Fashion Note: Cassie

I have to admit that I have had more-than-a-little-crush on hottie (and reportedly P Diddy-sig-0ther), Cassie, for quite sometime.  Yeah, as for most, the crush has very little to do with her singing chops/career and more to do with the undeniable fact that she is absolutely GORGEOUS!  Even after chopping quadrants of her hair off to look like a client of a ravenous Edward Scissorhands, I still got love for this exotic beauty.

Obviously taking some advice from her reported beau about longevity and diversifying, Cassie is said to be starting her own line this coming fall.  According to People.com the budding mogul will do a collaboration with the label DimePiece.  The line within a line called Nine Lives will feature tee shirts.

File under: YUM!  I need a gay intervention, yet again.  Pass me those platforms circa 1995, STAT!

Me Likey: Brad Goreski

Photo Credit: Paper Mag

Is it just me or are there others out there who are just absolutely obsessed with The Rachel Zoe Project’s Brad Goreski?  Truly Bravo’s hit show break-out star, Goreski had quickly became my guilty pleasure!  I kept my adoration at bay too long for fear I would be subject of ridicule or some revocation of a “cool card” I never truly had in the first place.  But I am here, I am queer, and ME LIKEY him!

Yeah, so when a light glimmers on him in a certain fashion, Goreski can resemble a cuter Too Close for Comfort’s attic-dwelling Monroe Ficus.  Yeah, so he can be over-the-top campy but there is still something so endearing about the specs-wearing, bow tie-sporting fashionisto and I can’t get enough. Not to mention he’s pretty darn funny too.  Me likey, me likey a lot!

It’s no surprise — much to my chagrin, as our personalities are so similar — ill-disposed Taylor Jacobson was someone I had to hate last season.  As she berated my cutey-pie Goreski — even making him cry on numerous occasions –  I just couldn’t get in her corner no matter how hard I tried. This season though,  their relationship seems to have morphed into some pseudo-amicable thing. We’ll see how long that lasts!

Anyhoo, the fashion-mongrel I am, I thought I would be helplessly glued to see what Zoe was up to but I find myself, much like last season, more interested in the foibles of her two assistants.  This season seems full of over-the-top fashion-related drama… and I am loving every minute of it!

File under: ME LIKEY! ME LIKEY A LOT!

Channing Tatum’s Bum?

According to US Magazine, seems sexy G.I. Joe star and newly-married Channing Tatum has a sordid past.  Now, this sexy specimen can do no wrong for me but a cheesey strip tease where he undresses to a thong?  Hmmm… I don’t know. OK, OK, I am fine with it!

Video leaked online recently of the stripper-turned-model-turned-future-star gyrating into infamy.  The footage features an 18 year-0ld Tatum dancing with a few other male exotic dancers, stripping down to his undies and then following it up by giving the surely-salivating ladies in attendance lap dances.

Seems he was paid a whopping $50 a night for a peak at his naughty man bits at the now defunct establishment.

File under: Tatum, I still love you!

Perez-Dispenser

Seems like one Perez Hilton site isn’t enough.  The queen-bee of the gossip swarm is about to launch a new venture, CocoPerez, according to those over at Econsultancy.  The fashion blog will meld “content, shopping, and celebrities to create a unique community for trendsetters, fashion industry influencers and celebrities to go to for inspiration.”

Seems like Hilton wants to branch out.  I say kudos ’cause we all know how fashionable and on-the-pulse of what’s next and great in fashion the ultra-fine-hottie Perez can be.  I so can’t wait to see what fashion advice is given!  I love me some pink-haired zoftig MESSES.  Can’t get enough.  Yum!

File under: N-O-T!

David Casavant: fashion’s TEEN maven?

 

Photo Credit: DavidCasavant.net

A while back, when Papermag’s Peter Davis described this blogger as his “new obsession”, I could have just gagged because he had quickly become mine too.  Yeah, I felt kind of funny following a high-schooler’s blog but…

But, wait, wait, no police, David Casavant was no ordinary high school student.  Not just your cookie-cutter fashion-obsessed teen, he is more connoisseur, knowledgeable about the nuances of fashion.  It was apparent that it isn’t about following trends for him but breaking out of that proverbial fashion box we can often put ourselves in.  Casavant personifies that being fashionable (really fashionable) is something less taught and more inherent.  And that’s why he has a devout following!

This Southern-bred fashionisto’s blog was — and pretty much remains — simply a glimpse into what Casavant wears everyday. From his love of popular fashion brands to his admiration of vintage, Casavant’s style is an amalgamation of eras, moods, and extremes.  What remains?  He always looks flawless — even to get the morning paper!  

Casavant’s posts have waned recently, largely because he is living it up since his move to London after high school graduation.  But frequent posts or not, the archives alone will have you in stitches and possibly even developing a love and appreciation for fashion or something as strong as his.  

 This kid is bound for great things in fashion!  You mark my words!

File under: awwww… too cute!  

Check out his site @ www.davidcasavant.net/

Me Likey: Kardashian Goes Blonde

I think Patti LaBelle sang it right: I’m wearing a new dress, new hair, brand new ideas, as a matter of fact I’ve changed for good. Twitter-land and her a website abuzz — Kim Kardashian had been gearing everyone up for some major surprise while getting ready for yesterday’s Teen Choice Awards.  Turns out the newly-single (Reggie Bush are you crazy!?!?!), Kardashian has gone blonde. You know what?  Me Likey!

