UK retail sales shrug off Brexit vote. Image copyright Reuters UK retail sales were stronger than expected in August, suggesting consumer confidence has held up in the wake of the Brexit vote. Sales volumes fell by just 0.2% last month, the Office for National Statistics said, while sales were up 6.2% from August last year The ONS said the underlying pattern for the retail sector was "solid growth". "Overall the figures do not suggest any major fall in post-referendum consumer confidence," it said. The sales increase for July was also revised higher from 1.4% to 1.9% - the best performance for the month in 14 years. ING economist James Knightley said the figures offered further evidence that the UK was weathering the short-term effects of the Brexit vote well. "Sterling's fall is likely to have boosted sales of high-end items by foreign tourists as watches and fashions become relatively cheaper for them when bought in the UK versus elsewhere," he added.
"The chances the official data are revised down therefore seem high," he said. What President Trump means for retailers. How will the Trump victory impact other industries? Here's what we know about the President-elect. After a long election night that defied many pollsters' predictions, Donald J. Trump is set to become the next president of the United States, beating out Democratic rival Hillary Clinton by razor-thin margins in key battleground states. The specifics of what this election means for the retail industry will become clearer once Trump and his team produce a budget and lay out their policy agenda. But regardless of the winner, American consumers signaled they aren't happy with the current political climate, with both Trump and Clinton facing historic levels of unfavorability. And that’s not just a problem for Trump, but for retailers, too. “Next January is legislative spring,” David French, senior vice president of government relations at the NRF, told Retail Dive before the election.
In his acceptance speech, Trump made clear he wants to unite the American people. Cover Girl names Muslim beauty blogger Nura Afia as newest ambassador | Fashion. A hijab-wearing beauty blogger has joined the ranks of supermodels and pop stars as the latest person to be named as a brand ambassador for Cover Girl cosmetics. Nura Afia, a practicing Muslim, will appear in commercials and on a billboard in New York City’s Times Square wearing a hijab while promoting one of the largest cosmetics companies in the US. Afia is one of the only women to appear in an advertising campaign for a major cosmetics or fashion brand in the US while wearing a hijab.
“I grew up being insecure about wearing the hijab, and I never thought I would see Muslim women represented on such a large scale,” Afia told Refinery29. But Afia on her own has increased representation by acquiring more than 200,000 subscribers to her YouTube channel, which is filled with videos that showcase her makeup techniques using drugstore and high-end products.
The hijab has become more visible in the US and Europe in the past two years. L'Oréal Paris' latest campaign breaks down racial barriers in beauty. Mila Kunis rails against Hollywood sexism: 'insulted, sidelined, paid less' | Film. The actor Mila Kunis has said a film producer threatened to end her career after she refused to pose half-naked for a men’s magazine. The Hollywood star said the unnamed producer told her “You’ll never work in this town again” when she declined to take part in the photo shoot for a movie being promoted. In an open letter published on A Plus, a website co-founded by her husband, Ashton Kutcher, Kunis said she was “livid” and felt “objectified” following the incident and voiced concerns about gender inequality in the workplace. She wrote: “Throughout my career there have been moments when I have been insulted, sidelined, paid less, creatively ignored and otherwise diminished based on my gender.
“I taught myself that to succeed as a woman in this industry I had to play by the rules of the boys’ club. But the older I got and the longer I worked in this industry, the more I realised that it’s bullshit! And, worse, that I was complicit in allowing it to happen.”