Executive producer Kerry Washington‘s hit legal drama series Reasonable Doubt has officially received a fourth season renewal at Hulu. This comes ahead of the show’s Season 3 finale premiere next week on November 13.
What do we know about Hulu’s Reasonable Doubt series?
Reasonable Doubt is created, written, and executive-produced by Raamla Mohamed. The show is led by Emayatzy Corinealdi, McKinley Freeman, Tim Jo, Angela Grovey, and Joseph Sikora. They are also joined by recurring guest stars Morris Chestnut, Kyle Bary, Rumer Willis, Brandee Evans, Richard Brooks, April Parker Jones, Keith Arthur Bolden, Kash Doll, and Lori Harvey.
Besides Washington, the show is also executive-produced by Pilar Savone for Simpson Street, Larry Wilmore for Wilmore Films, Anton Cropper, and Lena Cordina, along with co-executive producers Shawn Holley, Jon Leshay, Tamara Gregory, Erika Harrison, and Zahir McGhee. The series hails from Onyx Collective and 20th Television.
“After a tumultuous season of fighting to save her best friend from a life sentence while healing from her own deadly affair, Jax Stewart has finally earned some peace in her life … even if she sees it all as a little boring. So, when a former child star finds himself in a heap of trouble, Jax seizes the opportunity to spice up her daily routine,” reads the official synopsis for Season 3. “But when her client’s personal life turns out to have all the drama and danger of a Hollywood movie and Jax’s own professional future comes under threat from a charismatic associate at her firm, can Jax clear her client’s name without losing the personal and professional successes she’s worked so hard for?”
From the outside, Eagle Rock Skyland Studios looks like any other industrial warehouse on the edge of town. Inside, however, the cavernous space transforms into a polished Los Angeles law office, a judge’s chamber, and the tangled emotional landscape of Hulu’s Reasonable Doubt. On this particular Saturday, music blasted between takes, crew members hustled across the floor, and a script rework or two slipped into the pages; this was the rhythm of a show in full swing.
With Reasonable Doubt filming in Georgia, Richmond (right) found himself playing on home turf. Photo by Noah Washington/The Atlanta Voice
The Atlanta Voice spent the day with Ryan Richmond, 46, an Atlanta-based screenwriter for the Kerry Washington–produced TV drama Reasonable Doubt. On set alongside him was showrunner Raamla Mohamed, a veteran writer best known for her work on Scandal. At the center of the bustling production was Richmond, whose Atlanta roots make him something of an outlier in an industry pipeline that essentially runs through Los Angeles and New York. With Reasonable Doubt filming in Georgia, Richmond has found himself playing on home turf.
“When you find good talent, you don’t let it go to waste,” he said, smiling at the unlikeliness of his position.
Richmond didn’t come to television on the above-the-line side the usual way. He began his career behind the camera doing below-the-line work as a director of photography, which gave him a strong sense of how production flows. Writing episodic television, however, is new territory, one that has expanded his role from page to set.
“As the writer, the goal is to protect the creative vision,” he explained. “The showrunner can’t be everywhere at once, so we’re here to make sure every department has the information they need. You want each episode to have its own flavor, but it still has to fit within the story, like chapters in a book.”
“As the writer, the goal is to protect the creative vision,” Richmond (right) explained. Photo by Noah Washington/The Atlanta Voice
That sense of consistency was important this day, as Episode 7, directed by Anton Cropper and guided by a script Richmond brought to set, came to life. It is a flashback-heavy chapter, one of the show’s signatures. “It’s not a whole dedicated flashback episode,” Richmond said, “but it’s peppered in so you get a sense of the history between Jax, her mom, and her dad. You see how it all came about.”
Even though the story takes place in Los Angeles, much of Reasonable Doubt is filmed in Georgia. The indoor scenes, courtrooms, homes, offices – can be built anywhere. The trick is making Atlanta stand in convincingly for LA. “Atlanta is great because you can get looks that pass for LA,” Richmond said. “We still do exterior work in LA to ground it, but here you can cleverly pull off other cities. It’s always a little bit of faking.”
Even though Atlanta has become a powerhouse for film production, one piece of the industry often missing from the city is the sacred writers’ room, a long-running complaint within the local film community. Richmond managed to break through during the COVID-19 pandemic, when virtual writers’ rooms opened the door for talent outside Los Angeles and New York. For Atlanta writers, it was a rare win, though not without challenges. As the only Atlanta-based voice in the Reasonable Doubt writers’ room, Richmond navigated a space still firmly anchored on the coasts.
For him, that mix of authenticity and illusion mirrors his own journey. An Atlanta-based writer with national credits, he’s carving out space in a system that seldom makes room for Southern voices. And yet, here he is, guiding a multimillion-dollar Hulu production, fielding questions from directors, and ensuring every beat of dialogue stays true to the story.
As cameras rolled on the flashback sequence, Richmond stood just off set, script in hand, answering a quiet question from a crew member. It’s not glamorous, as Showtime’s Californication or Apple TV’s The Studio might make it seem. You are up early and often leave late but it’s essential. Ensuring the words on the page survive the translation to the screen. On this Saturday, as Atlanta once again doubled for Los Angeles, Richmond’s presence was both an anomaly and an advantage.
“It takes on a life of its own once it’s on its feet,” he said. “That’s the magic of it.”
The new season of Reasonable Doubt debuts on Hulu on September 18.
Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery centers on detective Benoit Blanc (Craig) attempting to figure out his most dangerous case yet. The first trailer (below) teases the mysterious death of a charming priest.
“To understand this case, you need to look at the myth that’s being constructed,” Craig says in the footage. “A man gives a sermon. He then, in plain sight of everyone, walks into a sealed concrete box. Thirty seconds later, that man is lying dead. A classic, impossible crime.”
Johnson helmed the movie from his own script. The filmmaker produced the project alongside Ram Bergman.
