Bits and pieces - Leona's race ban, red carpet sightings and Rihanna to speak out

You know every now and then we have to do a pelau post when there's so much going on that we need to put it all in de pot! This is one of those - we have news from all over - on Ri-ri, Leona (Le-le?) and islandistas on the red carpet from Rio to London to L.A.

So to start with - islandistas have been all over people's red carpets over the last week - from the premieres of the Michael Jackson This Is It movie in London and Los Angeles, to Fashion Rocks in Brazil.

Check out a few of the looks below.

[caption id="attachment_1644" align="aligncenter" width="306" caption="Former Sugababe Keisha Buchanan was hot at the London premiere of This Is It in a jewel panelled LBD with a jewelled halter neckline."][/caption]

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="222" caption="Nia Long in textured black leggings and a black leather jacket at the LA premiere."][/caption]

For more looks and news on Rihanna's first public interview and Leona's racism run-in, read on.At the other end of the globe, islandistas like Estelle and Jeneil Williams represented at the annual Fashion Rocks showcase, which was held this time in Brazil.

[caption id="attachment_1653" align="aligncenter" width="196" caption="We love Jennifer Lopez' sequinned black dress but the unnecessary knee high boots dragged it down. Knee high boots on a dress that is just hitting knee length just don't have much impact."][/caption]

 

Jeneil was the only black model on the catwalk for the show while Estelle hit the red carpet in one of her now trademark 'hmmm do we love it or hate it' dresses.

[caption id="attachment_1649" align="aligncenter" width="216" caption="Estelle wore this sunset hued dress by Indian designer Manish Arora."][/caption]

Ya got to give it to 'Stelle though - she always pushes the fashion envelope. Sometimes it pushes her back but she does take a chance and we rate that.

In more news... nine months after she was beaten by Chris Brown in the wee hours of the morning of the Grammy Awards, Rihanna is finally going to speak out on it.

If you notice, she has not done a single interview or said a single word since the whole messy business unfolded on February 8th.

We have seen her out plenty and she has performed but that has been it. And truthfully, we think that is her prerogative. God knows the turmoil she has been going through after dealing with such a painful experience in front of the whole world.

But now she's going to talk and it's on ABC's Good Morning America. She also set to return to GMA on November 23rd (the day her album drops) to perform her most recent single, the controversial Russian Roulette.

On to Leona now, she is also speaking out about a terrible experience she had a few months ago, where she and ger black, Guyanese father were kicked out of a high-end London boutique ... and she strongly suspects it's because of race.

According to Leona, she and her dad were shopping for photo frames when the ugly incident happened:

This woman told us, ‘get out of my store right now’. I asked her ‘are you joking?’

“She said, ‘No, I want both of you to remove yourselves from my store’. I asked why – and pointing at my dad she said, ‘I don’t like the look of him. I want him to go now’.

“I said: “What do you mean? She said, ‘I know why you’re coming in here’. She was implying we were trying to steal stuff.”

“I was so angry my dad had to drag me out of the shop. I’d never experienced anything like that. Being judged by the colour of your skin is horrible.”

The boutique is only referred to as an "unnamed London store" but we want to know! Talk de tings dem Leona! It is only by exposing them that they can be shamed into changing their ways.

Amazing to think this would happen - not so much the racism bit but the fact that you think the store twit would recognise Leona Lewis.

But girl, if it happened to Oprah... let's just say, we're not quite in a post-racial world quite yet.