4B — Thursday, February 18, 2016
the b-side
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

By CHRISTIAN KENNEDY

Online Arts Editor 

Fenty x Puma, Rihanna’s 

collaboration with the 
activewear brand, debuted last 
Friday on the opening day of 
NYFW. The collection, almost 
exclusively black and white, 
displays extreme diversity 
and calculated, inspired risk. 
Most importantly, it shows a 
real knack for designing by the 
Barbadian superstar.

A diverse group of models 

rocked pieces, from thigh-
high white leather boots to a 
refreshingly loose-fitted sport 
short — highlighting Riri’s 
own fashion taste. Opting 
for grandiose, unapologetic 
comfort, lots of skin or a 
combination of both, the 
designer’s first runway show 
was cohesive and fresh, 
offering a high fashion line 
while remaining conscious of 
the brand’s activewear roots.

Tracksuits, sweatshirts, 

sweatpants and shorts 
comprise the collection’s most 
universally wearable pieces, 
but it’s the boundary-pushing 
looks that leave the biggest 

impression. The women’s 
mesh PUMA long-sleeve 
tops pay direct homage to 
Rihanna’s personal tastes and 
boldness. Men’s high-waisted 
sweatpants and one-piece 
sweat suits are hopefully 
predictors of the next wave of 
men’s fashion. A skin-tight, 
floor-length dress featuring 
criss-crossed snaking from 
cleavage to knee is a standout 
among the women’s looks.

Unzipped zippers are 

ubiquitous throughout the 
collection, emphasizing a 
laid-back feel — something 
consistently missing amid the 
often straight-faced, tight-
lipped persona of the fashion 
world. That’s not to say, of 
course, that Rihanna’s first 
runway of her own wasn’t a 
serious endeavor — the line 
showcased her personal style 
and attitude, while giving 
fans and customers both 
bold outfits for the brave and 
enough broad-reaching pieces 
to maintain Puma’s brand and 
the artist’s effortlessly cool 
aura.

The show’s third act twist 

broke out furs. Unisex gray 

hoodies and long black coats, 
modeled on men and women, 
add one final touch of fuck-
it chicness to the collection 
with their over-the-top, yet 
undeniably cozy look.

It-girl of the moment, Gigi 

Hadid, closed the show in 
white sneaker-heel hybrids, 
black mid-calves, a knee-
length and the aforementioned 
unzipped loose fur coat, 
summarizing the contrasting 
ideals of high-fashion and 
activewear. Hadid and many 
of her fellow models donned 
white, slicked back hair and 
black lipstick.

Yes, Rihanna’s fashion 

week debut is another notch 
on the bedpost of celebrity-
turned-designer shows. But 
the collection’s range from 
fashionable activewear to 
sport-inspired statement 
pieces and everything in 
between combined with 
discernible authenticity 
proves that Fenty x Puma’s 
first runway show certainly 
shouldn’t be the last.

STYLE RECAP

MUSIC VIDEO REVIEW

Breaking the instrumenta-

tion with, “Her eyes and words 
are so icy / 
Oh but she 
burns,” Hozi-
er’s “Cherry 
Wine” is 
heavy. The 
Irishman’s 
delivery of 
haunting lyr-
ics is delicate 
yet power-
ful, as is the 
accompanying music video.

The video opens on a woman 

adjusting a dainty bracelet upon 
her wrist, drawing the view-
ers’ focus to faint bruises on 
her forearm. There’s a sudden 
switch to a scene of the woman 
intimately greeting a man — 
presumably her significant 
other. The contrast between the 
broken woman with the bruised 
limb and the same woman, 
now warm, greeting her man is 
stomach-churning. It becomes 
clear that the video is making 
a statement about a painfully 
reoccuring issue — domestic 
violence.

As the song progresses, the 

duality of the abused woman’s 
life is made ever clearer. 
The camera continually cuts 
between the woman’s private 
dealings with the severity of 
her situation and the seemingly 
happy, loving moments she has 
with her partner. At one point, 
a double-paned mirror shows 
the woman both bruised and 
fresh-faced, solidifying the 
reality that a battered individual 
is unable to be whole while 
trapped in a toxic relationship.

The colors and lighting 

of the video are muted, 
reflecting the piece’s somber 
message — no actions 
depicted are overtly violent or 
coercive. Prompting further 
thought, the video wraps 
with a black screen dawning 
“#faceuptodomesticviolence” 
and Hozier’s voice, seeming to 
speak to his own experience, 
ringing “Open hand or closed 
fist would be fine / Blood is rare 
and sweet as cherry wine.”

