Questions for the Zeitgeist- January 27, 2009

More "Grace in your Face", Toccara gets you "small in the waist", and
'Notorious' star catches a case...





1-Ray J's new reality show "For the Love of Ray J" is set to have its Vh-1 premiere shortly,on the heels of "Real Chance at Love', 'I Love New York', and (the one that started it all!) 'Flavor of Love'...When will black folks stop allowing themselves to be "clowned" by the Vh-1/MTV/Viacom juggernaut???




2- Not many women can look like she does after dropping twins, but...was Jennifer Lopez' dress at this year's Golden Globes a desperate attempt to recapture the attention she garnered at the 2000 Grammys for "the dress"??


3-

"There is something immoral and sick about using all of that power to not end
brutality and poverty, but to break into people's bedrooms and claim that God
sent you."
"It amazes me when I looked at California and saw churches that
had nothing to say about police brutality, nothing to say when a young black boy
was shot while he was wearing police handcuffs, nothing to say when they
overturned affirmative action, nothing to say when people were being [relega
ted] into poverty, yet they were organizing and mobilizing to stop consenting
adults from choosing their life partners."
"I am tired of seeing ministers who will preach homophobia by day, and then after they're preaching, when the lights are off they go cruising for trade...We know you're not preaching the Bible, because if you were preaching the Bible we would have heard from you. We would have heard from you when people were starving in California--when they deregulated the economy and crashed Wall Street you had nothing to say. When Bush took us to war chasing weapons of mass destruction that weren't there you had nothing to say. But all of a sudden, when Proposition 8 came out, you had so much to say, but since you stepped in the rain, we're going to step in the rain with you."

Did the Reverend Al Sharpton get THIS one off, or WHAT??!!??




4- We are ALL waiting for her return...Will Whitney Houston (who looked STUNNING at the BET Honors last week!!!) 'bring it' at her performance at this year's Grammy Pre-Show? (No pressure, Whitney!)



5- Bow Wow to team up with Stephon Marbury to introduce a low-cost clothing line . Will it work better than Marbury's low-priced merchandise at the now-defunct Steve and Barry's? Besides, in this economy, who the F*CK has $190 to buy their little kid some new "Jordans"?
5a-Given all the money Michael Jordan has made off of the "hood", shouldn't HE get on the "high-low" bandwagon himself and pressure Nike to make some athletic wear that lower-income people can AFFORD?


6- What did YOU think of the "Notorious" movie? With the film's star, Jamal Woodard (who plays Biggie Smalls), named in a domestic dispute incident (where he was arrested and charged with misdemeanor assault, menacing, and harassment of his spouse), is it a case of life imitating...art?





7- We mentioned this a couple of weeks ago, but...Is Taraji P. Henson (fresh off of her THREE Screen Actor's Guild nominations and, this past week, an Oscar nomination!) now REALLY poised to be the next Halle Berry?

8- Who would win in a schoolyard scrap- Sasha and Malia Obama or Ming and Aoki Lee?
















9- Since they're pregnant at the same time...who's progeny will be more fashion-forward, Kimora and DJimon's offspring, or Nas and Kelis'?



10- Is Eddie Curry having the WORST two years EVER?
In 2007, Curry and his wife were bound and robbed at gunpoint in the family's suburban Chicago mansion by three gun-wielding thugs. He was recently set back further by a bacterial infection that forced him to miss the first six days of training camp. He played in just one game this season, curtailed for 35 games with a knee injury.
Two weeks ago, with his career slipping, he found himself being sued by his former driver, David Kuchinsky, who accused Curry of making sexual advances toward him, forcing him to perform demeaning tasks, twice pointing a gun at him, and hurling racial and religious epithets at him. This weekend Nova Henry, the woman with whom Curry fathered a 3-year-old son (while presumably still married to his wife- with whom he has four children) was murdered in Chicago in front of the three year old, along with a nine-month-old daughter that she claimed Curry sired (Curry has denied paternity). The killer is suspected to have been a "known acquaintance," Chicago Police say, and Henry had a boyfriend that she recently filed a restraining order against...

10a-First former Knicks head coach Isaiah Thomas is let go amid a sex abuse scandal, then Stephon Marbury finds himself in a very contentious standoff with Knicks management over contract negotiations, and now tragedy has found Curry once again. Is someone "working a root" on the New York Knicks? Shouldn't Knicks Center Jerome James at LEAST wear a luckier jersey number?






11- Chris Rock's new documentary, "Good Hair", about the billion-dollar black haircare business, debuted at the Sundance Film Festival this week... Did Chris let the cameras roll while he got his texturizer?

12- With President Obama's image burnished on everything from watches to hot sauce to toilet paper to dildos (yes, dildos! check it out here!), has he done more for the economy before his stimulus plan gets approval than we even realize?
12a- Was there really any doubt that President Obama would find a way to keep his Blackberry?



13-A couple of weeks ago, we hipped you to Stephon Marbury's workout DVD. Are we ready for Toccara's "Fabulous" workout DVD (Check it out here)???