Here’s the logline: “Benoit Blanc (Craig) returns for his most dangerous case yet in the third and darkest chapter of Rian Johnson’s murder mystery opus. When young priest Jud Duplenticy (O’Connor) is sent to assist charismatic firebrand Monsignor Jefferson Wicks (Josh Brolin), it’s clear that all is not well in the pews. Wicks’ modest-but-devoted flock includes devout church lady Martha Delacroix (Close), circumspect groundskeeper Samson Holt (Church), tightly-wound lawyer Vera Draven, Esq. (Washington), aspiring politician Cy Draven (McCormack), town doctor Nat Sharp (Renner), best-selling author Lee Ross (Scott) and concert cellist Simone Vivane (Spaeny). After a sudden and seemingly impossible murder rocks the town, the lack of an obvious suspect prompts local police chief Geraldine Scott (Mila Kunis) to join forces with renowned detective Benoit Blanc to unravel a mystery that defies all logic.”
The franchise kicked off with the original Knives Out, which Lionsgate released theatrically in 2019. Not quite two years later, Netflix bought the exclusive rights to a pair of sequels, with the first follow-up — Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery — launching in late 2022.
In his review of Wake Up Dead Man for The Hollywood Reporter, chief film critic David Rooney praised the film’s “considerable plus of Josh O’Connor as a former boxer turned priest who becomes both a murder suspect and a Watson to Benoit Blanc’s Sherlock Holmes.”
See more first-look photos, below.
Andrew Scott, Jeremy Renner, Cailee Spaeny, Kerry Washington, Thomas Haden Church, Glenn Close, Kerry Washington and Daryl McCormack.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Former first lady Michelle Obama will headline a rally in Atlanta a week before the Nov. 5 election alongside celebrities and civic leaders focusing on engaging younger and first-time voters, as well as voters of color.
The Oct. 29 event will be hosted by When We All Vote, a nonpartisan civic engagement group that Obama founded in 2018 to “change the culture around voting” and reach out to people who are less likely to engage in politics and elections.
The rally is likely to help the campaign of Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee, in a closely contested state. Obama is one of the party’s best-known figures and gave a speech boosting Harris’ candidacy at the national convention in August.
It is unclear which celebrities will attend the rally but organizers noted that the group’s co-chairs include professional basketball players Stephen Curry and Chris Paul; musical artists Becky G, H.E.R., Selena Gomez, Jennifer Lopez and Janelle Monáe; beauty influencer Bretman Rock; and actors Tom Hanks, Lin-Manuel Miranda and Kerry Washington.
The group has hosted more than 500 “Party at the Polls” events across the country focused on increasing voter registration and turnout. The events have ranged from pop-up block parties in Las Vegas, Phoenix and Philadelphia to voter registration partnerships with professional sports leagues and music festivals over the past year.
“The goal is to take the energy and momentum at the rally to the ballot box,” said Beth Lynk, executive director of When We All Vote. “We want to bring the culture, the energy and the momentum together in one big space.”
Lynk said the group chose Atlanta because of the state’s diversity and the impact that only a handful of voters can make in Georgia. About one-third of Georgia’s electorate is Black alongside rapidly growing Asian American and Latino communities. When We All Vote is focused on engaging college students on campuses in the metropolitan Atlanta area, Lynk said.
“Something that we have been hearing from young voters is that a lot of people don’t believe that their votes have power. But they do, plain and simple,” Lynk said. “We know that democracy has to work for all of us and that’s what we will be stressing at this rally.”
The rally will take place just before early voting ends in Georgia on Nov. 1, less than a week before Election Day.
This cocktail has made the rounds on social media and events….and has become a raging success.
This cocktail has been a honey of a success…and a refreshing change at sporting events. The Grey Goose Honey Deuce is the official cocktail of the US Open. The drink returned this year to a roaring success. The name comes from a word play on the tennis term deuce (a tie score of 40-40) and thehoneydew melon garnish. Refreshing, intoxicating and popular – the drink has been gushing out of court side bars at $23 a pop.
The US Open is a premier tennis tournament sponsored by big hitters like American Express, Mercedes Benz, IHG Hotels and Resorts, Rolex and Emirates Airlines. The well heeled, the super rich and the famous flock to the stands. Anna Wintour was there along with celebrities at Arthur Ashe stadium. Spotted at the event was Phoebe Dynevor, Hugh Jackman, Zoey Deutch, Lindsay Lohan, Alec Baldwin, Kerry Washington, and Alicia Keyes. The crowd knows how to drink and drink well…and this cocktail has done well. This year they ordered over 550,000 Honey Deuces, over 100,000 more than last year. Roughly $12.65 million plus tips were spent over the two weeks of the tournament.
But you don’t have to fly to New York and hobnob with the crowd to have your own. You can make it at home and imbibe. Here is how to make your own Grey Goose Honey Deuce.
Ingredients
1 1.4 oz Grey Goose Vodka
Fresh Lemonade
Premium Raspberry Liqueur
Honeydew Melon Balls
Create
Fill a chilled highball glass with cubed ice and add Grey Goose Vodka
Top with fresh lemonade and raspberry liqueur
Garnish with a skewer of 1 or multiple frozen honeydew melon balls
Beer has been the staple of sporting events, but stadiums around the country have been changing their drinks menu while adding sponsorship dollars to the coffers. In 1989 Evian water wanted to reach hot and thirsty affluent customers, so they became an official sponsor of the US Open. The tennis set has had beverage-centric partnerships ever since. And this has translated to other events from the Kentucky Derby to football adding it to their menu.
Two of the most dynamic actresses working today are finally teaming up. Elisabeth Moss (The Handmaid’s Tale, Mad Men) and Kerry Washington (Scandal, Little Fires Everywhere) have signed on to star in the upcoming Apple TV+ series Imperfect Women.
