Tag: Editor-in-Chief

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Fashion Featured NYC

First Women of Color Samira Nasr to lead US BAZAAR

Women of Power Samira Nasr to lead US BAZAAR

Samira Nasr named editor in chief of the U.S. edition of Harper’s BAZAAR, overseeing content strategy and development across the brand’s print and digital platforms.

With the Black Lives Matter movement we are seeing a huge surge in visibility, support, and awareness for #BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color), a new term helping to build a collective community, promoting the inclusion of all people of color.

The percentage of black hires in the U.S. grew from 4.8% in 2018 to 5.5% in 2019, a .7% increase, and female employees didn’t fare much better, dropping from 33.2% of global hires in 2018 to 32.5% in 2019.

In a statement this week Hearst President and CEO Steven R. Swartz and Hearst Magazines President Troy Young announced their first-ever black Editor in Chief of the company’s iconic fashion magazine, Harper’s Bazaar.

This announcement could not come at a better time, it’s time that equitable hiring practices become the norm, rather than the exception. Personally, I feel that we should not stop until the percentage of BIPOC hires is equal to white and we must move to lower the large gaps in income, create more promotional opportunities, and advancement for all.

Samira Nasr will commence her new role as Editor in Chief of Harper’s BAZAAR on July 6, 2020, reporting to Hearst Magazines Chief Content Officer Kate Lewis.

Samira is the first Black editor in chief in the history of the 153-year-old publication.

In her own words, “Fashion and BAZAAR are synonymous,” Nasr says. “It is a tremendous privilege to be entrusted with moving this legacy brand into a new era—one that is colorful, inclusive, and celebrates the beauty of fashion on every platform—while carrying on the tradition of innovative art direction and great style that the BAZAAR audience loves so much. The most beautiful part of working in magazines is the teamwork and creating a community. I can’t wait to get started.”

 

New Editor in Cheif Samira Nasr U.S. Harper's BAZAAR
Samira Nasr with Anita Hill from IG

 

Recently Samira was the executive fashion director at Vanity Fair, managing and directing the fashion department and all fashion content, including styling for their iconic covers such as the 25th annual Hollywood issue, the spring style issue featuring cover star Lupita Nyong’o, and the May 2019 issue with Nicole Kidman.

“Harper’s BAZAAR is a leading American fashion brand with a point of view that is hugely influential in the U.S. and around the world,” Young says. “Samira’s important voice will continue to evolve the brand’s distinct position as a style touchstone for fashion’s most discerning.”

 

New Editor in Chief Samira Nasr U.S. Harper's BAZAAR
Samira Nasr U.S. Harper’s BAZAAR

 

Coming back to Hearst Magazines, Nasr held the role of fashion director at ELLE for five years. Prior to that, she was style director for InStyle.

In addition to working with top fashion magazines in publishing, Nasr has also styled campaigns for fashion and beauty brands, including Laura Mercier, Tiffany & Co., Tory Burch, Estée Lauder, L’Oréal, Clarins, and more.

After earning a graduate degree in journalism at New York University, she went on to begin her career in fashion working as an assistant to Grace Coddington, former creative director of Vogue.

“BAZAAR has always presented the world of fashion through a unique lens—smart, vibrant, adoring. Those words could not better describe Samira, who understands and delights in the world of fashion, but has a thoroughly modern and distinctive take,” Lewis says. “She innately understands the BAZAAR woman, because she is the BAZAAR woman: passionate about fashion, culture, and the issues that matter today. I know she will make something magical here.”

Born in Montreal, Canada, Nasr currently resides in Brooklyn, New York, with her son.

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Andy Warhol at the Whitney: Why it Matters

Andy Warhol at the Whitney
Andy Warhol at the Whitney

If you haven’t seen Andy Warhol at the Whitney Museum yet, make sure you get there before it ends on March 31. You have plenty of time, so no excuses. Andy Warhol–From A to B and Back Again includes over 350 works, and yes, the soup cans are present and accounted for. It is, according to the museum, the “first major reassessment of his work in thirty years.”

