Dakota Johnson Wore the Quietly Sexy Denim Trend I'm All in On - InStyle

When you hear the word denim, you don’t immediately think of the word “sexy.” Sheer dresses are sexy. Lace-y tops are also sexy. I think we can all agree on those. Denim? Not everyone would think blues are sexy, but I say they are, depending on the silhouette and how you style them, of course. Dakota Johnson just demonstrated this to a T. 

The actress was photographed out and about in the Big Apple. Given her cool-girl style, her two-piece look isn’t all that shocking; Johnson keeps it relatively simple with her outfits, but simple doesn’t equal boring or basic; just peek at her ensemble as proof. She played with proportions by pairing an itty-bitty black tank top that exposed her midriff with oversized, low-rise blue jeans with an exaggerated hem. The big pants, little top combo is back to play—and Johnson officially kicked off its reign. 

While you normally wouldn’t think baggy jeans are sexy, I think they’re quietly, subtly just that: sexy. They’re alluring and daring in their bagginess; the sexiness comes, in part, from the fact that you don’t need to wear skin-tight bottoms. Because oftentimes, the sexiest pieces are those that don’t try too hard, and baggy jeans definitely don’t.

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Not to mention, baggy jeans are incredibly comfy and perfect for the summer months—not only do they make for a sexy outfit, but also a practical one. No wonder Johnson wore her pair on a hot NYC day, paired with a teeny top that’s also a summer must-have. The actress rounded out her easy going outfit with a pair of mint-colored Adidas Sambas, proving the two things: Sambas are the ‘It’ sneakers of the season, as are pastel-colored kicks, the perfect in-between if white kicks are too bland for you. Jennifer Garner recently wore mint green kicks, and frankly, after seeing Johnson’s style, I’m now convinced I need a pair, too. 

Baggy jeans + teeny-tiny top + sneakers = the summer outfit of my dreams. It’s comfy, but it’s also cool and sexy, and that’s all I could ever want in a look. Shop more baggy jeans inspired by Johnson’s below.

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'Challengers' Is Sexy ... but Is It Good Tennis? - The New York Times

On Friday, Luca Guadagnino’s “Challengers” was released in theaters across the United States and Canada. The film follows three tennis players who, over the course of several years, compete against one another and become entangled in an ever-shifting love triangle.

Melissa Kirsch, our deputy editor of Culture and Lifestyle, talks to the sports journalist Cindy Shmerler about how accurately the film portrays the world of tennis on and off the court.

On today’s episode

Additional reading

The New York Times Audio app is home to journalism and storytelling, and provides news, depth and serendipity. If you haven’t already, download it here — available to Times news subscribers on iOS — and sign up for our weekly newsletter.

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In Challengers, Ambition Is Sexy Again But At A Cost - Refinery29

Photo: Courtesy of Amazon MGM Studios.

Spoilers ahead. We’re living in an era of anti-ambition, as the New York Times coined it. As the pandemic raged on, already thin boundaries grew even thinner as steady work became more precarious, leading to burnout and waves of quiet quitting, the image of the career-driven person glued to their phones during social functions or dropping everything for a “work emergency” during off-hours, became less and less attractive. After all, why would the goal-focused workaholic be an appealing partner when, instead, you could have someone who prioritized a healthy work-life balance and focused on more personal, fulfilling things? But Challengers, in which attraction and desire are intrinsically linked to drive and competition, makes ambition sexy once again — while also proving it can still come at a cost. 

The Luca Guadagnino-directed film stars Zendaya, Josh O’Connor (The Crown), and Mike Faist (West Side Story) as a trio of tennis players tangled in a love triangle and bounces across time. There’s the current day, during which famous pro Art (Faist) is competing against his former friend and struggling athlete Patrick (O’Connor) in the finals of a lower-level tournament in New York, and the past, which starts 13 years earlier when the duo meets 18-year-old Tashi Duncan (Zendaya), a young woman who has already been labeled as tennis’ next big superstar, and leads back to the present. It’s here, in these characters’ pasts, that the connection between ambition and attraction starts to form both on and off the court. 

“Tennis is a metaphor for so many other things: attraction, passion, desire. And these characters, at the end of the day, are incredibly complicated and messy,” Zendaya tells Refinery29. “The alternate [movie] title could be codependency instead of Challengers. They are searching for something in life that they can’t just quite get on their own, so they do whatever they can to be seen by each other. They’re kind of screaming out just to be in contact, to be able to touch, to be felt seen by somebody else because they feel very alone, and it makes them act out almost childishly.” 