The series is based on Araminta Hall’s novel of the same name and will be adapted and executive-produced by Annie Weisman (Physical, Based on a True Story). The series is described as an “unconventional, psychological thriller examining a crime that shatters the lives of a decades-long friendship of three women.” Apple TV+ describes the series as a “mystery complicated by perspective that explores guilt and retribution, love and betrayal and the compromises we make that alter our lives irrevocably. As the investigation unravels, so does the truth about how even the closest relationships can change over time.”
“I’m honored that Apple is once again trusting me to help bring complex, layered female characters to the screen,” said Weisman to The Hollywood Reporter. “Elisabeth, Kerry and Araminta are the perfect collaborators to bring these Imperfect Women to life.”
Moss begins production on the sixth and final season of Hulu’s The Handmaid’s Tale this summer. The final season is expected to premiere on Hulu sometime in 2025. She also stars in the upcoming FX spy thriller The Veil which premieres April 30 on Hulu.
Washington currently stars in Unprisoned on Hulu. The series debuted in 2023 and has been renewed for a second season. Washington also stars in Tyler Perry’s upcoming Netflix film Six Triple Eight, chronicling the 6888th Battalion, a.k.a. the Six Triple Eight, the only Women’s Army Corps unit of color.
Chelsea was born and raised in New Orleans, which explains her affinity for cheesy grits and Britney Spears. An pop culture journalist since 2012, her work has appeared on Autostraddle, AfterEllen, and more. Her beats include queer popular culture, film, television, republican clownery, and the unwavering belief that ‘The Long Kiss Goodnight’ is the greatest movie ever made. She currently resides in sunny Los Angeles, with her husband, 2 sons, and one poorly behaved rescue dog. She is a former roller derby girl and a black belt in Judo, so she is not to be trifled with. She loves the word “Jewess” and wishes more people used it to describe her.
Whew! One thing about social media: sometimes folks will take a short clip and run with it! Well, that’s exactly what happened to Kerry Washington and Oprah Winfrey following the NAACP Image Awards.
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA – MARCH 16: (L-R) Oprah Winfrey, Tyler Perry, and Kerry Washington attend the 55th NAACP Image Awards at Shrine Auditorium and Expo Hall on March 16, 2024, in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Aaron J. Thornton/Getty Images for BET)
How Did The Kerry & Oprah Beef Rumors Start?
Folks were side-eyeing the relationship between these two GREATS after BET shared a clip of Kerry interacting with Tyler Perry on the event’s red carpet. The 18-second video begins with Kerry and Tyler sharing a hug while Oprah holds a conversation with someone off-camera nearby.
When a photographer requested a group photo, Kerry Washington moved to stand on one side of Tyler while Oprah stood on the other. However, the video seemingly shows Kerry “ignoring” a tap from Winfrey on her shoulder. After they posed for a few shots, Winfrey again reached out and tapped the side of Washington’s leg, seemingly saying goodbye before walking off.
Given that Kerry didn’t acknowledge any of the taps, a first impression of the clip might be that Washington was swerving the TV mogul. Social media wasted no time drawing that conclusion in the TikTok post’s comment section. By Monday, the 18-second clip was all over X (formerly Twitter) after collecting over 200,000 views and more than 380 comments on TikTok.
Peep some of the “beef” narratives below.
On TikTok, @jasminecaldwell24 wrote, “PEEP KERRY DID NOT ACKNOWLEDGE OPRAH. She knows something.”
@favorti3wolf added, “She tried to touch Kerry shoulder then her leg pls leave that lady alone she saw you d**n.”
Meanwhile, some attributed Kerry’s behavior (which was later proven to be nothing) to her being friends with Taraji P. Henson. As previously reported, Taraji went viral several months ago after speaking out about pay disparity for Black women in Hollywood and her experiences on the set of ‘The Color Purple.’
But, it looks like this time, all the rumors are NOT true. That first 18-second clip did not show the interaction Oprah and Kerry actually had, which included lots of love! To clear the air, BET took to TikTok on Monday with a second clip.
This time, in 16 seconds, we see Kerry eagerly walk up to Oprah with a huge smile on her face. In fact, the women embraced and laughed together before Kerry hugged and greeted Tyler Perry. Washington also congratulated Oprah on all the love ‘The Color Purple’ received at the award show.
So, we can put this one to rest, social media detectives. Ain’t no beef here! Just a clip cut a lil’ too short. Happy Women’s History Month y’all!
The radically liberal actress Jane Fonda is speaking out this week to reveal why her legendary Hollywood star father Henry Fonda once smacked her across the face.
Jane’s Father Smacked Her
While appearing on the former “Scandal” actress Kerry Washington’s “Street You Grew Up On” podcast, Jane recalled when her father married his second wife Susan Blanchard, a Jewish socialite and stepdaughter of musical theater director and composer Oscar Hammerstein II, after the suicide of her mother. When he married Susan, Henry moved to Greeenwich Village in New York City, across the country from where Jane and her younger brother Peter were raised in Los Angeles.
“She (Susan) had African-American friends, and for the first time I got to know Geoffrey Holder, who I now realize — I always thought of him as a dancer — but someone just gave me a book … of his artwork. He was a great artist,” said Jane, 86.
When asked by Kerry if she was exposed to black people in Los Angeles, Jane replied, “No, not at all. Not exposed to people of color at all.”
“I didn’t know racism until I went to Greenwich,” she continued. “That was the first time I ever heard the N-word, and I repeated the N-word once, and [it was] the only time in his life that my dad whacked me across the face. He said, ‘Don’t you ever, ever say that word again.’”
Jane went on to say that when Henry was a child, his father forced him to watch a Black man be hanged and his body be dragged around the town’s square in Omaha, Nebraska.
