do you tote totes?

... me, not so much. but if i did, i'd probably snatch one of these up. all are $1.50 over at forever21.com.

throwback: assata shakur.

assata shakur
actavist

vintage music saturday: roxanne.

the police, featuring lead singer sting, first released roxanne back in 1978. wow. i didn't know the song was so old. i would have guessed mid 80s or so.
over 30 years later, the song still rocks.
the song was written back in '77 and inspired by the prostitutes outside of the band's hotel while they were in paris for a show.
enjoy ...

vogue launches black, curvy and talent sites.

vogue italia has launched 3 new sites, each targeted to fashion hot topics.

the first is clearly a response to the lack of love our beauties of color tend to get in the industry, vogue black. vogue black will mainly feature black models from past to present.

vogue curvy shows love to our thicker and otherwise, normal sized icons. no size 0s which you typically see on the runway here.

and vogue talents showcases emerging designers. i'm pretty excited about this one.

check them out. what do you think?

throwback: judy pace.

judy pace

70s actress

marilyn monroe said.

"i don't know who invented the high heel, but all men owe him a lot."

-marilyn monroe

laquan smith is the man.

i knew it as soon as i saw these:

yooooo! are you serious? are these not the hottest leggings you've seen ever? he's 21 and hails from nyc. his grandmomma taught him how to sew at the tender age of 13. he showed 15 sizzling, contemporary looks at this past fashion week in nyc. his name is ringing bells everywhere in fashion-land. andre leon talley already voiced this designer as a great choice for our first lady. big fashion names have rocked his threads - lady gaga, rihanna, amber rose. i love it. an indie designer explodes and is undeniably fierce. i'm so inspired. i gushed about naeem khan's work a few days ago; i just may have found yet another favorite designer.

yeh. laquan is going places. ask about him.

i need the black sequin jumpsuit. no, really. i do.

check out his site: laquansmith.com and tell me this man ain't dope.

throwback: tommie smith & john carlos.

tommie smith & john carlos

olympic track winners who gained notoriety in 1968 after raising black leather

gloved fists on the winners' podium as a symbol of the civil rights movement and

power and unity in black america

nearly there.

a month ago i gushed about my new favorite lipstick, just brew, from mac. well i just spotted another color in an ad while flipping through the latest essence magazine.

jessica white is wearing nearly there from maybelline's color sensational line. it looks pretty, almost along the lines of just brew. has anyone ever worn it? i'm gonna give it a try.

timm gunn no likey the kardashian's style.

msn's wonderwall asked tim gunn (advisor to the project runway contestants) how he felt about the kardashian's new line at bebe and here's what he had to say:

"... i think the kardashian's have an absence of taste and

i don't think that should be perpetuated ..."

well who's got your panties in a ruffle, mr. gunn. well here's what we think, if you even care. i'd tend to agree that most celebrity lines are a disaster. they throw a famous name on a bunch of ridiculously tacky items that are headed directly for marshall's, t.j. maxx and ross.

but i think the kardashian sisters are cute. i love kourtney's style and kim looks hot most of the time. furthermore, opinions are opinions. every fashion authority, self-proclaimed flyy girl, sharp as a tack gay guy and fashionista - including me - do not have the final stamp on what is and what is not hot. fashion wouldn't be very interesting if we did. agree?

of course, i took a little look'sie at the kardashian line over at bebe. and no. i'm not running to my wallet to yank out that visa but i dug their silk jumpsuit, the silk romper and the one-shouldered pleated dress. bebe doesn't allow folks to steal their images, otherwise, i would have posted them here. but you can check it out for yourself at bebe.com.

i'd say mr. gunn has just did bebe/the kardashians a huge favor.

that is all.

olsen twins are elle's style icons of the year.

the 2010 elle style awards went down last night in london. ashley and marykate olsen took home the style icons of the year award. i think i can co-sign that. i think they are stunning. i love their remarkable styles. i do have a favorite but i can never remember which one it is. i think it's ashley. we had a debate in the hair salon once about them and chicks just weren't giving the twins their due props.

as you can see, they went for different looks. ashley rocked a tulle, taupe gown - vintage christian lacroix!! - and mary kate rocked a goth look in an all black lanvin dress (she's looking very madonna'ish in the face, agree?)

which look are you feeling?

you already know which one i like best.

throwback: stevie wonder.

stevie wonder

legendary singer and songwriter

angels (remix).

dirty money's song angels is hot. the remix with rick ross is ridiculously hot. i've always loved that beat since i first heard jay use it in cough up a lung. so far i'm loving diddy's dirty money group. i hope he keeps it hot. and rick ross. wow. i think i've finally forgiven him for lying about being a CO.

to mute the background music, scroll all the way down and click on the middle icon on the player.

throwback: willi smith.

willi smith

regarded as "the most successful black designer

in fashion history"

and there was donyale luna.

some of the most beautiful vintage model pictures available on the web belong to this strangely captivating 60s/70s model. yes, before there was naomi and tyra, there was her.