When we meet teenage Art and Patrick, it’s clear that they’re both impressive tennis players. They’ve just won a doubles final together and will be competing against each other in the singles final. Still, there is something so unserious about them. They wear clothes that don’t fit quite right, joke about “letting” each other win certain points, and take their spot in the final — and the talent that got them there — for granted. They are charming yet silly boys who, frankly, lack the star power to earn attention.

Then, they meet Tashi. Art and Patrick lay eyes on the tennis prodigy for the first time while she’s on the court playing her finals match (she wins with ease). They can’t take their eyes off her, but it’s not just because she’s gorgeous (duh), or that they’re simply attracted to her (they unabashedly are). They are mesmerized by her skill and intense drive. When Tashi plays tennis, losing is not an acceptable outcome, and that is hot. 

That night, Art and Patrick stay late at Tashi’s victory party hoping to spend more time with her despite the fact that their final is early the next morning — which she quickly notes, the slightest hint of judgment in her tone. And when Patrick offers Tashi a cigarette, you can tell she’s about ready to write him off — why would a serious athlete do that to her body? — especially while he pokes fun at her plans to continue her education, like Art (they’ll both be attending Stanford), instead of going pro like he plans to do. Here, a spark of understanding flashes between Tashi and Art. On a fundamental level, he gets her plans and the way she carefully considers her career; that’s something that lies within him too. Art lacks confidence but wants to be better; Patrick treats tennis as, well, a game. While both boys are volleying for her attention, it's that brief connection that makes you want to cheer for Art. Tashi deserves someone who understands her goals and whose own drive could potentially match her own. In this moment, Patrick is the fun fling; Art is the guy who could maybe come close to her level. 

Ambition and desire come to a head — almost literally — when the trio find themselves back in Art and Patrick’s hotel room, a scene now made infamous from the trailer. Tashi teases them, trying to pull their individual drive and competitive spirit to the forefront by offering the winner of the next day’s final the ultimate prize: her phone number. Suddenly, the two friends are more than ready to compete, leading to a steamy makeout session — first between all three of them, then between Art and Patrick. Their unspoken attraction toward each other is unlocked by Tashi’s own ambition and her desire to be surrounded by it. It’s the sexiest moment of the movie because each character is going after what they want, unencumbered and ultimately satisfied with the results while still wanting to push for more. 

But ambition being the main force behind attraction and desire eventually starts to take its toll. While competing at Stanford and dating Patrick (he won her number) some time later, Tashi experiences a career-ending injury, leaving her nowhere to channel her all-consuming ambitions. This is how she and Art become reacquainted after graduating. He’s been fueled by grander ambitions since their first meeting, his skill has improved and he’s starting to win. But he still has room to level up — something both he and Tashi recognize and want. So, Art hires her to be his coach, they giddily make out — their lofty goals turning them on. The spark that was there from their first meeting is now a full flame, and, eventually, they’re married, share a child, and, thanks to Tashi, Art is a multi-Grand Slam-winning tennis star.  

By the present day, however, that spark is completely gone, replaced by a coldness. Tashi has orchestrated Art’s entire career, propelling them both to “Royal Couple of Tennis” status. But Art’s ambitions have waned — he has, perhaps, passed his athletic peak and wants to spend more time with their kid — while Tashi’s have not. Art had let Tashi dictate the majority of his career and had taken on her ambitions as his own. Now that Art no longer wants what she wants, their relationship has become all business. It’s a stark reminder that, yes, ambition and drive can be hot — especially when your partner matches your energy — but it can’t be the only thing between you. Priorities change — people change — and if you let your career be central to your identity, eventually you’ll hit a wall.

“[For] these characters, their attraction is almost about the qualities each one of them lack,” Faist said. “Art is arguably the least talented tennis player, but he’s also the least secure. Both [Tashi and Patrick] have a very deep sense of self, and so he’s attracted to that innate quality that the both of them possess and that he simply does not. Because he is drawn to that, he allows himself, and his own identity, to be thrown to the wayside, and we see him at the tail end of his career start to realize and come to terms with that.” 

Reaching for ambition, then, becomes a desperate act for our trio. In a moment of self-doubt, Tashi tells Art, “Or you can keep being a tennis player. Which is what you are,” trying to push him back to his once-attractive self. Art, for his part, searches for that bygone ambition within him as a way to keep Tashi’s interest, begging her to tell him that she’ll leave him if he loses to Patrick in the final of the tournament. And Patrick, sensing the tension between his former friend and lover and refusing to accept that his lack of drive has squandered his own talents and desires, tells Tashi that Art “is ready to be dead. Who will he be to you if he’s not playing tennis?” 