“That had a huge impact on my father,” she explained, adding that it inspired him to make movies like The Ox-Bow Incident (1943), The Wrong Man (1956), and 12 Angry Men (1957).
“He cared about justice and he hated racism, and, you know, with that slap taught me to pay attention,” Jane concluded.
Though Jane has been known for decades for her radically liberal activism that earned her the nickname Hanoi Jane during the Vietnam War, her father was actually a registered Republican in his younger days, something that shocked both of his children when they found out.
“Several years ago a friend of mine sent me a wallet that had belonged to my father,” her late brother Peter told AARP in 2013. “Inside was an uncashed check from my maternal grandmother and his first voter I.D. And the card had him as a Republican!”
“My sister could not and would not believe it,” he added with a laugh. “She had the worst time with that! I figured I’d wait until she really dug herself into a hole, and then I’d drop it on her, because I had the weapon in my hand.”
Last year, Jane spoke out to slam her father, who died in 1982, for the way he raised her.
“He never brought joy home,” Jane said of Henry, according to Daily Mail. “I never felt that he got joy… it never manifested when he came home, so it was not like ‘oh my God, I want what he’s got.’”
Jane said this as she spoke about why she decided to become an actress.
“I’m not one of those who grew up wanting to perform, wanting to be an actor. I didn’t think that I had talent,” she explained. “I wish that somebody had said to me, ‘Don’t give up, keep going, it’ll get better,’ because I saw no future. I didn’t think that I would live past 30. That’s why…I don’t take anything for granted.”
One can’t help but think that Henry would be very dismayed to see how his daughter turned out. What do you think of Jane’s latest comments? Let us know in the comments section.
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As Kerry Washington’s star was on the rise in her 20s, she had an abortion, she writes in her new memoir, Thicker Than Water. The story of the pregnancy and her decision to end it is one of several personal moments that the actor shares in the book. As she’s promoted the memoir in the run-up to its publication, Washington has been candid about her decision to make such intimate stories public.
This week, Washington told People that she struggled with whether to include the abortion in the book, but ultimately realized, “This story had so much to do with my understanding of myself and the world as my career unfolded.”
In the book, set to be published September 26 by Little, Brown Spark, an imprint of Hachette, Washington writes that after her breakout in Save the Last Dance in 2001, but before Spike Lee’s She Hate Me in 2004, she ended an unplanned pregnancy. Out of concern for her nascent career, she writes, she gave a false name to the doctors and felt an inordinate amount of shame since she had been a teen sexual health educator.
Speaking with Robin Roberts on Good Morning America on Sunday, the actor said, “We stay in our circles of shame because we don’t talk about it. So, I challenged myself to try to write about my experience having an abortion to sort of let go of the shame about having an abortion and say, like, ‘This is what—this happens. A lot of women do this. This is a form of health care. This is okay.’”
Washington, who has three children with her husband, Nnamdi Asomugha, touches on several more transformative moments in her life, including how she found out that the man she believed to be her father, Earl Washington, was not her biological parent. After she agreed to appear on PBS and Henry Louis Gates Jr.’s Finding Your Roots, her family told her.
She wrote, too, of her history with disordered eating.
“By the time I got to college, my relationship with food and my body had become a toxic cycle of self-abuse that utilized the tools of starvation, binge eating, body obsession, and compulsive exercise,” Washington writes in her memoir, according to People.
“The first time that I actually got on my knees and prayed to some power greater than myself to say, like, ‘I can’t do this; I need some help,’ was with my eating disorder,” Washington said.
In her new memoir Thicker Than Water, out Tuesday, the “Scandal” star reveals that early in her career she had an abortion.
“I struggled a lot in the beginning with whether or not to include my abortion story,” she told People of her choice to include the story in her book. “At first I wasn’t really sure how it fit into this story of my life. But I started to feel like it was really important for me to share this.”
In the book, Washington recalls the early period in her career, after finding success in 2001’s “Save the Last Dance” and Spike Lee’s 2003 film “She Hate Me”.
At the time, still in her 20s, the actress had a romantic encounter that resulted in an unplanned pregnancy, which she decided to abort.
But as Washington tells it in the book, in order to protect her privacy and her career, which was on the upswing, she gave the doctors a false name, though she admitted to feeling shame over doing so.
In her teens, she had spent years educating others about sexual health, and keeping the abortion a secret felt like hypocrisy, Washington says in the book.
“This story had so much to do with my understanding of myself and the world as my career unfolded,” Washington told People.
But now, the 46-year-old believes her story is worth sharing, explaining, “It’s just so important to me that abortion is not a bad word, and that my abortion is not another thing on the list of things that I’m ashamed of.”
She added, “We’re at a moment where it’s really important to be telling the truth about our reproductive choices because some of those choices are being stripped away from us.”
Washington is now mother to three children — a daughter, son and stepdaughter — with husband Nnamdi Asomugha.
Goyard bags are prized in part for their exclusivity. And because they can only be purchased at certain places, they tend to be priced even higher when sold secondhand. So as far as an investment bag goes, it’s a pretty safe bet as long as you take care of it.
That said, determining the value of a bag is different for merchants and buyers. While the quality construction and materials used in Goyard bags are superb, it’s also important to consider other factors: How often will you wear the bag? Will the color work with the rest of your wardrobe? Does this particular style feel timeless to you?
Also, higher-end bags that tend to be custom creations can also be of different value to the buyer and seller, particularly on the secondhand market. Does the bag have personal details that are meaningful, such as a monogram, or other embellishments? Rare bags that are unique but not overly personalized tend to carry the highest value in the resale market but may be priceless to their owners.
So while we say yes, it is worthwhile to buy a Goyard bag, ultimately, the decision is a personal one that must factor in material, design, price, color, and utility. Hopefully, any bag purchased will be enjoyed and admired no matter the final cost.
