July 2019 – Page 14 – GETAWAYTHEBERKSHIRES

Peter Parker: A Superhero, but Also a Teen, Just Like You!

July 6, 2019 | News | No Comments

Behold, true believers! The Amazing Spider-Man!

By night, he’s a crime-fighting superhero on the streets of New York. But by day he’s Peter Parker, a regular teen, just like you!

As Spider-Man, he saves Mary Jane, the girl next door, from the Green Goblin. But, as Peter Parker, he’s like any other gentle-eyed teen-age boy, with the other guys at school telling him he’s a fugly dork, like, ten to twelve times a week. He may rescue innocents from the many-armed clutches of the devious Dr. Octopus, but can he pass his scoliosis exam, or is he stuck with scoliosis?

The hero in Peter Parker hides his costumed crusading from Aunt May, while the teen-ager in Peter Parker hides the smell of the cigarettes that he smokes in his room with Jason by stuffing a towel under the door.

Yes, young Peter adopted the mask of Spider-Man to protect the ones he loves, and he made a Facebook profile under a fake name because Aunt May told him that the Internet was just for kidnapping children.

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Face front, true believers! By night our hero does vicious battle with the villainous Venom, and also by night he’s getting a hand job that by day somehow everyone already knows about?

Spider-Man may swing past skyscrapers with superhuman agility and speed, but Aunt May will still insist on driving him to and from the movies at 3 P.M. on a Sunday. He’s the legendary wall-crawler who also pronounced “corps” as “corpse” in English class—and everyone snickered, even though he was ninety per cent sure he had heard other people pronounce it that way, too. Like, eighty-five per cent sure.

And, though the Daily Bugle paints Spider-Man as a menace to the city, he’s throwing up after pounding three cups of white rum and Sprite at Todd DeDario’s birthday, even though Peter’s on the improv team that does skits at school assemblies about the dangers of binge drinking.

This is the life of your friendly neighborhood vigilante. His Spidey sense will tingle to warn him of danger but it cannot warn him that he will be constantly sad and horny.

In the meantime, true believers, he’ll perform daring acts of heroism while also performing daring acts of admitting to his primary-care physician that he hasn’t really grown pubes yet. For with great power comes great responsibility. And with great fluctuations in your hormones come unexpected boners. At inconvenient times. In gym shorts. Excelsior!

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Win a $500 online shopping voucher for Nasty Gal

July 5, 2019 | News | No Comments

Ends

17th Jul 2019

COMPETITION

Millennial online shopping destination, Nasty Gal, has collaborated with model and actress Emily Ratajkowski on a collection inspired by the model’s own style and wardrobe.

In a press statement, Nasty Gal revealed that the pieces in the collection channel the cool-girl, body positive, confident style Ratajkowski is known for. “Nasty Gal has always been a brand that has never shied away from pushing the envelope,” Ratajkowski said in the press release, adding, “I love the whole idea of a Nasty Gal — it’s a woman who stands up for herself and what she believes in. I’m very excited to partner with them for this campaign.”

The Nasty Gal x Emily Ratajkowski collection includes fashion-forward pieces like oversized jackets, graphic tees, midriff tops and denim in colour ways such as camel, black, mint green and even ‘90s favourite, tie-dye.

To tie in with the exciting launch, Nasty Gal and Vogue are giving you the chance to win an item or two from the Nasty Gal x Emily Ratajkowski collection or, indeed, any item on their website by way of a $500 voucher to shop NastyGal.com.

Time to update your wardrobe? Read on.

Four (4) winners will receive:

One (1) x AU$500 gift voucher to www.nastygal.com/au/.

Enter by telling us in 25 words or less:

You can read the full T&Cs below.

Enter now

What makes you feel confident?

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To enter this competition, log in to Vogue, fill out the required fields and hit the enter button.

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What the front row are wearing at the Paris haute couture autumn/winter '19/'20 shows

July 5, 2019 | News | No Comments

This week, the famous haute couture shows have been unfolding in Paris and the likes of Chanel, Dior and Valentino have been showing off their upcoming couture collections for autumn/winter ‘19/‘20.