As adult Art and Patrick face off in their final (which is broken up in scenes across the film), Tashi finds it hard to watch, in part because neither man is playing their best tennis. Their game lacks ambition. Whoever loses feels like they will lose everything, so they’re scared and sloppy. But as the match continues, Art and Patrick find their way back to each other, connecting like they did in that moment when they first met Tashi, and allow themselves to acknowledge their drive desires. Tashi is on the edge of her seat, her head whipping back and forth as she follows their high-stakes tête-à-tête. At last, she’s no longer alone in her ambition, and to her, there is nothing sexier. 

But we’ve seen this play out already. Striving for greatness is thrilling and propulsive in the moment, but also begs the question: once match point is served and they’ve all left the court, will anything actually be left for them?

Challengers is in theaters on April 26.

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Blue Lights recap: series two, episode three – sexy, messy affairs - The Guardian

The series reached its midway mark with simmering tension and surprise tragedy. Here’s your sit-rep on the third episode, titled Love Knows …

Lee’s power grab

After the frighteningly efficient hit on the loyalist crime lord Jim Dixon, it was action stations. Extra manpower was deployed in case of reprisals on the Mount Eden estate. Dixie’s arch-rival Davy Hamill (Tony Flynn) was questioned after issuing death threats to Dixie but as his slick lawyer pointed out, the detectives had nothing. So why did the hotshot brief suddenly drop Hamill’s case? Because there was a new player in town.

The ambitious publican Lee Thompson (Séamus O’Hara) persuaded the Dublin mob to let him take over Belfast’s entire drug supply. He’s not affiliated to either warring gang but would be more discreet, using his taxi firm to shift product. The Dubliners loaned him a holdall full of banknotes to set up his network. No going back now.

Having less joy was David “Jonty” Johnston (Jonathan Harden), brought back for his local knowhow. Attempts to reassure a public meeting backfired when self-elected spokesperson Lee, now hiding in plain sight, asked why non-interventionist police gave a pass to “scumbag paramilitaries” such as Dixon and Hamill. Community leader, peacekeeper, drug baron – can he really combine these roles? When Jonty popped into the Loyal pub, Lee’s sister Mags (Seána Kerslake) gave him a gobful for failing the estate. Definitely history there. Could Jonty have fathered her son? He has form for unwise affairs with redheads.

Charlie could’ve prevented Casualties

He relented a tad too easily, but retired RUC ­officer Robin Graham (Derek Thompson) agreed to talk to lawyer Jen (Hannah McClean). After trying to claim compensation for PTSD, Graham and his special branch colleagues had been threatened with prison for violating the Official Secrets Act. Now he was too old to care.

Back in his 20s, he’d heard about a planned bombing from a reliable source. To protect the young asset – who went on to supply intel for 20 years, saving many lives – Graham allowed the chip shop explosion to go ahead. What’s more, his bosses signed off on it. At the prospect of learning the truth behind his family’s deaths, “Happy” Kelly (Paddy Jenkins) lived up to his name – although with such historical cases being closed, it would be a struggle. Could the secret source or complicit superiors be anyone we know?

We’re idiots. Very sexy idiots

Two Glocks on a bedroom floor. It could only mean a workplace affair. After their messy night out, Annie (Katherine Devlin) woke up next to shifty Shane (Frank Blake). While she swore him to secrecy, he took a morning-after selfie. Could he be looking for leverage? Their one-night stand seems more consequential to the plot than a benign bunk-up. Shane let Grace see him emerging from the bedroom – possibly deliberately.

His day didn’t improve at work. DS Murray Canning (Desmond Eastwood) was on the warpath, badly lacking leads and “the guy I’m relying on is sweating buckets, stinking of drink”. If Shane doesn’t deliver, Canning will deny his transfer to the taskforce. Manning a roadblock, Shane showed his true colours by victimising Rab Thompson (Dan Gordon) for his past imprisonment and humiliating him in front of 12-year-old Henry (Alfie Lawless). Annie said he wasn’t just inflaming the situation but enjoying it. Shane snapped: “It’s called policework.” Oh Annie, what have you done? I blame those flaming sambucas.

Stevie confronts his past

As tensions rose in Mount Eden and doors were slammed in their faces, Stevie (Martin McCann) and Grace (Siân Brooke) were relieved to be called elsewhere. Unfortunately, the suspicious death turned out to be a harrowing one. A cancer patient had just died. The district nurse was convinced his husband, Chris (a devastating performance from Chris Robinson) had administered morphine in an assisted death.