Kind of related to that, are there any beauty tips or tricks that you learned while on set that you’ve continued to use when you’re not filming?
The first time I discovered tiny blemish patches was on set. And I love Neutrogena’s Stubborn Acne Blemish Patches because no matter how hard I work to take care of my skin, occasionally those little enemies appear. But the patches are incredibly effective! We’re the #1 dermatologist recommended acne patch brand. Learning about those was really amazing because I would leave set, put it on, and come back in the morning and it looked physically improved which is great! I think understanding that taking care of skin is really a holistic job. That it’s not one product, but a lifestyle choice.
That’s one of the reasons that I really love the Skin Vitals experience that we put together for the Metaverse Beauty week because we’re really talking about the internal and external aggressors that impact your skin which means we’re also talking about the environment, how hard travel is on it, and UV rays on your skin, but we also talk about lack of sleep, nutrition, and stress. I really learned on set that those things matter and that if I want to look good, it’s about taking care of myself and feeling good first.
You pretty much just answered my next question Kerry! I was going to ask what are some ways you practice self care with such a busy schedule.
It’s so funny! In this experience we created for the inaugural Metaverse Beauty Week (which is so exciting), we build this whole gameified experience where you journey through the layers of the skin from the dynamic barrier to the cellular activity—it’s very cool! It sounds like complicated science because we’re super into science at Neutrogena, but we’ve made it really fun for the consumer so that you learn while you’re having a good time.
So, in this experience, there are all of these aggressors that we have to battle to have healthy skin like traveling. Traveling really dries out your skin. In that level, we talk about how important the Hydroboost line is to helping with hydration in a drying environment. We talk about UV rays and we have such an incredible spectrum of sunscreen products, but in particular, these days, I’m also really into our Mineral Tint UV because we have it in lots of shades so it’s friendly to different skin tones and the minerals are really effective. It’s like a tinted moisturizer with strong UV!
But in addition to talking about those things that you can impact with Neutrogena products, we also talk about a lack of sleep, stress, and nutrition. Those are the areas that I find I sometimes struggle with more, in particular stress. I have a lot of stuff going on and a lack of sleep. So it’s really important for me to challenge myself to take better and better care of myself to make sure I’m really helping my skin to be its best from the outside and the inside-out.
Last week, the fashion world was taken by surprise as Law Roach noisily retired from styling. The famed stylist is known for saving the fashion careers of many celebrities, pulling them out of tone-deaf, trendless outfits and into the world of serving absolute looks. If you’ve loved what a celeb is wearing, Law Roach probably styled them.
He’s the wizard who turned Zendaya into Cinderella for the Met Gala ( who also styles her boyfriend, Tom Holland), he’s the maven who re-branded Celine Dion’s style. But the fashion industry is both cutthroat and rarely without drama. Law took to Instagram to announce he was retiring for good, and that the industry had seemingly “won.”
But retirement can mean so many things. Tom Brady has retired from football twice now. So it’s safe to say that people have questions when it comes to Law Roach’s sudden retirement post.
Is Law Roach Retiring?
People love giving credit where credit is due – and as such, stylists have their very own fan bases. The Guardian likens this phenomenon to Rachel Zoe’s Zoe Bots, which spawned her own spinoff show and fame in her own right, and not just for styling Lindsay Lohan.
This just means Law Roach will be fine if he’s not styling everyone anymore – he’ll be sitting on a million Instagram followers and a networking catalog that most would kill for. He has some of the biggest names in Hollywood behind him like Zendaya herself. In other words, Law Roach probably isn’t going anywhere.
The dramatic, shady Insta post wasn’t Law stepping away from fashion altogether, as he told Vogue. And it most definitely isn’t due to the fact that Zendaya didn’t save him a front-row seat at Fashion Week this year – or that he asked Emma Stone to give up hers. Law Roach is taking his career into his own hands, far away from “the politics, the lies, and false narratives” that Roach credits for his retirement from celebrity styling.
“I just wanna breathe. I wanna fly. I wanna be happy,” Roach said. “I wanna figure other things out.”
Who Has Law Roach Styled?
His looks have been seen on Anne Hathaway, Anya Taylor-Joy, Ariana Grande, and Bella Hadid. Law has created a multi-million dollar empire styling clients for photoshoots and red carpet appearances, while collaborating with some of the biggest fashion houses in the world.
This year’s Oscars showcased Megan Thee Stallion, Hunter Schafer, Kerry Washington, Eve Jobs, and Hailee Steinfeld, all dressed by Roach. Most of which ranked as the most talked about looks of the evening – so who’s going to style them now?
Law Roach and Zendaya at the Met Gala 2019
David Fisher/Shutterstock
And while each and every look was a slay and a serve in their own respect, no two looks were similar. In fact, each look was praised in their own ways, for different reasons. It’s something Law Roach talks about with The Cut.
“It’s always the narrative of, “Oh, he’s never gonna treat you the way he treats Zendaya. You’re gonna get what she doesn’t want.” And that’s not true, because none of my clients ever look the same. Like, I don’t use edits.
I don’t walk around with suitcases of edits that Zendaya didn’t want and offer ’em to other people. It’s always those narratives, and I’ve lost a bunch of clients that I really care for and really wanted to work with because of the gatekeepers.”
Law even styled Priyanka Chopra-Jonas, who told People that a stylist (seemingly Roach) informed her she wasn’t “sample sized.” While Law Roach told The Cut that this conversation didn’t happen in the way she framed it, it was an example of the false narratives he cited in his retirement.
What’s Next For Law Roach?
More recently, Roach was spotted making his modeling debut for Boss. Law Roach strutted the runway in good company amongst Pamela Anderson, Naomi Campbell, and Precious Lee. He told Vogue,
“I don’t think I have any challenges. I’m a fucking diva! Even if they were to put me on a 10-inch high heel I would be walking that runway. The little gay boy in me—I’m living out a dream! The hair, the makeup, the look they chose for me: it’s literally a dream!”
