So the rumors of Adele landing the cover for U.S. Vogue turned out to be true. She looks good, love the boobiliciousness, Vogue did her justice. All hot on the heels of Karl Lagerfeld’s bishy comments about her needing to lose a few pounds.
This was Tweeted by Roozlynn a couple hours ago…something tells me she’s gonna have a few more followers by the end of the day!
We featured Azealia’s mani yesterday, and today we spot her on the cover The Hundreds magazine for the book’s first music-themed issue. See some more shots from the editorial on the next page.
One month after the birth of Blue Ivy, Beyonce makes her first public appearance, in support of her husband Jay Z’s Carnegie Hall benefit show, last night in New York. She chose an Alice Temperley dress, an Alexander McQueen clutch and Loubies. Not that we endorse this or think it’s anything short of nutsville, but since it’s inevitable….let the trash talk over whether or not she looks like she was ever pregnant begin!
See a close up of her bright blue mani and clutch on the next page.
The fashion world was buzzing over the Givenchy fashion featured in Madonna’s half time performance for the Super Bowl. M.I.A. also rang up some attention-seeking points when she gave the finger (see image on next page) and sang, “I don’t give a shit,” at the end of her performance. They’ll be speculaton on whether or not that was planned mutually by all, though kind of doubtful given the negative career trajectory of the last performer who chose to go off script. Much more likely that as of now M.I.A. has been unfriended by Madonna to the outer stratospheres for deciding to freelance.
As for the performance itself, the sound was horrible for the first third and Madonna seemed stiff and not her usual confidenct self for a lot of the performance. And then, too, the game itself, featuring the Patriots versus the Giants was very exciting and close at halftime so even at its best the performance couldn’t compete and felt like a bit of an annoying disruption.
Oh the power of being Madonna! She actually manages to make Nicki Minaj and M.I.A. two of the brattiest most headstrong performers in the industry, fall back and tow her line as perfectly well-behaved back-up singers/dancers. Not Mo’s most compelling work by a longshot, looks more like a promo ad for the Superbowl, but it’s fun to watch just to see the three pop-stars all together.
Don Cornelius passed today, reports are saying suicide. Just spent some time on YouTube loading up on what is Cornelius’s greatest legacy in my opinion, the Soul Train dance line, bringing back memories of loved/hated regular dancers, the funny props, holiday-appropriate costumes, the fashion(!), the amazing dance dance moves and definitely the sheer joy of a moment. Always it was the part of the show you didn’t want to miss.
Questlove is known for his great love for Soul Train, he obssessively collected old show recordings, rare because Cornelius never seemed pushed to reissue them (I think they’re now available, not sure). Anyway, you can read a Cornelius-dedicated essay posted today by Questlove at Okayplayer and here’s an excerpt:
“to say with a straight, dignified face that BLACK IS BEAUTIFUL was the RISKIEST radical life-changing move that america has seen. and amazingly enough for one hour for one saturday out the week, if you were watching soul train….it became contagious. next thing you know you are actually believing you have some sort of worth.”
….and you can bet your last money, it’s all gonna be a stone gas, honey! I’m Don Cornelius, and as always in parting, we wish you love, peace and soul!
New York streetwear label aNYthing smartly tags DJ and party promoter Venus X, aka Jazmin Venus Soto, for the face of its Spring/Summer 2012 lookbook. A rising star and uniquely stunning in the way that only a NYC-hood-born-chick-gone worldwide can be, she took on her first fashion-related DJ gig during NY Fashion Week Autumn 2011 for Gerlan jeans and is best known for her GHE20G0TH1K ongoing warehouse party.
Here’s what she had to say in a recent Rolling Stoneinterview on fashion:
RS: What do you enjoy most (or least) about fashion?
Venus: I don’t really like it! It’s too expensive, and the best stuff is underfunded. I see a lot of corny mass production; the exclusive next level pieces exist only in sample. Fashion is wack right now for the most part. It’s mad branding and no love!
Smart woman that Venus!
See more images from the aNYthing lookbook on the next page:
With a single called “Bad Girls,” produced by Danja, its M.I.A.’s first big marketing push since the days of the sweet potato truffled-flavored fries scandal. Above is the track as originally released in an M.I.A. mix tape called Vicki Leekx. To hear the current Danja-produced version click here.
In other news we’ll see a video for the single by director Romain Gavras this Friday, February 3rd. It’s all a lead up to the release of Ms. Arulpragasam’s fourth album, which we’ll see sometime in the summer months.
Rumors also are flying that M.I.A. may appear with Madonna during her Super Bowl halftime show to perform their collaborative single, “Give Me All Your Luvin.” It’s interesting to think about, but in reality the halftime shows seem to inevitably fall so flat partially because there’s this sense that no one is REALLY paying attention (which is because they’re not).
