By Special Request

Before I started blogging I used to satisfy my self-centered-ness by writing emails to my friends with my ridiculous musings of the day! By special request (love you Pandy!), here is one of those emails.

Oh before I copy and paste I should say that I am particularly obsessed with Rihanna. By that I mean I have an opinion on everything she does. Be warned.

we need to discuss what is goin on north of rihanna's (sizeable) forehead. It's been a few weeks now but this hair officially has got to go! Not only is it frizzin out in the barbados humidity BUT she has the sideburns slicked down in a kindy wavy relax hair slicky thing which is VERRRRYYYy reminiscent of michael jackson!!!! in fact the whole relaxy wetty curly-ish thing is mj reminiscent. lol ppl in europe once came up to her screaming "Prince! Prince!" an askin for autographs. I can imagine if they think she is mj she would be a lot more offended.....(i am COVETING the neon green skirt tho!) which brings me to a question... would u be more offended if ppl thought u looked like prince or like michael jackson? talk amongst yourselves....


Oh....and a new addition...the dude Rihanna is posing with above is the Prime Minister of Barbados. Like at the end of the day Rihanna is a reg chick an all. But can you picture me....or anybody you know....posing with Patrick Manning and doin rockstar finger signs? Think about it!

Blog Spotlight - Caribbean Fashion Style Journal

I am one of those people who believes you should be able to find anything on the internet. When I put something into the search terms in Google, no matter how obscure it is, I want it to return 250,000 hits MINIMUM!

So you can understand my frustration when, going to specific websites I find no useful information. Take the official website for the Trinidad & Tobago Fashion Week for example, slated to take place at the end of May. How upset was I to discover that all the information on this website is current for the event in 2008!

Thank God for the Caribbean Fashion Style Journal. Updated often, this website not only alerts us to when and where the event is taking place, the blogger actually attends the events and takes (many) pictures so even if we didn't know it took place, we feel like we were there! He posts interviews, event reviews, and, most enjoyable, pictures of real-life Caribbean fashionistas and the fabulous things they wear to events! Blogs like this are really helping reach the Trinidad Fashion Week's goal of uplifting the Caribbean Fashion Industry to international standards.

Event Planning - HATness

A friend suggested a good addition to the blog would be to take suggestions from readers about upcoming events in the Caribbean and make outfit suggestions. I thought the idea was fantastic (Thanks Tu!) especially for events that we are not so accustomed to in the Caribbean Social Scene.

One such event is this coming Saturday's celebration of Brian Lara's 40th Birthday at Santa Rosa Park! Literally a day at the races! Everybody of course is aware that race wear traditionally consists of a springy sundress and a huuuggeee hat (and yes I understand that the woman pictured is obviously somewhere in downtown NYC where no races take place....but still she looked cute and appropriate). So the question arises for young Trini women, who are unaccustomed to wearing hats to social occasions, how can I incorporate this accessory into my outfit and still look chic and modern and not look like i goin to church?

1. My first suggestion is the most subversive. Why even wear a hat? Why not just imply a hat. A feathered headband or bando (throwback!) looks very chic in either long or short hair and the feathers can match or NOT match your outfit as you see fit! They are also very trendy and different versions have been seen on celebs like one ah d Olsens dem and also on regular ol ppl like me! It seems that Pluma Designs has been producing them and selling them for $48 US each. Uhhhhh I think somebody needs to tell them that it have street vendors all over Manhattan selling the EXACT SAME THING for half the price or less (I suggest the woman on Union Square in front the sneakers store....she will make one for you on the spot). ALSO if you not in NYC there are Youtube videos which can tell u how to make your own! Jus head down Samaroo's for some feathers and some fabric glue and you can tell everybody that it is a one of a kind hand made couture creation. Check it out here!

2. If you do opt for a traditional hat design take after Jamaican singer Tami Chynn. She tweeted two pics of herself and Tessanne at the races in Jamaica last week! Check them out here and here. I love how Tami took a very traditional hat (complete with net veil yo!) in a FABULOUS colour (my trend spotting link tells me that shades of blue in the violet family are very big) which does not match her LYD. However if you look closer you will see she used funky violet eye makeup to bring the look together! Very very chic and contemporary. Also if you are on Twitter make sure to follow both @Tamichynn and @tessanne. We need to support our regional artists!

3. Do what Coco Chanel did for fashion history and put a menswear spin on the tradition! Instead of a frilly lacy gauze-y GRANNYISH hat why not try a sleek fedora or cloche. You will definitely be chanelling that 1930-s feeling and you will stand out. Any of the following, set at a jaunty (lol!) angle and paired with a long wide-legged jumpsuit would be most chic!