The public relations industry always has its eyes peeled to represent the next “it” thing but there’s something so secretive about the faces behind the celebrity – or, if you’re in fashion, the brand.
Samantha Jones and Kelly “cut-throat” Cutrone are arguably pop culture’s most known (and heavily glamorized) examples of what being a publicist entails. But there’s a lot of mystery surrounding the profession. It does makes you wonder: Wait, what do publicists actually do?
While in fashion, the job isn’t necessarily as intense as Olivia Pope‘s seemed, there’s still that urgency to attend to your clients’ most pressing matters. Behind the glossy pages and a relatively well-spoken designer (on second thought, maybe not everyone can say that…), fashion publicists are the brains behind a project. The scope of their work covers everything from making sure samples get to photoshoots to hosting industry events to effectively communicating a brand’s mission and latest developments to the right people.
For many, becoming a publicist isn’t a clear path — and as we know, in fashion, nothing can ever be made too easy.
“I didn’t even know that publicists really existed apart from Samantha Jones in ‘Sex and the City,’ which I grew up watching with my mom,” Gregory Werbowsky, co-founder of Loft Creative Group (which represents brands like Christopher John Rogers, Elena Velez, Luchèn, Ph5 and more) tells Fashionista. “There’s still this weird ambiguity of what we all do, or what that even is.”
Lindsey Solomon, founder of Lindsey Media (whose brands include Sandy Liang, Wiederhoeft, Dauphinette and Marimekko, among others) explains that these job openings are often hush-hush. “Fashion jobs aren’t necessarily listed — it’s not like they’re on sites other than Fashionista,” he says. “A lot of PR jobs, funnily enough, are through word of mouth.”
Not everyone can endure such a grueling career. (And according to Nate Hinton of The Hinton Group — home of Sergio Hudson, Aliétte, Bally, Moose Knuckles and more — it really takes a go-getter to make it out alive.) So, we asked some of New York’s leading PR professionals to answer the industry’s million-dollar questions and lift the curtain on what their jobs actually entail.
How did you get into PR?
Gregory Werbowsky, co-founder of Loft Creative Group: “My very first job out of college was as a sales assistant. I interned at this luxury accessories brand and was just floating around, trying to get whatever I possibly could for a job, so I could stop being a [restaurant] server. I was offered a sales associate job, and I took it because I needed a job.
I wasn’t very good at the whole sales numbers, even though I’m a people person by nature. I just found it really difficult to sell a product when someone’s not really believing in it. Why should it be up to me to force that person to buy it or put it in their store? That would be a reflection of my ability to do my job.
But during all of this, I made nice with the PR girls because they were super outgoing and always saying the coolest things. Customer service is quite adjacent to pretty much any industry where you have to deal with other people.”
Nate Hinton, founder of The Hinton Group: “I started in PR kind of by accident and not knowing exactly what a publicist did. I started a fashion organization on my college campus. I knew I wanted to be adjacent to fashion, but growing up in Virginia, it wasn’t as accessible as it is to people in major cities.
I had this dream to be a mogul, and my influences were Diddy and Jay-Z at the time. I wanted to do what they were doing with Sean John and with Rocawear: They were selling clothes, but they weren’t actual designers. I didn’t want to be a designer — I wanted to be the person who was running the business.
I was applying to jobs in my senior year of college, and I ended up landing a spot in an executive trainee program in what’s now Macy’s. It was a financial analyst role, but it was as close to fashion as I could get. I befriended the people in the marketing team; I understood and started learning what they were doing. I ended up leaving that company on a whim and moved to New York. I got a freelance job at Prada in the sample closet, and then became the men’s PR coordinator. It was through discovering things on my own that I found out what PR actually did.”
Lindsey Solomon, founder of Lindsey Media: “I went to NYU for communications, and I interned at Max Mara, Stella McCartney and Tory Burch in their PR offices, which gave me a really good understanding of how PR functioned in terms of doing sample trafficking. Funnily enough, at Stella, there was so much going on, I actually was pitching, sample trafficking, conversing with celebrity stylists about what looks were available — I got a lot of hands-on work done.”
What’s the difference between working at an agency versus in-house at a brand?
GW: “When you work in-house, you have the advantage of focusing on a singular brand and working for hopefully one designer figure. It allows you to really focus your attention on that singular voice and how you can apply all the different factors of the industry to amplify your goals.
In an agency, there’s higher stimulation because you’re working with multiple brands at the same time. When I was at my last agency job, I had a swimwear line, a jewelry line, a bridal line and an evening wear client. I had street wear, I had Italian suiting… I literally had almost every category possible except for lingerie. Working in an agency teaches you a lot of prioritization and time management skills, because you might have clients across different time zones. It taught me how to manage a lot of different voices and a lot of different personalities that I still do to this day.”
NH: “[In-house,] you tend to drink the Kool-Aid and go along with whatever the creative team has put forward. You go out, push that message and drive that home. When you might have a different opinion, that people should be doing a certain thing or moving in a different direction, a lot of times, in my experience, it’s not necessarily always welcoming… Seeing the creative genius be involved in every aspect of the brand was invaluable. And no matter what, I will always cherish that experience because it set the tone for how I service my clients today.
I found that there’s a lot more creative freedom running my own company than there is in-house, because there’s no stone unturned. If we’re hosting an event, we’re doing everything, down to the napkin selection. That level of detail is missing in today’s fashion landscape. The way I work with my clients is similar to the way that I worked at Prada, in the sense that I try to be a part of their teams and not so much telling them what to do — it’s a collaborative experience.”
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Lindsey Media’s office in New York City.
Photo: Courtesy of Lindsey Solomon
What skill sets do you need to be a good fashion publicist?
