We Can Be Heroes - Model Karly Loyce By Terry Richardson For Porter Magazine Summer 2016 #14

This has got to be one of the most beautiful and highly styled editorials that I've seen in a while. Stylist George Cortina did not miss a beat as he tried to recapture the style and elegance of the iconic Nina Simone in the summer issue of PORTER Magazine. Karly Loyce killed it in this editorial!!

Model: Karly Loyce

Photographer Terry Richardson 

Stylist George Cortina 

Hairstylist Peter Butler

Make-Up by Mark Carrasquillo

Via Divalocity

New Music From Negra Li: Tudo De Novo

Tudo De Novo/"All New" is Negra Li's second solo album.

Here's a sampling: 

Negra Li's CD is available on Amazon.









Photos: Negra Li Oficial

Joan Smalls for VOGUE/USA August 2012

What a pleasant surprise to see a VOGUE issue dedicated to family and when I saw Joan Smalls gorgeous family now we understand where her beauty comes from. Joan is in a gorgeous photo spread featuring her dad and sisters in this month's VOGUE photographed by Norman Jean Roy. They aren't on their site just yet, but I'm sure they will be.

I'm so proud of Joan.

I'd rather have the paper magazine in my hands because digital issues just don't do it for me. My neck and eyes have been destroyed trying to read a magazines like that.

Gorgeous photos, aren't they?

Photos: Taken by me

Need To Hear:Singer Chila Lynn

Chila Lynn is a 20 year old Cuban singer and pianist, whose music is considered as one of the best of her generation. Chila was a child prodigy having entered the Alejandro Garcia Caturla Elementary School of Music in Havana studying classical piano music for eight years and attending Manuel Saumell school. In 2005 she entered Amadeo Roldan High School, where she won several awards in national piano music competitions. Last year Chila Lynn completed her training at the National Conservatory of Music and Dance at the University of La Sorbonne in Paris.

Chila's debut album is titled "Real Woman" for EMI Spain. A beautiful voice from a beautiful young woman. To learn more, follow her on YT, Facebook and Twitter.








Photos/Source: EMI Music Espana/ Revista Antonia

Le Looks Du Jour: Carmelita, Samira and Ana Bela

    Glamtastic!



Photos: Bob Wolfenson

Preserving Our Image: Artist Renee Cox

Artist and Activist, Renee Cox

As a lover of all things beautiful and also controversial, one can not but truly admire the beauty and courage of artist and activist Renee Cox. Renee is another one of those artist that loves to push her audiences buttons and to inspire them with her thought provoking works of art. She presents the truth which oftentimes is hard for many people to handle even though they're in a perpetual state of denial. To learn more about this magnificent woman click here.

Below are some of my favorites:

"Liberation of Aunt Jemima and Uncle Ben"

"Mother Of Us All"

"Chillin With Liberty"

"Mother Land"

Photos: Renee Cox

Check Out The September/October Issue of Winkler Magazine

Mario Epanya's latest issue of Winkler Magazine has me looking forward to the fall.

Open publication - Free publishing - More africa

A Fashionable Life: Tamu McPherson

"Standing Tall"

Tamu McPherson is one of fashions favorite street blogger's and she's also a favorite of mine who proves that fashion isn't just for the birds. As the writer and photographer of her blog, "All the Pretty Birds," Tamu is a stylish inspiration herself and personally, I find her just as stylish as many of the subjects she's known to photograph.

"Chic Enough to Beat the Cold"

I love her style because she has that air of sophistication and elegance about her that shows a simple yet elegant style without a logo intact unless it's an easily recognizable designer handbag or back pack.

Tamu not only catches the styles and trends of Europe before they hit the states, she is a subject all by herself often introducing a modern woman's view of fashion from ladylike luxury, to glamorous masculine tailoring. As a trendsetter she's known to inject pops of color into neutral palettes here and there with fabulous finishes. Tamu never disappoints.

Jamaica born, and New York bred, Tamu now lives in Milan with her husband and son.

You can learn more about Tamu here and here.

Photos: Mr. Newton|Tommy Ton|Hanneli Mustaparta

Hecho En Colombia: Gloria "Goyo" Martinez of ChocQuib Town

Gloria " Goyo" Martinez of the group, ChocQuib Town:

Their name is made up of the area of where they're from, their province, Choco (Choh-KOH),  and its capital, Quibdo (Keeb-DOH).



There are parts of Colombia that greets it's visitors with a kiss on both cheeks that say welcome home to African culture outside of Africa and El Chocó certainly does that. El Chocó is inhabited predominantly by the descendants of Africans brought to Colombia by the Spanish Colonizers.

Chocquib Town is a hip-hop trio from Colombia's Chocó region. Their song "De Donde Vengo Yo" (Where I Come From), won the Latin Grammy as Best Alternative Song in 2010, the song is a no-holds bared depiction of the life that occurs for people of African descent who live in the region who the media doesn't talk about; those who have lived on the land for centuries and who are now being run off of it and exploited for it's vasts resources of gold and platinum.


The members of ChocQuibTown is comprised of Slow, and his sister Goyo and her husband Tostao who formed the group in 2000. Their music is fused with traditional rhythms of the northern Pacific coast with a dose of urban hip-hop, salsa and other genres consisting of funk to reggae.



Their Grammy-nominated album "Oro" (Gold) takes on the exploitative nature of the gold trade because most Chocoanos who mine it barely make a living from it. To learn more check out their website here.

