Janelle Monae - Many Moons

I can't get enough of this girl.

Another Wakeema Hollis Post

If you blew on her she'd probably fall over but I still love me some Wakeema Hollis.

Chanel Iman, Arlenis and Jourdan may be getting the lions share of bookings among black models but this Memphis born American girl with the angel face is one of my favorites and I am always pleased to see her on the runway. Fortunately for her fans, she's been booking a steady stream of jobs. Well, on US runways anyway.

My excitement was dampered a bit by the fact that Wakeema's signature natural hairdo has been MIA in nearly all her recent runway and editorial work. I posted a little on this before on this blog, and I am aware that sometimes designers have all their models strutting their stuff wearing wigs but c'mon already. Why is it that white models are the only ones that get to enjoy distinctive looks? Mouth breathing top model Agyness Deyn has been sporting the slight variations on that same bleached blond short hair on the runway and in print for as long as I care to remember. Will there ever be a day when natural hair longer than an inch will be commonplace on kinky haired catwalkers? At least one? I'm not holding my breath.

Photos: The Fashion Spot

Chanel @ GUCCI - Don't Call it a Comeback...

Chanel Iman, who has worked an astonishing 40 shows this catwalk season between New York, Paris, and Milan, made headlines when she showed two looks for Gucci Spring 2009.

Fashionologie, reported that she became the first black model in a Gucci show since Tom Ford left and was replaced by Frida Giannini in 2005. Iman was the sole non-white model on the stage that was populated almost exclusively by models with nearly identical blonde shoulder length hairstyles.

Photo: fashionkid90/catwalking

In Other Blogs...Not Much Diversity in Milan

Milan Fashion Week is notorious for its lack of diversity on the runway and this season has brought out more of the same in spite of the universal love for Vogue Italia's "Black" Issue. 

The Shophound is a great fashion blog that has been tracking the presence of Black and Asian models during Fashion Week.

 Bottega Veneta featured the most diversity. Out of the 28 models on their runway, four were black and one was Asian. In second place was Dolce & Gabbana, who had three black models, 1 Asian and 1 South Asian model. A few shows had one token non-white models and many more had none. Read more of the numbers at The Shophound.

Photo: ONTD_fashinfags

Unfortunately, There is No Red Carpet Event for this Awards Show

Andrea, The Cruel Secretary, has bestowed my blog with the Certified Honest Blogger Award. I must say that I'm really touched.

I am required to give this award to seven other bloggers which was tough because there are dozens of bloggers out there that I read and admire. After giving it a little thought, these are the blogs with which I wish to share my award:

1.Black Girl Lost...In a Book

2.Nubian Fitness Goddess

3.Model Liberation

4.Invisible Woman...Black Cinema at Large

5. Safera

6. Adventures in Wheelville

7. The Musings of Ondo Lady

The rest of the requirements for receiving the award are below. Hopefully, I can get all this done by the end of the day today :) 

1. When you receive the award, you must write a post showing it, including the name of blog that has presented you with the award and providing a link to that blog.

2. Choose a minimum of seven blogs  that you feel are brilliant in their content or design. 

3. Show their names and links and leave them a comment informing them that they were recognized with this award. 

4. (Optional) Show a picture of those who awarded you and those you give the prize to.

5. Pass it on!

TRACE: Black Girls Rule

I can never find this magazine on the newsstands anymore but fortunately TRACE is still alive and well and putting out a Black Girls RULE! issue. It's available free (as a .pdf file) on their website. What I love most about BGR is that it always features a few new faces and not just to 1 or 2 black models of the moment.  This issue has been available online for awhile but I thought I'd share it anyway :)

Backstage at Bottega Veneta Spring/Summer 2009

S: Style.it

Mini-Rant on Allure Magazine

This month's Letter from the Editor in Allure Magazine takes a swipe at Kimora Lee Simmons and her over-the-top glam persona. In the letter, editor Linda Wells, starts by bemoaning the excess packaging of expensive beauty products and how all that unnecessary plastic and cardboard may be harming the environment while making us more beautiful .

"The packaging of beauty products has gotten out of control," she says. "Whatever happened to the ideal of the French woman who wore the same Yves Saint Laurent jacket for 20 years?" And then "The beauty industry has to move away from the Kimora Lee Simmons approach to luxury." A branding specialist added that "All of that shiny cellophane and metal is not sophisticated."

While I agree with her that excess packaging on all products is problematic her other two points just rub me the wrong way. First of all, I also admire women who can look stylish in vintage clothing or with small wardrobes. Hell, I hope to be one of those women someday but to the best of my recollection, this ideal has NEVER been idealized in fashion magazines which exist to push the latest and trendiest clothing and accessories down our throats. Any celebrity or socialite in vintage pieces in one issue will more than likely show up in the same space the following month wearing something fresh off the runway to coincide with whatever advertiser bought the most ads.

Second, though I have a serious love/hate thing going on with Kimora I was miffed at the insult. For one, her cosmetics line doesn't tout $200 beauty creams and certainly isn't over packaged. Sure, she's as flashy as she is mouthy but criticizing her excess in a magazine the regularly praises all manner of pricey concoctions is a bit hypocritical.

This issue alone pushed a $75 per day juice cleanse diet, a $1,125 fox fur vest, $9K Cartier watch, $4,100 Versace gown, a $700 Garren NY haircut and $925 YSL shoes (that definitely could NOT be worn for 20 years!)

If they really wanted to criticize a celebrity for excessive living they should have looked no further than their August cover girl Victoria Beckham.

Photo: Emilie/TFS

Michael Kors - Fall 2008

I will readily admit that I never paid much attention to Michael Kors until Project Runway. Now that his Fall 2008 collection is arriving in stores and in magazine editorials, I can't just get enough. One runway review said that this collection had a pronounced Alfred Hitchcock vibe. I don't really see that but what I do think when I look at these pieces is that Kors perfectly captured that grown and sexy quality that appeals to me. It manages to be both classic and current without making the wearer look like a secretarial pool extra from Mad Men. I could easily envision Michelle Obama wearing any number of these looks, this belted floral dress in particular.

S: Style.com

Is Fashion Racist? Vogue Readers Say Yes.

Reader chimed in and responded to the article "Is Fashion Racist?" which appeared in the July issue of American Vogue. The "Talking Back" section printed four letters, three of which named Vogue magazine itself as part of the problem. Sandra Robbins from Memphis,TN wrote: "I am a black woman, and one of the reasons I refuse to purchase Vogue is that there are not many people who look like me in its pages...Wake up and smell the coffee." Reader Janna Pankey of Laurel, MD added: "...to whittle down diversity to simply a case of 'white and black' is not a step in the right direction. It marginalizes other ethnic groups, reducing their significance to something less than 'other.'

Damn. If these are the letters they printed, I would love to read the stuff that didn't make the cut!