telling people what to wear is hard work.

rachel zoe's style is vintage chic

basically, if these reality shows go out of style then i might as well sell my tvs. i'm a shameless reality show addict and i've added the rachel zoe project to my list.

nope, never heard of her until now but i'm getting to know her every tuesday night on bravo. rachel zoe is celebrity stylist to the stars and shares the adventures of her crazy and exciting world.

no stranger to the raw deals of stardom, she's had to dodge her own media attacks - being accused of perpetuating the anorexic trend with her clients and keeping them thin by slinging dope to them. she denies it, of course. glamour, drama, fashion and the demands of success -doesn't get much better than that.

tune in, tell me what you think.

must be nice.

celebs were living it up in beautiful france, still taking part in the paris fashion week festivities.
dutch lingerie designer, marlies dekkers, debuted her new line of lingerie this past sunday. folks hit up the show and the after party.

loving solange's skirt! and the multi-finger rings are the new/old fresh - another throwback trend from the 80s that's resurfacing.


kelly is killing it in the leather - i need that dress. and keeping it simple and cute earlier that evening. peep the tiger head necklace.

chinatown invasion.

sgb invaded chinatown in the best photoshoot i've ever had. all the shoots are exciting and a lot of work but this one was so freestyle - had a ball.

firetruck invasion - made some new firemen friends and jacked their truck for about an hour. they were so cool - thanks boys.


street musician invasion - miss angel & miss nneka made a little music with the bucket beaters.


and you'll have to tune in to sgb for the best of the chinatown adventures. relaunch coming soon.

vintage, sgb, available fall '08
models: miss angel, miss nneka, miss nichelle
photographer: kiam
shoot: chinatown, dc '06

why'd you have to make a record 'bout me?

i miss these days, man. 30 and over know about this ...

roxanne shante: roxanne's revenge

sui generis ms. of the week.

1. who ... miss gianna

2. where ... philadelphia

3. what ... fashion merchandising senior at Indiana University of Pennsylvania

4. i love ... God, fashion, music, performing arts, culture, travel, & people

5. my style is ... hard to describe, varies depending on my mood

bonus. this is why i'm hot ... i'm focused & couldn't care less about fitting in

move over stacy & clinton, miss gianna is the future makeover queen. destined for greatness, after receiving her merchandising degree, gianna plans to snag a certificate in make up and esthiology and head to london. sounds like a bona fide fashionista to me.

the sui generis ms. of the week (sgmotw) is a part of the spotlight series. the sgmotw features sui generis fashionistas with a passion for fashion, among other things.

lol.

if you missed chris rock's "kill the messenger" stand up special tonight then hope that a friend tivo'd it. raw, raunchy, real, ridiculously funny - loved it.
and may i add that time and money have been very good to chris. dare i say he looks pretty good. yup, i said it.

f.y.i.

word on the street is that rihanna is developing her own clothing line. in her own words, as reported to WWD, she says, “I can’t say when it will be released, but it’s definitely going to happen. I’m not one to rush into anything. I want to take my time.”

it only makes sense that she, with her absolutely sick style, would delve into fashion. but i can't help but to think about all the other clothing lines from these stylish big names and i'm usually not impressed. i'm usually straight mortified to keep it real. house of dereon, baby phat, rocawear - not necessarily reflective of the flyy styles of the names behind it. i mean you can't really tell me that b, kimora, and j would actually wear some of their stuff that i see thrown all over marshall's.

nonetheless, i'll be front and center to see what's what from rihanna's line. how about you? interested or passing?

(photo above) rihanna Gucci'ed down at the Gucci
fashion show in Milan this week. rihanna is the new
face for Gucci's limited edition collection of accessories.
side note: if i was there i would have had to steal that jacket
from her.

never wear white after labor day.

yesterday i overheard a woman tell another woman (both will remain nameless) that her "bag should always match your shoes". i almost lost my mind. she was so matter of fact. like she was miranda priestly's or andre talley's apprentice or somebody.

so i thought of a few others rules that i deem as breakable:

1. your bag doesn't have to match your shoes: coordinate, sure. match - says who?


2. wear white after labor day: being the google queen that i am, i had to google this to see where this started. as it seems it initially applied to shoes. the older society sought to school the young on fashion etiquette. and since lighter colors tend to be worn in warmer months and darker colors in winter months, they were concerned that summer clothes would be worn in the winter so they established strict guidelines to enforce proper fashion etiquette. personally, if 30 degree weather isn't enough to keep you out of shorts and tees then i don't know what is.


