fr_naomicampbell.jpg
It’s pretty much a fact that Naomi Campbell is not such a great human being. But here she is with Dolce & Gabbana at the Swarovski Fashion Rocks event in London last night sporting loads of weave and a pretty ridiculous see-through dress and somehow still looking unspeakably fabulous. This is why she gets away with not being such a great human being.

After the jump, check out more pics from the glamorous event, including one of Alicia Keys looking beautiful from the waist up. You’ll see what I mean.

CONTINUED »

Oct 19, 2007 · Link · 13 Responses
parting_shots3.jpg
Parting Shots
The Hip Hop Barbie & Ken

beyoncejayzbarbies.jpg
• Jay-Z wishes he looked like (a human version of) that. Beyonce should be glad she doesn’t. [C&D]

• Prodigy gets hit with a three and a half year sentence after pleading guilty to illegal weapons charges. Maybe his legal team needed more people. [AHH]

• Oddly sexy for a tire ad, but I’ll take it. []

• Samuel L. Jackson reps Star Wars until the day he dies. [SP]

• Why do all close male friends have to attract gay rumors? Omarion, though? I’m not sure… [QT]

Oct 10, 2007 · Link · Respond
Naomi Campbell Dances With The Italian Stars


Considering the caliber of stars of the American Dancing With The Stars, I find it hard to believe that Naomi Campbell couldn’t have finagled herself a spot on either the U.S. or the UK versions. So I’ll have to draw the conclusion that Naomi Campbell either thought that the Italian version was classier or thought that if she went on a less-high profile show the Americans and Brits wouldn’t notice (kind of like how A-list stars go overseas to make millions off of commercials). But guess what! We’re noticing. She ain’t half bad, but I never pegged her as the type to resort to fame-grubbing reality television. Which is probably stupid of me.

[PH]

Oct 1, 2007 · Link · 4 Responses
parting_shots3.jpg
All That Drama For This?

ojmem.jpg
• Of course, you’ve subconsciously been dying to take a peek at the sports memorabilia OJ got nabbed trying to steal back. It looks like it’s totally worth the 10 felony charges. []

• Well, Tyra does like to tell people how cheap she is. [Gawker]

• I was watching this press conference this morning, and I didn’t think for a second Bush thought we’d believe he got a B in Econ 101. [QT]

• Naomi Campbell is really trying to segue into a movie career. []

• Essence does its version of Blind Date, which means no staged, forced dates culminating in awkward hookups. Sorry. [Essence]

• Did you see people rocking the all-black for the Jena Six today? [TFB]

Sep 20, 2007 · Link · 7 Responses
Naomi Campbell’s Staying Famous, One New Project And/Or Criminal Charge At A Time

nc.JPG
Naomi Campbell will soon be sexing it up on a theater near you, unless Catherine Breillat, a French filmmaker and novelist known for her frank depictions of sex and violence, switches up her style on a script for a new movie she’s making starring the supermodel. Forget the sex, I’m interested to see the Naomi Campbell version of “frank violence.” Will there be a death-by-cell-phone scene?

[]

Sep 12, 2007 · Link · Respond
Sam Fine’s Mission: Making Black More Beautiful
Spring '08 Fashion Week

samfine.jpg
It was the era of the Supermodel — you know, when they all went by their first and last names but certainly didn’t need to — think Naomi, Christy, Linda — and claimed they didn’t get out of bed for less than $10,000 a day.

New York Fashion Week shows were more glamorous (read: they weren’t sponsored by Olympus or Mercedes Benz and were held in lofts, clubs, and restaurants instead of tents). And Sam Fine was behind the scenes — at Geoffrey Bean, Fernando Sanchez, Tracy Reese, Todd Oldham, Isaac Mizrahi, etc. — giving the models faces to match their designer looks or rushing from show to show with Naomi and Tyra.

It was the first half of the ’90s when Sam Fine both assisted the late Kevyn Aucoin and worked the shows on his own. Those were the good ol’ days… that he doesn’t really want to go back to.

“It’s a fun gig, but I leave it to the young at heart and the ones that really love fashion,” he told Stereohyped.

