Jenni Avins

Marina Silva, who will challenge Dilma Rousseff in a run for the Brazilian presidency, is known for many things. She unionized rubber tappers in the Amazon alongside legendary activist Chico Mendes in the 1980s. She became the country’s youngest female senator at 35. She cracked down on illegal deforestation as environment minister under former president Luis Inácio Lula da Silva—and then walked out in protest when she was unsatisfied with his policies in the Amazon.

In the wake of Brazilian presidential candidate Eduardo Campos’ death in a plane crash last week in Santos, Sao Paulo, there has been much discussion over who would succeed him as the Brazilian Socialist Party’s (PSB) candidate. Now, it appears the PSB will officially announce Campos’ vice-presidential running mate Marina Silva’s candidacy at a meeting on Aug 20.

Protocol for hair-washing was once pretty standard: lather up your head with shampoo, rinse, and follow up with conditioner to moisturize and detangle. But shampoo, that old standby in the shower—and a market worth $27.7 billion worldwide, according to Euromonitor—may be on its way out.

Remember when people window-shopped for fun? The founders of the new mobile shopping app Spring, launching today, want to recreate that feeling on your smartphone: an enticing, browsable place where each brand controls its own “window,” and inspired users can easily make purchases. Imagine Instagram with a “buy” button, and without the crippling sense of envy and inadequacy.

The American TV presenter and media magnate Ryan Seacrest is the latest entrepreneur to tackle the “problem” of men dressing themselves.

One of the comedian Marc Maron’s great strengths, which he demonstrates on his bi-weekly podcast, is the ability to be vulnerable and open, whether discussing addiction, anxiety, heartbreak, or anger. In turn he allows his guests—among them great writers, actors, musicians, and comedians—to do the same. In 2010, Maron visited Robin Williams at his home in Marin County, California. “On the fame scale, he’s probably the biggest interview I’ve ever done,” a nervous Maron tells listeners from his car on the way to Williams’ home.

I recently had a chat with Edward Lando and Yagil Burowski, the founders of a two-week old startup called BlackV Club.

Procrastinating carnivores, rejoice! Cook’s Illustrated‘s Dan Souza took on the conventional wisdom that frozen steaks should be thawed before cooking, and found it to be invalid. As you’ll see in the video below, Souza and his team froze eight steaks, then thawed some in the refrigerator, while leaving the others frozen. They seared each set of steaks in a pan, and then transferred them to a 275 °F (135 °C) oven.

Tuesday night, president Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama invited more than 50 heads of state to an outdoor dinner party at the White House, one of many events surrounding a three-day US-Africa Leaders Summit. At the party—which was decidedly less formal than an official state dinner—African leaders and their spouses’ fashion choices brought new levels of color saturation, hair volume, and flashy accessories to the White House.

Who wants to watch Martha Stewart’s garden grow and lavish American wedding parties when aerial photographers are capturing surfers on mountainous swells with drones? Hawaii-based photographer Eric Sterman used a GoPro camera attached to a DroneFly Phantom 2 quadcopter to shoot surfers take on towering waves during two days at Jaws —one of the world’s most famous surf breaks, on Maui’s north shore. (We highly recommend you watch this on full-screen mode.)

The numbers: Rough. Coach’s profits plummeted 66% to $75.3 million from $221.3 million a year ago. The American high-end accessories brand’s quarterly net sales fell 7% to $1.14 billion.

One hundred years before post-millennial parents were deeming Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs inappropriate for young vegans, the children’s librarians of the New York Public Library kept a card catalog of hand-typed kids’ book reviews.

Feminists and parents are praising US clothing company Lands’ End for launching science-themed t-shirts for girls. The shirts were a direct response—and a very quick one—to a mother who posted a letter on Lands’ End’s Facebook page when her nine-year-old daughter was disappointed to discover that t-shirts with the solar system, sharks, and dinosaurs were limited to the boys’ section of the catalog.

This fall will bring new temptations for male enthusiasts of “soft dressing“—as designers try to convince men to embrace the increasingly common practice of wearing athletic clothing in everyday life, and even to the office. (Also see: “athleisure.”)

Long before Gwyneth had Goop or Martha Stewart was Martha Stewart, a broad-hipped caramel blonde from Massachusetts stormed America’s kitchen culture. She was no genetically gifted life coach or goddess of domesticity. In the 1930s, the original culinary cash cow was actually, well, a cow. Her name was Elsie.

The numbers: Frail. During the first half, profits from recurring operations fell 5% at the parent of fashion labels including Louis Vuitton, Marc Jacobs, Celine, and Givenchy and spirit brands such as Moët & Chandon and Hennessy. Sales climbed a modest 2.7% to €14 billion ($18.9 billion).

In the 15 months since the Rana Plaza factory collapse killed more than 1,130 Bangladeshi garment workers, the country’s apparel industry, which accounts for nearly 80% of its exports, has been under intense scrutiny. Western clothing companies, Bangladeshi factories, trade associations, and international labor organizations have negotiated labor reforms and safety modifications to prevent another such tragedy.

In recent years, the Parisian luxury house Hermès—best known for accessories such as its iconic Birkin bag, richly printed silk scarves, and equestrian-inspired leather goods—has regained high-fashion credibility in the realm of womenswear. That’s largely thanks to designer Christophe Lemaire, who took the reins of women’s ready-to-wear for Hermès in June of 2010, after a decade at Lacoste.

The numbers: Steady. For VF Corp, the company whose brands include Timberland, The North Face, Vans, Nautica, and Wrangler, quarterly net sales rose a respectable 8% to $2.4 billion in the second quarter, compared with $2.2 billion in 2013. Profits grew by 14%, to $158 million.

Dolce and Gabbana’s alta moda show—their Italian version of “haute couture”—brought 220 guests (including European aristocrats, at least two princesses, and one representative shopping on a Middle Eastern client’s behalf) to the rocky shore of Capri’s La Fontelina beach club. There were crashing waves, garlands of lemons and bay leaves, and sailor-shirted waiters bearing pink champagne. The Wall Street Journal’s Christina Binkley boarded 51-year-old designer Stefano Gabbana’s yacht while attending the event, and reported that it has five cabins, eel-skin covered walls, and a mirrored exterior to reflect the sea. It also has black toilet paper.

Finally.

There are many ways to celebrate man’s first walk on the moon, which took place almost exactly 45 years ago on July 20, 1969. General Electric is marking the occasion with some very special high-top sneakers.

Japanese police arrested artist Megumi Igarashi in Tokyo yesterday. Her alleged crime was sharing the data necessary to 3D print a model of her own vagina. According to the charges against her, that represents unlawful electronic distribution of obscene material, and could result in a fine and up to two years in prison.

In a reversal of global trade patterns, a Hong Kong shoe company recently opened a factory in Jefferson City, Tennessee. Loretta Lee, the founder and chairwoman of Merchant House International Ltd.—which makes everything from industrial work boots to kitchen towels and Christmas decorations—told the Wall Street Journal she found it “ridiculous” to ship US cow hides across the Pacific to be processed, made into shoes, and returned to US consumers as leather goods. But that has been the pattern (and presumably Merchant House’s mode of operations with boots made in its factories in Tianjin, China) since Chinese-made shoes came to dominate the US market in recent decades.