Kanye for LV

Kanye and his arm candy du jour Amber Rose (hot) have been captured in photos for Mr. West's recent collabo with Louis Vuitton - a line of monochrome, leather, and suede sneakers. Fresh. Mere mortals can get their hands on a pair in June, although Kanye has been rocking his for months. Photos by Steve Shaw.



Source/Source

Luxe Links

Monica's back! With a one-hour reality special. Question: does anyone care? - The Maven Report

The rise of the fashion blogger: everyone's a critic - Harper's Bazaar

Kanye spotlights Russian model, Irina Sheik - Kanye West Blog

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Shop vintage eyewear at Nasty Gal - NastyGal

34 (more) reasons to wipe someone down tonight - AOL

Has Gossip Girl become Sex and the City for teens? - TVNZ

Gerren from Baldwin Hills reveals the ugly truth behind the obsession with beauty - MSNBC

Someone call Maury! Is Chris Brown the father? - Black Celeb Kids

Liya Kebede for Lanvin Fall/Winter 08 - Make Fetch Happen

Bianca "Check your thighs in the mirror. And I'm done!" Golden of ANTM is still causing drama. An airport brawl with Nikki Blonsky??? Just wow. - E Online!

Keri Hilson's new promo pics...hot - Concrete Loop

It's that time, ya'll!

Tilda? For real?

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The list we've all been waiting for, that's right, Vanity Fair's International Best Dressed List has landed! Please, try to contain your excitement. Despite my best efforts, I didn't make the list this year, but I still tend to agree with the chosen few. I take exception to Tilda Swinton though. Her red carpet style is utterly appalling. Anyways, here are just a few of the lucky listers. Away we go!

Women

Michelle Obama, future first lady
Ivanka Trump, heiress to the Trump fortune
Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, first lady of France
Kate Middleton, Prince William's chick
Sarah Jessica Parker, screen queen
Fran Lebowitz, American author
Tilda Swinton, Oscar winning actress (that scares me)
Evelyn Lauder, cosmetics executive (daughter-in-law of Estée)

Crown Princess Mathilde of Belgium

Julia Koch, socialite and housewife of NYC

Iris Apfel, 86 year old hot b*tch of NYC

Men
Daniel Craig, actor, hard body
Matt Lauer, Today show cutie
David Beckham, future baby daddy
Morley Safer, 60 Minutes geriatric
Lapo Elkann, industrialist and heir to the automaker Fiat
Bryan Lourd, Creative Artists Agency partner
Luis and Rafael Medina, hot sons of a Spanish aristocrat
Count Manfredi Della Gherardesca
Kanyeezy the Louis Vuitton don

Couples

Brangelina, hottest couple in the universe

Kelly Lynch, actor, and Mitch Glazer, screenwriter and producer

Fashion Professionals

Karl Lagerfeld, fashion designer and fierceness unlimited

Alexandra Kotur, style director of Vogue magazine
Fiona Kotur Marin, handbag designer and sister to Alexandra
Carine Roitfeld, editor in chief at French Vogue
Katherine Ross, senior vice president of communications for LVMH North America
Stacey Bendet, designer and owner of Alice & Olivia

Christy Turlington Burns, model, wife of Ed

To see the full list, check out vanityfair.com!

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Source

Luxe Links

Street Style scrait from Glastonbury, England - Style.com

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Cosmo's Splurge v. Steal...I'll take the steals, please and thank you - Cosmopolitan.com

Speaking of Cosmo, there's a Cosmopolitan Kenya? - Make Fetch Happen

The fresh faces of Young Hollywood...get to know them if you care - Vanity Fair

Naomi for YSL and Erykah for Tom Ford - Urban Hoopla

Fashion over 45 and beauty for baby boomers - MSNBC

MK and Ashley O are publishing a coffee table book called, Influence. As in under the influence? - Huffington Post

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Kanye to design men's shoes...for LV of course - US Weekly