GW: “You have to do your research, first and foremost. For me, that started off by learning my publications and who the publishing companies are. This helped me understand what magazines are under which publishing umbrella and who are the people that work there and their titles.
A lot of people pitch the wrong things to the wrong people. The best way to avoid that mistake is just to get to know them, what they write about and who they cover. If someone doesn’t cover luxury, don’t pitch them luxury. Staying ahead of where people move and how publications change their direction is important, so I can be very careful and select what I bring to people, making sure that it feels tailored to them as much as possible.”
LS: “The biggest thing that I started to pass on to my interns is the ability to problem solve — like, take a request, which is what we get 15 to 20 times a day: They’re often times going to be asking for the same five to six items, so what do you think the client’s most going to be excited about in terms of the placement?
I rep a lot of different brands, so making sure that they can say, ‘Okay, I don’t have this right now, but here are some other options from other brands,’ or, ‘Here’s that same item in a different color.’
In terms of writing, I try to show them what I like to do for a market pitch or press release, and break down the things that they need like flats, pricing, images, a catching headline. I also make sure they ask themselves: If you received this email, would you open it? Would you engage with it? Would this make sense for the publication itself?”
What goes into maintaining client relationships?
NH: “It starts big-picture, always, planning and thinking about what each client needs. Every client is different — I try not to look at any client as the same. I don’t have any sort of formula, because I feel like if I did, it would dilute how I service each client.”
What are the differences in titles and ranks in the PR industry?
LS: “They don’t really mean anything. From my understanding, it comes down to who has access to which editors. A VP at an agency would be emailing the executives of a publication, whereas an associate might work on getting samples back from the market editor or sample coordinator.”
Savannah Engel, founder of Savi: “It absolutely has meaning — it shows how many years you have worked your tushy off.”
Walk us through a typical week as a fashion publicist.
NH: “We start with looking at what projects are happening. Before I reach out to any press, before I go to anyone to tell a story, I normally look at what the story arc and the timeline are.
I think about what the projects are internally first. I’m having meetings with my team about what our strategy is before we even go to the client. I’m involved in almost every aspect of that. We plan the strategy, and we write it out. When we go to the client and we’re talking to them, it’s usually about what’s happening around their brand. For instance, there’s one brand right now that’s gearing up to shoot a campaign. After they shoot that campaign, we need the assets. We’ll then go out and pursue press coverage around telling that story for their show in September.
Sometimes it sticks, sometimes it doesn’t. If we’re successful at that, we go to thinking about what our social media strategy is going to be and how we’re going to drive customers to the story, which will then drive them to shop.
There are other collaborations or partnerships, so the job then shifts from a traditional role of being a publicist to being a partnership strategist, connecting with other entities to create those partnerships, which are normally in an effort to raise or make money.
My role shifts a lot of times — if I’m working on an event or a fashion show, I might take on the role of a producer or a co-producer. I’m raising money for the show. I’m planning the show. I’m inviting guests to the show. I’m seeding the show. I’m pursuing press coverage for the show. I’m planning the guest experience for the show, the wrap-up, the after party. Then I’m moving on to the next season. It really depends on what the client needs and what they’re working on.”
What’s the biggest misconception about fashion PR?
LS: “The biggest misconception is if I sent an email again or if an editor doesn’t respond immediately to me, then it’s a reflection that I’m not a good publicist. This drives me up the wall because editors and writers all have responsibilities and articles to write. Sometimes your job isn’t to respond to my immediate email every day.”
SE: “That you’re the star or special. You’re neither in PR — your client is. We’re the hired help!”
Lindsey Media’s office in New York City.
Photo: Courtesy of Lindsey Media
Any advice for aspiring fashion publicists?
LS: “Keep your networking and your outreach super organic and natural. I’d rather someone follow me on Instagram and reach out to me in a way that feels true to themselves.
Everyone has these grand ambitions of working for these big PR firms, but there are so many amazing independent PR agencies that are looking for qualified help and are willing to give them the time of day to train them and get the necessary skills. Do research in terms of what other firms that are out there — Daily Front Row does a good job of listing the moves in the career industry, who’s going to which firm and which PR firms are representing which brands. It’s actually been great process for me, to learn about what other firms are out there, what type of services they offer and how that can change.”
NH: “Remain hungry. If someone wants to be a publicist, they need to be curious and intentional.
I always have some anecdote, but one quick example of this is when we posted on our Instagram Story that we were hiring freelancers for fashion week. We got hundreds of inquiries — I wasn’t expecting that. Through those inquiries, we’re going through trying to find the right matches.
I’m driving to work, and I get a phone call from a random number. I answered it, and it was someone named Caylen who applied for this internship, didn’t get a response, but just really wanted to call and express her interest. When he sent his resume at first, I wasn’t so sure, because he didn’t have prior PR experience, but he was so eager. I loved that. He just started with us. Out of all of those people we got, it was the person who wanted it the most that we entertained. If he continues to have that same type of energy throughout his career, regardless of what direction he takes it, he’ll accomplish something and be good at it, because he went for it.”
These interviews have been edited and condensed for clarity.
We’ve seen plenty of impractical celebrity airport outfits lately, so it’s refreshing to see one that we non-famous folks would actually wear to the airport. See Kerry Washington. Washington was photographed at JFK this week wearing a comfortable, chic travel outfit that you could feasibly copy every time you catch a flight for the rest of your life—it’s that good.
Washington’s outfit consisted of a matching sweater set (specifically, a turtleneck sweater and loose pants, probably cashmere) in an oatmeal shade, followed by an oversize black coat and white sneakers. The set looks comfortable enough to take a nice long transcontinental nap in and the coat adds a dose of polish to the look. And you know what they say—always wear your bulkiest piece on the plane so that it doesn’t take up your entire suitcase.
Scroll to shop the pieces needed to re-create the perfect airport look in advance of your next trip.
