Don't Get Mad, Get Inside

If you're still messing around with keg stands, dorm parties, and the free-before-11 fare of parties, then you'll definitely want to step your game--and connections up with the host-with-the most Marquis Phifer. The man behind the LateBoots brand is launching an exclusive group catering to the more sophisticated bacchanalian set, titled Inside Socializing. If you're lucky enough to get on the list.

Model Madness: Darren Taylor

There's nothing I love more than a great story about working your way from the top. Sure it's great to finally "get there" but I'm an appreciator of the journey rather than the destination. And someone else who is enjoying their journey to fame is our Model Madness spotlight this week Darren Taylor. A native Texan, not only is everything bigger there but apparently more beautiful as well.

Maverick Monday: Introducing Rashad Benton

Few men around are adept at the subtle art of style like this week's man-about-town Rashad Benton. A student at Florida A&M University, Rashad's creativity and his erudite eye for style have placed him in our spotlight. From first sight you'd never notice the taciturn and res Fem a very quiet person, low-key type. I keep to myself a lot. I honestly don’t enjoy being rved nature that lies under Benton's refined exterior.

Model Madness: BJ Williams

This week's male model BJ Williams hails from Las Vegas, Nevada and is one of the recent newcomers to Red Models, an agency that is currently leading the modeling industry in producing top-performing minority male models. Though his time at Red has not been very long, his portfolio says quite the opposite. Williams has worked with Levi's in their Fall 2008 campaign, Akademiks' Spring 2009 campaign, Sean John's Fall 2009 campaign, and Williams has appeared in Ebony Magazine, GQ Magazine, as well as GQ Britain. BJ stands at 6'1 and is definitely charming designers as well as musicians such as Cassie who cast him in her video. Check out the photos of this rising star.

Don't Call It A Comeback

Call it a come-up. The Dynamic Duo of Style Marquis Phifer and Sham Shirley are returning to the blogosphere with a new and improved look for their site LateBoots, a collection of photographs, personalities, and most importantly hard work. Calling themselves the New Workers, Phifer and Sham are showing young creative aspirants as well as the world at large just how much power a little bit of perseverance, ambition, creativity, and drive can get you what you want and where you want to be. Through their brand public relations team, Marquis and Sham are spreading their influence through independent fashion designers as well as catching the eye of notable style professionals not only in their stomping grounds of Atlanta and New York City but also abroad. The urbanly urbane Morehouse dandy Marquis Phifer creates a smart and innovative synthesis with the street-smart, edgy, and artistically erudite Sham Shirley giving a new perspective not just on getting ahead in life but on realizing and achieving your dreams. Check out the new site here.

Blake Lively Becomes The New Face of Chanel Mademoiselle

Blake Lively, the uber-stylish starlet who plays the equally glamorous Upper East Side-dweller Serena van der Woodsen on the CW show Gossip Girl is now reaching new heights as she begins to take her place as the new face of Chanel's Mademoiselle handbag collection. The 2011 collection began during Chanel's Cruise 2011 show and Karl Lagerfeld was the photographer who shot Blake Lively for the new campaign. Lagerfeld spoke highly of Lively and called her 'a kind of American dream girl'. It's no doubt that the blonde bombshell has definitely been garnering the eyes of the who's who in fashion as an American muse, with a double Vogue cover, and even snatching the cover of their Best Dressed Special Edition issue. Perhaps its her ethereal goddess appeal, those perfectly coiffed golden locks that even still manage to look smokin' hot all tousled and strewn aside, a look that her character Serena van der Woodsen has managed to be caught it numerous times. But even though she may not be the Park Avenue Princess that she plays on television, Lively's individualism and her willingness to embrace fashion garner her tons of praise for her canny dress smarts. And now she follows in the footsteps of other great actresses who have been the face of Chanel Mademoiselle such as Audrey Tautou, Nicole Kidman, Keira Knightley, and Vanessa Paradis.

LookBook.nu Guys Roundup 12.6.10

LookBook.nu Girls Roundup 12.6.10

The British Are Coming

Who said Americans have all the style? A group of fashionable creative individuals based in London whose ambitions are as impressive of the site they've come together to create, Yin & Yang. The characters the site is named after are just as interesting.Yin comes from Niran, a creative advertising student in London who is a self-proclaimed Japanophile and future music label entrepreneur and Yang is Ernest, also a creative advertising student who loves photography and is hoping to work in public relations. The site also is supported by group of equally cutting-edge artists or "The Family", as they call themselves comprising Leona, an aspiring singer and tv personality, Olive, a Brooklynite fashion designer, DJB, a London music and fashion enthusiast, Yemi, a basketball-playing poet and dancer going to school in Maryland, and Jazz a hip-hop loving web designer from London.

Model Madness: Rael Costa

Bleu Magazine's Shoot Turns The Heat Down

Bleu Magazine's newest fashion spread featured an array of attractive fall and winter fashions worn by two even more attractive male models. However, the spread was horribly undermined by its title and description as well as the underwhelming backdrops of the shoot. Although Bleu Magazine hasn't necessarily always been at the forefront for its fashion photography, it does hold its own very well among other independent fashion magazines/  "It's Getting Cold" simply just didn't do it for me. I immediately became disinterested when I read the first sentence; "Don’t forget you coat!” Now haven’t we all heard that line numerous times for our mothers" Really? This sentence does absolutely nothing to detail the fashions or open the photographic story a spread should tell.