her name is donyale luna. so she said. although her birth certificate claimed otherwise, she insisted that her father (who was killed when she was 18) had a last name of luna.

in fact she spent most of her short life denying her african-american heritage. this was a well known fact. a family member once described luna as being a "very weird child, even from birth, living in wonderland, a dream." and so in her crafted wonderland, she became an exotic mixture of several different heritages, a wonderland that took her far away from peggy anne freeman, the beautiful, but troubled detroit-born girl.

still, today we know her as the first african-american model. in 1964, soon after photographer, david mccabe, discovered her on the street, she was off to new york city and booking modeling gigs left and right. a sketch of her appeared on the cover of harper's bazaar in 1965. and in 1966, she became the first black model to grace the cover of british vogue.

luna's acting career bustled in the late 60s into the early 70s. she appeared in several andy warhol movies, federico fellini's fellini satyricon, the rolling stones rock and roll circus, skidoo and salome. when asked by a new york times journalist if she thought her success in hollywood films would help the cause of other black actresses, luna responded:

"if it brings about more jobs for mexicans, asians,

native americans, africans, groovy. it could

be good, it could be bad. i couldn't care less."

after moving to london in the 60s, luna developed a love for lsd. in an interview she expressed this: "i think it's great. i learned that i like to live, i like to make love, i really do love someone, i love flowers, i love the sky, i like bright colors, i like animals ..." unfortunately, this love for lsd would result in an accidental overdose in may of 79. she was just 34. today she is survived by her daughter, dream cazzaniga, who works as a professional dancer in italy. dream's father, luigi cazzaniga, had photographed luna for her nude spread in playboy just 2 years earlier.

i became so engrossed in this mysterious individual and her life story. i started thinking of the movie mahogany and how great luna's story would be on screen. don't you think? i wish someone would make it happen.

throwback: andre leon talley.

andre leon talley

editor-at-large of vogue,

major authority in fashion

fresh fest 2010.

who's gonna be at fresh fest 2010 this year? you guessed it. all of the above.

this is my kind of concert. straight old school.

they've already hit several cities. what are the chances that they'd be in philly this saturday, the same day i'll be in philly. they're playing at the liacouras center and tickets range from $42 to $73.

unfortunately, i don't think i'll be able to fit this in. doing the family thing. but i'm gonna find out when they're coming to dc or baltimore.

you going?

throwback: school daze good and bad hair.

school daze (1988) is one of my all time favorite movies. spike lee is the man. he mastered the way to make entertaining movies without missing an opportunity to give his audience something to think about and learn from. love him for that.

who can forget this scene when the jiggaboos battled the wanna-bes. natural vs. artificial. dark vs. light. nappy vs. straight. classic scene. check it out:

if barbie's your thing.

... then you'd be excited to meet dollie forever barbie by the one and only christian louboutin. she sports a safari-inspired dress, pink glasses, and a pinker pair of over-the-knee, fringe boots with, undoubtedly, red bottoms. she also comes with 3 other pair of louboutins.

she can be all yours starting march 3 at net-a-porter. all for a mere $150.

thanks but no thanks. but i'd happily take the louboutins. size 9, please.

cut it out.

i'm digging a cutout scarf and tank that i spotted on the alter brooklyn blog. both priced at 30 bucks, i'm appreciating the pricetag too. check out these and all their goodies here.

vintage saturdays: mercedes boy.

what yawl know about pebbles? back in '87 this was my song. one of my mom's friends, ms. pat, pushed a benz back when this was out and this became her theme song.

it was hot. pebbles had a few hits actually. i loved love makes things happen and always. most know that she's la reid's ex but few know she created one of the hottest girl group's of all time: no, not destiny's stepchildren, but tlc. and her cousin is one of our favorite old school singers - cherelle.

scroll to the very bottom and click the middle icon on the video to stop the background music.
and come on yawl, let's sing it like ms. pat ... do you wannna riiiide in my mercedes boy, ride ride, tell me what you gonna do ...

throwback: madame c.j. walker.

madame c.j. walker

hair care businesswoman, entrepreneur, 1st female millionaire

fashionistas do read: bernadine, savannah, gloria & robin are back.

the ladies of terry mcmillan's waiting to exhale are back! and i'm stoked. the sequel, getting to happy, hits bookstores in september. i'll be first in line (more like online) for my copy.

nicki minaj does fader.

naeem khan, i love you.

and it was love at first sight. i'm probably late as a mug. matter fact, i know i'm late because his line began to make noise after our first lady, michelle obama, wore one of his gowns to the first state dinner back in november. this one:

don't you just love them, by the way.

i was reading a write up on khan's gowns on huffington post this afternoon and i damn near drooled. who is this man?! i had to research (aka google) further to find out what his story was. although there are a few pieces that are not my cup of tea, the majority of them, i'd rock the heck out of.

if i were a rich girl.

like these:

ahhh. and that's not all. check out his '09 and '10 lines on his site: naeemkhan.com

the usual names are a'ight. i mean gucci, louis vuitton, ysl will always be mainstream hot. but i frickin' love to be up on some new ish. love!