Memories of the death of his late wife came flooding back for Stevie. In poignant scenes, he reluctantly arrested Chris before quietly telling him to act confused in his CID interview. The exhaustion of being sole carer could mean he’d made a mistake with the dosage. Humane policing, in contrast to Shane’s provocative posturing. Yet there was more melancholy to come. Stevie finally admitted he’d been overprotective of Grace because “I don’t want the worst thing in the world to happen to me again”. In a nod to the late, great Gerry’s catchphrase, they agreed to “take a beat”. Wise? Probably. Heart-wrenching? Definitely.

‘It’s all kicking off up your way’

Our tangled twosomes might soon find themselves joined by another. When Tommy (Nathan Braniff) met Aisling (Dearbháile McKinney) in the “countryside” – OK, their regular roadside diner halfway to Derry – her wise view of intelligence policing was “that shite always ends up messy”. Before Tommy was recalled from his morning off, Aisling checked he was OK with her being seconded to Belfast for a few days.

Back on duty, he and Sgt Sandra Cliff (Andi Osho) pulled over a suspicious taxi. At the wheel was Lee’s enforcer, Craig McQuarrie (Craig McGinlay). When Sandra clocked his loyalist tattoo, she ordered a search of the car. Hands up if you thought Craig was going to pull a weapon. Despite his unconvincing excuse that he was en route to the bank, they seized the bag of loot under the Proceeds of Crime Act.

At the station, Jonty was just despairing that they’d “lost” Mount Eden when Lee arrived to ask for his cash back. They need an inside informant. He needs his drug money. This could be the start of a beautiful friendship.

Blue Lights lingo decoded

A Line of Duty-esque flurry of acronyms included MIT (Major Investigation Team), ARVs (Armed Response Vehicles), SIO (Senior Investigating Officer) and VCPs (Vehicle Checkpoints).

Squad car soundtrack

Tommy and Sandra were listening to Burn the Black Suit by County Tyrone singer-songwriter Juliet Turner. We also heard an eerie version of the traditional children’s song I’ll Tell Me Ma, AKA The Belle of Belfast City.

Line of the week

“The problem with you Nordies is that youse love chaos. It’s just messy. But it is profitable” – the Dubliner’s view of Belfast.

In our police notebooks

• Amid the Mount Eden mayhem, it was reassuring to hear the legendary but unseen Barney (the voice of actor Frankie McCafferty) on radio dispatch duty as always. Wonder if we’ll ever meet him?

• Aisling affectionately called Tommy a “slabber”, a Derry Girls favourite meaning a cheeky tyke.

• The east Belfast bar the Cock & Hens, which stands in for the Loyal pub, is for sale, in case you’re interested.

Rejoin us next Monday for another Blackthorn debrief. In the meantime, take a beat, then please share your spoiler-free thoughts and theories below …

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Paris Hilton Looks Stunning In Sexy Magazine Photo Shoot - TMZ

Paris Hilton has always been a sex symbol, but now, at 43, the mother of two has never looked better – or sexier!

Paris recently posed for a sultry photo spread for this month's Flaunt magazine -- and she showed off her amazing naked body on the cover while sporting cool black sunglasses and flashing chunky Versace and Saint Laurent wrist bracelets.

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Other images saw Paris dressed in provocative lingerie comprised of black panties, fishnet stockings, and a sheer leotard topped off by a maroon leather blazer.

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Paris also ripped a page out of Bianca Censori's fashion book with her black leather mini skirt that barely covered her butt and breasts.

As part of the shoot, Paris gave an interview to the mag, revealing that her husband, Carter Reum, was able to break through the barriers she put up around her heart from her past pain and trauma, which prevented her from letting anyone in.

She said Reum made her feel so safe her walls came crashing down and now she feels "this love that I've never felt before." The couple share 2 kids together -- 1-year-old Phoenix and their new kiddo, London.

Paris certainly has her hands full ... but from the looks of it ... she seems to be managing quite well.

TMZ.com

Paris also joined Vampire Weekend on stage last weekend at Coachella ... and Ezra Koenig from the group told us all about how fun it was to work with the fashion legend.

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Challengers review – Zendaya holds court in absurdly sexy three-way tennis romance - The Guardian

Nobody harnesses horniness quite like Luca Guadagnino. With his lavish, luxurious portrait of forbidden lust, the Tilda Swinton-starring I Am Love, Guadagnino embraced one of cinema’s most cliched symbolic sensual devices, filling the frame with come-hither shots of delectable food. But somehow, in his hands, this hackneyed metaphor feels fresh, and the film is a skin-tingling exploration of erotic tension. Then there’s Call Me By Your Name, with its scenes of peach-grappling and languid yearning, in which even the spaces between the characters are charged with longing. And Bones and All, which virtually rebrands cannibalism as a legitimate kink. But even by Guadagnino’s highly charged standards, Challengers is an absurdly sexy movie. With its power plays and exquisite cruelty, the shimmering beauty of its three leads and their tantalising interlocking desires, and the slow-motion shots of pooling sweat dripping on to the lens, the film borders on trashy at times, but it’s so much fun that it’s practically indecent.