Well, I find Kardashian to be drop-dead gorgeous!  Though I do love her as a brunette, especially with her dark exotic features, I think this color blonde is very complimentary.  She looks flawless to me!

File under: you go you, Armenian Marilyn Monroe!

Gratuitous: Lace Wigs

Yet another installment… 

Tyra does it, Beyonce does it, Wendy Williams does it, so why not you?  Because your ass is not on TV!!!  I am so tired of seeing ordinary women on the street sporting lace wigs.  Yes, if you have a condition that causes hair loss, then wigs seem a plausible thing, but if you are an un-afflicted girl and want an alternative to a weave, then just keep your hair short!

Regardless of what people may say about the natural hairline this wig supposedly gives, it seems only so under bright camera lights because I can see these frauds a mile away on average-Jane walking the streets.

Actually some of the hairlines on these wigs are downright alien-esque!  At least get it done by a professional!

File under: Hair today, hopefully gone tomorrow!

Fashion Roadkill: Elizabeth and James

I am definitely one of those who teeters from feeling totally indifferent to kinda liking the  Olsen twins.  Yeah, they sometimes come off as these akimbo porcelain dolls but one has to admit that they are pretty business-savvy, switching their relevance from the tween market to a more mature one.  And that shabby chic thing they do?  Well, it seems to fit them — style-wise, not size-wise, ha.

I don’t know if it’s the fact that I grew up with them in my home –  seeing those cute drooling smiles on Full House to now seeing snares stuffed with Starbucks styrofoam.   Whatever the case, I didn’t find them too annoying.  Then I peeped out one of their lines, Elizabeth and James — more notably the men’s line — and what I was in store for this fall.

Now, if I wanted to look like a warped lumberjack, I would have asked for that nicely and with a rifle in my hand too.  I mean come on.  Who wears that stuff?  With the puffy vests, the flannel, and the muted tree-trunk colors, I would think they were accommodating hunter rather than fashionable gents.  I have seen this particular style done many seasons ago but much better.  Personally, the women’s line doesn’t seem to fare much better.

The Olsens were invited to this year’s CFDA Awards that just passed and kudos to them.  However, I think they really need to step it up for their next run.  And, we need to take fashion as fashion and stop giving extra credit to those celebrities-turned-designers.

File under: Paul Bunyan and Babe!

Sex and the City Part Deux

Photo Credit: HBO

So I was definitely one of those few who had to see the “Sex and the City” movie a few times before I could appreciate it for what it was: a sub par-yet-somewhat-entertaining version of a really awesome small-screen masterpiece.

I am not sure what took me so long to come around.  It could have been the utter over-hype;  the plot leaks;  maybe the swerving and endless theater lines full of New York’s faux glitterati; the bigger-than-life and ultimate dilution (to a degree) of a show that could have been just left alone;  or maybe it was just the incessant rabid fans who in their bargain-basement garb,  swore they were some incarnation of Carrie.  Whatever it was, I did eventually watch the movie a number of times at home (with a cosmo and my Vogue) and for what is was worth found the storyline a feasible transition for the main characters.

Well, for those who can’t get enough of these getting-up-there hipsters, there definitely seems to be a sequel on the horizon.  The secret script seems to have gotten some sort of green light.   As early as yesterday there was an open cast call for extras for the movie.  I am sure the gays were out in drones!

There is no doubt I am very interested in what direction they will take this movie.  Carrie pregnant?  Miranda divorced and a lesbian?  I don’t know the possibilities seem endless and I am not sure if I truly care that much.  We’ll see.

I am not one for brutal punishment a second time around so I think I may have to wait for this one to come on DVD or at least wait for a month after its release to see it in the theaters.

Congratulations, Emil!

Now, as a young buck straight out of college, I had this notion — no matter how grandiose it may seem in retrospect –  I would be a journalist of epic proportions.  I would change my readership’s fusty notions of what was fashionable, what was great music and what was the next hot thing.  After realizing way too quickly perhaps that my unorthodox way of delivering my musings were more suited for the creative writing fare, I spent sometime not rocking the boat as a journalist, then ditched the dreams all together.   (And, yes, a few in flux novels later, I revert back to my unrequited first love: writing to the masses.)

With that all written, no one can say that shaping the world’s mind about fashion, music, and culture in general is not possible.  I honestly believe that Emil Wilbekin is one of the most influential and underrated masterminds in the publishing industry there is.  Seems everything he touches turns golden.

Wilbekin, the former Editor-in-Chief of Vibe magazine, in my opinion, single-handedly made the publication a fashion bible, taking what was deemed only suitable for urban appeal and making it a household name and resource guide!  During Wilbekin’s tenure, this was the first time the publication saw ads from the likes of Gucci and Louis Vuitton.  Some called it the watering-down of a gritty hip hop publication but I call it a lucrative, business-savvy, creative, and a smart move.

Wilbekin also took Giant magazine into the same stratosphere during his tenure there as its Editor-in-Chief.  And formerly the VP of Brand Development for mega-brand Marc Ecko, I am sure he had a lot do with its progression into a more sleek and sophisticated urban brand as well.

It has been recently announced that Wilbekin will now be Managing Editor of Essence.com and I am so proud of him!  I reached out to him way back when and he was more than kind to me, giving me some really sound advice. They say Essence.com is quickly becoming one of the fastest growing and popular web-based magazines and I am sure he will take into even greater heights.

File under my mentor!