From the age of 14 to 15, my top and bottom rows of teeth were encased in a pair of uncomfortable, unattractive and wholly unsubtle stainless steel braces. Now, aged 25, thanks to a couple of wonky wisdom teeth and several years of retainer-wearing fatigue, I’ve been transported back a decade to a period of my life I’d far rather keep locked and bolted in the deepest, darkest caverns of my memory.

Yes, after years of putting it off, I have become a paid-up member of the adult brace-wearing community. But thanks to technological advances, the confidence that comes with being a grown-up (eek!) and that wonderful place known as the internet, it’s really not so bad. Here’s why...

The world of orthodontics has moved on considerably since I last visited it and fortunately this time around I had several – rather than just one – teeth-correcting options to choose from. Unsurprisingly, I did not opt for the metal train-tracks of my youth. After much consideration I chose Invisalign aligners rather than ceramic (teeth-coloured) braces, primarily for two reasons: firstly, because I received a cheaper quote for them and secondly, because I read online that ceramic brace-wearers should cut out red-coloured foods to avoid staining them – which would remove Heinz tomato soup and spaghetti bolognese from my diet for a year. That just wouldn’t do. Although I need to wear my Invisalign aligners for 22 hours a day (which, to be honest, is often more like 20), and take them out to eat and drink, which is a pain, they are undoubtedly subtler, more comfortable and less restrictive than their metallic counterpart.

When I first had braces, I was your average 14-year-old: skinny, spotty and deeply insecure. Even though I was far from the only one in my class, let alone friendship group, to be making every-other-month trips to the orthodontist, I felt like my braces were inexplicably worse than everyone else’s. Of course, this was completely in my imagination, but it didn’t stop me from developing a creepy closed-mouth smile that was more of a leer than anything else, and an obsession with tooth-brushing that would make even a dentist grimace.

Hand in hand with my diffused confidence was my non-existent love life. Having had little experience of the opposite sex pre-braces, with them, boys became a total minefield. What if I kissed a boy with braces and our braces got entwined, only to be removed by a surgeon or, even worse, a parent? Or what if I kissed a boy without braces and he somehow cut himself on the metal? No, it was better to avoid kissing altogether, which is what I did for almost the whole of 2006. And what a fun year that was...

Being a 25-year-old with braces is an entirely different ballgame. Although I have an inexplicable urge to tell everyone I speak to that I am wearing adult braces (despite the fact that they can clearly see for themselves once they get close enough), I have learned that it is far better to own them than to shrink into the sidelines with an eerie, closed-mouth half-smile on my face.

Dating is also far simpler – I can pop them out over dinner and drinks and put them back in when I’m feeling a bit more comfortable. Being older has also given me a sense of perspective that I did not have when I was 14. A year, which is how long I am expected to wear my braces for, does not feel like eternity stretching before me as it did back then. In fact, I find it mind-boggling to think that I have been wearing my braces for five months already.

I was concerned before I started my Invisalign treatment because at the time I didn’t know anyone who had done it, and therefore couldn’t discuss with a pal whether or not it was a worthy investment. However, I have found the internet to be an incredibly useful and reassuring resource. Websites including RealSelf.com helped me weigh up the pros and cons of that style of brace, and blogs like Straight Talking Teeth have been a real comfort. It’s great to hear personal stories and read tips from fellow adult brace-wearers who have been through the process before you.

I’m not going to say there haven’t been moments when I have regretted attempting to correct my teeth as an adult but, generally, it has been a far more pleasant experience than I anticipated before my treatment started. I put off getting braces for several years as I couldn’t face it, during which my teeth continued to get worse and worse. My best advice for those considering following me down the brace trail would be: do it sooner rather than later, take time to research which style would be best for you and – most importantly – wear them with confidence.

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This is a breaking news story. We will update with additional details as they become available.

On Saturday, just before 11:00 a.m. local time, Governor Terry McAuliffe of Virginia called a state of emergency in Charlottesville, Vermont for its nearly 50,000 residents.

According to the Washington Post, hundreds of neo Nazis, Ku Klux Klan members, and other white nationalist-adjacent groups gathered early for a noon rally.

On Friday night, white nationalists gathered at a statue of Thomas Jefferson on the University of Virginia campus to mark the beginning of a weekend-long rally. According to the New York Times, several hundred men and women descended at the location carrying torches with chants of “You will not replace us,” and “Jew will not replace us,” among other divisive slogans.

I've seen people get their skulls straight crushed today here in #charlottesville during #unitetheright rally. @USATODAY @indystar @RbtKing pic.twitter.com/and9FkvWNR

— Mykal McEldowney (@mykalmphoto) August 12, 2017

On Saturday, counterprotesters and white nationalists violently clashed. At approximately 11:40 a.m., police ordered hundreds of people to evacuate downtown Lee Park, after numerous fights broke out before the rally even began. Police cited the event as an unlawful assembly due to the physical aggression.

The far right has been totally driven out. Militia evacuated, traditionalists flee. Anti-racists cry in victory. Watch all of this video. pic.twitter.com/0WZ9Ji5g1v

— Jack Smith IV (@JackSmithIV) August 12, 2017

There are reports that violence was sparked after supporters attending the rally, who were allegedly holding shields and waving wooden clubs, rushed through a line of counterprotesters, which included clergy and Black Lives Matter members. Princeton professor Cornel West was also on the ground, leading a counterprotest.

The Unite the Right rally was held in response to the city voting to remove a statue of Robert E. Lee. The statue has yet to be removed. A court ruling is scheduled later this month which will determine whether it will remain.

Donald Trump tweeted out a response to the news, writing, “We ALL must be united & condemn all that hate stands for. There is no place for this kind of violence in America. Lets come together as one!”

We ALL must be united & condemn all that hate stands for. There is no place for this kind of violence in America. Lets come together as one!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 12, 2017

Before 2 p.m., journalist Alex Rubinstein tweeted out a video of an unidentified driver plowing through a crowd of protesters.

#BREAKING: I just watched a car plow through dozens of protesters. Extremely heavy injuries #Charlottesville pic.twitter.com/rE8DWUmrfD

— Alex Rubinstein (@RealAlexRubi) August 12, 2017

It has been confirmed by multiple outlets that at least one civilian has died. It is unconfirmed if this fatality was the result of the car accident.

I am heartbroken that a life has been lost here. I urge all people of good will--go home.

— Mike Signer (@MikeSigner) August 12, 2017

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Feeling a little...ungrounded? With last week's crazy-making Aquarius lunar eclipse, we wouldn't be surprised. Bottled up thoughts surfaced that launched us out of our bodies and into the abyss of feels. Whether it was a ripple of WTF, a serious ugly-cry, or a full-on wave of anxiety, raise your hand if you're ready for some balance. Good news: This Monday, the quarter moon in earthy, rooted Taurus helps us get our Toms back on solid ground. Step one: Slowwwww it way down. Rome wasn't renovated in a day, so stop trying to achieve those Pinterest goals and find something to be grateful for now. Process-driven Taurus energy reminds us to enjoy the journey instead of rushing towards the destination.