At the very centre of the story, and providing much of the muscular energy that drives it, is a never better Zendaya. Deploying every last drop of her silky star quality, she plays Tashi, a former tennis prodigy. When we meet her, Tashi is now coaching her husband, Art (Mike Faist, channelling a thorny combination of brash entitlement and neediness), a multi-grand-slam-winning tennis champion who has hit a confidence-sapping losing streak. And it’s more than his career that hangs in the balance. The stress is compounded because Art is well aware that for his wife, losers are a massive turn-off. “I love you,” he says plaintively. “I know,” she purrs, lazily uninterested. Advantage Tashi.

Steely, businesslike and definitely the one who wears the tennis shorts in this relationship, she decides to pull her floundering husband out of a high-profile forthcoming competition and to enter him instead into a low-stakes regional Challenger tournament, the 2019 Phil’s Tire Town Challenger in New Rochelle, New York. The idea is that the podunk circuit, frequented mainly by unseeded players at the very beginning or end of their careers, is unlikely to throw up an opponent who will further dent Art’s beleaguered game.

What the couple hadn’t anticipated was that they would encounter Patrick Zweig (a devilishly charming Josh O’Connor), a washed-up former hotshot coasting on charisma and the pocket change he can still scrape from occasional wins. This wouldn’t be a concern, but for the fact that Patrick is Tashi’s ex-boyfriend and formerly Art’s closest friend. And as such, Patrick is uniquely well placed to get inside his opponent’s head and blunt his competitive edge.

Just how well placed becomes clear as the film, guided by an agile screenplay by writer Justin Kuritzkes (husband of Celine Song, whose directorial debut, Past Lives, also, coincidentally, features a love triangle), deftly volleys back and forth between timelines. Rewinding 13 years to 2006, we meet all three as promising junior players. Art and Patrick have been friends since childhood, on top of the world having just carried off a doubles trophy. But Tashi is in a different league. The boys watch her play for the first time, an apex predator in a kicky little tennis skirt. And they struggle to tear their eyes away from her to follow the ball. Later, when they meet her for the first time at a party held in her honour, she tells them: “Tennis is a relationship.” A piano motif – uneasy, excitable, off-balance – leaves us with no doubt about what kind of relationship she means. A smouldering hotel room scene, reminiscent of a pivotal moment in Alfonso Cuarón’s Y Tu Mamá También, further seals the deal.

Music is a potent force throughout. When the blood is up, on the tennis court or elsewhere, prowling, pulse-racing techno thunders on the score (by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross), an instantly thrilling jolt of adrenaline. It’s an assertive, almost aggressive musical decision, but then perhaps the film-making choices need to be big and bold, if only to match the oversized egos of the ultra-competitive and manipulative central characters. The camera, caught in the crossfire as the tension between the three builds, is so involved in the climactic match between Art and Patrick that it shoots from the perspective of the ball at one point. The dividing line between sporting clash and romantic rivalry is blurred to the extent that it no longer exists. The sex is like tennis: fierce, combative bouts in which there will always be a winner and a loser. And the tennis, ultimately, is like sex: an ecstatic consummation between two perfectly matched people at their glistening physical peak.

• In UK cinemas now

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All Worked Up By 'Challengers'? Here Are 10 Similarly Sexy Movies to Watch Next, According to Vogue Staff - Vogue

The verdict is in: Luca Guadagnino’s Challengers, starring Zendaya, Josh O’Connor, and Mike Faist, is a rollicking sports drama, sure, but it’s also simply one of the sexiest movies to hit theaters in a very long time. (Okay, at least since last summer’s Passages, from Ira Sachs. That was sexy, too.)

Guadagnino knows how to set a heady scene: His second feature film, 2005’s Melissa P., was a full-on erotic drama, and in the years since then he’s made audiences hot under the collar with the likes of 2009’s I Am Love, 2015’s A Bigger Splash (a riff on Jacques Deray’s La Piscine, from 1969, one of the hottest movies there is), 2017’s Call Me By Your Name, and even his 2022 cannibal road movie Bones and All. Yet the Italian director–screenwriter’s various contributions represent but a drop in the bucket of sexy cinema; the genre, such as it is, has thrived and writhed for about as long as people have gone to the movies.

