Mariah Carey parties it up in Barbados

So pop diva Mariah Carey spent a few days in Barbados last week celebrating her 39th 'life anniversary' with husband Nick Cannon and her whole entourage.




They flew in by private jet and stayed at one of the island's most exclusive West Coast villas (the villa, which we hear goes at $15 000 a night is a celeb magnet - it also happens to be the one that Rihanna and Chris Brown allegedly tore up during their stay in Bim last summer).

They also had a big birthday bash at the Zagat-rated, super-sexy Wispers on the Bay, a restaurant right along Brown's Beach. There was actually a power cut on the night of the party that left the whole island in darkness but since Wispers is lit with standing flambeaus, it apparently did not have too much of an impact.

MC apparently had a greeeeat time, even diving into the surf afterwards in her dress and taking a swim.

Our sources tell us that the eyebrow-raising marriage between MC and Nick Cannon seems to definitely be real with the two dotish behind each other, hugging and kissing all the time and with her even flaunting an 'MCC' name-plate necklace that Nick bought her as a bday gift. That's Mariah Carey-Cannon by the way. ... I wonder if he has matching NCC jewellery because we all know that he is Mr. Carey and loves it.


In other islandista news, Rihanna is continuing to hit the party circuit and was seen out at Bar Deluxe taking her forays into the 80s look a bit too far IMO...



Shoulder pads... no. I feel like I saw this exact outfit in my auntie's closet in 1989.

T-Pain being sued by Guyanese promoter and Ri-ri goes house shopping

Down in GT, they are NOT happy with hip-pop Auto-tune king T-Pain after he skipped out on a concert there last month.

The reason given at the time was that T-Pain had received reports that he was allegedly the target of kidnapping and death threats in Guyana because the promoter hadn't take care of his street people in the right way.

Well, the promoters Hits and James Entertainment ent having it and they are suing him now in a Miami court - for US$5 million.

 Hits and Jams' attorney Ron Lowy charged that T-Pain made outrageous demands, including a private jet (outrageous when you consider he has been all up in the media talking bout he has his own $3M private jet - second hand mind you), FBI protection (brr?) and a phone call from President Bharrat Jagdeo (eh?).

Anyhow, the H&J folk do acknowledge that T-Pain offered to return the money but they say that can't make up for the damage caused or "remedy the disappointment to the Guyanese fans."

Hmm. Will  be interesting to see how this case pans out. Seems like sussness all around.

In other news, Rihanna is continuing her publicly documented quest to show that Chris Brown ent no where round she. She went house-hunting in L.A. with BFF Melissa, looking very hot in a fringed gray necklace and silver Louboutins. Less thrilled about the wet and curly hair and a bit dismayed that she had it pulled back from her forehead.

Go easy on Rihanna & Selita's zippered confusion

Evan Rogers, the man who discovered Rihanna is pleading with the public to go easy on his protege, in the wake of wide-spread anger at her for allegedly returning to Chris Brown after he beat her on February 8th.

Rihanna lived with Rogers and his Bajan wife Jackie for over a year in Connecticut while they prepared her demo and shopped it around to record labels. In the past, Rihanna was very close to them, calling them 'Uncle Evan' and 'Auntie Jackie'.

Speaking to the Barbados Nation, Rogers reminded folks that Rihanna is just barely a woman, saying:

" At the end of the day, people forget that at 21, your perspective is very different. These kinds of things can happen to anyone, whether you're a celebrity or not."

In other islandista tid bits, Caymanian (or is it Cayman Islander? I will have to ask one of my CI people) Selita Ebanks attended the dinner premiere of Valentio's 'The Last Emperor' in a zippered, lacy, sequinned, cut-out mini-dress that was as confusing looking as that description just was.

No, Selita.

We very much do not like. It look like federation and that bubby looking like Cinque from Amistad ... "give us us FREE!"

 

Still ent like it from this angle neither. We usually love Selita but this outfit fail.

Rihanna back on the town again

Islandista Rihanna has been snapped and papped back out on the town again, clearly making a determined effort to get back into the swing of things - I think this is the third consecutive 'night out photo op' that we have seen from her in the last few days. This time she was 'spotted' leaving Da Silvano restaurant in Manhattan.

