Like a clumsy, relatable ballerina on stage, Amy Schumer is more on point than ever. The forward-thinking femme did a sketch last night on her Comedy Central show, Inside Amy Schumer, about what it’s like to shop for clothing larger than a U.S. size 8 (or U.K. size 12, as the sketch references), whether those sizes wear the plus-sized label or not.This isn’t the first time Schumer has done a sketch supporting women who don’t fit into Hollywood’s size 2 box. Last season, she did a sketch with Tina Fey, Julia… Read more

Tired of texting? Take it slow and go old school with your sentiments. Postcards get an update with these personalized recycled-paper notes.Postcards, from $1.39, paperculture.com These stickers will seal your letters with a kiss.Stickers, $4 for a set of $36, knotandbow.etsy.com Show your gratitude with letterpress that will impress.Cards, $26 for 6, sugarpaper.com Make opening mail a snap with this helping hand.Envelope opener, $165, kellywearstler.com Send hugs ’n’ kisses the old fashioned way.Sticky notes, $3.99,… Read more

Lost Under Heaven or LUH, as they are commonly known , is comprised of the former frontman of the Manchester’s WU LYF, Ellery Roberts, and Dutch-based artist Ebony Hoorn. They met after Roberts split from his band and was looking for a new approach to creating music. Ebony is a recent graduate of the audio-visual department in Amsterdam’s prestigious Rietveld Academy. The two quickly found themselves in constant contact over the internet, sharing dreams and inspiration. Eventually Ellery left his refuge in London to… Read more

Director Yorgos Lanthimos (of the Academy Award nominated film Dogtooth) gives 2016 audiences The Lobster, a dystopian romance that combines comedy and gore. Packed with an A+ cast such as Rachel Weisz, Colin Farrell, Léa Seydoux, Ben Whishaw, and John C. Reilly, The Lobster wonderfully kick-starts a new year in movies with its breathtaking cinematography, performances, score, and storyline. Although it has a male lead, the film's story is driven by women.The story begins with David (Farrell) being picked up and driven… Read more

Much has happened since the last time we had to actually talk about bathrooms, so let’s get caught up, shall we?ICYMI, Pat McCrory, Henchman for the Evil Empire of Bigots Governor of North Carolina, signed HB2 into effect back in March, which officially decreed that individuals MUST use the bathroom which corresponds to their sex at birth. I sure as shit hope there aren’t any kicky BBQ joints in NC where the bathrooms are labelled “Steers” and “Cows,” because then where TF are HUMANS supposed to pee? Oh, you wacky… Read more

Mutaru Tachira was cast out of her village in Ghana 21 years ago over accusations of witchcraft. She’s been living in a “witch camp” ever since. This is her story. Tachira’s banishment didn’t happen all at once. It was a long, slow, painful process. Perhaps if Tachira hadn’t ever married into her late husband Mahamadu Mutaru’s family, she would still be at home today. But when it comes to marriage, few women in her region have any say in the matter at all. Girls born into Tachira’s Konkomba tribe are not educated.… Read more

Will the tacky cry for attention of taking women’s suffering and glamorizing it in ads never end? In the latest ad campaign for Calvin Klein, Danish actress Klara Kristen’s is photographed up-skirt with the caption, “I flash in #mycalvins.” In addition to the blatant recreation of violation, the model in the ad looks far younger than her 22-year-old age, further perpetuating the sexualization of very young girls that Calvin Klein has built its brand on. Perhaps Calvin Klein's target audience of pedophiles were feeling… Read more

It's PROM SEASON! Maybe prom was the greatest night of your life, and you feel wistful for formalwear and awkward photos in the familiy living room every time prom season rolls around. If so, yippee for you! Or, maybe you never went to prom and now you're a 30-year-old woman who's still kinda bitter about it! If you're that second person (ME ME ME I AM THAT'S ME), you can light a vanilla-scented candle and watch these prom-centric movies and TV shows and imagine what it would have been like if the person you had a… Read more