Creative solutions flow in on Thursday, but we may have to work with limited resources. Decadent Venus clashes with "bigger, stronger, faster" Jupiter warning against excess. Curb the retail therapy urges and see if you could source your materials from the "free pile" or barter services instead of paying cold, hard cash. Warning: This cosmic coupling can drop a rose-coloured filter over life. Romanticising is fun, but make sure you're also grounded in facts and figures.

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Nothing kills your summer holiday buzz like a flight delay. In your mind, you're already lying on a sun lounger sipping a frozen daiquiri, or sampling the wine at a hard-to-find Italian trattoria. But in reality, you're stuck in a packed airport lounge nursing the dregs of a Costa latte.

But now, you can at least make an informed decision next time you book a flight. New research by the BBC Data Unit has found that Gatwick is the worst UK airport for delays. On average, passengers flying to or from the London airport arrived or departed 27 minutes late. Luton airport placed second, with passengers experiencing an average delay of 24 minutes, followed by Jersey airport, where the average delay was 21 minutes.

Below, check out the 10 UK airports with the longest average delays.

1. Gatwick (27 minutes)

2. Luton (24 minutes)

3. Jersey (21 minutes)

4. Belfast International (20 minutes)

5 = Edinburgh (18 minutes)

5 = Birmingham (18 minutes)

7 = Manchester (17 minutes)

7 = Glasgow (17 minutes)

7 = Stansted (17 minutes)

10 = Heathrow (16 minutes)

10 = Bristol (16 minutes)

10 = Cardiff (16 minutes)

10 = Doncaster Sheffield (16 minutes)

10 = Southampton (16 minutes)

Responding to the research, a Gatwick spokesperson told the BBC: "We recognise the inconvenience that delays cause to our passengers, and we will continue to do everything possible to prevent them from occurring. Gatwick has made it a priority to address punctuality and, in partnership with our airlines and ground handlers, we are already seeing the benefits of a new wide range of measures that have been implemented to improve punctuality."

The BBC Data Unit also calculated the average delays experienced by passengers flying on the UK and Ireland's 10 biggest airlines. easyJet were found to be the least punctual airline, with flights arriving an average 24 minutes behind schedule, followed by Thomas Cook (19 minutes) and British Airways (18 minutes).

Aer Lingus performed best, with an average delay of just 12 minutes. Right behind were Flybe (13 minutes), then Ryanair and Monarch (both 15 minutes).

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From the very moment my daughter was born, she was a boob girl. She latched on as soon as I brought her to my chest, and she stayed there for 45 minutes while a team of doctors stitched my third-degree tear back together. Anyone who has breastfed will tell you that the learning curve is steep, and things were no different for us — but cracked and blistered nipples, engorgement, and blocked ducts aside, that girl and I were a team. My body eventually healed; my milk supply evened out, and we found our way on what I had assumed would be a roughly 12-month journey.

If a child is mobile, on solids, and can verbalise the desire to nurse, I thought, then it’s gone on too long — it’s bordering on mildly disturbing. I hadn't considered there would be an emotional component to breastfeeding, one I wouldn’t understand until I was in the thick of it myself.

At 10 weeks, with my return to work barreling toward us, my husband and I thought we'd try giving our baby a bottle. I’d pumped around the clock and stocked our fridge and freezer with milk, but my daughter wanted nothing to do with it. She wailed; I wept. She never did take a bottle.

I was lucky enough to have an employer who adored children, so, with my boob barnacle in tow, I got back to work. It was magic and mayhem, until eventually she got too ornery for me to be productive at work. So, around 7 months, I cut back to half-days at the office so as not to miss any important feedings. Before I’d even blinked, our first year together had passed.

I couldn't believe I'd ever resolved to end this so soon; it felt like we were just getting started. Look how little and sweet she is! I thought. We needed each other. Pure chaos could swallow us whole — but the minute she latched on to me, we found solace. So we kept going.

In our second year, I lost my second child in utero, and subsequently learned that due to a diagnosis of secondary infertility, my firstborn had just become my only-born. Motherhood wasn’t looking the way I thought (and planned for, and researched that) it would. So where I’d once drawn those lines in the sand over when I’d put an end to breastfeeding, I decided instead to relinquish the idea that I was in control of anything at all, and to follow my heart and my daughter’s needs.

I stopped looking at our breastfeeding relationship as something I could track on a calendar, and started treating it as something fluid — did my daughter want to nurse? Was I present and available to breastfeed her? If the answer was yes, then we sat down for 20 minutes or for five, and re-centred ourselves. It was the nourishment she needed (or comfort she craved) and the break I wanted from whatever it was that was pulling me in a thousand directions otherwise. It worked for us.

Truthfully, I have no idea how much longer we’ll be at this.

And then I wasn't breastfeeding a baby anymore — but here we were instead, mother and toothy toddler — and nothing had really changed. What I once had seen as disturbing was suddenly exactly everything I’d needed: My daughter’s ability to ask for me, it turned out, was the antidote to those unintelligible cries that dotted the dark of night and the seemingly unending hours of the day through her infancy. “Milk, mama,” she’d say as she tugged at my my shirt collar. The guesswork ended. I knew what to do.

Every idea I’d had about what motherhood would look like vanished once the fog of grief and confusion, the destructive nature of sleep deprivation, and the hurricane of postpartum hormones settled around me. I have allowed the fragile nature of our existence to become the underlying current beneath every decision I’ve made in the wake of it all. And so, here we are, four years in. Together we have found rest, cultivated closeness, and bolstered a bond beyond anything my former self could have ever drummed up.

Soon she’ll be 5. She’s heading off to school in the fall, and she’s nowhere near the clingy little milk monster she used to be. Nursing her now lasts a handful of minutes at most, because anything longer than that would take away from her somersaulting down our hallway while she wails away on her little plastic kazoo. My weathered breasts hold only enough milk to cover our wavering present. (It isn’t much.) Our stints together are becoming fewer and farther between.

Some weeks she nurses daily, or more, and some weeks not at all. There are no rituals around it any longer. Where she’d once need to nurse after getting hurt, for example, now she declines it outright if I offer in such a situation, preferring to figure it out on her own.

There’s an ebb and a flow to it — such is the nature of breastfeeding a growing child — and truthfully, I have no idea how much longer we’ll be at this. Before I became a mother, it was easy to paint great swaths of judgment, but I hadn’t yet birthed my very heart and began teaching it how to exist outside the confines of my ribcage.

What I have learned is this: Parenting is hard work, and breastfeeding eases the trouble of it every now and again. Whether we’re at this for six more months or for just another week, I’m happy with how we’ve found our way.

No, I never planned this; and yes, an earlier version of myself would’ve cringed wholeheartedly at the sight of this mobile, vocal, and self-sufficient girl at my breast — but what a lesson this has been in my understanding of human connection, of what it means to love and care for another, and of what exactly I look like as a mother. It isn’t what I thought at all. It’s what I am.

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One person was killed, and 19 others were injured when a pair of cars intentionally drove into a crowd of counterprotesters in Charlottesville, Virginia, the New York Times reports. The violence erupted amid a planned Unite the Right rally over the town's decision to remove a statue of Robert E. Lee. The Associated Press shared a video of the car driving into the crowd (warning: video is extremely graphic). Mayor Mike Singer confirmed on NBC's Meet The Press that the victim was Heather Heyer, a Charlottesville resident who was 32 years old.

