Pharrell is FLY, VOGUE gets FLY, Puffy gets a STAR...-May 4,2008

Pharrell Williams is FLY, Vogue Italia gets FLY in July, Puffy is a STAR and Agyness is a Mannequin...

In a week where Lil Kim's Bentley was supposedly repossessed (actually, it was near-bankrupt music producer Scott Storch's gift to Lil Kim that was repossessed!), where presidential candidates argued over a $30 gas "holiday", where Madonna made an appearance on BET's 106 & Park (?), and Maya Angelou celebrated her 80th birthday for the third time (this time in Atlanta), these were the things going through my mind as I flipped through my New York Times and sipped my acai...


1- Is PETA "petro"? They've been known to douse women wearing furs on the street and on the runway with red paint. They have terrorized Beyonce and Jennifer Lopez for their fur flaunting, and have used supermodels in their "I'd Rather Be Naked Than Wear Fur" campaigns... Now...in Mary J. Blige's new "Stay Down" video, she is wearing no less than FOUR different fur coats, even standing in boots with fur detail! In a majority of her past videos, Mary has not been shy about rocking animal skins (In "Be Without You" she walks around on a fur rug, in "Enough Cryin'" a Leopard print oversized fur coat makes an appearance, "Runaway Love" has her in a fur Vest, and she starts out the "Just Fine" video throwing off a Fur coat). Interestingly enough, PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) has NEVER stepped to Mary J.!!! And while PETA has remained relatively unscathed with their near-assault scare tactics with many a celebrity...Does PETA know better than to f_&%ck with the Queen of hip hop soul? Are they scared that Mary will take off her earrings, snatch her hair back into a ponytail and proceed to whip their asses?

2- Alicia Keys and Jordin Sparks cancel their tour because of swollen vocal chords. Is this a sign that maybe they should stop SCREAMING on their records?

3- Are we REALLY supposed to believe that Jimi Hendrix has a sex tape? Seeing that both Jimi and Marilyn Monroe have been dead over 30 years, should we call it a sex tape- or necrophilia? What's next, Jimi Hendrix penis plaster casts? -Oh wait, that's been done already...


4- 'Sex...' sells- out?...If Sarah Jessica Parker and the 'Sex and the City' movie loves New York sooooo much...WHY is it premiering in LONDON at Leicester Square on May 12th- two weeks before anyone in NYC can see it?




5- This week, Starbucks reported a 2nd-quarter earnings drop of 28%. Is the day of the $8 Venti White Chocolate Mocha Frappuchino OVER?
5a- Now that Starbucks will begin offering Wi-Fi access in its 7,000 stores via AT&T (effectively ending a long relationship with T-Mobile), will Iphone users FINALLY see a return on their investment?

5- Puffy/Puff Daddy/P Diddy/Diddy/Sean John/Sean Combs got his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on May 2nd...

He is house-hunting in Los Angeles now, and plans to split his time between New York and LA to pursue his acting career...Will he also be getting back with his baby mama Kim Porter, who took off for Cali after their last breakup?

7- Kwame Kilpatrick and Christina Beatty dig themselves a deeper hole with the release of NEW text messages between the Detroit mayor and his top aide. She left her husband in 2003 (presumably for him), yet he's still married (and apparently has no intention on divorcing). He will almost certainly go the way of NY Governor Elliot Spitzer and leave his office in disgrace. Who will be the biggest loser when all of this is done?





Icon Alert... DAMN you, Pharrell Williams!!!




There is no debate- Pharrell Williams is FLY!!! Let me tell you why...

1- Along with Chad Hugo, he is one half of the highly regarded internationally acclaimed producing team The Neptunes and one-third of the ridiculously talented hip hop movement N.E.R.D. He has even topped the charts as a solo artist (when he's not singing hooks for Jay-Z, Snoop Dogg and the like).

THAT would be fly enough...but there's more...

2- Billionaire Boys Club, a high-end urban clothing collaboration between Pharrell Williams and Japanese Hip Hop fashion designer/prodigy Nigo (of clothing line “A Bathing Ape” fame) hit the streets at the end of 2005. Since then, it has attained cult status among the skateboard cognoscenti AND the Ballers (and wannabe ballers) who live, breath, and eat off of hip hop. Those $80 "Billionaire Boys Club" t-shirts are flying off the racks- you almost have to be a billionaire to afford one!

THAT's Fly too...but wait, this is where is gets REAL Fly...

3-His sartorial cred was solidified when he was named Esquire magazine's Best Dressed Male in 2005. His designer chops were challenged when he was asked by Marc Jacobs to design a line of sunglasses in 2005 with Nigo for Louis Vuitton(remember the red "millionaire" sunglasses?). Shortly after that, he became the male face of Louis Vuitton in the 2006-2007 ad campaign (along with Kate Moss and Naomi Campbell).



NOW the seemingly indomitable 'Mr. Williams' has linked up with Louis Vuitton creative consultant Camille Miceli to design Blason, a new series in the Louis Vuitton Jewelry collection.