On Lena Dunham's 30th birthday, I'm reflecting on the many life lessons we’ve learned and why she deserves to be celebrated: 1. Issues with body image are a thing for everyone.I’ll confess I was curious when the unretouched Vogue photos first surfaced. I mean — in our lifetimes — it’s unlikely many of us will have our bodies lauded over the pages of a Vogue magazine, but here Lena was in the flesh. Or was she? It seems Lena’s curiosity was also piqued when scrolling through her Instagram feed one night only to swipe up… Read more

Paris is Burning chronicles New York’s ballroom subculture in the 80s. A film seven years in the making, it features the African-American, Latino, gay, and transgender communities involved in the balls. Despite it being one of the few films to document these marginalized groups, it was and is a controversial film.Some see it as shining a light on these often ignored groups, others see it as cultural appropriation and profiting off the subjects of the film, especially since the director, Jennie Livingston, was a… Read more

It’s “bikini body” season, the time of year when women are reminded by diet plans and gyms to get “bikini ready.” As a surfer girl who spends weeks of each year at the beach, I can authoritatively say that women—no matter how fit or fat they are— are never "bikini ready."From my perch, floating on a surfboard, looking at aqua waves crash into limestone bluffs, I watch as women in bikinis and rash guards, usually petite or thin, enter the ocean with their surf instructors. Many are certain and confident. It’s… Read more

At first no one talked to each other. We all stared nervously at our phones. Jerick, the guy who ran the show, descended a shadowy staircase in the basement of this Financial District club, sporting his muscle shirt , and began explaining how the night would proceed.Jerick, without a doubt a Jersey Shore native, would later strut around shirtless, exposing a topography of tribal tattoos. His eyes panned left to right, obviously hopped on uppers, clocking every girl. It was obvious this was the initial "weeding out"… Read more

The Birth Control Handbook, first printed in 1968 by students at McGill University, was a pioneering text. It was also illegal. College students are often looking to have sex. But by the late 1960s, they were also looking for more information on sex—on contraception, abortion, and everything in between. In Montreal, Canada, a group of students publicly violated the law to publish a text providing critical information about sexual health.At a time when such information was nearly impossible to find, copies of their… Read more

I've had a handful of friends, a cousin or two, and even my dad once, very sweetly and nervously ask me what having a period feels like, and honestly, I love them for it. Not just because it was nice that they were trying to empathize, but also any platform where I get to talk/complain about my period is cathartic. The fact that it was them approaching me as opposed to me forcing them to listen made it all the better. That being said, I had about 12 seconds of talking before they became very uncomfortable and I could… Read more

Joan Didion is one of those few contemporary writers whom you could essentially ask anything—a woman of high class who's been ahead of her generation (she was born in 1934) ever since the Great Depression. Famous for her novels and nonfiction work, Didion was raised on California sunshine and a discontent with the American dream. It took her only two years to go from copywriter to feature editor at Vogue in the mid-1960s. Some of her more well-known works include Slouching Towards Bethlehem (1968) and The Year of… Read more

Gone are the days when young girls only had to know their favorite color to decide which bathing suit was “right for them." Discovery Girls magazine, aimed at 8- to 12-year-old girls, published an article focused on what swimsuit would look “right” on their readers' bodies, their very prepubescent bodies. Because if you’re female, it’s never too early to start feeling bad about your body. Their tips included creating shapes if they have no curves, distracting with patterns if they are “rounder," and drawing the eyes… Read more

Pigmentation and application determine the quality of an eye shadow, and each of these indie brands delivers on both fronts just as well as their corporate competition. Plus with these picks, you can rest assured your money is going to passionate people making cruelty-free products—more bang for your buck, beyond a shadow of a doubt. Sugarpill Cosmetics Sugarpill is beloved for its neon shades that deliver a full punch of color in just one brushstroke. Slip yellow Buttercupcake (pictured) or the pinky Dollipop into a… Read more