The Virginia State Police confirmed that one person was dead and that the crash will be investigated as vehicular homicide. At a press conference on Saturday evening, the Charlottesville police chief stated that the violence was "premeditated."

UPDATE: 3 fatalities in C-Ville today - 1 in crash being investigated as vehicular homicide & 2 in helicopter crash in Albemarle Co. pic.twitter.com/hldckqBWTw

— VA State Police (@VSPPIO) August 12, 2017

Charlottesville police chief says violence was "premeditated," suspect is in custody https://t.co/rtTBkVpHdc

— NBC News (@NBCNews) August 12, 2017

14 other people were injured in violence between white nationalist protesters and counterprotesters. The police chief confirmed that no injuries resulted from "engagement with law enforcement." The white nationalist rally brought out members of the alt-right, white supremacists, Neo-Nazis, and the KKK. Former Klan leader David Duke was in attendance, as was alt-right leader Richard Spencer, whose arrest was captured on social media but has not been confirmed by new outlets. The counterprotesters included Antifa, members of the local clergy and religious groups, and Black Lives Matter activists, among others. None of the 14 injuries sustained from fights between protesters were life-threatening.

The driver of the car is in police custody. He is Alex James Fields Jr. and is a resident of Maumee, Ohio. The white nationalist rally began with a procession of white supremacists carrying torches on Friday night through the University of Virginia. White nationalists have felt emboldened by President Trump, who on Saturday did not disavow their views, stating instead that there is "hate, bigotry, and violence on all sides."

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Domestic terrorism: that's how Heather Heyer, 32, lost her life on Saturday as she counterprotested against a white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia. Heyer was identified when Charlottesville Mayor Mike Signer appeared on Meet the Press on Sunday morning.

She was killed when James Alex Fields, Jr. plowed his car into a group of protestors. We'll never know exactly what went through his mind when he decided to commit this heinous act, but naming his crime as both vehicular homicide and domestic terrorism gives it the full weight it deserves.

Heather Heyer was a legal assistant for Miller Law Group, a local law firm in Charlottesville. Friends described her as "fun-loving," according to USA Today, with one friend telling them "she always stands up for what she believes in." A Gofundme has been set up to "give to her family anything they may need" and has raised over $100,000 (£77,000).

Heather's mother told HuffPost that her daughter "was not about hate, Heather was about stopping hatred. Heather was about bringing an end to injustice. I don’t want her death to be a focus for more hatred, I want her death to be a rallying cry for justice and equality and fairness and compassion.”

This morning, National Security Advisor H.R. McMaster also appeared on Meet the Press and explained that terrorism is the use of "violence to incite terror and fear", saying that "of course" this weekend's attack on Heather and other counterprotesters was domestic terrorism. President Trump has so far declined to disavow the white supremacist groups that incited the violence, saying that he condemns the "hatred, bigotry, and violence on many sides, many sides." The White House later clarified his statement, saying that the President's condemnation "of course that includes white supremacists, KKK, neo-Nazis, and all extremist groups."

Tributes poured into Twitter to remember Heather and to encourage us to remember her as a hero.

Like the men who died defending the young woman wearing a head scarf in Portland, Heather Heyer died today a hero. May her soul be blessed.

— Marianne Williamson (@marwilliamson) August 13, 2017

We're all thinking of you tonight. Your fight is our fight and we will keep going until it's won. Love will trump this hate, Heather Heyer. pic.twitter.com/JVXCIgp77O

— Bess Kalb (@bessbell) August 13, 2017

Her name was #HeatherHeyer. She was murdered by a Nazi terrorist while protesting his hatred. A martyr for the cause. Remember her name. pic.twitter.com/646RI74MMn

— Kim Kelly (@GrimKim) August 13, 2017

When we say racism kills, we mean it kills. #HeatherHeyer is on a continuum of minorities & white allies killed by racists since U.S. began

— Pia Wilson ✍🏾 🗽❄️ (@pwilson720) August 13, 2017

This is #HeatherHeyer.

Her final FB post: "If you're not outraged, you're not paying attention."

You paying attention yet?#Charlotteville pic.twitter.com/5wehE9YjcW

— Qasim Rashid, Esq. (@MuslimIQ) August 13, 2017

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Shoe manufacturer Clarks has come under fire for offering a shockingly sexist girls' school shoe range called the "Dolly Babe."

The equivalent boys' school shoe range is called "Leader" and has a football pattern on its insoles. The "Dolly Babe" insoles feature a heart-based pattern.

The controversy began when Miranda Williams, a councillor from Eltham in south east London, visited the Clarks website while shopping for school shoes for her two daughters. She came across the "Dolly Babe" range, rightly felt "appalled" by what she saw, and shared screen-grabs of both the "Dolly Babe" and "Leader" shoes on Twitter, copying in the @everydaysexism Twitter account.

pic.twitter.com/YzYWeBdEQu

— Miranda Williams (@M_Williams07) August 6, 2017

The offending shoes - before they disappear from your website. pic.twitter.com/WYvETanJqa

— Miranda Williams (@M_Williams07) August 6, 2017

"The idea that we should be bringing up a generation of boys to aspire to become leaders while the best hope for girls is to be Dolly Babes is just grim," Williams told The Sunday Times. "It makes me so angry. It's bad enough that girls' shoes are so flimsy and so unsuitable for jumping in puddles or climbing trees compared to boys' shoes, which are so much more robust. But to create such a stereotype is totally unacceptable."

Nicola Sturgeon, the First Minister of Scotland, also criticised the "Dolly Babe" shoe range on Twitter. She told followers that it is "almost beyond belief" that Clarks could have considered this sexist name and design "acceptable" in 2017. Carolyn Harris, the shadow minister for women and equalities, described the difference in shoes for girls and boys as "blatant discrimination."

It is almost beyond belief that in 2017 a major company could think this is in any way acceptable. Shows what we are still up against. https://t.co/3C7Nop8o1E

— Nicola Sturgeon (@NicolaSturgeon) August 13, 2017

According to the BBC, Clarks has now removed the "Dolly Babe" shoe range from its website. "We are working hard to ensure our ranges reflect our gender-neutral ethos," a spokesperson said. "We apologise for any unintended offence caused."

However, at the time of writing, the "Dolly Babe" range is still available through several other retailers including John Lewis.

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In the aftermath of the deadly "Unite the Right" rally in Charlottesville, many of our Facebook and Twitter feeds were inundated with posts that ranged from fury to despair to heartache. But as Senator Kamala Harris expressed on Facebook today, we all need to actively prove that we truly aren't a nation defined by hate and bigotry.

"To some Americans, this was shocking and scary. They asked themselves how could this happen — in the United States of America — in 2017?" the California senator wrote. "To other Americans, what they know is, Charlottesville exemplifies an undeniable reality that lurks just beneath the surface in this nation we love."

After addressing the incredibly problematic "many sides" comment made by Trump, Harris turned her attention to the importance of playing a role in proving that we aren't, as we say, a country that can be summed up by the horrific images that have emerged from Charlottesville.

"Imagine how [the white supremacists] would feel if they were told they could not come into America because of their religion. Or that they could not serve in our military because of their gender identity. Or that their polling place was shut down as a part of a systematic effort to stop them from voting. Or could be separated without warning from their family or the country they call home. Or that they could lose their job because of who they love," Harris wrote. "These are things happening right now in our country, too. And if we care about what happened yesterday in Charlottesville, we’ve got to care about everyday discrimination as well."