The haute couture shows are a fashion highlight on the sartorial calendar and attract a host of A-list celebrities to sit front and centre to enjoy the haute drama of these exquisite collections. This year, show-stopping front row sightings include Margot Robbie (see above) at Chanel and Céline Dion every time she hits the Paris pavements at the shows.

Australian actress and Chanel ambassador Margot Robbie not only stole the spotlight in her gorgeous head-to-toe Chanel outfit, but the star also celebrated her 29th birthday on the same day as the Chanel haute couture show. Wearing a tweed navy blazer, form-fitting tartan tights and black booties, the I, Tonya star flew the Australian flag at haute couture week joining fellow Australian actress, Phoebe Tonkin (see above) at the show. As a Chanel ambassador, Robbie has previously worn a number of memorable looks from the storied French fashion house.

51-year-old pop music icon Céline Dion has also been a standout at the haute couture shows this week with her traffic-stopping style, evidence perhaps, that the singer lives and breathes fashion. This season, Dion has been working with stylists Pepe Muñoz and Sydney Lopez and has entered every show as a complete fashion icon. One notable look this week was her dramatic black halter-neck dress with matching headpiece at the Schiaparelli show.

Many famous faces also were out in force to attend the annual 2019 Vogue Paris Foundation dinner at haute couture week. The event brought together a crowd of familiar faces and personalities from the world of fashion and celebrity. The likes of Gigi and Anwar Hadid, along with actresses Mandy Moore and Shailene Woodley were seen attending the dinner.

Scroll on to see a selection of show-stopping looks from the front row at Paris haute couture autumn/winter ‘19/‘20 week.

Margot Robbie, Chanel haute couture autumn/winter ‘19/‘20

Priyanka Chopra and Nick Jonas, Christian Dior haute couture autumn/winter ‘19/‘20

Sara Sampaio, Giorgio Armani Privé haute couture autumn/winter ‘19/‘20

Céline Dion, Schiaparelli haute couture autumn/winter ‘19/‘20

Anna Wintour, Dundas haute couture autumn/winter ‘19/‘20

Elisabeth Moss, Christian Dior haute couture autumn/winter ‘19/‘20

Chiara Ferragni, Christian Dior haute couture autumn/winter ‘19/‘20

Nicole Kidman, Giorgio Armani Privé haute couture autumn/winter ‘19/‘20

Keith Urban, Roberta Armani and Nicole Kidman, Giorgio Armani Privé haute couture autumn/winter ‘19/‘20