Actor Jason Schwartzman, known for his quirky, intellectual turns in Rushmore, Bored to Death, and Moonrise Kingdom, has long been the thinking girls’ Hollywood heartthrob. In this fireside chat, the multitalented renaissance man opens up about his famous filmmaking family, fatherhood, and the time he crushed out so hard on a celebrity “it hurt” "Oh, this is for the Love issue? How ’bout I do this?” a designer-suit-clad Jason Schwartzman asks before turning, wrapping his arms around himself, and faking a hot and heavy… Read more

My caterpillar suit-clad frame lumbered on stage to greet the crowd of 200 screaming children, who had gathered for a Very Hungry Caterpillar meet-and-greet. I had just been strapped into the inflatable caterpillar costume, complete with a four-foot tail, a bulbous green head, and four mushroom-like stubs for limbs. The suit was equipped with a backpack fan, which whirred perpetually, plumping my tarp shell. As the sea of children left their seats and rushed towards me, I peered out of the netted eyeholes, braced… Read more

You may be sorry now, YACHT, but not as much as you will be. On Monday, the band YACHT faked a sex tape in order to get hype for its new music video for the song “I Wanna Fuck You Till I’m Dead,” which it heavily considered not even releasing in the aftermath.According to Jezebel, Gawker Media knew about the fake tape a month before it was announced to the public a few days ago, but no one said anything. I'm absolutely disgusted over YACHT thinking this plan through at least a MONTH in advance to manipulate its fans… Read more

During the early 19th century, it was not uncommon for the mortal remains of a beloved pet cat to be buried in the family garden. By the Victorian era, however, the formality of cat funerals had increased substantially. Bereaved pet owners commissioned undertakers to build elaborate cat caskets. Clergymen performed cat burial services. And stone masons chiseled cat names on cat headstones. Many in society viewed these types of ceremonies as no more than an amusing eccentricity of the wealthy or as yet another odd quirk… Read more

For years, dress codes have been targeting and sexualizing young girls in schools. The argument for girls being told not to wear shorts or tank tops always comes down to a distraction for boys (and even teachers) in class. But a sign put up at Desert Ridge High School in Mesa, Arizona has seriously crossed the line.Last week, a sign appeared in the library of the high school that compared girls to “meat” that the “wolves” (boys) would find too alluring and ultimately cause boys to get lower grades which leads to crappy… Read more

Is there a conspiracy against plus-size ladies in the fashion world? One full-figured blogger and fashion columnist weighs in I wish I could go back in time to talk to my teenage self. In those days, I was absolutely fascinated by clothing and personal style and would spend hours lingering over the gorgeous spreads in Vogue, learning about designers like Anna Sui, Marc Jacobs, and Karl Lagerfeld. But hovering at around a size 12, I feared I was Too Fat for Fashion. There just didn’t seem to be a place for me in the… Read more

Whether it's bringing other characters back down to reality with her biting wit on Grace and Frankie, or throwing in her two cents when questioning how your favorite bad movies made it to the big screen on the podcast How Did This Get Made, June Diane Raphael often has the last word. With the second season of Grace and Frankie under way and her new role in Maria Bamford's Lady Dynamite, BUST was lucky enough to catch a few minutes with June. We talked to June about her Lady Dynamite role as one of many Karen Grishams,… Read more

Cyndi Lauper has long been an role model for the feminist world and an ally to the LGBTQ community, so it is no surprise that when she stopped by The Late Late Show with James Corden this week to celebrate the drop of her new album, Detour, she used the opportunity to drop a little feminist agenda, as well.Ever since Feminist Apparel created a t-shirt with the phrase, “Girls just want to have fun-damental rights,” adding a twist to Lauper’s '80s hit, feminists everywhere have adopted the slogan as somewhat of an… Read more