"If we say this is not who we are, it’s on us to show that," she continued.

"There is hope to be found. The truth is that the vast majority of Americans are good, fair and just and they want their country to reflect those ideals. And the fact that yesterday’s explicit hate was met with near-universal condemnation affirms my belief in our capacity to overcome evil," Harris concluded. "We don’t have to let extremists define us. Opportunities to do right are right in front of us. We just have to seize them."

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It’s a truth universally acknowledged that social media isn’t real life. As much as we love it when celebrities ‘get real’ online about how long it takes to achieve a photo, how many stretch marks they really have or how unglamorous the minutiae of their life is, posts like that are merely drops in a FaceTuned ocean. Sure, we’re all digital super-sleuths (we spot and ridicule bad Photoshop before you can say ‘double tap’ and meme-ify false bragging in the blink of an eye) but somehow, knowing what you’re seeing is artificial doesn’t make it any less desirable.

And why would it? After all, the crux of social media is that it’s reciprocal. You have the same tools – or so you think – as that A-lister or influencer who looks #flawless in their most recent selfie. So you take a photo, you crop it, you edit it (as 44% of us do, according to Ofcom) and you upload it. But it’s not the same – after all, you don’t have a glam squad, or a pro retoucher, or a surgeon’s bill that runs into triple digits. But that doesn’t stop it being aspirational. For every big name posting rough and ready photos and bragging about their DGAF attitude, there are three other women claiming their suddenly plumped pout or fuller bust is the work of makeup or hormones. As my friend Giselle, 27, put it: "I just assume now that most of what I see on there isn't real, especially those body types that you just know aren't the products of so-called gym gains, puberty or genetics." Of course, retouching has existed for a long time, but the difference now is social media is interactive and gives you the agency and tools to fully customise your appearance – and with liking and sharing, we have the power to express approval or disapproval of someone’s looks. As academic Richard M. Perloff noted in a recent paper, on social media, users are the sources as well as the receivers; it's not a one-way street.

I asked Dr. Carmen Lefevre, a behavioural scientist at University College London, why we all compare ourselves to these artificial, moving goalposts. "It doesn’t really matter if we know a photo is fake or not – we all have an automatic response to things we see, so those kinds of photos still have a psychical impact. Cognitively, we know it’s not real, but it still ends up reinforcing an ideal or new standard," she confirmed. Which means if you’ve ever come away from a half-hour scroll through someone’s Instagram feeling lacking, you’re not alone. "The more time you spend surrounded by certain images, the more you normalise that kind of look. For example, if you see lots of celebrities with really long eyelash extensions, you’ll start to think that’s normal and see your own natural eyelashes as less attractive. It doesn’t make much difference to know that it’s retouching or a ‘tweakment’ or whatever – you still end up internalising those beauty standards," she explained.

In a 1983 study headed up by Professor Thomas Cash, researchers found that when participants looked at photos of attractive celebrities versus attractive peers, they reported more negative self-esteem when looking at peers. The researchers ascribed this to people believing that celebrities are less similar to themselves and therefore less of a comparison group. But now, in an age where you don’t have to have a blockbuster movie or hit record to command a following, where does that distinction lie? Eighty-two percent of the women Ofcom surveyed said they felt it was important to look their best in selfies and, on average, we take around six selfies before choosing one to upload. But only 16% of us feel we can confidently tell what’s real and what’s fake. My friend Tom, 24, who quit Instagram a year ago, said: "Even knowing how staged a lot of the content is, it’s near impossible to not be sucked in by the fantasy and compare it to your own image. It’s aspirational, but not in a positive or uplifting way. I knew the photos were Photoshopped, filtered and fillered, but unlike conventional print ads, you as another user have the same tools and platform at your fingertips. I’m not going to see myself on a billboard anytime soon, but I can upload another FaceTuned selfie." We all put our best foot forward online (and when potential employers and dates scope you out on Insta, why wouldn’t you?), but as long as the targets keep moving, we’ll never be satisfied. "The sinister thing," Tom added, "was that I didn’t care the photos were fake. I still wanted some of that."

It’s remiss to have this discussion without mentioning the Kardashians. With a combined following of 407 million, the family has launched any number of beauty trends (contouring, lip filler, full-but-arched brows, impossibly long lashes, strobing, nude lipstick…). "The Kardashians are an example of how the standard moves," noted Dr. Lefevre. "For example, a woman having an hourglass shape has been considered attractive for a long time, but they’ve taken it to the next level by having such small waists, large breasts and bottoms." As far back as the Victorian era, women laboured in corsets to have delicate waists, but when that ideal is pushed to the point of complete exaggeration – Kylie's curves are sharper than the hairpin bends of the Amalfi Coast – it becomes even more unattainable. Giselle told me: "It’s frustrating to see that in the space of five weeks someone suddenly has a new figure and we're told that it was just 'squats' or 'bloating from periods'. Then some of us, especially younger women, run to the gym and do 100 squats every day to look like these celebrities and realise, actually, that's not what they've been doing." Dr. Lefevre echoes this sentiment, having carried out research into orthorexia (disordered eating which focusses on consuming excessively healthy or ‘clean’ foods) and the relationship with Instagram: "A lot of the health bloggers we looked at were pretending all they ate was chia seeds and green juices, but of course that’s not the case for all of them."

And just like domestic labour and childcare, it’s a burden that falls overwhelmingly on women. Perloff noted in his study that girls as young as three were internalising beauty standards of thinness, while a 1997 study by Fredrickson and Roberts noted that women are more likely to have their social value inferred from their appearance. Beauty standards of tiny waist, huge arse, perky boobs, long hair, fluttery lashes, full lips and clear skin are hard enough to attain as it is – but when you're meant to look like you’ve got a Valencia filter slapped over your face at all times and have enough cash to drop on extensions, filler and Botox? Forget about it. No wonder so many brands are clamouring to launch ‘instantly blurring’ or ‘filtering’ foundations.

It’s trendy to make social media the scapegoat for all millennial ills. I don’t think Instagram is evil – I like taking selfies and usually I feel good about them. I also know that working in the industry makes me more critical of these photos (my boyfriend claims I’ve ‘ruined’ Instagram for him by deftly pointing our hair extensions, lip filler and false lashes as he scrolls). As Giselle noted, "Instagram’s birthed a beauty community who have a space to show their work, discuss products and have an impact on a brand's new product development by having a direct conversation about what they want," and most of the studies I looked at suggested social media has the power to subvert beauty ideals by giving a platform to women who mainstream media would typically ignore. So go ahead: scroll, double-tap, repost, take selfies, engage with something that’s as enmeshed in modern society as sending emails. Just know that your mind can play tricks on you, and that your subconscious might respond to things in a way your conscious brain might not. Look at the women around you and how beautiful they are in their own way, not confined to a square on a screen with controlled lighting. And take it from me – once you’ve seen a celebrity with millions of followers panic that her makeup artist can’t apply fresh contour in time for a selfie, and almost burst into tears when she can’t find good lighting, the whole thing feels less attractive anyway.