Hamish Bowles and Anna Wintour, Chanel haute couture autumn/winter ‘19/‘20

Zendaya, Giorgio Armani Privé haute couture autumn/winter ‘19/‘20

Mandy Moore, Schiaparelli haute couture autumn/winter ‘19/‘20

Anwar Hadid and Gigi Hadid, Paris Foundation dinner

Coco Rocha, Schiaparelli haute couture autumn/winter ‘19/‘20

Kitty Spencer, Giorgio Armani Privé haute couture autumn/winter ‘19/‘20

Camila Coelho, Christian Dior haute couture autumn/winter ‘19/‘20

Christina Aguilera, Jean Paul Gaultier haute couture autumn/winter ‘19/‘20

Coco Rocha, Christian Dior haute couture autumn/winter ‘19/‘20

Gal Gadot, Christian Dior haute couture autumn/winter ‘19/‘20

Romee Strijd, Christian Dior haute couture autumn/winter ‘19/‘20

Gigi Hadid, Paris Foundation dinner

Bianca Jagger, Christian Dior haute couture autumn/winter ‘19/‘20

Olivia Palermo, Christian Dior haute couture autumn/winter ‘19/‘20

Giovanna Battaglia, Christian Dior haute couture autumn/winter ‘19/‘20

Shailene Woodley, Christian Dior haute couture autumn/winter ‘19/‘20

Natalia Vodianova, Christian Dior haute couture autumn/winter ‘19/‘20

Nikki Reed, Elie Saab haute couture autumn/winter ‘19/‘20

Melissa George, Schiaparelli haute couture autumn/winter ‘19/‘20

Susie Lau, Christian Dior haute couture autumn/winter ‘19/‘20

Meg Ryan, Schiaparelli haute couture autumn/winter ‘19/‘20

Olivia Palermo, Dundas haute couture autumn/winter ‘19/‘20

Pixie Lott, Schiaparelli haute couture autumn/winter ‘19/‘20

Zoey Deutch attends the Giorgio Armani Privé haute couture autumn/winter ‘19/‘20

Caroline Daur, Schiaparelli haute couture autumn/winter ‘19/‘20

Alexander Skarsgård, Giorgio Armani Privé haute couture autumn/winter ‘19/‘20

Alice Dellal, Giorgio Armani Privé haute couture autumn/winter ‘19/‘20

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Get to know Ancuta Sarca, the London-based Romanian designer upcycling old shoes

July 5, 2019 | News | No Comments

5th Jul 2019

In matters of high fashion, high performance sneakers don’t immediately spring to mind. But then again, fashion’s bedrock is built on oxymoron: clothes deemed classics become old with the dawn of a new season, trends quickly become tired, and fashion faux pas (think bike shorts and bum bags) regain popularity.

Even today, in an era where showcasing recycled wares on the runways is finally being accepted, ushering in a necessary paradigm shift in how we produce our clothes, embrace has been slow and many calls to action have gone unanswered. And, hard as it may be for fledgling designers to find their feet in such an unsteady time, a new wave of conscious up-and-comers is not giving up yet, promising that the future of fashion is in good hands.

Enter 27-year-old designer Ancuta Sarca. The Romanian-born, London-based designer is resisting fast fashion and proposing her upcycled kitten heels as an eco-friendly alternative instead. A master’s graduate with a degree in fashion, with work experience at Meadham Kirchhoff and hours clocked as assistant designer at Ashish, Sarca is now venturing out on her own, foraying into ready-to-wear and shoes that have quickly garnered a following. By fusing old and new, luxury and athleisure, masculine and feminine, Sarca is giving old shoes new life, and inflecting each pair with a dose of humour for good measure.

“The idea came when I was moving house and realised I have so many shoes, especially trainers and kitten heels,” Sarca recounts of how her shoes were conceived, “some of them broken or too old to be worn again.” She continues: “I felt bad for discarding them, so I decided to find a solution to re-use them and also make something that I would like to wear.”

Originally from Romania—“where tradition is a big part of the culture and has remained unchanged for decades”—Sarca’s approach to design is out of pace with today’s see-now-buy-now retail models. In her hometown, an expectation that “people still wear traditional clothing for celebrations, weddings, funerals” has instilled a contrary understanding within the young designer that clothing should have an extensive shelf life, not footprint. As she explains: “It’s really important that we, the consumers, become more conscious of the vulnerability of our planet and the consequences of our actions on the wellness of the next generation.”

In the same vein, Sarca is aware that this reality can be hard to digest, which is why she approaches upcycling in a light-hearted way, heavy only on personality. Her collection of heels—hybrid shoes that combine parts of old Nike sneakers, updated with kitten heels—is unfettered with neat categories that pigeonhole shoes as practical or delicate, masculine or feminine. Sarca melds these on purpose to “create an odd atmosphere for both the trainers and the heels… My work speaks for all genders and sizes.”

She further explains: “What was so appealing to me was this idea of reclaiming the trainers by feminising them and ‘making them fashion’, so it’s sportswear but not really. I wanted to place the trainers in a different landscape than sportswear [or] elegant and feminine, pushing the boundaries of what they can become and being worn in a different context.”

The result is a playful pair of sneaker-heels that toy with ideas of what is original in fashion and what is not—a difficult tightrope to tread which Sarca embraces completely. “Of course, it might seem confusing from the first look, seeing the Nike logo, but that’s why we have to have a deeper look into it. I believe that reinterpreting already-made items can be original too.”

This attitude also informs Sarca’s perspective on collaboration (she recently worked with Sports Banger on their first fashion show). “I find it really exciting collaborating with other brands and I don’t think you have to restrict yourself to working only on your own brand nowadays. Combining visions is so much fun and you also get the chance to present your ideas to a different audience.”

As for what’s next for the budding designer, the mission underpinning her wares is clear: “finding more sustainable solutions for a more sustainable future.”