- CARLY SNIDER

COLUMBIA RECORDS

A

Cherry 
Wine

Hozier 

Columbia 
Records

Bad Gal RiRi debuts 
Fenty x Puma in NY 

T

his past weekend, I 
went with my parents 
and siblings to visit 

extended family in Palm Springs, 
California. 
As we sat, 
mimosa 
in 
hand, 

around the 
pool, them 
blonde 
and shim-
mering, 
I 

beige 
as 

February 
snow, talk 
turned, as 
it 
invari-

ably does, to politics. Though I 
protested, a discussion between 
California libertarians and Mich-
igan liberals began, running the 
gamut of ridiculous claims and 
irreconcilable biases. I took extra 
gulps of my mimosa, willing 
myself not to talk as wild asser-
tions flew around me.

“Kasich seems sturdy. He’s 

been a very successful governor.”

If 
you 
consider 
defunding 

nearly all women’s health options 
successful, sure. 

“Jeb just needs to grow some 

balls to compete with Trump.”

Because testicles are really the 

paragon of anatomical strength …

“The first woman president — 

how sure are we that Hillary is 
actually a woman?”

Jesus Christ.
“Women like Bernie more than 

Hillary. They can’t trust her.”

This word “trust,” how can 

you not admit it’s gendered and 
placing Hillary in an impossible 
bind between showing fortitude 
and showing care? And where are 
your statistics outside of Twitter 
and Fox News, please?

And will someone just buy 

Bernie a goddamn comb already.

As I was sitting by the pool, 

unsuccessfully ignoring the sexist 
remarks, I read Vanity Fair’s 
February cover story on Fox News 
pundit Megyn Kelly.

As a liberal, I find Kelly to be 

a complicated enigma — on one 
hand, she seems unabashedly 
selfish 
and 
opportunistic, 

defending her individual right to 
maternity leave one moment and 
making searing statements against 
women’s health organizations the 
next. She is of the camp of people — 
specifically, of women — who scoff 
at feminism, asserting that their 
own chutzpah and perseverance 
got them to where they are, and 
that other women should stop 
complaining and just do the same.

On the other hand, in an August 

Republican 
debate 
moderated 

by Kelly, her first question was 
directed 
at 
Donald 
Trump, 

directly calling him out for his 
past misogynistic statements, and 
questioning his ability to lead a 
country comprised of 51 percent 
women. (That he turned around 
and asserted that she was rude 

because she “had blood coming 
out of her wherever” only seemed 
to reinforce the need for her 
initial question.)

Emotionally, I don’t really 

know what to do with Kelly, as 
I’m morally against most of the 
opinions she holds most dear. 
But in terms of the public eye, 
and the political cycle, I know 
she’s important. In an election 
year in which the media matters 
more than anything else, there 
is unspeakable value in a female 
political pundit getting so much 
attention.

There is so much to be 

said about female politician’s 
representations 
in 
the 

media. But the subtle digs 
and 
subconscious 
judgments 

on Hillary, on pundits like 
Megyn, are nothing new. As so 
many have written before me, 
female politicians, especially 
ones with illustrious histories 
like Clinton, are constantly 
battling 
expectations 
from 

all sides: “Show strength, but 
vulnerability. Be direct, but 
not a bitch. Be honest, but 
still prophetic. Never fuck up. 
Always say the right thing. 
Above all, be human.”

Just like everyone, Hillary 

is imperfect. But when you 
compare 
media 
criticisms 

of her with those made of 
other candidates, the biases 
are glaring. She is judged for 
her clothing, she is parodied 
as 
robotic 
by 
even 
liberal 

organizations 
like 
Saturday 

Night Live. She is criticized for 
not being female enough (the 
pantsuits), while her 50 years 
of accomplishments are picked 
apart for every possible error. 

This is all stuff we’ve heard 

before. Being a woman in any 
public space, particularly one 
dominated 
by 
men, 
means 

that you are often held to a 
much higher standard than 
the men around you — Hillary 
has to do twice as much to be 
revered half as much as the men 
around her. What I find more 
enlightening 
is 
discovering 

biases in the reverse; picking 
apart male candidates’ histories 
and calculating how a woman 
in their position may have been 
treated.

Many people don’t know that 

the mother of Bernie Sanders’ 
only biological son, Levi, was 
Bernie’s girlfriend at the time, 
Susan 
Mott. 
They 
weren’t 

married then, and they never got 
married. In years after Levi’s 
birth, Bernie ran for Vermont 
gubernatorial 
and 
senatorial 

campaigns, never winning but 
upending the political landscape 
of Vermont. Finally, in 1980, he 
became mayor of Burlington, 
beginning in earnest his public 
political career.