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A post shared by Bikinis & Getaways (@bikinisandgetaways) on Aug 10, 2017 at 4:17am PDT

I’d romanticised the idea for quite some time. Leaving London. An opportunity for new habits. A break from routine. A new life free from context. It was salivatingly appealing and, quite frankly, well overdue. I’d imagined making friends in Copenhagen, learning Spanish in Barcelona, even furnishing an apartment in Tel Aviv. The possibilities of a new city are life-changing. Your friends disappear, your references fade, you are empty and yet you are full of potential all at the same time. But I was never truly inspired to take the leap – until Lisbon. That was five months ago.

It wasn’t the sunny weather, friendly people (why wouldn't they be with the climate?), the ocean so close you can see your dinner; it wasn’t even the ridiculously affordable rental market. It was the collaboration, camaraderie and crowd of shared work hubs that buoyed and transformed a city of just 500,000 into a bubbling melting pot of global proportions. On a balmy weeknight or weekend, a melody of accents and languages washes over Lisbon’s various tiny squares. Across the last five years, teams of international innovators have been rolling in to snap up the generous grants – a sign of progressive leadership – dreamt up as a way to battle a dwindling economy. And it's worked. What’s not to love?

A post shared by @eldchndr on Jan 22, 2017 at 7:52am PST

Built on seven hills, this big little city is all blue and pink skies, mismatched terracotta roofs and tiled facades. And that’s just one of many views. In Lisbon, you’re never far from a lookout point or ‘miradouro’. Stepping off the cobblestone path and onto a terrace presents the waterfront escape in its many different lights. Down below: sorbet-coloured blocks line the streets, locals drink coffee around kiosks, and the deep blue of the Tagus river sweeps towards the Atlantic.

On any given day, among the crowds of tourists vying for their Insta-view, I bathe in the warmth of the sun and the beauty of the panorama. Thanks to the long days of summer, this ritual can happen any time between 7am and 9pm. A two-and-a-half-hour flight south of London, my rush slows to a wander; I am no longer racing the clock. In Lisbon, my minutes turn into moments.

Overstretched, overtired and overwhelmed, in London the need to ‘keep up’ is a cultural obsession. From ‘Lean in’ to ‘Girlboss’, T-shirt slogans motivate us to do better and to do more, faster. It’s all about online, overtime and quite often – when you add it all up – underpay, and we’re making ourselves sick. But it’s not our fault. Part of our daily norm, we’re socially conditioned not to know any better. I felt like I was going through the movements: waking up early and working late, only to spend my ‘free time’ talking about work or – worse still – complaining about it. It was an endless cycle that chewed up my weeks and, ultimately, my quality of life.

A post shared by Juan Luis Vásquez (@jlvm33) on Jul 16, 2017 at 5:40am PDT

Lisbon’s narrow streets and go-slow pace afford time for a story; the architecture tells of a long and rich history, where neoclassical monuments stand alongside ageing buildings peeling and fading in the sun. I take a breath, and continue in auto-cruise. It really is cathartic losing yourself in a place you barely know. Navigating the winding arteries past public street art, looking up steep climbs and down steep slopes. Being alone in a city I just met. It is a true art and one that is rarely channelled in this hyperconnected, bustling world. To be disconnected in the 21st century is like a rare jewel and this seemingly unattainable notion of ‘aloneness’ has been turned into a cashable commodity. See: every yoga retreat, run before work and spa day escape.

On the edge of Europe, I’m swapping chaos for calm. I wake up to the sun, I walk home in the sun and I often eat dinner in the sun – although since dinner is traditionally eaten after 9.30pm, that’s not always the case. It is amazing what a consistent climate can do to you. Meanwhile, low-cost living means more ‘me’ time; I can get a mani-pedi for €25, my haircut costs half that and my permanent tan affords little reason for makeup. Like a uniform, the sun-kissed glow gives Lisbon’s residents a sense of collective identity. It tells you where we’re ‘from’ and hints at our quality of life. I visited the silvery coastline twice this week. Once on a Tuesday.

Filled with pride and full of potential, the city’s sunny disposition fused with the boom of creative entrepreneurs from across the world makes for easy inspiration. Pair that with the increase in tourism – another government initiation – and Lisbon is on the up. The cranes that reach into the capital’s skyline are a symbol of this progress.

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When women come to a CrossFit workout for the first time, they tend to have one of two requests: "I don't want to get too bulky" or "Can I get arms like yours?" says Mandy Moreno, a former roller derby skater, and a trainer at CrossFit Wall Street in New York City. Moreno does what she can to immediately dispel both of these notions.

On the one hand, Moreno knows the comments about her own arms are meant to be a compliment, but it doesn't always come across that way. "I'm me, and you're you, and there's no way I'm going to look like you," she tells people. "You're going to look like the best version of yourself, eventually."

And as for the comments about getting too bulky? It's clear that people have conflicting feelings about women who have visible muscles, even women stepping into the gym themselves. "Weight lifting for women is still kind of a new thing, but I think as we see more women get involved in it, then we'll stop hearing people say, I don't want to get bulky or muscular," Moreno says. "You never hear it from the men, because getting big is their goal almost."

I'm a big believer in combining #powerlifting with #primalscream therapy. 😜😫💪 Btw, this #deadlift was a #PR, 280 lbs at 113 BW. Not my prettiest lift but it did the job. 👊 Had an awesome time at my second Iron Maidens Raw Open, already looking forward to next year! . . . #Repost @ironmaidensopen with @repostapp ・・・ Check out #imstrong2017 photos on the @crossfitsouthbrooklyn Flickr stream by @jschneiderman https://www.flickr.com/photos/cfsbk/albums/72157680583829346

A post shared by Mandy Moreno (@daintyinferno) on Feb 27, 2017 at 4:37pm PST

Our feelings about muscle tone are deeply rooted in societal expectations, which is a pretty clear answer as to why we're so conflicted. Traditionally, men are taught to train and exercise in a way that "increases their size and prowess, so they can protect themselves and others," says Mallory Mann, PhD, assistant professor of kinesiology at Pacific Lutheran University, who has studied body image in sports. "They are often encouraged to develop strong, muscular frames," so they lift weights and try to get big, she says.

But cultural norms in the West suggest that women are supposed to be feminine, which is interpreted to mean soft, passive, nurturing, delicate, sexy, and sensual. "While both men and women learn that toned, muscular bodies mark them as successful, women also quickly find out that being 'too bulky' or too muscular can lead to social stigma, isolation, or rejection," Dr. Mann says.

To be clear, this isn't just an issue faced by athletic amateurs. In May, Aly Raisman, a member of the two-time gold-medal-winning U.S. Olympic gymnastics team, was body-shamed by a TSA agent. As she explained on Twitter, a female TSA agent approached her and said, "Gymnast? I recognized by your biceps." Then a male agent laughed off her supposed muscle tone by saying, "I don't see any biceps."

It's generally out of line to make unsolicited comments about another person's body, and Raisman expressed another layer to this frustrating interaction: sexism. She tweeted at the time, "If u are a man who can't compliment a girls 💪🏼 you are sexist. Get over yourself. Are u kidding me? It's 2017. When will this change?" She has a point.

When we stop assuming we can tell anything about a person's lifestyle, habits, or morality from their body, the difference between toned and too muscular becomes irrelevant.