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The Declaration Heard Around the World

July 5, 2019 | News | No Comments

On September 2, 1945, in a grassy field in Hanoi known as Ba Dinh Square, a fifty-five-year-old man wearing a worn khaki tunic and white rubber sandals gave the speech that launched the Vietnam War. The man, who would be long dead when that war finally ended, was Ho Chi Minh, and the speech that he gave was, essentially, the American Declaration of Independence in Vietnamese.

He did not just begin by quoting its most famous words—“All men are created equal. They are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, among them are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness”—his whole speech was copied from the Declaration. Ho enumerated the ways that a colonial power (France) had abused the rights of the Vietnamese, and he ended with another echo of Thomas Jefferson: “The entire Vietnamese people are determined to mobilize all their physical and mental strength, to sacrifice their lives and property in order to safeguard their independence and liberty.”

It was part of Ho’s intention, when he gave the speech, to solicit the support of the United States in driving the French out of his country. (That plan did not work out so well.) But Ho was also a student of political history, and he knew that he was not the first leader of a national liberation movement to appropriate the Declaration of Independence. In fact, according to the historian David Armitage, Vietnam was something like the fifty-fifth country to do so. The Declaration created, as Armitage puts it, “a new genre.” It provided a template for claims of national sovereignty that, in the years since 1776, has been used by more than a hundred countries, from Flanders (1790) and Haiti (1804) to Bulgaria (1908), Finland (1917), and Ireland (1919) to Abkhazia (1992) and Eritrea (1993).

The Declaration is both an appeal to reason and a justification of force. The appeal to reason rests on the “all men are created equal” part. Today, we read that as a statement about race and gender equality, but that is not what Jefferson meant. He meant that no man is above the law: governors must govern by the consent of the governed. But Jefferson’s language was broader than his intention, and it allowed Frederick Douglass to point out, in his famous Fourth of July oration, in 1852, that, though Americans had declared before the world that all men are created equal, “yet you hold securely in a bondage . . . a seventh part of the inhabitants of your country.” In the long run, and thanks in great measure to the passage of the Fourteenth Amendment, which mandates “equal protection of the laws,” and the Nineteenth Amendment, granting women the vote, the equality ideal of the Declaration was incorporated into our Constitutional structure. But what most attracted the the countries that produced their own declarations of independence was the Declaration’s justification of force. When you have diagnosed that a boot is on your neck, Jefferson says, you have the right to throw it off by any means necessary. And that right is God-given.

And so, on December 24, 1860, the state of South Carolina passed a Declaration of Secession, which included ample reference to the Declaration of Independence, and, a little less than four months later, Rebel forces attacked Fort Sumter, a federal installation in Charleston Harbor. The legislators of South Carolina did not believe that all men are created equal. They did believe that their rights were being suppressed (including their right to suppress others) and that they therefore had the right to overthrow their oppressors.

And so, on the principle that what goes around comes around, on May 15, 1967, the Black Panthers published their manifesto, the Ten-Point Program. The tenth and final demand, bearing the title “We Want Land, Bread, Housing, Education, Clothing, Justice, and Peace,” consists entirely of a quotation from the Declaration of Independence, ending with the words “When a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object, evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such government, and to provide new guards for their future security.” The Panthers did believe that all men are created equal. But they also believed that, if push were to come to shove, they, too, had the right to overthrow their oppressors.

Still, it is a valuable feature of our country that we do not mark its birth by a celebrating a triumph of force. On what day did the Revolutionary War begin? When did the British surrender at Yorktown? What date was the Treaty of Paris signed? Unless you make your living teaching American history or playing “Jeopardy,” you probably don’t know the answers to these questions. But you do know when the Declaration of Independence was written.

The Declaration did not create a nation. It created only the idea of a nation, and that idea, as its scope and meaning have evolved over time, is what we annually pay our respects to. All who live here are equal. All who live here have the same rights. None who lives here is above the law. In some years, loyalty to those principles seems like something we can take for granted. This year, on the two hundred and forty-third birthday of our founding document, not so much.