Andy Warhol at the Whitney
Andy Warhol at the Whitney

I think it’s safe to assume that most people in the world are familiar with Andy’s work. I mean, you’d really have to be living under a rock not to be. Soup cans and coke bottles and portraits of Liz, Marilyn, Liza–icons all, captured by an icon. These images are some of the most recognizable in pop culture. Of course, just because they are universally known, does not mean they are universally loved. I know many people who don’t LOVE Andy Warhol. And, I know some people who actively dislike Andy Warhol. “I mean, it’s just a bunch of Brillo boxes,” was a thing I heard at the exhibit (standing in front of the Brillo boxes). To each his own, especially when it comes to art. Full disclosure: I love the guy. He’s a disruptor. A troublemaker. I love troublemakers.

Andy Warhol at the Whitney
Portraits by Andy Warhol at the Whitney

I’m not going to give you a screed on Warhol’s contribution to art and culture. Like the saying goes, I’m no art critic but I know what I like. But whether you love him or hate him, this exhibit is worth seeing. Why? Well for one thing, it’s rare to see this volume of work in one place, spanning so much time. The scale of the exhibit is staggering. It includes everything from his earliest commercial work, Interview magazine, film and television projects, early silk screen experiments, private sketches, and ephemera, to collaborative work with Jean-Michel Basquiat, and a huge collection of commissioned portraits. It’s exhausting to view, just imagine what it must have been like inside his head.

Andy Warhol at the Whitney
Mao Tse Tung, Andy Warhol

If you think you know Warhol, seeing the work all together like this will give you a new appreciation. If you dislike Warhol, you may find yourself inspired by the sheer voluminous output. And if you are one of those people who thinks that all he did was reproduce soup can labels, you may find yourself reevaluating your opinion. Photographs of the silkscreened flowers or the gigantic Mao Tse Tung don’t show you how “painterly” these works are. Getting up close to the lovely and delicate shoe portraits is a rare treat. (I COVET the Diana Vreeland shoe drawing.) The line drawings, some never before seen by the public, are touching and intimate.

Andy Warhol at the Whitney
Diana Vreeland’s shoe, Andy Warhol

It’s true, no matter how you feel about him, that Andy Warhol had a huge impact on art, celebrity, society, music, print media–the list goes on and on. And for that reason alone, the exhibit is a must. But it is the personal moments that most resonate–a simple self-portrait, the portrait of his mother, Julia Warhola, the Time Capsule, the special projects and collaborations that give you a small window into the artist’s interior life. Those are the moments most valuable to me. Go. Meet the artist. He’s an interesting fellow.

But those soup cans, though.

Look for my weekly blogpost, THOUGHT PATTERNS, here, and follow me on Instagram @debmartinnyc 

 

 

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Peppermint Stick Ice Cream Memories

Peppermint Stick ice cream from Van Leeuwen
Peppermint Stick ice cream from Van Leeuwen

Humans are always searching for universal truths, because in spite of this chaotic and divided world, most people seek the things that tie us together rather than rip us apart. The late, and sorely missed Anthony Bourdain understood this – in fact that was his mission statement. He believed, as I do, that our cultural food traditions are more similar than different, and that sharing the fellowship of a meal creates a bond that nothing can sever, and connects us to our history more effectively than any DNA report. Which brings me to the subject of peppermint stick ice cream.

It’s no secret that I love ice cream. And it isn’t a just a summer love either. Year-round fan, right here. And of all the flavors in the universe, peppermint stick is my favorite. When I find it on a menu or in a freezer, I always want it. There is something irresistible about the mix of velvety, cream-colored vanilla contrasting with crunchy, icy, MINTY bits of bright pink peppermint. The vanilla says “I’m sophisticated and smooth” and the peppermint says “WAKE UP IT’S CHRISTMAS ALL YEAR ROUND!” When done well, it is the perfect mix, and when my favorite ice cream shop, Van Leeuwen Ice Cream, added it to their seasonal menu, I had to go in and give it a try. I was not disappointed, it’s delightfully creamy with just the right amount of pink peppermint. Believe me, I’m pretty much a peppermint stick ice cream connoisseur at this point.

Peppermint Stick ice cream from Van Leeuwen
Peppermint Stick ice cream from Van Leeuwen

But my love of peppermint stick is more than just ice cream-obsession. It reminds me of family – summer car rides, boisterous holidays, a burger at the local Friendly’s or the clam strip dinner at Howard Johnson’s, both ending with peppermint stick ice cream, of course. I can’t remember which now, but one of them had green-tinted ice cream with red peppermint, which didn’t seem right somehow, but still tasted great. It has become a seasonal flavor now, sadly, but in those days it was a year-round treat.