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 Interestingly and perhaps significantly, she has been seen with many different people - Bajan BFF Melissa, mentorJay-Z, his wife Beyonce, singer Brandy, numerous bodyguards and helpers - but no Chris Brown.

Hmm... methinks her publicist and management team may be getting some control over their star again and are fighting back against Chris' people who were clearly the ones behind all the 'leaks' of Rihanna and Chris being back together and the subsequent pictures that came out. It was surely unfortunate and not coincidental that one of her first major photo ops after the pre-Grammy beating was her hiding under a jacket on an airport tarmac with Chris Brown.

Hoping against hope here... maybe her people have gotten it through to her that since Chris and his people were willing to destroy her image and career by leaking stories and photo ops like a bust pipe that it is time she takes back some control over her image?

We shall see...

Aside from that, with it being Rihanna and all, a few fashion observations have to be made - like... I really, really do NOT like those light-coloured jeans with the exaggerated 'whiskers' across the hips and thighs. I always hated whiskers on girls' jeans, and they look worse on light jeans - just tacky.

Please don't go and make this a trend Ri-ri. I like the cut out gloves that she has been wearing though.

  

As to the 'wet and wavy' look of her signature quiffed hair cut, all I can say is ... lawd! Looka how Rihanna gine mek all de chicks who went and get their weave put on in that style have to run and go get some curly weave to rock the new style now. We can't keep up... guess that's the point!

Back to back black Vogue covers and Rihanna's belated bday party

Well slap me with a fish and call me Wally!



Sorry, I just needed to create an expression as crazy as that to express my shock at the fact that Beyonce is covering the April edition of US Vogue magazine - which means ... BACK TO BACK covers with black women for the 'fashion Bible'!

See? Slap you with a fish too cos I know I was not the only one (pleasantly) surprised at this. We all know that black women don't make it onto the cover of Vogue much (see a listing of all Vogue's covers with black women here) - certainly their representation on the cover of US Vogue does not match up to their proportion of the US population or - let's be honest, the disproportionate influnce of blacks on US culture.

Could this be change we can believe in Anna?

In other news, Rihanna has been seen out and about in earnest for the first time since she was beaten by Chris Brown before the Grammys last month.

She had a belated 21st birthday party at the Spotted Pig in New York City (her birthday was actually in February but she was in no state to go out or be seen after the incident) with a few fellow celebs, including mentor Jay-Z and wife Beyonce, Brandy and BFF Melissa.



[caption id="attachment_787" align="aligncenter" width="430" caption="photo credit: Splash News via ybf.com. Composite photo."][/caption]



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Dancehall bits and pieces...

So we have pure news from yaad for you this morning, starting with a review of the style on display at the Hype TV awards weekend before last.

To be honest, judging from the pics I've seen on yardflex, most of them just 'nuh mek it' as Jamaicans say. I know it's dancehall but a lot of the outfits were way flashy and over the top.

Barbee for instance, seemed to be channeling a flamenco dancer in a red and gold frilled satin atrocity when she appeared on the red carpet with video director Jay Will.

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Purported style icon, former model and boutique owner D'Angel also had a flop with insanely frizzy hair and a slightly tacky looking little black dress. It wasn't terrible but it just wasn't good either.



Queen Ifrica's outfit was not a miss but it was not a hit either. It was a pretty decent long purple and white gown but it just did not have any wow factor IMO.



The one outfit that I really did like - I can't even find out who is the person wearing it since it wasn't captioned and I ent so familiar with every single smaddy in di dancehall fraternity.



It's unusual and truth be told it may not be everyone's cup of tea, what with the big bow going down the middle but I think it's cute and funky, love the angles and folds in the dress and the hot colours. You have to have attitude to work a dress like this and she's working it.

Onward... speaking of D'Angel, it looks like she is really kicking Beenie to the curb for good this time, despite the happy families show we saw from them a few months ago at Marco Dean's 2nd birthday party. After his outburst the other day on Ed Lover's radio programme, she like she decide it's time to make things right in the 09.