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Phoebe Tonkin’s personal photos show what it’s really like getting ready for a Chanel haute couture show

July 4, 2019 | News | No Comments

As a Chanel ambassador, Phoebe Tonkin has at her fingertips what every girl dreams of: Chanel on speed dial. So, when it came time for Chanel’s haute couture autumn/winter ’19/’20 show in Paris, the Australian actress and model was seated front row at the world’s most exclusive book club as the Grand Palais was transformed into a circular library. For the show, Tonkin was dressed by the house in a black silk blouse and a black iridescent tweed skirt (imagine having an entire Chanel collection to choose from!) along with Chanel shoes, accessories and make-up products galore. She was also treated to a tour of the Chanel atelier to see first-hand what goes into making such an exquisite collection. While there is no such thing as an ‘ordinary’ couture show, this one was particularly extra-ordinary, as it marked Virginie Viard’s first solo Chanel haute couture show since the passing of Karl Lagerfeld. If you couldn’t make it there yourself—maybe next time!—the next best thing is having Tonkin take you there with her. Scroll on for more of her personal snaps from the day.

Brush, brush, brush!

But first…The perfect pre-show breakfast.

Morning essentials.

Let’s get started! All my favourite beauty essentials to get ready.

Pre-show glow, thanks to my favourite Chanel Baume Essentiel.

More prepping.

Finishing touches with the dream team: David Mallett and Victoria Baron.

In love with these earrings.

Show ready!

How beautiful is this show set?

Look who I found! Image credit: Getty Images

I was so honoured to have been invited into the atelier to see some of the pieces before they were shown—such incredible skill and craftsmanship behind the scenes.

Details inside the atelier.

Some of my favourite looks.

Another one.

Very grateful to be part of the Chanel family.

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Céline Dion is already the winner of Paris haute couture week

July 4, 2019 | News | No Comments

51-year-old pop music icon, Céline Dion, recently finished her long-running residency at Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas and while Las Vegas may have lost a bright light, the fashion world gained one.

Dion is renowned for her love of fashion and is a front-row fixture at the shows, but between the long-running Vegas residency and all her many philanthropic commitments, the singer hasn’t spent quite as much time at the shows as her fashion fans would like, until now.

With the residency coming to an end, the singer now appears to have time to completely dedicate herself to having a major style moment on the fashion stage and she has chosen the Paris haute couture autumn/winter ‘19/‘20 show week to kick this moment off.

Running from June 30 until July 4 this year, all eyes were expected to be turned towards the whimsical, dreamy, show-stopping creations being sent down the runway by the couture houses. However, Dion has stolen much of that spotlight already with a number of head-turning looks that cannot be ignored.

For a Miu Miu resort 2020 event during couture week held at Parisian horse racing track, Hippodrome d’Auteuil, the five-time Grammy-winning artist stepped out in a hot pink strapless ruffled Miu Miu gown with an oversized black bow-tie detailing that stopped traffic.

To attend the Schiaparelli haute couture show on Monday, July 1, the music star went for a classic black halter-neck dress but made it haute fashion, adding elbow-length black leather gloves, a soaring black headpiece and open-toed black leather heeled boots.

Stepping out for the Iris van Herpen autumn/winter ‘19/‘20 show the singer opted for a sculptural three-dimensional floor-length net dress from the designer that defied the conventional rules of netting-as-clothing in the most striking way (see above).

Other notable looks from the singer during couture week include a pant-less bodysuit and oversized blazer from Off-White along with a swan-like pink feathered Attico top with matching fur sandals paired with denim jeans, and a calf-length bodysuit cinched at the waist with a Chanel chain-link belt.

Scroll on for a selection of Dion’s most scene-stealing looks this couture week.

Céline Dion wears Miu Miu at the Miu Miu show at the Hippodrome d’Auteuil on June 29, 2019 in Paris, France.

Céline Dion attends the Schiaparelli haute couture autumn/winter ’19/’20 show as part of Paris couture week on July 01, 2019 in Paris, France.

Céline Dion attends the Alexandre Vauthier haute couture autumn/winter ’19/’20 show as part of Paris couture week on July 02, 2019 in Paris, France.Click Here: Sports Water Bottle Accessories

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Inside the Veuve Clicquot Business Woman Awards 2019

July 4, 2019 | News | No Comments

Click:BR-25M 4P 1 25kA

On Tuesday July 2, Veuve Clicquot hosted their annual Business Woman Awards ceremony for 2019 at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Sydney.