THE FASHIONISTA FILES

Cover Wars

14- Check out the cover of this month's V Magazine. Isn't Grace Jones STILL killing it?


























15- Lebron James on the cover of GQ this month? Is this cover better than his "King Kong" 'Vogue' Cover with Giselle Bundchen?









16-Naomi Campbell and Linda Evangelista bringing it in the Spring/Summer '09 Dsquared campaign....Will these chicks EVER age? At this point, isn't the LAST thing we wanna see is Naomi being violent?




17- GQ Magazine has named (former?) Outkast member Andre 3000 one of the Best New Designers in America for his prep-inspired men’s line, Benjamin Bixby. However, with the merchandise not exactly flying off the shelves (and with most of the remaining merchandise at Barney's reduced to over 50% of its retail price), will he have to go back to his day job and put out another CD?










The REAL FLASHBACK...
THE REAL RE-Edit knew that (for better of worse) Rihanna would evolve into the fashion doyenne she's become soon after she burst on the scene. However, what solidified it was her video for "S.O.S". While it was definitely a good look for her to sample Soft Cell's "Tainted Love", the REAL good look was Rihanna herself- who ditched the "Bajan Girl Next Door" look she rocked in 'Pon De Replay' for a more slick, stylized effect...

Grab your baguettes and berets...Its the Paris Fall 2009 Menswear shows!!!

THE REAL RE-Edit brings you...Everything that you need to know about the Paris Fall 2009 Menswear shows- in black and white...

It seems like even though we have hit a rough patch in the world economy, menswear continues to thrive (with few exceptions; the house of Valentino shocked sartorialists when it decided NOT to show in Milan this season). However, as it seems there is a definite divide between the haves and have-nots these days, and while we mostly look to Karl Lagerfeld at Chanel for what appears to be his signature stark black/white color palette, a lot of other designers also thought in clear terms of black and white, sometimes with shades of grey in the balance. Whether it was an equestrian theme (at Ann Demeulemeester),










Thierry Mugler's ever-expanding fashion-as-fetish-wear theme,

The "German-pop/synch-music-hipster" aesthetic that Bruno Pieters sent down the Hugo by Hugo Boss runway (monocle sunglasses not included!),






Or the Olde English motif that John Galliano played with, it was ALL there- in black and white, with a complexity not usually communicated in menswear design using such a monochromatic canvas. While he DID inject color into some looks while employing a "Pirates-of-Penzance-meets-John-Quincy-Adams-and-Benjamin-Franklin" effect, black and white still prevailed:


Galliano even employed tulle, which is something that men may not be ready for (see: "A Couple of Things that We, as Menswear consumers,May Not Be Ready For" below)...









Even Jean Paul Gaultier, known for his exotic use of color, used the black and white theme (both as color palette and commentary on race, replete with black nationalist afros!)...


(Yes, those ARE CHILDREN on Gaultier's runway!)







Raf Simons incorporated black and white (and some grey) into a Trench:
AND into suiting looks:


Kris Van Assche also repeated the black/white coda for Dior Homme







While everyone (present company included!) EXPECTED Rei Kawakubo to default to Comme des Garcon's signature black and white palette, she shocked everyone by offering- COLOR; pale violets etched onto wool blazers and cotton sweaters,


...Along with mint green hats from milliner Stephen Jones,


...Even PLAID, argyle, floral




The dirth of color on the runways aside, what was also abundantly clear (in concise, black-and-white-and-no-in-between terms) was that luxury would not be compromised. While some might question Hermes' use of tomato and shocking yellow to offset the somberness of otherwise monochromatic collection, it could be argued that the stark contrast offered by that of a neon yellow seemed to ground the luxuriousness of the cashmere and wool gabardine...







Even when Demeulemeester used touches of creme and brown, its earthiness was juxtaposed with the opulence of (goat)fur...



Demuelemeester. Cerruti, and Yamamoto showed that even an exaggerated (but luxurious!) knit wasn't content to just be run-of-the-mill:
(Demeulemeester...)


(Cerruti...)


(Yohji Yamamoto...)




-This season, the common accessory appears to be a knee-high boot (see Thierry Mugler above), as if to fully protect the shins while stomping down the Rue Saint-Germain. Also offering a HOT boot game was

(Gareth Pugh...)




(John Galliano's swashbuckling service...)




Kris Van Assche used a slouched combat boot in his eponymous collection:





...While Rick Owens shuffled onto the runway what amounted to a slouched Fishing boot:








And Now, The REAL RE-Edit "Le Monde" Awards (a.k.a., Le Parisienne Creme de la Creme...)

Best bag of the Paris shows: Louis Vuitton black logo-embossed tote
-It appears that the accessory of choice has shifted amongst the sexes, as it is becoming more and more of a necessity for a well-turned out man to carry an equally-as-well-appointed bag. Although unapologetic luxe seemed to be the theme of the collection (check the alligator "cadet" jacket to the left!), Louis Vuitton was VERY bag-heavy, showing models with sometimes with more than one bag at a time...