Get psychedelic with trippy patterns, off-the-wall accessories, and color galore EARRINGS BY SARAH MAGID; VINTAGE FIBER-AND-GEM NECKLACE FROM THE END. GOWN BY KATY RODRIGUEZ; JACKET BY THE END; BOA (WORN AS HAT) WITH LANVIN PIN, STYLIST’S OWN; FRINGE NECKLACE BY BZIPPY, ERMIE.BIGCARTEL.COM; RING BY LIKE A CITY. ---Photographed by Jeaneen LundStyled by Kime BuzzelliHair by Nancilee SantosMakeup by Bethany McCarty This article originally appeared in the April/May 2014 print edition of BUST Magazine. Subscribe today! More… Read more

I was walking through the fiction section of my local Barnes and Noble when my phone chirped with his first message. It was simple, nothing elaborate, and nothing gross. Just a hello, adorned with a smiling emoji. It was a hot day in July, one of the hottest New York had experienced all summer, and, after flipping through his pictures again, I decided to answer him.All great love affairs start in the summer, when the weather is sultry and the air is thick. If I’ve learned nothing else from literature, it’s that weather… Read more

PJ Harvey, The Hope Six Demolition Project (Island) PJ Harvey's latest, The Hope Six Demolition Project, draws inspiration from her visist to Kosovo, Afghanistan, and Washington, D.C. over a four-year period. The opening title track is the closest we get to a straight-on PJH pop/rock vibe. The rest of this concept album leans toward the operatic and theatrical, with most songs having a militiristic feel (like "The Ministry of Defence" and "Chain of Keys"), and often stretching standard musical conventions to accomodate… Read more

Gloria Steinem, world-famous feminist leader, and the New York Times-described “bro-centric content” provider VICE may seem like an unlikely team at first. But the two have teamed up to create a powerful documentary series that plays to both Steinem’s and VICE’s strengths. Woman, premiering on VICELAND today, is an unforgettable look at the state of women’s rights and violence against women around the world, from gang rapes in the Democratic Republic of the Congo to femicides in El Salvador to the state of women… Read more

Selena Gomez is sick of Bieber fever. At a concert Sunday night, the pop star stopped mid song to take a fan’s sign that said “Marry Justin Please,” crumple it up, and throw it away. And she had every frickin’ right to. Why should she have this sign, which totally undermines her fame, just hanging right in front of her face? While she’s trying to perform, of all places! Whether the fan’s intentions were good or bad is irrelevant—if Gomez is on stage, it should be all about her, not her and Justin Bieber. SELENA… Read more

You arrive at the Musee d’Orsay and you are expecting to see Gustave Courbet’s controversial L’Origine du Monde. You expect to be confronted with an oil painting of a women’s vagina. Except, instead of standing in front of the work, no longer separated by the thin shield of glass, a frame and electronic barrier, you witness the real thing. Artist Deborah De Robertis sits in front of you, her legs spread, dressed in a gold sequined dress. For a second the gallery visitor looks to the painting and the vagina in front of… Read more

If anyone ever made you feel shame for taking selfies or self-promoting, these women have your back. In the book Seeing Ourselves: Women's Self-Portraits, author Frances Bozello pays tribute to the women who recognized that they themselves were just as worthy of a subject for their own artwork as any other person or thing. Bozello writes, "Self-portraits are not innocent reflections of what artists see when they look in the mirror. They are part of the language painters use to make a point, from the simple 'this is… Read more

Looking for true love, or at least someone cute to watch Netflix with? There’s no better place to find that person than on the web. Here are some tips to help you online-date like a champ.IT’S FRIDAY NIGHT, and you’re home alone again. Meanwhile, one of your best friends just announced that she’s hooking up with a foxy dude she met on the Internet. Oof. Most of us can understand the urge to have a little human companionship, or at least something warm in bed next to us that doesn’t have four paws and a tail. So if… Read more