If this is true, Pharrell has WAY too much money - Daily News

Style treasures for every woman - Clutch Mag


Have a delightfully fab holiday, darlings! Wishing you fireworks in every area of your life!

xo, Elle

© Murakami

© Murakami, a major retrospective of the work of celebrated artist Takashi Murakami, opens today at the Brooklyn Museum. Called Japan's Andy Warhol, Murakami's work has been labeled as "pop art" for its intense cartoon imagery and relation to pop culture. Last night, the truly fabulous (including Marc Jacobs and Jay-Z) feted the collection at the Brooklyn Ball, which featured a performance by the Louis Vuitton don himself, Kanye West. Yeah, this exhibit is kind of a big deal. So I made it my business to attend the sneak press preview on Wednesday. So glad I did! It is a joyous exhibition of more than 90 works in 18,500 square feet of gallery space. I was only really familiar with Murakami's famed designs for Louis Vuitton, and his out-of-this-world album art for Kanye's "Graduation." I now know these were actually just the tip of the iceberg.

Um...yeah.

The show's title, (Copyright) Murakami, is meant to express the idea of protecting intellectual property. It's no wonder the artist is extra sensitive about the topic of keeping original ideas safe, as his designs for LV are probably the most bootlegged bags of all time. His collaboration with Artistic Director Marc Jacobs for the Louis Vuitton 2003 Spring/Summer collection spawned the now classic colorful Monogram bags in white and black, often dotted with his signature jellyfish eyes...

...and later that year, the Monogram Cherry Blossom line...


...and the Monogram Cerise pattern in 2005.

I have been a tad "over" LV in recent seasons, probably due to counterfeits of the above oversaturating the market. But one foot into the fully operational and beautiforous Louis Vuitton store that accompanies the exhibit, and I was in love all over again.

Ooooh la la!

Murakami also created special edition canvasses specifically for the Brooklyn presentation, in a new print he's calling Monogramouflage. Here's a glimpse of what will be a new product line launching at the Museum on June 1 before being sold at select LV stores worldwide.

Before I could leave, I had to hit the gift shop. I was greeted by these...



So cute and sunny! You may remember the big Murakami flower pillows as the same ones from Kanye and Alexis' L.A. home (and Harper's Bazaar cover). I had to have one, after all, it's a collectors item! My budget and I chose this lil cutie...

He makes me happy. And it's a pin too!

I looove collecting wearable art. Want one for your collection? All you have to do is leave a comment on this post (extra credit for adding inaword...fab to your blogroll) and I'll pick a winner at random to recieve a Murakami pillow pin just like the one above. We can be pin twins! After all, I really appreciate you being here. So chat me up! The last day to enter is Friday, April 11, 2008.

© Murakami, which originated at MOCA in Los Angeles, will be in Brooklyn through July 13, 2008 before traveling to Frankfurt and Bilbao. If you're anywhere near NY, why not check it out for yourself?

Photos courtesy of the Brooklyn Museum

Trendwatch: Revenge of the Nerdy Glasses

Nerds of the world, unite! If you have ever wanted to bring out your inner schoolteacher, evil genius or Urkel, you are so in luck! Fall 2007 is officially the season for large, awkward, dark-rimmed, nerdy-chic and completely unnecessary glasses. Fun! I love this trend because 1. once an accessory is accompanied by a prescription the fun dies 2. snorting while laughing is the best thing ever and 3. men and women alike can partake in all the geeky-fierceness. From the streets to the runway, this look has legs. Let's take a gander shall we?

Yeezy rockin the Stefan Urkel's with Alexis in Paris

Erykah likes hers lens-less on stage at the Heineken Red Star Soul Tour

Chris Brown throws it back to the eighties with taped-up frames at the BET Awards

Scarlett Johanssen channels Buddy Holly while picking up her Hasty Pudding Award

Yigel Azrouel Fall 2007

Rachel Comey Spring 2008

Luella Spring 2008

Get your geek on!