Photos: Revista Fucsia

ONE TO WATCH: FASHION DESIGNER MARGA WEIMANS

Fashion Designer Marga Weimans

Marga Weimans is a Dutch designer who graduated from the prestigious Royal Antwerp Art Academy. Weimans’ designs evoke a mixture of  her Surinamese roots meets European culture, her silhouettes are bold, colorful, outgoing and stylish while heavily based on modern contemporary art, fashion and design. Weimans is a past recipient of the i-D Styling Award at the International Talent Support Competition. Several of her designs are on display at the Groninger Museum in the Netherlands.

Her fashion shoot and styling featuring one of her designs for the January issue of i-D magazine.
Because of her cultural roots, Weimans is also interested in exploring the role of women of Africa descent in the current global, and complex culture. With her collection "Source of Power Collection", Weimans gave an image of the eccentricity, political incorrectness and dignity that come to play analyzing the contemporary black woman. Marga will be a participant in the 2011 Venice Biennale( La Biennale di Venezia ). To learn more about this fantastic designer check out her website for new updates.

Photos: Marga Weimans|i-D Magazine

CONGRATULATIONS TO ESPERANZA SPALDING ON WINNING THE GRAMMY AWARD FOR BEST NEW ARTIST!!!

ESPERANZA SPALDING

Esperanza Spalding

...She beat out Justin Bieber and Drake for the Grammy Award for Best New Artist! Ha! Ha! Ha!
Raise your hands if you're a fan. I am and I've got every record she has ever recorded to prove it!
Some of us have been fans for a very long time, but last night she has again shown the world exactly who she is without their fanfare and excessive objectification. Even the Obama's are fans.  Esperanza Spalding wasn't on the lips of many them before, but she certainly will now. For some reason or the other there are a lot of people who are so "2000 and Late" due to being smitten with those who the media deems as popular. "Popularity doesn't mean a thing if you don't have any real influence."

If you haven't listened to her before, be sure to check out her latest disc, Chamber Music Society.

A Moment In Afro Herstory: Singer Barbara McNair




Barbara McNair, was a cabaret singer, actress and television personality of the 1960s who was known as much for her stunning appearance as for her versatile voice. One of the few African-American television hosts of the period, Ms. McNair had her own syndicated variety series, “The Barbara McNair Show,” broadcast from 1969 to 1971. She made at least a half-dozen records, including several for the Motown label.
Her other Broadway credits include “No Strings” (1962), in which she replaced Diahann Carroll as the female lead, and a 1973 revival of “The Pajama Game.” Ms. McNair also had roles in several films, among them “If He Hollers, Let Him Go!” (1968), and “They Call Me MISTER Tibbs!” (1970), a sequel to “In the Heat of the Night,” the last two starring Sidney Poitier. She made many television appearances on “McMillan & Wife,” “The Mod Squad,” “General Hospital” and other shows. March 4, 1934, Miss McNair died February 4, 2007.

Scenes From Fashion Rio 2011

Scenes From Fashion Rio 2011

Fashion Rio is once again adding the sizzle to what makes Brazil be Brazil, haute fashions and haute models.  OESTUDIO brings innovation and progression to the runway once again by casting a runway composed entirely of black models. Enjoy!

(Photos: Caiuá Franco)

Man of Style: Alex Cuba

Alex Cuba, is a Cuban born,Canadian based singer-songwriter who sings in Spanish and English. He has won two Juno Awards for World Music Album of the Year: in 2006 for Humo De Tabaco, and in 2008 for his second album, Agua Del Pozo. In 2010  Alex Cuba won the Latin Grammy for best new artist.

I'm Back!!!

So much has happened while I was gone. Let's see Mel (Mad Max) Gibson was secretly recorded by his former love muffin and some people got angry about it. Hm-mm, would we have known any of this had she not recorded it to seek revenge? Would it have mattered if he was not well known? Who cares because I don't, I don't answer to the N-word so he wasn't talking to me or about me.

I sneaked on my daughters computer from time to time because she brought her own and our hotels had great Wi-Fi. My "Crackberry" kept me connected to Twitter which I like again, until the people I've chosen to follow start with the ignorance.

Miss Chilli of TLC.

Lifestyle Guru and Event Planner, David Tutera.

The Essence Music Festival rocked and so did Miss Janet Jackson...Miss Jackson was too much! I've been going for the past nine years and still could not hit all of the events in the city that went on. I wanted to go to the Carols Daughter events , but would have died from heat stroke because the lines were long and in that heat we would have died. It was hotter than hell, but I'm use to the heat and humidity.

Montreux Jazz Festival blew the city off the charts with their phenomenal line up as usual. And to top it off we still didn't make it to New York. My girls have a trip planed for April to see their father and I hope to fly with them to visit the city and see if I like it enough to live there.

Scenes from the recent Dakar Fashion week.


   Models wearing the designs of Martinique born designer,
   Paul Hervé.

Next up, Fashion Weeks galore! I don't plan on buying any Haute Couture (unless I make my own) any time soon, but Africa Fashion Week in NY rocked and so did Senegal Fashion Week in Dakar. Dakar Fashion Week took place from July 13 to 20, the event featured African artists who wowed the crowd with their vivid colors and innovative designs. Who needs VOGUE to tell them what's fashionable or not? Africa doesn't need them!The great Canadian photographer Finbarr O'Reilly captured this prestigious event .


How was your Summer so far?  I want to thank all new readers while I was away for befriending the Blog.  Merci beaucoup!