Diana Ross - still fierce after all these years!

I remember how thrilled I was to watch Diana Ross when she and The Supremes were on the Ed Sullivan show some 40 something years ago. Dating myself I know. But to see black women being celebrated on tv was major fierceness because there were no black folk on tv then - ever - not even in a bad way! And then on top of that they were gorgeous and wore these beautiful gowns. (They are who Destiny's Child got their bright ideas from.)

So here she is on Oprah today -- wow! Still a diva, looking gorgeous. Some face work perhaps but not over the top. And a beautiful family who she seems to be devoted to. And when Billy Dee Williams came out, OMG. They had such gorgeous chemistry in Lady Sings the Blues and Mahogany. So....once again I was thrilled!

Kimora's new KLS campaign

Baby Phat is done, apparently. Kimora's doing a new campaign called KLS with "real women". It was pretty cool to see members of her team select girls who looked very...average and send them to makeup, pull their hair back and photograph them with K. It worked actually although it seemed a bit reminiscent of the Dove real women campaign. Was it just me?

If an alien came to DC

If an alien landed in DC what would it think about the fashion statements being made here? DC is not a quote "fashion city" as we know but people are trying to change that. Like Mariessa Terrell, Esq. and others seeking to make the Fashion Chamber of Commerce a reality. There's a fashion forum this week at Howard Law including a runway show (more on that later in the week). But back to DC Fashion: an alien would see a lot of leggings - I hate calling them "jeggings" - way too many in fact and a lot of Uggs - ugh - in terms of what's on the street during an average day. I'm always amazed when I see someone in stilettos during the day, very rare here. On a weekend night, at Busboys, or any of the clubs on U Street you will, however, see the tight minis and the stilettos. And on HU's campus, which I frequent as you know, there's always someone stepping across the yard in 6 inches. But it's like, do you really need those for Sociology?

February Italian Vogue's "black allure" is alluring

Obviously Italian Vogue is intrigued by black models, to a degree. There was that amazing issue with 4 different black model covers a few years back. People went crazy over it and it was a best seller. I was in New York the summer it came out and newsstands were raising the price of it like scalpers! It was a sight to behold and historic but it was also naively racist in a way because none of the ads featured black models so the first chunk of the book was starkly white and then suddenly pages of gorgeous blacknicity. This February 2011 issue features the "black allure" section with black models in 1950s (?) styling, dripping with pearls, feathers and shimmer and alas, retro cigarette smoking poses that are un-sexy, unnecessary, just plain un. This section, though abundant and beautiful, is separate from the rest of the magazine's fashion shots. I'm glad so many black models got paid but it will truly be an achievement when they are mixed in with the others like it's no thing rather than a whole separate thing, ya dig?