Beenie dogging out D'Angel, Barbee

Oh Beenie, Beenie, Beenie...

Why you have to move soap-opera-ish so? You can't just leave well enough alone? 'No comment' ent gine burn yuh tongue you know.

Once again, Beenie Man is out there talking his wife D'Angel's name ... and he threw in a side swipe at ex-girlfriend-who-he-never-publicly-acknowledged-despite-being-seen-everywhere-together Barbee too.

In an interview on Ed Lover's Morning show on Power 105 in New York recently, he dogged D'Angel, his on-again, off-again wife, rehashing the various problems and accusations he had levelled against her as many as two years ago.

From one876 entertainment (btw, welcome back!)

He rehashed past accusations he had levied against his estranged wife, D'Angel, saying that he thought she was the 'one' but that she had changed during the course of the relationship.

But he had even harsher words for Barbee while publicly acknowledging for the first time their more than year-long relationship. He said she was 'crazy' and said she "wanted a Chris Brown-Rihanna thing, and I couldn’t deal with that".

Tsk.

Why Beenie Man always have to have somebody name in he mouth so, though? He moving real womanish, no lie. Perhaps... just perhaps he needs to check himself. With so many failed relationships, the problem may well be him.

Hardears yuh won't hear...

 Rihanna's dad Ronald Fenty was in the  media again yesterday bemoaning his daughter's actions. According to stories in the Barbados Nation and further afield in US Magazine, neither he nor her mother or brother have been able to get through to her since she reconciled with Chris Brown.

In the US Magazine interview, he said that he has been calling and texting her to no avail.

I don't know what to say, honest to god. I've been hearing so many stories. I don't feel any pain anymore. I've gone numb. I've heard so much. But I can't get on to her. Her mother can't get on to her, her brother told me she changed her email. Somebody has a stranglehold on her. I'm lost.

I'll text the old numbers she had, and I call them. One girl answered, and she said, "This is not Robyn's number anymore." I asked, "Do you work for Robyn? Do you deal with Robyn?" And the girl hung up, so I don't know what's going on anymore. I'm lost.

Speaking to the Nation, he complained:

"Everything I have heard has been on the Internet. The one time I saw her, all she had time to tell me is 'Dad I am okay'. Her managers and bodyguards treat us like nobody. They wouldn't even let me get close to my daughter, so right now I have no idea what is really going on in her life."

 His distress and anger at the situation is palpable with the Nation reporting:

I am numb. I am in disbelief, in shock, call it what you want, but I don't even know if it's true. All I know is that I don't believe it," he told the SUNDAY SUN yesterday.

"For any man to stand and watch his daughter reunite with an [alleged] abuser is a father's worst nightmare," an obviously upset Fenty added.

Chaa ... I really feel for the whole family. Her father is the only one speaking out but if what he is saying is true, imagine how much worse this must be for her mother and brothers who are even closer to her than her father. Surely Monica Fenty must be shedding tears every night. It is one thing to know your daughter is being abused and she has gone back to her abuser. It is entirely another thing when she is millions of miles away from you, you are being cut off from reaching her and everything you can find out is through the internet or television.

Ri-ri, what you doing to your family at all though? Have mercy - if not for yourself, at least for your parents and younger brothers.



Moreover, remember what the old people say ' hard ears yuh won't hear... own way yuh gine feel'. How much more you really want to feel?

Especially when this boy is rumoured to be the one that called the press on you all to alert them to your reconciliation? You don't see he is willing to drag you down with him? That is love?

An islandista conundrum - Jourdan Dunn and tokenism in Milan

So anyone reading this blog would know that we here at Islandista   Jourdan Dunn. We really do. We love how she's both fierce and gazelle-like, we love that she freely admitted she wished she had a big bamsy when she was younger and we love her refreshing frankness on the paucity of black models in high fashion.

So we are torn... torn we tell you! at her recent success on the catwalk and what it means. On the one hand, Jourdan has been tearing it up - from Vogue and Elle editorials to dominating New York, London and Milan's Fashion Weeks thus far. And we love it.