And it’s not like being a celebrity makeup artist, which is the the job Sam Fine graduated to when he left the fashion show world, is any less glamorous. Or that much different.

CONTINUED »

Sep 5, 2007 · Link · 6 Responses
rewound.jpg
Rewound
There's something about you, Michael...


I think that even when I first saw this video in 1991, my first reaction to watching a sepia-toned Michael Jackson writhe around with Naomi Campbell was, “Ew. Gross.” Sixteen years later, the reaction stands.

And seriously, who in Michael Jackson’s camp thought it was a good idea for him of all people to name a song “In the Closet.” They always say good help is hard to find.

Sep 5, 2007 · Link · 1 Response
Spring '08 Fashion Week

dorotheatowles.jpg

Before Beverly, Iman, Veronica, Naomi and Tyra, there was Dorothea. Okay, so the name doesn’t conjure up images of beauty and glamour the way the ones I just listed do. But those fashion icons all walked through the doors Dorothea opened.

In the 1950s, Dorothea Towles Church was the first black model to sweep the Paris couture scene. A favorite of Christian Dior, for whom she dyed her hair platinum blond to create “contrast,” Church has said that in Paris, they saw her only as a beautiful woman. Of course, the Texas native did not have the same mainstream success in the United States, but magazines like Jet and Ebony would often publish articles detailing her Paris adventures.

But her growing fame did not eliminate prejudice on the part of some designers. At Schiaparelli, she once overheard someone describe her as Tahitian. While she worked for Pierre Balmain, she recalled, he would not allow her to borrow dresses for a photograph for Ebony magazine, fearing that would offend his white clientele. She took the clothes later on the pretext that she would wear them to a party, and the magazine then photographed them.

Church returned to the states in 1954 armed with trunk-loads of couture she had amassed through her work with different designers. She toured HBCUs, staging fashion shows with the never-before-seen designer clothes and throwing fundraisers for various branches of the Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority.

Read more about the little-known Dorothea Church in Skin Deep: Inside the World of Black Fashion Models.

Sep 4, 2007 · Link · 6 Responses
Like A Million Years Ago

naomianna.jpg
When I think of Naomi Campbell, I don’t exactly think black activist. But it is nice to know that even she can speak out against the treatment of black models (herself and a select few excluded) in the fashion world.

The beauty says, “Black models are being sidelined by the major modeling agencies. It is a pity that people don’t appreciate black beauty. Even myself, I get a raw deal from my own country in England. For example, I hardly come on the front pages of the London Vogue magazine. Only white models, some of whom are not as prominent as I am, are put on splash pages.”

“I don’t want to quit modeling until I find that black models get equal prominence and recognition by the world media and information instruments.” Campbell first appeared on the front cover of Vogue when she was a teenager in 1987 and last appeared five years ago.

How generous of her! On second thought, she might just be mad that she hasn’t been on the cover in 5 years and has secretly vowed not to quit until they ask her back.

[SP]

**UPDATE: Now she’s in Kenya scouting for African models. She really does care!

Maybe.

Aug 20, 2007 · Link · 12 Responses
parting_shots3.jpg
Parting Shots
I'll Get Over It As Soon As Her Show Airs And She Gets On My Nerves Again

• Is it weird that I’m starting to feel a bit of sympathy for Star Jones? I mean, I get that she’s doing all this to promote her new show, but still. []

• And I’ll say it again — there’s nothing good about this. [C&D]

• Can someone be creative for once and have a girl-crush that’s not Angelina Jolie? I’m talking to you, Eve. How about someone less conventional, like Beyonce. (jk) [SOHH]

• Brooke Astor, recently diseased philanthropist/NYC royalty, once hugged a black janitor. This clearly supersedes any charitable work she’s ever done. [Gawker]

• Slap an asymmetrical bob and some ankle boots on her and it will be like this photo was taken a few days ago. [J-N]

• If Tyra were judging these photos, she would tell Naomi to work with the male models more. And, of course, she would need to pump up the fierceness. [QT]

Aug 17, 2007 · Link · 3 Responses