Kim Jackson (see above), principal of venture capital firm, Skip Capital, was announced as the Australian winner of the Veuve Clicquot Business Woman Award for 2019. The award is bestowed on someone who the judging panel believe reflects Madam Clicquot’s qualities of innovation, audacity and fearlessness.

And this year, venture capitalist Jackson fit that bill. “I’m proud to be recognised alongside so many talented business women and am committed to continuing to support big ideas and growing Australian innovation,” Jackson said about her win per a press release from the event.

Jackson was up against a strong field of women this year. Finalists included Kate Morris, CEO and founder of Adore Beauty; Dr Catriona Wallace, CEO and founder of Flamingo AI; Emma Welsh, co-founder of Emma and Tom’s; and Grace Wong, CMO and co-founder of Liven.

As guests spent the night sipping Veuve Clicquot La Grande Dame 2008, they also listened to many different stimulating entrepreneurs speak about themselves.

The crowd was filled with many well-known names such as OzHarvest’s Ronni Kahn, Stylerunner’s Julie Stevanja, Sarah-Jane Clarke, Museum of Contemporary Art Director Liz Ann Macgregor, pearl queen Marilynne Paspaley, Atlassian co-founder Scott Farquhar, Bianca Spender, Monika Tu, digital entrepreneur Alison Rice, art consultant Viola Raikhel-Bolot and more.

Well-known Hollywood actress, producer and activist, Kate Bosworth, also made an appearance all the way from Los Angeles and presented the keynote address. During her address, Bosworth spoke about empowering woman and her connection and passion on this subject. “A lot of it has to do with Madame Clicquot, her life and the challenges she had to overcome, and the entrepreneurial spirit that she embodies. Now I’m in my mid-thirties, I am most attracted to people with an entrepreneurial spirit,” Bosworth said.

Liz Ann Macgregor, the previous winner of the Veuve Clicquot Business Woman Award and the chair of the judging panel, also paid homage to Madame Clicquot during the event. “Now in its 48th year, the Veuve Clicquot Business Woman Award continues to pay homage to Madame Clicquot’s trailblazing spirit as the first woman to establish herself as a leading female figure in the business world. Our 2019 winner, Kim Jackson, shares her pioneering qualities, turning the investment community on its head with audacious flair, an innovator and leader and a worthy winner of the Veuve Clicquot Business Woman Award 2019.”

Scroll on to see inside the Veuve Clicquot Business Woman Awards 2019, below.

Veuve Clicquot Business Woman Awards 2019

2019 Veuve Clicquot Business Woman Award finalists

Kate Bosworth

Kate Bosworth presenting the keynote address

Winner Kim Jackson and finalist Dr Catriona Wallace

Ricardo Antunes, Gabriella Kuiters, Kate Bosworth and Victoria Hogan

Ricardo Antunes, Kim Jackson, Arnaud Trossier, Gabriella Kuiters and guest

Finalist Grace Wong

Finalist Emma Welsh

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Stranger Things’s Dacre Montgomery on what we can expect from season 3

July 4, 2019 | News | No Comments

3rd Jul 2019

For the fans among us, it feels like we’ve been waiting for season three of Netflix’s for an eternity. Season two of the hit show aired back in 2017 and we’ve basically been on the countdown for the show to resume ever since. But, like all good things, it has been worth the wait, and as we prepare for new episodes to air on July 4, we spoke to Australia’s own Dacre Montgomery, who plays Billy on the hit show, about what we can expect.

Montgomery is a 24-year-old Perth-born actor who plays bully Billy Hargrove on the show. As the big step-brother to Max (played by Sadie Sink), you might remember how much we all loved to hate Billy back in season two, when he first joined the Hawkins crew. Billy is not just a bully, he also torments his sister, as well as her friends, and while we did gain a modicum of sympathy for him in season two, that was largely due to Montgomery’s skillful acting.

