The week ending July 6th, 2008 can best be summed up as 'The week of The LYING, the WITCH, and the WARDROBE'...
THE LYING-
Supermodel Christie Brinkley's soon-to-be-EX husband, Peter Cook, continues to get skewered in the courtroom as his 19-year old mistress, Diana Bianchi, is called to testify amid allegations of Cook's addiction to online porn, his nude pictures being posted on internet swinger sites, his various affairs during both his engagement and marriage to Brinkley, and his unwillingness to take an active role in raising their two children. Cook joins an exclusive club, where membership is contingent upon you marrying one of the most beautiful women in the world and then blowing it because of your sex addiction...
I'm not sayin', but I'm sayin'...
THE WITCH-
You would think that her heart would have softened- after famously being quoted as having said "only the little people pay taxes"- during her 18 months in federal prison for evading $1.7 million in taxes in 1989. However, New York hotelier and real estate magnate Leona Helmsley, dubbed the "Queen of Mean" because of the way she treated her employees, lived up to her name as she posthumously pulled a "Joan Crawford", cutting her immediate family out of her estimated $8 billion fortune and giving all of her money...to care for DOGS! "Trouble", Helmsley's pooch, thumbed his nose at Lassie as he became the richest dog in the world, inheriting at least $12 million in Helmsley's will. Noticeably absent from her will was Helmsley's son, Jay Panzirer...
AND THE WARDROBE-
While attending some of the menswear shows in Paris, Kanye West lets the cat out of the Louis Vuitton bag, and the debate continues over the "man-bag" (see THE FASHIONISTA FILES below)
(All of this while staunch
Who wants to be a BILLIONAIRE???
According to a recent CNBC program , wealth in America is at an all-time high. Over 20 years ago, there were only 13 American billionaires. In a week where I'm STILL trying to figure out how I can become one of America's more than 1,000 billionaires (the richest 1% of whom control more weath than 90% of the American population COMBINED!), where Venus and Serena Williams are well on THEIR way to becoming billionaires as they continue to frustrate and dominate any and all opponents on the tennis courts at the All-England Club (Venus taking the Wimbledon single women's title for the FIFTH time and both sisters winning the Wimbledon doubles title for the THIRD time), and where I STILL haven't gotten my copy of July's Italian Vogue (which is worth a billion dollars in my mind's eye right now), these are the things going through my head since we last spoke...
QUESTIONS FOR THE ZEITGEIST- JULY 6TH, 2008
1-Who's a CREEPIER father: Billy Ray Cyrus (father of Miley "Hannah Montana" Cyrus), who is TOTALLY comfortable taking pictures with his 17-year-old daughter sprawled across his lap just minutes after the 15-year-old posed topless in an Annie Leibovitz Vanity Fair shot ("That's just a daddy who loves his daughter a whole lot", he says), former Baptist minister Joe Simpson, who waxes poetic about the size of his daughter Jessica's jugs (during an interview with GQ magazine in 2004, he said, "She's got double-D's! You can't cover those suckers up!"), or Hulk Hogan, who doesn't seem to realize that putting suntan lotion on his daughter Brooke's nether regions is JUST as creepy as dating one of her best friends?
2- Speaking of celebrity progeny, what would the offspring of hip-hop's LATEST couple, Foxy Brown and Rick Ross, look like?
What about hip-hop's OTHER latest couple, Keyshia Cole and Young Jeezy?
Or what about pop music/professional sports' latest supposedly DL couple, Madonna and A-Rod?
(Is it just coincidence that she faces divorce rumors- and has supposedly hired a family-law attorney- at the same time that he has separated from his wife?).jpg)
3- Isn't everyone laying in wait for the as-yet-untitled reunion album from the ORIGINAL funk girl group LaBelle? (Due out on September 23rd, with Lenny Kravitz sharing some of the production credits!)
4- During a guest stint at a Cyndi Lauper concert in Vancouver, Rosie O'Donnell compared being one of the co-hosts on ABC's daytime talkshow, 'The View', to getting raped in prison, and that having discussions on the show felt like being in "one, big, dysfunctional, Irish Catholic family". What do you think SHE is trying to say? Moreover, how would SHE know what if felt like to be raped in prison?
