A Revolutionary Love: Rog and Bee Walker For ESSENCE February 2017

"Talk about a Revolutionary Love!"

I’m just now getting around to reading the February 2017 issue of Essence magazine online and this editorial featuring some of my favorite creatives, Rog and Bee Walker made me stop in my tracks. 

I went to Jamaica and other Caribbean nations in May of last year and I had an epiphany whereas I have no desire to read any mainstream magazines anymore. I didn't want to buy any of the paper ones and I couldn't even muster up the strength to look at the ones I subscribe to online.

With all of our beauty and style being positively presented online ( these two are a part of that revolution) on various platforms, I don’t even need to read or see anything they’re saying or talking about. The aesthetics alone are enough for me.

Photographer Credit: DeAndre da Costa

Fashion Director: Julee Wilson

 

Actress Viola Davis for InStyle Magazine October 2012

The beautiful Viola Davis sets the tone for glamour with hints of sexiness in her latest editorial for InStyle Magazine/Oct 2012 photographed by Dusan Reljin.

I most definitely love this quote from Viola.

Photos: Dusan Reljin/Blackberry

What's Haute Now: Singer Karyn White!!!

The Music Gods must be listening to our weary ears because I found out this morning that one my favorites, the beautiful Miss Karyn White will be returning back to the airways after an 18 year hiatus! Hallelujah and Amen!

Karyn's latest CD will be titled "Carpe Diem" and I can say it will definitely sieze the airways because they have been hijacked with noise. The better singers don't get played, they only get ignored!

Check out her latest video below:


Follow Karyn White on FACEBOOK for future release dates and concerts.

Photos:The Boudoir Divas/Karyn White Music

Defining Fabulous:Thalma de Freitas

I've selected Brazilian singer and actress Thalma de Freitas as a woman who defines all that is fabulous. Born and raised in Rio de Janeiro, Thalma was raised in a musical household. Star of several novela's in her native Brazil, music seems to be her first love. Thalma's voice is magical and her beauty is undeniable and I love everything about her style that is uniquely her own. Thalma is also in the latest campaign for one of my favorite stores when I lived in Germany, C&A. I told my daughter that the nearest one is in Mexico and she gave me the old side-eye...We need C&A to come here. Either way, Thalma is pretty amazing!

One of my favorite photos of Thalma.

Le Looks Du Jour: Julia Sarr-Jamois Men's Collections Milano

My favorite Afrolista, Julia Sarr-Jamois captured by Mr. Tommy Ton himself before the men's collection shows in Milan.

Photos: Tommy Ton

Homage To La Baker

Over the years many women have either tried to copy the style and beauty of Madame Josephine Baker. Few have succeeded and several have failed. I've got to give it to 'Super Model" Rose Cordero for being  a dead ringer, no pun intended, of Josephine Baker with her most recent editorial for Tush Magazine, shot by Ellen von Unwerth.

In my own personal opinion the only two models in the past who pulled off an identical Josephine Baker look-a-like have been former "Super Models" Pat Cleveland and Billie Blair, everyone else comes in a close second. Either way they looked glamorous while trying with their own personal spin on giving a tribute to the iconic Josephine Baker.

Haute Hats!!!

The Editorial...

...the inspiration. Pamela Joyner looks fabulous as always.

The "hauter" the better, hats have always been a staple for the stylish woman.

Photo: VOGUE Italia

LUXE-LIST MIU MIU SHOES:VIA TAMU STYLE

Super Chic Tamu McPherson of All the Pretty Birds

Shoes from Miu Miu's Spring Summer 2011 Ready-To-Wear 

I'm crushing hard on Tamu's 'ferocious' shoe game and style, especially these photos featuring these fab pumps that only Miuccia Prada could dream up. The shoes are steep in price and some of the shoe collection is available at: Barney's, Neiman Marcus, Bergdorf Goodman, SAKS
and other high-end stores and boutiques.


"Backstage at Miu Miu's 2011 Spring/Summer RTW"

Photos: Miu Miu/GoRunway.com/Tommy Ton/Karl-Edwin Guerre

WHO WHAT WHERE: PURE LEGENDS

WHO: PURE LEGENDS/STYLE ICONS
WHAT: WEARING ALL THAT MAKES THEM FABULOUS!
WHERE: STEPHEN BURROWS 2011 FALL/WINTER RTW

Journalist and newly appointed E-I-C of ESSENCE Magazine,
Constance White at the Stephen Burrows Fall/Winter 2011 runway show.


Legendary Super Model, Scholar and Author, Barbara Summers


ESSENCE Magazine Fashion Director Celeste Harwell


The Glamtastic Legendary Super Model Pat Cleveland


Glamtastic legendary Super Model and Editor at Large, VOGUE Black, Bethann Hardison.

Photos: Darryl Calmese Jr.










Photo: Darryl Calmese Jr.

WORDS OF WISDOM

WORDS OF WISDOM

BE AN ORIGINAL. DON'T BE A COPY.
DO YOU. BE YOU. DEFINE YOU.

A SALUTE TO FASHION DESIGNER PATRICK KELLY

Karl Lagerfeld's not the only who has had Inès de la Fressange walk the runway. Here she wears Patrick Kelly's red, pearl embroidered dress circa 1988.

Toukie Smith was curvaceous and yet she still graced Patrick's Runways... and so did others.

The Collections

"I can't say I wouldn't have made it in New York because I didn't stay to find out."

  ~Patrick Kelly

In the 1980s an American fashion designer from Vicksburg, Mississippi by the name of Patrick Kelly took Paris by storm, becoming the first American member of the Chambre Syndicale du Prêt-à-Porter (the governing body of the prestigious French ready-to-wear industry).

"Super Model" Coco Mitchel Wearing Patrick Kelly

Embellishments, embellishments, embellishments...Kelly remembered much of his Southern upbringing and paid homage to it with many of his designs, which featured large buttons, some completely embroidered in buttons and pearls...but his creative spirit did not stop there.

...He also decorated his dresses with colorful bows, embroidered lips and hearts, and even in one collection he paid a tribute to his African roots by doing an entire collection in Kente cloth. Some wanted to say it was Betty Davis who put him on the map, not so because he had a legion of other well known women who were also fans of his clothes. The America media has been twisting stories for decades which goes to show that this is nothing new.

His clothes were sexy and glamorous and of course without controversy because to some people his logo supposedly reminded them of negative images of Little Black Sambo. Sadly, Patrick Kelly died in 1990 at the height of his career.

Photos: From my own personal collections

of magazines scanned by moi. Those of Toukie Smith,

Patrick Kelly and Ines de la Fressange are from CORBIS.

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.