MOST RECENT ARTICLES BY:

Rhonda Garelick

  1. reading the signs
    Losing My ReligionJulia Haart exchanged the teachings of the Torah for the gospel of money, pleasure, and sex.
  2. reading the signs
    Good-bye to Trump’s Patriotic CosplayHe gave Americans of all stripes a chance to witness and play at masquerade. What will his supporters do with that impulse now?
  3. reading the signs
    Trump Has Lost the Will to Be BlondThe president’s hair has always been a clue to his mental state.
  4. reading the signs
    AOC Dares Us to Look Her in the FaceOn the cover of Vanity Fair, the congresswoman embraces the power of her own beauty.
  5. the encyclopedia of new york
    It Came From New YorkDisco. The freak show. Neoconservatism. Q-tips. They all started in the world’s most creative, inventive city.
  6. reading the signs
    Ivanka, Dressed in White, Is Always Selling PrivilegeAnother unsettling image for the Trump-women’s yearbook.
  7. reading the signs
    Losing FaceTrump’s refusal to cover up actually reveals his greatest fears.
  8. reading the signs
    The Battle Cry of the ‘Schoolmarm’I thought I was a scholar, but apparently I’m just a scold.
  9. reading the signs
    Meghan Markle and the Myth of Happily Ever AfterThere’s a reason fairy tales always end at the wedding.
  10. reading the signs
    Ivanka’s Wall of SilenceWhere is the pastel-clad cipher of the Trump administration right now?
  11. reading the signs
    Dancing With RealityWhy Sean Spicer’s appearance on Dancing With the Stars is the best allegory for our dystopia.
  12. reading the signs
    Surrogate Angels of DeathWhat to make of the First Lady holding the motherless child and youngest survivor of the El Paso massacre.
  13. reading the signs
    Men’s Stock Rises When They Trade in Young WomenJeffrey Epstein was hardly alone in treating them like consumable pleasures.
  14. reading the signs
    Le Streak, C’est ChicThe high-contrast drama of Tulsi Gabbard’s signature hairstyle.
  15. reading the signs
    As Older Women Fight Trump, Hollywood Hands Them Pom-PomsIt’s not a coincidence.
  16. reading the signs
    Watching Her BurnNotre-Dame made it impossible to forget the femaleness of any cathedral.
  17. marriage: an investigation
    What the Melania Body-double Conspiracy Says About the Trumps’ MarriageIt reinforces the notion that Melania is more a category of person than an irreplaceable individual.
  18. remembering karl
    Lagerfeld Spoke Fluent Chanel — With His Own AccentHe imagined himself as a reincarnated Chanel, sent by her from the beyond.
  19. reading the signs
    Lee Radziwill and the Cinderella TrapGlamorous in life and even after death, the princess was forever compared to her sister.
  20. reading the signs
    Last Night, D.C. Got a New Power UniformFinally, a visual shorthand for women in politics.
  21. portfolio
    She Was Never Famous, But Her Photos Are GroundbreakingA 95-year-old photographer whose work is so fresh, it’s like it was shot yesterday.
  22. reading the signs
    Trump, Santa, and the Power of Collective DelusionsThe effort it takes to maintain a myth can become exhausting.
  23. reading the signs
    Melania Trump’s Blonde BombshellAs ever, the First Lady says one thing and performs its opposite.
  24. reading the signs
    Searching for Meaning in Melania Trump’s Red Christmas TreesWhy are we so haunted by them?
  25. reading the signs
    How Donald Trump Uses the Female Body As a WeaponThe White House co-opts the language of #MeToo to punish a CNN reporter.
  26. reading the signs
    Trump’s No-Good, Very Bad Hair DayFar from vague ramblings, Trump’s “bad hair day” remarks represented yet another stage in our accelerating slide toward fascism.
  27. reading the signs
    Melania Keeps Her Game FaceHunting for some sign of life as the First Lady travels to Africa.
  28. reading the signs
    The Fraternity of the Twilight ZoneThe GOP’s response to allegations against Kavanaugh illuminates the very deep rift between men and women.
  29. reading the signs
    Brett Kavanaugh Will Pretend You Don’t ExistWhat his alleged attack on a young woman tells us about how he uses power.
  30. screen idols
    The Unstoppable Sex Appeal of ’70s Burt ReynoldsFor women of that era, he represented a new kind of freedom.
  31. reading the signs
    Omarosa Knows Trump Is Always, in the End, Undone by WomenBecause he simply can’t imagine them as real people.
  32. reading the signs
    The Thai Cave Rescue Cannot Save Us From National ShameAs the world celebrates the soccer team’s freedom, countless other children are still trapped by the U.S. government.
  33. reading the signs
    The Jacket Heard Round the WorldOnce again Melania Trump channels the American unconscious.
  34. reading the signs
    Melania’s Recent Behavior Is Right Out of HitchcockThe lady vanishes.
  35. reading the signs
    The Real Meaning of Carrie Bradshaw’s TutuDancing around the transactional nature of love on SATC.
  36. reviews
    The Met’s ‘Heavenly Bodies’ Show Is Worth the PilgrimageIt’s gorgeous, moving, and surprisingly witty.
  37. politics
    It’s Okay to Be Offended by Michelle Wolf’s JokesHer remarks felt deeply personal. That was the point.
  38. politics
    Stormy Daniels’s Boring Interview Was Actually BrilliantOnce again, she proves she’s a worthy adversary for Trump.
  39. politics
    Stormy Daniels Is the Anti–Donald TrumpHe’s finally met his match.
  40. close readings
    Michelle Obama’s Mount Rushmore MomentLooking deeply at the new portraits of the former First Couple.
  41. politics
    The True Face of the Trump AdministrationColbie Holderness’s black eye confronts us with the underside of this White House.
  42. q&a
    Meet Rhonda Garelick, the Cut’s Critic of Fashion, Aesthetics, and Politics“Criticism gives validation and gravitas to a realm that sometimes gets dismissed as trivial.”
  43. style
    Stormy Daniels Is to Trump As Trump Is to AmericaThe distinction between porn-star news and presidential politics is blurrier than we think.
  44. red carpet derby
    The Red-Carpet Funeral that Wasn’tThe women of Hollywood were never going to deny us the pleasure of their beauty.
  45. american beauty
    Gretchen Carlson Can’t Fix the Miss American PageantNo one can.
  46. the apprentice
    Omarosa, White House OracleWithout intending to, she revealed the truth about Trump.
  47. american horror
    Charles Manson’s Enduring Influence on FashionHow the notorious murderer and his followers weaponized style.
  48. shaken not stirred
    Why Hope Hicks Wore a Tuxedo in JapanHow the Trump women used their bodies as decoys in Japan.
  49. For Donald Trump, Every Day Is HalloweenWhy the president couldn’t play along with kids in costumes.
  50. the harvey weinstein case
    All Consuming WomenThe same industries that exploit us turn around and sell our exploitation back to us.
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