Balmain’s creative director Olivier Rousteing is sheer inspiration to say the least and a newly minted guest editor this month on CNN Style. If you don’t know much about Rousteing’s story, he has overcome a number of challenges, including abandonment by his biological parents at a young age. His guest editorship uniquely isn’t going to be just about fashion, but what he has termed as #diversity. He shared these thoughts in the inaugural post, “When the press announced that I was the new creative director for Balmain the thing that was most shocking for a lot of people was not my age (I was 26 at the time) but my color, and that really surprised me. Suddenly there were all these stories about me being the first black designer in a luxury, heritage fashion house.” (Though Edward Buchanan at Bottega Veneta and Patrick Robinson at Paco Rabanne preceded him). Rousteing continues, Sometimes the fashion crowd think they’re really modern and avant-garde, but I think the system can also be quite old fashioned. I’m proud today to speak about a world where you walk down the street and see so much diversity, different people, different colors, different races. It’s what I want to try to express in my catwalk, in my casting. All my girls, no matter their age, they can be mothers, they can be 20 years old, they can have different body shapes and be different colors. Asian, American, African, European — they’re beautiful, strong women who are proud to be on the runway.” Yes, Olivier! I can’t wait to read more of his honest insights in this powerful series. (CNN Style)
If you hadn’t yet jumped on the Tidal bandwagon, Jay-Z and co are giving music fans everywhere a more compelling reason to do so this month. Jay-Z announced Tidal will be hosting a charity concert featuring none other than Beyoncé, Prince, and other Tidal partners, including Usher, Lil Wayne, and Nicki Minaj, on October 20th at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, NY. First of all, talk about an incredible line-up! The deal gets sweeter: all ticket proceeds will support charities “dedicated to advancing positive community relations and affecting systemic change for the development and sustainability of just societies.” This reads supporting the Black Lives Matter movement and developing the requisite community / legal reforms all over it. Buy tickets here. (NY Times)
Earlier this week, news hit that Nicki Minaj will produce and star in her own scripted ABC Family comedy series. Let’s all shout a collective Yasss Onika! With this current shift in media towards actually giving opportunities to the diversity of black talent in television and film, I’m super excited about this. Nicki’s show will be based on her childhood in 1990s Queens and will hopefully give viewers a deeper look into who Nicki was before she became the self-proclaimed Queen of Rap. (Rolling Stone)
In beauty news, Pat McGrath, makeup legend extraordinaire, released a press release announcing her very first product, a gold dust entitled “Gold 001;” you can see just how she applied this gold dust in the latest Prada Spring 2016 RTW presentation in Milan. Her debut product will go on sale later this month, so sign up on the site Pat McGrath Labs to get real-time updates. For a beauty icon as large as Pat McGrath, this is major! (Fashionista)
You may think this already existed (actually I definitely did!), but apparently Nike had no female basketball apparel line, designed by women. This Tuesday, Nike Women revealed its Elite Basketball performance collection, an apparel line designed by females for female athletes. Retailers, especially powerful ones like Nike, can shape consumer culture and behavior. Designing basketball apparel with female athletes in mind gives a voice to the young girls playing the sport today who will aspire to the WNBA. In this ultra-competitive industry, it only takes one activewear giant to lead the way for the others to follow swiftly behind. (Fashionista) (Image: Nike)
So I was cruising in my local Target, and stumbled upon some great Shea Moisture products specially created for natural, chemically processed, color treated and heat styled hair! Yes, Shea Moisture has created the Jamaican Black Castor Oil line of precious oil-based formulas that restore moisture and ensure lustrous shine.
I picked up three items from the brand: Strengthen, Grow & Restore Edge Treatment, Styling Lotion, and Hydration Complex to try on my locs.
The first item I used was the styling lotion.
In addition to smelling wonderful, it added a welcome dose of shine to my dull hair!
Then I used the hydration complex on my roots.
Lastly, I’ll admit: my edges have suffered due to my myriad high buns and updos. The edge treatment smoothed away stray hairs and gave my style a sleek finish.
My hair smelled fabulous and I can’t wait to incorporate these products into my daily regimen!
Find these products plus shampoos, conditioners and more at a Target near you.
Have you tried Shea Moisture’s Jamaican Black Castor Oil line?
What do you think?
*This post was sponsored by Target and Totally Her.
