After my recent post on the Himba people, I was surprised to find an even more out-there African tribal look. The Mursi and Surma people of Ethiopia’s Omo Valley are well known for their circular lip plugs. What I hadn’t know is that they also use face painting and gorgeous floral headresses.
Stunning.
Many (though not all) of these pictures are from photographer Hans Silvester. Click on the link for more of his work.
Chinese beauty Fan Bing Bing dazzled at Cannes this week, in a series of sumptuous dresses by her personal stylist and now designer, Christopher Bu, a man she refers to sweetly as her “bromeo”.
Oh, just the usual….
It is great having readers who know my taste well enough to recommend cool stuff to me – like this, the new collection from cult Aussie label “Romance is Born” inspired by Marvel Comics. Thanks Anthony for the tip. 
But before Australian fashionistas get too cocky, take a look at the even wilder and more unlikely world of Angolan high fashion, with womenswear above and below, menswear from the “Mental” label by designers Shunnoz and Tekasala . Tekasala is also a published poet.
Based in Luanda, the pair recently showed in Lisbon to acclaim:
Afro-chic inspiration!
The Himba, who live in the desert borderlands of Southern Angola and Namibia, are some of Africa’s most photogenic people. Besides their famed beauty they wear a striking traditional dress with both men and women barechested and adorned with heavy copper jewellery and painted with ochre. But it is their hairstyles that truly set them apart. The men wear their hair in a single whip-like braid, children wear long braids over their face and women wear long ochre-covered dreadlocks.
Its a super-striking look, straight out of a fashion stylists dream.
Yinka Shonibare is a Nigerian-British artist known for his trademark use of colouful African wax print fabric to explore issues of post-colonial identity. He exhibited 18th and 19th century European aristocratic ballgowns – reimagined in an African mould, Afro-astronauts and – famously – a ship in a bottle with brightly coloured kente cloth sails – which was placed on the prized “Fourth Plinth” exhibition space in Trafalgar Square.
He also did – unless someone shamelessly ripped off his signature style – the costumes for recent over-the-top Julia Roberts fairytale Mirror Mirror.
Australian Fashion Week, held this week in Sydney, culminated with a collection by Australian design icon Jenny Kee, after a twenty one year absence. To me – and I think to many – she embodied the spirit of the 80s in Australia – cheerfully unsophisticated but bold, energetic and going places. She expressed this through her wildly colourful, if not overly sophisticated, clothing and trademark bright red glasses. The fact that she was, for decades, virtually the only Asian famous face in the country only made her stand out even more.
Born in Bondi in 1949 to Chinese/Italian parents, Kee spent her twenties in London where she mixed with the biggest names of British counterculture, swinging her way through the Bohemian 60s. She even hooked up, famously, with John Lennon. On her return to Australia, she opened a fashion boutique, and then label, and set about honing her instantly recognisable and flamboyant style. She often used the motif of the warratah, an Australian native flower. By the 1980s, her label Flamingo Park had become a local fixture.
She appeared on TV, starred in a movie, modelled and partied her way through Sydney’s Gay Golden Age, captured in the wistful black and white party shots of photographer William Yang. Looking back now the pictures that at first seemed ringing with joy tinged with sadness – it seemed in those hopeful early years that the party would last forever.
By the 1990s Kee’s unapologetic excess was out of fashion, and her failure to adapt to the changing currents of the times – she never did “ironic” – saw her fall from grace.
But it seems that with this year’s return though, she never really left peoples’ hearts. Aussies always had a secret soft spot for Jenny Kee.
Another Australian fashion label of the 1980s took its cues from Jenny Kee, but was if anything, even more colourful. Coogi became known for their chunky, eye-bleedingly colouful sweaters beloved of eccentric middleaged women until an unexpected crossover market emerged- black American men. Sdopted first by Bill Cosby and the Notorious BIG, Coogi became perhaps Australia’s highest profile – and most unlikely – contribution to world hip hop for many years.
By today’s standards, quite Abranavista, no?
Black Soweto hipsters show the appeal of the narcissistic fashion blog is universal. Great pictures at I See a Different You.
Canto-pop flamer Wyman Wong has just re-released his recent Y100 album with a brand spanking new cover. After all, the other one was more than a month old.
Thai homo-fashionista rag “Degree” has so far published two issues, with a third (hopefully) on the way. They have some pretty interesting images on their facebook feed.
China continues its unstoppable expansion in manufacturing, global influence and er, homoerotic high-gloss fashion, with the latest edition of GQ Style China. Featuring this fierce Mishima-in-Versace cover of model du jour Hao Yunxiang ,the magazine out-gays even Numero Hommes China with its “bear fashion” stories, “My Favourite Boys” photo article and plethora of speedo-clad models wrestling. See the Chinese-male-models-in-Grace-Jones-pose below for a taster:
Plus:
And from recent issues:
His ‘n hers, clothes by Lady Gaga’s stylist Nicola Formichetti and Filipino
male model Paulo Roldan.
The Thai soap opera star-cum-model tries on some new looks, from denim:
To leather (for “Image” magazine):
Spiked shoes are currently a hot trend in Hong Kong. I have spotted three pairs on the subway in the last week. I saw a beautiful pair of crimson red slip-ons on the train this morning, encrusted on all angles except the sole with fierce little chrome spikes and I was quite tempted…
Is this a worldwide thing – its seems Gagaesque – or a particularly Hong Kong phenomenon? After all it fits to a tee the definitive HK “look” of outrageously sculpted hair – for men at least – with black layered clothing and screamingly colourful shoes.
I’m yet to see these out – but they can only be Chinese:
Chinese male model Hao Yunxiang:
I have never been the biggest fan of K-boyband Shinee. Well, not their music at least. Their styling, though, is impeccable.What Western boyband would look like this (above?) The group have just released “teaser pictures” for their forthcoming “Sherlock” album – and I love them. Cue soft-focus dayglo hippy homoeroticism:
I wonder if the pics are from Hasisi Park? It looks a lot like the album artwork she did for girgroup f(x).
On my trip to the Hong Kong Museum of Art to see the “Fantastic Creatures” exhibition, I was surprised by the quality of the little-mentioned permanent collection. The pieces that stood out above all were the lavish pins and headdresses made from turquiose and, amazingly,kingfisher feathers cut into incredibly delicate forms with a lustrous, gem-like blue sheen.