Halloween: a holiday for spooky-themed debauchery. Its allure can partly be attributed to its unabashed celebration of our inner children. We’re encouraged to be creative. To carve pumpkins, dress up in costume, and revel in our shared silliness. We show off our interests — from our favorite characters and to our favorite memes — with our elaborate get-ups. Even if you opt for a minimal, last-minute, or outright “sexy” outfit — bunny ears or cat ears included — it’s all about the fun.
Until it isn’t.
Halloween is also a night when people exploit this annual opportunity to dress up and cross a line. Racism reigns as people head to parties in offensive costumes, often including cultural appropriation or even Blackface. With the current alarming rise in public anti-semitism, more than a few Nazi costumes were out this year. And after the success of Netflix’s Dahmer, Jeffery Dahmer costumes are also concerningly abundant. Appalling.
There’s still a long way to go. But in the age of increased awareness, thankfully, we’re seeing less of these costumes in public — or at least on social media. Say what you will about cancel culture, but it makes people think twice before doing something stupid. And for that alone, I am grateful.
This especially applies to celebrities. Hopefully, we’re beyond the days of public apologies for blatantly offensive Halloween attire. But this Halloween, a couple of problematic celebrity costumes fell through the cracks. Now that we’re not distracted by as many celebs in Blackface, I guess we have the opportunity to dissect more nuanced costume faux pas.
Let’s get into it:
First of all, Megan Fox and Machine Gun Kelly. Hollywood’s most extra couple stepped out as Pamela Anderson and Tommy Lee. After the success of the Hulu adaptation starring Lily James and Sebastian Stan, the pair’s fabled romance has been thrust back into the spotlight.
However, there are many things wrong with the Hulu series. For a show supposedly critical of the exploitation of female sexuality, it sure did a bunch of exploiting. The show allegedly examined the media’s power structures that fosters a sexist culture. Yet, those very same structures ignored Anderson’s perspective on the show.
Pamela Anderson was vocally against the show — not wanting to relive that part of her life. Especially seeing it glamorized on screen as some wacky, edgy adventure. And while Anderson herself has done some problematic Halloween costumes, it’s time to untangle her narrative from the media’s portrayal of it.
As if that weren’t bad enough, this revival again branded Pam and Tommy as just another volatile, rock-n-roll relationship. I’m sure you can see why it attracted Megan and MGK. However, what pop culture seems to have forgotten, is that Tommy Lee was convicted of physical assault against Pamela Anderson.
Like many people, MGK and Megan Fox may not have known about the domestic violence in the relationship. And that’s the problem. Rather than prioritizing Anderson’s voice and story, the culture has chosen to highlight a sensationalized version of events. Seems we didn’t learn much from Free Britney.
Excising their relationship’s abusive ending allows the story to live as a glamorized mythos. Ignoring the abuse while capitalizing on Anderson’s trauma reveals that popular culture still has a long way to go.
But Machine Gun Kelly and Megan Fox were not the only ones who made us cringe with their carelessly conceived costumes.
New couple Billie Eilish and Jesse Rutherford had one of the most controversial costumes of the weekend. The two sparked dating rumors a few weeks ago after being repeatedly spotted together.
Given their 11-year age difference, the internet had some thoughts. How old is Billie Eilish? Eilish is 20 — and turns 21 in December. While Rutherford — best known as the lead singer in The Neighborhood — is 32. Not a great look for the ‘Sweater Weather’ singer, who the internet has since been accusing of grooming.
Well, first of all, I’d compare this more to a Leonardo DiCaprio situation. In that instance, Camila Morrone was 21 and free to make the mistake of dating DiCaprio — a relationship that has now, thankfully, ended. But that didn’t make it any less creepy.
Our culture fetishizes younger women, and Eilish has felt this all of her career. So when older men pursue younger women, especially women in their early 20s whose brains literally haven’t fully developed, we’re right to be suspicious. It’s a concerning dynamic. But while we can be critical, it doesn’t help to infantilize Eilish and her decisions.
People gotta to learn the hard way, I guess.
However, the fledgling couple sparked ire this weekend with their Halloween getups. In an attempt to be self-aware about the gossipy conversations about their relationship, they dressed up as a baby and an old man. Gross.
u201cBillie Eilish and boyfriend Jesse Rutherford dressed up together as a baby and an old man for Halloween.u201d
Their exaggeration of the age difference is a pointed jab at the haters. But inadvertently, it’s making light of grooming as a phenomenon. So disappointing as Eilish has been vocal about the industry’s penchant for grooming. And while she’s free to make her own decisions and pursue her own relationships, this costume choice leaves a bad taste in my mouth.
Like any concerning Halloween costume, this one ignores the larger social context. Downplaying the concept of grooming is not as funny as the pair thought. For any couple, going as a baby and an old man would be really-really disgusting. For this couple, it’s even more layered.
But luckily for us, this Halloweekend was actually full of great costumes, too.
For celebs, Halloween is an extreme sport. Not only do they have the money and resources to put together the most elaborate costumes — they’re also creatives. If anything, it’s their job to think outside of the box and perform! To entertain! To put on a show! And on Halloween, they deliver.
Now, as social media has upped its game, many celebs take their costume reveals as seriously as their baby reveals. They st up professional photo shoot pictures with extravagant sets with special effects and staging. These are a far cry from my blurry costume photos taken halfway through my nights out.
But I love the extraness! The production value! It’s camp!
So, as a palette cleanser, here are some of the best Halloween costumes from this weekend.
Chloe Bailey as Lola Bunny
Kali Uchis as Jessica Rabbit
Hailey Bieber’s Runway Look
The Riverdale Girls as the Hocus Pocus Witches
Kerry Washington as Lionel Richie
Kim Kardashian’s kids as Hip-Hop Icons
Ciara and her daughter as Venus and Serena Williams
