Rihanna covers the latest American Vogue
TFS

I haven't been this happy about the cover of American Vogue since Emma Stone was featured back in the July issue. And I am so glad that Rihanna is partly responsible for my joy. Her last American Vogue cover was so awkward and the Vogue UK one that followed wasn't much of an improvement, which is a shame because I think Ri-ri would be a stylist's dream as she is super chameleonic but her personality always comes through. And they've finally managed that in this shot by Annie Leibovitz.

The signer models a red-hot Valentino (cooked) lace dress from the Resort 2012 collection. It looks absolutely amazing with the matching lips, the smoky eyes and the short hairdo she's sporting these days of which I'm a great fan. But, mostly, I love the fact that this cover reminds me of a Vogue Nippon story featuring Daria Werbowy back in 2009. If Vogue can keep this sort of slicker and edgier feel on their upcoming covers I would totally start buying the magazine again.

Best Dressed of the Weekend: Girls in the Knowles
JustJared

Summer is coming and we are all getting excited so it's been a great weekend of celebrity spottings in their Spring attire.

Beyoncé, who has been looking incredible lately, was caught en route to meetings in New York wearing one of Etro's funky maxi skirts. I love the mix of prints and how the long-sleeve fuchsia top gives it a city vibe. B accessorised it with her favourite black hat, massive hoops and The Row sunglasses we have seen her wear recently.

Rosie H-W is my current queen of airport chic. I am forever amazed with her looks touring the world. This one of black skinny jeans, suede ankle boots, a simple grey tee and a killer camel biker jacket is amongst my favourites. And I'm loving the shades and the pop of colour of the green suede bag.

Solange Knowles' look is probably some of the coolest print mixing I've seen. So subtle and so chic. I just can't think of anything better suited to be worn to a casual cocktail party on a New York spring evening.

Rihanna has been in London for a few days just in time for our week-long spring. She has very well taken advantage of it wearing looks like this bang-on-trend Stella McCartney two-piece. I love the pajama feel, the super chic sandals and the statement sunnies.

Best Dressed of the Weekend: Christina Ricci's on a roll!
JustJared, Getty

Half of this edition of Best Dressed of the Weekend comes from LFW-related events and the other half from the never-ending parties going on in LA.
Jamie King is one of the most beautiful women in TV at the moment. She looks absolutely stunning week after week on 'Hart of Dixie'. Her latest hit comes from the Marni x H&M event in LA. Her two piece look that looks like a drop-waist jumpsuit is perfect for her. The headband and the flats add just the right touch.
Christina Ricci is currently promoting her 'Bel Ami' film around the world and looking consistently chic. This time she wore Jenny Packham to the Berlin premiere. The sequinned gown is quite simple but she adds a Je-ne-sais-quoi to it and really makes it pop.
Victoria Beckham is enjoying a rain of well-deserved fashion critics at the moment. This look is from the Harvey Nichols launch of her namesake diffusion like on Friday night. I loved the subtle details of the two-part black dress and the white details on the collar and the cuffs. Super chic!
And Rihanna is getting it spot on lately. After her incredible moment at the Grammys she turned up in another super sexy Giorgio Armani satin number at the designer's presentation and party on Saturday night in London. J'adore.

Best Dressed of the Weekend: BAFTAs & Grammys Edition
Courtesy of Giorgio Armani and Givenchy, JustJared

Better late than never, right? I have been away for the weekend and travelling back to London today and this post was at the top of my to-do list. Let's put wi-fi on all British trains soon, shall we? It has been a great weekend in terms of style. Both the BAFTAs and the Grammys took place last night. Despite it being a sad day because our dear Whitney passed away both ceremonies carried on (show must go on and all that) and delivered excellent moments on the red carpet.
Adele was the absolute winner of the night at the Grammys. Not only she won 6 of the best awards (woopey!) but she looked absolutely incredible in a Giorgio Armani gown. I can't even begin to tell you how much I love this. The subtle details of the dress – dark embellished crystals in a kaleidoscopic patters, a black belt at the waist and a chiffon layer – were exactly what she needed. That, added to the stunning hair and make up really took me back to the times of old Hollywood glamour. She also looked a lot slimmer and radiant. And she slipped into a similarly amazing Burberry Prorsum gown for the rest of the night. She must feel on top of the world today!
Also in Giorgio Armani was the second best dressed at the Grammys. Rihanna, in her new sloppy-dyed blonde hairdo, looked absolutely ravishing in her black dress. The deep V neckline and slit created a really interested symmetry and I loved her gold accessories. But the best, I must say, were her eyes – that eye make up is a winner!

