DKNY Resort 2014

Thank you Donna Karan, thank you. 

STYLE.COM

Random Access Memories | This is not a music review

The last time this band released an album I was a skinny (insert deep nostalgic sigh) thirteen year old, interested in nothing and no one but Beyonce (but round about this time Destiny’s Child had re-united and I was avidly memorising the dance moves to “Lose My Breath”) never mind two French men in robot suits making disco inspired dance music.

Fast forward to eight years later.

2013: Obama starts his second term, Beyonce performs at the Superbowl, John Galliano re-appears from his hiatus and Random Access Memories. 
Random Access Memories is not only the name of Daft Punk’s new album but it denotes a specific period in time when the world (well at least my world and the world’s of others who have any good taste in music) was treated to the musical return of one of the most enigmatic duos music has come across (I mean, we don’t even know what these guys look like).  This album is fun and groovy (really there’s no other word) but also somber and introspective;  when I listen to it I vacillate between an aching heart and an enthusiastic two step. I know there have been very mixed reviews about Random Access Memories but in my humble opinion,  I felt it was honest,  intimate and deeply moving.

If I have to wait another eight years for such then, hell, so be it! 

Highly recommended tracks: Give Life Back to Music, The Game of Love, Within, Lose Yourself to Dance, Get Lucky, Beyond. 

This Measure of Cool

Somewhere, in a parallel universe I am Solange Knowles' close friend and confidant; we sit in quirky Soho restaurants and get drunk on Fridays from my infamous gin and juice mixes (because in this parallel universe I would have infamous gin and juice mixes) and sometimes, only sometimes she lets me borrow her fancy clothes.

But here in this so-boring-its-almost-two-dimensional-world I am sitting at my computer staring at Solange's recent Complex Magazine feature and wondering why we couldn't have all been bestowed with the same measure of cool as this girl.

When the light hit all the right places

You know those Friday nights when you eat Doritos for supper and take a million selfies? No? Really? Well okay, I'm not ashamed to say that sometime this year (maybe two weeks ago) I ate Doritos for supper and took a million selfies, because selfies are fun and self indulgent and Doritos are probably healthier than Kfc's deep fried chips (that night's alternative) and in my life Doritos, like bacon, are a food group (or a semi food group).

So this picture was a result of one self-timer-selfie gone wrong...but gone weirdly right, right? 

Laurenceairline

As I grow in my knowledge of fashion, art, design and all things nice I have noticed a real invested interest in African designers who use African print or garments in a modern way. Despite the fact that I feel the 'print thing' might be slightly overdone,  designers like Maki Oh and Ituen Basi are fast becoming my favorites and I think I am about to add Laurenceairline to this list of African-design-inspired-awesomeness.  

Laurencairline is a menswear fashion label that dedicates itself to portraying the ideal image of the modern African; alternating its home between Abidjan and Paris helps in creating garments that possess  the perfect balance between the sophisticated tautness of Europe and the brash boldness of Africa. 

Designer of Laurence Airline Laurence Chauvin-Buthaud recently did an interview for the folks at the Diesel + Edun project and in it she describes (in her really cool slightly bent, french accent laden English) that she tries to "connect Europe with Cote d'Ivoire and...uhhh...yeah I make something like ...uuhhh...made in Africa but [can] travel all round the world" , and dammit  I couldn't have said it better myself. 

LAURENCEAIRLINE

A. Sauvage

My intention was to describe this collection to you and to tell you how I feel about these pieces using  convoluted, flowery English and wonderful double-take adjectives. But once in while you come across a collection where words, as hard as they try,  do nothing but underestimate or undervalue. So this is where I stop. Enjoy. 

HYPEBEAST

Frida

'Frida' by photographer Omar Viktor Diop. 

STUDIOAFRICA

Talibo Bacar F/W 2013

This is what happens when Rome and Capulana come together. 

WeTheUrban