TRACE Magazine: True Beauty

The latest issue of TRACE has a range of beauties gracing the cover (and inside too!) It is definitely worth checking out. If you can't find it on the newsstands, don't fret because it is also available for free download on the Trace website. Oh lucky day!

Source: TFS/Simplylovely

Eve Covers BUST Magazine - Feb/08

I let my subscription to BUST lapse a long time ago. Somewhere in between instructions for knitting a vibrator cozy and the ad for W.W.J.J.D (What Would Joan Jett Do?) t-shirts, I realized that I was not a hipster and had no business reading their literature. I was also to old to be seen reading it on the bus.

In spite I this, I still picked up the latest issue when I saw it at the grocery store last night. First of all, Eve is on the cover and while I probably wouldn't call myself a fan, she doesn't bug me.* Second, I have an uncontrollable impulse to buy most any non-smut magazine that has a Black woman on the cover. It's residual knee-jerk reaction to the long held publishing myth that black faces don't sell magazines. The only other Black woman I can remember gracing BUST's cover is Missy Elliott and that was about a hundred years ago.

I was pleasantly surprised. Not only does it contain the feature article on Eve, but there is also an interview with Reno 911's Niecy Nash, a piece on former Stiffed lead singer turned solo artist Santogold, and short pieces on dance troop Brown Girls Burlesque and Sia Amma, a Liberian born performer and activist.

I can't help but wonder if the editors are actually making a conscious effort to be more inclusive or if this is a one time only deal published to coincide with Black History Month.

*actually those paw print tattoos but me but that's another matter.

Grace Jones for UNIQUE Models

I think I mentioned before on this blog how it took me a decade to realize how truly revolutionary and beautiful Grace Jones is so I won't go into it again but these recent photos of her are just extraordinary. She just exudes confidence with a touch of kink. I've read elsewhere that she's planning on going back into the studio to record another album and I don't know if I'm more excited about that or the possibility of her releasing a few more mind blowing music videos to go with it.

Source: Unique Models

Genevieve Jones in Vogue

Everyone seems to have an opinion about Ms. Jones and her rise from complete unknown to BFF of just about everyone in the fashion world. Personally, I don't really care about where she came from or how she got to where she is now, I just like her unique sense of style. I live vicariously through her lavish prints.

Source: The Fashion Bomb

In Other Blogs...

Don't miss this great post at The Hiss This Minute:

I love fashion and I beautiful things but I stopped looking a long time ago at fashion magazines and runways for self-validation. I think it would be brilliant and sensitive and smart for more designers of Miuccia Prada and Dontatella Versace's ilk to open up their cabines to a variety of ethncities, in the way Prada has included Hye Park in the past and Versace had drafted the likes of Naomi and Kiara. But I wouldn't walk away from those shows feeling like...finally...validation...acceptance...proof that black girls are chic and sleek and complex "intellectual beauties" too. I already know this to be true, via the world that lives in my head, via the perceptions sculpted in my mind from seeing my mom and my aunts throughout the years, from my girlfriends in high school, from looking at my club running mates in my 20's dress themselves with individuality and brilliance....

Read more here

Chrystèle Saint Louis Augustin Appreciation Post

To me, Chrystèle Saint Louis Augustin was THE model of the 90s in spite of the fact that she wasn’t a household name like Naomi or Iman. I still remember the first time I saw a photo of Chrystèle. I was in college so I had no money and once again found myself at the bookstore flipping through fashion magazines that I couldn’t afford to buy. She was in an ad for Ghost, a half body shot of Chrystèle against a dark background. Her fair skin was practically glowing but what stood out to me, and just about everyone else, was that magnificent hair. As flawlessly beautiful as she is, her natural hair made her something more than just a pretty face, it practically had its own personality. She would say in Vibe Magazine that when she first started doing runway shows people “wanted to touch me, and I'm, like, `Wow, it's just hair. Calm down!' " Her hair wasn’t an accessory or a fad, it just was. Reading her comment on how she thought “straight hair was really ugly [and] suits the white girls but…[not] my hair,” was downright revolutionary thinking for me. I’d struggled for years trying to keep my hair in check, which meant dousing it in lye every few weeks with awful results. Chrystèle became my role model and gave me the final dose of courage I needed to chop off every last bit of relaxer in my hair and start over. Looking at old pictures of her always brings back those memories and makes me smile. If I could get motivated enough to copy her ridiculously toned abs, I think it would elevate me to the superhero status.

Photo source: modeldatabase, TFS, CSLA Livejournal

Kerry Washington in Allure 2/08

Yep. Another Kerry post. She has a fantastic sense of style and is so elegant and beautiful that I couldn't help but share this edition of Allure's "Fashion Stakeout" here. I love how uncomplicated most of her looks are. Very glad to see that she's getting more recognition on the style pages and I hope that it translates into better quality movie roles for her. That green Doo.Ri gown is one of my all-time favorites.

Source: Thank you Luxx for scanning these images & uploading to TFS!