The BAFTAs always tend to be a bit more quiet fashion-wise. They're always quite close to the Oscars and I guess neither nominees nor designers want to make too much noise and keep the WOW-moments for later in the month. And yet we still had a few amazing moments.
First on my list is Christina Ricci in Givenchy Haute Couture. It's hard with all-gold gowns because you can go either way. Luckily, this number had been in the more than capable hands of Riccardo Tisci, who  created the half ruffled half gathered detail at the waist that made the dress a winner. I am so glad to see her back in the scene and doing so well.
Almost neck and neck with Ricci is Tilda Swinton who once again stood out from the crowd. This time in a white Céline dress. I have been missing this brand on the red carpet for months. Hopefully, Phoebe Philo will be able to get back to business once she pops her perfect offspring off. Tilda's look was, as always, very slick with a je-ne-sais-quoi going on. She also had awesome hair. If I were I woman I'd like my hair to look like that.

Best Dressed of the Weekend: New Year's Edition
JustJared, Celebrity-Gossip

Happy New Year everyone!

Things have been so slow in the celebrity spotting department but it's nice to take a break from work and blogging so I guess it's suited me. I am slowly going back to business –flying back to London tomorrow– so I wanted to start the new year with my Best Dressed of the Weekend post.

I did not have a lot of choice but I did really want to make this post, if only for Rihanna. I absolutely loved the black see-through Tom Ford number she wore on New Year's Eve –a kind of leopard print lace dress with long sleeves and a velvet belt. What makes me love this look is the fact that even though it's totally see-through (you can see Riri's bazooms) she actually looks super classy with a touch of cool. I also love the shoes and the make up. Perhaps only the hair could have been a little better. I am not too keen on having all the curls forward.

It's also Rihanna, this time in Alexander Wang, that has second place this week. I seriously can't get enough of her luxurious take on sportswear. It's just genius –and very SS12.

And last it's Lady Gaga channeling a bit of Marilyn Monroe in Stéphane Rolland Couture on New Year's Eve. I love a bit of crazy Gaga fashion but it's also nice to see her wearing something a bit more normal (in her book anyway) for a change.

It is often that celebrities become the face of designer houses but they seldom collaborate to create the clothes themselves. Rihanna, who is the new face for Emporio Armani Underwear and Armani Jeans, is now launching a capsule collection in collaboration with both branches of the Armani empire.
I am usually skeptical about lines like this one because items that they come up with are often unoriginal and tacky. But that cannot be said of this one. I love most of the pieces from the capsule collection. My favourite are the cobalt blue lace underwear (which comes in pearl grey too) and the graphic white t-shirts. I absolutely love Armani's sketches and how they've managed to sort of integrate that kind of feel on the design. Ri-Ri's face with the soft grey leopard print background looks super cool!
The whole line has a great feel of rock and roll-meets-laid back. I love the idea of the skinny jeans with a bandana-motif scarf as a belt!
The Armani Jeans and Emporio Armani Underwear collections in collaboration with Rihanna will be available at Armani stores worldwide from this month.

Courtesy of Armani

TFS

British Vogue keeps repeating this pattern behaviour where they publish two or three really bad covers that are followed by a really great one –notice the gaps between the Kate Winslet cover in April, the Kate Moss one in August. And now this. Rihanna covers the November issue shot by Alasdair McLellan with a cover simplicity we don't see often at the Vogue's covers.

I love Ri-Ri's pose, the Marylin-esque (American Vogue started the trend last month) blonde wig and the beautiful Armani Privé she's wearing. I like the neutral blue backgrounds that makes the very subtle details of the dress pop out. And I obviously love the fact that they haven't overcrowded the cover with heaps of text. All of which is quite a change from last month's Adele cover –such a bad and awkward crop framed in crazy white and pumpkin text. It was a real shame because Adele looked stunning inside.

What are your thoughts on Vogue UK in general and on this issue in particular?

I know it's quite a normal thing to do for the smaller editions of big-name magazines to recycle the covers and editorials of the more influential titles. There shouldn't be a reason not to. After all, not that many people buy more than their country's version of Vogue so they wouldn't know whether it's new content or not.