3. mix patterns & prints & materials & color-combos: go on, give it a try.


4. mix vintage with contemporary: big fan of this. basically, the premise of sgb, so of course i co-sign this.


5. less is more?: sure it is. but more is not always wrong.


6. it's ok to skip some trends: yes, it really is. do what works for you and if that means you have to skip the hammer pants trend because you're just not convinced you look cute in them - skip it! it's ok.

oh but there is one rule: don't follow any rules. most are archaic. what i would have told her is not to stress over making that bag match her shoes. to follow her own sense of what works and what doesn't. to have fun with it. afterall, it's only fashion. (tongue in cheek)

help me out. what "rules" do you break?

birthday boy.

it's t.i.'s birthday, everyone. and he gets a little love around here. here's some of my favorite pictures of him - throwbacks from his fall '06 GQ shoot.
no one on the corner has swagger like this:

can't knock the hustle.

hate her or love her, what other big name designer has slid into medical apparel but kimora lee simmons. through her baby phat label, miss kimora offers a variety of coordinating scrubs - tops and bottoms. and suprisingly, the signature cat logo is not screaming all over everything. that is, of course, if that works for you, in which case you can find some styles that sport the logo all over.

i think it's a brilliant business move. not that i expect anything less from her - kimora's hustle is tremendous. and admirable.

i can't call myself a fan of baby phat but there's definitely a market for this. so for my nursing fashionistas, if this is your steeze, this is for you:

lights out.

sgb is keeping you flyy at the club & after the club. sleeping beauties:

vintage one-piece nightie, sgb, available fall '08
model: miss tyfease
photographer: fotoboi photography
shoot: august '08, philly
make-up: jody

sgb relaunch. coming soon.

since back in the day.

behind every great man is a great woman.

vintage photo of the country's leading couple.

chivalry dead?

i had to be in rockville this morning so i rode the metro for the first time in a minute. i swear it was like a scene out of the stepford wives. everyone looked asleep with their eyes open. including me. i mean no utterance, no conversation, no eye contact, nothing. yup - just how i remembered it years ago when i used to ride daily.

so i soon became preoccupied with a woman who stood and the four men who sat in the seats around her. no, she wasn't old. yes, she seemed pretty healthy; she had all of her limbs. but i still waited. and waited. i just wanted to hear someone ask, "you want to sit down?" they were old enough to know better. they weren't young knuckleheads. 2 had on suits and the other two looked like they were headed to work too. but not one offered their seat.

chivalry is so sexy on a man. i was disappointed. but smiled after thinking how i know my man would have offered his seat.

the stylish one.

i really didn't want to mention b's name in this post. solange probably can't get a conversation without the fabulous name of beyonce coming up. yawl know how it goes, though. with siblings the labels and comparisons come - the smart one, the athletic one, the cute one, the one that's going places, the one that's going nowhere, etc. so, i say, solange is the stylish one.

i like the younger knowles' style. she wears what works for her and has fun with her clothes. both sisters are styled by the greatest (mama knowles not necessarily included) with access to whatever they want but solange's innate style seems to shine through, regardless.

now i'm aware of the questionable wardrobe choices ...

solange at fashion rocks

... but props to her for keeping it sui generis. bold. marching to the beat of her own drum ...

flyy, no doubt.

only for the fashion.

i don't do the daytime emmy awards. yawn. the red carpet, however, is a different story. so no recap of the big winners or losers here, unless we're talking about how your girl tyra won for outstanding talk show. however, we can check out some red carpet fresh or lack thereof.

speaking of tyra, i like tyra more than i don't like her. i guess. but um, maybe this was prettier in person:


it's a'ight. congrats though tyra. you deserve it.

not a bad look for ms. shepherd:


amber from the young and the restless. love the dress, love purple, the "greek godess" look never disappoints:


eva kept it short and sassy but elegant with her dress. heidi always looks fabulous:


vanessa williams:


neicy with her signature hair flower, radiance in yellow:


can't say i spent too much time checking everyone out, but from what i've seen, many brought their A game to this red carpet. for many, many more pix check out http://www.eonline.com.

political swag - part deuce.

the obama campaign has commisioned several fashion designers to come up with flyy campaign merchandise. brilliant. it's called "runway to change"and it's all available on the website: http://barackobama.com/.

designers include marc jacobs, house of dereon, jay z, zac posen, juicy couture, pharell williams, vera wang - and a lot more.

dare to dream by zac posen; change by alexander wang

vote obama by vera wang; dude, where's the hope? by juicy couture


obama is change by house of dereon; change by jay z

be the change you want to see by rachel roy; obama 08 by marc jacobs

hi, my name is.

