SOLANGE KNOWLES FOR VOGUE UK

Solange for VOGUE UK's Today I'm Wearing Style Diary

It seems that we're not the only ones who love to see Solange and the other women who are now resetting the cultural conversation when it comes to their own personal style. VOGUE UK  has fallen right in line with it's publishing peers to document this talented woman. Do we see an editorial or a cover for the next issue?
Follow Solange for the entire month here to see what she's wearing.


Photo: SOURCE/VOGUE UK

Inspiration: Joyce Walker-Joseph and Barbara Summers

Actress/Model Joyce Walker-Joseph

Author/Model Barbara Summers

Anyone who was a teenager in 1976 should remember these advertisements of Joyce Walker-Joseph and
Barbara Summers from the late '70s. As a teenager I remember them quite vividly because these two ladies were some of my favorite models and anything which featured Joyce on the cover was in my possession and still is. I was digging through my archives until two in the morning having no idea how late it was looking for certain magazines and came across these two photos. I read all the time about women looking for inspiration in women who resembles them in the media, well I had these two women and a host of other's that I was elated to see featured in mainstream publications. It's different today because the imagery that their now selling is that of the unattainable...basically the look of someone else.

The Seventeen magazines featuring Joyce and Whitney Houston were some of their #1 Bestsellers.

I went out and bought that carved rose necklace and earrings that Barbara was wearing because I wanted to look like her. My friend and I copied the whole look from the makeup to the Afro.Today Joyce works as an theater actress and is an activist. Barbara Summers is a highly noted author and historian, especially of the fashion industry with several well known books in publication. Skin Deep:Inside the World of Black Fashion Models is a large coffee table-book that has it's place alongside my other fashion books and is deffinitely worth a read.

Latinas With A Fierce Fashion Sense...

Colombian Singer Erika Muñoz

... and the gift of song puts Erika Muñoz and Concha Buika in a league by themselves. Erika is greatly influenced by the music of Angélique Kidjo and Colombia's own música embassadora, Totó la Momposina as a way of returning to her African roots using the traditional instruments of percussion, maracas, and bass drums.

Erika's idol-Totó la Momposina

Her music is a mix of Afro-Colombian rhythms and Congolese soukous delivered with her beautiful voice which closes all emotional distance between her and the listener.

Erika is a native of Barranquilla, but tours all over the world giving her listeners the sounds of the palenqueros who live along the Caribbean region of Colombia. To learn more about Erika Muñoz, click here.

Erika

Concha Buika is Spain's primera señora of "Nuevo Flamenco"  who blends her smoky voice into a enthralling instrument that produces jazz, soul, traditional coplas and bulerías. It's like hearing the blues, but only in Spanish...one can still feel the deep passion in her voice.

Concha was born on the Spanish island of Mallorca to parents from Equatorial Guinea and now resides in Madrid.

Buika's first major tour kicks off Oct. 15 in Chicago and ends Nov. 20 of this year in Miami. To learn more about Concha Buika, click here.

Blog Love: UZURI

Of course you know I had to choose the photo with the

beautiful Ethiopian model, Nazri Segaro's Afro.

While reading the Houston Chronicle today, I came across the wonderful blog UZURI. For me it was love at first click. I was supposed to be writing a comment about the new Houston based magazine called  JONES and couldn't finish quick enough to browse this website. UZURI is a Houston, Texas based international fashion magazine that focuses on western fashion with African and African-American influences. This is a fabulous magazine and I need to get my hands on a copy of it. Be sure to check out their magnificent website as they are now featuring several collections by African designers.

Chrisette Michele: Simply Stunning

I'm sure that everyone has heard about or has seen the beautiful photos of singer Chrisette Michele in all of her exquisiteness by now? If not- it's all over the WEB because for some of us this is a celebration and I just had to have my own say.

Most of us go through life trying to elicit validation for our humanity by having other's say, "You're beautiful and everything about you is beautiful." There's nothing more liberating than declaring for yourself that only you will be responsible for this validation and not others. It's equally refreshing to see more women declaring for themselves that they are beautiful and believing it without worrying about the caustic criticisms from others.

