Of the eight members of Ocean’s 8, Awkwafina aka Nora Lum, is the one who, you could say, is new to this. As she told The Guardian last year, “There are definitely people who are confused that I was cast – I was confused. They are a group of idols. But we got along swimmingly”. In many ways, everything about Awkwafina’s presence at the premiere last night is radical. Her words again:
“The existence of someone like me, especially from my earlier videos, when YouTube was a landscape where not a lot of people saw an Asian-American woman being entirely unashamed – save for (Margaret) Cho – is in itself provocative.”
The three words that resonate with me most there are “being entirely unashamed”. I mean, she may have been confused that this has happened, because the world hasn’t worked this way, ever, but she’s not ashamed or apologetic about it. That’s the next step after inclusion – it’s how you shake off conditioning, by accepting, yourself, that that space belongs to you.
And for Awkwafina, it’s not just this movie. Her new EP, In Fina We Trust, is coming out on Friday, same day as Ocean’s 8:
She’s layering the work with even more work. That’s smart. And there’s even more to build on because in a couple of months, it’ll be Crazy Rich Asians. She’s grinding the f-ck out of this summer then which is exactly what she should be doing: more. That too is exciting. Because “more” wasn’t always a word that women, and women of colour, were allowed to pursue. The best option available, rather, was often just “enough”.
So here she is at the beginning of “more” in a white Reem Acra cape over pants that I would like so much more if not for those buttons.
As for Anne Hathaway, you know what we haven’t talked about? Her stylist. Her NEW stylist. Annie used to work with Rachel Zoe. After that it was Penny Lovell who was still styling her last year. And now? Well now you may have noticed that her style has been tweaked. By none other than Law Roach!
We’ve talked a lot about Law’s work with first Zendaya and then Celine Dion who called him because she was so into Zendaya’s look. Clearly Anne Hathaway noticed because Law has styled her for the entire Ocean’s 8 press tour, leading up to last night’s spectacular Jean Paul Gaultier. It’s exquisite on her. It’s a fresh new silhouette on her. Man I wish now that we could go back to the year Annie won her Oscar and that pink dress I’ll hate forever. Because imagine what she would have worn if she and Law were working together then.