"Girls and women now have more opportunity than ever to play sports that require strength, but many continue to be impacted by what they see and hear about acceptable looks," says Sally Ross, PhD, associate professor and sport leadership program coordinator at Grand Valley State University in Michigan. Unfortunately, many people believe that their abilities are linked with their body image, in sports and outside. In our survey, 1 in 5 said they cut down on activities that they used to enjoy, because of their body image. Even the women who do stick with sports at a high level aren't immune to these impossible standards.

Female athletes in particular are faced with two separate and different body ideals to conform to, says Justine Reel, PhD, LPC, a professor at the University of North Carolina Wilmington, a sports psychology consultant. They have to be strong and muscular in order to perform, but they also are expected to fit in when they're in the "real world."

For example, Dr. Reel has worked with Olympic downhill skiers who, by nature of the sport, need to have powerful, muscular legs. "When coaches would give the female skier a compliment by saying, 'You have large legs,' it was not well received," Dr. Reel says. Although the body talk from their coaches was meant to be positive, it didn't come across that way.

Wear whatever makes you feel happy and confident. Don't EVER let anyone tell you how you should or shouldn't dress. We are all entitled to wear what we want. Females do not have to dress modest to be respected. Be proud of your body. It's never about the number on the scale it's about the way you feel. You are all unique and beautiful in your own way. No one is perfect. AND no matter who you are, male or female, we all have those days of insecurity. We are all human. Everyone's story is important. EVERYONE. You never know what someone is going through. Thank you all for continuing to inspire me each and everyday. Spread the love guys and enjoy your Monday 💗✨👙#IGotItFromMyMomma #GIRLPOWER

A post shared by Alexandra Raisman (@alyraisman) on Jun 5, 2017 at 1:37pm PDT

Of course the context of a compliment has a lot to do with how it'll be received or internalised. For example, while an athlete might feel proud of their muscles in the gym or around other athletes, they can feel self-conscious (or that the comments are downright inappropriate) in a non-sports setting. In Raisman's case, she was recognised in public for having muscles, perhaps because she stood out. "Female athletes live in two competing worlds that place duelling demands on their bodies," Dr. Mann says.

Essentially, women have to make a decision about which set of body norms they'd like to resist. Do they want to embrace their muscles, and say screw the societal norms to be small and fragile? Or do they want to try to fit into those moulds, and not be able to meet the demands of their sport? "Regardless of their body 'choices,' repercussions will follow," Dr. Mann says.

Oftentimes, women who celebrate their muscles aren't embraced by society or will have their femininity questioned, like Serena Williams, she says. But women who downplay their athleticism to appear more feminine will have their commitment to sports, or their athletic ability, questioned by their coaches or teammates, Dr. Mann says. There's no real way to win, so lots of women compromise.

A post shared by Serena Williams (@serenawilliams) on Mar 19, 2017 at 7:07am PDT

There's a term for behaviours that female athletes engage in to assert their femininity, and it's called "female apologetic," Dr. Mann says. "Because they're seen as athletic and muscular — read: masculine — some women may engage in behaviours that overtly represent hegemonic or privileged femininity." They may wear their hair down to play, put on makeup before a competition, or find ways to cover the parts of their bodies they view as "too big" or "too muscular," in order to be seen as feminine women. In a way, this is just a coping mechanism to survive in a world that's not accepting of women with muscles.

Still, others argue that there's just too much talk about how bodies look, instead of what they can do. "The problem is that we believe visible muscle signifies anything at all," says Kate Browne, a body positive fitness blogger and Body Positive Fitness Alliance affiliate. That perpetuates the idea that "health is something you can see," she says. "When we stop assuming we can tell anything about a person's lifestyle, habits, or morality from their body, the difference between toned and too muscular becomes irrelevant."

Seeing more female athletes as positive role models who represent strength and beauty can help, too, says Dr. Reel. There's some evidence that we're almost there, and in our survey, 38% of people said that they viewed Serena Williams, a woman who's celebrated for her accomplishments and athleticism, as a body-positive role model. "But the best message would be that each body is unique and uniquely beautiful," she says. "We can experience health at any size."

Moreno thinks physical diversity is another area in which representation will make all the difference. "Just as we become more accepting of people in terms of their sexual orientation, or we become more racially tolerant, we're becoming more tolerant of people's different bodies, as well," she says. "As that progresses, everything comes along: racial tolerance, tolerance of people and the way they love, and also the way they look."

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We're big fans of ASMR and even bigger fans of IKEA, so we almost combusted when we heard about the Swedish furniture giant's new advert, which employs some tingle-inducing ASMR trickery to sell us homeware.

If you've not come across ASMR – or 'head orgasms' as they're sometimes known (quite aptly, if you know what we mean...) – you've been missing out on a whole load of pleasure. ASMR stands for Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response, which may sound complicated, but it basically refers to the tingling sensation one can experience when listening to certain sounds. Insomniacs often use it to help them get to sleep and it can be a great way to calm anxious thoughts.

YouTube is teeming with expertly made ASMR videos by so-called 'ASMRtists' (props to whoever coined that one), which we'd urge you to check out, but before you do, block out 25 minutes to watch IKEA's offering.

The ad campaign, 'Oddly IKEA', is aimed at college students for the purpose of flogging the brand's 'dorm-friendly' pieces, including sheets, cushions, closet organisers, desk lamps and the like – but it's far more exciting than it sounds.

It features a woman's whispered voice as she takes us on a goosebump-inducing journey through the IKEA products in her room. Expect to see her slowly running her hands over fitted sheets, plumping cushions, running her nails across a lamp and stroking a millennial pink rug.

According to the brand, most ASMR viewers are students, so they "put two and two together" and seemingly succeeded in creating the marketing ploy of the century. Well played, IKEA.

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It would be in your best interest to never ever cross HBO or anyone involved in the creation of it's prize series, Game of Thrones.

The network and series has fallen victim to a couple major breaches of security, most recently resulting in the fourth episode, "Spoils of War" being leaked early thanks to hackers in India. And now, justice is being served. Entertainment Weekly via Agence France-Presse, reports that four people have been arrested in India after being linked to the leaks. News of the arrests comes after word of even more shows being leaked, according to CNBC and AP News. The damage is far from done, despite having a few of the alleged leakers in custody. According to EW and AFP, the arrested are accused of "criminal breach of trust and computer-related offences." AFP also spoke with the Deputy Commissioner of Police Akbar Pathan who told the site, "we investigated the case and have arrested four individuals for unauthorised publication of the fourth episode from season seven." The four could remain in custody until August 21 based on the charges, as evidence is gathered, according to AFP.

This past weekend, it was also confirmed that hackers are also in possession of new episodes of the new season of Curb Your Enthusiasm in addition to whatever else they were able to swipe from the network's servers.

It's unclear how many, if any, more people will be arrested in relation to the major leak, but it's not looking pretty considering about 750 hours of video was stolen. The only silver-lining here is that despite their best efforts, viewership for the fantasy series actually went up last week, clocking in at 10.2 million viewers, a record high for the season so far.