Oh btw, I learned this week that despite all the menswear influence, the house of Chanel has NEVER made clothes for men. All the men in the ads are actual wearing Chanel's women's designs!

picture courtesy altimiranyc.blogspot.com

Hmmm.....

Sooo...I see genie/harem/Hammer/dhoti pants are still around. I thought we had decided that crotches of pants were never to reach the knee again (and by we I mean me and fashion of course...)

To me harem pants are like that really unattractive dude from primary school that you and your friends used to laugh at. And then 20 years later he turns up again and lo and behold....he's still unattractive. But you have changed in that you have shed making shallow value judgments against people... and so you start seeing him more and more and every time you look at him you start seeing the personality shining through beyond the grease on his face, and finally you find yourself in a quasi-relationship with him. But now you're worried that you're friends haven't stopped making shallow value judgments and so you limit your time within him to "alone time at home" or in reallly dark restaurants because....bottom line....yuh shame!

Then, inevitably he leaves you for some gorgeous woman who is not ashamed to be seen with him and you get really really jealous.


This is what genie pants are like to me. I thought even in the 90's when MC Hammer was the biggest thing he still looked a fool in them pants. However now, I look at them and they look soooo comfy! So I buy a pair but can't yet bring myself to wear them outside the house. They languish at the bottom of the cupboard and are inevitably donated to charity.


Then I see Angie Harmon looking like this in a look straight off the opening of Ralph Lauren's Spring 2009 fashion show and I think...she doesn't look ridiculous at all! Not only does she look totally comfortable and like all her girl parts are getting quite enough air, she also looks like she just came back from some exotic vacation an happened to pick up items from this outfit at a souk in Marrakech or at the Grand Bazaar in Turkey. I am insanely jealous! The only thing I ever pick up in a Bazaar is a hamper of Grace foods won at the Bingo stall (true story!).

Maybe I will step out of my box and try some Hammer pants sometime in the near future....


However, I would like to request that they are never EVER worn by men ever again....


Photo: Donato Sardella / WireImage


ALSO: No, tell us how you really feel about Cassie! LOL!

Ve-toed!

I am picky about shoes.

Being blessed to possess a shoe size in the double digits (and no big setta height to justify it) shoe buying is not always the most enjoyable experience. What looks good in a 6.5 on the rack does not always look so hot in a 10! Lately, when I try on a pair of shoes and a ridiculous scenario involving said shoe immediately pops to mind (e.g. "Welllllll, if there's a blizzard all I need is two broom sticks and I could DEF ski to work on these bad boys!") the item is immediately vetoed.

This is why I cannot understand the appeal of the newest 'It' shoe for hot black celebrities, the YSL Caged Bootie (available of course at all the expensive uptown dept stores Barneys, Bergdorf etc). As soon as I looked at these shoes my imagination started working overtime, all sorts of craziness running through my head. Personally, when I glance down at my foot in a shoe I like to be pleasantly startled by how dainty and small they look despite the fact that this is an optical illusion created by the arch and height of the heel. I do NOT like to be alarmed because they have obviously been taken prisoner, bound and gagged (ok maybe not gagged, there is a peep toe) by a kidnapper with a long, flat foot fetish whose only ransom request is for me to "point an flex real slow!" **shudder**

More L.A.M.B....

As for the ropey L.A.M.B. version I would def feel like i stepped on some kind of carefully laid trap concealed in the woods, yet, interestingly, only my feet get caught up in the net and are now hanging upside down from tree branches. Alas, I do need my feet to escape!

Anyway as usual this is a moot argument, because even if i did like these shoes I couldn't bring myself to rest two months mortgage payments ($1590 USD for the YSL version) on it. I imagine that if I could I must indeed be a prime kidnapping target. Or Beyonce. Or Ciara. (btw I covet that dress Ciara is wearing!) Or maybe I would just have to be an ass.

But then again as I say, I am very picky about shoes. What do you think?


In addition: Could somebody please let Alicia Keys know that she can use a stylist for casual occasions to0. This should never happen again.

Be-WEAVE It!

Last week’s biggest celebrity story was Oprah’s emphatic declaration that she does not wear a weave! I’m sure that after seeing this spring’s basket-weave themed items, she will be making a public retraction!




For those of us who don't have $2150 to put INSIDE a clutch far less to SPEND ON one... I have provided some equally fabulous, yet much cheaper woven options for you to feast your eyes upon. Even better, these items will be available for sale in Trinidad very soon along with many other affordable fashion forward pieces.


(Click image to see more detail.) Send an email to stepuptrinistyle@gmail.com for more information including prices and sizing. Also, if you would like me to do more research into this trend and provide items to you I would be glad to! Spread the word!

Extras: 1. No Rhi Rhi! We do not under any circumstances wave a rag. Not even you fierce enough to pull that one off!
2. The things that are newsworthy in the Caribbean lol...
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