Culture on Cowlpane

Pope Leo Dons Throwback-Style Nike Sneakers For a Rome Stroll

Sat, 09 May 2026 18:12:45 +0000

Originally published by Vanity Fair

We were all burned by theAI-generated prank images ofPope Francisina puffer jacket, but this time, the papal street style is real. In a set of photos that’s sweeping the internet, Pope Leo was well and truly seen in a pair of Nike sneakers, paired with his traditional, priestly robes.

Pope Leo XIV in 2026

Thesuddenly ubiquitous imageshave been taken fromLeone a Roma, a Vatican-produced documentary about theChicago-born pope’s years in Romebefore his ascensionto the Catholic church’s highest role, which happened almost a year ago today.

Princess Anne Wears Her Famous Stalactite Brooch to the Buckingham Palace Garden Party

Sat, 09 May 2026 15:56:05 +0000

Originally published by Vanity Fair

Princess Anne, as we know, isan unconventional soul, even onthe style front. The sister ofKing Charles IIIis rarely seduced by trends, fashions, or labels.Resolute and determined, she lets her ownvery personal convictions guide her choices, even when those might appear to be unusual.

She proved this when ather mother’s funeralshe was spotted with a handbag apparently purchased at the Balmoral Castle gift shop, as well as when she rewears four-decade-old garments from her wardrobe, making them appear new and very current (but how does she do it?).

Art and politics collide as protests reframe the Venice Biennale

Sat, 09 May 2026 12:13:59 +0000

Originally published by Monocle

As the gates of theVenice Biennaleopen to the public today, the heavy doors of the Russian pavilion will close. The substantial security contingent pacing around the building’s perimeter was kept busy by protesters voicing their opposition to both Russia and Israel’s inclusion in this year’s festival.

On Wednesday, with hot pink balaclavas and even hotter fuchsia flares in tow, the art collective Pussy Riot’s chanting forced the Russian pavilion to temporarily close its doors. By the end of Vernissage – the preview week for press and VIPs – an impeccably dressed lone woman stood outside in a fedora, sunglasses and striking checked suit. But it wasn’t her style that kept a steady stream of smartphones and television-news cameras pointed in her direction. On her back was a sign that read: “NO PUTIN NO WAR”. The bright blue Birkin swinging idly from her arm was emblazoned with a crossed-out illustration of the Russian leader’s face.

What Was Lost When a Beloved Home Was Sold—and What Was Gained

Sat, 09 May 2026 12:00:00 +0000

Originally published by Vogue

“Anyone who has once known this land can never be quite free from the nostalgia for it,” D.H. Lawrence said aboutSicily.The statement counts double for the Aeolian Islands and triple for the island ofAlicudi, a gem in the Mediterranean Sea that has been a refuge for my family for 34 years. The island is too steep for cars or roads; instead, hundreds of steps have been built to the top of a now-defunct crater.

The must-see foreign-language titles at Cannes Film Festival 2026

Sat, 09 May 2026 11:01:00 +0000

Originally published by Monocle

There was a particular pleasure in seeing the Cannes line-up and finding that the most anticipated conversations were not about Hollywood titles but instead about films in Spanish, Polish, Farsi, French and Flemish. The 2026 edition of the world’s most high-profile film festival feels, in the best possible sense, like a reflection of a world that is tired of buying into US exceptionalism. While there are American entries from filmmakers James Gray (Paper Tiger) and Ira Sachs (The Man I Love), Hollywood does not dominate the dialogue. The aftermath of the writers’ and actors’ strikes, a wave of controversial studio mergers, the prohibitive costs of shooting in Los Angeles, and an increasingly inhospitable climate towards the arts in the US have collectively loosened Hollywood’s grip on cinema – and voices from elsewhere have filled the space.

Five pavilions to see at the Venice Biennale

Sat, 09 May 2026 10:20:00 +0000

Originally published by Monocle

JapanWhile there might be few children elsewhere in the Giardini, Japan’s pavilion boasts roughly 200 babies. The dolls are hanging from the ceiling, creeping around fire extinguishers and roaming the pavilion’s perimeters. There’s even one peering down from the roof of the building. Visitors are invited to pick up and hold the weighted dolls or to even “change their diapers” (revealing a hidden QR code that leads to a poem). “The dolls weigh 5.5kg,” says artist Ei Arakawa-Nash. “It’s much heavier than you might expect, so usually people instantly smile and their facial expression softens. Until the show opened, I couldn’t have anticipated that.” The co-created performance is undoubtedly a strange one but it’s surprising how many who take part appear comforted by carrying around a doll. The result is tender and unexpectedly moving.