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In the chaotic circus of Donald Trump's America, even seemingly harmless cultural gestures can spark a politics-crazed Tweetstorm (see the alt-right tumult currently embroiling Vogue 's subversive September cover). It's a debate over the responsibility of celebrities to help define our wider values that's been brewing since well-before last year's surreal election. But in a culture set aflame by Trump's viscerally anti-immigrant, anti-abortion rhetoric, the stakes seem suddenly much higher — especially for white, upper-middle class women, who've recently had a hard time showing up for intersectionality, not to mention a female candidate or two, when it counts the most.

Strong Opinions Loosely Held host Elisa Kreisinger sat down with "Stuff Mom Never Told You"'s Bridget Todd, and Buzzfeed features writer, Anne Helen Petersen, to discuss how Taylor Swift has chosen feminism as a vital thread of her lucrative brand. Catch the full episode below.

"We have a responsibility, if we're going to be selling ourselves and our albums using this feminist branding, to try to get it right," Todd notes. "And I see, a lot of times, people trying to help Taylor Swift get it right, and rather than react in a way that seems open to it or wrestling with it, she really does fall back on this 'you're being mean to me, women should support other women, I'm a woman you're a woman, don't call me out, because that's not feminist.' And I don't think that's what feminism is. Feminism is not just, 'be nice to Taylor Swift.' It's something else. As feminists and as media consumers, I think it's important to be critical of all the media that we're consuming, it's important to ask these questions."

Swift's investment in women's empowerment may be evidence of a larger sea-change sweeping Hollywood — one that calls on celebrity brands to use their vast platforms to call out the sexual and racial oppression that's still very much part of our world. "She resisted the word 'feminist' for so long," says Peterson, author of Too Fat, Too Slutty, Too Loud. "In some ways, she mirrors the resistance of mainstream culture even to identify with feminism... But it's not enough to just say that. There's now an interrogation about what you actually do in your life, how do you interrogate your own privilege as a white feminist."

The real work of chipping away at inequality is a lot trickier than sporting a "The Future Is Female" T-shirt, or saturating your Instagram with glamorous shots of your powerhouse friends. Feminism is a pretty radical philosophy, and it takes clear ideological vision to stand up for it, even when it makes your followers uncomfortable. As Todd says, "You can't just vaguely be for all things that are positive and happy and sunshine in the world. Beyoncé has advocated for causes, made noise around things like police brutality, and for a while people reacted against it, but she took a stand that wasn't easy for her to do. Those are the things that make a celebrity, even if they're carefully polished, seem really authentic."

Swift deserves major recognition for her fearless testimony against radio personality David Mueller during their ongoing sexual battery case. By publicly telling her story, she's making visible the many, many sexual harassment survivors never given the chance to speak out against their abusers. This version of feminism might not be particularly trendy — but it is incredibly brave.

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The next time someone tells you not to give into negativity, you can show them proof of why letting yourself fall into a bad mood can be a good thing.

There's reason to believe that allowing yourself to wallow will actually help you out in the long run, according to research published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. Researchers at the University of California, Berkeley looked at the link between emotional acceptance and psychological health among over 1,300 adults, finding that those who resisted their more negative emotions (or even judged those emotions harshly) ended up feeling more psychologically stressed than those who embraced their bad moods.

In the first study, over 1,000 participants filled out surveys that rated how strongly they agreed with statements such as "I tell myself I shouldn't be feeling the way that I'm feeling." Those who didn't feel bad about their negative emotions showed higher levels of wellbeing than those who didn't accept their bad moods.

In another session, 150 participants were asked to deliver a three-minute video speech on their communication skills and qualifications as part of a mock job application, and were asked to rate their emotions afterwards. The researchers found that the people in the group who avoided negative feelings reported feeling more distress than those who didn't.

In a final study, over 200 people were asked to keep a journal about their most demanding experiences over a two-week period, then were surveyed again six months later. During this study, those who avoided bad moods reported more mood disorder symptoms than their peers.

"It turns out that how we approach our own negative emotional reactions is really important for our overall wellbeing," study lead author Brett Ford, an assistant professor of psychology at the University of Toronto, said in a statement. "People who accept these emotions without judging or trying to change them are able to cope with their stress more successfully."

So there you have it — feel what you have to. There's no shame in giving into negativity once in a while. We're only human, after all.

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Over the past week, escalating rhetoric between President Donald Trump and North Korea has made Americans increasingly concerned about what the future holds. After Trump promised "retaliation with fire and fury unlike any the world has seen before," North Korea responded that its military was "examining the operational plan" to strike areas around Guam with medium-to-long-range strategic ballistic missiles, according to state-run news agency KCNA.

Today, North Korea said that leader Kim Jong Un was briefed on his military's plans to launch missiles into waters near Guam as part of an effort to create "enveloping fire" near the US military hub in the Pacific.

The comments, while typically belligerent, are significant because they appeared to signal a path to defuse a deepening crisis with Washington over a weapons program that is seen as having the ability to be able to send a nuclear missile to the US mainland.

During an inspection of the army's Strategic Forces, Kim praised the military for drawing up a "close and careful plan" and said he would watch the "foolish and stupid conduct of the Yankees" a little more before deciding whether to give an order for the missile test, the North's official Korean Central News Agency said.

Kim said North Korea will conduct the planned missile launches if the "Yankees persist in their extremely dangerous reckless actions on the Korean Peninsula and its vicinity" and that the United States should "think reasonably and judge property" to avoid shame, the news agency said.

Lobbing missiles toward Guam would be a deeply provocative act from the U.S. perspective. U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said the United Sates would take out any such missile seen to be heading for American soil and declared any such North Korean attack could lead to war.

Kim's comments, however, with their conditional tone, seemed to hold out the possibility that friction could ease if the United States made some sort of gesture that Pyongyang considered a move to back away from previous "extremely dangerous reckless actions." The United States and South Korea plan next week, however, to start annual defensive military drills that the North claims are preparation for invasion.

On Monday, Marine Corps Gen. Joseph Dunford held a series of meetings with senior South Korean military and political officials and the local media. He also made comments that appeared to be an attempt to ease anxiety over tit-for-tat threats between President Donald Trump and North Korea while also showing a willingness to back up Trump's warnings if need be.

Dunford, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the United States wants to peacefully resolve tensions with North Korea. But Washington is also ready to use the "full range" of its military capabilities in case of provocation, Dunford said.

Dunford is visiting South Korea, Japan and China after a week in which Trump declared the US military "locked and loaded" and said he was ready to unleash "fire and fury" if North Korea continued to threaten the United States.

The Korean People's Army's Strategic Forces said last week that it would finalise by mid-August a plan to fire four intermediate ballistic missiles near Guam, which is about 3,200 kilometers (2,000 miles) from Pyongyang, and send it to Kim for his approval.

The North Korean plans to fire near Guam are based on the Hwasong-12, a new intermediate range missile the country successfully flight-tested for the first time in May. The liquid-fuel missile is designed to be fired from road mobile launchers and has been previously described by North Korea as built for attacking Alaska and Hawaii.

The North followed the May launch with two flight tests of its Hwasong-14 ICBM last month. Analysts said that a wide swath of the continental United States, including Los Angeles and Chicago, could be within reach of those missiles, once perfected.