There's nothing like taking a good look in the mirror and loving what you see. For those of you who are still out there looking for a muse, the muse is YOU... so conquer any insecurities that you have a about yourselves and do you! To be nobody but yourself in a world which is doing it's best to make you into everybody else...Do you!
(Photos: Derek Blanks)

The Afro In Advertisements

As you can see I'm obsessed with the Afro and all that it symbolizes (freedom, individuality and self-acceptance) and when I see a woman wearing one regardless of whether it's a small 'fro' or a huge one I've got to have the photo.

While reading Italy's D-web magazine lately I came across this advertisement for the Liu-Jo brand which looks like model Oluchi Onweagba and another model wearing these huge Afro wigs. I'm sure it's Oluchi because her husband Luca Orlandi is the head designer for the Luca Luca brand in Italy. If it's not her I stand corrected.
(Photo: Liu-Jo)

Spotted: "It Girl" Corrine Bailey Rae

British Songstress: Corrine Bailey Rae

"I'm Loving the Two-Strand Twist Out"

My daughters love to borrow my music all the time to down load it to there Ipods so when I asked one of them could I listen to Corinne Bailey Rae's latest album, "The Sea," I was amazed by their response.(They must have something of mine since they gave it up so quickly). I loved her first album and now I'm smitten with this one. 

If you haven't bought the CD already-I highly recommend it because it's great to see her back on the music scene after what she has gone through, The Sea marks Corinne’s return to music, following the tragic death of her husband Jason two years ago and this album is a testament to him. She's still standing which is a testament to her phenomenal strength and courage. Check out her website for more info about her North American Tour.

Afrolista of the Week: Adyel Silva

"Brazilian Songstress-Adyel Silva

This weeks Afrolista is Brazilian singer Adyel Silva. I love all kinds of music and the only music that really matters is good music regardless of what language it's sung in.

I was completely blown away when I first heard her sing because she reminds me so much of Jazz songstress, Carmen McRae in her delivery even though it's in Portuguese.

Adyel seduces her listeners with the musical offerings of Bossa Nova, smooth and electrifying Jazz and the rhythmic sounds of Afro-beat. To learn more about Adyel Silva, click here to her MySpace page.

Happy Birthday Aretha Franklin!

Today is "The Queen of Soul" birthday. On the music scene we're inundated with "Pop Princesses," but there's only one Queen of R&B and that's Aretha Franklin. Aretha is an iconic "Living Legend" who can still belt out any music genre that you can choose, to include Opera if she really wanted too.

Today, I salute you Aretha Louise Franklin, thank you for inspiring us when times were hard with your melodic renditions of gospel music, thank you for showing us that R-E-S-P-E-C-T was all we needed. When ever we needed you, you were there in song to get us through our blue days and our good days in our
"Pink Cadillac's."  May GOD continue to bless you with longevity and the gift of life!

"All Hail the Queen"

Who and What Is An Afrolista???

"Gotta Love The Afro In All Of It's Magnificent Glory"

An Afrolista is a woman who is of African descent+a Stylista who self-defines her own life from her beauty rituals and beyond. An Afrolista is also a woman who lives her life free of labels that society tries to affix to us and define our human existence. She refuse to let anyone or anything define her based upon superficial standards alone because she knows that the only opinion that matters is her own.

When I first started this blog I wanted something that would highlight our beauty and how we self-define our own beauty and what it means to us. I wanted to introduce my readers to culture and my memories of  many of the iconic and legendary women who have shaped my life.

I'm fascinated and obsessed with the Afro and what it stands for. I want to show the diversity of our beauty all across the African Diaspora and then some because style is style no matter who has it. I don't do tutorials on natural hair-care because there are hundreds- if not thousands of them on the World Wide Web for you to choose from.

I want to show the lifestyles of women who are "Au Naturel" and how they live and work in society. I don't believe in labels, so I'm not going to attach one to myself or any of you because I find labels quite limiting and libelous. Life is not about limitations, but living a life free of them.

If I find that one individual that fascinates and peeks my interest believe me you'll see a post about them here. Sometimes you may see a post ending with my favorite phrase: "Gotta Love the Afro In All Of It's Magnificent Glory." That phrase sums it all up for me because "The Afro" symbolizes a freedom like no other. It represents Liberation, Elegance, Style and the Regality of that of a Queen, because that's exactly who we are...Queens.

