High street retailer unveils padded shorts designed to give wearer a ‘curvy, contoured’ derriere

“Does my bum look big in this?” When it comes to M&S’s bottom-shaping shorts, the desired answer is a definite yes.

At a preview of its summer collection on Thursday, the high street retailer unveiled a pair of £15 shorts featuring padding designed to enhance the wearer’s buttocks.

In a lengthy interview as she is named Time’s person of the year, Swift speaks about toll of high-profile spat, and criticises music industry over treatment of young stars

Taylor Swift has spoken of the psychological damage of her feud with Kim Kardashian and Kanye West, and lambasted the music industry over its treatments of young pop stars, in a new interview with Time, which has named her their person of the year.

After a year in which she has been at the centre of cultural conversations for her massively lucrative Eras tour, Swift spoke damningly of what she sees as a short-termist approach by record labels to replace, rather than nurture its stars. “By the time an artist is mature enough to psychologically deal with the job, they throw you out at 29, typically,” she says. “In the 90s and 00s, it seems like the music industry just said: ‘OK, let’s take a bunch of teenagers, throw them into a fire, and watch what happens. By the time they’ve accumulated enough wisdom to do their job effectively, we’ll find new teenagers.’” She said her solution was to change style with each new album project: “I realised every record label was actively working to try to replace me. I thought instead, I’d replace myself first with a new me. It’s harder to hit a moving target.”

Enlarge / A woman getting a non-vampire facial. (credit: Getty | Sammy Dallal )

Health officials in New Mexico have identified new cases of HIV linked to tainted "vampire facials" performed at a bogus beauty clinic that was shut down five years ago. With their investigation reopened, officials are now renewing calls for anyone who went to the clinic to get tested for blood-borne pathogens.

Vampire facials are a popular cosmetic medical procedure in which a person's own blood is spun in a centrifuge to separate proteins and platelets, and the resulting platelet-rich plasma (PRP) is re-injected into the face via microneedles or micro-abrasions. The procedure is claimed to rejuvenate skin, despite little evidence backing the claims . Nevertheless, it has been endorsed and promoted by many wellness-minded celebrities , including Kim Kardashian (who later had regrets because it was painful, though she still touted it) and Gwyneth Paltrow , who had it done on screen for an episode of her Goop Netflix series.

In 2018, health officials in New Mexico got a tip that an infection may have been linked to the facials at the VIP Beauty Salon and Spa in Albuquerque. A subsequent inspection of the salon by the health department and the Barbers and Cosmetologists Board of the New Mexico Regulation and Licensing Department "identified practices that could potentially spread blood-borne infections, such as HIV, hepatitis B, and hepatitis C to clients." The health department set up free testing for the spa's clients.

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Today influencers sell ideas about science and medicine as well as products. But the integrity on which their status rests, says the US author, is as unknowable as the algorithms that push their content

In the early 00s, Emily Hund dreamed of a career as a journalist at a glossy fashion magazine. But after internships with New York media companies and having witnessed falling circulations and redundancies, she switched to studying one of the catalysts for these changes: social media and the influencers whose YouTube, TikTok and Instagram posts sell ideas, lifestyles and products to their followers. The influencer industry ranges from global stars such as the Kardashians to micro-influencers who post on niche interests. What they have in common is that they work with brands to promote or sell to an audience. Hund is now a research affiliate at Pennsylvania University’s Centre on Digital Culture and Society and her first book on influencers is published in the UK this month.

How did social media take hold in people’s lives?
There was a lot of optimism about social media in the 00s when technology first made it easier to share opinions. During the economic crisis of 2008, when people were out of work or looking for ways to make money, it really took off. Bloggers found loyal audiences, so advertisers got interested. This was all happening against a crisis in traditional media and they were looking for new ways to promote products.

Aux États-Unis, la star des réseaux sociaux Kim Kardashian vient d'écoper d'une amende record pour avoir fait la promotion des cryptomonnaies. Une décision qui relance le débat entre crypto et influence.

Crypto et influence : Kim Kardashian écope d’une amende record

Enlarge / Kim Kardashian arrives to ABC's "Good Morning America" on September 20, 2022, in New York City. (credit: Getty Images | James Devaney )

Kim Kardashian will pay a $1.26 million penalty for touting a crypto security without disclosing that she was paid $250,000 to promote the token, the Securities and Exchange Commission announced today. Kardashian agreed to the payment to settle the charges and "agreed to not promote any crypto asset securities for three years," the SEC said.

"Kardashian's failure to disclose this compensation violated Section 17(b) of the Securities Act, which makes it unlawful for any person to promote a security without fully disclosing the receipt and amount of such consideration from an issuer," the SEC order said. This law is known as the "anti-touting" provision.

In June 2021, Kardashian promoted an EthereumMax offering on her Instagram account by posting an image containing the following text:

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Beats et Kim Kardashian viennent d'annoncer leur partenariat en proposant trois nouveaux coloris pour les Beats Fit Pro.

Beats x Kim Kardashian, le partenariat qu’on n’attendait pas forcément

North West, Kim Kardashian, Kris Jenner et Cici Bussey au déilé Balenciaga, le mercredi 6 juillet.

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Kim Kardashian et North West à Paris le 5 juillet 2022.

Kim Kardashian et North West à Paris le 5 juillet 2022.