“I think you see a lot more darkness in my character, a lot more unpredictable choices–hopefully for the better,” Montgomery told Vogue while in Sydney to promote the new season. He also confirmed the series in general is about to get a whole lot darker and admitted he’s actually a little bit nervous about the audience reaction to Billy as season three debuts. “I’m a little bit nervous about the response but they wrote me the storyline anyone could have asked for. The ending is amazing. The reward at the final scene of the show, for my character, is really fun.”

Montgomery was hoping Billy would find a love interest for season three but sadly, he says that didn’t really work out. “It didn’t quite happen but so much more happens!” he confirms. “It gets so dark for my character.” He also said we can expect Billy to share some scenes with Eleven, played by Millie Bobby Brown. “I think my character forms really interesting and dynamic bonds with Eleven, which is really an interesting component in the show.”

He reiterates that we might have to wait for the end of the season to understand where Billy is coming from, even with the context we now have of his difficult family life. “At the end of the show the reward is almost tied in with this human element. I think that was the extremely successful part of my character’s story for season two, was the humanising scene for the villain, or the antagonist, with the dad.”

If you fell in love with Billy’s look then you’ll be pleased to know Montgomery will be back in the ‘80s garb for this season, which is set in the summer of 1985. He adds it takes him around an hour to get Billy’s iconic wig applied. “Hair, make-up, prosthetics, the full width of everything that was happening to my character [is back]… the wig itself is about an hour. They’ve done an incredible job. I mean, my wig gets permed up every day! I should have given a name for it, like a good car or something!”

Since joining the cast, Montgomery has clocked up two million Instagram followers, a number which is certain to grow as Billy’s character arc progresses. He prefers to keep his social media posts about his work, choosing not to post personal content.

“I don’t really post much at all,” he admits. “I like the old Hollywood stars where you don’t know what they think about a lot of things and what they’re doing all the time. It kind of ruins the illusion of escapism you have in the cinema. When season two came out I returned straight away to Perth and just dropped off the map for three months. I didn’t want to be a part of any of that sort of stuff.”

Although he’s had to learn to set boundaries, with the media and also on Instagram, Montgomery adds that being on has been an “amazing opportunity” and one he enjoys sharing with his dedicated following.

“I’ve become more active on my social media to engage the audience that I’m lucky enough to have,” he adds. “That’s been a reason to return.”

Season three of Stranger Things airs on Netflix July 4, 2019.

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The Supreme Court Is One Vote Away from Changing How the U.S. Is Governed

July 4, 2019 | News | No Comments

Had Brett Kavanaugh not been accused of sexual assault, one of the first cases he would have heard as a Supreme Court Justice would have been that of Herman Gundy, a convicted sex offender. When nominated, last July, Kavanaugh was expected to be confirmed in time for the term that started last October. But the emergence of sexual assault allegations against him delayed his confirmation vote until October 6th, just after the Court’s first set of oral arguments—which included Gundy’s request to invalidate his federal conviction for failure to register as a sex offender. In June, the Court denied Gundy’s petition. As it turns out, Kavanaugh’s absence from the case likely changed its outcome.

Gundy v. United States was about the “Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act,” known as SORNA, which Congress enacted in 2006. The statute made it a crime, punishable by ten years in prison, for individuals convicted of a sex offense involving a minor to fail to register in each state where they live, work, or study. But Congress gave the Attorney General “the authority to specify the applicability” of these requirements to people convicted before SORNA took effect. In 2007 and in 2011, Attorneys General Alberto Gonzales and Eric Holder said the requirements do apply to such people.

That group encompassed half a million people, including Gundy, who was convicted of sexual assault of a minor in 2005. After serving prison time for the crime, he went to live in a halfway house in New York in 2012. After he failed to register there, he was rearrested and convicted of the new federal crime. Gundy claimed that SORNA violated the non-delegation doctrine, wherein it is unconstitutional for Congress to delegate its legislative power to the executive branch. He argued that letting the Attorney General determine whether the law applied to people like him left too much to be decided by an agency rather than by Congress.

