission to selective colleges and universities.” While plea hearings have not yet been scheduled, CNN reports that federal prosecutors recommend incarceration for Huffman at the "low end" of the sentencing range – likely 12 months of supervised release and a $20,000 (£15,000) fine.

For her role in the scandal, Huffman has accepted full responsibility, saying she is in, "full acceptance of [her] guilt." In a statement released on Monday the actress said, “I am ashamed of the pain I have caused my daughter, my family, my friends, my colleagues and the educational community. I want to apologize to them and, especially, I want to apologize to the students who work hard every day to get into college.”

As for Loughlin's influencer daughter Olivia Jade, a legal expert says she could very well find herself charged in the case, too. "The more time that passes, however, the more likely it is that the prosecutor will bring pressure by seeking to interview the children as part of the evidence," William Moran, an attorney who specialises in crisis management, told Refinery29. "If Olivia Jade knew and participated, she could face criminal liability. As long as charges against the parents are pending, the children are still vulnerable."

This story has been updated.

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Achieving a salon-worthy blow-dry at home is no mean feat. First there’s choosing the best shampoo and conditioner for gravity-defying volume. Then there’s juggling the brushes that'll (hopefully) give you accidentally perfect, Olsen twin-inspired waves, and choosing the right heat setting on your hairdryer without burning your scalp. That’s before we’ve touched on the inevitable arm ache that ensues after just a few minutes…

But according to hairstylist James Earnshaw, an at-home blow-dry doesn’t have to be as hard as we make it. In fact, you can nail a professional-looking finish in a few straightforward steps – without a barrel brush in sight.

"My number one tip is picking up a good foundation product, like a mousse or texture spray, so you’re not fighting with super soft, silky hair," James, who recommends amika’s UN.DONE Volume & Texture Spray, £20, told R29. "A product like this will give your hair a bit of grip and hold and makes styling much easier." After giving your hair a thorough shampoo (twice, according to James – the first shampoo gets rid of oil and grime, while the second actually does what the shampoo says on the label) and a good condition, towel dry your hair gently and rake the product through your lengths from root to tip using your fingers.

"If you don’t want to use many tools, I’d suggest sectioning towel-dried hair into four twists," explained James. "Start from the ear and tightly twist the hair away from your face, bringing it round into a twirl, like a knot. Then, clip it up and veil a little prep spray over each knot. Leave the hair in place for around 10 minutes and then blast-dry it with a hairdryer on a medium heat for around two minutes. Leave the twists to cool for a little while."

Once your twists have cooled down, James advises unclipping the hair, shaking it out and spritzing some dry shampoo into the roots for more volume. "And there you have it. The perfect beachy blow-dry. You probably won’t need to do this if you’ve twisted your hair tightly enough, but my cheat is to then tong a few random pieces. It’ll look so natural and lovely."

If your hair is thick or coarse, James suggests ditching the hairdryer and finding a tool that’s a little easier for you to use. "If you want a smoother look, maybe try a straightening brush. A year ago, no one was really using them but now lots of brands are on board because they are so simple to style with. You can smooth and shape much larger sections of hair in virtually no time at all." Try the ghd Glide, £125 (returning June) or BaByliss Diamond Heated Smoothing And Straightening Brush, £31.99.

To perfect, James always suggests applying a finishing product like a texture spray or dry shampoo if you want a little more volume, and a shine spray or dry conditioner if you want more of a sleek finish.

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Leather for spring? Yes, you read that right. Though seasonally unexpected, the slick material was all over the SS19 runways in a host of forms: real and faux; one-pieces, separates and outerwear; and in a range of colours.

Long associated with pop culture's favourite rebels (James Dean and Joan Jett included), leather is the material of the cool kids – think Kate Moss in skintight leather trousers at Glasto circa 2007.

In 2019, designers are reimagining how to wear the wardrobe mainstay. Perhaps Balenciaga's slick, Matrix -inspired looks are your vibe? Or Bottega Veneta's full-on '80s sportswear (complete with new must-have item, leather Bermuda shorts)? At Burberry, creative director Riccardo Tisci stuck to the brand's heritage roots, offering leather iterations of ladylike A-line skirts and classic trench coats, while Marc Jacobs, Miu Miu, Acne Studios and Fendi lightened things up, sending leather looks in bright yellows, mint greens and warm neutrals down the runway.

Cult brand Nanushka (maker of last season's much-coveted faux-leather Penelope dress) continues to offer the best vegan alternatives, such as button-up shirts and buttery soft wrap dresses.

The high street has plenty of affordable options, too. We suggest Kitri, Warehouse, Topshop and Mango for the best selection of faux and real leather dresses, trousers, skirts and outerwear. Try adding one statement piece to your spring wardrobe to update your look or if you're feeling brave, go for leather on leather.

Read on to discover our favourite leather pieces...

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