Fashion

Gemma Chan on Self-Care and Being the New Face of L’Oréal Paris

The British actress on her skin-care and wellness routine—and how she’s finding ways to take care of herself during the pandemic….

Since bursting onto the scene following her 2018 debut in Crazy Rich Asians, Gemma Chan has quickly established herself as one of Hollywood’s leading ladies, as much for her lauded roles in the likes of I Am Hannah as her breathtaking beauty, so it should come as no surprise that L’Oréal Paris has tapped the 37-year-old British actress as their latest face.

It’s a full circle moment for Chan, who grew up surrounded by the brand’s hair-care saviors and bright red lipsticks. “I remember wandering into my mom’s room as a child and just walking into a cloud of Elnett [spray],” Chan, who is now partial to the their new glycolic acid cleanser, tells me over the phone from Los Angeles, where she is currently filming Olivia Wilde’s forthcoming film, Don’t Worry Darling. Products aside, however, L’Oréal Paris’s philosophy is one that resonates with Chan, who just last year founded her own production company, Long House, to share stories from marginalized voices, the ones that often go untold. “Their tagline ‘Because I’m worth it,’ is iconic,” she notes, “but I also think it still resonates [today] because it’s an expression of self-worth. It’s permission to take care of yourself, and that’s so important at the moment.”

Of course finding ways to take care of oneself in the midst of a pandemic is not without its struggles. “It’s been a strange time,” admits Chan, who spent the first months of lockdown stationed at home in London, a stark contrast from her life pre-COVID when she would trot around the globe for shoots and premieres alike. “I think what helped was trying to find some sort of structure to the day,” she notes before adding: “I say that, but I don’t always manage to achieve it!” Nevertheless, when she is able to carve out her own space, she begins her mornings with a 10-15 minute set of sun salutations and Pilates-based core work, and dives into escapist books, such as Carlo Rovelli’s Seven Brief Lessons on Physics and Richard Powers’s The Overstory. “Finding books to read that take you out of the present moment and give you a different perspective on things has been such an escape,” she says.

Her beauty regimen has also provided solace. “When we first locked down I stopped brushing my hair and plucking my eyebrows,” she recalls with a laugh. Now, though, she’s found a middle ground and prioritizes herself with an amped-up skin-care protocol, the occasional pick-me-up swipe of mascara, and long, epsom salt-filled soaks. “I find it can be quite meditative to go through that routine and really just look after your skin and your hair,” she says. “There’s so many things we can’t control, but we can do those things [for ourselves].”

Tweet LinkedIn PinShares0

Entertainment

A$AP Rocky Turned An Entire Manchester City Kit Into His Album Rollout

Photo: DannyB Photos / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.0)

A$AP Rocky doesn’t do album rollouts quietly, and this one recruited an entire Premier League club to help. Manchester City, PUMA, and Rocky teamed up on a limited apparel run tied to “Don’t Be Dumb,” his 2026 album, timed around his September 5th show at Co-op Live.

The centerpiece is a long-sleeve PUMA King jersey in black and archive gold, with “DON’T BE DUMB” running down the sleeve and AWGE branding worked in throughout. A bold “MANCHESTER” graphic covers the back. Fans could also add limited “A$AP 11” name-and-number printing onto the club’s actual Home, Away, or Third kits, while supplies lasted at retail.

There’s a players-only version too, and it never went up for sale. That one sticks closer to City’s usual sky-blue identity, with its own sleeve detailing and back graphic — the kind of piece that exists purely because a handful of people got lucky.

The whole rollout kicked off with a one-night pop-up on September 4th, when PUMA turned a spot in Manchester’s Northern Quarter into a pop-up cafe for the night, mixing football, music, and street style into one room before the wider release hit the stadium store the next morning. Some of those jerseys even came with golden tickets to the concert or that Saturday’s match.

Rocky has called the project true to his own design language, and it’s not even his only club collaboration this cycle — a similar drop with AC Milan landed around the same time. At this point, the line between fashion week and matchday has basically disappeared.

Tweet LinkedIn PinShares0

Entertainment

Quavo And Lids Are Going All In On Atlanta With Their New Cap Pack

Photo: Finish Line / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 3.0)

Quavo has never been shy about his hat obsession, and Lids just gave him another outlet for it. Their new “Atlanta” pack drops September 12th, marking another round in a partnership that’s been running strong since 2019.

The collection is a love letter to the city, spread across three very different caps. One mashes up pinstripes, script lettering, and Braves branding into a single design, working navy, red, white, and light blue into the mix. Another goes the opposite direction entirely — fully iced out in crystal detailing, done up in black and red, with both the Falcons and the Braves showing up in the design. The third strips things back to an old-school “ATL” trucker cap in red, white, and gold, the kind of understated piece that lets the city’s name do the talking.

None of this is new territory for Quavo. He’s talked before about waiting on hat releases as a kid, and that same excitement seems to be what’s kept this partnership going years past most celebrity collabs. His earlier Lids run leaned on one moment — the Braves’ 1995 World Series win — but this pack pulls from the city’s whole sports history instead of just one highlight.

Lids has called Quavo one of the rare voices who can blend music, fashion, and sports without it feeling forced, and this drop backs that up. Given how fast his past releases have moved, Atlanta might want to set an alarm for September 12th.

Tweet LinkedIn PinShares0