Please don’t ask me to choose my favorite En Vogue video. The funky divas had a hold on me ever since Hold On. Like Lauren from Stereohyped, I too wanted to be one of them — usually Cindy, but I always thought Dawn was too fierce for words. Lots of En Vogue videos really honed…
Makeup Muses
Those Cleopatra Eyes
Now I sometimes think of the look as “Amy Winehouse eyes” — others call it “cat’s eyes.” That heavily exaggerated eyeliner drama is also often associated with Cleopatra and ancient Egyptian beauty — here’s La Liz rocking the look back in 1963. Talk about a makeup muse. These girls nowadays have NOTHING on Liz. Breaking…
Betty Davis, The Original Funky Bella
I’m a day late and a dollar short with this post, bellas. Apologies if you clicked over yesterday and were disappointed. Mondays. Sometimes they hit you over the head harder than you expect. What can I say? Funky is the watchword this week, y’all. This week will be all about funky makeup, funky music, funky…
Afrobella of the Week – Pat McGrath, Bella Behind the Beauties
You hear so often about the lack of diversity in fashion -how models of color are continually exoticized and fetishized, and there’s the cliched statement that magazine editors still seem to adhere to, that magazines with black models on the cover don’t sell as well. (That theory is eloquently disproven by Constance C.R White in…
Baldhead, Rasta, Bold And Beautiful
After my post on Zahra Redwood, Miss Jamaica Universe 2007, I got a comment that really gave me pause. It says: “Miss Jamaica’s dreadlocks might make some people feel good but they will eliminate any chance of her winning. Entering a dreadlocked contestant represents typical Jamaican arrogance. That stuff is just too way out there.”…
Afrobella of the Week: Celia Cruz, In Living Color
**Ugh, sorry about missing you yesterday, bellas. I woke up with a sore throat and a stuffy nose, and today’s even worse! I’ll be drinking lots of vitamin C and getting all the rest I can. So bear with me if I’m a little sluggish. Back to your regularly scheduled Afrobella post. Living here in…
Lost Ones: Donyale Luna
She was born into a turbulent Detroit household, with an abusive father who was murdered when she was 18. Her mother encouraged her to become a nurse. A relative once described her as being “a very weird child, even from birth, living in a wonderland, a dream.” Donyale Luna created her own dream. She made…
I Literally Screamed
Yay, Jennifer Hudson!!!!!!!!!!!! I don’t care if they’re calling her her bolero a fashion don’t, watching her win made my night. She looked gorgeous, was succinct and eloquent, and I’m super glad she was able to get in an edgewise thank you to Jennifer Holliday. I know if she had time she would have shouted…
Dreamgirls is Sorry
Jennifer Holliday was pissed. So was Smokey Robinson. Mary Wilson was outraged, but unsurprised. Diana Ross vaguely threatened litigation, but when Mr. Berry Gordy spoke his piece, the producers of Dreamgirls actually listened. They’ve issued a public apology, that appeared in yesterday’s Variety. Well, I hope that the apology makes Diana Ross as happy as…
Worth a Click
Oooh, hot couple alert! Chris Tucker and India.Arie are rumored to be dating! I never got a chance to post this before, but I was digging India’s style at the Grammy’s. It’s nice to know there’s at least one bona fide afrobella always holding the natural hair at the forefront. Be still my heart —…