Vogue India has used Annie Leibovitz's shot of Rihanna for American Vogue from back in April for their latest June issue. You would think that there isn't much that can be changed but you'd be wrong. Even though I still don't like the very awkward pose I think the picture works much better on the Vogue India cover. It's a slightly wider crop, which makes it feel less stuffy and the amount of writing has been reduced, so there's plenty of space. They have used a red title instead of the gold/bronze the American version used. I love that they have because it enhances Ri-ri's hair and it makes the cover feel a lot more summery.
Which one do you prefer?

[TFS]

Rihanna pulls an Ariel for Anna

For one reason or another the cover of American Vogue always seems to be a big deal. I have to admit I did find Lady Gaga on the cover to be quite a significant nod from Anna to the singer's status in the fashion world. But there was nothing unusual on the cover apart from the Haider Ackermann she was wear, a rather uncommercial choice for Vogue. However, it is the April issue that I am more fascinated about. Rihanna, wearing Pre-Fall11 Chanel and shot by the legend that is Annie Leibovitz, looks somewhere between awkward and beautiful flanked by two full columns of text, which I hate. Almost as much as the, if I may, pooping pose. The cover also screams Vanity Fair to me, which might just be because Leibovitz shot the cover, no?

I couldn't help myself. Ri-Ri looks so much like Ariel from the Little Mermaid it's unreal. Which, again, suits Leibovitz a lot as she is in charge of shooting those amazing Disney pictures for Vanity Fair every year. I also started to think how cool it would be if Rihanna did a new version of the film wearing lots of custom-made Chanel and singing "Only Girl (In the World)" to the Prince or "Shut up and drive" with Sebastian. It'd be an absolute hit.

I'm off.

[Pictures: TFS, Style.com]

Rihanna's hairstyle hit - Part 2

I know I'm being a little mono-thematic as of late with my posts about celebrities. I just slowly develop these fixations with the way some of them never cease to surprise me, in a good way. Only a month ago I couldn't get enough of Rihanna's red-hair look as you might remember from this post. A few days after I wrote about it she proceeded to add some hideous hair extensions, also in red, which completely put me off. She kept those for about two weeks but it was way too long for Ri-Ri. She is back in town for the X Factor finale and she's gone back to the short hair do that made her famous in a more natural colour than we've seen over the last few months. And so, I am back as fan #1 of her look. I find the her short hair very flattering and sexy. It also adds to whatever she wears, which is what everyone should want from a haircut. As part of her latest outfit she wore a very cool camouflage hat that complimented the leather and knit grey outfit and that, together with the pink backpack, injected the right amount of colour.

What do you think of Rihanna's style changes? Are you a fan?
I'm off.

[Pictures: JustJared.buzznet.com, Celebrity-Gossip.net]

RI-mote inspiration

I've you've read my tweets today you'll know I've been complaining about being uninspired to post today. This always happens every couple of weeks and I usually take it as a sign that tells me to sit back and relax because the world won't end and people won't jump off bridges if I don't post for one day. But the thing is, just as the day (in terms of light, anyway) came to an end I was going through some celebrity pictures of the day and found these of Rihanna below. I realised how much I've been into what she's been wearing for the last couple of months since she dyed her hair red. It sounds too simple but it's the new hair that suddenly makes everything work and which has made Ri-Ri find her own style.

Over the last years Rihanna has obviously changed image as many times as any other celebrity would have. She did the rock chick thing for a while but it never worked for me. Then she had that horrendous bleach quiff, which was even worse. But the new red do adds something really interesting to everything she wears. To begin with, it works perfectly with her skin tone. It adds a stroke of colour when she wears monocolour muted outfits but it also adds an extra bold hue when she does colour-blocking. And it even works with pink! Because of all of that she has been rocking a lot of more minimalistic designers like Chloé and Stella McCartney and more body-con numbers by Mark Fast, Pucci and Balmain. I specially loved the William Tempest SS11 dress she wore on the Xfactor.
All of this together with the pictures above instantly brought Marni's SS11 collection to my mind. I think its minimal sportswear luxury is a perfect match for Rihanna. The prints, the bold colours and the unexpected fabrics beautifully cut would look so great on her. So I am making this a plead to Marni's PR to send Ri-Ri as much summer Marni as they can.  Are you with me?

I'm off.