1. Who ... mrs. ayesha chaney, designer, stylist, & owner of ayetina creations

2. Where ... dc metro area

3. What ... idesign, istyle, imake, icreate

4. I love ... being a wife, a mother, a friend, & a designer

5. My style can be described as ... i'm stuck; i can never figure this one out. (editor's note - i'll answer this one for her ... sui generis, colorful, eclectic, fun & keen)

Bonus. I feel naked without ... my make-up & purse

miss ayesha is the first to grace the "on the come-up" spotlight series as sui generis ms. of the week - featuring the young (in age or in spirit) & fabulous who are in the industry and making moves. at a young age, ayesha became a designer of all things. today she's still designing & styling from clothing to interior decor to baskets to make-up - you name it, she's probably doing it. she's styled for many, including hubby, actor & recording artist, tray chaney (yup, poot from "the wire"). stay tuned -there's so much more to come from this fashionista.

the sui generis ms. of the week (sgmotw) is a spotlight series that features sui generis fashionistas with a passion for fashion, among other things.

i don't get it.

i just got off the phone with my mom and we got to talking about relationships. beyonce and j somehow came up and she mentioned how they've been married and still won't admit it. wtf. i'm a little over it by now but i still don't get it so i decided to make the leading couple the subject of this post.

i respect privacy. i really do. it's their prerogative. but it's weird. here we have two grown people who've shared a seemingly beautiful relationship. they've made it official and presented their commitment and love before God. so what's up b and j? yawl married now, like shug. the not-so-secret wedding is over. paparazzi are somewhere stalking paris or rihanna or somebody. what's the point in hiding something as beautiful as marriage? or is it just to keep everyone talking?

married or just bunned up, the blogs are gonna keep writing about you. the lights will still flash while you walk out the spotted pig after getting something to eat.

well, i love b and j - both individually and collectively. their undeniable as far as i'm concerned. but they're also annoying as hell. do us a favor - sport your 100 karat rings proudly. tell the interviewer "yes, i'm married but no more questions about it" and live happily ever after.

the married couple at the New Yorkers for Children Gala earlier this week. peep that j is actually wearing his ring in this picture. hand clap! & nice dress (rm by rouland mouret pigalle wool dress) and accessories, b.

peek.

sgb. the reinvention.

relaunch coming soon.

-throwback overalls, sgb, available fall '08

-wife b

-button up, sgb, available fall '08

-old school hi-top reeboks

-vintage earrings, sgb, available fall '08

model: miss tyfease for sgb

photographer: fotoboi photography

shoot: august '08, philly

make-up: jody
styling: miss halimah

http://www.suigenerisboutique.com/

my mic sounds nice.

was 80s fashion all that wack? ask some people what the worst decade for fashion was and you usually hear the 80s.

well, if in retrospect it's all that bad, why have just about all the 80s trends resurfaced? or is it just better the second time around?

the 80s was a busy decade for fashion trends. as a 80s youngin, i rocked them all. and somehow about two years ago, a lot of my wardrobe again looked like a page out of a 80s word up magazine.

salt n pepa had to be my style inspiration back in the day. before the era of over-sexed lyrics and scantily clad chick mc's, s-n-p + spin were knocking down doors in a male-dominated rap scene and paving the way for the lil kims and trinas.

they most likely inspired my first asymetrical cut in '89, i think it was. i swore i was cute. i bet these youngins today think that kelis was the first to rock the tilt.

and my first concert ever was a s-n-p concert.

and guess who schooled me back in the day that they weren't saying "shut up this is bullshit" but instead "ahh push it" - mom. lol. thanks.

check out their throwbacks - so so 80s. count the number of styles that you rocked back then and then again once the style came back around.

i had this poster on my wall. and i rocked some steve madden red boots like salt and spin's all last winter:




i'd like to find a pair of black stone washed jeans now like pep wore. and sgb is retailing a jacket similar to pep's:



check out the doorknockers. i wanted a big pair like the b-girls so bad but mom shut it down. i was pressed. years laters i went and bought a pair, just because i could.