Song of the Day (Drag Race Edition):
“Even Angels” – Fantasia
This one goes out to my boy Alex…
Pump that gas, take out that trash:
Even angels learn 2 fly.
Song of the Day (Drag Race Edition):
“Even Angels” – Fantasia
This one goes out to my boy Alex…
Pump that gas, take out that trash:
Even angels learn 2 fly.
Posted in song of the day
Song of the Day: “Don’t Stop” – Kevin Cossom (Feat. Fat Joe & Bali)
The Kevin that keeps on giving…
unlike other Kevin‘s I know. Pft.

Posted in song of the day

Thanks to my girl, Julia over at Modelizing for these incredible LV window pics.






photos courtesy of modelizingPosted in fashion
One of my favorites, Francesco Scognamiglio, debuts his latest adverts.



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Bande Des Quatres is the latest in ringometry – a science providing fingers with the happiness they deserve. By turning ring’s structure on its backside, Erin Wahed has created the “flying” adornment. Rings that appear to be hovering beneath your knuckles? Gimme dat!

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Celine / Fall 2011 / Paris Fashion Week
Let Phoebe Philo teach you a lesson or two about creating a global lifestyle brand. She’s done so in only a few collections at Celine and this season is no different. If anything, she’s signaling a broadening of the brand; adding to her color scheme, increasing the amount of buyable coats, and styling the collection as if it were for herself. (Philo knows best.)
Philo’s Celine is a packaged look – this season, its backbone is a tight turtleneck that appears under car-door-inspired coats, lush pieced furs, and latch-strap jackets. Pants came relaxed and wide-legged. Skinny versions were slit at the bottom to appear petalled above the ankle and came replete with leather paneling made to look like luxury automobile interiors. Beautifully colored sweaters harkened back to Philo’s classic personal style, while woodgrain-printed dresses and tops debuted a new sense of modernity.
[Read the rest of my review on TheFashionSpot here.]
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Givenchy / Fall 2011 / Paris Fashion Week
Riccardo Tisci’s Givenchy has always been influenced heavily by symbolism, love, religion, music, and animals. This collection boasted pieces of it all – both in literal and conceptual depictions – to foster what could be his most marketable season to date. And to think it may be his last at the legacy-laden house: he’s been buzzed about leaving Givenchy for Dior since the Galliano controversy erupted before Paris Fashion Week.
For Fall 2011, Tisci took Givenchy to the streets of East Los Angeles, where Cholo (and Chola) street gangs hold fort. Influenced heavily by hip hop (Tisci was just recently commissioned to design Kanye West and Jay-Z’s collaborative album cover, which looks strikingly similar to the collection at hand), this season was a beautifully executed, at times quirky, take on street aesthetics gone luxurious. See, for example, the gaudy symmetrical silk-print baseball jackets (to which he’s been developing for seasons now – see his Pre-Fall collection) that looked straight from Gianni Versace’s 1990s baroque print archive, to which The Notorious B.I.G. wore famously.
[Read the rest of my review at TheFashionSpot here.]
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As if I didn’t wake up to my face every morning, my friends felt the need to plaster it all about the web this week. Alex Catarinella, a fellow freelancing pal, gave a nice Q+A with yours truly on the What Goes Around Comes Around blog (one of my NYC go-to vintage emporiums), and my boy, Jordan Bach, shouted me and the latest mixtape out on his personal blog, TheBachBook. Have a look. Thx boyz! It means a lot. Find a snippet of my conversation with ACat below…
Q: How has your passion for urban music influenced your fashion?
A: Music is always a part of my psyche. But it’s funny because the whole idea behind my blog and its title is that I fool a lot of people when they first see me – it’s Smoke & Mirrors – or all something of a facade – they think “oh, that kid’s an indie rock fan or is really into this, that, the other” – when I grew up primarily listening to black music. I consider my second mother to be Janet Jackson. I love hip-hop and don’t really dabble much into what ‘my look’ provides as my musical preferences. I wear skinny jeans and bellbottoms, vintage rock tee’s and heels, have long hair, which to most would signal “rock fan” – but honestly, I just love the silhouette and floppiness to it. I do, though, have an homage to hip-hop on my right wrist – it’s a fake Jacob watch that’s too ridiculous not to wear. Haha. I think the idea of unexpectedness is something fashion preaches. I like the fact that you have to get to know me to reveal you were wrong about me all along. Smoke & Mirrors is just that: What you see isn’t always what you get. This little white kid from Buffalo, NY, CAN and DOES love what you thought he couldn’t. It’s empowering in that way and it’s something I live by. [Read the rest here.]
Posted in ish

Apologies for the lack of posts in the past week.
Things were broken, but now they’re fixed.
Expect new ish this evening. xMH
Posted in ish
Posted in ish, musicology
Posted in musicology