TON price doubles after Telegram made a move critics say cuts against crypto’s core promise

Sat, 09 May 2026 07:14:09 +0000

Originally published by CryptoSlate

Toncoin (TON) surged from roughly $1.32 on May 1 to an intraday high of $2.90 by May 7, pushing its market cap to approximately $7.8 billion. The catalyst was Pavel Durov’s announcement that Telegram would replace the TON Foundation as the network’s primary driving force and become its largest valid

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‘Don’t get too friendly with the wine waiter at lunch’ and 14 other public-speaking tips

Fri, 08 May 2026 23:01:00 +0000

Originally published by Monocle

The low mark was Chengdu, 2019. Monocle was in town to host a conference about making better cities. It was a great event, well, until the incident.Over the years, I have learned to enjoy being on stage moderating talks, interviewing interesting people. And, with practice, I have discovered a few tricks to keep my nerves in check and panellists feeling that they have been heard.In Chengdu I remember feeling rather happy with myself as I prepared to wrap my final panel, just pausing to take a couple of questions from the audience before exiting. I scanned the room for raised hands and, several rows back, spotted someone waving. “Can we get the mic to the gentleman in the black coat,” I said, not realising the calamity that was about to hit.

Let’s build better: Three Hong Kong design projects to watch

Fri, 08 May 2026 23:01:00 +0000

Originally published by Monocle

1.The rooftop playgroundOnebite Design Studio

This new rooftop space in Tin Shui Wai, a satellite town in northwesternHong Kong, was designed by Onebite Design Studio as a response to urban density. The firm’s research into the New Territories precinct found that the open space per person in the north of Tin Shui Wai was less than 1 sq m, falling far short of the government’s 3.5 sq m benchmark.

At the Ali Forney Center’s Annual Gala, Tommy Dorfman, Liev Schreiber, and Virtual Zohran Mamdani Raised Over $3 Million for LGBTQ+ Youth

Fri, 08 May 2026 19:17:09 +0000

Originally published by Vanity Fair

To attend the Ali Forney Center’s A Place at the Table gala in New York City—an annual fundraiser forLGBTQ+ youthexperiencing homelessness—is to wonder, at least initially, why it’s so hard to find, well, a place at the table. The pleasantly buzzy ballroom, cast in semi-dimmed lighting, filled with excited chatter and clinking silverware, felt like a slightly unwieldy wedding reception. VIP guests includingCynthia Nixon,Harper Steele,Tommy Dorfman, Jelani Alladin, andLouisa Jacobsongathered to recognize Chappell Roan, as well as Liev and Taylor Schreiber, with Luminary Awards. Black transgender activist Gia Love accepted the Ali Forney Award.

New York’s Elite Come Together at The Hollywood Reporter’s Most Powerful People in Media Party

Fri, 08 May 2026 19:06:34 +0000

Originally published by Vanity Fair

Ella Emhoff is a Shoshanna. “I’ve been rewatchingGirls,” she said Thursday atThe Hollywood Reporter’s Most Powerful People in Media party. She’s currently reading Lena Dunham’s new book,Famesick,and “taking a break from media to center myself.” She has found a newfound appreciation of the show, watching it as she reads Dunham’s memoir, and relates to Shoshanna’s “anxiety and OCD. I’m not a Marnie, not at all,” she joked.

A Confused ‘Animal Farm’ for a Confused Time

Fri, 08 May 2026 18:30:48 +0000

Originally published by Foreign Policy

What the latest Orwell adaptation says about our politics.

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Some authors make such an impact they become adjectives. Without even reading their work most know what “Byronic,” “Dickensian,” and “Kafkaesque” suggest, but no term is as chilling as “Orwellian.” It connotes a dystopian society ruled by a ruthless and manipulative government that suspends its misinformed populace in fear while under constant surveillance. These themes of course permeate George Orwell’s final major work,1984, but these dark seeds are also found in the “fairy story” (its original subtitle) that he published four years earlier:Animal Farm, a novella still taught to middle school kids.