Have you all checked out Quantico? It’s poised to be one of this season’s hits! One of the show’s stars, Priyanka Chopra, attended a press conference for the series in Beverly Hills, wearing a $594 Thakoon Addition Floral Print Shirt Dress:
Her black and white silk shirt dress features an allover floral print.
Baby backpacks at the hip? Given the shift towards smaller and smaller accessories these days, the tiny nylon backpacks slung on the hips of models at Alexis Mabille’s Spring 2016 RTW presentation were right on trend. For lack of a better word, quirky was at the spirit of this season’s presentation. The baby backpacks were just the start! The entire collection referenced watermelon, as it is grown, sliced, pitted, whole, and halved. The palette reflected the multitude of bright reds and deep pinks. The accessories were fruit-based at every turn and even the makeup took its inspiration in green rind shadowed lids.
Quite a few of the pieces were statements in and of themselves: a long-sleeved knit with a sequined sliced watermelon, an uber high-waisted red pant suit, a two-piece printed ensemble, and a lace capelet-inspired dress shirt. In contrast to his Fall 2015 Haute Couture collection, which was utterly divine and elegant, this ready-to-wear presentation was indeed fun and lively, but didn’t feel like signature Alexis Mabille.
Most distinctly, the collection lacked drama, which Mabille is certainly known for. Pretty did this presentation make, but not power-packed enough to command celebrity obsession. The A-line silhouettes were utilitarian in nature: there was room for pockets and a belt loop to hook our handy tiny backpacks, but not much else. Now that said, I still enjoyed elements of it all; in particular, his ability to effortlessly blend varied fabrics into one. There was fluidity and movement, which fueled the fun in the clothes.
Some of my favorite looks were the most simple, such as a beautiful all-white lace blouse and full layered skirt or a light blue blazer draped over a tied dress shirt. Mabille’s interpretations of the white button down were delightful and most of them would make for key wardrobe staples for the modern woman.
For all the fun of the watermelon inspiration, the collection itself could have taken its audience on a wilder adventure. Here’s to hoping for a spin outside the watermelon patch next season!
Her olive and black dress features a stand collar, button placket, dropped shoulder seams, pin buckle belt, large contrast flap pockets, a curved split hem, and a relaxed fit.
Grace Jones’s Memoir, titled, “I’ll Never Write My Memoir,“ hit bookshelves yesterday, and it certainly seems like a juicy read (pun intended)!
About pop stars like Nicki Minaj, Miley Cyrus, and Amber Rose being inspired by her style, she told the New York Times, “They make it so obvious. But they don’t quite have the conviction. It’s always someone styling them, for example. It’s not coming from them. People say, ‘Well, you should be flattered.’ And I’m like, ‘No, I’m not.’ Because my whole view is being unique and finding yourself, from your own suffering or your own upbringing or your own happiness. For me, it’s all piggybacking.”
She continued, “I have been so copied by those people who have made fortunes that people assume I am that rich. But I did things for the excitement, the dare, the fact that it was new, not for the money. And too many times I was the first, not the beneficiary. There’s a lot of that around at the moment. Be like Sasha Fierce. Be like Miley Cyrus. Be like Rihanna. Be like Lady Gaga. Be like Rita Ora and Sia. Be like Madonna. I cannot be like them, except to the extent that they are already being like me.”
Inside the memoir, she reveals her feelings about Kim Kardashian’s Break the Internet Paper Cover, which was inspired by a photograph by Jean Paul Goude (Jones’s frequent collaborator and father to her child).
Jones said “When he took a photograph of Kim Kardashian with a champagne glass perched on her ass in an impossible pose like the ones he did with me over thirty-five years ago, I asked him why he was giving her – a basic commercial product – his ideas? This seemed to contradict his spirit of integrity, which he has protected for so long. Why was he repeating himself, just to give her a little flare of publicity, quickly absorbed by the next puff of self-promotion?”
She continues, “Well, he replied, ‘I got the feeling that if I didn’t do that photograph, she would have simply copied the idea anyway. I might as well copy myself.’ His ideas are are so powerful that repeating them decades later still causes a hell of a fuss, however temporary…He might have done it to wind me up a little as well. Which he did.”
Aside from taking shots at pop stars, it seems she has some great stories (Spin provided a great list of a few).
I’m also interested in learning more about her upbringing in Jamaica, her time as a model, and her storied music career.
Purchase at Target or Amazon.com.
Will you be buying?
Images: Getty/New York Times/Associated Press