However it is her dominance of Milan Fashion Week that raises yet again the troubling question of race in fashion for Jourdan was often the token black on the runways at the recently concluded Milan Fashion Week.

[caption id="attachment_755" align="aligncenter" width="320" caption="Lonellly... I'm so lonnelly... on my own... Jourdan Dunn was the sole black model at Etro's Fall RTW show during Milan Fashion Week. (photo credit: Marcio Madeira for style.com)"][/caption]

 

New York Magazine pointed it out in a much-commented on piece last week, noting:

Chris Brown in court

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Chris Brown entered court in LA a short while ago, along with lawyer Mark Geragos. Apparently he did not enter a plea and requested a continuance until April 6th, which was granted. The judge admonished Brown in open court, saying: "You are not to annoy, harass, molest, threaten or use force or violence against anyone."

The judge also asked if a 'no-contact order' in place, to which Geragos replied: "Miss Fenty does not request such an order".

Hm. No surprise when you see the sordid story in the post below...

Also not surprising is word that a major plea deal is still in the works, which would save Brown from prison time. Apparently he and his people are anxious to avoid a trial as the pictures the LAPD have from  the day after the attack are even more graphic than the ones that leaked two weeks ago and they don't want the public to see those.

I have a feeling the public will see those pics eventually though - the way the LAPD has been leaking like a worn faucet.

Rihanna and Chris Brown married?!

Clearly Rihanna and Chris Brown are determined to take this soap opera from bad to worst.

No, that wasn't a typo cos they done skipped  through worse and went straight to the WORST thing they could have done - bonafide Bobby and Whitney mess.

Yes, they're married.

The reports are now starting to leak out in the press, with Star magazine leading with it on their cover, blaring 'Secret Wedding!'

We hoped against hope it wasn't true but our usually reliable sources in Barbados are saying it is unfortunately oh so true and their state broadcaster, CBC just carried it a short while ago during their evening news broadcast.

Apparently the love-struck (excuse the gruesome pun) duo married impetuously last weekend during their reconciliation at Diddy's villa in Miami. According to the Star Chris "literally fell to his knees," 

Jeneil rocks NY Fashion week & Michelle's bare arms

Islandista Jeneil Williams has been making some serious moves in the world of fashion recently. Besides being in the now-legendary all-black edition of Italian Vogue last summer (along with fellow islandistas Naomi Campbell, Jourdan Dunn and Arlenis Sosa) and being the face of the campaign for the Bluetooth 'Jawbone', she tore up New York Fashion Week, opening three shows and walking in several others.



[caption id="attachment_735" align="aligncenter" width="320" caption="Dark and lovely: Jamaican Jeneil Williams opened for the Zero + Maria Cornejo show at NYFW. (photo credit: style.com)"][/caption]



 She opened for Diesel, Zero + Maria Cornejo (a favourite of US First Lady Michelle Obama) and Richard Chai.

 She also walked for Elise Overland, Vena Cava, Ideen, Juan Carlos Obando, Don de Verb and the Project Runway finals, which is always a major NYFW event.

In other news (sorta) people are getting all hysterical because Michelle Obama has (gasp!) been wearing sleeveless dresses. She wore a gorgeous deep purple Narciso Rodriguez dress for her husband's first address to Congress which prompted several hissy fits among fashion arbiters who deemed it 'inappropriate' for the occasion. Huh?

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 They became even more hysterical when the First Lady followed that up with a series of other sleeveless looks in short order, including a White House concert for Stevie Wonder, a People Magazine cover and a White House dinner.

Then she really flipped them the bird when she wore a sleeveless black Michael Kors shift for her official White House portrait photo. Quelle horreur!

Her friend, White House social secretary Desiree Rogers even had to wade into the debate, telling the Washington Post that Mrs. Obama's feeling on it is:

 If I want to wear no sleeves to hear my husband speak, that's what I'm going to do."

Wha, alright then - damn right!

This debate is frankly ridiculous to me. None of the tut-tutters can pinpoint exactly what is so scandalous and inappropriate about Michelle's bare arms. Have arms become an erogenous zone? Not unless we are in Taliban-era Afghanistan. Some have muttered about it still being winter but she's been wearing the outfits INSIDE! It's not like she's out shovelling snow in a shift dress.