Lucky for you, dear reader, Vogue’s staff has a few ideas for what to queue up next after you’ve seen Challengers’s three leads all make out. Herewith, find some of our favorite sexy movies and scenes from all of filmdom.

Portrait of a Lady on Fire (2019)

Photo: Courtesy Everett Collection

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Taraji P. Henson Makes an Entrance in Sexy Look at Time100 Gala - PEOPLE

Taraji P. Henson reigns as the queen of daring style. 

During awards season, fans saw another side of the actress’ fashion sense. She wore everything from a strapless Giambattista Valli Couture gown at the Emmys to a striking design with a thigh-high slit at the Critics Choice Awards. And she's not done yet.

She brought her chic flair to the Time100 Gala in New York City on Thursday, April 25, where she made a fashionable entrance wearing emerald green from head to toe.

The Color Purple star, 53, wore a satin corset gown that accentuated her curves and a sexy cutout. To accompany the look, Henson wore a cropped blazer.

Taraji P. Henson rocks a chic emerald green dress at the 2024 TIME100 Gala.

Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty

She upped the glamour by wearing long dangle earrings, her brown hair in elegant curls, and bright green eyeshadow.

Henson is attending the event as one of this year’s honorees on the Time100 Most Influential People list. She announced the news on her Instagram, sharing a photo of her cover, in which she wears an Acne Studios red leather blazer and jewelry by Alexis Bittar and David Yurman.

“I am so honored to share my cover for #TIME100 with my community who has lifted me throughout my career. This is a milestone that I am so grateful for. Thank you @time for my flowers!!!” she captioned the post shared on April 17. 

Henson received various supportive comments from many friends and colleagues, including actor Rafael de la Fuente, who wrote, "I will always remember how kind and supportive you were my first day on set with you. Empire was my first big show, I had never been around A-listers like you and Terrance [Howard], and you came up to me after we filmed my coverage and were so encouraging and sweet."

Taraji P. Henson stops red carpet traffic in a Donna Karan gown at the 2024 TIME Women of the Year Gala on March 5, 2024.

Gilbert Flores/Getty

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Back in February, Henson was also selected as one of TIME’s Women of the Year. She celebrated the achievement at the TIME Women of the Year Gala, where she turned heads in a see-through Donna Karan dress with sequins and a low-cut halter neckline adorned with flower appliqués that trailed along the back. Styled by duo Wayman Deon and Micah McDonald, Henson dazzled brighter with Jacob and Co. silver earrings accessorizing her look. 

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Buick Reveals Sexy Electra EV Sedan and Wagon Concepts - Car and Driver

• Buick revealed two electric concept cars at the Beijing auto show, the Electra-L sedan and Electra-LT wagon.
• Both feature impressive designs, with the Electra-L taking a more elegant approach while the LT skews more sporty.
• The Electra-L is said to use a rear-mounted 342-hp electric motor good for 435 miles of range, while the LT has all-wheel drive.

While American shoppers are still awaiting Buick's first EV, which is due next year, Chinese drivers already have a trio of options: the Electra E5 and E4 crossovers and the Velite 6 wagon. Now, Buick has pulled the covers off two new eye-catching concept cars, the Electra-L sedan and Electra-LT wagon, that ride on GM's Ultium platform and likely preview future production cars for the Chinese market. We just hope Buick decides to offer them stateside too.

Sophisticated Style

The Electra-L measures 198.3 inches long with a 118.1-inch wheelbase, making it roughly the same size as a BMW 5-series. The front-end design is clearly inspired by the Wildcat EV concept, with thin headlights that hook downwards into a black trim piece. A dimpled pattern that includes tiny illuminated elements curves upwards from the low, wide grille and into the black trim.

Tom Salt|Car and Driver

The smooth surfacing gives the Electra-L an elegant look, accented by the turbine-style chrome wheels and tranquil purple paint job. The taillights are composed of a thin light bar stretching across the rear end, and the concept features cameras instead of traditional sideview mirrors.

A panoramic glass roof stretches over the lush cabin, which has four beautifully sculpted seats and a flowing design to the dashboard and center console. Along with the massive display that stretches behind the steering wheel, there is a hidden 7.0-inch screen that pops up above the glove box for the front passenger. The rear seats also have an integrated tea table with a built-in induction cooker, while a fragrance diffuser keeps the cabin smelling fresh.

Buick

Very few details were provided about the Electra-L's powertrain, but we know it sports an electric motor on the rear axle good for 342 horsepower. The Electra-L is said to provide a range of more than 435 miles on China's more lenient test cycle.