Gettin’ dicked around by your boo? There’s a book for that. Leave a Cheater, Gain a Life (Running Press) is a survival guide for “chumps,” the affectionate term Tracy Schorn—author and creator of advice site ChumpLady.com—uses for folks who’ve been dealt that ultra-shitty card: a partner who cheats. It’s a tough love how-to manual that reminds delusional reconciliation-seekers that, “Cheating is about as unintentional as a NATO airstrike.” But this book isn’t just a sternly worded (and hilarious) anti-infidelity… Read more

Just a few years ago, Erin Bagwell was working as an interactive designer for corporate America. She found herself facing the daily struggles of women in the workplace everywhere. She felt underappreciated, solely because of her gender and the stereotypes that are far too common for women at work. She began her blog, Feminist Wednesday, as a way to fuel the inspiration she felt she was lacking. Through the blog, she began interviewing women of all calibers and found that there was a huge sector of our economy that… Read more

Can you name an Asian rapper? While hip-hop is rooted in African American culture, it has spread globally. Director and producer Salima Koroma paired up with fellow producer Jaeki Cho to explore the world of underground hip-hop, profiling four Asian American rappers, including BUST favorite Awkwafina. Bad Rap, a documentary that premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival, follows the journey of rap battle legend Dumbfooundead, outrageous Rekstizzy, Lyricks, a rapper with Christian values and Awkwafina, who blew up after… Read more

Photographer Marjorie Salvaterra's newest book, HER: Meditations on Being Female, explodes off the page with raw female energy. Here at BUST, the word "woman" follows "strong" like U follows Q. It feels redundant to say that HER: Meditations on Being Female is "empowering," but damn if that's not what it is! Drawing inspiration from the visceral portraits of Cindy Sherman, in addition to the lavish surrealism of Federico Fellini, Salvaterra's photographs are a riotous celebration of what it means to be a woman. Through… Read more

For many women, a new kind of communal living offers a radical solution to the most basic problems of work/life balance. But could “cohousing” be right for you? In the car-congested metropolis of Los Angeles, where drive-throughs and gas stations are ubiquitous, there is a unique community in the Koreatown section where residents grow their own crops and eschew automobiles in favor of bicycles. It’s housed in a three-building complex (once low-income housing), which is typical for the area, but it stands out from the… Read more

Can't get enough Amy Schumer? Fear not! Now you can enjoy her raunchy humor in her upcoming memoir. On Saturday, Schumer shared the book cover and pre-order info on her Instagram and Twitter. The cover and title of her book are exactly what we would expect from the comedienne: witty, sexy and a little self-deprecating. The Girl with the Lower Back Tattoo is a book of personal essays in the vein of Tina Fey's Bossypants or Mindy Kaling's Why Not Me? According to the Amazon description of the book, it's "written with… Read more

These adorable, candy-colored bikes have been popping up all over Brooklyn like so many artisan chocolates. Featuring perfectly respectable 20" wheels, they fold up small enough to fit in a closet, but ride just like a full-sized bike. (They also weigh as much as a large bike, so don’t plan on toting it around like a handbag.) Best of all, the price is tiny as well: just $199 gets you this sturdy, steel-framed, six-speed cutie. Find out more at citizenbike.com. --- This article originally appeared in the April/May 2016… Read more

Caleb and Camille Fang (played by Christopher Walken and Maryann Plunkett) are well-known and highly regarded performance artists who — in the 1970s — incorporated their children into their elaborate, high-risk pranks, causing chaos and mischief for the sake of art. The children, Annie and Baxter, now fully grown, have emancipated themselves, but still attribute their downward spirals to their unconventional childhoods. Annie (played by Nicole Kidman) receives a call from her brother Baxter (played by Jason Bateman),… Read more