5- The Pussycat Dolls' new single, 'When I Grow Up", has failed to set the music charts ablaze like their debut single, 'Dont Cha'. Shouldn't they just scrap the sugary pop sound and put more P#$^$$Y in The PUSSYcat Dolls by re-recording 'Nasty Girl', by Vanity 6?
THE RECESSION-PROOF CLUB...
6- This question is brought to you by the letter FOUR...
After a 28% profit decline in their second quarter, java giant Starbucks reported this week that they will be closing 600 stores (12,000 people will lose their jobs). Is it because the economic tide has turned and most people have to make the choice between $4 for a "tall" latte or MORE THAN $4 for a gallon of gas?
6a- The state of Utah joins the cities of Coconut Creek, Fla., Birmingham, Ala., and Avondale, Ariz., in instituting a four-day work week. Is a three-day weekend the answer to both gas prices AND employee burnout?
7- Does anybody remember last year this time, when a gallon of gas was a paltry $2.95 a gallon?
8- Take me out to the ballgame- but only if YOU are paying...
Even if you pooh-pooh the 20% increase in ticket prices to see the Mets play, and smile as you fill up your SUV with $4.55-a-gallon premium gas to get to Shea Stadium, isn't the fact that you have to pay SEVEN DOLLARS FOR A DAMN HOT DOG the last straw?
9- The foreclosure auction of his Harlem townhouse is reportedly imminent. He is currently being held in Arizona on a $1,075 bond for driving with a suspended license and a $10,000 bond stemming from previous drug charges (both stemming from from warrants issued for his failure to appear in court). On June 27th, he was arrested in Miami after he was caught in the act of buying cocaine and marijuana from an undercover officer. This was, of course AFTER he was picked up on a warrant, ALSO in Miami, for not having a valid driver's license. Is it safe to say that Ruff Ryders rapper DMX ISN'T having "The Best Week Ever"?
COVER WARS...
10- Which one would get you to the gym faster, Serena Williams on the cover of Ebony, LL Cool J on the cover of Men's Fitness, or Venus Williams on the cover of Shape Magazine?
11- After appearing on the March 26th, 2008 cover, Barack Obama is on the July 10th cover of Rolling Stone magazine for the second time in four months! This time, with no text. What do you think publisher and editor, Jan Wenner, is trying to say?
THE FASHIONISTA FILES...
-Menswear designers keep bending the rules, Kanye's kicks, and ...The "NEW" Black(s) in fashion?
1- While Barack Obama appears to be Donatella Versace's inspiration for her last collection, Dean and Dan Caten do one BETTER...
Fresh off the heels of the "groundbreaking" Vogue Italia July 2008 edition (I put the word 'groundbreaking' in quotes, because magazines like Essence and Ebony have been featuring all black/ethnic models between THEIR pages for years!), comes the Dsquared Spring 09 fashion show, which features- wait for it!- almost ALL black/ethnic male models!!!
While not the first to use all ethnic male models (Sean John beat them to it last February!), its great to see that "non-black" designers are FINALLY opening their runways up. With rumors abound that Lanvin was going to feature all-black male models on its menswear runway (it didn't), is it possible that the fashion industry is opening up their perspective on beauty, or is black skin just "the new black"? Even with all of the attention being paid to "all black" editions of magazines and runway shows alike, does it seem like its STILL an "either/or" with regard to imagery? Can it not be BOTH? Wouldn't that be the BIGGEST statement on diversity in the fashion industry that one could make- that all hues of skin can coexist within the beauty spectrum?
2- Speaking of black fashionistas who have exploded on the sartorial landscape... Everyone (including THE REAL RE-Edit) gave Pharrell Williams props for his purple crocodile Hermes HAC Birkin, but...Is the world ready for men with clutches?
The world was in an uproar when Terrence Howard showed up at the 2006 Oscars with a $34,000 "unisex purse" - actually it was an alligator and diamond encrusted Borsa bag, but whatever!- and this season, Salvatore Ferragamo showed a suit with a (rather handsome!) clutch.