FLY, right? All of this I can take. However...

4- The straw that breaks the proverbial camel's back is his fearless sense of individualism with regard to his own individual STYLE...
Pharrell Williams, eschewing conventional hypermasculine hip-hop "rules", has started carrying around THE bag that true fashionistas of all ages, colors (and genders) lust for. Yes...the Birkin bag.
And not just ANY Birkin. He had the house of Hermes personally craft two Birkins, one of which is a purple crocodile "Haut Au Corrois"- the original Birkin!
After having lusted after a Birkin for years, one of my favorite fashionistas "loaned" me one of his birkins a while ago (you know who you are)- I say "loaned" because he hasn't asked for it back yet, and I'm not volunteering its return! While I don't carry it much (except in airports or if the mood hits me) I certainly understand the allure of this status bag. Being a male, at first I was a little weary of lugging this bag round; was it too pretentious? was it too "fashion-y"? was it not masculine enough? Pharell Williams has single-handedly reminded me of what I say about fashion and style all the time- that STYLE does not belong to JUST one gender and if you have STYLE, u can rock ANYTHING! So I'm proclaiming the following- Pharrell Williams is FLY!!!
Maybe I'll let him know that on the 13th, when N.E.R.D will be doing a signing at the Billionaire Boys Club's NYC Flagship store...

FYI...
-N.E.R.D's new CD, “Seeing Sounds”, drops on June 10th...

-Bad Birkin Business...

For those of you who want to follow in Pharrell's shoes and start "workin' that Le Birkin"...whatever you do, DON'T think you can bypass the notoriously LONG Hermes Birkin wait-list by purchasing one on Ebay! Hermes is currently involved in a lawsuit against the online retailer, charging that they contribute to the trend of fake Hermes bags being sold online for bidding wars upwards of $48,000! Although Ebay says it is not responsible for the authenticity of ANY merchandise sold on the site (effectively taking a "caveat emptor" stance), Hermes' key argument however is that eBay makes a commission on the sale of each counterfeit good sold on its site thereby making it a participant in the fraudulent transaction and not merely a passive host. So- say it with me- NO EBAY BIRKIN TRANSACTIONS!!! If you can't afford one, maybe rent one- Companies such as Bag Borrow or Steal, From Bags To Riches and Bling Yourself rent "it" bags for a fraction of the purchase price...




The Fashionista Files...
1-Right on the heels of my criticism of Vogue's seemingly homogenous take on what is beautiful comes the news that Vogue Italia's July 2008 issue will feature Black models almost exclusively on the cover and throughout the pages of the quarterly publication! To Franca Sozzani, editor-in-chief of Vogue Italia, I say...Bellisima!

1a- The Vogue Italia issue will feature new model Arlenis from the Marilyn agency . With the buzz around this Dominican beauty...should Chanel Iman watch her back?

























2- First Marc Jacobs did Wranglers. Now Alber Elbaz (Lanvin) is designing jeans for Acne Denim, and Hedi Slimane (formerly of Dior Homme) for will do dungarees for Diesel. Can someone put a bug in Puffy's ear and get Byron Lars to re-tool Sean John's denim line?


3-Isn't Carin Roitfield, Paris Vogue's editor, JUST as fly as American Vogue editor Anna Wintour?












4- "Lars" and the Real Girl...Laura Hollins, aka supermodel Agyness Deyn, gets her own rootstein mannequin! Does that make her more or less plastic?
























5- Once again, how FLY is Pharell Williams? Here is his video for the Blason line for LV...


6- Speaking of Louis Vuitton...He is the REAL "Louis Vuitton don", but...with THREE stores within 50 feet of each other on Bleeker Street in NYC's west Village (Marc by Marc Jacobs SURPLUS- (men), Marc by Marc Jacobs STUFF (accessories), and Marc by Marc Jacobs(women)- shouldn't they rename that block of Bleeker Street "Marc Jacobs Avenue"?
5a- Is London's golden boy Matthew Williamson the new and next Marc Jacobs?

7- New York City has received the grade of "F" on the American Lung Association's "State of the Air" 2008 report. Should true fashionistas start putting these on when they walk the streets?
























I wonder if they would fit comfortably in a Birkin...







COVER WARS
1- How funny is THIS? (courtesy of satirical newspaper The Onion)


2- How WACK was it for Esquire magazine to "re-invent" its own 1960's cover of Virna Lisi for, of ALL people, Jessica Simpson?






3- At first I thought the conversation about the LeBron James/Gisele Bundchen Vogue Cover was absolutely ludicrous, but...When put side by side, does the "King Kong" argument start to make more sense?

























4- How FLY is Trace magazine's cover for their "Art & Soul" issue?

FLASHBACK...
Let's take it back to when Puffy, the original purveyor of "ghetto fabulousness" was putting Mary in baseball caps with her hair sticking out of the top...Remember- Mary J. Blige's video for "REAL LOVE"?