My Essence recaps are not over–oh no!
Well this is the last one;) On the last day of Essence Fest, I participated on a panel for Verizon alongside stylist Wouri Vice, DJ Kiss, and Harlem’s Fashion Row’s Brandice Henderson:
Our role? Lend our thoughts on Essence Festival style, then offer a Verizon gift card to one lucky winner in the audience.
It was fun and a fabulous end to my whirlwind trip down to NOLA (it also reminded me of my twirls on 106 & Park. Ah, those were the days).
For the occasion, I wore a 3.1 Phillip Lim Shirtdress.
I went for Spring’s monochrome trend with blue Jimmy Choo heels and a Carbon Showroom clutch.
My co-hosts were festive in prints! Brandice looked lovely in a Reuben Reuel dress while Kiss sported a vintage Gucci frock. Wouri went for toned down in white and black.
Olivia Palermo partied at the M.A.C. Cosmetics & Giambattista Valli Floral Obsession Ball in the same Christian Dior Spring 2015 White Wrap Skirt Kim Kardashian originally wore back in May:
Olivia chose a black silky blouse, gold metallic clutch, and leopard-accented sandals, while Kim wore the skirt with the fashion house’s lace bodysuit and a pair of Céline sandals.
On the runway, the skirt was paired with a sheer long-sleeve lace top, a colorful printed shoulder bag, and a pair of boots.
Both looks give such different vibes that it’s hard to decide!
Happy Tuesday, folks!
So, if you haven’t noticed, the site has been down pretty much all day, putting me in a serious funk! The lowdown is that we were experiencing some issues, so decided to start from scratch…which meant a lot of features were missing all morning. The bigger story is that we are definitely going to be doing a redesign this summer that will hopefully make everyone happy (including me!). Stay tuned. Until then, today’s Bombshell is Sim from Baltimore, Maryland:
She writes, “I have passionately loved fashion at a tender age from playing dress up with barbie dolls.”
” Well the plus size barbie has grown up, and I am inspired by literally everything.”
” My favorite past time includes looking at vintage Vogue covers and researching the fashion that were used for the cover.”
” Although I am a curvy gal, I do not let that stop me from being a free spirit when it comes to my fashion choices.”
“Plus size fashion can be limited, but with a creative mind and a high heel what can go wrong?”
“My favorite stores to shop include ASOS, Forever 21, Zara, & H&M.”
” I describe my style as feminine & trendy with a vintage flair usually with my accessories.”
” I love prints and bold colors and mixing the two in my style.”
” My style crushes include Solange, Tracee Ellis Ross and Sarah Jessica Parker, I reference their style in my personal style but I love making it my own.”
“I have included some pictures of my style and hope to be featured ,for additional images you can visit my Instagram profile @Eyezforstyle.”
You definitely have a fashionable flair! Love that floral blazer and jean combo.
Visit Sim’s Instagram profile @Eyezforstyle.
What do you think?
Fashion Bombshell of the Day is a feature showcasing the singular style of Fashion Bomb Readers. Send your name, location, a description of your style, and 6-8 clear, unfiltered, head-to-toe pictures of 5-10 different outfits (no collages) to thefashionbomb@gmail.com. Images submitted will be featured on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, or any of our social media platforms. Comments can be harsh, so bring your A game! Please be advised: once published, pictures will not be removed or taken down.
Denim on denim is hot for the summertime, and lord knows I love a good romper!
Therefore, I’m seriously considering copping this $58 Chambray option from Nasty Gal:
The one piece features an acid wash, flap pockets at the chest, button tabs, a drawstring waistband, and hip pockets.
This is pretty perfect for any summer outing!
Get yours for a steal at NastyGal.com.
How would you wear it?
It’s undeniable that there’s quite a bit going on with race relations and injustices in America right now. It was only this weekend that Usher wore a ‘Juneteenth’ tee at the Essence Music Festival and asked “Have we truly achieved our independence?” Well it seems that on Twitter, a social media celebrity was taking beauty bloggers to task for not being as vocal.
Luvvie Ajayi is known for her stern reads and epic rants dispersed through her websites and dispatched in parts through her Twitter feed — soon she’ll have a book to deliver the tea called “I’m Judging You.” Last week the subject of her latest rant was quite surprising: black beauty bloggers. She started things off with:
Black beauty bloggers, I know yall have “brands” but so many of you have kept on like ain’t shit happening but makeup. You cute, doe.
Of course, that was only the beginning. What followed was the Twitter star taking bloggers to task for staying silent a time when the community needs as many voices as possible and all for money. She fired off a few resounding dispatches:
Bloggers who are afraid to speak up for fear of losing ad dollars. Companies who would get offended aren’t the ones giving you $ ANYWAY.
You can read the full thing in order as it was archived by Luvvie herself. But of course, this wouldn’t be the internet if her critique didn’t come with a critique of it’s own. Gina McCauly of What About Our Daughters took up the mantle, criticizing Ajayi’s assessment saying “This is about attempting to dictate how Black women must grieve in public. Not even our sorrow belongs to us.“
McCauly explained: “Black women and girls have a right to have spaces where they can be carefree, flighty, flaky, frivolous, and funny. Occasionally we need a break. For some people, that’s a beauty blog.“
What do you think? Being fashion/beauty bloggers/journalists here at The Fashion Bomb, we think it’s a pretty interesting conversation. We definitely are advocates of covering diversity issues — we’re really predicated on the idea — and see where Luvvie is coming from.
I’ve actually been so criticized for attempting to stay on the style topic while showing awareness of current events, that I’ve concluded that fashion, style, and intensely charged political issues don’t mix. So if I march, I march without a camera man or a blog post. If I support, I do so in silence because I feel anything else will be seen as frivolous. And because fashion is, at its core, 100% frivolous, I’ve concluded that perhaps these issues don’t have a place on a fashion blog.
What do you think? Should fashion and beauty bloggers stick to their lipsticks and clothes or should they use the enormous platforms they’ve garnered in even the smallest of ways to support their communities? And if so, how?
I kinda live for Rosie Huntington-Whiteley. Though we say it a lot, I literally would wear this Anthony Vaccarello x Versace black ensemble in a heartbeat! She cute!
And that rounds out the attendees for the Vogue Paris Foundation Gala. Who had your favorite look of the evening?
