Her fine pompadour hairdo is one thing, but the way the Michigan judge has presided over the abuse scandal enveloping US gymnastics is quite another

Who will be 2018’s style icons?

Susan, by email

Judge Rosemarie Aquilina of the 30th Circuit court for Ingham County. What? Were you expecting some hot, new – picks up old-lady spectacles and looks up “exciting youth trend” – YouTube star, and not a grandmother of two from Michigan? Well, buckle up buttercups, because this is 2018 and we are way past the point of messing around with nonsense. Which is why I am celebrating Judge Aquilina, currently presiding over the sentencing of Larry Nassar, the former US gymnastics team doctor, accused of sexually abusing more than 140 girls and women, including Olympians Simone Biles, Aly Raisman and McKayla Maroney. And yet, this story has got astonishingly little coverage outside the US, especially compared with the Jerry Sandusky scandal of 2011 (in which Sandusky, the assistant football coach at Penn State University, was convicted of sexually abusing young boys). I get that more people are interested in men’s football than gymnastics, but can someone let us know how many female victims you need to make up one male football player so we know what to aim for next time one of these stories comes up? Thanks.



Now, this is a fashion column and, from a fashion perspective, Judge Aquilina is a delight: her eyebrows perfectly arched, her lips painted magenta, which matches the magenta streak in her ebony hair. This she piles on top of her head in a fabulous pompadour. She looks like a good witch and, my God, she is working hard to right wrongs.

This story has been covered – so far as I can tell – pretty much nowhere in the UK. But, for the past week, 120 young women (and the number keeps growing), have been giving their victim impact statements to Judge Aquilina and facing Nassar. You can watch them online, and I cannot recommend strongly enough you catch up now: you will not see anything more astonishing this year. Kyle Stephens talked about how her relationship with her father broke down after he refused to believe her, and how later, after he learned the truth, he killed himself. Donna Markham, the mother of Chelsea Markham, spoke about how her daughter was abused by Nassar, and later killed herself. The devastation caused by this one man makes you breathless.

Play Video 1:58 'I'm a survivor': US Olympian confronts abuser Larry Nassar in court – video

But the testimonies are not just heartbreaking: they are inspiring, as you watch these women tell their abuser to his face he did not break them. Olympic gold medallist Raisman, who says Nassar molested her at the 2012 London Olympics, gave an excoriating testimony, in which she lashed out at USA Gymnastics and the United States Olympic Committee for doing nothing despite receiving complaints against Nassar for decades. And, hoo boy, did she take on Nassar: “Larry, you do now realise the women you so heartlessly abused over such a long time are now a force, and you are nothing.” After every statement, Judge Aquilina has a short conversation with the women, which manages to be personal, tender-hearted and hard-hitting, and you can see in the victims’ eyes that they feel understood and listened to, at last.

Last week, Nassar sent a letter to Judge Aquilina in which he begged not to have to listen to his victims. “I’m very concerned about my ability to be able to face witnesses this next four days mentally,” he wrote.

Judge Aqulina was having none of it: “You may find it harsh that you are here listening, but nothing is as harsh as what your victims endured for thousands of hours at your hands,” she said.

So Nassar has had to listen; and he listened as Judge Aquilina spoke to his victims.

“All the words you and your sister survivors have said are being heard,” Judge Aquilina told Raisman. “You were never the problem, but you are part of the solution.”

And so are you, Judge Aquilina. You, and all the women in this trial, are this column’s style, moral and human icons for 2018.