The Return of the Longroof Buick

The Electra-LT, meanwhile, graphs a similarly graceful design onto a wagon body with a sleek roofline but takes a sportier approach with black titanium wheels with a geometric armor-like design and yellow accents. The lower front grille is also blacked out and ditches the dimpled light design for a smoother look.

Buick

The LT packs a streamlined roof box for an extra dose of practicality. The electric wagon concept also has all-wheel drive and an air suspension that allows it to raise by around 1.5 inches. We think the Electra-L and Electra-LT look magnificent, and we're particularly enamored by the wagon. While these two EVs, especially the sedan, seem destined for production, the chances of them coming stateside seem slim given Buick's shift towards crossovers. But that won't stop us from dreaming.

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Caleb Miller began blogging about cars at 13 years old, and he realized his dream of writing for a car magazine after graduating from Carnegie Mellon University and joining the Car and Driver team. He loves quirky and obscure autos, aiming to one day own something bizarre like a Nissan S-Cargo, and is an avid motorsports fan.

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'Challengers' Is Sexy ... but Is It Good Tennis? - The New York Times

On Friday, Luca Guadagnino’s “Challengers” was released in theaters across the United States and Canada. The film follows three tennis players who, over the course of several years, compete against one another and become entangled in an ever-shifting love triangle.

Melissa Kirsch, our deputy editor of Culture and Lifestyle, talks to the sports journalist Cindy Shmerler about how accurately the film portrays the world of tennis on and off the court.

On today’s episode

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The New York Times Audio app is home to journalism and storytelling, and provides news, depth and serendipity. If you haven’t already, download it here — available to Times news subscribers on iOS — and sign up for our weekly newsletter.

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The Sexy 'Challengers' Tennis Scenes, Explained by Writer Justin Kuritzkes - Men's Health

THERE ARE MANY sexy things about Luca Gudagnino’s Challengers, but the sexiest thing of all might just be the tennis. The Justin Kuritzkes-penned film follows Tashi (Zendaya), a young tennis player poised for stardom. After a winning match, longtime best friends and doubles partners Art (Mike Faist) and Patrick (Josh O’Connor) compliment her game at an afterparty, and a complicated love triangle is born. Tashi ends up dating Patrick, but a career-ending injury leads her to marry Art and become his coach. When Art hits a bad run, Tashi enters him in a “Challengers” event—a smaller tournament that allows players to qualify for a major, such as the U.S. Open. That’s where they run into Patrick after being estranged for years.

The tennis in Challengers is thrilling; watching Tashi play when Art and Patrick fall for her, watching the joy Art and Patrick feel when they play together as teenagers, and the sad, aggressive resentment that fills the Challengers match that frames the film all make for individually brilliant cinematic moments. Tennis allows these people to communicate without words, and is the outlet through which they can spill all their messy emotions.

It’s also where they fuck.

Kuritzkes’s kernel of the idea for Challengers came from becoming a tennis fan. He took lessons as a kid, but wasn’t much good, so he quit. But in 2018, while watching the U.S. Open match between Serena Williams and Naomi Osaka, two things clicked. First, he immediately knew that he was going to become a tennis obsessive. Second, it became clear to him that a tennis match would make for a hell of a movie.

Amazon MGM Studios

“A tennis match is an artificial container for the chaos and drama of life. When I was writing it, I realized the structure of a three set tennis match is very much the structure of a movie,” he tells Men’s Health. “I always knew it would take place over the course of a match, and that the match would be a natural structure for the whole thing.”

In order to bring Kuritzkes’s story to life, director Luca Guadagnino first needed his stars to know, at least, how to play a game of tennis. Enter tennis consultant Brad Gilbert, who was a top 10 ranking tennis player for five years in the ‘90s and has since worked as a tennis analyst for ESPN. He’s also coached many of the greats, including Andre Agassi, Andy Roddick, and, most recently, Coco Gauff. Of the film’s three leads, Faist was the only one with any real tennis experience, having played in high school; O’Connor had never played, and Zendaya had only dabbled a few times as a kid. So they were sent to tennis bootcamp where they were quickly, intensively brought up to speed.

“We would leave the hotel at 6:00 a.m. for 7:00 a.m. practice. We'd have two hours of practice. Then they’d have the gym, then acting. They had long days, but that's what they do to transform themselves in a short period of time,” Kuritzkes says. “Tennis players and actors share a similar DNA, and a singular focus: this is what we need to do to be ready.”

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Challengers tennis consultant Brad Gilbert with Zendaya at the film’s Los Angeles premiere.

