QUIET AS IT’S KEPT: STYLE RADAR

FASHION EDITORApril 1, 2013

QUIET AS IT’S KEPT…What’s on the radar of the dynamic New York fashion-stylist team, THE STYLEMONSTERS?

While we were busy discussing whether or not Chris Brown and Rihanna are the new Sid and Nancy, the new Bonnie and Clyde (or the new Bobby and Whitney), and whether or not our favorite busty soul chanteuse Adele (with her heaving bosom and deadly-pale Kabuki makeup) is indeed channeling Leigh Bowery, Divine, Beth Ditto, or a slightly larger version of Renee Zellweger as the Hot British Mess known as Bridget Jones, it occurred to us that we’ve experienced fashion/pop culture déjà-vu more than a few times over the last couple of months.

Whether its star-crossed singers who are Dangerously In Love or larger-than-life broads who can sing and/or drink you under the table, we can’t help but feel like we’ve been here before. As Shirley Bassey (who SLAYED her performance at this year’s Oscars) sings in her collaboration with jazz fusion group Propellerheads, we get the feeling that “It’s all just a little bit of history repeating…” Here’s why, in 5 different ways…

1- Quiet As Its Kept, there’s apparently no “Famine of Beauty” in Somalia…

Can we get into Fatima Siad for just a few fashion moments? She (like gorgeous supermodel and fashion icon Iman) hails from the dusty sands of Somalia. She (like Iman) evokes wicked, savage beauty and cheekbones that should be illegal. She is also (like Iman used to do) tearing up editorials and advertising campaigns left and right- most notably for the fashion houses of Herve Leger and Hermes. And she (like Iman) is a perennial favorite among high-fashion photographers, who damn-near masturbate as they manipulate their lenses to capture that lovely visage before them. So, it stands to reason to wonder: is Fatima Siad (pictured on the right- photographed by Mike Ruiz for the new Sam Fine for Ebony Fashion Fair cosmetics ad), simply the NEW Iman Abdulmajid-Bowie (pictured on the left- photographed by Francesco Scavullo in 1976)?

2- God Save The Queen…2.0? Quiet As Its Kept, is Pam Hogg the new Vivienne Westwood?

Like veteran fashion hell-raiser Vivienne Westwood, Pam Hogg possesses an inherently rebellious spirit, probably as a result of her formative years on the London Club Scene- specifically the infamous Blitz Club (aka, the British version of Studio 54, since its door policy was equally as daunting).

Back then, it was nothing for her to party the night away on the dance floor next to such luminaries as David Bowie.

Her Club-kid reputation morphed into a brief stint performing with Debbie Harry in a 90’s band called Doll.

These days, Hogg is setting the runway aflame with her highly-covetable, ultra-cool collections- which she sews and produces herself. Three-dimensional catsuits, stop-the-madness headpieces and electric patterns on laser-cut jackets are only a few of the things that have fashion idols like Kate Moss and Rihanna going IN over her pieces.

The last Brit to raise such fashion frenzy was, well, Vivienne Westwood.

3- Quiet As Its Kept, handbags are no longer the new status-symbol accessory. I see your Givenchy and raise you one Hermes!

Fashion folks didn’t bat an eye at the $795 price-point for the now-ubiquitous Givenchy ‘Bird of Paradise’ cotton-jersey t-shirt. Well, quite a few eyes will roll (and bleed!) if they happen down to the Hermes boutique on Madison Avenue in search of the crocodile t-shirt shown in the Men’s Spring/Summer 2013 collection.

Ever the conspicuous consumers, not even WE could swallow the $91.500.00 (yes, that’s Ninety-One Thousand, five hundred dollars!) necessary to leave the store with this beauty.

Let’s see who the first rapper will be to don this in their video (word on the street is, as of this printing, that Mr. Kanye West has purchased this item). But what does the fashion voluptuary wear with this highest-of-high-end tee? Well, the rabbit-fur-lined slides from Celine’s Spring 2013 collection, of course …

T-shirts aren’t the only accessory that has become ‘haute-couture de riguer’.

Apparently, a great ski-mask is the newest craze amongst the hip-hop/R&B set.

Rappers 2 Chainz, A$AP Rocky and Kanye West have been rocking the face-obscuring masks onstage, front row at fashion shows, and on the step-and-repeat (although, it must be mentioned that Kanye’s versions have been decidedly high-end- his have run the gamut from red-knit bank-robbery specials to bejeweled Martin Margiela runway pieces!).

Even Romeo Miller (who has an editorial in XEX Magazine’s ‘Men’s Edition’ this month) is photographed in a camouflage ski-mask- TRULY “hiding in plain sight”! Quiet as its kept, we happen to prefer the mask Rick Owens showed in his Fall 2012 collection…

4- Move out of the way, Ms. Sevigny…Quiet As Its Kept, there’s a NEW Chloe in town!!!

She has snatched the title of ‘Fashion’s Youngest Darling’ from Elle Fanning and run with it. Fifteen-year-old Chloe Moretz (who starred in goth-flavored renditions of the “Dark Shadows” and the remake of “Carrie” movies), is the latest ingénue to have fashionista’s tongues wagging.

She showed up at the Christian Dior couture show to a million flashing cameras during Paris Fashion Week. She and her mother wandered around Paris (in a sheared mink, no less!) to the delight of fashion editors and bloggers alike.

There isn’t a fashion trend (from leather jumpers to capes, to Peter Pan collars and Haider Ackermann-inspired printed muumuus) that she doesn’t like. To her credit, she isn’t afraid to experiment with fashion and, sometimes, to fail. She is the modern-day Chloe Sevigny…Get into her.

5- Quiet As Its Kept…Justin Timberlake COULD play Halston in a biopic!

Besides turning in a comedic tour-de-force performance on NBC’s ‘Saturday Night Live’ a couple of weeks ago, Justin Timberlake served as fashion eye candy as well. Hilarious skits aside, perhaps the best part of the show was his musical performances, which had JT looking rather dapper in his Tom Ford suit alongside Jay-Z for the live rendition of his smash hit, “Suit And Tie”).

Timberlake had our “Fashion Spidey-Senses” tingling; seeing him in his “grown-and-sexy” get-up topped off with parted and slicked-back hair gave us flashes of that resplendent milliner-turned-draping-and ultrasuede-king, Halson (who was LEGENDARY for looking tres chic in a simple turtleneck and trench coat with his hair flawlessly-coiffured). Then, Timberlake REALLY raised our eyebrows with his look at the end of the new video for his latest single, “Mirror”, (replete with said turtleneck and trench-style peacoat!) Is it just us, or is Justin Timberlake channelling 70’s fashion design scion Halston- or 80s heartthrob Rick “Never Gonna Give You Up” Astley) in his new video?