Our awesome first lady shouts out Chicago’s South Side in an article featured in Essence’s October issue. She recently put her Double-Dutch skills on display, an ability she no doubt picked up during her days growing up in the Windy City.

I must say, sometimes I wonder how Ms. Obama would dress if she weren’t hemmed in by the dress codes of her current job. A little fiercer I’d guess.

It aint easy being a female rap artist and in an already unforgiving industry it’s hard to see Lil Mama ever getting past the teeny-bopper nature of her first hit, “Lipgloss,” which wasn’t helped by her decision to bum rush Jay Z and Alicia’s VMA stage performance a couple years back. Still, this video for her latest single, “Scrawberry,” is fun to watch if only for the adorable girl it features, rockin’ an awesome ‘fro, a leopard print tote and  a tutu with matching pink kicks. Too cute!

I have a few more images from our trip to Las Vegas’s Project trade show last week. For this post we give you shots of Rebecca Minkoff’s high-end bag line. It has a specific name, but at the moment it eludes (sorry, drank too much wine last night). According to the ladies manning the booth, it has been limited in distribution to one particular retailer (again, memory fail) but will see a wider rollout for Spring 2012. Overall the theme of the collection was front-flap silhouettes featuring rich finishes and materials, set off by silver chain straps. Perfect for the woman who like her bags to show a bit of flash.

More Rebecca Minkoff Spring 2012 bags on the next page.

Taking customization to the next level this Rad Hourani jacket has more wearing options that we could list! (See them all here). Flawless in every way, if we were to make a jacket we’d make this one. It’s available at Shopfatale. View more angles on the flip.

Swims  took inspiration from  traditional galoshes to create slick  rain friendly footwear. The line includes adorable loafers for men and women accessories and of course outerwear. Providing  more style versatility than the average rain boot, Swims are currently available at select retailers worldwide, you can check out here. Colors and styles above launching for Spring 2012.

Walking around various neighborhoods and boroughs in New York like Queens, Harlem or Brooklyn, you realize that women’s passion for a tight  manicure is an old story. While nail art and nail extensions  to some extent were  relegated to stereotypes like Sheneneh in bigger cities, designed manicures crossed continents and  were recognized as edgy … Needless to say the  upcoming Degree Art “First Official Nail Art Exhibit“ makes us happy (high five to the UK) . More details here.

Project was fun on so many levels, as observers it became clear that the focus on menswear in the show also fostered a well rounded assortment of super talented, effotlessly stylish men. And thus a plan was hatched between ourselves and the ladies of hearty magazine to have a “Babe Battle,” pitting our top ten hotty picks in attendance a the show against theirs. It was ridiculously fun spotting and photographing all the cuties, though we admit to feeling a tad guilty as our subjects prattled on about whatever brands it was they were wearing, while we were in our minds all, “Yeah yeah yeah….angle your head that way so we get a better view of your stubble, forearms, thighs, etc!” (Honorable mention for Tim Broadhagen and Raif  Adelberg whose images just vanished in SD card universe.) Check out hearty magazine’s picks here and  VOTE by commenting on the best set!

Was extremely torn by which Camilla Skovgaard style to feature on the first page of this post. On the one hand we’re excited by the new flat styles the brand is showing for Spring 2012, on the other hand, heels aint going the way of Dino the dinosaur any time soon and these woven, black and white sandals are the slickness…..so they won the battle in my head, but do check out the flats and another color of the heels on the next page.

Not as professinally shot as William Yan’s but we had fun with it. The amount of jewellery above, with the nail art is of course #fierce. Next page for many more pics of some attendees of Project in Vegas!

While at Project we always make sure to visit California-label Rojas which had its booth at Pool, a section of the show dedicated to indie brands with a more upstart attitude. You can depend on Rojas season after season to put out a collection that is relevant, well edited and beautifully constructed, and frankly better than what shows up on a lot of runways. We loved the Aztec cropped top featured above (who wouldn’t??)…a bunch more similary appealing items after the flip.