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For the better part of a century, the Court has permitted Congress to delegate broad policymaking authority to federal agencies. The Court has not struck down a statute under the non-delegation doctrine since 1935, when a conservative majority was hostile to progressive New Deal measures aimed at protecting workers and consumers. Since then, the increasing complexity of modern industrialized society has made it obvious that—even when Congress is not as dysfunctional as it is now—it’s not possible for Congress to legislate the technical details necessary to regulate the environment, health, safety, labor, education, energy, elections, discrimination, housing, and the economy.

As a result, executive agencies create regulations and implement binding policies. That has long been understood as both necessary for the country to function and consistent with the Constitution. The Court has applied a test: if a statute gives an agency discretion that is sufficiently constrained by an “intelligible principle,” then Congress is not unconstitutionally delegating legislative power. But many conservatives complain that that test has been applied in a lax way, so that any statute delegating any scope of authority appears to satisfy it. For example, the Court has repeatedly upheld statutes that give agencies only general guidance, such as to regulate in the “public interest,” or issue air quality standards “requisite to protect the public health.”

In Gundy, all four liberal Justices, in a plurality opinion by Justice Elena Kagan, hewed to the prevailing approach, finding that Congress provided enough guidance limiting the agency’s discretion to pass constitutional muster. Three conservative Justices, in a dissent by Justice Neil Gorsuch, said that the law impermissibly gave the Attorney General “free rein to write the rules,” and was unconstitutional. Justice Samuel Alito cast the deciding vote that enabled the liberals to prevail this time, but his three-paragraph concurrence made clear that the victory may be short-lived. He said that if the majority “were willing to reconsider the approach we have taken for the past 84 years, I would support that effort.” A conservative majority was lacking here because of the absence of Justice Kavanaugh. Next time there’s a similar case before the Court, his vote will make for a different result.

We are now explicitly on notice that the Court will likely abandon its longstanding tolerance of Congress delegating broadly to agencies. What’s at stake is the potential upending of the constitutional foundations of the so-called “administrative state.” Today’s reality is that agencies, not Congress, make most federal laws. As Justice Kagan put it, if the delegation in Gundy were unconstitutional, “then most of Government is unconstitutional.”

What will happen then, when the conservative bloc prevails? The alarmist view is that the E.P.A. couldn’t have the power to decide how stringent pollution standards should be. The F.D.A. couldn’t have the authority to approve or deny applications to sell new medical drugs. The Department of Education couldn’t make rules for colleges and universities. The Department of the Interior couldn’t govern snow mobiles in national parks. The S.E.C. couldn’t regulate financial firms or securities. The F.C.C. couldn’t issue rules on net neutrality or Internet service providers. In sum, we would dwell in a world without the federal law that governs our lives.

The reason this parade of horribles is not quite right is that very few of us actually want to live in that world, and what the public, Congress, and the President all want over time, the Court is unlikely to stop. And to say that there are constitutional constraints on the scope and structure of congressional delegation to agencies is not to say that no delegation is allowed at all.

An irony of the conservative majority’s insistence on returning to the Constitution’s requirements is that non-delegation is not mentioned in the Constitution. It is a set of judicially crafted elaborations on the principles of separation of powers and good governance. Article I simply grants all “legislative powers” to Congress, Article II similarly gives the “Executive power” to the President, and the text says nothing about delegation, nor does it define legislative or executive power. The meaning of these terms, of course, has been subject to many pages of argument and judicial interpretation since.

The main idea of the non-delegation doctrine is that any law that is enforced against citizens must be approved by Congress. It’s not enough for Congress to say, “We should have a law on this subject and someone else will write and enforce it.” But this formulation is a rhetorical parlor trick. When building a house, one may have a strong idea of the kind of house one wants, but most of us have neither the knowledge nor the desire to make the thousands of key decisions about how to safely construct it. Those decisions are sensibly delegated to a contractor and an architect. A rule forbidding any delegation of that sort makes for very different, more rudimentary, building, and probably many fewer buildings built.

The more robust non-delegation doctrine that the conservative Justices desire would mean a change in the nature and scope of the federal government’s role in our lives. Conservatives favor making it difficult for the federal government to regulate, because, when it does, it risks impinging on our liberties. And, if the federal government does less, states may do more. The impact of this change will ultimately depend on which elected officials are in power, and that is really up to us, not the Supreme Court.

By GETAWAYTHEBERKSHIRES

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