The latest Korea Central News Agency report said Kim ordered his military to be prepared to launch the missiles toward Guam at any time. If the "planned fire of power demonstration" is carried out because of US recklessness, Kim said it will be "the most delightful historic moment when the Hwasong artillerymen will wring the windpipes of the Yankees and point daggers at their necks," the news agency reported.

North Korea is angry about new United Nations sanctions over its expanding nuclear weapons and missile program and annual military drills between Washington and Seoul beginning later this month that Pyongyang condemns as invasion rehearsals.

Kim said that the United States must "make a proper option first and show it through action, as it committed provocations after introducing huge nuclear strategic equipment into the vicinity of the peninsula" and that it "should stop at once arrogant provocations" against North Korea, the Korean Central News Agency said.

Trump has declared the US military "locked and loaded" and said he was ready to unleash "fire and fury" if North Korea continued to threaten the United States.

South Korean President Moon on Monday called for a peaceful solution to the nuclear standoff, saying that "there must not be another war on the Korean Peninsula," according to his office.

In a meeting with top aides at the presidential Blue House, Moon said South Korea would work to safeguard peace on the peninsula in cooperation with the United States and other countries. Moon said North Korea must stop issuing menacing statements and provocations.

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Hours before President Trump was set to return to his home at Trump Tower in Manhattan for the first time since his inauguration, over a thousand protesters gathered along Fifth Avenue to let the sitting president know that he was not welcome in New York City.

The protest, originally set to be against Trump's escalating rhetoric against North Korea, took a new meaning after the white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, VA that left one woman dead and 19 injured in a car attack. Frustrated at Trump's 48-hour delay in condemning white nationalists, people descended on Midtown Manhattan and filled the air with a familiar chant: "No Trump! No KKK! No fascist U.S.A.!"

In the crowd was Dominique Danielle Dixon, a 25-year-old freelance web designer. As a Black woman from Louisiana, Dixon told Refinery29 she was disheartened by the events in Charlottesville and Trump's lacklustre response.

"The whole thing is terrifying. They're not wearing masks. These are not hillbilly people from rural north Louisiana or Mississippi. These are real people making real decisions in our day to day lives," she said. "They're loan officers, they're hiring managers, they're tangible real people who walk around in suits and who went to good schools and talk the right way and walk the right way. It's scary."

She added, "Watching [Trump not disavow white nationalism until today] was incredibly disappointing but it was also terrifying. It should not be difficult. And they took [Trump's silence] as an endorsemen t, as sort of a quiet nod and a thumbs up. It was racist, but it was also straight up anti-Semitic. "

Monday's protest was far from Dixon's first. Over the last couple of years, she's been active in protesting for labour rights, sex workers' rights, and in the Black Lives Matter movement, among others. But she said after the election, she felt hopeless. Dixon asked herself what was the point of fighting for civil rights if a "bombastic, rich, 'I'm-one-of-you candidate' actually managed to put the wool over the eyes over so many American eyes."

She skipped the Women's March, but since then has picked herself back up. Dixon said she calls her representatives in Louisiana and New York, writes letters, and donates as much as she can whenever she can. She is continue to fight for things like women's rights and LGBTQ rights, but is also worried by those who believe Trump will be able to resuscitate a dying industry such as coal mining.

"It's not the liberal issues. He is straight up screwing up his base in an economic way," she said. And when they feel economically screwed over, they're not lashing out against him so much as they're lashing out against immigrants, against minorities. It's pretty much fascism 101."

"Fascism" seemed to be the word of the hour. But there were also signs referencing Trump's penchant for tweeting, comparisons to Hitler, and a single word: "Resign."

It's getting more crowded by the minute. pic.twitter.com/1CwcskWCKQ

— Andrea Cristina (@andreagonram) August 14, 2017

Protesters are still waiting for @POTUS near Trump Tower. pic.twitter.com/ozgQ8xQAtG

— Andrea Cristina (@andreagonram) August 14, 2017

But people like Florencia Giordano got a little more creative. With Beyoncé's iconic "middle fingers up" and the phrase "Boy, bye," the 28-year-old immigrant from Argentina told Refinery29 she came to protest all the "ridiculousness."

"It's incredible and unacceptable that this is happening in this country," she said.

The recent events have taken a toll on Giordano, like on so many of the other people who came to the area surrounding Trump Tower. But she said immigration remains the single most important issue for her. She's a naturalised citizen, but understands how broken the immigration system is and how dangerous it is for President Trump to support legislative efforts to even curb legal immigration.

"I am an immigrant in this country and I think everyone should have the same opportunity. I was privileged enough to get citizenship in a normal amount of years. And I know how hard it can be," she said. "It feels like all the stars need to align for you to get through the whole process, so it's really important for everyone to be able to look for a better life for themselves."

But at the heart of the protest were the events that took place in Charlottesville. A 30-year-old woman, who asked to remain anonymous, told Refinery29 she had come to the protest because that's her hometown.

She said she's been protesting the Trump administration before, but Monday's protest took a new meaning after the weekend.

"[We saw] that side of hate made possible. Everyone feels like they can show their hatred because of this terrible regime," she said. The woman added that her siblings were at the counter-protests, so she knew firsthand how much violence there was, and she said that she would remain in the protest as long as it felt safe.

Still, for her, the reason she was coming to protest President Trump was simple: "It felt important that I be here today."

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Unless you had a really cool Regina George-esque mum, an older sister to spy on or great sex ed (and most of us didn't, let's be honest), you learned about love and relationships like the rest of us – from the great, glossy, OTT, saccharine, angsty rom-coms of the '90s. And unsurprisingly – although at the time we were shook to the core – our awkward experiences of love and sex were never quite as monumental, beautiful and impeccably lit as they were in the movies. That's probably a good thing because in retrospect, these movies gave us some strange, strange advice.

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You may be aware of the glamour and grandeur of the leading fashion weeks in Paris, London, New York and Milan, but Copenhagen has a different approach and mood altogether. With guests making their way between shows on bicycles, and shows themselves starting a good 30 minutes to an hour behind schedule, there's a laid-back quality that reflects the Danes' way of life. But you'd be mistaken in thinking that a relaxed atmosphere means sub-par street style. While there seems to be a uniform of checked blazer, jeans and heels, the Danes are also masters of bold prints and colours. From exaggerated florals to geometric shapes via motocross trousers, poplin shirts, and summer dresses in sunset yellows, postbox reds and electric blues, their outfits celebrated the last weeks of sunshine with vivid and vibrant pieces.

Inspired by the Danish aesthetic, we familiarised ourselves with brands at the Revolver Trade Show, with the likes of Saks Potts, Wood Wood, and Storm & Marie presenting the latest collections. The sartorial inspiration continued on the catwalks, with guests venturing to shows in locations both historical (the majestic courtyard of Charlottenborg Palace) and of-the-moment (an isolated warehouse just outside the self-governing free town Christiania). From Astrid Andersen's sports-inspired ravers to Stine Goya's feminine extravaganza, the collections proved just why Copenhagen Fashion Week is fast on its way to taking its place beside the other cities of style. Our SS18 trend takes? Head-to-toe print, cowboy boots and wide-legged denim (yep, like the pair you had aged 13).

Ahead, we've rounded up the five designers that stole the show for SS18, from their collections to their music choices. Click through to find the Danish brands to introduce to your wardrobe.

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