I didn’t know any of this 

before embarking on a lengthy 

Sanders 
research 
quest, 

and I find the lack of public 
knowledge about it notable. 
Imagine a female politician in 
his shoes; giving birth to a son 
“out of wedlock,” continuing to 
try to fight for political office. 
Would she have succeeded? 
Would she have to fight not 
only social and institutional 
battles (as an unwed mother) 
but media-driven ones as well? 
My belief is that she would have 
been ravaged by the media, her 
morals and judgment called 
into question. My belief is that 
she wouldn’t be running for 
president today.

From the other side, we 

have a man like Ted Cruz. 
Known 
to 
be 
onerous 
by 

most who have met him — 
especially by his particularly 
vocal 
college 
roommate 
— 

Cruz is not considered to be 
warm or genuine. In fact, he is 
considered to be pretty slimy, 
by Republicans and Democrats 
alike. His (heinous) policies 
aside, 
interpersonally 
Cruz 

doesn’t bring much to the table. 
But voters are coming for him 
in droves. Would a woman with 
Cruz’s demeanor — dishonest, 
malicious, 
sometimes 
even 

vulgar — be winning like him? 
Would she even receive enough 
support to start a campaign to 
begin with? My belief is that 
she wouldn’t, because first and 
foremost women are supposed 
to be likeable.

So this is why I struggle 

every time I hear someone 
say they don’t like Hillary 
because they can’t trust her, 
or because they don’t find her 
likeable, or because they don’t 
like her “vibes.” Not only do 
we need to be conscious of 
the institutional sexism that 
is constantly working against 
female candidates; we need to 
think about what isn’t being said 
about the male ones.

This is not a tacit endorsement 

of 
Clinton, 
nor 
a 
tirade 

against the male candidates. 
I understand the legitimate 
reasons for and against each of 
them. But I think many people, 
even liberal, intellectual voters, 
forget to look in between the 
lines when it comes to the 
public gendering of an election 
season. Male candidates are 
where they are because of their 
privileges, their successes, their 
intelligence 
and 
persistence 

and their adversities. Female 
candidates are up against the 
same — their adversities are just 
much greater, and much more 
insidious.

Gadbois seems sturdy. 

She’s been a very successful 

columnist. To cast your vote for 

her, email gadbnat@umich.edu. 

GENDER & MEDIA COLUMN

On mimosas and my 

political ladies

NATALIE 

GADBOIS

By DAYTON HARE

Daily Arts Writer

The 
American 
Medical 

Association confirms it: given 
a generally healthy lifestyle, 
moderate coffee intake likely 
has no negative effect on health. 
Which is really a good thing, 
if you think about it, because 
according 
to 
the 
National 

Coffee Association 54 percent 
of 
Americans 
over 
age 
18 

consume an average of 3.1 cups 
of it daily. I’m certainly a culprit 
in this, as consuming the elixir 
of life (read: coffee) is part of 
my daily routine — without it 
the rest of my day always feels 
vaguely dulled, as if it were 
being regarded from a moderate 
distance. (I even once kept track 
of how many cups of elixir I 
drank in year 2014. Final tally: 
1,183 — a copious amount of 
consumption, I realize, but in my 
defense, it started as an innocent 
question posed between myself 
and a friend before quickly 
falling into a downward spiral 
of competition fueled by a 
playfully 
adversarial 
spirit 

and our mutual dependence 
on the world’s most prevalent 
and 
commercially 
available 

psychoactive stimulant. So it’s 
only half my fault.) Given that, 
you can imagine my delight 
upon meeting someone whose 
love affair with elixir was even 
more passionate than my own — 
Ben Foster, an LSA senior.

“My aunt started this coffee 

catering 
business 
when 
I 

was about 13,” Foster told me 
over a steaming beverage last 
Thursday. “So as soon as we 
(Foster and his similarly aged 
relatives) were old enough — 
probably before we were old 
enough — we would all be piling 
in the car … working for this 
company.”

While many people indulge in 

recurring recreational activities 
of a relatively niche nature, 
Foster has one that is rarer than 
most. As a coffee roaster, he is a 
connoisseur of sorts who took 
his love a step further into the 
act of creation. 

