Cece Blythe reflects on the internet's war on chiffon, the true motive behind the Olivia Rodrigo discourse, and the myth of "infantalisation". Credit - Spotify The young ingénue takes to the stage. Lights come up. Crowd stirs in tizzied anticipation. Bass booms. Onto the stage she struts, ready to transport her crowd to the wonderland of her brand new album. A spotlight draws full attention to the starlet, in all her punk glory, and there she stands…in a babydoll dress?  The outrage would be unimaginable. How dare she flounce around the stage, bare legged, infantilised, begging for the world to stare at her body. “Look at me, sexualise me.” it says. And then, it didn’t matter about the music at all. All that mattered was the crowd, and the dress. The year was 1991, and a young Courtney Love centred the stage, as Hole warmed up the crowd for Mudhoney. Fifteen years on, things remain the same: another war-mongering President sits in the Oval Office, another new technologica...

When it comes to the Fourth of July, some things remain the same. Sparkling fireworks, cornhole in the garden, family potluck with enough animosity to fuel a Cold War. And a painstaking fumble of anxiety when it comes to our choice of outfit for the big day. As America celebrates her 250th year, it's about time for an overdue  revamp of those stale stars and stripes. Take a look at these iconic celebrity inspirations through the years. 1.  L. Cohen Paris Hilton wearing Zang Toi Fall 2002, March 2003. 2. Michelle Williams and Kirsten Dunst in Dick (1999). 3.  Scott Gries Destiny's Child performing at the United We Stand Concert in 2001. 4. KMazur Justin Timberlake performing at the same concert. 5. Blumarine S/S 1993, dishing out Kansas Chic, potluck ready. 6. Toni Frissell Vogue's Post WW2 "United We Stand" Cover, 1942. 7. Ginger Spice's iconic Union Jack dress goes West with this take on the Stars and Stripes at the 1997 MTV VMAs. 8. Gregg DeGuire Hilary Duff...

Ahead of Friday’s release of Confessions II, follow up to the seminal Confessions on a Dance Floor and fifteenth album release , Cece Blythe takes a look back at Madonna’s disco revolution—21 years on. It’s 2005. YouTube had barely taken its first breath. Tom Cruise was the messiah of Scientology. Brangelina was born. The world was barren of energy, trapped in the post 9/11-G.W. Bush dictatorial apocalypse. God saw our despair, saw how we thirsted for a saviour. And so, She deployed Madonna to resuscitate. Disco was the prayer, and Confessions on a Dance Floor was the angel. Following the relative flop of her 2000 album American Life, a politicised response to Bush’s war-mongering foreign policy, Madonna was in need of yet another epic reinvention, in a battle to regain the public’s favor. Whilst nurturing two side projects—“ Hello Suckers” , a film about 1920s nightclub hostess, Texas Guinan, (for which Madonna was writing the music, which later became Hard Candy), and a Candy Darl...