They also wanted to map out what kinds of players Tashi, Art, and Patrick would be, based around their personalities. “It was important to me that each of their styles of playing tennis reflected the kind of guy they were,” Kuritzkes says. “Frankly, I don't know if that's true in life. As a fan, it made sense that each guy's personality, along with his strengths and flaws, could be revealed in the way he plays. And that would be a window into the way he lives his life.”

Gilbert took cues from real players when envisioning how the characters would play. “Mike's character was a little more defined. They wanted him to be more like a classic Pete Sampras, Roger Federer-style game,” the star-turned-analyst-turned-coach-turned-consultant says. “Tashi’s game was defined so it was clear she was a killer. And Josh was this freewheeling guy that we had to develop a crazy hitch for his serve.”

Kurtizkes had written out the matches in the script, and then before shooting, Gilbert went through each of them. “A lot of the tennis points had to be mapped out in the script, because so much of the movie is communicated through tennis,” the writer says, adding that before production he got on a series of Zooms with Gilbert and an ESPN staffer who notates tennis points for highlight reels. “We went through every tennis point in the script, and notated it based on each stroke. Then Brad would critique the strokes I had written.”

Amazon MGM Studios

Amazon MGM Studios

On set, filming the tennis with Gudaganino was a whole new experience, as the director brought what Kurtizkes and Gilbert had been working towards to fully-realized life.

“Luca, through his vision and his cinematographer, [would be like] let's make this point more dramatic; let's make it faster or slower,” Gilbert says. “I brought that to the table, and then he would tinker to create what he would like to see from it. Even though he's not a tennis person, he has ideas on how he likes to see things.”

Kurtizkes describes seeing the tennis scenes being shot as the time of his life, even though the process to get them right was incredibly complex; he and Gilbert would follow Guadagnino around the set as he planned his shot list, and it was a necessity for Gilbert to be on set every time something Tennis-related was being shot. Even down to minor things viewers may not necessarily notice, the details being researched and legitimate was of the utmost importance. “We cast the roles of all of the lines people and umpires with real tennis people, just to add that authenticity.” Kurtizkes says. “When you're actually shooting tennis, you have to shoot everything four times. With the actors, with the doubles, with the balls, without the balls. We had to treat it as if we were doing fight choreography.”

Stewart Cook//Getty Images

Challengers screenwriter Justin Kuritzkes, center, with stars Josh O’Connor (left) and Mike Faist (right).

All that work paid off: the tennis in the film is more than just a game—for these characters, it’s the ultimate form of connection. Before Tashi enters their lives, Art and Patrick are best friends who went to tennis boarding school together, sharing many of their firsts with one another; over time, an erotic tension forms between the two of them. “They've gone through puberty together. They've spent their whole lives in dorm rooms, on tennis courts, and in locker rooms and showers together,” Kurtizkes says. “There’s a sort of erotic tension that runs through every intimate friendship, but especially one where you're raised in a wolf pack together. Not to mention that I find tennis as a sport to be incredibly intimate, but also very erotically charged.”

When Tashi enters their lives, the two men's already-complicated relationship begins to really sizzle: when they first watch her play tennis together and she scores a point, Art grabs Patrick’s thigh. “It was always very important to me that when they fall in love with her, both of them, it's when they're watching her play,” the writer explains. “Art even says in that scene, ‘Look at that fucking backhand,’ which is very different than saying something about her body, or something. It's not about her being beautiful; It's about her being this incredible force on the court. On an instinctual level, they recognize she's got something that they're drawn to.”

Amazon MGM Studios

Amazon MGM Studios

As Kurtizkes mentions, tennis is both intimate and incredibly erotic. So, in Challengers, whenever sex comes up, tennis is always involved. Patrick says he’d let Tashi fuck him with a racket. When Art and Tashi kiss for the first time, it’s after talking about Art’s game. Tashi gets enraged with Patrick when he won’t let her critique his game as they are about to have sex. Patrick and Art’s own sexual tension erupts on the court when they play together in a doubles match, and later while playing the titular Challengers match. Every bead of sweat and exposed thigh oozes sex from all three characters.

But these aren’t people who talk about all this sexual tension or their long-held, simmering resentments. They get it all out on the court—and that’s exactly how Kurtizkes wanted it.

“It was important that they have a space where they could communicate without talking, where they could really know each other and understand each other and have the conversations that they couldn't have,” he says. “That space was the tennis court. There's an understanding they can all reach on an intuitive level, on a level beyond language, that can only happen when they're playing. The freest, and most open, and most intimate they ever are is on the tennis court.”

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