So, for those fashionistas of the male persuasion who STILL haven't gripped the fact that you should have great shoes AND a great bag of some sort, a review of who's carrying what AND a preliminary review of Spring '09's offerings for you before we ask the next question...
Lupe Fiasco was recently spotted with a full-on Goyard bag
The world's BIGGEST metrosexual, David Beckham, with his Prada bag (and, at times, with his Louis Vuitton clutch!)...
The world's NEXT biggest metrosexual, Kanye West, in his various states of "LouisVuittondom"...
Matthew McConaughey with his man-bag...
At the Paris shows:
Fendi's Fall 2008 collection was big on man-bags...
AND clutches...
at Junya Watanabe...
-Raf Simons for Spring 2009...
- Miharayasuhiro for Spring 2009...
-Jean Paul Gaultier for Spring 2009...
- at Veronique Branquinho Spring 2009...
-Of COURSE at Louis Vuitton Spring 2009...
And on the streets of Paris...
On the streets of Milan...
Outside of the Dsquared show...
-Bottega Veneta Spring 2009, killin' it without exception...
-Burberry Prorsum Spring 2009...
- Dolce and Gabbana Spring 2009...
-Gucci's Spring 2009 bags brought the pain...
And on the streets of Florence...
All of this to say that while Pharrell led the pack in the "man's man with man-bag" contingent, it requires mentioning that male tastemakers (present company included!) have been lugging around leather not just on their watchstraps or on their feet, but on their shoulders and in their hands as well...Which begs the question: with the proliferation of "man-bags" on the runways in the last couple of seasons, is it even a question anymore that a "well-heeled" man should also have a "well-appointed" bag?
3- The "Louis Vuitton Don" goes all "Louboutin"? WWD reports that Kanye West is working on a men's shoes line for Louis Vuitton, which will be followed by his own women's line this Fall. When I said I would love to be in Kanye's shoes, this is not exactly what I meant!!!! Shoe line aside, what does this mean for his planned menswear line, Pastel?
4- The NEW Black...tie Dolce and Gabbana bent the rules of black tie when they showed a DENIM tuxedo this season (in both single-and-double breasted versions) among their drop-dead floral printed tuxes... Who's going to be the first celebrity we will see rocking THIS on the red carpet?
5- A horse of a difference color... "Man-bags", and denim tuxes are one thing, but the REAL question is: are people ready for men in HOT pink,
(Spring 2009 at Ferragamo)
(at Givenchy, Spring 2009)
6- Even after we get past man-bags, denim and hot pink tuxes, can we then have the debate about men in WEDGES (at Fendi)?
7- BEY is for Balenciaga... How good of a job has knockoff king Steve Madden done with his $99 version of Pierre Hardy's BLACK $4,200 "lego" shoe he designed for Balenciaga's Fall 2007 RTW collection?
While we're on "bogus Balenciaga", who is going to be the first to knockoff those $100,000 leggings Nicolas Ghesquiere designed for Balenciaga's Sping/Summer 2007 collection that Beyonce wore during her performance at last year's BET awards ?
FYI... According to my source at Balenciaga (and a fashionista friend of mine), the price of the leggings were NOT the much-hyped $100,000, but a mere $18,000...ahem! (and NO, that fashionista friend wasn't Terrence Koh!!!)
7- It looks like the Louis Vuitton brand is positioning itself to be THE go-to label for accessory crossovers(?). First LV (via Marc Jacobs) brought in Pharrell Williams to design a jewelry line, a footwear collaboration with Kanye is in the works, and now comes word that Rei Kawakubo (of Commes des Garcon fame) is set to design six one-off bags for La Louis... Who's next, Marky Mark re-designing Louis Vuitton underwear?
8- How FIERCE is model (and new face of Hermes) Lakshmi Menon?
FLASHBACK...
Today's Flashback is none other than the NEWEST vetted black fashionista, Kanye West, who can ALWAYS be counted on to "come up in the spot lookin' extra fly". Remember..."Touch The Sky"?