It’s the Most Controversial Venice Biennale in Years. Can the Art Stand Up to the Noise?

Fri, 08 May 2026 18:01:13 +0000

Originally published by Vanity Fair

I was standing with Alma Allen in the middle of the US Pavilion atthe Venice Biennale. It was Tuesday, the first day of the VIP preview, and while it wasn’t packed, as it’s a tough invite to get—everyone present had been vetted by the exhibition’s governing body. Allen was wearing some fashionable sandals that he got in town during the weeks he was installing his show. The artist Oscar Murillo came in as Getty presidential scholar Sandra Jackson-Dumont walked out. Allen didn’t speak with them.

A Guide to the 2026 Cannes Film Festival, From a Starry Jury to White Lotus Filming

Fri, 08 May 2026 17:17:13 +0000

Originally published by Vanity Fair

“You will never see cinema in a better place than we see it here at theCannes Film Festival,” Halle Berry, who served on last year’s jury,toldVanity Fairlast May. “So when the lights go down, I become five again and I’m just excited to enter into whatever world is about to be presented in the best cinema in the world…. It’s just life-changing.”

This year, there are21 films in competitionfor jurors and attendees to experience at the 79th Cannes Film Festival, which runs from Tuesday, May 12 through Saturday, May 23, 2026. Movers and shakers from across entertainment, tech, and media, along with evena few royals, descend upon the Croisette to watch groundbreaking filmmaking, show off their red-carpet fashions, and honor the titles that could be headed toward Oscar glory. There is also a lot of performative clapping involved—but the less made aboutthe length of standing ovationsat film festivals the better.

Dr. Owen Hunt Scrubs Out: Kevin McKidd on Nearly 20 Years of Playing a ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ Antihero

Fri, 08 May 2026 14:39:33 +0000

Originally published by Vanity Fair

Kevin McKidd had reached cruising altitude, somewhere along the flight from Los Angeles to his native Scotland, when he realized his 18-season run onGrey’s Anatomywas actually over. “I didn’t let myself feel stuff until I got on the plane that night,” McKidd toldVanity Fairahead of the show’s season 22 finale, in which his character, Dr. Owen Hunt, departed Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital for the last time.

Want to Live Like Miranda Priestly? Meet the Man Behind the Best Art and Decor in ‘The Devil Wears Prada 2’

Fri, 08 May 2026 12:00:00 +0000

Originally published by Vanity Fair

The fashion inThe Devil Wears Prada 2is exactly what you’d expect—Armani couture, Valentino shoes, aSchiaparellisuit. The interiors, however, are a delightful surprise.

Twenty years ago, the first film set forth that late 2000s, early Millennial sensibility—minimal, muted, highly textural. There were charcoal walls and white flowers and mid-century modern furniture and lots of ivory carpeting: stylish, but not necessarily memorable. Those interiors have by now become standardized.The sequeldid away with this cookie-cutter idea of taste and embraced the whimsy. Its interiors, be that Miranda Priestly’s (Meryl Streep) hotel room in Milan or Lily’s (Tracie Thoms) fabulous New York apartment, are surprisingly playful. That is because they’ve been furnished with the work of one of New York’s most imaginative artists:Misha Kahn.

Billie Eilish Doesn't Know if There Will Ever Be Another Billie Eilish

Fri, 08 May 2026 10:15:00 +0000

Originally published by Wired

Nearly a decadeago,Billie Eilish, then 13 years old, put “Ocean Eyes” on SoundCloud and catapulted to global super stardom.

It was the kind of ascent aspiring singers dream of, propelled by a platform that at the time wasn’t known for unearthing pop stars. But if you ask her now, even Eilish, now 24, doesn’t know if someone else could replicate her success. “Oh my god!” she says when asked where the next Billie Eilish might be discovered. “I have no idea.”

Is Kari Lake Leaving Voice of America, Seeking Another Trump Administration Job?

Fri, 08 May 2026 00:43:05 +0000

Originally published by Vanity Fair

About two months ago a US district court judge ruled that Kari Lake, the MAGA firebrand and election truther, had been illegally appointed to run the US Agency for Global Media, which oversees Voice of America. Lake insisted in a statement at the time that she would be staying on at the agency, but the ruling raised questions about what power, if any, she now holds at a department President Donald Trump has sought to gut since he stormed back into the White House last year.