Mother's Day is this Sunday, and that means it's time to thank the mothers in our lives that helped support us and shape us into the people we are today. For many of us, that means thanking our real-life mamas, but there are plenty of fictional mom's who have also had great influences on the way we think about motherhood and the unique struggles that come along with it. These TV moms have taught us that there are many different ways to be a mother and show love and devotion to your children. Here are a few of our… Read more

I’ve seen countless self-help books on coping with the death of a mother, but none of how to carry on when you lose her to her husband.I was haunted by a sense of doom when Carl came in the picture. My six-year-old mind couldn’t comprehend my intuition.Carl was a stranger. We knew nothing of his background beyond what he told us. Mom met and married him in four months, only to be welcomed back from their honeymoon with his mail fraud charges.We uprooted to Tennessee, two hundred miles away my grandparents, aunts,… Read more

Los Angelinos! Drop your In 'n' Out Burger and listen up for just a second! Sick of hitting the beach, soaking up the sunshine, and enjoying the beautiful West Coast Spring weather? Yeah, I bet you are! Well, don't worry, because a little bit of East Coast coolness is coasting to your town this Saturday.No, I'm not talking about freezing rain! (Sorry, California girls, we're not bitter at all.) Brooklyn's original indie craft fair, the BUST Craftacular, is moving west to Los Angeles this Saturday, May 7th. The first… Read more

In this surprising history of one of America's most beloved holidays, we meet a woman who fought tirelessly for the establishment of Mother's Day, then later fought just as hard to get rid of it. When you think of Mother’s Day, bouquets of roses, perfume bottles, and pastel-colored cards with flowery script probably spring to mind. It’s hard to argue with a day designated to honor the one who gave you life, but the road to birthing Mother's Day was far rockier than one would imagine. Its unlikely founder, an unwed,… Read more

Alice Walker, poet and Pulitzer Prize-winning author of the literary classic The Color Purple, will be answering fan questions on Facebook during a live stream video broadcast tonight at 5:30pm EST. Don't miss this opportunity to hear Walker answer questions from her readers, or to ask questions yourself! Join her on Facebook, where she welcomed everyone to take part in the conversation: "I had so much fun talking to my Facebook friends in February that I've decided to do it again! This Friday, May 6th at 5:30 EST I… Read more

Another Mother’s Day, another six hours spent choosing the perfect Edible Arrangements. This year, however, I want to recognize my mom, Pat, in a different way, one that honors her fantastic approach to raising a hellraiser like me. Bad words, bad attitudes, and all.1. It’s okay to shit on someone’s plate.There’s a feeling out there, especially among women, that to critique is to complain, that the negative should always let the positive ride in the front seat, whether it called shotgun or not. I can’t tell you the… Read more

Nora Ephron is probably one of the few directors who needs no introduction. She penned one of the most classic romantic comedies, When Harry Met Sally, and directed Sleepless in Seattle, You’ve Got Mail, and Julie & Julia.But before becoming a box office hit, Ephron struggled to gain entry into the studio scene. When trying to mount This Is My Life, which would become her directorial debut, she was told by a (male) executive at a studio that they wouldn’t be able to finance her project after all, but not to take it… Read more

Check out these awesome ladies for yourself! They will each be playing a set at the BUST Craftacular on Saturday, May 7th; located at the Superchief Gallery. At every party, there is one key factor that determines whether it is good or bad: the music. And this all falls on the shoulders of the DJ; a person who has to the read the room, create the mood and keep the party-goers entertained while still focusing on their equipment whether it is queuing up the perfect set of songs from their laptop or grabbing the next… Read more

Mother's Day is right around the corner — which means it's officially LAST MINUTE gift-gettin' time! Okay, so maybe you almost forgot... again... So save yourself with a totally bomb-ass gift. Y'know, a gift that shows how thoughtful you are, how much you appreciate mom, and what a good job she did raising you into an undeniably functional adult who would never forget Mother's Day (for the 31st year in a row)! Oh by the way, if you're lucky enough to be in L.A. this weekend, all of these vendors will be at the BUST… Read more