Before I worked at Bustle, I wrote for a few other sites. Every year, I dreaded the arrival of gift guide season — men are notoriously hard to shop for, and how many times can you really recommend whiskey stones and grooming kits? (Thousands, according to the internet. I’m aware I’m complicit. I’m no longer on the gift guide beat, and so I’m happy to report that Bustle’s roundups are actually helpful. You’re welcome.)
But you know who else has mastered the art of the gift-guides/2023-goop-holiday-video/” class=”T3D”gift guide? Gwyneth Paltrow. Goop dropped a video along with its holiday shopping picks on Nov. 10. In the minute-long clip, the actor channels seven iconic versions of herself at a festive dinner party.
She throws it back to 1999 in the bubblegum Ralph Lauren gown she wore the night she won an Oscar for Shakespeare in Love. (“Was that THE pink dress?” one commenter wrote on YouTube. Indeed, it was.) She also portrays Margot from the 2001 classic The Royal Tenenbaums, raccoon eyes, severe bob, and all.
“Workout Gwyneth,” “Mom Gwyneth,” and “’90s Gwyneth” make appearances, too, and each rendition of the Goop founder receives a present. Margot’s, of course, is a black Roen eyeliner pencil ($26).
The gift guide also includes a box of gold-dipped macarons ($165 for 18), a sporty gingham pickleball racket ($85), and a Dr. Dennis Gross face mask ($445) that uses LED lights to deliver clearer, brighter skin. This set of pinstripe martini glasses ($265) doesn’t seem like a bad choice for the man in your life — please don’t take it from me, Paltrow approves, too.
Hosting a holiday dinner party is notoriously stressful. If you’re frantically
In one of his famed self-portraits, Omar Victor Diop, a Senegalese photographer and artist, wears a three-piece suit and an extravagant paisley bow tie, preparing to blow a yellow, plastic whistle. The elaborately staged photograph evokes the memory of Frederick Douglass, the one-time fugitive slave who in the 19th century rose to become a leading abolitionist, activist, writer and orator, as well as the first African American to be nominated for vice president of the United States.
Diop is no stranger to portraying the aches and hopes of Black people across the world. Throughout his oeuvre, which incorporates historical references and costumes, he has highlighted the vital role of Black and African figures in world history, celebrated the dignity of African migrants and refugees, weaved together the history of Black protests from the Selma march to the Soweto uprising in South Africa, and examined the impact of climate change on Africa and the Global South.
Through his bold images, Diop examines the interplay between African and diasporic experiences by knitting together the past and present.
“I am fascinated and surprised about how Africa is still present in everything an African American would do; they don’t even realize it,” said Diop, who lives and works in Dakar and Paris. “Sometimes you look at an African American in reality TV and you happen to be looking at your sisters and your aunts because of the expressions — it’s translated and said in English, but she could be in Dakar, speaking Wolof.”
Omar Victor Diop
In a 2015 self-portrait (top), from Diop’s series “Project Diaspora,” the artist emulates Frederick Douglass, who was the most photographed man of his era. Douglass sat for over 160 portraits, including a daguerreotype circa 1855 (bottom), to challenge negative representations of African Americans.
Cultural Archive/Alamy
In a 2015