The long overdue fourth installment in the ‘Blog Made Me Do It‘ series: Master & Commander, was formulated by scientists to rock boats and make waves, all the while throwing passengers overboard. Tested by infants and hoodrats alike, it’s been approved to knock blocks, rattle cribs, flip chips, and turn tricks. Culled from the digital depths; the sprawling, essential 41-track set brings together hints of trance with street sounds to create lawlessly commanding rumble muzik. In other words: it’ll change your life. Featuring unreleased productions by Timbaland, Araab Muzik, Jahlil Beats, Bei Maejor, Polow da Don, Tricky Stewart, Los da Mystro, Duke Da God, and Boi-1da, with appearances by Jazmine Sullivan, Slim Thug, Vado, Ace Hood, Styles P, Young Jeezy, Keri Hilson and newbies: Tory Lanez, Meek Mill, Kendre, ZayBucks, Britney Mac, Six, The Dean’s List, and more. Warning: not approved for chumps, pregnant women, non-believers, and those with epilepsy. Remember where you it heard it first & bang on MF. (click the link below to download the .zip file)
Sample some tracks below…
Smoke & Mirrors presents…
The Blog Made Me Do It, Vol. 4: Master & Commander
An MH Mixtape
View tracklist after the jump.
Continue reading
Posted in musicology, originals, song of the day

You asked for it…
and tomorrow The Blog Made Me Do It series sets sail again.
Adjust your speakers accordingly.
Posted in originals

Song of the Day: “Dolly My Baby” – Super Cat
(Feat. The Notorious B.I.G., Third Eye & Sean “Puff Daddy” Combs)
Posted in song of the day


Alexander McQueen / Fall 2011 / Paris Fashion Week
Is there anything better?





Posted in fashion
Song of the Day: “My Love Is The Shh” – Something For The People
Phone sex is still the shit, I mean shh. This one goes out to my boy, Martin at Mykromag, who reminded me how obsessed I was with this song growing up. Oh, and Girl 6 ’cause I still haven’t seen it since my mom won’t let me…
Posted in song of the day
Maison Martin Margiela / Fall 2011 / Paris Fashion Week
Dresses that peel away like pages of a book to reveal a mismatched under layer and became something of a dress suit? You’ll only find it at Margiela. Conceptually intriguing, this clothing experiment garnered some rather outstanding results. It was all in the details, it seemed, since what looked from afar like a simple sweater set peeled like paint from a wall when eyed up close.
[Read the rest of my runway review on TheFashionSpot here.]
Posted in fashion

Ever wonder why Robyn’s looked so FIRE lately?
Peep my interview with Robyn’s stylist/creative director, Decida, on V here.
Be sure to check out Decida’s personal blog here.


Posted in fashion, musicology
Posted in fashion
Posted in fashion, song of the day
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Emilio Pucci / Fall 2011 / Milan Fashion Week
For Fall ’11, Peter Dundas saw his woman as a taut, top-heavy, European bombshell. One whose more apt to dress up than down and looks to be more than comfortable within her own skin. So much so, in fact, she’s amped up her most erogenous feature – le bust. Examine the low-cuts and cinched waists meant to accentuate her hourglass shape, symmetrical Rococo-like treatments used to center the eye, lace peek-a-boos set to frame the breasts, even the positioning of certain sequins – they’re all adept plays on morphing the bustline. Even in his signature asymmetrical backless gowns with Ibizan palettes, Dundas still kept focus on the bosom. Suiting, which appeared slick and ultra-fitted, played upon the theme in a more literal way, flashing cleavage in unbuttoned blazers to purposely reveal the common denominator.
[Read my full review along with more collection pics at TheFashionSpot here.]
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Francesco Scognamiglio / Fall 2011 / Milan Fashion Week
In his ninth season showing, Francesco Scognamiglio speaks glamour fluently. But, he’s perhaps at his best when he’s most flagrantly sexual. We are speaking of a man who made his name dressing the queen of all kink (much like Jean Paul Gaultier) – Ms. Madonna Ciccone, during her Hard Candy promo’s. This outing proved to be a lighter, subtler affair from the start with muted gray and light taupes leading into bright white’s and cream’s…
[Read my full review and view more collection pics on TheFashionSpot here.]
Posted in fashion
click collection name below to view post
Highlighted Collections
Francesco Scognamiglio
Emilio Pucci
Marani
D&G
Posted in fashion



Dear E-V-E,
Seeing you at The Blonds show got me thinking…
When will you return to your Ruff Ryding ways?
You know, like when you used to ryde on the front of motorbikes that hovered above ground, when you’d wear cowboy hats in ballrooms, and flash your chain and chest tats. I know you’ve eve-o-lved but frankly, I don’t like the fact that you haven’t even been wearing your eyebrow ring lately. I’ve attached specific sounds I’d like to hear from you along with images of your former self below to jog your memory. See you soon,
xMH
Song of the Day, Pt. I: “What Y’all Want” – Eve (Feat. Nokio)
Song of the Day, Pt. 2: “Got It All” – Eve (Feat. Jadakiss)
Posted in song of the day



Julien Macdonald / Fall 2011 / London Fashion Week
Julien Macdonald flexes with his latest collection. With McQueen gone, it’s easier for Macdonald to get recognized for his spectacular clothes…and for good reason: he’s the best at what does. Play on playa.





Posted in fashion