By Chiara Piacentini
Staff Writer
This year’s Glamour Awards started off with a bang at One Marylebone. On Oct. 17, Halle Bailey, Lily Allen and Fats Timbo, among others, came out to commemorate the event’s 17th anniversary.
This awards ceremony is a way to celebrate feminism by giving women a voice on important issues, including mental health, gender equality and diversity while also remembering feminists who have influenced us every step of the way.
Host Katherine Ryan started off the show with a riveting speech about the patriarchy. She also touched another pressing topic concerning queer discrimination in UK hospitals.
"Just this month, health Secretary Steve Barclay announced a consultation that could see transgender people banned from same-sex hospital wards, even though it has subsequently been revealed that no cisgender woman has made a formal NHS complaint about sharing a ward with a trans woman,” Ryan said.
Lily Allen brought up the importance of self-worth after receiving the Theatre Actor of the Year Award from Emily Jones. She explained that she originally thought she never deserved the several awards she’s earned over the course of her music career.
“In my mind, awards were for being the best at something, and I didn’t feel like the best at anything,” she said.
Allen continued by reflecting on her 2009 appearance at the Glamour Awards, where she was “put into the back of the car like a baby.” Now, she has put those dramatic days behind her and thanks Glamour for inviting her back after that “embarrassing display.”
Halle Bailey came with her longtime boyfriend, DDG, in tow and gave a cute shout out to her sister, Chloe Bailey, after winning the award for Gen Z Gamechanger.
“For me, I’ve always had my big sister Chloe and looking back and connecting the important tentpole moments that shaped me, my older sister Chloe was always there as my angel of guidance,” she said.
“The Little Mermaid” star also gave some wise words for young women who are struggling to handle the spotlight: “Live your life for you. Don’t waste time living it for social media, you know. Everyone has an opinion, but the only opinion that matters is your own.”
Besides these speeches, looks were all the rave at this event, with Bailey coming out in red velvet lipstick that’s been popularized by celebrities like Selena Gomez and Megan Fox.
Witchy eyeliner was also a popular choice among the attendees and a hail to the grunge girl movement–but with a new twist. Ariana Debose, Laura Whitmore, Leigh-Anne Pinnock and many others were caught sporting this experimental cat eye in different forms.
While each celebrity brought a sense of flair to the party—both physically and linguistically—their speeches created a sense of renewed community and hope to both women in the entertainment industry and the world at large.