This is really pissing me off because I could easily see this being a debate in the Caribbean, where despite our penchant for Carnival and dancehall bashment outfits, we are also deeply conservative about dress. Workplaces in the Caribbean that allow people to wear sleeveless outfits are probably the exception, not the rule, despite the fact that we live in a TROPICAL CLIMATE all.year.round! When it's 32 degrees celcius outside in August, wearing a shift should not be a matter for HR to get their knickers in knot about - it's not even a damn fashion statement then, it's just practical!

Whew. Had to get that rant out there.

However, amidst the ridiculousness, she's also had her defenders, including Letitia Baldridge, social secretary to former First Lady Jackie Kennedy (who also had a thing for sleeveless dresses) and Harper's Bazaar editor-in-chief Glenda Bailey who succintly pointed out that critics are no doubt somewhat envious that Michelle can pull off the bare arms look so elegantly. Shoot, I'm about half her age and I'm a bit envious - my arms don't look like the First Lady's. But I ent gine hate. In fact, I am rooting for Michelle's bare arms statement - if the First Lady of the United States can get people to get over their phobia of bare arms, maybe the time will come when I won't have to swelter in a jacket or long-sleeved shirt in August and September.

UPDATED: Tsk...

Update: Ok magazine and several other media outlets are reporting that Rihanna and Chris are now holed up at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel Beverly Hills Hotel. After jetting 'home' from Miami on Sunday night (see post below) they decided not to return to their individual homes in L.A. but 'hide out' at one of the most famous hotels in celebrity-land.

Eh. Because the paps are not going to find you if you check in at one of the most famous celeb landmarks in LA, which they regularly stake out anyway.

Stupse... this foolishness humbugging me now though. It need to stop in truth.

Tsk. These very grainy pictures are apparently of Chris Brown and Rihanna leaving Miami late last night on their way back to Los Angeles... you know, because Chris has his court date on March 5th and all.
As you would have doubtless heard by now, the two have reportedly made back up and were holed up in Diddy's villa in Miami Beach for the past few days.

Chris has been photographed at the villa jet-skiing and whooping it up like he didn't have a care in the world ... that's care, not career... but he ent got that either. Meanwhile, Rihanna was M.I.A in Mia. to the point that folks were wondering if she really was in Miami after all.

But from the looks of these pictures, it seems so. Below you can see individual pics of Rihanna and Chris heading to the plane and a close up of Chris in a car on his way to the takeoff area.

It's a girl for Fay-Ann and Bunji!

Ok, it's for real this time!

Road March and double Soca Monarch Fay-Ann Lyons gave birth to her first child, a baby girl at the Mount Hope Hospital's Maternity Unit around noon yesterday.



[caption id="attachment_715" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="After making a vocal appearance at the Soca Monarch finals just over a week ago, Fay-Ann Lyons and Bunji Garlin's baby girl made her real appearance in the world yesterday."][/caption]



While her and Bunji's manager Ian Pantin, assured the media that she was fine, there must have been some scary moments leading up to it as Fay-Ann was compelled to deliver via caesarean section after she was admitted to the hospital on Friday suffering from pre-eclampsia.

Pre-eclampsia is a condition that occurs in as many as 10% of first-time mothers and can be pretty dangerous, leading to hypertension in the expectant mother and can only be cured by induced delivery, caesarean section or abortion (if it occurs early in the pregnancy).

Moreover, it can precede the more dangerous eclampsia, which carries a mortality rate of 1.8%.

Unfortunately for the Soca power couple, especially with the pre-eclampsia scare, Bunji was not even able to be there for her delivery.

From the Trinidad Express:

Husband and three-time International Power Soca Monarch Ian "Bunji Garlin" Alvarez missed the greatest show of his wife's life, only managing to arrive at her bedside later in the evening from Tobago where he had gone to fulfill contractual obligations.

However, all's well that ends well, so let's just send up a little prayer for the Alvarez-Lyons family and offer congratulations to Soca's First Family!