Sometimes the bags hinged on birkin-like hardware, as evidenced by my favorite bag of the collections (Louis Vuitton tote with an Hermes flourish? Are you surprised it's my favorite?!!!)
(although Hermes, surprisingly, showed NO bags in its menswear show!)

Best use of patterns...Junya Watanabe
While most seem to just be throwing plaids, stripes and the like together with wreckless abanson, Watanabe shows us how to do it right, even mixing in quilts...





Most overhyped (and underwhelming) fashion accessory: Louis Vuitton's sneakers designed by Kanye West

We can't knock Kanye's hustle; the man is creative, outspoken and enterprising. However, when we heard month's back that he was designing a shoe line for Louis Vuitton we were breathless with anticipation: would "The Louis Vuitton Don" be able to do it? As of right now, THE REAL RE-Edit's feeling is a resounding "no". As fashion-forward as West portends himself to be, the reality is that we can find these kind of kicks at any Billionaire Boys Club, Bathing Ape or Kid Robot storefront (or Puma, for that matter!) We will hold out hope for 'Ye, but as of now he needs to get back to the drawing board! Marc Jacobs must have felt the same way, because only one pair of Kanye's sneakers made it into the actual runway show (he has reportedly designed 5 styles) ...








Coolest separate of the Paris collections:
Raf Simons' beautifully-crafted torso cutout sweater was the most innovative, allowing you to wear it with a woven- or with NOTHING underneath if you wanna show those gym-punished pecs!


Most disappointing collection: Stefano Pilati for YSL
Not even luxurious crocodile, cashmere and crepe de chine would save this incredibly boring collection. It's so boring that THE REAL RE-Edit will refrain from taking up valuable blog space here...






Most luxurious, anti-PETA piece of the Paris Shows...(tie)
Looks like the estimated 2 million members of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) may have something else to rally around, because there are two contenders for the "best skins in menswear" title this season. Its is a toss-up between Louis Vuitton's Alligator cadet jacket (see above) and Rick Owens' fur-trimmed alligator vest!
Further proof that alligator just isn't for shoes anymore...




Biggest trend of the season(s): Pajamas as outwear...
Silk pajama ensembles seem to be having their moment in the spotlight- not as nightwear, but marketed as EVENINGwear! In theory, or course, silk pajamas as eveningwear are less YSL's Le Smoking aesthetic and more for Le SLEEPING.
Tom Ford touched on it two seasons ago (when the items were all the rage at his newly-minted Madison Avenue stand-alone store). Then Sessilee Lopez was photographed for an editorial in W Magazine donning Ford's pajamas with a sickening pair of stilettos- the image was very elegant. They then showed up last year on the Prada and Lanvin runways. Duckie Brown and Z Zegna followed suit. This summer, Dolce and Gabbana carted out their silk chiffon version (with an advertising campaign built around them photographed by Steven Klein)...


Even Bottega Veneta and Giorgio Armani showed pajama-inspired clothes in Milan.

Now Yohji Yamamoto joins the fray...


While pushing the envelope for actual ready-to-wear, when done right they are great fashion editorial efforts. However, THE REAL RE-Edit is just afraid that some fashion victims will jump the shark, and now we'll be seeing people wandering around Soho in their satin two-pieces in the name of couture... (Yes, Jessica Alba, we're talking to YOU! Since THE REAL RE-Edit is separated from Alba's stylist by only 2 degrees, we'll be quiet and leave it at that!)











-Proof That President Obama's Election Has Global Implications" Award:
Gaultier's afro'd commentary on race was well executed, but it seemed excessive and somewhat hamfisted in comparison to Lanvin's statement. Alber Elbaz and Lucas Ossindrijver closed the show with a Barack Obama stand-in, replete in three-quarter top coat with the requisite million-dollar smile, waving rather presidentially to those in attendance as he sold the last look of the show- the same look that the REAL American President will utilize in currently trying to sell his economic stimulus package to the Republicans stateside...










A couple of things that we, as menswear consumers, may not be ready for:
-Men in Mary Janes (at Comme des Garcons)



-Men in garter belts (at Galliano)


-Men in Culottes (at Yohji Yamamoto):

(Although, if your a "Yohji" kinda guy, you don't care whether other men are ready for culottes or not- STYLE knows no hesitation!)




















A new fashion "beef"... Just when we were getting over Mr. Valentino's public lashing of Alessandra Fachinetti, Giorgio Armani tries to bring it to Dolce and Gabbana over quilted pants.... (read about it here). Is Armani claiming sovereignty over the quilted pant, because if so he may want to consult with Junya Watanabe as well (see Junya Watanabe above)...Is there a new East Coast/West Coast "wrap" war in the making?


The REAL FLASHBACK...
Since this is a Fashion-heavy post, let's do something fashion-related.
On the menswear front, even though Andre 3000's fashion line, Benjamin Bixby, may be in trouble, let's remember when his fashion sense was heavily paid-attention to. Remember Outkast's controversially-titled "Rosa Parks"?