Peppermint stick was my sister Claudia’s favorite flavor really, and that’s why I seek it out whenever the Christmas season rolls around. It connects me to her in a way that no photograph can ever do. She was taken from us too young, but she is ever-present for me, especially at this time of year.

And that’s what food does best. It connects us to our past, to our future, and to each other, across time and cultures and continents, without regard to borders, geography, religion, ethnicity, or politics. Anthony Bourdain wasn’t the first to make this connection, just the most prolifically tattooed. Marcel Proust’s madeleine memories in In Search of Lost Time (or Remembrance of Things Past, as it is more commonly known) are so eternally relevant that you can use the phrase “Proustian moment” in casual conversation and make your point, even to people who have not read the seven-volume masterwork.

This holiday season, may you find your own peppermint stick ice cream. Or madeleine. Or tonkotsu ramen. Whatever it is, enjoy it with gusto, secure in the knowledge that you are connected to the past, to the future, and to the rest of humanity. Happy Holidays!

Look for my weekly blogpost, THOUGHT PATTERNS, here, and follow me on Instagram @debmartinnyc 

Categories
Entertainment Events Theater

Wrestling Jerusalem Has New York Premiere

FROM THE BIG STAGE TO THE BIG SCREEN

Provocative Feature Film Wrestling Jerusalem Has New York Premiere

There’s something about a play being reworked into a film that calls for special attention. Take Romeo and Juliet, A Streetcar Named Desire, or even The Boys in the Band. Here’s a provocative new film to feed your guilty pleasures.

Aaron Davidman’s innovative one-man play Wrestling Jerusalem, which has toured North America for four years including multiple sold-out performances at 59E59 in New York City in 2016, has made the leap to the silver screen in a film directed by Dylan Kussman and will have its New York theatrical premiere at the Leonard Nimoy Thalia at Symphony Space September 12-18. 

 

In a tour-de-force performance, writer-actor Aaron Davidman embodies and gives voice to an astonishing host of characters on all sides of the existential divide — 17 in all — deftly moving between male and female, Jewish and Muslim, Israeli and Arab, each one embodying the frustrations, hopes, dreams and fears ever present in this long-running conflict.

“In these times of extreme polarization,” said Davidman, “I wanted to make a film that would challenge those on the left, right and center to encounter nuanced multiple-perspectives in one sitting, so that we might reconnect to the shared humanity that lives at the heart of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.”

 

This timely cinematic adaption and tour-de-force performance brings necessary life to the ancient question… Why can’t we have peace? 

Wrestling Jerusalem’s return to New York gives those who were unable to snag tickets to the sold-out performances at 59E59 a chance to catch this provocative film on the big screen.

 

Following many of the screenings, there will be a panel with different community partners with the director and star, as well as other experts and faith leaders (full details below). 

 

Tickets can be purchased at: https://www.symphonyspace.org/event/9715/Film/wrestling-jerusalem-new-york-premiere.
PANEL DISCUSSIONS FOLLOWING SCREENINGS INCLUDE:

TUESDAY SEPTEMBER 12

Ethan Bronner leads a conversation with director Dylan Kussman, writer/actor Aaron Davidman and executive producer Jeannie Blaustein. Ethan Bronner is a senior editor at Bloomberg News focused on analytical and investigative pieces. He spent 17 years at The New York Times, including serving as Jerusalem bureau chief. He was also based in Jerusalem for The Boston Globe in the early 90s and for Reuters in the mid-80s. 

 

FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 15

Ari Roth, artistic director of Mosaic Theatre of DC, leads a conversation with other artists, including Philip Himberg, artistic director of the Sundance Institute Theatre Program.

SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 16 

Editor-in-Chief Jane Eisner of The Forward and columnist Peter Beinart, a commentator on CNN and other broadcasts as well as a writer for Haaretz, the Atlantic and other publications.

SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 17

Rabbi Amichai Lay-Lavi leads faith leaders from Jewish, Muslim and Christian traditions in a discussion of the film.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oGbZnMBcDX4&feature=youtu.be