That freedom also symbolizes that women of African descent are abandoning the concept of European beauty standards and reclaiming their own standards of beauty for themselves by self-defining who they are as women. As women of African descent we do have a choice to wear our hair any way we choose to and personally I'm sticking with what I was born with. The struggle is over and I am more than just the hair on my head and the color of my skin...I am the soul that lives within...

I want to welcome all of the fabulous women who have joined my friends list and I hope that you enjoy my blog because I certainly enjoy reading many of yours. I'm no writer or a journalist, heck-sometimes I'm so tired after working twelve hour days and coming home to tap away on my keyboard that I can't even get my sentence structure right. Anyway I love this because I feel that I'm doing something worthwhile and if I can help change someones life then I've done my job.

A Moment In Afro Her-story: Fashion Journalist Teri Agins

'Fashion Journalist Teri Agins in her Afro years-Circa 1977'

"Before Marsha (Hunt that is), I had no idea that a hairdo could be so

revolutionary or politically charged."

While reading this months VOGUE, I came across this interesting article that former WSJ fashion journalist, Teri Agins wrote about during her "Afro years", titled: High Hopes. In the article she takes a look back at the revolutionary woman who inspired her to go from groomed to groovy- actress, author and singer Marsha Hunt.

                                    Marsha Hunt

Marsha Hunt is a Philadelphia born singer/actress who migrated to London in the 70's to launch her singing career and set London ablaze with her beauty and talent -who also once dated Mick Jagger.

For those of us who came up in the 70's era- we know about the pride and freedom we felt when we wore our hair in our "teeny weeny Afros" or that huge 'Bush" we were all trying to grow. We knew that the bigger the Afro was- the more complements we'd get from our peers and so did she.

Teri says that wearing the Afro has instilled pride, a sense of style and the freedom to be to a new generation of women who are now redefining their own standards of beauty.

"Gotta Love The Afro In All Of It's Magnificent Glory"

Afrolista of the Week: NABIHA BENSOUDA

Nabiha Bensouda is a Copenhagen based performer. Nabiha has Danish and North-West African roots (Gambia, Mali and Morocco) born and raised in Copenhagen as the eldest child in a family of seven. Nabiha grew up listening to disco music and soul, but at the age of five she fell in love with reggae. Later, her love turned to rock music, R’n’B and electronic music. Nabiha has been exposed to most genres and has now developed her own unique style, which is strengthened by her sublime and distinctive vocals. She possesses an energy and attitude that bewitches the listener of her music in a brilliant way.

"Nabiha performing at this years Zulu Awards in Danmark"

Throughout the last year, Nabiha worked intensely on her debut album ‘Cracks’ together with the Swedish producer/writer Carl Ryden, which was released in Denmark February 1st 2010. The tracks on the album are inspired by pop, urban and electronic music the productions are on an international level, rarely seen from an artist out of Denmark. Carl and Nabiha have written and produced most of the songs on the album but also collaborated with fantastic songwriters such as; Nina Woodford, Cozi Costi and Chanelle Gstettenbauer. During their first writing session, Nabiha, Carl and Cozi wrote the track “The Enemy”, which is the second single off the album in Denmark.

”Cracks” entered the official Danish Top-40 Album Chart at 17 and on the TDC PLAY download album Top-40 ”Cracks” has so far peaked at 7. The album has received fantastic reviews with 5-stars in several music magazines such as Gaffa, Tjeck, Sirene & Olivia and received 4 stars in various other well known magazines across Denmark. Nabiha has done several spectacular live performances on Danish National TV this spring – including the prestigious Zulu Awards show.

Nabiha is in the Danish charts right now with her first single “Deep Sleep” - a song with an incredibly strong hook focusing on “just wanting to sleep”. The middle-8 is a lullaby from Mali, which Nabiha’s mother used to sing to her when she was a child. The lyrics in the lullaby are a mix of African and French and it always put Nabiha to sleep.  Nabiha is an artist to definitely be on the look out for as she expands her reach all across Europe and on into the USA.
(Source:Nabiha)