[Pictures: JustJared.buzznet.com, Celebrity-Gossip.com, Style.com]

imprinted

The concept of printed clothes is anything but new. Yes, I know. But the SS10 shows provided us with new print options. The concepts were basic: be bold and wear very graphic prints or be arty and opt for blurred, distorted or pixelated prints. There have been two celebrities that, lately, have very much epitomised both looks. On the one hand, beautiful January Jones (whose style sense is rather spotless) has ben seen around LA porting the 'arty' print trend in numbers such as the two below, including one of the jewels from Dries Van Noten's flawless Summer collection. On the other hand, Rihanna. I have been paying a lot of attention to her as of late, specially ever since the two-leopard number (see here). She has a fantastic ability to combine colours and prints. She, however, tends to go for more graphic and bold prints. Bang on trend have also been Kristen Dunst and Victoria Beckham (!) in Miu Miu; possibly the most popular prints of the season.

And, of course, I had to have a look online to see what the biggest e-tailers have on sale in terms of prints. As I said before, Miu Miu and Dries Van Noten, though great, are a little obvious as choices. If you are looking for leopard for the summer, this is your season. There isn't a designer that hasn't created a shirt, skirt, dress or blouse with their own vision of leopard skin. My favourite is Chloé's de-coloured version. But the best brand to go for prints this season Sass & Bide. They have mixed ethnic inspiration with street style and very graphic elements. Giulia and I went to preview their FW10 a while ago (post coming up) and we loved every single piece.

I'm off.

[Pictures: JustJared.buzznet.com, Celebrity-Gossip.net, Zimbio.com, Net-a-Porter.com, Brownsfashion.com]

everybody loves Hervé

Correct me if I am wrong, but I do not quite recall this happening in the recent past. The Hervé Léger craze of mini-dresses started out as something unusual that pleased the eye but soon turned into a common piece in every Hollywood starlet's wardrobe. However, far from serving as a device to look young and stylish, it just brings out the tackiness within and enhances the wrong curves in most cases. Only a handful of celebrities were able to pull it off, while the rest of them who tried failed tragically. Have a look.

Thoughts?

[Pictures credit: JustJared, Gossip Girls, Mischa-B.com]

I'm off.

style SALAD

Once again, I felt like fixing up a Sunday salad. I chose some outfits I am quite digging at the moment. I have to admit some celebrities are making an effort when dressing up for the summer weather and it's showing.

Whether you like Rihanna's style it's another thing, but no one can deny it's original in the least. Give it up for the stylist, people. I was glad to see her in some colour a few days ago with the flowery mini skirt and the tight green tank top. It was very refreshing. The other look is from yesterday and she's back in black with tights, blazer and feathers —trendy trends. What really caught me attention from that whole outfit is the bag, military LV anyone?

Next is Katherine Heigl in a very simple dress in a colour I adore and gladiators. I am dying to get a pair myself but while I do she manages to look perfect without overdoing it. Also, I'm fond of that waves in her hair. To her side is Anne Hathaway looking smoking in a trench dress and that sort of messy-on-purpose hair. She looks cute as hell.

Last is my favourite fiction persona lately —Ed Westwick. He's the guy. As if all those preppy outfits from last season of Gossip Girl weren't enough, he's gearing up for the summer in shorts and sailing boats and  argyles in polos and socks.

[Pictures credit: JustJared]

Have a lovely Sunday afternoon.

I'm off.

friday cuteness

I was happy to wake up this morning to find these two ladies out and about in very well put-together ensembles.

First Rihanna, who leaves her popular umbrella in the winter closet and pulls off one of my favourite pieces of S/S 2008 a —sheer flower-printed Stella McCartney jumpsuit. I have to say I am impressed with Rihanna lately; as much as I don't agree with her style, I admire some of her choices, like that other jumpsuit in purple she wore during Paris Fashion Week. Night called for black and she went for shorts and a cropped tuxedo jacket, dressing it down with a rather low v-necked tee. Is the matching purple lining of the jacket and in the t-shirt intentional?

My other joy of the day is Rachel Bilson. I am totally in love with her and the amazing style she has been walking around for a few months now. This time, she lets us know she, too, can experiment (event if it's not too wildly). First, with a cute short-sleeved shirt with skinny jeans and beautiful leather belt and shoes; secondly, with navy jeans, a printed loose top and purple bag. I am looooving the green Way-Farers!

Thoughts?

[Pictures credit: JustJared and Gossip Girls]

I'm off.