The shoot features many pieces from H&M, including jeans, blazers, and shirts as well as sweaters from G-Star. The shots aren't terribly stylish; the lighting levels don't change in any of the photos, even when the models are in different poses that might have required more play with values. The shots show too much sky, detracting from the seasonal aspect of the spread that would have looked better with a gray sky. The models pose well and effectively show the clothes but the settings they're placed in add no value to the form and focus too much on function. Check out the full spread on Bleu Magazine's site here.

Ice Queen

Ice Princess by Fashion910 featuring a cross-body tote

Just because the temperatures are dropping doesn't mean that your wardrobe has to. Let yourself be transformed this season into a winter wonder with our ice-themed fashion sets designed by the members of Polyvore.com. Glittering white jewels, snow-colored halter dresses, and iridescent blanche heels all add a magical stylish touch to any December ensemble. So don't get left out in the cold this winter, get into these sets and get shopping. If you see an item you like, just click on the set and you can see where to find all the items. Check out more sets after the jump. Enjoy!

Cold As Ice by Minni featuring distressed skinny jeans

Ice dreams by Original Doll ♥ featuring an alice olivia dress

Ice cold vintage by Pensive Peacock featuring a gray dress

Everybody's Changing and I don't Know Why by Milano Cookies featuring sleeveless tops

Street Etiquette x Stacy Adams

Joshua Kissi and Travis Gumbs have teamed up with the illustrious and timeless footwear brand Stacy Adams to produce a video talking about what makes an accessory or garment a classic. Kissi and Gumbs are the founders of the men's fashion blog, Street Etiquette and are curators of classic men's fashion. Their blog has been featured extensively in GQ magazine, Vogue Paris' Blog of the Moment, Refinery 29's Best Men's Fashion Blogs, and in the London Times' 40 Bloggers Who Really Count. We covered them earlier in the fall when they premiered their exceptionally designed and produced film The Black Ivy, an homage to the historically Black colleges and universities of America and more importantly on the distinct sartorial style that emerged from their students. The oxymoronic title "Street Etiquette" is a clever and accurate summary of what Kissi and Gumbs blog is all about; it's an artistic melange of the thesis of classical style with antithetical elements of street fashion and creating a synthesis of innovative style that possesses the same refinement and staying power as the classics. Check out the video after the jump.

LookBook.nu Guys Roundup 11.22.10

LookBook.nu Girls Roundup 11.22.10

To Ri Or Not To Ri?

Me fail English? That’s unpossible. by Glitterinmyveins featuring a waist belt

 

Since her debut into the music world with her album Music of the Sun, the young free-spirited Barbados singer that was Rihanna has transformed into a edgy, independent, and uninhibited individual who has shocked and enthralled fans with her avant-garde fashion taste, her seductive lyrics, and most of all the many transformations of her hairstyles. You don't have to be a good girl gone bad to dress like one and we've pulled the best looks of the badass style that is Rihanna to show you how! Check out the fashion sets after the jump created by members of Polyvore.com the only site that allows you to use real fashions to create amazing looks. If you notice a particular set that catches your eye, click on it to find all the items and where you can get them for yourself. So if you're up to the challenge, get some rated-R style for your wardrobe. Enjoy!

I'm Diggin' It

Daniel Simmons aka Diggy Simmons, the son of hip-hop dynasty legend and mogul Joseph Simmons known better as Rev. Run has certainly grown up from the young pre-teen we watched on MTV's Run's House. His incredibly precocious creativity and keen eye for avant-garde, cutting-edge style have placed him in the spotlight of numerous celebrities and creative professionals, one being budding tastemaker Marquis Phifer. Like all of the members of the Russell family, creative acuity and business sense appear to be inherited family genes and Diggy is no different. But what is surprising audience so much now is his apparent swift execution of lyrical style. Not only is Diggy making people think twice about his artistic abilities but they're seeing reflections of his father in his superb rap skills. Read more to check out a vignette of him freestyling to "Shook Ones" by Mobb Deep and just so your mouth doesn't get to dry from being wide open, it's best to take this one with water.

A Few Good Morehouse Men

Marquis Phifer and the illustrious men of Morehouse College in Atlanta are understanding the need to give back to the community and how to do it with style. The 143-year-old institution of higher learning has gained itself the reputation of being the number one college for producing the most intelligent, successful, eminent, and most of all stylish Black men in America. Alumni such as Martin Luther King Jr., Spike Lee, and the father of the "Morehouse Mystique" Benjamin E. Mays all have stepped up to the challenge of using their talents to better their communities and society at large. Phifer and other students went to Booker T. Washington Early College, Atlanta's school aimed at helping students succeed by providing high school classes that will earn students college credit.

How Do You Say Love In Portguese?

The people over at oficM certainly do and they say it oh-so-well. If you never stopped by the Brazilian fashion oasis in a vast desert blogosphere, then you'll find the excellently designed and managed site refreshing, interesting, and most importantly of all, stylish. Still rusty on your Portuguese? Don't worry, the page had a Google Translate button so you can read all of the posts in your native language. But after all, fashion speaks the language of beauty, which is known universally. It's sleek white minimalist design and its pithy posts make the glamorous images on its page come all the more alive.

Model Madness: Eryck Laframboise