Foster and I met at an 

establishment 
called 
Crazy 

Wisdom Bookstore and Tea 
Room, which is a charming little 
store about a 15-minute walk 
northwest of Central Campus. 
When you enter the bookstore, 
the first thing you notice is the 
potent layer of incense in the air. 
The second thing is probably the 
sort of new age-y music playing 
quietly 
in 
the 
background, 

the kind that has gentle synth 
strings playing blurry chords 
at long duration and optionally 
includes some sort of Asian 
instrument 
in 
a 
soloistic 

capacity, with the intent of 
making 
a 
more 
meditative 

atmosphere but the effect of 
being only a rather surface level 
imitation (this sort of music 
may also be vaguely described 
as “zen”). If you look around 
at the books stocked, you’ll see 
various volumes of literature 
on numerous schools of Eastern 
philosophy, some translations 
of original texts and others 
more obviously composed with 
Western 
disposable-income-

types in mind. Upstairs is a 
small cafe area, which is filled 
with amicable chatter and the 
delicious aroma of assorted 
teas, as well as that of nectar of 
the gods from Ann Arbor’s own 
Mighty Good Coffee.

“This is my third interview at 

Crazy Wisdom, actually, but two 
of them were job interviews,” 
Foster said, laughing. “I love 
this place.”

Foster 
didn’t 
become 

extremely interested in coffee 
until he started studying at 
the University of Michigan, 
where he is pursuing a degree 
in computer science and is in 
the process of adding a minor in 
Russian.

“I started going to Mighty 

Good down the street and 
starting making it a regular 
thing with my friend — we’d go 
every single Friday because our 
classes worked out that way. 
We’d make the trek, and it was 
a good way to unwind after the 
week,” Foster said of the real 
beginning of his affair with 
elixir.

“Their (Mighty Good’s) thing 

is they have a lot of single-origin 
coffees, which is just coffee 
that’s sourced from usually one 
estate in a certain region, so you 
can just sort of fall back and call 
them by their country of origin,” 
Foster said. “I remember one 
time I had this one coffee; it was 
a Guatemalan Huehuetenango 
… I looked at the tasting notes, 
and I actually tasted hints of 
peanut butter in that coffee. 
I thought tasting notes were 
ridiculous before that, I just sort 
of brushed them off, and never 
thought of coffee as something 
that could be really complex.”

Not long after Foster made 

a habit of tasting all of Mighty 
Good’s 
coffee 
selection, 

exploring the various single 
origin brews and gradually 
trying his hand at more nuanced 

home brewing methods.

“I 
bought 
an 
AeroPress, 

which is basically a tube with 
a plunger — it’s like a French 
press, but with a paper filter,” 
Foster said. “I bought a hand 
crank grinder, so I’d grind all 
my beans … so I just started 
acquiring 
all 
this 
brewing 

equipment.”

Foster now buys raw green 

coffee and roasts his own beans. 
Over the last few years, he’s 
experimented 
with 
various 

creative roasting methods, with 
varying success.

“I started doing it with an 

aluminum 
popcorn 
popping 

stove top thing, like where you 
crank the thing — it makes the 
most disgusting noises ever, just 
screeching noises — so that was 
short-lived because it was really 
obnoxious,” Foster said. “Then 
I started putting a colander full 
of coffee beans into the oven 
at 400 degrees Fahrenheit, 
and then shaking them every 
minute.”

Partly 
due 
to 
the 

inconsistencies of the resulting 
roast 
from 
these 
methods, 

and partly due to the slow 
accumulation of mild burns, 
Foster now uses an air popcorn 
popper (plus a long cardboard 
tube) for his elixir production, 
which he says allows a more 
consistent roast because of the 
agitation and airflow resulting 
in a constant temperature.

“What I think is so cool about 

it is that anyone can go out and 
get an air roaster and order 
coffee online — green coffee 
is so cheap, it’s great,” Foster 
said as he pulled out a bag of 
green coffee to show me. “I 
guess I probably look a bit like 
a drug lord with this,” he said, 
laughing (though referring to 
him in that manner wouldn’t 
actually 
be 
excessively 

inaccurate. After all, caffeine 
is the most widely used drug in 
the world).

“My big thing is fresh coffee. 

Pre-ground coffee is always 
stale. Once you crush the bean 
down you’ve just exposed all 
those little pieces of coffee 
to air, so it just oxygenates,” 
Foster said. “The thing that I do 
differently, I think … is fresh, 
consistent grind, and a better 
ratio of water to coffee.”

When asked about his goals 

for and general ideas about 
coffee, Foster had a simple 
explanation for his love, one 
that is certainly relatable to 
most of our society.

“My perfect state of mind 

is listening to some music, not 
having anything to do, and 
sipping a cup of coffee,” Foster 
said.

I can dig that.

ARTIST
PROFILE

IN

I can dig 

that.

